Page 22 of The City Of Fractured Memory

She points her long finger and gives me a stern stare, understanding my turmoil without me needing to voice it. “Don’t even think about telling me to stay at home. Last night was unexpected, that’s all, I’ll be better prepared this time.”

I open my mouth to argue but Quill’s scratching on his parchment draws our attention.

Don’t be a dick

“I didn’t even say anything!” I admonish him, swiping at him, but he quickly ducks out of the way. I give him my middle finger before marching off to grab my cloak from where it lies in a muddle on the sofa. I pull it on before turning back to Stryx, who seems to be sharing an amused side glance with Quill.

“Your magic is drained, Stryx. If you go out there without a glamour, you could be spotted, it’s too much of a risk,” I say softly, hoping she’ll see reason, but she shakes her head stubbornly.

“I’ll make sure I’m hidden beneath my cloak–”

“Stryx–”

“I want to help!” she stamps her foot like a child, her ears pressing back against her head as her voice turns to a whimper. “I can help.”

I sigh. I can’t bear to leave her locked up in here, but if she gets caught, the consequences will be dire for both of us. But as my gaze snags on one of my larger empty phials on the table, an idea forms in my mind.

“How small can you shrink in your Irithys form?” I ask, walking to the table to pick up the glass bottle. She tracks my movements, a smile breaking out across her face as she figures out my plan.

Without a word, she transforms, filling up the space of the apartment and knocking a few books off the shelf with her long swinging tail. She floats towards the phial which I hold up to her, but she pauses, her voice filling my mind.

“If you put the lid on and leave me here, Octavia, so help me–”

I cut her off with a laugh, raising the phial again and gesturing for her to enter. “I promise I won’t leave you here.”

Though, for the sake of her safety, I admit the thought did briefly cross my mind.

She hesitates another moment before racing forward, and I can’t help but flinch as I instinctively close my eyes, waiting for her to collide with me. But there’s no impact, and as a rush of air whips my hair back from my face, I open my eyes to find her inside the phial, shrunk to the size of a dragonfly. I hold the bottle up so she’s eye level with me and I smile warmly at her.

“I’ll keep you in my pocket so you’re safe. I need to bring Xavier with me so you’ll have to stay hidden, but at least you can talk to me without him hearing,” I say, and she nods her little head in agreement.

I tuck her gently into a pocket in my cloak and head out the door, pulling out my new talisman and rubbing it between my fingers as my exhaustion starts to creep up on me. Functioning on this little sleep never does me any good, but I’ll get plenty of rest when I’m dead, and right now, the dead need me to bring them justice.

It takes three attempts at knocking before Xavier finally answers the door, his black hair disheveled and the dark circles under his eyes even more pronounced than yesterday. He looks like how I feel, which is unheard of for him.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, Octavia?” he moans, stifling a yawn as he leans heavily against the threshold.

“Yes, it’s time you got off your backside and start working this case,” I tease, but he looks at me deadpan, clearly unamused.

“Have you even slept since I left you last night?” he asks. “And where’s Stryx? Did she have enough fun last night to put her off for a lifetime?”

I finally caved and introduced him to Stryx a year ago, and there’s been many a time since then that I’ve considered telling Xavier the truth about her, but given his less than warm feelings towards the Echofae, I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it yet. It pains me greatly to lie to him; we’ve always shared our secrets since we were children, and he’s a good man—I know he would accept her if I just explained everything to him. But this isn’t my secret to tell.

“No I haven’t, and yes, she’s had quite enough detective work for now,” I lie, schooling my features into innocence, though given Xavier’s current state, I doubt he’d even notice if the Irithys was out floating above my head.

Silence stretches between us while I stand at his door, waiting patiently with a sardonic smile. Eventually he caves, huffing his breath out through his teeth as he grabs his overcoat and locks the door behind him.

I’m going to have so much fun making him regret being my chaperone.

“The Chief and I are going to have words when this is all over,” he mutters, pulling his coat tighter against the cold bite of the air. “Where are we going, then?”

“The Archives,” I answer brightly, leading the way. The Memosyne Archives are one of my favourite places in the city, though my excitement at our impending visit dampens somewhat as I glance at Xavier’s pallid expression again.

“Are you sure everything’s okay with you? With Vesper?” I ask with a frown. He’s always so put together, it’s disconcerting seeing him like this.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a little annoyed about him being my handler, but at the end of the day, he’s still my friend. One of the best—and only—friends I’ve had. I’ve known him since I was eight years old; we’ve grown up playing together and caused trouble as we grew into teenagers. He even risked his reputation insisting that Chief Starling hire me when I wanted to follow in his footsteps—the first ever female detective to be employed by the Division, all thanks to him. Despite my occasional grumbling about his over-protectiveness, I owe him so much, and seeing him this exhausted and detached makes my heart ache.

He shrugs noncommittally, once again avoiding eye contact. “I’m fine, just haven’t been sleeping well recently.”