“Don’t cry. Can’t sleep.”
“Yes,” Wren said, exhausted, letting Blu hop up on his finger. “I’m so tired.”
Blu rubbed his head along Wren’s dirty thumb.
Sniffing, Wren shuffled over to a tree trunk and rested back against it, Sable coming to lie at his side.
He kept his eyes trained at the horizon, where the shadow of another city lay, and swiped his useless tears away with the back of his hand before they could drip off his chin.
The familiar buzz broke through his miserable reverie, and he numbly pulled out his phone.
Unknown:Thought you’d be interested.
There was an image attached, and Wren clicked it open before he even thought to reply. They were used to this unknown person meddling in their cases by now. They were always there.
Lurking.
All the digging into who they were led nowhere. They were too good to be found.
Wren didn’t trust it. They knew too much about the cursebreakers not to be related to Nexus in some way. And whatever that way was, it was enough for Wren to want to stay away.
But he also envied them. Just a little. To be able to stay hidden that well. To be able to run and never be found. They were living Wren’s dream.
The grainy photo loaded and Wren felt a familiar pang of anger ignite fires in his chest.
It was the inside of a drab gray concrete room, no discernible location markers. No way to find it.
And Wren wanted to find it more than he wanted anything else, because the room was filled with cages stacked on top of one another, rusty and cramped.
Holding countless animals hostage.
Wren:Where?
Unknown:Arcstead.
He was on his feet before he could control himself. A decision born out of anger. A scale tipped because of suffering. He was home in a flash, barely aware of the trip there.
All he saw was pain.
All he wanted was justice. Revenge.
And secretly, deep down, all he wanted was to see Teddy again.
“Wren?” Fix called as he bolted past the happy couple on the couch and toward the stairs, his animal entourage following like his faithful shadows.
He burst into his room, walked to his dresser, and pulled out the only drawer that wasn’t housing an animal. He grabbed his threadbare clothes and began piling them into a backpack, pausing when his fingers touched familiar fluffy fabric shoved right into the back recesses.
Slowly, he pulled it out, staring at the chocolate brown fleece material that held so many memories within its fibers. He moved his fingers over the rounded ears and button eyes, remembering every single moment.
“Wren?” Fix said from the doorway. When he looked back, Wren could see Liam peeking worriedly from behind his shoulder, his honey blonde hair hanging over his shoulder.
He knew what he must have looked like. Eyes swollen and red, with heavy dark circles underneath, covered in dirt and mud with no shoes or jacket. Wild. Feral.
“Will you look after all the animals while I’m gone?” Wren’s voice was nothing more than a croak. “I don’t know how long… I don’t…”
“Yes, of course,” Fix said. “Just like any other time you’re away on a case. Which is what this is, if anyone asks.”
If Nexus asks, went unsaid.
