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Elliot did a pretty good job keeping it together, at least at first. Meryl stood in the doorway, holding a bag of Chinese take out, smiling at her. Elliot gasped, and then reached out to Meryl.
“H-hey,” she said, which was a mistake. Immediately, she began to sob, tears streaming from her eyes, down her cheeks. She stumbled back to the steps up to Ardy’s apartment, sitting down and wiping the tears away with back of her hands. Meryl let herself in. She sat down next to Elliot, patting her shoulder, speaking in soothing tones.
“Oh no, hey,” Meryl said. “Why are you crying? Everything’s okay!”
Elliot tried to speak, but couldn’t get anything coherent out. She reached out to Meryl, who watched her carefully, pulling her into a hug.
“You’re okay, buddy. We’re okay.”
Elliot nodded. She cried hard on Meryl’s shoulder. Ardy watched from behind, and Meryl looked around to make sure things weren’t going to blow up. She stroked Elliot’s head gently.
When Elliot finally regained coherence, Meryl helped her up the steps. She sat Elliot down at the dining table. Elliot slumped in her chair, letting the last of her sobs rattle out of her. Meryl unpacked the Chinese, and Ardy brought them two plates and some silverware. She leaned down and hugged Elliot around the shoulders.
“I’m going to go down to the shop and check on things,” she said,
“What?” Elliot said, catching Ardy’s hand. “But… lunch?”
“I think you two need to catch up. It’s been an eventful few days.” She squeezed Elliot’s shoulder, and retreated to the outside world.
Meryl opened the boxes of Chinese. “I hope you like Kau Kau. It’s the best in the city.”
Elliot just watched as Meryl helped herself to the food.
“We need to talk about what just happened,” Meryl said. She heaped some fried rice on her plate, and grabbed a few pieces of barbecue pork. “Because I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
Elliot tried to speak, but another sob escaped. “I thought… I thought I had killed you.”
Meryl had just about to take a bite of an egg roll. She stopped, wide eyed. “Elliot…”
“I hit you with one of those magic ball things. I saw you fall, and the Nerd got you and and and…” She felt the tears coming back.
Meryl scooted over to her and hugged her close. “Oh no, I didn’t know…”
“And I thought that everyone else knew, and they’d hate me and they’d not want me around and-” Elliot wiped her tears away.
Meryl took Elliot by the hand and led her over to the couch. She sat Elliot down. “I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry. If I had known, I would have come over sooner. I just kind of assumed you knew.”
Elliot shook her head.
“Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t be killed in any meaningful way?” She offered Elliot a smile. Elliot laughed and looked away.
“I thought you were just being a weirdo.”
“Nope! Oh! Oh oh oh! I promised to show you a cool scar!” Meryl hooked her hands under her shirt and in one clean motion pulled it off. She turned so Elliot could see her side. The fur had been burnt away, and a gash a couple of inches long sat at the center.
“That one’s new,” Meryl said. “You did a good job, by the way! You did so good with that ball!”
Elliot felt sick. She swallowed, hoping to keep her stomach down. “You didn’t die…”
“Nah!” Meryl said. She poked at the wound. “It hurt like hell, though.”
“How did you…?”
“We’ll get there. But first…” Meryl turned. Down nearly the length of her back was a massive scar, roughly following her spine. It looked as though she had split in two.
“Oh my god,” Elliot said, just above a whisper.
“Right?? Isn’t it sick?”
“What happened?”
Meryl turned back to face her. “Okay, so you know how I said there’s no such thing as good or bad magic?”
Elliot nodded.
“I want you to understand that I mean that, so I want you to understand how serious I am when I say I fell in with a group of really, really bad magic users.” Meryl sat back on the couch, looking down at the shirt in her hands. “I had just gotten into medical school, and mom and dad were on my back a lot because…” she waved her hand in the air. “I was starting to, I dunno, break? I was trying to figure out how to take a year off just to feel better, and even just thinking about that helped. And I had met Ty and I didn’t want to walk away from her because she’s just… amazing. And she’s got this amazing friend, Z. I might have told my parents I didn’t want to do medical school anymore…”
Meryl paused a moment, letting her eyes follow the ceiling up to its point. “So I’m feeling trapped. And here is where I should say that when you meet some weird people hanging around the morgue, you should probably follow your instincts. I was mad at so much that I didn’t. They knew I was a witch right away. They saw all of it, and they dangled control in front of me. I could get more powerful, I just had to help them steal a body or two. At first…”
“Whaaaaat.” Elliot said.
“Hang on, there’s more.” Meryl stretched, like she was settling in for the long haul. “Necromancy, if you hadn’t guessed already. It was really strong stuff, and every session we did I felt more and more incredible. What I didn’t realize is that they were using me to summon a demon.” Meryl turned to show Elliot her back. “Guess where the portal was.”
Elliot covered her mouth.
“So THAT happened. I was lucky that Ty and Z found me when they did.”
“How did they even fix that?” Elliot asked.
Meryl gave her a weak smile. “If you ever have the chance for a god to owe you a favor, you take it. Z just happened to have exactly that, and she called it in.”
“Oh wow… Just for you…”
“Just for me,” Meryl said, smiling broader. “Remember when I said I didn’t go outside for a year? That was after the summoning. Ty and Z basically watched me until I was better, and made sure I had what I needed. They found Gimble and introduced me, and that’s when I started going out again.”
“That’s so much,” Elliot said, almost whispering.
“Yeah,” Meryl said. “It’s a lot to process sometimes. But I feel better than I used to.”
“You’re always so cheerful and happy,” Elliot said.
“Death and I got into a staring contest, and Death blinked,” Meryl said. “And here I am. I have an amazing partner, and a great friend…” She took Elliot’s hand. “And now I have you, too.”
Elliot felt herself blushing.
“Sorry, that was a lot too. As a friend, I mean.” Meryl tilted her head. “I didn’t think you cared about me so much.”
“The coven is really nice,” Elliot said. “But Z is… Z? Like, she’s pushy and nosy. And Ty is super cool but also super intimidating. And Gimble is nice, but like she feels like a mom? But you listened to me when I wanted help, and you’re warm and you treat me not like a project, but like a friend.”
Meryl fell forward, hugging Elliot around the neck. “Aw, buddy! I’m glad we are friends. It means a lot to me.” She sat back. “Feeling better?”
Elliot nodded. “Yeah. I’m glad you’re alive.”
Meryl beamed. “Me too. Okay, now you take off your shirt.”
Elliot rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile anyway. “Ha. Yeah, I’m good.”
Meryl only giggled. She put her shirt back on. “Anyway, they sent me to come get you when they found out you were here.”
“How did they…?” Elliot started, and stopped herself. “Ah.”
“She’s worried about you,” Meryl said. “And she wanted to make sure you got help.”
Elliot nodded. She bit her lip. “Yeah. That is nice, though.”
Meryl patted her arm. “The other thing is why I’m still here.”
Elliot looked up, right into Meryl’s eyes. “You were kidnapped by The Nerd!”
“He saved my life,” Meryl said. “I really do believe that. And in return, all he wants is to meet you.”
Elliot’s eyes grew wide. “Meet…? How-? I can’t!”
“I’ll set it up and everything. We’ll do it on neutral ground. Cassie’s place is covered with so much of her magic, neither one of you would be able to hurt each other, even if you wanted to.”
“But…” Elliot said. “He’s The Nerd!”
“Will you do it for me?” Meryl asked. “Please? I owe him.”
Elliot closed her eyes and sighed. “You really think he saved your life?”
Meryl nodded enthusiastically.
“Fuck,” Elliot said. “Okay, fine.”
Meryl stood, grinning. “Yay! I’ll set it up.” She held out her hands for Elliot. Elliot took them, and Meryl pulled her to her feet. “Come on, let’s go eat!”
[g]