Book I - ch 18. Spun Around

* * *

Sarah almost missed the knock. She wiped at her eyes as the door edged opened.

“Can I come in?” Pegasus asked.

Of course it was him. No one else knocked.

She straightened herself, though she remained seated on the floor. “Yeah, sure.” She was proud of herself for sounding unaffected.

Pegasus took her state in without a word before sitting down next to her. He ran a hand along his hair, looking slightly uncomfortable. “I asked how you were feeling because I was wondering how you were feeling. This isn’t part of my job. It’s just me.”

Sarah refused to look at him. She stared at the floor instead, afraid she’d start crying again if she said a word.

“I don’t remember my parents much, but I remember what it felt like when I lost them.” Pegasus said. “I took you to the cemetery because I wanted to. I talked to you because I wanted to. And nothing personal you told me had been repeated to anyone, including Robyn.”

Sarah looked at him then.

“But the moment you became a possible threat, I had to tell them everything. I’m sorry if it feels like I was disrespectful.” He met her gaze. “I can’t gamble anybody’s life but my own.”

Sarah was somewhat pacified by that explanation. She’d obviously never considered herself a threat. She wouldn’t be the villain of her own story.

Besides, she wasn’t that angry about Pegasus telling the others. She was upset at the way Scorpion had talked about it. She’d felt embarrassed. No, mortified was a better word.

Staying in this suspicious place had been a last resort in her mind, her only shot at still seeing her sister. And Scorpion trampled on that last hope. Sarah leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Scorpion had been doing her job as well, hadn’t she?

Silence embraced her, but it wasn’t comforting. It only caused her mind to wander towards darker, lonelier thoughts.

It was so quiet that she opened her eyes to check if Pegasus had left her.

Contrary to her assumptions, he hadn’t moved at all. He was staring at the floor as if his own thoughts were miles away.

She shifted in her seat, realizing her right leg was falling asleep. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“If they need me, they’ll call.” He frowned. “Or do you want me to leave you alone?”

Did she want to be alone? Just her and her own thoughts… and the reflection in the mirror?

She rubbed at her arms to dispel a sudden chill. “No.”

His only acknowledgement of her response, Pegasus leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes.

Sarah watched, bewildered. Was he going to take a nap?

A pen slid out of his pocket. Pegasus picked it up, balancing it between his index and middle fingers.

“Where’s Robyn? Is she avoiding me again?”

The pen swayed back and forth, speeding up, and then it slipped. Or it looked like it slipped, but it flipped over his thumb instead.

“She’s looking over some information we got. It’s important, otherwise she’d be here.”

The pen continued to move, dancing along his fingers. It flipped and spun with increasing speed, as if his hand were remembering the motions as it went. The fluidity in the pen’s movement was oddly hypnotizing.

Would she be able to learn that if she tried? Her fingers weren’t as long as his. She’d even struggled with piano lessons once upon a time.

Dad took her for ice cream when she came home crying from class and they went for a walk at their favorite spot near the park. This was after the teacher said she shouldn’t bother learning the piano since she’d never be able to reach an octave. Mom got so angry, she didn’t even stop Robyn from cursing until she got a couple of f-bombs out. It felt nice being in that protective bubble when she was little.

She wiped at her eyes, glad that Pegasus’ eyes remained closed, no sign of life from him except the pen spinning in his hand.

“What’s gonna happen to me now?”

The pen paused, balancing on the back of his hand for a moment before being tossed into the air and caught. “We haven’t figured that out yet. The ones who directly attacked your family have been captured. But someone ordered them to do it, so we’re not sure you’re safe. We won’t be until we know why they targeted you.”

“I can’t think of why anyone would want to kill me. I mean, I’m annoying sometimes, but not that annoying. I think.”

Pegasus sprung forward, grabbing the pen mid-motion and offering it to her. Surprised, Sarah took it.

Reaching for her right hand, he adjusted the pen between the tips of her index, thumb and middle fingers. “I know you got angry when Scorpion asked you what you would trade your parents for. But think about that for a second… What would you trade for them?”

“What do you mean?”

He slid each of her fingers into position along the pen shaft as he saw fit.

“If your parents’ lives were at stake, what would you give to keep them safe?” He moved her index finger out of the way, pushing her middle finger forward. His eyes followed the pen instead of her. “Your own life?”

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“Sure.” Sarah’s gaze flitted between his downcast eyes and the pen being moved around her thumb.

“Your sister? Your friends?”

Were they thinking she’d been threatened into doing something?

“Would you trade a random stranger off the streets for your parents?” He repositioned the pen between the first three fingers. “A building full of strangers?”

“What does it even matter now?” Her parents were gone. What would it matter what she would have traded for their safety?

Her fingers twitched when she couldn’t clench her fist. The pen slipped, but Pegasus caught it before it reached the floor.

“I’d have given a lot to save my parents, but I wouldn’t have killed anyone for it. Not unless they had it coming.”

He waved the pen at her, so she grabbed it again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes…” But she recognized she didn’t sound sure. Could anyone be?

“Sarah, I know this sounds like a pointless thought exercise, but it’s a very important question. We need to understand how much you would have been willing to risk, who you would have been willing to risk, for your family.” The pen rounded her thumb again and was replaced into its starting position. “No one’s going to judge you for it, no matter what you say.”

Again, she watched as the pen was pushed to rotate over her thumb, but she watched his fingers instead. A scar on his index finger caught her eye.

“Just think it over. You can tell me later.”

“I thought you caught the people who killed our parents.”

“We caught the ones who pulled the trigger, but the order came from somewhere else, and we’re still short a motive.”

Right. Scorpion said something about orders they couldn’t trace.

He guided her middle finger to push the pen and released it. It spun around her thump and off her hand, straight into his waiting one.

“If you don’t find the motive, am I gonna be stuck in this room forever? ’Cause if so, I want a TV.”

“No, not forever. If everything you told us checks out, we’ll start planning for you to go home and go from there.”

Sarah took the pen, positioning it herself as he’d been doing. She left the issue of Robyn’s future whereabouts aside. That was something she should discuss with her sister—which would be why her sister was avoiding her.

She clung to his first words instead. “If everything checks out?”

Pegasus slid her index finger forward, edged her thumb back. “We’re still waiting on a couple of things to finish confirming you’re who you say you are. It shouldn’t take long now.”

“Well, when you guys decide who I am, by all means, please let me know. The suspense is killing me.”

He smiled. “I imagine it would be.”

He barely touched her middle finger, and she followed through the motion, pushing against the pen. It flipped over her thumb and fell.

This time, she caught it with her free hand and offered it to him. “Can I ask what you think?”

Pegasus took the pen and flipped it over his thumb.

“We’re mostly sure you’re you.” Though not a proper answer to her question, it was a reply.

“And if I’m me, then I’m still in danger?”

Pegasus tossed the pen towards her. “Depends on why they wanted you dead. If it’s something you know, they won’t give up that easily.”

She stared down at the pen. “I don’t know anything.”

“It’s also possible they know something about you we don’t.”

She placed the pen between her fingers. “What could they know about me that I don’t?”

He shrugged. “They may think you know something, but they could be wrong.”

She flicked the pen without thinking, and it went flying. Pegasus caught it with ease, immediately going into a complicated sequence of flips and spins. Sarah struggled to follow the motion.

“Sorry we don’t have all the answers. But we’re not giving up.” His voice sounded so drained.

Despite the energetic motion of his fingers, he was leaning back once again against the wall, eyes drifting closed as if he were going to sleep.

Sleeping, but not peaceful.

Now that she paid attention, he looked worse than she’d initially thought. His eyes had seemed less irritated, but that was pretty much it.

It made her feel bad about having given him such a hard time when he was trying to question her. He probably needed more rest than she did. Sarah reached out and grabbed the pen when it stilled.

Tired eyes opened and fixed on hers.

The intercom sounded with a much too loud warning in the silence.

“Pegasus?” a voice on the other end called out before Pegasus had made it halfway there.

“How do they know where you are?” It wasn’t the first time.

“Cameras in every hallway.” He pressed a button on the intercom. “What is it, Cypher?”

“Griffon asked me to tell you that Doc Brown said you haven’t gone to see him today, and asked him to order you to go see him.”

“Was that you relaying that order?”

“No, but this is: Griffon said you’re ordered to go see the doctor. Now.”

Pegasus chuckled. “Alright. I’m going.”

“Huh, that was easy,” Cypher mumbled before disconnecting.

Sarah offered him back the pen. “Are you feeling okay?”

Pegasus hesitated before taking it. “Not as good as I hoped.”

“Are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, fine. Doc said the worst was over.”

Sarah wasn’t sure why, but it felt like he was lying.

He smiled, flipping the pen one more time before it went into his pocket. “I should go. I’ll come talk to you later, if you don’t mind.”

Sarah nodded. She wanted to ask him about the albums Robyn had promised her, but now she didn’t feel right about bringing it up.

When the lock fell into place, Sarah moved over to the bed. It didn’t take long to find a comfortable—mostly painless—position. She felt herself drifting off, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

* * *

“Not on your life!” Robyn shouted, laughing. “I’m not lending you my favorite sweater!”

Sarah threw another pile of clothes onto her bed. “Robyn! C’mon, it’s the only green one we have.”

“No, you know I hate lending you my stuff. It always ends badly for the stuff.”

“That accident with the pen was not my fault.”

“Doesn’t matter, it was on your watch.”

“On my watch?” Sarah smiled, thinking back to the unfortunate pink watch she’d had as a kid. “You wanna talk about watches?”

“That was one time, and Bobby pushed me. We glued the plastic thingy back on.”

“And it never worked like it should again.”

Robyn glared at her, and she glared back.

After a few seconds, Robyn threw her hands up. “Fine, choke on it.”

“What’s going on?” Mom asked from the doorway.

“Nothing,” Sarah said.

“It better be nothing. Your dad and I are trying to have a quiet dinner. You’re not children, stop acting like you are.”

“Yes, mother,” they mocked in unison.

Mom shook her head, but she was smiling as she closed the door.

Robyn held out the sweater to Sarah. “I’ll let you borrow it, but you have to take over my chores for a week.”

Sarah laughed. “Forget it.”

“Three days.”

“Hah! No.”

Maybe Jeremy had a green t-shirt somewhere. Sarah shoved the amorphous pile of clothes to the side, searching for the backpack and phone she’d inadvertently buried underneath. This was all Professor Raymond and his weird color assignment’s fault. Who the hell ever heard of assigning his students colors as if they were a rainbow?

She found her phone underneath the last layer of clothes and pulled it out along with a dirty shirt that had gotten mixed into the pile. A pen fell, bouncing on her foot before rolling under the bed. Phone in hand, she felt around the floor until she found it.

She sat back on her ankles, staring at the pen as it nestled perfectly between her thumb, index, and middle fingers. Her index finger slid away and the middle finger pushed the pen forward. It flipped over her thumb and landed with a thump on the floor.

She stared at the pen as she picked it up and repositioned it.

Robyn’s voice reached her as if from far away.

For a second, she wondered what Robyn was doing there. Robyn shouldn’t be there anymore…

A shiver ran through her, every hair standing on end. The pen slipped from her hand.

Something green was draped over her eyes and she pulled it away. Robyn was smiling at her, the green sweater in her hands.

“Bring it back in one piece or you’ll be doing my chores for a year,” Robyn said.

Sarah stuck her tongue out at her sister, the pen forgotten. “What chores? You never actually do anything.”