Chapter Text
Lucy spent the next few days running deliveries while also keeping a sharp eye out. She managed to finagle Arif and Laura into a routine which allowed her to return to the store well before the sun started to set. She did not want to run into whoever, or whatever might have been behind the voice she had heard that night in Arif’s office.
The strange shifting shadows and voices no one else could hear seemed to stop. Though the tingling feeling in her fingers never went away. It meant that she could not relax fully. Whatever was out there wanted her to think she was safe. The instinct that kept her fingers tingling all day – and especially all night – kept her from forgetting that.
The days past mundanely. Customers were always nice to her. Something she privately thought had more to do with the fact that she always came bearing sugary treats and baked goods than them actually liking her. The one exception was those two boys at 35 Portland Row.
“You’re new in town, aren’t you?” demanded George the second she showed up for their customary delivery. “I’ve never seen you before. Where did you live before this? Why did you come to London?”
Lucy paused in the action of handing over the box of baked goods and reaching for the money that was in the boy’s hand. “That’s none of your business, is it?” she snapped, “I didn’t come here for an interrogation from you. Now take your damn donuts, hand me the money you owe, and I’ll be on my way.”
It probably was not the smartest plan to be so rude to a paying customer. Something about George’s manner just rubbed her entirely the wrong way and put her on the warpath. She did not see hide nor hair of the other boy, who’s name she still didn’t know – not even Laura had known what he was actually called. George’s glasses flashed at her tone, but he did not comment further and complied with her demands.
…
The strangeness of the residents of Portland Row seemed to have infected their whole house. She had no idea why, buy every time Lucy got within a hundred paces of the place, the tingling feeling in her fingers stopped. It always started up again when she left the buildings vicinity.
It took a couple days to notice, but there was one other thing that was strange. At random points throughout the day, Lucy found the tingling feeling in her fingers mellow and fade. This always preceded her feeling as if she was being watched – though it did not feel threatening. She tried hard to find any reason for that happening, but came up empty. Until she noticed the bird.
“Laura,” called Lucy on her way out the door for her next delivery, “Do you see that bird over there? The black one with the white chest? Have you ever seen it before?”
Laura looked up from counting the products on the shelf to glance out the window. “Can’t say I have dear. Strange though, that’s not a native bird. Wonder what it’s doing here.”
Lucy did not have any answers, so she said nothing as she went on her way. It was only as she power-walked down the street with the next delivery in her hands that she realized her fingers were not tingling.
After that, Lucy realized that every time the strange bird appeared, she suddenly did not feel like she was a fugitive on the run. She could swear that the bird was specifically following her too.
“What do you want?” she growled at it one day on her way back to the store. The bird was perched primly on a wrought iron point of the nearest railing. It eyed her sideways like a tuxedo-clad businessman surprised at being addressed by the common-folk. “Shoo, you stupid bird. Stop following me.”
The creature only blinked one eye at her in response. It did not move a single muscle otherwise.
Lucy heaved in a deep sigh and moved on. She wondered all the while if she was not just going crazy – talking to birds that were following her around like a lost puppy.
That was not the last time she saw the bird that day. The next time she noticed it, it was across the street cleaning it’s feathers from a perch on the roof overlooking the road. Lucy scowled at it from across the road. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought it tilted its head in confusion at her upon noticing her look.
…
‘…must have…so much…mine, Mine…’
The moon glinted like a shard of glass in the sky. Wispy clouds drifted past, blocking the little silver light that managed to reach the ground before disappearing again. A tall man with broad shoulders sauntered down the alley backing the shop, melting with the shadows he passed.
He came to an abrupt halt when he noticed the form of a willowy woman emerge from darkness at the other end of the alley. Moonlight glinted off two sets of fangs as they were bared.
‘She’s MINE!’ snarled the hulking man of shadow.
‘Not if I claim her first!’ screeched the woman.
Lucy startled awake in her bed. The dream had been so vivid, so clear. She felt her heart pounding against her ribcage – her entire body tingling. She listened intently as she fought to control her breathing. Through the thick glass of her window – which she had quickly realized could not be opened – she saw a cloud skitter past in front of the crescent moon. Muffled sounds came from outside. If she was a gambling woman, Lucy would have said it sounded like two feral cats squabbling over who got to eat the mouse trapped between them.
An inhuman screech broke the stillness surrounding her and ignited the tingling in her veins into a searing heat like fire.
‘NO!’
‘Yes, MINE!’
She jumped when she heard the two unknown voices again from her dream scream in her head. At that exact moment, a shot of white flew past her window – the damn bird that had been following her.
She waited, clutching her blankets to her chest, listening for other sounds. Something was happening outside in the alley, but she was too frightened to get up and look to see what it was.
It was not too long before a howl of furry sounded in her mind.
‘GAR! I will have it! You will not stop me!’
But even as she heard the words, something deep inside told Lucy that whatever it was that voice wanted, they would not be getting it tonight. The pulsing awareness in her veins began to ebb away. A speck of white soared over the rooftops facing her window. A bird’s form landed and stood sentinel as clouds once again obscured the moon.
…
Lucy did not sleep well after waking from her dream – or whatever it had been, since it continued even after she was awake. Only once the sun had reached it’s highest peak in the sky did she brave venturing into the alley behind the shop to see what she might find. There was a dark patch of ground approximately half-way between where she had seen the man and woman in her dream. Strange piles of acrid smelling dust drifted in eddies around the stain.
A rustling above her head had Lucy turning sharply towards the sound. The white-breasted bird gazed down at her with unblinking eyes.