Just as Fletcher smiled at Gabe and put his hand on China's arm, Skulduggery almost seemed to start out of a trance. "Yes, Fletcher," he added, almost... awkwardly. "Thank you."
Ghastly was by no means a detective, but even he was starting to put pieces together. Skulduggery treating China the same way he always had was understandable, if lamentable; he didn't know how helpful she'd been over the past year. But making an effort to be nice to Fletcher? And specifically right after Gabriel had thanked the Teleporter?
If Ghastly didn't know any better, he'd think Skul was trying to make a good impression on the Archangel - make up for the imagined past wrongs he never seemed to talk about. But Ghastly did know better. So what was really going on?
"Peachy," was Skulduggery's response to Gabe's query. He sat back down at the table and nudged his cards over a few inches. "I suppose we shouldn't have expected any better."
"What exactly did she see?" Ghastly asked more seriously, even though he was fairly sure he knew the answer. Fairly sure everyone here knew the answer. A part of him just needed to hear it out loud. Granted, the rest of him was trying to disown that part of him very violently, but Ghastly was able to beat the sensible part into submission.
~~
"Are you okay?" Fletcher asked as soon as China collapsed into her desk chair, barely able to stand upright.
She managed a bitter laugh. Okay. She would be okay, of that China was certain. It was the one constant in life, that everything changed. This, how she was feeling now... it would pass. It would fade. She would be able to think clearly again.
But until that happened? China was strangely unafraid to admit it. She wasn't okay. "No," she answered, her voice weaker than it had been even back at the safe house seconds ago. "But I'll live. You don't need to pretend concern."
"I'm not," Fletcher insisted. "China, you look terrible. I've never seen you like... do you need help?"
Unfeigned concern was somehow even worse. China broke eye contact with the boy and waved him away. "Please, just go."
And he did. It took him a moment, but he did. China let several minutes pass by, minutes she used to collect herself, before she tried standing up again.
She was still weak on her feet, and she still didn't have her magic. It didn't even feel bound - woven up and trapped, ebbing just on the edge of her consciousness - it simply felt gone. For how long? Forever? Was she doomed to live out life as a mortal now? Would she age, wither, and die in the space of a few short years?
China paused next to the bookshelf and placed her hand carefully against it. The comfort of the library didn't wrap itself around her. The locations of books didn't fill her mind. She didn't feel a subtle shift in the library's layout as the more relevant books to her mood came up to the front.
She was cut off. Cut off from everything she ever cared about, everything she held dear. And -
China almost fell to the floor as she realised what that meant. Her stomach clenched, and her half-stumble sent her head throbbing again.
The magic of the library was probably destroyed completely. And China wouldn't know. She couldn't know, cut off from it like this.
A vague anger formed a cold bubble in her center. It might have taken her over, if China could think about revenge. Revenge against an Archangel. The thought was laughable. But the anger in her center did have the unintended side effect of solidifying her earlier panicked plan.
It didn't have panic behind it anymore. Now, it had cold purpose.
Without her magic, China was forced to rely on some of her more menial means of getting rid of someone. She slowly and carefully left the library, made her way over to the apartment - which, predictably, seemed so barren now - and went straight for her gun.
no subject
Ghastly was by no means a detective, but even he was starting to put pieces together. Skulduggery treating China the same way he always had was understandable, if lamentable; he didn't know how helpful she'd been over the past year. But making an effort to be nice to Fletcher? And specifically right after Gabriel had thanked the Teleporter?
If Ghastly didn't know any better, he'd think Skul was trying to make a good impression on the Archangel - make up for the imagined past wrongs he never seemed to talk about. But Ghastly did know better. So what was really going on?
"Peachy," was Skulduggery's response to Gabe's query. He sat back down at the table and nudged his cards over a few inches. "I suppose we shouldn't have expected any better."
"What exactly did she see?" Ghastly asked more seriously, even though he was fairly sure he knew the answer. Fairly sure everyone here knew the answer. A part of him just needed to hear it out loud. Granted, the rest of him was trying to disown that part of him very violently, but Ghastly was able to beat the sensible part into submission.
~~
"Are you okay?" Fletcher asked as soon as China collapsed into her desk chair, barely able to stand upright.
She managed a bitter laugh. Okay. She would be okay, of that China was certain. It was the one constant in life, that everything changed. This, how she was feeling now... it would pass. It would fade. She would be able to think clearly again.
But until that happened? China was strangely unafraid to admit it. She wasn't okay. "No," she answered, her voice weaker than it had been even back at the safe house seconds ago. "But I'll live. You don't need to pretend concern."
"I'm not," Fletcher insisted. "China, you look terrible. I've never seen you like... do you need help?"
Unfeigned concern was somehow even worse. China broke eye contact with the boy and waved him away. "Please, just go."
And he did. It took him a moment, but he did. China let several minutes pass by, minutes she used to collect herself, before she tried standing up again.
She was still weak on her feet, and she still didn't have her magic. It didn't even feel bound - woven up and trapped, ebbing just on the edge of her consciousness - it simply felt gone. For how long? Forever? Was she doomed to live out life as a mortal now? Would she age, wither, and die in the space of a few short years?
China paused next to the bookshelf and placed her hand carefully against it. The comfort of the library didn't wrap itself around her. The locations of books didn't fill her mind. She didn't feel a subtle shift in the library's layout as the more relevant books to her mood came up to the front.
She was cut off. Cut off from everything she ever cared about, everything she held dear. And -
China almost fell to the floor as she realised what that meant. Her stomach clenched, and her half-stumble sent her head throbbing again.
The magic of the library was probably destroyed completely. And China wouldn't know. She couldn't know, cut off from it like this.
A vague anger formed a cold bubble in her center. It might have taken her over, if China could think about revenge. Revenge against an Archangel. The thought was laughable. But the anger in her center did have the unintended side effect of solidifying her earlier panicked plan.
It didn't have panic behind it anymore. Now, it had cold purpose.
Without her magic, China was forced to rely on some of her more menial means of getting rid of someone. She slowly and carefully left the library, made her way over to the apartment - which, predictably, seemed so barren now - and went straight for her gun.