72. Savage

Chapter 72

Savage

" M y little chompy, my little sweetie pie,

You're the apple of my eye.

I'll stroke your feathers and brush your hair

And if you spit on me, I won't even care."

My new song is an excellent one. While Aurelia and Lyle are asleep on the pack bed, I sit with Scythe and Xander on the roof of the animus dorms, where it'll be impossible for anyone to hear us. They share a cigar while I kick my feet and pet my rooster. I don't even know why Eugene is still here. He's fulfilled his contract and is free to be with his flock, three little chickies who must be missing him dearly. But nope, here he is, happily catching fumes. I'm glad he's still here, whatever his reason. I think I would miss the little guy.

But it's my blood-brother who surprises me with his question: "What's your favourite memory of us?"

I chew on the lamb shank I have in my other hand, in deep thought, casting my mind back over the years. It's a clear night, as the moon shines down on us, and the stars twinkle merrily. But I don't feel merry at all. I feel like a balloon without any air. Like a balloon someone blew up and then let it go without tying the knot so that it flew all around the room and sunk sadly onto the floor, all saggy and full of spit.

"I don't know," I say slowly. "I think that time we took down Halfeather and freed Eugene and his flock from the cages. There was poo all stuck on them, remember? And then you got me a hose, and I chased them down to wash it off. They hated it, but afterward they were thankful."

"They were so scared of the fire." Xander exhales a lungful of smoke. "I thought they were going to shit themselves all over again. By the way, I've liquified the stock in the northern warehouse like you asked."

"Why?" I tear another chunk from the lamb shank. "That's the second biggest one."

"It'll be easier to manage," Scythe says, rubbing his jaw. "Things are changing. It's better to be safe."

I narrow my eyes at my brother, my swinging legs going still. The scrape of feet tells me Lyle is making his presence known on the roof. I can smell the anger in the air. It's making his rabid come out.

He and Aurelia are cross with Scythe right now, but they don't know him as well as I do. They don't see what I see.

A poison slime is wrapped around him like cling wrap. And it's like each day a new layer gets added on. It gets tighter and tighter so that it's harder for him to wiggle against it and fight it off. But eventually, it'll get so tight that he won't be able to move. He won't be able to fight it and he'll get stuck.

I know because I've wrapped someone in plastic wrap before. It didn't take all that many layers before he stopped breathing either.

"Maybe this is karma," I say softly. "For all the bad things we've done."

"For all the bad things," Xander snorts. "There was a lot of good, though. It balances out."

"Like The Lily Sanctuary!" I say, sitting up straighter. "That's got to count for heaps. Yeah." I gnaw on the lamb bone. "Once you claim Aurelia, it'll work out and the gremlins will go away. I have a sick sense about these things."

" Sixth sense," Lyle says, coming to sit down next to me.

"No, sick sense," I correct.

"You want to be Eko the Greenlander?" Lyle asks Scythe. "You want Aurelia to come to the beach once a year like some war widow waiting for her love to return from battle? You can't do that to her."

Scythe is silent. That poison is tight. The voices are loud. The vision of them is distracting. He told me all about them when they first started. Told me he was going to control the bastard gremlins and goblins. That he was stronger than them. I glance at Lyle, remembering what he said about Sabrina. It's not a matter of strength.

My brother is unwell. Something in my heart twists and I blink rapidly at the sky.

"She loves me," Scythe says quietly. This is the first time I've heard him use this voice. A voice that is soft and sweet.

He loves her too.

My wolf howls with joy. With my non-sticky left hand, I reach for Scythe's hand and hold it. It's cool and dry and full of pain.

"That's why you can't leave," I say firmly. "Alright? We'll help you get through this. We'll find a solution. Use the phoenix tears Celeste gave us, or I'll carve Damien's tear glands out and keep them in a jar for you." My brother's eyes look silver in the dark. Like all the colour has bled out of them. "Put all the money we have into the research department at Lily's. They'll come up with a treatment in no time. No more talk about Beak joining our pack."

Everyone is quiet for a bit and there is only the crackle of the cigar as it burns and the steady swoosh of the gum trees swaying around the academy.

"Alright, Savage," Scythe says eventually. "Alright."

"Good," I say, nodding. "That's settled."