Page 16 of Lily and her Mercenary (CHANGING OF THE GUARDS)

Ryker

I made my way back to the apartment, feeling upbeat and whistling a tune, holding a brown paper bag after picking up dinner from her favorite takeout place. I bounded up the fire escape two steps at a time and froze when I reached the landing.

She stood there as if waiting for me, tears streaming down her cheeks. I set the bag down and reached for the window frame.

“Ryker, don’t come in.”

“What... what do you mean, don’t come in?!”

“I’ve had time to think about everything, about us, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to keep seeing each other.”

At first, I assumed she was kidding, or that I'd heard wrong. But her face, the way her lips pressed together to keep them from trembling, said it all.

A breeze from the open window caught her hair, stirring it over her eyes. She didn’t move to brush it aside. She just stood still with her arms crossed, holding her elbows as if she could insulate herself from whatever came next.

"Is this because of what happened with the bear?" I asked. Doubtful, but I did leave her alone to fend for herself.

She shook her head, a single sharp movement. "It’s not that. I just—" The words caught, and she tried to steady herself. "I thought I wanted to be brave. But all I feel is... terrified. Not of what’s out there, but of myself. The things I’ve done. The person I’m becoming."

I pressed my hand to the glass. "You did what you had to do to survive, Lily. You’ve been fighting for your life."

"And I dragged you into it. You and Royal and poor Mabel and—maybe that's the last family I've got, and I can't lose it, not after everything." Her voice was fragile, parched. "So, I need you to go. Just go. Please."

I waited for her to open her eyes, to say something, anything other than telling me to go.

"You think you’ll be safer without me?" I asked.

She sniffled, then looked up with eyes raw and almost blue in the after-storm light. "No," she said. "I think you will be."

The past month spun through my head like a bad movie montage.

Gunfire, shadows, a cat with a taste for adventure, her hands on my face in motel bathrooms and mountain sunrises.

I wanted to be angry. I wanted to yell at her or, at the very least, punch the glass and force my way in.

Instead, I felt the kind of emptiness you only get at the edge of a war, when the last battle’s over and you’re standing in someone else’s blood.

"Lily—" I started. But the window slid shut and her silhouette blurred behind the screen.

There would be other jobs. A million ways to disappear. I’d done it a thousand times before, and I’d probably do it a thousand more.

But for the first time in my fucking life, disappearing didn’t seem like enough.

I left her there, just like she asked, and I realized I’d never teach myself not to love her, even if I spent the rest of my days trying.

Lily

Relief surged through me when Ryker didn’t question me too much.

My biggest fear was him insisting on coming in and getting shot in the process.

I looked at the man who sat on a stool in my bathroom doorway.

His gun pointed right at me was a constant reminder of how close he was to ending my life.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of all of it.

Just when we thought we were safe, in comes Gregory Vance with a vendetta to fulfill.

“Your boyfriend should be long gone by now,” he muttered, motioning me to stand with the end of his pistol. “But I don’t trust him. So, this is what we are going to do. I’m camping out on your sofa for the night and come morning you’re going to go to work.”

I looked at him. Clearly, he didn’t know that I was on leave. This just might work in my favor. “Then what?”

“Then I’ll come and get you.”

∞∞∞

The next morning, I filled a large bowl with cat food, enough for a week, then kissed and cuddled Mable one last time before making my way to the school.

At any given moment, I could have made a run for it.

But Vance had stayed behind in my apartment and threatened to kill Mable if I deviated from his plan.

Once at the school I made my way to Principal Guthrie’s office, with the excuse of clearing out my classroom for the summer break. At noon Vance showed up.

I wondered if I could outrun him or at least make enough noise to draw attention from the other teachers, but his eyes were fixed on me, watching my every move.

We just passed Mrs. Haden’s classroom when I heard her call my name. “Lily, are you already done your classroom?”

Trying to compose myself, I counted to ten then slowly turned around. “No, Mary, I’m not feeling all that well… so I asked my uncle here to come pick me up and give me a ride home.”

“That’s too bad, I’m all done and was wondering if you wanted to go for lunch.”

I so wanted to say yes, but the gun in my back had me shaking my head. “Another day perhaps? I really must go. You have a wonderful summer, Mary.”

He made me walk ahead of him as we stepped outside.

His grip was firm on my shoulder as he pressed the muzzle of the gun against my ribs.

He grunted while favoring his leg but said nothing as we made our way across the grass.

I counted every step, wondering if this was the last time I’d ever set foot on the school grounds.

No one was in the parking lot to even give us a second glance. That meant Ryker would have nothing to go on if he chose to look for me. Tears welled up as I pushed thoughts of him out of my mind. I couldn’t afford to become a basket case right now. I needed my wits to survive this.

We ducked into a car, a battered blue Honda, the passenger side was full of fast-food wrappers and empty bottles. He pushed me in, got behind the wheel, and turned the key. The engine started with a cough.

"For what it's worth," he said after a while, the city blurring past in fits and starts, "I don't want to kill you." He laughed, a grim, nervous sound. "But someone has to tie up loose ends and that would be your sister Mia."

I sat there stunned wondering how she had anything to do with this.

We drove in silence to the coast, and that’s when things started to become familiar. He was taking me to the home I’d lived in with my mother and Mia before both exited my life.

Sunshine Bay.

We turned down roads I'd seen only in my memories. The town sign hung askew, still painted with faded daisies. Vance never took his eyes off the road, or his hand off the pistol resting on the console between us.

"Why here?" My voice barely trembled, though my knees shook something awful.

"This is where loose ends meet," he said. "It's where your sister's ghost still lives, isn't it?"

I couldn't answer.

We parked at the edge of the beach, the old house a black silhouette above the driftwood line. The yard was overgrown, the porch sagging, but the curtains in the front window had been drawn tight, making me suspect Vance had been inside for some time.

He got out of the car and came around to the passenger side. Glancing around, he ordered, "Get out and get inside."

He made me walk first, keeping one step behind me, the gun's shadow on the ground always at the edge of my vision.

The front door was unlocked. It swung open with a sigh, like lungs deflating. The house hadn't been lived in for years, but the air seemed fresh.

Inside, sparse memories pressed in on me… mom's sunhat on a hook, the wooden bear box Mia used to keep her collection of everything she found washed up on the beach, the corner of the coffee table where I'd hit my head on. All were gone now and in their place were cobwebs.

He steered me into the kitchen and walked over to the counter, where he thumbed a button. A panel on the floor slid open and darkness loomed within.

“Get down there,” he ordered.

I did, but not without making sure to grab the butter knife that sat on the kitchen counter as I passed. When would I even use it? I had no idea, but the thought of it being there as I clung to it inside my sweater sleeve, was comforting as I descended the creaking wooden stairs into the darkness.