A Dangerous Game (H 1.6)

The doors click audibly and smoothly swing open and Standish enters. He pulls the woman along with him. She seems dazed, possibly drugged. It's only when you see her missing finger and the vacant spot where her right eye should be that you recognize her.


It's Nuport.

Standish leads her over to a chair and helps her sit down before heading back to the bar.

I stare at Nuport in silent shock. She's clean and calm, converted into someone I almost don't recognize.

It's not until I remember how panicked she was earlier about me seeing her without her mask that I'm finally able to tear my gaze away, but even that can't keep my eyes from her for long. Somehow I'm on my feet, moving closer to her and studying her face, trying to pair what I see now with the chained creature drinking from the toilet in the Sipp's bathroom.

I wonder if they gave her pain meds for her finger, or something to keep her subdued when they took her mask away. I wonder if she feels better now. I wonder if... "Are you okay?"

I stop in front of her, taking in the whole of her. I realize I've been quiet for too long after her answer and finally say, "That's...that's fine." I glance at Wells, not sure if it's really my place to say what's fine or not, but then I look back at her.

I want to ask, but not out loud. I reach for the Whispers instead - hers or mine, I'm not sure, or maybe they're all the same - "Are her Whispers gone?"

"We left her alone when she was taken into the machine," a Whisper replies sadly. "So many screams she's forgotten."

"We will return to her later," a flat-tone Whisper states.

I blink, inhaling at Wells' words and the seemingly sudden appearance of Standish with a drink. It wakes me up and I take the drink from the tray, putting on a less stunned visage as I move back to my place on the couch.

"Yes. She's...yes. Thank you." I take a big gulp of the new drink, disconcerted but not sure why. Nuport has obviously been physically saved, and maybe a reprieve from the Whispers is exactly what her mind needs, but it feels strange having her here. She should be curled up somewhere recovering in peace.

I look at my newly refreshed drink, wondering if Wells is trying to get me drunk by expecting me to down it all before I go. Standish's presence is a sand timer on my continued existence here and I hesitate to do anything for a few moments.

I could try to convince Standish to lie for me after we leave, but if my words earlier were enough to threaten Clarissa's position here, I can't imagine what a full-blown lie would mean for Standish. I have no love for him, except that he's been our bartender and I'm overly sensitive about bartenders being hurt on the job.

 I look at Wells and put my drink down on the table. "I can't. I won't be able to...see anymore." I lick my lips. "Let me go to a human doctor instead."

My worries are nothing but undesirable specks of dirt on Wells' perfect table, bothersome but easily swept away and forgotten. My forehead creases with concern and I glance at Nuport, her Whispers already stolen. I have negotiated my way into an impossible corner, and Wells knows it. He knows it so fully, he's not even bothered over it.

A strange, cool calm settles over me and I reach forward to pick up my drink again. "When I'm done with my drink." I take a sip. "Like you said." I continue sipping my drink slowly, but I know there's only one option left for me. One way to get out of this and maybe get back on top. Wells wants me, I know he does, and he thinks he has me already.

I need to prove to him he doesn't. I need to give him competition. I need to give him a contest to win, a position to defend, and someone to defend it against.

"I need Lucky here," I tell the Whispers. "Now."

The doors swing open silently and on the other side, you see the leader of the Sippians. He has no idea how he got here. He steps into the room, looking around until he spots you - and Wells.

I feel like I might fall through the floor when the doors open and Lucky steps through. My plea to the Whispers was desperation. I didn't anticipate that it would turn into reality. Is this what happened the time Litch saved me from the Sipps?

"I'm glad you're here," I tell him instead of trying to explain how he got here - I'm not sure I could if I tried - or how I got here, because I don't want to get Regal in trouble. "I've been talking with Wells about the Merrimack." I study Lucky, wondering if the Whispers' magic means he didn't go through the same pat down Nuport and I did when we got here. Is he still fully armed?