Dark City

49.

They slept peacefully in the red tent. In the middle of the night Tom went to use the bathroom. He searched it diligently. In the bottom drawer beneath old lipsticks and eyeshadows, he found an old license. It was definitely her. But the name was Savannah Mitchell. Tom went back to bed, cuddling up to Savannah. He awoke in the early morning hours to the sound of her striking a lighter.

"You sure you don't want to smoke?" she asked. She lit a joint and blew rings and tendrils of smoke within the tent.

"No. You go ahead."

His phone vibrated in his pants at the end of the bed. He reached over and fished it out of the denim, checking the screen. He had three missed calls from Carl. Tom texted him:

Met a girl.

Hypatia snuggled up to him, puffing away on her joint. She ran her fingers over the ink on his forearm.

"This tattoo," she said. "There is incredible energy here."

"Energy?"

"I feel concentrated emotion when I touch it. It's like the feeling of seeing your best friend for the first time in years."

"You do that for a living, don't you?"

"No," she said. "It just comes naturally. I have a thin veil." Hypatia had herself a drag and then she kissed him and blew the smoke into his lungs. Tom lingered in the kiss until she drew back.

He exhaled a surge of billowy smoke and he asked, "What is it to have a thin veil?"

"Every person wears a veil that makes them blind to supernatural presence. They walk right past sad little ghost girls without sensing them. Most people are at least perceptive enough to get cold or feel discomfort in the presence of spirits. A few people, like myself, have thinner veils, and can see into a person's heart, or even tell their future."

Tom watched her lips move as she spoke. She had a mesmerizing husky voice. He could see how she had followers. She was entrancing. "You wear the mark of Solomon."

"You know the symbol?" Hypatia smiled.

"I know of Baphomet and of the knights Templar who exalted him to Westerners."

"Impressive."

"My ex taught me. You know her. Lacey Hart."

"Ah," Hypatia sighed. "So you're Tom. I was hoping you'd be my Dread Pirate Kitty forever."

"And you are Savannah."

"How do you know my real name?" The marijuana was working its magic in loosening Hypatia's lips.

"Maybe my veil is thinner than you think."

"Lacey told you, didn't she? That naughty girl."

"Actually, it was Alex." Alex hadn't told him shit, but this was the easiest way to broach the subject.

"That drunk girl on Halloween?"

"She said you took care of her."

Hypatia's expression grew leery. "Yeah. All night."

"Did you leave her at any point?"

"No. We passed out together." Hypatia turned away from him, pulling her kimono up around herself. She sniffed. "I'm going to make some tea." She hopped off her bed and went to the stove. She pulled a copper kettle down from a ceiling rack and filled it up. Tom followed her into the kitchen.

"Do you remember inking her with henna?" he asked.

"No. But we call that house the River Styx for a reason." Hypatia turned on the burner and handed him a box of assorted tea. "Girls go there to forget."

Tom picked out a bag of chamomile. "What do they want to forget?"

"Their inherent trauma."

"What do you mean by that?"

Hypatia chuckled. "The trauma of being female. You wouldn't get it." The kettle whistled. She snatched it off the burner and poured the steaming liquid into two black mugs.

"Did you leave her with Liam at any point?" Tom asked, taking a cup.

Hypatia blew on her tea, her eyes hidden behind the steam. She walked toward her windows and parted the sheer red curtains with her hand. She gazed out, the curtain's red shadow on her face.

"I mean, you must have," said Tom. "She woke up with him watching over her." He drank his tea. The subtle notes of chamomile cleared his senses. He thought about how to proceed. "If he made you do bad things, that's not necessarily your fault."

"I know why you're here. It's about what happened to Hannah. She was your girlfriend, right?"

"A long time ago. But it's more than that. It's about Alex too. And you. Everyone who Liam could potentially hurt."

Hypatia looked into her mug and frowned. "He's not the one you should be worried about." Hypatia was staring into her tea, practically reading the leaves.

Tom's hands trembled. He set his tea on an end table. He tried to form words in his mouth, but his lips were paralyzed. He leaned forward grasping at the wall as his legs pulled him like magnets to the floor.

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Music: Muse "Hoodoo"