Act One

It was a dark and scary room, with muffled noise from the street filtering in through the one small window. Powder sat in the middle of the large bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, trying to take up as little space as possible. This wasn't her room, but she'd been put in here alone once they'd left the docks.

Silco had carried her the entire way, despite the blood that she noticed running down the side of his face or the slight limp he had. She had tried to stop sobbing, tried not to dirty his pretty red vest with her snot, but she'd failed.

Now he'd left her to her own thoughts as punishment. There was a phantom feeling of Vi's hand roughly gripping Powder's jaw, and her sister's hate filled eyes were forever burned into her memories. The past few hours played on a continuous loop inside her mind.

Because you're a jinx!

Why did you do this?

Powder squeezed her eyes shut, slamming her fists against the side of her head, straining her mind to force the images and voices out of her head. Everything was so loud that she hadn't noticed when someone entered the room until the bed dipped a little beside her.

Light poured in from the open doorway, bathing Silco in an orange hue that matched his scarred left eye. He watched her for a moment, and she had the sense to stay completely still. The voices in her head - all of them shouting at the same time - made it hard to concentrate.

"Are you hungry?" His voice wasn't gentle, but it wasn't harsh either. It was quiet and kind of soothing, but there was a gravely nature to it that made it unique.

She shook her head once before remembering how Vander had taught her to use her manners when someone asks you a question. "N-no, thank you."

You killed Vander.

"No!"

"I heard you, child," responded Silco, carefully watching her as she folded back in on herself, embarrassed about her little outburst.

If she caused too much trouble, then he'd send her away. Powder didn't know anyone else, and everyone who could have taken care of her was gone. She knew that there was no reason for Silco to want to keep her, so she needed to stay calm, convince him she wouldn't cause any trouble.

"Sleep in here for tonight," he told her as he rose to his feet, heading back for the door and the only source of light.

Panic set in at the thought of being in the dark again, alone with all the noise in her head, that she had forgotten to not cause any problems for him. "Wait!"

He paused when she practically leapt off of the bed, racing to his side, but stopping just before colliding with his leg. She glanced up at him, not having realised how tall he was. Silco shifted to the side to allow more light to stream back into the room.

There was a softness to his sharp features as he asked her, "Would you like me to stay?"

"Yes," she whispered.

Much to her surprise, Silco swung the door so it was half-shut, and walked back over to the bed. He settled atop the blankets, shoes and all, leaning back against the wall with a sigh.

Powder hesitantly moved to the end of the bed and crawled up beside him. She shimmied under the blankets, resting her head on the pillow, and stared up at him, wondering if this was some sort of a trick. He'd brought her all the way here from the docks, taken her out of the rain, and given her a nice dry bed. Maybe he did want her to stay?

"I don't like the dark," she admitted after a few minutes of too-loud silence.

"There are far scarier things in this world. You can hide in the dark."

Pondering this, she found herself shifting closer to where he was sitting, raising one of her arms above the blanket. He didn't move when she rested the back of her hand against his leg or complain when she continued to stare up at him.

"You're not scary," she told him.

Silco glanced down at her, pausing before giving her a reply. "Neither are you. Now go to sleep."

When his hand dropped down to touch her own, encompassing her small fingers in his larger grip, all the venomous voices circling her mind quieted down, almost as if he was fighting them away for her. She snuggled in a little closer to his side, not caring anymore about being a problem for him.

"Goodnight… Jinx," he muttered as she drifted off.