Page 16 of Winter Reckoning
"Does it matter?"
It didn’t. There weren’t many of them left in the world, or if there were, they remained hidden. Alvarez had forced me to sit through a lecture about them. I cursed ever having spotted the unicorn. She had made it mandatory. Nobody knew why they faded away, just that it was inevitable.
He shifted on the cot, trying to sit up. I put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. Not hard. Just firm enough to make the point. He didn’t resist.
“I appreciate it.” I didn’t believe him. “But you can't stop this.”
“If you had read my personal report, you’d see the words relentless, stubborn, and insubordinate in red Sharpie. I’m not giving up on you.”
"Why?"
I didn't have an answer to that. Not one I could say out loud. Had his hand turned translucent while we wereoccupied? I tried to think back, but it wasn’t his hand that came to mind. Dropping my head, I hid the growing heat in my cheeks.
I squeezed his hand, studying his face. Part of me wanted to ask him who hereallywas, if he came from a story I had been told as a kid. I didn’t know the protocol. It’s not like the unicornand I had a conversation, and the leprechaun had stolen the change out of my pocket and vanished. I’m not sure it mattered. I wouldn’t abandon a client.
"You don't have to stay." After what happened in the cabin, that cut deeper than it should have.
"I know."
“Why—” He let out a long sigh. “Why are you?”
There were two answers. One would look good on the official report before they called it closed. The other, that was the one I had avoided for months. As retirement approached, I imagined walking off into the horizon and becoming nothing more than a distant memory. Without the job, I had no purpose, no direction. Like Nick, I expected to fade away.
I didn’t want to fade away, but I wasn’t ready to admit it. “Protocol,” I said.
He didn't respond to my lie. I’m glad he didn’t.
I couldn't name what I was feeling. The department psychologist would rattle off something about me putting up walls or ignoring my feelings. She wasn’t wrong, not that I ever told her that. If I named it, it’d become real. Real things got people hurt.
Regardless, I stayed.
I held my spot on the edge of my seat, not letting go of his hand. What did it mean when a myth faded? What happened to them after that? I tried pulling my thoughts back. I was going to stop it, I just didn’t know how. Not yet.
Of the thousand questions coming to mind, I fixated on one. Why did it matter so much? It wasn’t the job. I could admit that. Was it because Nick and I weren’t so different? Or was it something more?
I didn't have an answer.
7
“Hang in there,”I whispered.
Nick lay on the cot, barely surviving whatever ate away at him. If it were a bullet wound, I’d grab a med pack and stitch him up. If he had a fever, I’d cool him. Whatever robbed him of his abilities, I couldn’t solve it.
Not yet.
I stood at the computer terminal. Rebooting it had given me access to the security cameras. I cycled through the exterior feeds. Empty corridors. Sealed blast doors. Perimeter sensors glowing green. Everything locked down according to protocol. It’d slow down most villains, but I replayed how the man walked through a foot of ice. I needed whatever Charlene had installed in the cabin.
A few minutes ago, the lights along the ceiling had dimmed. They pulsed weak and irregular, like a failing heartbeat. I stared at my duffel bag, debating on if I should suit up. I never thought I’d need it again. The hefty leather served as body armor and enhanced my abilities. I had taken it out of my locker, expecting to toss it in the incinerator.
Nick stirred behind me. "Danny."
I turned. His eyes were open, focused on something beyond the walls.
"What is it?"
"Something's coming."
Before I could respond, a soft glow appeared beneath the door. I pooled the cold in my hand, ready to make a shield if it exploded. I didn’t think the horned man would resort to such human tactics, but it was better to be prepared.
