They prop Midori between them, arms across each of their shoulders to brace the shock of her weight. Taya wasn’t comfortable leaving Midori’s leg dangling free whereas Flint didn’t like the authorities catching them with a limp and injured body stretched between them. Shoulder to shoulder was a compromise - though not terribly discreet, with all the visible injury - and Taya took pains not to jostle her in any possible way.

Flint is the first one to breach the silence. “I thought you said you couldn’t use magic.”

Taya raises both eyebrows and colors from the tips of her ears to her nose. “Did I say that? I must have meant to say ‘I can hardly use magic.’ I’m not very good, this was all just luck.”

She feels trapped under his eyes. Empty black pits stripping her down layer by layer until her secrets emerge from a protective husk and he devours them whole. A glint of afternoon sun passes over them like light on water and she realizes she can breathe again. She turns her eyes abruptly to the ground and each footstep closer to her apartment. Every so often, Flint stops at a crosswalk or turns down a street and she follows helplessly in his current.

“I hope she’s all right,” she ventures.

“Technically speaking, moving her can’t be helping. If she survives this, then anything else is negligible.”

Taya’s eyes go wide and she stumbles over her own feet. “What? Moving her is bad?”

His eyebrows furrow and the corner of his mouth slides up in a not so charming grin. “Generally, yes. She could have broken bones, punctured organs, or any number of things that won’t improve by being jostled around. I thought you knew that when you picked her up.”

“No!” Taya stops walking entirely and stares at him with a lost, puppy dog expression. The dread that she’d made the situation worse drags her words out in a rush. “What should we do? Move her back? Get a stretcher? I could make one! Set her down here? I could probably go get someone, or, or, or.”

“You’re almost home. Brick building with the blue door, yes?”

She searches the body nervously for visible signs of broken or punctured unpleasantness. He rests his free hand on the side of her face and her attention snaps immediately to him with the same residual annoyance.

“Yes? Oh… Uh, yeah.”

“Then at this point, it won’t hurt to take her there. She’ll be fine.”

Taya turns away from him and starts walking again. Her apartment is in sight, a small beacon of hope in rising guilt. Flint offers reassurance, “She stands a better chance with your friend than if you left her there. You’re doing more than anyone else would have done in your position.”

“Maybe.”

“She will be fine, Taya.”

Taya snaps out of her sulk abruptly and smiles sheepishly. “Well, hopefully. But thanks, for saying all that. And, uh, thanks for helping.”

He shakes his head. “I’m happy for the chance to spend time with you.”

“Um. Well. . .” Suddenly she notices the front steps under her feet and the way he lingers after passing Midori to her shoulder. Thumb brushing chin, eyes on her, body inclined forward. Her shoulders arc up despite the weight and she steps back too quickly when he leans in for the kiss. “Thanks for everything and I’ll um see you soon maybe but inside, need to be inside.”

“When soon?”

Would he not quit? “Uh. Maybe we should, uh, resume lunch tomorrow. Same place same time, not so many falling bodies?” She continues backing up the steps until her hand finds the security of a door. Midori wobbles a little and she contorts herself to steady her while she tries to twist the knob.

“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Her hand shoots out to block him and with some struggling she opens the door without falling back onto it.

“I’m fine. See? See? Fine. Goodbye.”

“Goodb-”

She shuts the door abruptly and leans on it to catch her breath. Ugh! The front desk is empty - agent must be out to lunch - so she gingerly hefts the thief into a piggyback position and wobbles toward the stairs. What floor was it, third? Third. Okay. Take it one step at a time.

She turns toward Midori’s head and apologizes. “Sorry. I had no idea I wasn’t supposed to move you! If I knew any healing spells I’d’ve fixed you right there, but it’s probably better to go to someone who knows this kind of thing, right?”

The first floor hall stretches away to her left and she continues onward. “I’ll be extra careful not to bump you or anything. It’d be nice to have another set of hands, but I could not stand another minute of that guy. He makes my skin crawl! He was just going to leave you there and he kept making moves on me even though, you know, life or death situation. Ugh! Skeevy skeevy skeevy.”

Second floor.

“I don’t know what she sees in him. He acts all charming but it’s totally an act, and it can’t be because he’s attractive because I’m way prettier than him. And those eyes, yeek. Anyone who keeps looking at her like that is planning something big and awful. She’s trusting him way too much and he totally knows it. This is not gonna end well, you know?”

Third floor. She stumbles down the hall to their door and jingles one handed in her pocket until she finds keys. She jabs them awkwardly at the door until they slide into place and the lock slips open. Leaving the keys in the door, she enters the empty apartment, rests the body carefully on her bed, and sits gingerly by her feet. She finds her necklace and rolls the pendant between her fingers.

“Sage’ll probably be here soon. He’s a good guy, he’ll fix you up even if you’re too proud to admit you need it. Hang on until then, okay?”

She closes her eyes and begins to whisper words. The chant brings yellow fire to her skin, rolling crashing waves of energy that wash over her body and sizzle when they hit the necklace clutched ever tighter between her fingers. The stone spits and hisses like a living thing, jolts and jumps against confinement, flares colorless light, and then stops dead. The fire roars, flashes, and fades into nonexistence.

All the words stop as Taya slides forward, onto the floor, and passes out for the second time that afternoon.