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Something is wrong. Crashing and barking of orders can be heard through my thick glass wall. I step forward, barefoot, lifting up the tattered grey that is my dress. I place one hand on my barrier. It glows pink around my hand but I know nothing will happen. I focus on it for a moment, remembering how trapped I am. Suddenly, a flash of light illuminates my face, which is then accompanied by an intense earthquake, throwing me back. The ground is still shaking as I scramble up.
Something is very wrong.
"Pietro?" I press my back against the wall. It's as close as I can be to him now. Nothing. I flip over and desperately grip the wall with my hands. "Pietro!"
The wall shakes suddenly with a violent thud.
"I'm here," he calls through our obstruction. "Wand, I'm here."
Relief flows in and out of my pores. Wand. The pet names makes this feel normal. Makes us normal. Makes me… The irony of the name isn't lost on me so I laugh. I turn around and press my back to the wall, laughing. Deliriously so.
"Wand? Are you okay?"
I slow. Catch my breathing. I can hear more screams. Getting louder.
"Wand?"
I lean my head back, imaging him behind me. No wall. Just flesh.
"Together, right?" I ask.
I can almost feel his hand slide up the wall, resting above where my shoulder is. I imagine it continuing through the wall and up my neck. His warmth seeps in through the wall and I suck it as much as I can through my skin. Then, I read his mind. He is leaning his head on the wall, waiting for me. Worried. Patient but concerned. Not for himself but me. I'm ashamed now. I'm stronger than this. Wanda M. wasn't. The Scarlet Witch. Who is she? Not afraid, no weakness.
"Together."
I hear him in my head. That's new. I turn over and press my hand to his. I long for his warmth that doesn't spawn from my dreams. I rest my head to his, fighting the temptation to violate him more. Shuffle through his thoughts. Pouring through dreams, desires, skeletons. To hold them in my hand as easily as I grip my wall now. I want these things. I don't want to take them. I want to be given. I want to be given what he holds inside. I want him to give me what I can take, without hesitation, without permission. I want…
"What are you…?" a voice interrupts, a cool voice. It's so crystal clear that I know it's coming through my mind, but not from me. I turn my head slowly to the glass, like someone possessed. A tall pale man stands before my cage. His hair a slick greasy black, his body cloaked in black and green. His sickly white hand grips something long and pointy and glowing blue. I look from it to his face. His green eyes piercing towards me. I flash mine, red. My fingers glow as well. Something in me is saying this: danger.
The man cocks his head to the side. "Can you hear me?"
I straighten myself to him. I feel strangely drawn to answer him. He isn't like the rest. The people that keep us here. That makes me curious so I nod and he smiles. His grin lights his eyes and crinkles his leathery skin. I feel my own prickle. A thought is forming in his head.
"Stand back," he orders. I obey. I find this whole mind interrupted deal very exhausting.
He lifts his sceptre and blows a hole into my wall. I am sent flying back to the ground. And then glass shatters around me and my ears start ringing. I can hear Pietro screaming my name but he sounds farther than he has ever before. Someone is leaning over me, laughing through his words at me.
"I did tell you to stand back," his voice glides over the air and into my ears like liquid silk.
"Hey! What are you doing to her?" I hear Pietro's shrill voice. His tone scares me because he is scared. Pietro is scared so now I know something is very, very wrong. The cool man roughly grabs me by the arm and yanks me up.
"You have two options," he breathes. I listen. "You can stay here; confined, ashamed. Or you can come with me and be a part of something greater."
I hesitate.
"Something beyond these four walls."
It's as if he knows me for after he says those five words, I am selling my soul to the devil.
"You want me, you have to take him too."
His eyes wander over my face. He is surprised at my strength. He, a man I do not know, holding me by my arm, breathing into my face, is surprised that I am countering him. This is who I am. The Scarlet Witch. He releases my arm but steps closer. I can tell he is trying to decide if he has the patience to delegate. His mind is quiet now that he is so near. But I know what he will say next. If he's here at all, he won't take no for an answer. He won't let another broken outcast go alone. I exploit his weakness, he exploits mine. What a perfect match.
"Deal."
I finished my soul's signature and took Pietro's down with me.