Marjorie Liu - Within the Flames

Lyssa stared, an unexpected catch in her throat.

It did not take long to reach his home: an old apartment that Jimmy shared with his mom and an elderly woman named Estelle, who worked days in a small store that sold art supplies.

More than six months ago, Estelle had asked Lyssa if she knew anyone nice who might want to share her home. She’d had a scare with her heart and didn’t want to live alone anymore. Rent wouldn’t be much, and the apartment was roomy. Plenty of sunlight. Near the subway. A laundry room in the basement.

Jimmy and his mother moved in two days later. Lyssa asked Estelle not to tell them that she’d paid for their first three months of rent.

Lyssa entered the apartment first. She heard a kitchen faucet dripping, but that was all. No scents that didn’t belong.

“Is Estelle still in Ohio visiting her children?”

“Mmm. We’re safe, right?” Jimmy peered around her, fidgeting with the sleeves of his huge sweatshirt. Nervous, she realized with regret.

Of course he was nervous. She was nervous.

“Of course,” she told him, as gently she could. “Just be careful. Don’t go anywhere until your mom comes home. And don’t come visit me again. Not alone. Promise.”

“Okay.”

“Say the words.”

“I promise.”

“I might not always be there, you know.”

“Okay.”

“It’s dangerous, Jimmy.”

“ Okay, ” he said. “I’m sorry if I scared you today.”

Lyssa hugged the boy. He stiffened, arms hanging awkwardly at his sides.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I worry about you, that’s all.”

“Mmph,” he muttered.

Lyssa started to pull away. Jimmy surprised her by flinging his arms around her waist and hugging her back.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered again. “I’m sorry someone hurt you.”

Her heart broke. “Jimmy.”

“That’s why you live in the tunnel. Because of someone who looks like that man.”

She held silent, unable to tell him the truth.

She lived in the tunnel because of a woman.

The man, however, was a different kind of danger. He was part of a dream, a portent of profound change. . and that was why he frightened her. Because he represented the unknown, and she was a coward. Her life was so carefully structured, made up of habits that cut her days into manageable pieces. Structure made her feel normal. Structure made her less afraid for her life.

But surely there’s nothing to fear from a gargoyle?

Gargoyles were known for their honor, for their moral strength and trustworthiness. No gargoyle would associate with, or practice, magic of dark intent. It simply was not in their natures.

The witches who wanted her dead would never leave a gargoyle alive.

Which meant that if the gargoyle knew the man. . that man whose eyes had filled her dreams. . maybe she had run for no good reason.

No, she told herself. I’m a danger to be around. Especially for a gargoyle.

As for that man. .

Icky whined and pawed at her ankle. The little mutt had never been scared of her, which was more than she could say for most dogs. Lyssa patted his head, then hugged Jimmy again.

“Gotta go,” she told him. “Be good.”

Jimmy followed her to the door, looking like an urchin from some Charles Dickens novel. Lyssa could barely see his eyes beneath his hair.

“Remember what I told you. Be careful.”

He didn’t say anything. When Lyssa reached the end of the hall, she turned around one last time. He stood in the doorway, watching her. Icky peered around his legs.

She tried to smile for him but couldn’t make it last. She’d never been much of a liar. She didn’t want this to be the last time she saw him. She didn’t want to live never knowing how he turned out, if he was okay, if he or his mom needed help.

But she couldn’t let him get hurt because of her.

Outside, she caught another cab, and told the driver to take her to Midtown, near Fortieth and Lexington. It was a twenty-minute ride, and Lyssa spent the entire time thinking about gargoyles and strange young men with familiar eyes.

Today had been fate.

She loved Central Park, but had not intended to walk down Fifty-ninth to the subway. Something had tugged her there, though.

A nagging instinct that felt too much like premonition. She had needed to walk toward the park. When she tried to go a different direction, a sense of profound dread had fallen over her.

Lyssa knew better than to fight her gut. And it had paid off.

Gargoyle.

The memory still thrilled her — despite everything that had followed. A gargoyle in New York City. It was like spotting a dead rock star. Elvis, maybe. Impossible, crazy, and wonderful.

She had seen the illusion first — but the shimmer of light around his body, the otherworldly glow of energy, had made her stop and look deeper. Deeper, to wings. Silver skin. A craggy face and long hair, and a coiled set of horns upon his head.

Lyssa had never seen a gargoyle. Her father had known them, had a friend who was a member of that race. . but had not seen him for many years. She remembered that he always seemed sad about that. Regret in his eyes.

He never discussed any of his old friends in front of her mother. It had taken Lyssa a long time to understand why.

But that doesn’t explain the man with him.

Lyssa pressed her forehead against the cab window, savoring the coolness of the glass. Memories flashed, a mixture of dream and life, life and the young man, running across the road toward her. Staring at her with those eyes.

His voice, whispering in her head.

I would take care of you. I wish I could.

She knew the difference between reality and fantasy. The man’s voice was not her imagination. It was real. A real mind, touching hers for one brief, unexpected — and terrifying — moment.

You’re overreacting. What did you hear? Nothing threatening.

No. His voice, inside her mind, had been wistful and sad, and full of compassion. Perhaps, even, wonderment.

He was talking about me.

She’d felt that, too. His focus on her. That was what had made her look around. Only she’d seen the gargoyle first. And thought, briefly, that it was his voice inside her mind.

But none of that mattered. She had been found.

Ratted out by her only friend.

I’m gone. Now. Tonight.

Right after she did one thing.

The cab let her out in front of Blooming Nails, which made Lyssa think of her mother. She had liked to paint their nails crazy colors, different on each finger: glossy purple and pink, turquoise and red, tossed with glitter.

Like jewels, she would say. Like magic.

“Magic,” Lyssa murmured, rubbing her gloved right hand. No claws, back then. Controlling her shifts had always been troublesome, but at least she’d managed to return fully to her human body.

Starbucks was just a few steps away. Lyssa ducked inside. The place was crowded and hot, and smelled good. Long line, filled with jazzy people her age who were looking down, up, sideways — anywhere, but at each other. No one ever really looked, in the city.

She checked her scarf, but it still covered her throat — just like the other hundred times she’d touched it. Her glove was firmly in place. Loose sleeve hanging well over her wrist. Nothing showing.

Lyssa didn’t buy a drink. Just weaved to the back of the coffee shop, near the bathroom, and snagged a chair from an occupied table — inviting surly looks from two young men dressed in black, surrounded by laptops, stacked paper, and Macbeth, Cliffnotes: Macbeth, and Shakespeare for Dummies.