Evey kisses the top of my head before darting away and leaving me alone to watch the HC in the mirror's reflection I did not notice her slip a feather from her wings into my breast pocket. I'm tired of watching the HC. I know their history now and Im learning more every day. But I'm tired of being inside, tired of listening to Mickey's club thump its music and smelling the minty leaves he smokes. Tired of seeing the girls he brings into his family only to sell away when someone bids high enough. Tired of seeing all the full eyes go hollow. This is not Lykos. There is no love, no family or trust. This place is sick. "My boy, you look fit to captain a fleet of torchShips," Mickey says from the door. He slides in, smelling like his burners. His spindly fingers take Evey's feather from my breast pocket and roll it back and forth over his knuckles. He taps the feather to each of my golden Sigils. "Wings are my favorite. Aren't they yours? They go to mankind's bet- ter aspirations." He comes up behind me as I sit star- ing into the mirror. His hands go to my shoulders and he speaks down at my head, resting his chin upon it as though I am his property. It's easy to see he thinks I am. My left hand goes to the sigil on my right, lingering there. "I told you you were brilliant. Now it's your time to fly." "You give the girls wings, but you don't let them fly. Do you?" I ask. "It's impossible for them to fly. They are simpler things than you. And I can't afford to buy a license to have grav- Boots. So they dance for me." Mickey explains. "But you, you'll fly, won't you, my brilliant boy?" I stare at him but say nothing. His lips slice into a smile because I unnerve him. I always have. "You're frightened of me," I tell him He laughs. "Am I? Oho! Am I now, my boy?" "Yes. Youre used to knowing what's what. You think like the rest of them." I nod to the HC's reflection. "Things are set in stone. Things are well or- dered. Reds at the bottom, everyone else standing on our backs. Now you're looking at me and you're realizing that we don't bloodydamn like it down there. Red is rising, Mickey." "Oh, you've got far to go ..." I reach up and grab his wrists so that he cannot move. He stares at me in the mirror's reflection, struggling against my hold. Nothing is stronger than a Helldiver's grip. I smile into the mirror, locking my golden eyes with his violet ones. He smells like fear. Primal terror Like a mouse cornered by a lion "Be kind to Evey, Mickey. Don't make her dance. Give her a plush life or I'1l come back to pull your hands off your body."
