Retrospect

Thirty-five

We arrived at an empty Butterfly Shop ten agonizing minutes later. I was about ready to faint onto the floor from exhaustion as soon as Malachi punched in a code to open the door. The shop was located at the top of a staircase, right above a small restaurant open late. Winking neon signs were scattered all down the block, enticing people to visit different stores. The Butterfly Shop however, sat quietly in the night, careful not to attract attention.

The moonlight cut through the clouds above, allowing me to see the others had all arrived here safely. Malachi stepped out of the way once the door was unlocked, letting me go inside first. I thanked him with a nod then and walked through the entrance, taking in my new surroundings.

It was a tiny apartment, no bigger than my old one in the Laurier Section. The place seemed to follow the same theme as the other unoccupied Butterfly Shops we'd stayed in; there wasn't much furniture except for warm light filling the room, shining from lamps built into the wall. So far, I could tell there was only one other room, it being a bathroom. The place was inviting, comfortable.

There was a single window that looked down upon the street, letting purple neon light to filter into the shop, but Malachi quickly darted over to it and drew the blinds closed. He turned back to me. "We can't be seen," he said.

I nodded and made my way over to the bathroom. I couldn't look at this dress anymore without thinking of Frost and Catalina and the aquarium. I needed my old clothes.

The door closed behind me once I'd entered and a white light flicked on. I removed my bag from my shoulder and dropped it to the ground, sifting through it and finding my shirt and jacket. Good, they weren't too damp from when I'd fallen into the shark tank.

Once I'd changed and gotten the dress off and out of sight, I felt less constricted and more like myself. Sure the pants and shirt and jacket weren't as pretty, but at least they felt right and didn't give me horrible memories. In the mirror, I realized all of the makeup was ruined on my face when Frost had pushed me into the tank, leaving behind streaks of orange, purple, and blue on my cheeks. If someone saw me on the street without knowing who I was, they would definitely think I'd been living in a trash chute.

I quickly splashed water from the sink onto my face, getting what was left of the makeup off my skin. Then I left the bathroom, letting the light flick off by itself and drown the room in darkness.

Reeves was standing beside the entrance in the tiny room, Murl was setting Ana down on the only chair in the shop, Malachi was checking outside to make sure nobody had followed us, and Miles was sitting cross-legged on the floor, playing with his shoe laces as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"I appreciate your help, Malachi," Reeves spoke with a dip of his head, "really."

Malachi stole a glance at the gray-eyed man, then peeked out the blinds again. "Oh, it's no big deal," he responded.

"Why are you here? If you don't mind me asking," Reeves said. I'd forgotten he'd gone ahead of the group at the aquarium, never hearing Malachi's story.

Malachi sighed. "It's kind of a long story," he answered, breaking away from the window then and coming over to sit down on one of the two chairs in the room. I watched him as he began retelling everything, seeing how he hunched over, his eyes losing their light. Reeves was also watching him, expression unchanging, displaying little to no emotion. That was just how Reeves was and that meant he was listening.

Malachi told him about his sister losing her memory, about her disappearance, about finding the blueprint at the party, the one for the chemical room and the pumps and vats, about how his sister might've seen that blueprint and gotten herself in trouble. "I just want to know where she is. If she's..." he mumbled then stopped.