Conor

Em couldn’t hear everything, only bits and pieces, but xe held onto what xe could. Xe had no idea that xe was repeating his words out loud-

“Six foot- dark hair- he’ll kill Micah- us all.” Em grit xer teeth as xe started to lose the connection. “Potion, lock- 0-26-0. Basement-”

Tears streamed down Em’s face. Xe couldn’t hear his last words, only the intent.

“CONOR HOLD ON!” 

“Em. It’s okay. I promise. It’s nobody’s fault but his. I love you all. I’m gonna have to let you go, I’ve got company. I can’t let you feel this too.”

He’d had his eyes closed while trying to talk to Em, and as he finished he opened them again to stare at the hunter. Conor was doing everything he could to break off the connection for the time being, the only thing he could think that xe was doing was holding onto his magic necklace. The hunter offered him a smile. But it was cold and uncaring, didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Em gripped the necklace so hard that xer knuckles went white. Xe chanted Conor’s name under xer breath and tried to find any sounds, smells- anything- that would lead xer to Conor. Xe felt something tug at the other end of the line, so xe tugged back, saying his name with more power.

Parrish kept guard over Em, ready to intervene if his cousin taxed xer abilities too much. He tried to keep himself relaxed, but he couldn’t help but be tense.

“Em?” Conor’s breath caught in his throat as he said his friend’s name. The feeling in the back of his head definitely felt like Em and Conor was already concerned about xer pushing xerself too hard too fast. “Em, listen, if you can hear me listen. He’s six foot, maybe six one. Dark hair, he said he figured out a way to kill Micah. Was going to kill all of you if I didn’t go with him. Don’t give him the chance, Em, please.”

It started with a feeling two years ago. A feeling beyond hypervigilance and paranoia, a feeling of cautious certainty. He’d talked about it then, kept an eye out, but nothing had happened. Not that he knew about at any rate. Bevin had found a pocket watch that she had loaned him before, a pocket watch he’d had with him the night he was taken, in their mailbox. She hadn’t told him, she didn’t want to worry him.

Nothing had come of it then. But, luck has a tendency to run out at the most inopportune moments.

Em shook her head. 

“Alive, but not okay. He’s in danger, like you.”

Em flinched when Jake touched xer so unexpectedly. 

“I’m not a prisoner,” xe argued, fists balling.

The three all froze, eyes trained on the new person. “We never said you were.” Conor explained, a bit more gently than he wanted to. “You’re the one saying it’s not safe. And you saw our friend.”

Em wanted to leave them, but at the same time, xe couldn’t. Xe frowned at Jake and said quietly,

“Monster.”

Em turned xer attention to Conor and nodded.

“Not here. Somewhere else.”

“You saw our friend?” It was Althea that spoke, the chill of the poor weather forgotten in a moment of hope. “You saw Micah? Where is he? Is he okay?”

“We should go, I mean we can talk at the house. That thing is still out here somewhere. If Micah’s not here, then he’s safe, right?”

“Jake’s got a point Althea, we should head home.” Conor was reaching for Althea’s hand, a calming gesture that the girl reciprocated. Jake on the other hand was moving to put his hand ever so slightly against the newcomer’s back.

Em didn’t answer since a few others came and began talking. When Jake aimed his light at xer face, xe squinted but didn’t make an effort to protect xer eyes from the sudden light.

“We need to leave,” xe said more insistently. “It’s going to come back and kill you all.”

“We’ll go as soon as we find his glasses.” Jake protested. Althea was carefully moving closer to help Conor search while Jake was studying the stranger carefully. While he did tend to faint when blood was involved the minor nose bleed wasn’t enough to do much apart from make him a little pale. “What was that thing?”

"Other than scary as hell?”

"Yeah.” Althea carefully knelt down to help Conor search, ultimately finding them and passing them to her friend who immediately pulled them on. The frames were damaged enough that they were sitting askew and one of the lenses was badly cracked. “Your mom’s going to be so upset.”

Em pointed to xerself in confusion.

“Me? I’m… It doesn’t matter. We need to leave. It’s going to come back at any moment.”

Xe looked around, hoping that it would give them some time to get away.

“What are you doing down there?”

“It?” Conor was about to ask more but he heard his name being called. Althea, nobody else knew he was out here apart from Jake and he definitely didn’t sound like a girl. He turned a little to see flashlight beams, with a breath of relief he looked back to xer. “What was that, what did you just do?”

"Conor, you okay?"

"You were screaming like a bitch."

This time it was Jake, stumbling up and stopping once he realized Conor’s glasses were gone. Althea wasn’t far behind, the girl starting to immediately shine her light to the ground to hopefully find the glasses while Jake’s light aimed at the newcomer. 

“When you put yellow or orange on your dark circles, it cancels them out, making the undereye area brighter and less tired, which is what you’re looking for. But it looks fucking weird alone, hence the concealer over it. And concealer is better for small spots like just under your eyes instead of putting foundation there.”