Melissa's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

They left the black shrine at dawn. Zora and Marcus led them to an old villa wrapped in vines. The walls were cracked. Flowers spilled across the steps. Inside, Melissa kept the stone locket tight across her eyes. She could hear Elias breathe in the next room. She could not look at him. His voice had grown short with her. Three days now, and he still had not seen her face. "You brought me back to keep me in the dark," Elias said. He sat against the far wall. "I feel you cross the room. I can't see you do it." His hand knocked the wooden ring against the stone floor. "I wanted your face. That's all I asked for." "One look would turn you to stone again," Melissa said. "I won't lose you twice." She heard him stand and walk out to the garden. She stayed, blind behind the locket, and hated it. Marcus found her there. "He's not mad at you," he said. "He's scared. Man waited years in the dark. Now he's out, and it's dark again." He crouched by her. "I'm not gonna front. I love him too. So let me help fix this instead of watching you both break." Then the door opened. A man stepped in, arms marked with tattoos, a cloth bundle under one hand. "Michael Williams," Marcus said. "He makes things. Iron things." Michael said nothing. He set the bundle down and unrolled it. Inside lay a pair of iron shades. Coiled serpents wound around the frames. The lenses were dark green glass. "For him," Michael said. "Not you." He looked at the locket over Melissa's eyes. "You keep yours. He wears these. The glass holds the curse back." He did not explain further. "You're sure?" Melissa asked. "I tested the glass on a bird," Michael said. "Bird flew off." He picked up the shades and held them out. "He looks. You look. Nobody turns to stone. That's the whole thing." Melissa carried the shades to the garden. Elias sat among the weeds, ring back on his finger. "Put these on," she said. "Then I'll take off the locket." Her hands shook. "If Michael is wrong, you die. So tell me to stop." "Don't stop," Elias said. He slid the iron shades over his eyes. "I want to see you." Melissa reached up and lifted the stone locket away. She opened her eyes. Elias sat looking straight at her through the dark glass. His chest rose and fell. His skin stayed flesh. He did not crack. He did not turn. He laughed, wet and shocked. "There you are." She fell to her knees and held his face. For the first time in years, they saw each other. But the shades could break, and the curse still lived in her. They could look now. They could not touch eyes without iron between them.