Meryn saw the stranger's dreams wither and drain just before she was blinded by a flash of light. Her eyes squeezed shut and an arm raised to shield her face, when after a moment a voice rang through the air. A very high, very grating voice. Meryn opened her eyes to see a… firefly? Nope nope nope it was talking because magic. It flitted between the stranger and her, pointing anger and accusations. It was a fairy. An actual fairy.
The stranger seemed to be processing this just about as well as she was.
Eventually both he and the fairy were looking to her for answers. Gritting her teeth, Meryn forced herself to her feet. She pulled at the nametag pinned to her chest to display it to them, tugging at the loose fabric of her shirt. Letting go, she reached up with her other hand and yanked Spook's mask off her face. The change was more jarring than she expected it to be – fluid, ephemeral color giving way to stark, solid reality. She held the mask up to the fairy. Meryn looked over her shoulder to see the beacon of light erupting from where she'd entered the city. It had to be Spook. Meryn looked back up at the fairy and pointed at the beacon, still holding up the mask. She bit the inside of her lip, glancing from the fairy to the stranger to the buildings lining the alley.
Her weight moved to the balls of her feet and she started bouncing almost subconsciously. She didn't want to be here, surrounded by infected demons in a dead-end alley with a creepy (was he high?) man and some hyped up glowbug. (Magic was wonderful and exciting and enthralling and all, but… really. Time and place.) She needed to move, she needed to climb. Fear and adrenaline mixed, morphing from blind panic to white-knuckled determination (desperation?). She needed to get some altitude and find her friends and get the hell out of Cogswall. Whether or not the fairy was interested in helping.
Meryn pulled the mask back over her face and instantly the world was an explosion of color once more. Moving forward, she bent to pick up the crumpled letter and shoved it into the man's chest without stopping. Her eyes made quick work scanning the alley, searching for the easiest route up rather than the fastest.
As gross as he was, Meryn couldn't just let the guy die in the city. Because in all likelihood, he would. (And so would she. Just like everyone else in the city and it was herfaultherfaultherfault)
She found a fire escape snaking down the side of the building at the far end of the alley. The ladder was pulled up, the bottom of it hanging about ten feet above the ground. The corner of her mouth quirked up.
Meryn broke into a sprint, headed straight for the wall at the end of the alley. She reached it, took two steps up the wall, and kicked off. She twisted in the air, facing the opening of the alley and stretched out her arms. Her palms found the bottom rung. Her weight pulled the ladder down, sending a jolt through her shoulders. She'd barely touched the ground when she'd already started climbing the back. Halfway up she climbed around to the front of it and pulled herself up to the first landing. Turning, Meryn looked down at the man, then up at the beacon at the edge of the city. She stared for a heartbeat at the fairy. Spook had given her that rune for a reason. Small, frightened hope flickered in her chest, that this would be some sort of help, that it wouldn't be just her trying to survive in a world more harsh than she was prepared for.
She turned and hurried up the fire escape.
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