Grim glared at him, not in the mood to humour him with whatever mind games he was playing at, "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

He laughed and then got serious, "No, no choice in the matter. I wouldn't take it seriously; you just got unlucky, that's all. Judging by your appearance... you are not unused to that, are you? It almost makes me feel bad. Almost. Unfortunately, in this world, there are people who would seek to gain control over me, to use my boon for their benefit."

"So, like, what you're doing right now?" Grim asked.

Mr. Cede smiled, "In a sense, the ones who would come after me would never let me go. You, on the other hand, after being relieved of the burdens of your boon, will have your memory of this event wiped and returned to your home. Safe."

"You'd wipe my memory?"

"Yes, we’ve operated in safety thus far because we do not leave witnesses. Alive is preferred, but a body bag would suffice."

Well then, she had nothing to lose.

"We're in the industrial district in the fourth layer; this is the Jansens auto-wrecking plant. I recognize it."

He whistled, "Well, aren't you full of surprises, all that from being outside for a minute? The driver’s boons should have stopped you from paying too much attention, but there are always gaps. You see the need for all the secrecy now, yes? One little slip up and the whole thing comes crumbling down."

Grim tried to pull her hand away from the chair as he talked. She moved slowly and didn't let it show on her face when her skin started to rip off. From their angle, Mr. Cede couldn't see her hand over the desk, so she was safe to do so as long as she didn't make any noise.

"I hope the witches take everything from you. You're kind of a piece of shit," Grim said, letting some of the pain edge her words.

"Ah, there it is. The hatred,” He revelled in the sound of his voice. “You hate me because you see a reflection of yourself. Most do. They recognize that they would do the same. ”

Grim scoffed, "Really? Trafficking Boons was the only way out you could see? You think I’d do all this?"

Mr. Cede stared at her, and her world vanished, except for the twin black holes that hallowed out her soul, she tried to look away but found they kept getting drawn back in. He must have been using a Boon to force her attention on him.

“All this and more. You stabbed The Driver, did you not? It is inside you, you just have not been hunted like I have, for my knowledge, for my power. I do not claim to be moral but I am not evil. I only wish to survive.”

Grim looked away, “Why tell me all this? Why do you care?”

Mr. Cede looked away at one of the paintings on the wall, it depicted a father drowning their children while the mother stood in the back, taking a photo, “Which one of these subjects are you?”

She tried to see meaning in it, but she couldn’t, it just looked horrible and senseless, “I don’t know.”

“You lack perspective, the father is killing them, yes, but in other ways he is saving them, he is the murderer and yet the victim. The children? Powerless but power hungry. Innocent except for the evil growing in them. The mother?”

He paused long enough for Grim to ask, “What about her?”

“She’s the worst of all, she married the man and birthed the children,” Mr. Cede laughed sadly, the humour never reaching his eyes. “She ran the bath and yet she will not choose nor help. She will only watch.”

“Which one are you?” Grim asked.

“I’m the painter,” He smiled and then let his features drag as he stooped over. As if an invisible weight had been placed on him. “It’s been a lovely conversation with you, but I am afraid I grow tired. Tell me the name of your boon, and you can be on your way.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why do you need to know?” Her skin was bleeding heavily down her arm. The dampness was getting quite uncomfortable.

“Because it makes things much easier for the two of us.”

“You need the name to steal it,” Grim said. “Don’t you?”

He looked at her and hesitated, clearly annoyed.

"Yes, and this is where you have a choice. You can either tell me freely or," he paused and leaned forward, dropping a pair of bloody bolt cutters on the desk. We'll start with your index finger."

Oh. She wanted nothing to do with that.

"No, no, I'll tell you, just… don't hurt me."

"I'm glad you could see reason-"

"-[Friendly Shadow]" Grim screamed out as she ripped her flesh free from the chair, leaving behind a layer of skin. A burst of blood splattered across her as she reached for the Bolt cutters on the desk.

A punch sent her sprawling back for the second time today, her hands only inches from the Bolt cutters.

She pushed herself up from the floor and saw Mr. Cede give her a wide-eyed look.

"What did you think you were going to do with that? Cut my fingers off? You're bleeding all over my new carpet, you moron," He threw his hands up in the air, then stomped towards her, "Wait, did you say-"

Boltcutters smashed into the back of his head as he was sent tumbling over Grim, she scooted out of the way as he caught himself on the floor. Before either of them could react, the assailant started smashing the bolt cutters into the back of his head again and again, keeping him down. Much to Grim’s horror, he still saw him try to get up, hinting to her that he was possibly a C rank. She scrabbled forward, drawing her emergency shiv, as she liked to call it, from her boot. She stabbed it through his hand into the floor as he was in the middle of pushing himself up, which made the weight on that side collapse, giving the time for a couple more bolt cutter swings to the head. It took an absurd amount of punishment, but the C rank twitched and went still.

Dead or unconscious, she didn't know.

She looked up at her mysterious benefactor and was surprised to see herself. It was like staring into a mirror. She was the same short height, missing an arm, and even the scars lined up. The only noticeable difference was the hair and the clothing. Where she had purple hair with orange highlights, her doppelganger had the reverse. She also wore a crop top and shorts, which was not something Grim would ever be seen wearing. Her cargo pants were much more practical and, more importantly, didn’t show any skin.

"AHHHHHHHH," Her twin shrieked at her; her outfit was covered in blood, and she dropped the now dripping bolt cutters.

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?" Grim shouted.

"WHY ARE YOU NOT? I JUST HAD TO BASH SOMEONE’S HEAD IN."

Grim ran over, grabbed the girl, and put a hand over her mouth to stop her from yelling more. The girl was senseless, and after all, everything had gone to plan, right? Well, sort of; she had planned to do the bashing.

When Grim was confident her twin would stop yelling, she removed her hand. "We need to be quiet. There are still more of them out here. Can you do that for me?"

Her twin looked around for more enemies with wide eyes filling with tears, "I'm so sorry, I've already messed things up. I'm supposed to keep you safe, and oh my god, you're bleeding all over the carpet."

Grim looked at her arm, more red than skin and freaked out. That was a lot of blood. The pain started just as soon as she internalized it, and it felt like hundred of needles started poking her in the arm. Every time she moved, the slight wind change would roll across it and send another wave of pain. She reached into her pouch and found she still had more bandages. Her doppelganger reached for it, but she shot her a glare, and she backed off.

"What are you doing? You're gonna pass out before you get that on there."

"I've done it before. Just watch," Grim set the bandage on her knee and tried to put it on, but as soon as it touched, it felt like a thousand bees had stung the bloody area, and she nearly passed out before her twin slapped her in the face, hard.

That woke her up.

"Are you stupid? I felt myself start to disappear there. You know if you pass out, I'm gone, right? And you probably would have just bled out and died, and then I die, too. I don't wanna die; I haven't even had a boyfriend yet."

Grim bit back a retort, "Fine... sorry."

"It's okay. I was just worried about you," she said. “Now stop being stubborn and let me help."

Grim sighed and sat down, letting her shadow tend to her wounds. She faced some of the same struggles with only having one arm as she did, but it was 100% less awkward than trying to do first aid on herself. "So, you're my skill, right? You have a name?"

"Yes, mam, you're very own [FRIENDLY SHADOW]," She finished attaching the adhesive bandage and stood up, striking a pose. "You can call me Hazel!"

Grim just stared at her in disbelief as her own reflection just did something she would never have done. It was a little ridiculous, and she definitely couldn't let anyone see Hazel in public like that, lest her reputation end up in shambles. Not that she had much of one.

"Um, hey. Shouldn't your name be like a reverse of mine, like Mirg or something?"

Hazel dropped her pose and gave her a flat look, "Mirg? Do I look like a Mirg?"

"Well, no, just if you’re supposed to be my shadow and we're doing the whole opposite thing."

"If we were doing complete opposites, then my name would be —" Hazel fell to the ground, clutching her chest. Grim ran up to her and tried to help, but Hazel heaved, hunched over, unable to breathe.

"What's wrong?" Grim asked, unsure of what to do.

A couple more seconds passed, and Hazel was able to suck in a breath, much to Grim's relief, "Why can't I say your name?"