They all met,
one evening, strolling downtown, the sidewalks bustling, everyone chatting
around them, and how it was that a conversation formed between them might
itself be considered a story, because that’s the real mystery, the magic of how
life works in its simplest ways, no matter how we might try to interpret it
otherwise, how the world Sia was growing up in seemed to function at its core,
without being explained, helpfully, by Sia and Oliver agreeing to meet up that
night, because saying so would be a lie, and worse than what might be said
about it otherwise.
The truth of it was Sia, attempting to
have something of a normal life, ventured out that day in search of something
to do, and during the course of her ambling happened to spot the pin Oliver was
wearing, featuring the logo she’d begun to accept as the only face of House
Argos she was ever going to see. She
wasn’t going to do anything, say anything, when Oliver turned around and looked
directly at her, as if he’d somehow sensed her presence, but the truth was it was
only coincidence, and the force of her imagination that pressed the events
onward, and the worst words expressed between them were an awkward apology, and
somewhere down the street someone scoffed, and of course that was Night, and it
was Sia becoming angry and confrontational that led to everything else.
“Sorry,” Sia said.
“No problem,” Oliver said.
“Please!” Night said.
“Excuse me?” Sia said.
“Please,” Night said again. “You don’t need me to explain. You can’t be that dense.”
“You’re being rude,” Oliver said.
“I think you just need to move on, lady,”
Sia said.
“I think you need to wake up,” Night said.
“That’s just uncalled for,” Oliver said.
“Take a look at the pin again,”
Night said.
“How do you even know I was looking in the
first place?” Sia asked.
“I was watching, okay?” Night said.
“That’s creepy,” Sia said.
“I agree,” Oliver said.
“You’re both going to need to be walked
through this,” Night said.
“Lady, you have no idea,” Oliver said.
“Trying to play it discreet isn’t going to
work here,” Night said.
“You certainly made sure of that,” Oliver
said.
“That’s the logo,” Sia said.
“Exactly,” Night said.
“The logo of House Argos,” Sia said, “which
is now a thing I’ve said out loud.”
“It gets less awkward,” Oliver said. “Actually, we don’t tend to use it ourselves,
come to think of it. No one tends to use
the name of the place they work for, really.
It’s just too obvious. You do
tend to read it a lot, though.”
“I’m trying to make this easier,” Night
said.
“You could’ve done a better job,” Sia
said.
“While maintaining your own anonymity,”
Oliver said.
“That’s the idea,” Night said.
“Still very, very creepy,” Sia said.
“Says the girl who just happened to bump
into the guy she’s been chatting with on the internet,” Night said.
“You kind of spoiled the curve a little,”
Sia said. “Whoever you are.”
“I have some ideas,” Oliver said.
“I bet you do,” Night said.
“In my line of work,” Oliver said, “it’s
usually expecting to see things that aren’t human. But then you aren’t and you are, aren’t you?”
“That’s the general idea,” Night said.
“I have no idea what any of that means,”
Sia said.
“Care to field this, Field Agent?” Night
said.
“A long time ago, her ancestors were
human,” Oliver said. “Generally
speaking, they aren’t anymore. And they
are.”
“Which is the most racist way possible to
put it,” Night said.
“You’re speaking English very well, by the
way,” Oliver said.
“I try to blend in,” Night said. “It’s not a very formal language, the way it’s
used these days.”
“You’re not human,” Sia said.
“I am,” Night said. “And I’m not.”
“She’s
the answer to everything you’ve ever wanted to know.”
“I’m also the one who set all this up,”
Night said.
“You couldn’t possibly have coerced me
into taking a walk today,” Sia said.
“True,” Night said, “probably. But I certainly had plenty of opportunity to
influence your friend here.”
“Oliver Row,” Oliver said.
“Sia,” Sia said. “Anastassia.
Hard name to pronounce, so I shortened it.”
“I know,” Oliver said.
“Of course you do,” Sia said.
“It’s Greek,” Night said, “as I understand
it. They would’ve been nice to know, in
their prime. But that was well before my
time.”
“You wanted answers, Sia,” Oliver
said. “This lady’s capable of providing
much more of them than I could.”
“Right here on the sidewalk,” Sia
said.
“No better place or time,” Oliver said.
“I could think of a few,” Sia said.
“Nobody’s listening,” Night said. “Nobody cares. They’ve got their own little lives to worry
about. The world could be ending.”
“That’s an awfully specific hypothetical,”
Oliver said.
“An example,” Night said.
“So you’d certainly like me to think,”
Oliver said. “The problem is, it’s been
my business since well before my lifetime to worry about exactly that.”
“You were looking for answers, Sia,” Night
said. “As your friend here suggested, I’m
here to give them.”
“Doubtful,” Oliver said. “You’re not here on any official capacity. You’d never have come alone if you had. She would’ve seen it on the news long before
she saw you on a sidewalk.”
“That’s the wild imagination you humans
have been so good at cultivating,” Night said.
“Driving ourselves to distraction, I
sometimes think,” Sia said.
“All my stories involve the past,” Night
said.
“Must be boring,” Oliver said.
“You’ve lived fanciful lives,” Night
said. “You’re hardly the best judge.”
“This is going nowhere fast,” Sia said.
“The
only reason it hasn’t gotten a lot more complicated has nothing to do with me,”
Night said. “Your friend’s agency is
just waiting to swarm. That’s the real
reason this is playing out so casually.”
“She has me there,” Oliver said.
He was the first to step away from the
small group. Sia was so busy worrying
about her sudden sense of security slipping away, she didn’t even notice when,
or how, Night made her exit.
She expected to hear from both again.
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