Thirty minutes later, Quinn quietly slipped back into my room. She looked even more worn out than when she left. Sylvie’s ears twitched upright as soon as the door unlocked, though she continued to pretend to be asleep. I playfully poked her in the cheek, which made her deflate slightly.
”Is she—?” Quinn nodded to my sister.
No. I mouthed to her, and helplessly shook my head. I shifted slightly to get more comfortable. To be honest, I was more than ready to get out of this bed and back up on my own two feet. No idea how long I’d been lying here, but it felt like forever.
Quinn looked over me to make sure I was still alright, then her gaze slowly settled on my ‘sleeping’ sister. “Um… Sylvie? It’s time for school.”
Sylvie’s ears pulled back aggressively, and her shoulders tensed up. With her sleeping facade shattered, she wiggled out of my arms and sat up on the side of the bed. “Not going.”
”We’ve talked about this—“
”That was before she woke up!” Sylvie popped to her feet. Her tail twitched behind her in aggravation. “It’s different now.”
”Sylvie, please… I…” Quinn looked to me for help, though I had none to provide. “Would you mind if we had a few moments, at least?”
”Of course I mind! She’s been unconscious for four weeks! There’s no way I’m leaving now that she’s finally woken up.” My sister stepped in front of me, and growled at Quinn. “You… you can’t ask me to leave.”
“You’re late for school.” Quinn looked entirely dejected. She had to be the bad guy in this situation, and she knew it. She tagged on weakly, “it’s your first day, too.”
First day? Was summer already over? Sure, it would’ve ended during the Mire expedition and right before the Awakening Ceremony. I walked for somewhere around two weeks so… had I really been sleeping here for a month? Or was I grossly miscounting the days—no, Vigil helped me keep track. We shouldn’t be that far off.
A month. Gone. Just like that. A month off my life stolen away from me, never to be returned. A month I could’ve been spending time with Sylvie before she went back to school. As if missing the Awakening Ceremony wasn’t bad enough… I looked up to ask about how that went, but Quinn and Sylvie were still in a battle of nerves. I could ask later.
Still, to be in and out for four weeks… just how corrupted was I? My Regeneration should’ve ensured I wasn’t down for very long. The only time this kind of thing happened in the past was when they were testing my corruption limits.
”You can’t just miss school like this.” Her attempts were weaker and weaker, so she abruptly swapped pressure points. “They’ll call Reyna in for truancy at this rate.”
My little sister’s tail went rigid, and her ears snapped backward with aggression. The fur along the ridge stood on end. ”Fuck school—!”
“Sylvie.” I groaned softly and rubbed at my face. “What did I tell you about cussing?”
“S-sorry, sis.” The aggression instantly evaporated from her frame, and she looked between me and Quinn. She stuffed her hands into her stolen hoodie’s pockets and lifted her head resolutely. “I’m not leaving.”
Silence filled the room. Quinn looked like she was between a rock and a hard place. Throughout it all, Sylvie kept standing in front of me and glaring at her. Just what happened while I was gone for their relationship to deteriorate this much? They at least got along well together before I left.
“There’s protocols—“
”The same protocols that sent Reyna out into the Mire?” Venom practically dripped from my sister’s voice like she was a silver serpent instead of a Silver Wolf.
”That’s not fair.” Quinn’s entire expression collapsed. Underneath their words, I could almost hear the echoes of previous arguments.
I shifted around uncomfortably on the bed. Being talked about like I wasn’t in the room felt disgustingly close to how Hades treated me. ”I’m right here, guys.”
”Sorry.” They echoed each other, which only made Sylvie angrier.
“And maybe you should listen to Quinn,” I said after a few moments of steeping in silence. I did just return from being abandoned in the Mire. As much as I wanted to spend time with her, there were protocols in place for a reason. “School will—“
”Pave my future. I know,” Sylvie’s voice rang flatly, and her tail twitched around in irritation. Ah, so she had been listening? “You can’t… you can’t expect me to leave like this.”
”I’ll be here after you get out.” I reached forward, and soothed down the spiked fur along her tail. “And you can tell me all about your first day, m’kay?”
”I…” Sylvie’s ears dejectedly drooped, and made my head throb. Every part of me wanted to make Quinn leave instead, but the sooner we got through this, the sooner I could get out of here. And school really was important for her future so she didn’t wind up like me.
”Please, Sylvie? I need to debrief her, and discuss… what happened.” Although Quinn didn’t vocalize it, the mood in the room rapidly plummeted as my mind drifted toward the expedition. All three of us seemed to be thinking of the same thing. “The doctors will have to do their checkups too. There’s no telling how long that’ll take.”
”Damn it!” Sylvie threw her hands up in the air, and stomped toward the door. She stopped at the doorway, and took a heavy breath. A tremble went through her shoulders. When she turned back, the anger had faded under heavy exhaustion. Still, she tried to smile for me one last time. “Love you, Reyna.”
”I love you too.” My tail wagged gently, and stirred the blanket that was thrown over my lower half. “I can’t wait to hear about your first day. I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?”
“Yeah… just a few hours.” She rested her hand on the doorway, and lingered for a moment before leaving. “You better be here when I return.”
”Where else would I go?” I scooted back onto the bed, and wrapped my arms over my chest limply.
“… good.” She didn’t immediately leave, and instead just watched me for a moment. Her eyes almost seemed to glow as she traced me one last time. The door softly clicked after she left.
Quinn and I sat in silence for several moments as she gathered her thoughts. “They assigned me a new Canary, you know.”
”Oh.” Right, ‘course they’d replace me. Just because I was left in the Mire didn’t mean the world ground to a stop.
”Fuck.” Quinn ran her hands through her hair, and shook her head. “Sorry, that isn’t what I meant to say. He was temporary till you woke up. Quit after a bad op, if you can believe that. Doesn’t matter.”
“Quinn…” I tried to interrupt her ramble. It was like I was still limply lying in bed, incapable of doing anything aside from listening to her talk.
“We’ve been reassigned. Somewhere easier for your distinguished service.” Quinn stared blankly at the ground. “Just thought you should know.”
“Quinn, I’m back.” I forced more steel into my voice. She slowly looked up as if she was afraid I’d vanished.
Silence settled across the room. Her attempts to bury her emotions under work stuff faded, and her eyes fogged up slightly. “I… I really missed you too, you know?”
“I know. I dreamed of getting back every miserable day back then.” If it wasn’t for Vigil, I would’ve actually gone insane. Vigil… where’d you go, buddy? Didn’t you promise you’d stay with me? “Um… I had a necklace. Do you know where it went?”
“All your stuff is at Harbor HQ… they had to sanitize and clear everything just in case you—“ brought a Calamity back with you. She cut herself off before she could finish the thought, but I caught her meaning.
”Thank you.” One more weight felt like it’d lifted off my shoulders. At least they hadn’t thrown him away. He was out there somewhere waiting for me.
Quinn nodded absentmindedly a few times. Her eyes were distant as if a thousand wild thoughts ran through her head. “Reyna, I—“
The door popped open just in time to cut her off, and a man in a white coat stepped into the room. He looked up from a clipboard, and paused. “Canary Vargriev… it’s good to see you awake.”
”Doctor Smith?” I tried to keep the tremble out of my body as I recognized his face from my time with Hades. How could I forget one of my researchers?
Quinn’s eyes snapped down to me, and her eyebrows sharpened. “You know him already?”
“Of course. Reyna here came to see me several times a few years ago.” Doctor Smith set the clipboard down, and moved over to a bunch of monitors at my side. He looked totally unconcerned with the Guardian staring him down like she might kill him. “Isn’t that right, Reyna?”
”Y-yeah. I mean, yes.” I bit my tongue, and clasped my hands in my lap. One of my ears twitched downward. “Remember back at the academy I had that health issue?”
”… I do.” She squinted at me as if trying to pry through my secrets. For the first time in a seriously long time, I felt like she might start digging into me. Her eyes narrowed even further for a moment before her expression eased up, and she smiled softly once more. “Ah, so that’s what it was. Had me a bit worried there.”
”Hehe… yeah.” I couldn’t look up to meet her eyes, and instead picked at the fabric of the blanket.
”Guardian Tidebreak—“
”Quinn. Call me Quinn.” She smiled politely at the man as if they were good buddies. “You’re treating my Canary, so it's not like I can treat you like a stranger, Doctor Smith.”
“… Quinn.” The man looked away from the monitors. His eyes traced a path across me before settling on her. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to step out of the room. I need to do several checks that may be, ahem, invasive.”
”That’s fine. You don’t mind me being here, right, Reyna?” Quinn shrugged, and smiled at me. She showed way too many teeth as if she was the Silver Wolf and not me. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
”Um… maybe you should listen to Doctor Smith.” The words tasted bitter in my mouth. I helped Quinn get rid of Sylvie, and now here I was getting rid of Quinn for Doctor Smith. I could feel Smith’s desire to get me alone, though… There was only one reason why Hades would get him on as my primary caretaker.
Her expression tightened for a moment before drooping into a neutral one. “Fine, fine… call for me if you need something.”
“I will.” Not. What would I do? Expose the man as a syndicate member? I’d have to explain how I knew what he was. That wasn’t an option. I hadn’t been back for long, and they’d already got their claws into me…
It was different this time, though. Not as hopeless. The obedient mutt they abandoned in the Mire hadn’t come back. At least, hadn’t come back whole. I wasn’t quite sure how or when, but I was going to slip their leash. It was only a matter of time.
Once Quinn left, Doctor Smith pulled out a puck of some kind and tossed it onto my lap. The noise beyond the door dulled noticeably. A conversation scrambler of some kind, maybe? He remained totally calm, and leaned against the monitors. “Overseer Haman was pleased you made it back.”
”Is he… is he here?” A shiver went down my spine, and I curled up under the blanket as if it’d protect me. I didn’t know how to face the man after what he did to me.
”No. He went to Thunderbird City to meet up with Director Roose…” Doctor Smith shrugged. “The two of them will fly in a month from now.”
“Director Roose is coming?!” My ears perked up straight. I hadn’t seen him in… since he gave me my life back. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little excited to see him. The rest of Hades could burn in hellfire, but not him. Never him.
“Indeed.” Smith eyed me for a moment with interest. Instead of saying anything else, he tossed me a phone. “Read through that. When you’re ready, I’ll actually start the tests.”
”Right…” I lifted the phone, and opened it up to find a long document detailing the edited, polite version of how I was left out in the Mire. Disgust welled up in me as I memorized the details of how I bravely sacrificed myself and barely survived. They abandoned me in the Mire, and then wrote my story for me.