4

Mason

Fortunately, there was still enough food left from Mason's last grocery run for them to have ham and cheese sandwiches, even if it was without ice cream, which had tragically melted. Reyna insisted on hurrying, but she was apparently not about to turn down food in her current state. She immediately went to work on the first sandwich, then another. Mason smiled to himself as they ate in relative silence.

It felt good to have someone around again. Even if that someone was a bit untrusting, carried a golden sword, and was apparently being chased by hybrid bird-people from ancient myth. She was a little scary, and Mason knew from her demeanor that she definitely could take him out if she wanted to. Of course, he hoped that she wouldn't want to.

He wasn't about to admit it, but he was actually happy that they had run into each other. Or rather, that she had run into him. Despite all of its comforts and beauties, this house could feel really… empty a lot of the time. He couldn't really remember the last time he had someone over at the house other than when Ken or Johanna made one of their periodical check-ups. In fact, the last time anyone else had stepped into his home, it was extremely similar to the current situation with Reyna.

Mason shook his head, trying not to think about it. He couldn't help but wonder, though, if the similarities meant something…

He looked up at Reyna as she finished her sandwich. "So, where exactly are you going?" he asked softly.

Her eyes met his, then quickly averted, seemingly hesitant to say. He remained quiet as she thought to herself for a moment. After a long pause, she spoke, still looking away.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I told you I was just running away from home," she said, not even phrasing it as a question.

Mason shifted his jaw. "Uh, no. Sorry."

"Well, all I can say is that there are a lot of things in this world you don't know about, and a lot of them are very dangerous to know about. So I'm not sure you would even want to."

He sighed. "Well, I know that there are monsters out there. Real ones. I've seen them."

Reyna looked up at him with an expression of restrained surprise.

"I know that you were being chased by harpies, whatever they are," he continued. "I know that you aren't just a runaway, and that you're trying to get somewhere specific. I know that you have a golden sword," he said, gesturing to her hip. "And golden armor."

"And," he said as he stood up from his chair. "I know that you don't have a car. I do."

Mason stood still, waiting for her to figure out what he meant. When she did, she didn't look happy about it.

"No," Reyna said firmly, getting up from her own chair. "Absolutely not. You have done more than enough for me by letting me stay here, and that is all you will do. I am not about to be responsible for some mortal boy's inevitable death just because he insisted on being my chauffer."

He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "Mortal? You mean you aren't?"

For once, she didn't seem surprised that he had caught on to something she said, and now just appeared to get even more frustrated. "No, I'm not. Not completely. Sometimes I almost wish I were. But I am stuck with dealing with things that you will never be able to handle, and it doesn't matter if you think that you can, or you want to help me, or even if you can see through the Mist, because someone like you could never help someone like me."

Mason stared at her blankly, letting her words wash over him. He had been trying not to think about before, despite every part of him trying to get him to see the similarities. But now it was too much. Too close to words he had heard before, in a tone he recognized too well.

Just stop! I already told you, you can't do anything to help me.

I have to do this. It can't be anyone else.

You're not like me.

You can't do anything about it.

Let me go!

The voice echoed through his head, dredging up feelings he had hoped to forget by now. Feelings of pity, frustration, and most of all, helplessness. An image of standing on the shoreline, the waves crashing up onto the sand. All the weight and power of a riptide dragging someone out into the water, and him frozen in place, feet buried in the sand, watching them go.

It was happening again.

He realized his face must have been showing all of this, because by the time his vision refocused, he saw Reyna's face had softened, frustration being replaced with concern and confusion.

As he looked back at her, he did his best to muster a smile. "Someone like me, huh?" he whispered.

Her eyes flicked to the side, staring blankly at nothing in particular, clearly thinking. After a long moment of silence, she sighed.

"You're really willing to take me?"

"Yes."

"You don't have anywhere you need to be?"

"Not really."

"And you're not worried at all about anything I've told you?"

He paused. "Well, I wouldn't say 'not worried.' But I guess I'm willing to take the risk."

Reyna squinted at him. "Are you sure you're not a demigod?"

"Uh, a what now?"

"You've never been attacked by anything strange?"

"What qualifies as strange?"

"Harpies. Cyclopes. Blood-sucking gas station attendants."

"I think I would remember that, so no."

She tilted her head. "But you saw the harpies last night. And my sword…"

"Wait, is your sword a monster, too?"

"No, that's…" she stopped herself. "That's beside the point. You don't have dyslexia? ADHD?"

"Dyselx- what, no! Wait, do you think that I-"

"Sorry. Don't worry about it."

She looked him in the eyes. "You said earlier that you felt bad for anyone without a home to go back to."

Mason looked at her with slight hesitation. "Yeah…"

"I know that feeling. I've seen it plenty. My home is a place for those kinds of people, where they can find safety and purpose. And right now it's suffering. I've been sent to find a way to fix it, and we suspect that the solution is here, in Michigan. Specifically the Upper Peninsula, though we don't know for sure. There's someone who may be able to help us, and I need to find them, convince them to help, and bring back whatever they give me. There will probably be more problems along the way. Monsters, or worse. Some of them will be trying to stop me, some of them will be trying to kill me. Most of them will be doing both."

She paused, keeping a straight and composed face through all of this, and Mason blinked in surprise at the sudden wave of information. "So," she said. "Do you still want to help?"

Despite his previous insistence on helping her, he stopped for a moment to think. Was he up for this? Part of him had simply accepted everything she was saying, even if it was a little crazy. Did he actually believe her? He had seen the harpies, and her sword. And even though he was telling the truth about never being attacked by monsters, he did leave out the fact that he had at least seen some strange things before. For a while he had assumed that he just had a vivid imagination as a kid, or some kind of minor mental illness. It didn't happen often enough for him to get fixated on it, but it also happened just enough for him to not be able to let it go. Whether it was the woman who visited the orphanage in Indiana who he was pretty sure didn't have human eyes, the weird fog that only he could see that seemed to follow his foster family's neighbor Joe around, or the one old lady he passed by sitting on a park bench that really ominously cut that piece of yarn, he always had a tiny suspicion in the back of his head that there was something out there that wasn't normal. Of course, when the other visitor had arrived, that strengthened the case even more.

But now, to get this kind of confirmation from someone else? He couldn't really deny it anymore, so now he had to decide what to think about it. And, at least for the moment, he did.

"Yes. I do," he said plainly in response to Reyna's question.

She stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable.

"Alright. You take me there. I get what I need to. Then we come back here, and I go back the rest of the way on my own. Deal?"

Mason found himself biting his lip, stopping himself from protesting.

He put his hand out in front of him. "Deal."

Reyna took his hand in a firm shake, then immediately let go and turned around, walking down the hallway. "I'll be ready in ten minutes, then I'm leaving in your car whether you're with me or not."

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Thankfully, Mason didn't have much to gather and prepare. He gathered some food, a change of clothes, the box of medical supplies, and a small backpack with a wallet and a couple of other basic items. By the time eleven-forty-five rolled around, the two of them were in his small, dark red sedan making their way down the neighborhood street towards the main road. Once they got onto the 196 heading north, he decided this would be a good time to talk more.

"So, you said you're looking for something here in Michigan, but you don't know what?"

Reyna turned her head towards him, then back towards the passenger window. "Yes. I know that there is something I'm meant to find that can help, but I don't know what it is or who I'm looking for. Not exactly."

Mason frowned but kept his eyes on the road. "So how will you know when you've found it? Or even where to begin looking?"

"It's… difficult to describe. But I've experienced enough things like this to know what to keep an eye out for."

Mason had a difficult time restraining himself from asking a dozen more questions. He couldn't quite tell if she was being honest about how little she knew, or if she was being deliberately vague so as to not share information. Both possibilities bothered him. A couple of years ago, he probably would have unloaded a whole torrent of questions, inquiries, and protests, insisting that he know everything so that he could help as much as possible. Of course, now he knew that that could just make things worse. So, he bit his tongue and tried to keep his prying to a minimum. That minimum wasn't absolute zero, though.

After a minute, he swallowed a lump of hesitation down. "You know," he said gently. "I understand if you don't want to talk, at least any more than you feel you have to. We really don't know each other, and you clearly know way more about all of this than I do, and you probably don't even have a reason to trust me completely. But just know that… I think I'm a pretty good listener. And it might help you to find what you're looking for if I knew a little more about… all of this. To have another brain and a set of eyes."

He chuckled briefly. "And, of course, if you end up really not trusting me, or you can't leave me knowing more than I should, I know for a fact that I wouldn't stand any chance if you decided that you had to get rid of me. So…"

Mason sighed. "So if you want a listener, I'm all ears. And I won't ask any questions."

He gave it a few seconds of silence before he glanced over to the passenger side of the car.

Reyna was looking straight ahead through the windshield, her dark eyes not focused on anything in particular. Even though Mason could tell they were similar in age, her face displayed a complex web of emotion that could only be found in someone experienced and traveled, at least much more so than someone like him. Everything about her - from her single black braid of hair draped over her left shoulder, to her straight posture, to her piercing dark eyes, her quietness, and even the way she was quiet - they all exuded this air of strength and competence that both intrigued him and made him a bit nervous.

It was a curious thing, how he had said he knew she could take him. He hadn't actually seen her use her sword at all. But he just knew. This was a girl who should not be messed with.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel like that wasn't all there was to her. Of course, he had learned a while ago not to judge people by their cover, at least not entirely. Being desperate for friends usually meant you couldn't pick and choose them. But there was definitely something other than that strength and authority he saw when she glared at him. He couldn't quite pick up what it was, but for some reason it made him feel slightly sad.

"You have to promise me," he heard her say as his mind refocused. She was looking at him. "That you won't tell anyone any of this. And that you can handle living with this knowledge. And that you won't ask any questions until I finish."

"Well," Mason said, "I don't exactly have anyone I even could tell it to. And it would probably be harder for me to move forward not knowing. And I wouldn't dare interrupt you. So yes, I promise."

Reyna leaned back in her seat for the first time since they had left. "It's a good thing we have a long drive, because this is going to take some time."