“What’s the matter, shadow? Not used to being seen for the vermin you are?”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?”
Ah. The dark-haired man from earlier had followed her. Astrid wasn’t surprised, really, but it was a bit irritating that he’d found her so easily. She thought she’d made a clean escape…clearly there were rules to this world she didn’t understand yet.
Reflexively she drew herself up, sneering to mask a wince of pain from whatever that other shadow creature had done to her. “As if anything here could possibly hurt m–” she shifted her weight and spat a curse as pain lanced down her side. “Okay, maybe it can,” she grumbled.
He sighed with an emotion she couldn’t quite place. “Let me take a look,” he said, reaching for her.
Such casual familiarity caught her off guard; it took her a moment to react but then she wrenched herself away, gracelessly, sending more pain shooting down her ribs.
“And just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, eyes narrowed and darting up and down, taking his measure.
“I’m–” He blinked, glanced at his outstretched hand, balled it into a fist. Looked back at her. “I’m helping you?” He sounded just as confused about it as she was.
“Okay, sure, let’s pretend I believe that,” she drawled. “Why?”
“Maybe I feel sorry for the random girl who was getting the shit kicked out of her before I put a stop to it,” he shot back. Astrid bristled, but he continued before she could counter his snark with her own: “No, I don’t think that’s it. I just…feel like I should help you, for some reason.” He was frowning, clearly puzzled by his own admission.
Astrid knew she shouldn’t trust him. She didn’t trust anyone in these transient worlds she visited–that was the rule, that’s what kept her alive. She especially shouldn’t trust an obvious ally of the creature that had just possibly broken one of her ribs. But she felt some strange stirrings of…kinship? with this person whose form blurred with shadow. She couldn’t quite explain it, but it was there, a soft feeling warm and nestled in her chest.
Sheshouldn’t trust him. But for some reason, she did. And while she wasn’t thrilled about that, she knew better than to dismiss the tug of fate.
She held out a hand. “Astrid,” she introduced herself, curtly but polite enough.
