Author: Wildbow

Left in the Dust – 16.8 | Pale

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An alert from Snowdrop got Avery’s attention.  She raised her head from the work she was doing writing on her shoe, adding to the air element diagram.  She stood, picking up her phone as she did.  No message from Verona quite yet.

At any moment, she could get the word.

Avery drew in a deep breath, and tugged on the strap of her bag, to get a better look at the pin she’d attached there.  The pin gave a visual representation of her connection to the city.  In Kennet, it had been a moon with blood dripping from it, down onto a ski hill, against a night sky.  Here, it was a green banner cutting horizontally past a maple leaf, where the green banner was shaped like landscape.  The coast of Lake Superior was marked out in the background.

She’d noticed the changes gradually, as she participated on the team and played for her school, visited restaurants, and made friends.  Those had been small contributions in the pin’s progression from being a brassy lump of beaten up metal to looking like something that had once been a Thunder Bay pin but had been melted, battered, and damaged to the point of unrecognizability, then to its current state.

Weirdly, bringing some of the Others in had been more of a boost.  She’d been shocked to see a change that wasn’t gradual at all.

Maybe it was service to the Lord of Thunder Bay, too?

She had a practice that was supposed to swap her position with her familiar’s, courtesy of the Garricks, but it was a bit of a pain and it hurt the familiar bond for a little while after, while making the negative parts of the connection more negative.  She could also go on a path, but that could get intense and it made for a bad shortcut.  She was saving her glamour up a bit, so she was reluctant to do a bird transformation.  Avery had planned to do the familiar swap but since the pin was shiny and whole now…

Coming, she communicated to Snowdrop.

She quickly drew out the city magic diagram, referencing a map of downtown Thunder Bay to guide the lines she was drawing.  This wasn’t a major ritual so the consequences of getting it only mostly right wouldn’t be that bad.  If she was doing something like Verona and Lucy were doing with Miss, she knew she’d want to get it exact.

Avery knew she didn’t have to, but she copied the symbol from the pin onto the middle of the diagram.

Second part.  She didn’t know a good shorthand for a familiar relationship, but she’d seen diagrams in the familiar book that had the same sort of pattern, so that had to count for something, right?  A circle with wavy lines extending out, less rigid than the connection block things they used most of the time.  A circle for herself, a circle for Snow.  She scribbled out a quick opossum drawing inside.  Adjoining ‘road sign’ markings for travel.

Really, so long as the spirits knew what a diagram was going for, it was usually okay.

She fidgeted as she did a walk around the diagram, viewing it from multiple angles to make sure there wasn’t something she’d missed in how it was put together.  Looking at the negative space – those things that weren’t images in and of themselves, but the spaces between the lines of chalk.  It was possible to lay out an arrow or moon shape, sometimes and in this situation that could lead to being misplaced or getting stuck somewhere.

She spat on the part of the diagram that was her, then stepped into that circle as it started to faintly glow.  Her hand went to the city pin, and she felt it warm.

Her personal perspective of Thunder Bay warped, buildings moving like the Zoomtown buildings had, streets straightening, distant things rushing closer.

“Thank you!” she thanked the spirits.  She broke into a quick run before the effect could burn out, running along a space that was effectively a bridge.  She reached a commercial area, and the sidewalk was clogged with people.  She weaved past them without losing too much speed, and turned the offered corner.  The people who saw her run around the corner of a building were several blocks away from those who were waiting on the other side.  Avery checked the coast was clear, and ran across the road.

A bus passed her, and when it was gone, the neighborhood on the far side of the street wasn’t the one that had been there when the bus had.

She crossed the street again.

Her connection to Snowdrop was as much a guiding star as the fact that the ritual and the resulting rearrangement or apparent rearrangement of Thunder Bay funneled her to her destination.

Snowdrop was on the rooftop of a business, and stood up as Avery approached, pumping her fists.  Avery motioned for her to get down.

Avery closed her hand around the strap with the city pin.  “That’s all I need.  Thank you.”

She could have gotten closer, and she might have even got herself over to the rooftop, but she didn’t want to draw attention from certain people.

She got onto the rooftop the hard way- a ladder and fire escape.

“That took a while,” Snowdrop said, before grinning and showing slightly uneven, not-straight teeth.  Her jacket was the hooded ‘P.O.S.’ one with the ring of interlinked red opossums, and her shirt, Avery was pretty sure, read ‘Every room I’m in’, screaming opossum face, ‘is a panic room’.

Avery pulled Snow’s hood down, which was tricky, because Snow wore headphones and the hood of the jacket had holes cut in it to let the sides of the headphones poke out, along with the extruding lip at the top, back, and upper-back, that mimed the shape of opossum ears.

Snow grinned and pulled the hood back up, fixing the headphones and how they fit through the holes, then sort of tackled Avery, fingers reaching over to try to give Avery a wedgie.  Avery got her in an arm lock instead.  “What did you want?”

“Nothing, it was just especially boring,” Snowdrop said.  “Not many people here.”

They’d each been keeping an eye on the movements of certain players.  Avery on the Legendres, Snowdrop on Florin.  They’d gathered just about all they were likely to gather on Thea, Florin, Hugh, and Tomas, but they continued to keep tabs on them because the movements of that group could indicate something was going on.

Something was going on.

Florin’s place was in one of the nicer condo buildings downtown, and from prior surveillance, Avery knew he had the entire floor to himself.  Was that a penthouse?  She wasn’t sure.  Either way, all the lights were on, and Avery could see through the large windows to where about a dozen guests were already milling about.  Dressed nice.  Like, at a bare minimum, the women were dressed like her mom did for work, with crisp suit jackets and colorful scarves.  Some women wore simple evening dresses and jewelry, hair done up nice.  The guys had suits, sometimes crisp, other times with ties off and top buttons undone.  Ages twenty to sixty, not counting the kids in attendance.

There were more below.  On the street, people were finding parking spots and taking up every spot for two blocks over.  Avery recognized a face.  Guy with the broad nose that looked like it had been broken twice, smashed flat, bad skin that suggested he was barely out of his teen years, and he and his gorgeous wife or girlfriend were on the very young end for this crowd.  His mouth was what gave him away- he walked around with his mouth open, top and bottom teeth showing.  Andre ‘Biff’ Belov.  Captain for the junior-A men’s team, which was about as high as it was possible to climb without moving from Thunder Bay.  They didn’t have a team in the major juniors or anything like that.

She pulled her bag off and put it between herself and Snowdrop.  Then she got her surveillance notebook, second edition: Thunder Bay.

She’d split it up into four sections, with tabs taped to the pages, and Florin was the second section.  Within, she’d taped in more pictures, printed off the computer.

There, holding the door for others, was a middle aged guy with neatly combed hair who liked walking and standing around with his hands in his pockets, except he pulled his right hand out every few seconds to shake a hand and greet people.  Martin Dunton, lead pastor of the big evangelical church downtown.  They’d spotted Florin talking to this guy three times in the last couple weeks.

There were six key players who Florin had given special attention to, and Reverend Dunton was one.  Avery looked for the others.

Through the window she saw Dianna Holder.  Short, stout, unflinching, not really smiling.  She’d dressed up, wearing a black dress and dark blue cardigan, black hair combed over to one side.  Her husband looked like he was as much a teddy bear as she wasn’t, bald, goatee, perpetually smiling, a bit red and shiny in the face, with a tendency to squint as he smiled.  Their son was with them.  One of those kids who was bigger than average for his age, by the looks of it, a ten year old with a thirteen year old’s height and a fifteen year old’s weight, his dad’s dimensions and his mom’s humorlessness.

Dianna Holder was the local police chief.  She’d met him five times in the last week.

Lloyd Cloninger.  He’d dressed up a lot from how he’d looked when they’d seen him last- he’d looked rather frayed around the edges, hair sticking up, stubble on his chin, before.  Four meetings in the last two weeks.  Dean of the local university.

The mayor.

The couple with the data tracking app that was supposed to facilitate parking.

Avery sensed Snowdrop taking attention of something a half-second before Snowdrop said, “Hey, we don’t know them.”

Avery looked.

They were still in the car.  Mother, dad, two daughters, and a son?

“How can you tell we know them?” Avery asked.

“Oh!” Snowdrop replied.  “You probably don’t need this, but what the hell.”

She touched a finger to Avery’s nose and pushed it up into a piggy nose, while pushing something across the familiar bond.  Her sense of smell.  Avery gently pushed Snowdrop’s hand down.  The contact helped speed up the transition, but it kind of hurt.

The smells came rolling in, and Avery found it taking the usual form of one of those coin-sorting piggy banks that made a racket.  Drop in a fistful of change, and it rattled, clanked, everything rolling along and banging on the way down, until quarters landed in the quarter tube, loonies in the loonie tube, toonies in the toonie tube, and so on.  Here, the smells were doing that.  She took them in, she could almost taste the things that linked one smell to another…

There were some smells that were wrong, here.  That was a secondary focus.  Leaking from the one ajar car door was a sharp perfume, which was trying and failing to cover up a stench of manure, of rot, and of dark, fresh earth.

The door opened.  Nicole Scobie.  She was with her daughter Natasha, Avery’s age, and the ten year old Naomi.  Natasha had come to the Blue Heron last summer, but Avery hadn’t interacted with her much.  Naomi hadn’t.  Her husband, Dave was talking to the boy, Sean, who was Nicole’s nephew, between the two daughters in age.

Nicole wore a white dress with fur at the upper edges.  In Avery’s very uneducated opinion, the fur was a bold statement that could have been a real hit or a real miss and it wasn’t a real hit.

“She’s in?” Avery wondered aloud, whispering.  “As part of the big takeover?”

Snowdrop tapped her own nose.

Avery sniffed.

Those other smells.

Something oily, something bloody.

“You have more experience using your nose than I do, Snow.  You think these are his puppets?  Body controllers?  Dopplegangers?  That’s Florin’s whole thing.”

“They’re surrounding the building.”

Avery’s eyes went to the window.  She looked at the various guests inside.

He’s doing something.

She moved away from the roof’s edge so she wouldn’t be visible before standing up more.  “Come on.”

Snowdrop followed suit, not standing up but turning into an opossum, bounding over to Avery where she could be scooped up.

Avery reached the fire escape, and she stopped.

Halfway down was a woman in a nice dress, looking up at her.

The woman’s mouth opened in a yawn that froze halfway.  A crackly buzz leaked out, and her eyes lit up.  Identical images in each eye, flickering and blue.

The wavy curl of hair at the front of Florin’s brow was easy to distinguish, as was his voice.  It came through with the static, like a bad connection.  “Avery.”

“Florin.”

“Can I ask you to leave this alone?”

“You can ask,” she said, double checking her escape routes.  “You captured the people inside?”

The woman’s head turned slightly.  She looked at Avery more with her left eye, mouth still agape, emitting that static.  There was a sighing sound, distant.  The sort of distance that would happen if Florin was on the phone and pulled the phone away to not sigh right in her ear.

He answered her, “Nobody is being hurt.  It would be an awful waste of resources to hurt people I’ve curried favor with.  One maneuver, they return to their business by dawn, with no material effect to their lives.  A hangover, maybe, a patch of lost time, a small scab at the back of the neck that heals in a week.  The woman I’m using to communicate with you now will probably have a bad taste in her mouth for a day or so.”

“I’m not sure that’s okay.  Using people as tools.  Even if they don’t remember.”

“I think if they knew the full picture and had the devil’s bargain behind them, that I’d borrow them for a matter of a day, with no real likelihood of danger past what they’d face in their everyday lives, no violation of rights except that of autonomy, and in exchange, they get the sorts of deals, money, support, and power I’ve helped them obtain?  The vast majority would accept and make peace with it.  I don’t trifle with innocence and the karmic backlash that tends to follow from abusing it.  I believe in being fair to them.”

“I’m not good at this.  Being up against someone who has rational sounding explanations for whatever.  I just know it doesn’t feel okay, what you’re doing.”

“I could have done other things when I realized you were out here.  I came because I want to strike for compromise, the two of us finding a good common ground.  You’re not up against me, Avery.  You’re not my enemy and I don’t think I should be yours.”

“You’re working with Tomas Whitt.”

“And from your tone, I infer that you know Tomas is working with Abraham Musser, who is working against you.”

Avery didn’t move.  Snowdrop hissed lightly.

Verona and Lucy would probably fight over who gets to strangle me for being bad at keeping info up my sleeve.

“I’m not working with Abraham,” Florin said, through the vessel.

“You called him a friend, once.”

“I did.  But as it stands, I’m keeping an eye on Tomas, because that is a man who is astonishingly bad at being subtle, and embarrassingly easy to manipulate.  I throw a few softballs his way at the council meeting, talk about the future in a grandiose way… he wants to be bigger than he’s capable of.”

“The way you started with a statement that sounds really definitive, then sort of changed the subject by the end reminds me of some Fae I know.”

There was a light laughing sound that was very creepy coming from the slack-jawed, wide eyed woman.

“Tell me you won’t work with Abraham,” Avery said.

“No, because I might.  Miss Kelly, the reality is that Abraham is going to make a grab for Thunder Bay sooner or later.  I think he’d employ methods similar to mine.  I imagine he wouldn’t be as fast or as deft as I am, but I do think it would be inevitable.  If the elemental is in charge of the city, it could happen overnight.  If I am, it should take months or years.  He’ll probably pay me a considerable price to shorten that time frame, if he doesn’t decide it’s easier to keep me in power.”

“What are you on about?” Avery asked.

“If you hate Abraham Musser then you should you want me as Lord.  It would slow him down or cost him more than the elemental ever could.  I could negotiate for you and your family to stay and be left alone.”

“And Kennet?”

“Probably not.”

Avery shook her head a bit.

“It’s politics and pragmatism.  Abraham is likely to take over eventually.  I think he likes me, he’d respect my maneuver, he’d deal with me fairly… up to a point.  If I made myself too much of a nuisance he’d squash me instead.  I have too much invested here to let him muck about too much with the status quo.  If I’m Lord, I can preserve things.  If I take Thunder Bay I can extract promises, influence, and power from him.  It’ll be up to him to decide if he wants a protracted and very attention-consuming fight or if he wants to pay out the nose.  That’s a language he knows and speaks.”

“And I’m supposed to just walk away?  And let you, what, kill the Lord of Thunder Bay?”

“Or force her to concede.  The Lord of Thunder Bay is a powerful elemental and for most problems she’s a blunt stick big enough to scare threats away from the approach.  Which is great and valuable, up to a point.  Past that point, there is a narrow margin where someone might have to think twice or slow down dramatically before making an attempt, and then a wide swathe of threats that have bigger, more menacing sticks.  We have her where she is for her strength and the moment she’s not strong enough she’s not a very effective Lord anymore.  Abraham Musser is in that category.”

“She’s been fair to me.”

“Yeah,” Florin’s voice came from the woman’s mouth, choppy and staticky.  “Do you think I’ve been unfair to you?”

“I-” Avery started.  She looked at Snowdrop.  “I’m not sure how to respond to that, exactly.”

“Think on it,” Florin told her.

“I think… maybe you’ve been fair to me, and so has she.  But you’re being unfair to her, and I don’t think that cuts the other way,” Avery replied.

“Think on it for longer than three-”

Avery’s phone rang.

“-three seconds,” Florin told her.  “Do you need a moment?”

She was still getting her phone out of her pocket when she remembered the big picture, what was happening elsewhere, and then heart and lungs were seized tight by the realization of what the message meant.

It wasn’t.  Nora.

She answered.  “Hey?”

“Hey.  Sorry to call at random, but I’m stuck babysitting my brothers, I was wondering if you wanted to hang.”

“Can I call you back?  Stuck with-” she looked at the woman with the glowing Florin-heads reflected in her eyes, static spewing from her mouth.  “-a situation.”

“Sure, of course, sorry.  Didn’t mean to-“

“It’s really okay.  It is.  Talk to you soon,” Avery hurried.

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

She hung up, closed her eyes for a second, and took in a deep breath, centering herself.

Florin resumed speaking, “Avery.  I’m not going to try to hurt or stop you right here.  I might not even be able to.  I’m keeping tabs on the locals and less than ten minutes ago you were halfway across the city.  I’m a long term planner, you’re speed and instinct, as I see it.”

“Is this flattery?” she asked.

“No.  It’s genuine praise.  I like you.  I like your opossum spirit, particularly.  She’s funny.  The council needs young blood and fresh perspectives, it’s going to shuffle and change dramatically in coming days and weeks, and I want you on that council when things calm down.”

“With Musser in charge?”

“We’ll see.  Could be any of Musser’s men.  Musser himself will want to stay close to Toronto, I think.  In fact, let me make a better offer.  If it comes to that-”

Avery shook her head a little.

“-and I end up as Lord, which I’m liable to, and if you don’t stand in my way, I’ll include you in the discussion.  Surely you don’t hate everyone in Musser’s camp?  You could name a name.  I’d push for it.  If Musser has the city, he’ll be content.”

“I don’t want him to have the city to begin with.”

“But let’s assume it comes to that.”  Florin paused.  She heard a faint tongue cluck.  “Raquel Musser could take Lordship of Thunder Bay.”

Avery frowned.

“I talked to Abraham about you not all that long ago.  We talked about the fact you’d been talking to Raquel.  She’s a friend?”

“Yeah.  Just to exchange emails and talk about movies and things.  But that’s silly, that’s not-”

“Not likely?  She’s too young, yes.  So I would suggest she becomes de-facto Lord with regent assistants supporting her but leaving the final say to her.  Me, naturally, and one person from within the Musser family that Raquel herself decides on that she trusts and likes, that Musser approves of, as joint regents.  I really do believe he’d accept, and that she would be fine after, with the support of his network.”

“You’d just end up manipulating her.”

“Some.  A little.  That’s who I am.  But I swear to you that if it comes to that, if you’re amenable to the deal, if she is amenable, I’d push for this, I’d take her under my metaphorical wing, and tutor her in all things with the intention of making her stronger, happier, more effective, and more secure.  The regency would end whenever she turns eighteen and I would relinquish it, doing what I could to ensure she’s not too much worse off for my leaving.  It would be akin to a political marriage, but she would be married to Thunder Bay.”

“You’re going too fast.  There’s too many things I’d want to clarify-”

“Ask.”

“-and I’m not sure it matters because I don’t want Musser to take Thunder Bay.”

“Then do what you will.  Stop him, get in his way, slow him down.  But if your efforts fail, is it really the worst thing in the world to have me swearing this to you?  An acquaintance of yours you could trust as local Lord.”

“You’d leave?”

“After the- I have no idea how old she is.  -Four or five years before she turns eighteen?  After she reaches that milestone, I’d move to other pastures.  I enjoy this, Avery Kelly.  I’d hate being a Lord, but I do love the process of getting there.  When I leave Thunder Bay to restart elsewhere, I’ll retain friends in high places and income streams here.  With you included as a friend, I’d hope, and any Lord I was regent assistant to, as well.”

“She could get assassinated by the next Florin Pesch type, couldn’t she?”

Florin chuckled lightly.  Again, it was eerie, coming from the mouth of a woman with mouth open and askew, eyes wide, not a hint of humor on her features.  “I’d do what I could.  So would Abraham.  She’d have a big enough stick with the Musser’s power backing her and she’d have me to help guide and warn her against the next schemer.”

“Could she leave?”

“I don’t know.  I think that’s more up to her than anything.  Her uncle is a hard man to disappoint.  But can she leave now?”

Avery turned around, taking a step away to look over toward the apartment.

Florin was there, in the window, his eyes glowing the same color as the images reflected in the woman’s eyes.  Nobody bothered him as he stood there.

Florin’s voice continued to come from the woman, even though Avery couldn’t see her.  Florin’s mouth moved, in the window across the street.  “I swear to you, Avery Kelly, that if you don’t stand in my way here, I will not hold back or shortchange you as I make a genuine effort to protect you and your family, and preserve your ability to stay and live your life in this city.  All you must do is nothing.  Go, enjoy your evening.  Go to school tomorrow, enjoy your day.  Let what happens happen.  I will not hold back or shortchange you in finding a workable outcome.  Something in the spirit of what I just offered regarding Raquel, if not that very deal.  We could talk, I’d give you input.”

“Why are you going this far?” Avery asked, looking down at the woman on the fire escape.

“Because there are only two individuals in this city I haven’t anticipated and planned for.  One of them is Franky, the goat-owning creation of Charles Abrams, and she’s more a danger to herself than to any of us.  The other is you.  I heard from Abraham about what happened to Alexander Belanger and Lawrence Bristow.  Musser might be strong enough to avoid that kind of fate, but I’ll stick to what I’m good at and try to stay on your good side.  If that’s even possible?”

“You’re the kind of person who can be friends with Musser.”

“I accept what the world is and work very well within that dynamic.”

“And you’d hurt the Lord of Thunder Bay, who did nothing to you, as far as I know.”

“Hurt?  She has no nerves, she doesn’t feel pain.  She-”

“Don’t do that,” Avery replied, voice hard now.

Florin fell silent.

There was a pause.

“Avery,” Florin said.  “Think on this.  I think you and I both know it is nigh-inevitable that his faction will win.  Even if Abraham were to die, the people he keeps in his orbit would pick up where he left off.  He or someone like him will eventually take Thunder Bay.  He or someone like him will eventually take your hometown.  It’s a question of how long.  If you want to delay or make it more costly for Abraham?  Go home and do nothing.  I can hold him off better than the current Lord ever could.  If you do and Musser loses, you get what you want, Musser gone and me with egg on my face.  If Musser wins, you’ll have my support in getting what you want in the aftermath.  Take the time to dwell on it.”

“Do you even need that time, or are you trying to distract me right this second?”

“I do need the time to establish sufficient claim over Thunder Bay.”

“Could I ask…” Avery paused, and she considered for a few seconds if she wanted to risk tipping her hand.  “Can you wait?”

“No.  I’ve already started, I would weaken future attempts at claiming it, in the same way a failed Lordship claim or Demesne ritual would be weakened.  Besides, I have reason to believe Abraham is preparing to take a key piece of territory.  I won’t have many opportunities to act like this.”

Bridge said we’d get a chance like this soon.  We’ll have to wait for Miss to confirm and get us details, Avery thought.  It really is happening soon.  The phone call from Verona or Lucy will come…

…and I’ll have to act.

Florin is acting for the same reason and with the same timing we’re hoping to.  Because Musser’s occupied somewhere.  He’s just a half-step ahead.

Avery looked down at Snowdrop, a little overwhelmed in the moment.

Florin’s voice came through his human mouthpiece, no doubt smooth at the origin but damaged by the means of transmission.  “Think it over.  Make your decision.  I should go be a good host to those attending my party.”

The woman turned, and the static sound went away as she closed her mouth.

Avery watched as the woman descended the fire escape and then walked around the building.  She followed after, keeping her distance and staying quiet, until she could see the woman again.  Just to be safe, she watched over her until she’d safely crossed the street.

She waited while Snowdrop pulled the zipper of her bag and slipped inside, then reached behind her head to zip it after her.

She knew she should call Nora, but first…

Avery waited until she was far enough away to feel reasonably safe.  Her bracelet was still and quiet.

She pulled out a blank spell card and wrote a message.

“Ashumare Ashumare,” she murmured.  “Tell the Lord I’ve got something to say.”

Strong wind tugged at the paper.  It slapped against the side of the house, and Avery could see the pencil-scribbled rabbit shape there, eyeless, with that smudge of a smile.

She blinked, and the image was gone, as was the paper.

She dialed Nora.

The inside of Nora’s house was very gray and very tidy.  It might have been an artsy thing, like apartments with white carpet, white walls, white furniture, and glass where it wasn’t white, but it could just as easily have been a consequence of decisions made a while back.  The angle of the house meant the light came in through the back, and it really should have felt like…

Well, like Verona’s house.  Cold and dark.  But it wasn’t.  Throw blankets were all over the place, decorations had been chosen with care.  There were multiple walls of photographs just stuck wherever, with smaller photos and class pictures snuck into the open spaces wherever.

The weird thing was that like… Nora was officially babysitting, even though her brothers were only a couple years younger, and she was babysitting despite the fact that her dad was in the backyard, doing gardening in the last hours of afternoon light.

Henry and Luke sat close to the TV, kneeling on cushions.  They were a year apart, and a little older than Declan.  Avery sat on the couch, leaning into the armrest, feet pulled up beside her, and Nora had done much the same, the two of them sharing a blanket.  Feet touching.

The movie was awful and awfully animated, with about five frames a second.  A snail sumo wrestler was learning patience.

Bored with the movie, she looked around the room a lot, and she’d sneak glances at Nora, smiling a bit when caught.

That part was nice.

The front door opened, and Nora’s mom came in, carrying canvas bags.  Nora’s little brothers immediately paused the movie.  Nora’s feet moved away from Avery’s.

“Do you need help?” Henry asked.  Bright and cheerful.  It was weird.

“No, you finish watching,” the mom whispered, motioning toward the screen.  She smiled and gave Avery a little wave before carrying on to the kitchen.

Nora motioned, and got up, tossing the throw blanket over the back of the sofa.  Avery followed her to the back.

“It is weird to me that your brothers are so helpful,” Avery commented.

“They’re okay.  You have a couple brothers, right?”

“Rowan’s twenty, Declan’s eleven.”

“Oh, same as Luke,” Nora’s mom commented brightly. She seemed so much more cheerful and comfortable now than when she’d been standing out in front of Avery’s, picking Nora up.  She looked at Nora.  “They could be friends.”

“They’re not local.  My dad’s looking after him, Kerry, she’s six, and Grumble, he’s my dad’s dad, over in Kennet, still.”

“That sounds familiar.  Where’s that?”

“Hmmm, northeast of here, north of the lake?  Three or four hours drive,”  Avery helped carry some cans over to the pantry, following Nora as she talked.  “Last official number I heard was that there’s five thousand people living there, but I think it might be more like three thousand now.”

“Oh my.  Well, they could still be friends.”

“I’m not sure I’d want to do that to Luke.”

“Aww, everyone’s like that about their brothers.”

“Declan’s big into video games, and there’s all these prejudices about gamers and what video games do to children, and it’s like-” Avery clenched a fist.  “-He’s really trying to keep those prejudices going.”

“What do your parents do about that?”

Nora was, with expression alone, trying to indicate that Avery should steer the conversation.  Was it that much of a minefield?

“I guess we’ll see.  I think it snuck up on us.  It being this bad was a recent development.”

“We limit screen and computer time.  Is that a consideration?”

“Maybe, but I think Declan would become more of a problem.”

“You set time limits for me based on age, but when I got older you raised Henry and Luke’s time limits too,” Nora remarked.

“Only if they’re good.”

“They’re almost always good.  They don’t get an opportunity to be bad.”

“Funny how that works,” her mom said, in a cutesy, pleased with herself tone.

“I was good too.”

“You were… pretty good.  Reasonably good.  Mostly good.”

“I didn’t get the extra screen time!”

Nora’s dad entered the kitchen, hands grimy with soil, meandered over to his wife, to give her a kiss on the cheek, hands held away, then glanced at Nora.  He showed her his hands, and jerked a thumb toward the backyard.

“I’ve got a friend over,” Nora told him.

“I’d help but I’m making dinner,” Nora’s mom said.  “Ask the boys.  But if they’re enjoying the movie, maybe you can wait until tomorrow.”

He moved like a sleepwalking man.  More a zombie than some of the literally possessed, controlled people Florin had had at the party.  In zero hurry, easygoing, with little efficiency.

Avery could have run around the block in the time it took him to walk to the living room, ask the boys a question, and return.  They followed after, tripping over each other in their hurry to get shoes on.

“Speaking of dinner, are you staying?”

“Before Avery came over, she was saying she might have to leave at any moment.”

“Oh, why?”

“Something my friends back in Kennet are dealing with.  I want to be there for them.  The entire town is kind of collapsing, you know?  Highway rerouting did a number on things.”

“Well, you’re welcome to come at any time.  Another day?”

Nora shook her head in a small, tight motion, from an angle her mom couldn’t see.

“Maybe?  Might be nice.”

“Just let us know in advance so we can get the extra food.  We should be eating in twenty or so minutes.”

“Do you want to hang?  Garage, drums?” Nora asked.

“Not the drums, please,” Nora’s mom said.  “Later or earlier, but dinner time is my zen time.”

“Or I could walk with you?” Nora offered.  To her mom, she said, “I’d be back in time for dinner.”

“If you’re back in time.  You could stop at the corner store on the way back?  The grocery store was out of the toaster cookies the boys like.  I know they were looking forward to getting those.”

“There are so many annoying things about that request-” Nora started.

“Please.”

“Like, besides the fact that I wasn’t allowed those cookies, I can’t even walk and talk properly with Avery, it becomes a rush.”

“I’m just asking.”

“Fine,” Nora replied, grumpy.  She looked at Avery.  “Yeah?”

Avery shrugged and nodded.  “Let me get my stuff.”

Nora ran upstairs, and Avery went to the living room to grab her bag where it sat by the couch.

The television was muted but left on, now playing commercials.  It buzzed, brightened, hummed, and then cut to another commercial.  A bunch of kids were in the vicinity of a rabbit person made of scribbles, but they were frozen into place, put on pause, desaturated.

“Ashumare, Ashumare,” the rabbit said, turning to Avery.  “Say what you will and what you may.  To our Lord’s ears I shall relay.”

Avery looked around.  “I don’t have time to rhyme.  It seems Florin is making his move for the Lordship.”

The more animated Ashumare Ashumare was in the frozen scene, the more it felt like the cartoon children weren’t put on pause, but were dead, instead.  “Ashumare Ashumare, is that it and is that all?  If it’s true then expect a brawl.”

“It’s true,” Avery murmured.  “And I don’t want a brawl.  I’m going to ask for a favor.  Hold off on acting.  I’ll-”

She heard a creak upstairs.

Ashumare Ashumare disappeared.

“Negotiate with her later tonight,” Avery murmured, throwing the bag over her shoulder.  She paused and looked at the screen.  “Since it’s awkward to get, do you think you or the Lord could get your hands on a folding table?”

Ashumare Ashumare’s face briefly appeared superimposed over a logo in the commercial, smiling wide.  The words dissolved into scribbles.  A moment later, the scribbles were gone and the letters normal.

Avery walked over to the stairs and waited a short bit before Nora came down.  Nora collected the canvas bags her mom had brought in, got her jacket, and they went out.

“I hope you don’t think I’m horrible and cranky, arguing with my mom,” Nora said, after they were half a block away.

“You are so justified in being annoyed.  Very justified.”

“Thank you, they’re so annoyingly good.  I wish they’d do something wrong so I could point to the unfair treatment.  Like become serial killers,” Nora replied, shrugging deeper into her jacket, hands jammed in the pockets.

“Serial killers, huh?”

“Or clown arsonists.”

“Are those arsonists who are clowns or arsonists who burn clowns?”

“Both,” Nora said, mock-sullen.  She smiled a bit, as if to reassure Avery she wasn’t really upset.

“Bit of an extreme, jumping right to something like murder or arson.”

“Need to make up for lost time, really cross lines so my mom can’t mollycoddle it.”

“Become drug kingpins?  Dealing to the kids at the playground.”

“That would be fine,” Nora replied.

“Secretly getting and doing prison tats on school grounds.”

“Heck yeah,” Nora replied.  She looked like she’d settled in comfortably, wearing heavy sweater, big coat, all hunkered down, but then she had to pull her hands out of her pockets a moment later to fix her locs.

Avery had called them dreads at one point, and Nora had clarified that wasn’t what they were.

“By the way, I thought I told you my mom’s cooking is super boring.  Come over at your own peril,” Nora said.

“Sure.  I mean, I can eat a lot more weird and awful foods than the average person,” Avery said.  Because opossum familiar, “I was just worried like, you didn’t want me over because you don’t want to tip off the family.”

“No.  I worry like… if I get super anxious or flushed or something, or if I have a complete brain fart and say the wrong thing, because that’s a thing I do, then my life could get turned upside down, you know?  Overprotective mom?”

“Yeah.  I wanted to- I wanted to tease you, or say things, even touch your hand, but I didn’t want to put you in a bad position.”

“No, it’s okay, but I don’t want you to feel like you- I feel bad.”

“Don’t.  I’m happy.  I like having you as my secret.”

Nora gave her a sidelong glance.

Was that the wrong thing to say?

“Say that and I’ll still be flushed and flustered when I get back.”

“So when we get to my place, I can’t take you around the side of the garage where nobody can see us, and kiss you like I’ve wanted to do since I got to your house?”

Nora gave her another sidelong glance.  Avery bumped her shoulder into Nora’s.

Nora’s attempt at looking stoic faltered, smile breaking cross her face as she looked down.  She still tried with words, though.  “You can.  I’ll deal with my family if they think I’m weird, after.”

“Okay, good,” Avery said, smiling.  But she felt her ears getting hot.

They weren’t even close to her house, so that hung in the air for the full four or so minutes they walked, with small talk being very small in that space.  But, running the last short distance down the driveway, they escaped into that narrow space between garage and hedge, and Avery followed through, leaning into Nora for a kiss, then another.

Until Nora’s phone beeped with a message.

“Shit, no time.  She’s asking if I’m at the corner store.  Or if I’m done there and on my way home.”

“Go,” Avery said, squeezing Nora’s hand before letting it go.  Then, as Nora turned, she added, “Hm-”

“Hm?” Nora asked.  She turned around, drawing shoulders together.

“This thing with my friends-”

“Good luck.”

“-thanks.  I don’t know what’s going to happen, but there’s a chance I might go out of town.”

“Staying at your dad’s?”

“I hope it doesn’t come to that.  But if it does, or anything like that, I’ll text or call if I can.”

“I hope you don’t have to leave- that they don’t need that kind of help.”

“Same here.”

“I hope you can tell me what it’s about sometime.”

This was the part that felt bad.

Avery nodded.

She watched Nora go.

She sensed Snowdrop.

“Come on, Snow,” Avery said, reaching down.  “Let’s go talk to the Lord about our strategy.”

The whistle blared.

“Jeanine!”

“Ugh,” Jeanine grunted.

“Where’s your fire!?”

“He’s really on your case,” Avery noted.

“I’m on my own case.  I’m playing like shit.  I need fuel, I need love and adoration and cute girls.”

“I love and adore you,” Sophy told Jeanine as she jogged by, deadpan and joyless, “You’re my world, you’re awesome, you’re so great.”

“I don’t want your love and adoration, Soph,” Jeanine retorted.  “You’re probably like a praying mantis, biting the heads off your partners.”

Sophy laughed, but it was still a bit deadpan.

“Uuuuuuugh.  Give me a reason to get up in the morning, world.”

Artrip barked out, “I can’t make out what you’re saying, Jeanine, but it sure would be nice if you saved your breath for running!”

“Give me a reason to go to sleep early and eat well,” Jeanine went on.  “Give me a reason to chuck a stupid ball around.  It doesn’t have to be a cute girl, I’ll accept a 4K television for my room, universe, or money.  Nice clothes that get me cute girls…”

“He’s going to make you run laps,” Hui commented.

“I’ll even accept smiting bolts of lightning to strike down everyone who’s making snarky comments while I wallow in boredom and misery…”

Avery caught a ball and passed it, carrying on with the drill.

“I wasn’t being snarky,” Hui grumbled.

Jeanine groaned.  “It’s way too early, school hasn’t even started yet, my body physically hurts.  You could literally say good morning and I’d hear snark in it.”

“That sounds like a you problem and not a her problem,” Avery replied.  She caught another ball and whipped it to the next person.

“Thank you, Avery,” Hui replied.

“My joyless existence is everyone’s problem,” Jeanine groaned.

“Jeanine!” Artrip barked out.  “Laps until I say stop!”

Jeanine turned to Avery and Hui, walking backwards as she clutched at her shirt.  “This is supposed to be a punishment but my hatred for laps is overcome by the feeling of validation.  Truly, existence is misery.”

“Stop being a drama queen,” Avery told her.

“Kelly!  You too, laps!”

“What the f?” Avery asked.

“You’re enabling her!  You too, Hui!”

“I told her to quit it!”

“Laps until I say so!”

“Validation,” Jeanine told Avery and Hui.  “Verily, my misery has become your problems now, as it should be…”

“Keep that up and you’ll get shanked in the locker room,” Hui told Jeanine.

“I do know some very good shank-makers,” Avery said.

“Heyyy, there’s some teamwork,” Hui elbowed her.

“Run!” Artrip barked.

Avery rolled her eyes and put her stick down so she could run the laps.  Jeanine ran with her, looking overly pleased with herself.  Avery rolled her eyes some more.

Clouds were gathering on the horizon, dark and heavy.

“You’ve been hanging around with Nora lately, huh?” Jeanine asked.

“Yep.”

“She kind of gives me school shooter vibes.”

“C’mon.  Don’t be crummy,” Avery told Jeanine.  “No.”

“I’m just saying-”

“Screw off,” Avery said, before picking up speed.  “And if you pull that crap and it goes around, and she has a hard time because of it, you realize that’s it?  You and I aren’t friends anymore?”

“Okay, I’m sorry, look, listen-”

“Girls, if you have the breath to chatter, you’re not running hard enough!”

“-don’t tell me to screw off, okay, because I’m really bad at screwing off, and I’m not trying to be- you’re right, that was bad.  I don’t have a filter.”

“Hold up, jog in place,” Artrip ordered, stepping into their way.  “The spare helmets are over there, I think they’re feeling lonely.  Each of you bring three helmets on the next lap.  And don’t drop them.”

“Wait, me too?” Hui asked.  “I was being good.”

“Doomed by association,” Jeanine threw in, dramatic again.  Hui scowled at her.

“Go ahead, Hui, return to practice.  You’re right, you’re being good,” Artrip said.  “Jeanine, though… helmets.  Kelly, you too.”

Avery got the helmets, and quickly found that holding two was easy enough but holding three was a pain.  She had to run awkwardly with a helmet stuck atop one of the ones she was holding, tucked under her chin.

They didn’t chatter for the next lap.

“Avery!” Artrip called out, as she approached him.

“I’m being good!” she called out.

“I think that’s your phone.  You said you were expecting something important?”

Avery ran up to him and he took one helmet.  She set the other two down and picked up the phone, heart hammering for reasons that had nothing to do with the running.

Verona:
Go.

Avery quickly replied with a thumbs up, then signaled Snowdrop with an impulse.

“Everything okay?” Jeanine asked.

“Run,” Atrip ordered.  Jeanine ran on, but kept looking back.

The phone bleeped.  It was an incoming text message, but it was red tinted.

Emergency alert:
Storm warning in the greater Thunder Bay area…
click to read more.

Artrip had received the same on his phone.  “Storm warning.”

“Yeah.”

“The weather network said it would miss us.”

“Guess not, huh?”  Avery looked to the side.

The clouds on the horizon were moving with intent, now.

If this all went wrong, then where would the blame lie?  What precipitated this?  It was like dominoes falling- Miss getting back to Verona and Lucy, Verona sending confirmation, Avery signaling Snowdrop, who was in the company of the Lord of Thunder Bay.

“I’ve got to go,” Avery told Mr. Artrip.

“If those clouds don’t steer away, we might be canceling practice soon anyway.  You said it was an emergency?”

“Yeah.”

“I saw on your screen when it lit up.  Short text for an emergency.”

“Yeah.  Anyway, can I-?”

“Is your parent picking you up?  Technically you’re under my supervision…”

She hadn’t wanted this.

“They should swing by to pick me up,” she told him.

He nodded.

Avery quickly pulled on a sweatshirt over her top, then her bag.  She didn’t have long pants to pull on here, but she could change later.

For now it was more important to get moving.

She crossed to the parking lot, and she began whistling.

The Car Song reached out to her.  It was the sort of Other that existed in a liminal space, present but not present in reality, until called or given reason to act on the world.

Which meant, basically, it reacted quickly to summons.  There were bogeymen who were the same way, only attacking if their name was repeated a few times in the mirror.

The car pulled into the school parking lot, music pounding.  “Driving hard, neh?   Flying high, neh?  Fighting rough, neh?  Driving, flying, fighting, neh?  Getting into the thick of it, swinging a stick at shit, cutting to the quick of it-“

She hauled the door open and climbed inside.  “Coast.  Thanks guys.”

The windows were tinted and it cast weird light into the car interior.  If she looked directly for the driver, passenger, or the others in the back seat, there was nothing except lumpy, torn up upholstery.  But when she didn’t focus on them, the music that throbbed through the old radio jarred everything, and made it move in organic ways.  The pulse of the music made the wheel jerk left, blew the gearshift downward, made a head-like bulge in the torn upholstery turn to look at the window.

The fight song mutated and distorted as the Car Song drove her to the coast.

“You guys care if I change?” she asked.

There was no protest.  She quickly pulled off her shoes, pulled on jeans over her running shorts, and then pulled on the spare shoes she had in her bag.  She sorted out spell cards and tools.

She put on a second charm bracelet.

Depending on how this went, she might only have one shot.

Raindrops pattered against the roof of the Car Song.

Her leg jittered nervously.

The singing fell off.  Only the music persisted, volume turning down.

The car pulled into a space, and the door popped open.

The rain was starting to come down harder now.

“Thanks,” Avery told the Car Song, giving the side of the car a light pat.  “Take care of yourselves.”

The door closed itself.  The singing resumed, still something of a fight song, leaking out through cracked windows.

Deb and Ann were by the water.  Ann had an umbrella out already, but Deb was a Storm Chaser and it seemed to be a point of pride for her that she didn’t mind the rain.

“We didn’t put out a call,” Ann said.  “Yet you’re already here.  What do you know?”

“We can talk there,” Avery said.

The nervousness was making her feel vaguely ill.  The fact she had been up once every thirty to sixty minutes to check her phone and make sure the go-ahead hadn’t come and was tired as a result didn’t help any.  She’d barely had an appetite.

“You’ve been doing something behind our backs,” Ann said.

Avery sighed, then ran out to the water.  The rain that was getting more intense every few seconds made the footing a little rougher under her rune-inscribed running shoes.

She plunged into the water.  Snowdrop jumped to her feet and ran over as she arrived.  The Lord of Thunder Bay sat in her customary spot.  Rain came down hard, drumming on Avery, but it didn’t soak her.  It hit the floor of this spot in deep water, and it didn’t form puddles.

Ann and Deb were right behind her.

“We walk into the water, there’s no need for the jumping on reflections,” Deb told Avery, the moment she emerged.

“I like the reflections.”

“They’re boring, not fun at all,” Snowdrop volunteered.

“Will you tell us what’s going on?” Ann asked.  All business.

Avery looked back at the Lord, who bobbed her head in a nod.

“Florin is making an attempt at the Lordship.”

Ann and Deb stood a little taller at that.  The aura of pettiness and whatever that surrounded them- well, that was still there.  But it cracked some.  Something more stern leaked through.

“You didn’t tell us?” Deb asked the Lord.

“There’s more to it.  Tomas and Hugh are working with Musser.  Thea was going to but backed off.”

“I don’t see why we weren’t consulted,” Deb commented, a little more upset now.

“Because there only people who could be trusted were the Others, and me as the newcomer that hates Musser, I guess.  I think it’s why she wanted me on the council.”

“Did you call the others?” Ann asked.

The Lord nodded.

“We might need you to break your customary silence and give us some guidance,” Ann told the Lord.

“Gilkey is gone.  Ashumare Ashumare should be left alone.  Avery Kelly investigated.  Investigated you.  Investigated them.”

“Brief investigation for you guys,” Avery clarified.  “There were no signs of deeper involvement.”

The water splashed.  Odis Saulsbury, bald, old, and well-dressed, carrying a cane.

“I’m unshaven.  I wasn’t expecting this.”

“I don’t think we care, Odis,” Ann replied.  “There’s a coup attempt.”

“Who?”

“Florin.”

“Florin, yeah, but-” Avery started.

A man in a suit stepped through the wall of water.

“Sebastian Harless.  A long time since you’ve attended a council meeting,” Ann commented.

“An emergency alert on my phone, and a summons from my Lord a moment later.  I didn’t get the sense this was a meeting I could skip,” the man said.

“Coup attempt,” Ann supplied.  “Perhaps we’ll wait for everyone to show.”

“New face,” Harless noted.

“I’m Avery,” Avery introduced herself.  “This is Snowdrop.  It’s nice to meet you, I hope we can work together in the future.”

“Don’t hope for that.  The contract work I do is very boring,” he said.

The ‘bright flash’ elemental Other Aze appeared, bright in the increasing gloom that came with the heavy cloud cover.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Theodora stepped through the wall of water.  She looked around the room with resentment and anger in her eyes.

“It’s good you came,” Odis told her.

“I thought about not coming at all.  This useless council business.”

“I know.  It’s still good you came.”

The others followed soon after, as more of a group.  There was an Other with a big video camera, who held the camera from weird angles with long limbs, a dull expression stuck to his face.  The distinction between grayish skin and grayish clothes was hard to parse.

Franky, her pet goat on a leash.

Two out of the three members of the Childs family.  The third was on a trip.  Then Nadine and Dav.  Ashumare Ashumare was last.

“We can give the others a few minutes,” Ann told the room.  “I imagine Nicole is milking her cow.”

“Actually…” Avery ventured.  “Nicole is siding with Florin.  Florin’s making a move.  If you figure Gilkey is gone, Evans was gone when I showed up in Thunder Bay and hasn’t come back.  Tomas is working with Musser and is probably afraid of reprisal… same for Hugh?  Is he around?”

“He’s in town,” Deb remarked.  She seemed dejected.  Frustrated.

Focused on the sky above them.

“I’m not sure how many others are going to come,” Avery said.

“However this unfolds, this may put us in a worse position against Musser.  One of our number missing, two making a play on their own, two more defected to Musser?” Ann asked.

“About sums it up,” Avery replied.

“We may not even get that far,” Deb murmured.

“What do you mean?” Ann asked her.

It was weird for Ann and Deb to not on the same page as one another.  The pair had always showed up together, seemed almost like friends, even if Ann was the prim, proper, and arrogant Destroyer, drawing on Abyss and Ruins power, while Deb was the scarred up Ruins chaser.

Deb explained.  “Florin has contacts.  Allies from beyond the city.  If he can contest the Lordship, even bringing it to a standstill, somehow-”

“Claim,” Avery cut in.  “That’s how.  Through the town’s major players.”

“-he can bring in his allies.  You sense it don’t you, my Lord?”

Deb stood a little taller as she asked, looking over at the Lord of Thunder Bay.

“If you’ll spare us the theatrics?” Nadine asked.  One of the gleaners.

“A false Storm approaches.  Capital S.  A conflux of elemental power that often leads to disaster,” Deb explained.  “Our Lord of Thunder Bay didn’t create it.”

“Can you handle it?” Ann asked.

“Yes, but at what cost?  That takes time and focus.  An ally of Florin was prepared with a ritual to create a simulated Storm, near the edges of our Lord’s reach.  It’s an instance of coup.  It will interfere with her power, her claim over Thunder Bay, and her ability to fight back.  And perhaps most importantly…”

“The structural integrity of our Lord’s sanctum here?” Odis asked.

A wave crashed hard against the shore.  Water slopped over the edges.

Those edges were a good fifty or sixty feet up.

Fifty or sixty feet would be a long distance to swim on a lungful of air.  Especially if it came crashing down on and around her hard enough to knock the air out of her.

“May I suggest-?” Deb asked.

The Lord of Thunder Bay stood.  Water parted, and the sanctum collapsed behind them.

They were pushed onto shore.  Most of them managed to stay mostly upright, just by crouching.  Thea steadied Odis to keep the old man from falling.

Avery used her Sight this time.

The weather on the horizon was black in her sight, with dark red glowing through it.  It cut through and stripped away the mist that normally hung heavy over things, especially in the distance.

Wave crashed against wave behind them.  It was a speeding-train-hits-speeding-train sort of crash.  Not just one impact, but fifty or a hundred or a thousand components colliding with one another in short succession, at varying angles.  Some of those waves were black.

The rain was coming down in sheets now.  The Lord’s influence didn’t keep them dry any longer.

Avery looked back and saw the Lord of Thunder Bay in the water, head and shoulders showing, blue eyes glowing past the rain.

“Our would-be Lord Pesch has hired an elementalist,” Odis observed.  “Putting our Lord in check while he asserts his claim over other things that matter.”

“She’s strong,” Deb said.

“She?” Ann asked.

“Ferguson?” Avery asked.

Deb nodded.

“A friend of yours, wasn’t she?” Odis asked.

“She is a colleague and something of a friend,” Deb remarked.  “Was.  We delved some storms together.”

Mrs. Ferguson, mom to Sol Ferguson, Blue Heron student.  She taught the class that got into what Storms are.

Avery was soaked through now.  Snowdrop shivered.

Avery turned to the Lord of Thunder Bay.  “Should I?  There might be only one shot at this.”

That produced a nod.

“You have a plan?” Ann asked.

“Kind of.  I can take one of them out of play.  Maybe.”

“You could also get electrocuted, frozen, or set on fire,” Deb told Avery.

“Got any protections I can borrow?”

“No.  But I’m no slouch.  If I test her, and if the Lord of Thunder Bay assists me, that could give you a window of opportunity.”

Avery nodded.

Thunder was rumbling constantly now.  From the looks of it, as far as Avery could make anything out in the rain, the city was in the process of shutting down.  There were barely cars on the road.

“She’s close,” Ann said.  “I think you were right, Odis.  That they expected we’d gather, and she thought she might have a chance of giving us a violent bath.”

“Florin is good at what he does,” Odis remarked.  It looked like the cold rain was doing a number on him.  “But he’s not as experienced as he could be.  Very few people can do something on this scale and not feel the need to manage it.  Murderers insert themselves into investigations out of insecurity, or revisit the scenes.  If she’s close, it may be because she was given orders to be close.”

“Because of that insecurity?” Thea asked.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Wanting to keep an eye on things,” Odis said.

Thea scowled, but she didn’t have a retort.

“But it can be turned on the unwary.  If she’s keeping track of us and he’s keeping track of her, we could beat her, somehow, and then get her to turn on him  Use that link, in the same way the law might unravel terrorist organizations by tracing a cell back to its handlers,” Odis explained.  “Here we have a cell of one, presumably.”

Avery shivered as he met her eyes.  Here, bedraggled and wet, talking like that, he gave her a pointed Wolf vibe.

“On that topic,” Dav said- he was one of the Gleaners, one of the minor practices.  “Of we.  I’m not sure we should take a stance.”

He looked at Nadine, his fellow apprentice, as he said it.

“You’re not going to assist in the defense of Thunder Bay?” Ann asked.

“I think we could contribute very little… and Thunder Bay is better off with Gleaners present,” Nadine said, picking up where Dav had left off.  “We’d serve whoever.”

“That is disappointing.”

Avery watched the Storm approach.

“I’m a contract lawyer.  I haven’t sought out the aggressive practices in some time,” Harless said.  Then he walked over to where the Gleaners stood.

Franky and her goat followed.  “I don’t think I need to explain.  You said I shouldn’t practice.”

“That’s fine,” Ann said, but her tone suggested it wasn’t.  Like she’d expected everyone, even the smaller practitioners with no ability to fight, to join in on this.

The Childs family of weird looking people who worked with incarnations were the next to break.

Which didn’t get a ‘that’s fine’ from Ann.  Because they were strong.  They had resources.

“If you can do something about the creator of that artificial Storm, our Lord will be more able to act,” Deb said.  “I would have thought you’d walk away.”

“Florin would probably just sell the city to Musser, after,” Avery said.

“Do what you can,” Deb told her.

Avery nodded.  She looked back at the Lord.  “When I say?”

“How did you know?” Deb asked.

“What was happening.  You were ready.”

“Yeah.”

“You held information in reserve?”

“Because waiting meant Musser would be busy near Toronto.  It ties his hands some.”

“You could have told Ann and I.”

There was a dangerous note in Deb’s voice now.  Suspicious.

“I went to her last night to give a full report.  She didn’t want to.”

Deb’s entire demeanor changed at that.  She’d been in her element, or in her elements.  Standing tall, fierce, knowledgeable about what was going on.  And now she looked the opposite of someone in their element, even though those things were still technically true.

There was more to this.  She still had to do her part to help Lucy and Verona.  Florin’s entire thing kind of got in the way and kind of helped.

Avery ran.

Deb marched forward while Avery took a side path.

Deb walked straight into the strongest wind, clothes flapping, hair plastered to her head, and she didn’t slow a fraction.  Lightning struck about twenty feet from where Deb stood, and the thunder that rolled past Avery was bone-jarring, even though she was way more than twenty feet away.

Then more lightning struck.

There were no obvious incantations or movements, no sign she was speaking.  She faced the elements head on and the elements around her became something weaponized.

As she did, she was clearing the view a bit.  The rain became less of a wall and more of a haze, as if raindrops were breaking up in the face of the whipping winds.

Snowdrop at her shoulder, Avery slipped some on mud that had already gathered in a dip in the road.  She took another route, climbing onto a truck for a better vantage point.

Mrs. Ferguson was out there in the wind and chaos.

Just have to knock her out or weaken her enough that Deb can knock her out.

Avery touched her charm bracelet.

The Lord of Thunder Bay had crawled out onto shore, and it looked like wind was pressing headlong against Deb’s face, coming from the artificial storm, judging by how black it was, but the Lord was providing her own wind.

Elementals can access related elements if they’re big and strong enough, Avery remembered.  She wondered if Deb’s hurt was calmed at all by the fact that the level ninety-nine brown-noser was being directly backed by her Lord.  Or if she even noticed.

There was a flash with no thunder to follow it- she saw the humanoid shape, bright in the gloom.

The flashes that accompanied Aze’s strikes and lunges made Mrs. Ferguson’s silhouette visible in the heavy storm.

Avery edged closer, moving from secure ground to secure ground, hunkering down.

Snowdrop pushed strength into her, and gave her grip, so she could hold on when she needed to hold on, to avoid getting pulled off balance by the intensifying wind.

It got worse as she got closer to Mrs. Ferguson.  The woman was briefly visible in a flash, bringing the partial magic circles she’d inscribed on each arm together, producing gouts of water that splashed Aze, disabling her.

And spears of ice that cut past wind and went straight for Deb.  One deflected while it was twenty feet away.  The next while it was twelve to fifteen feet away.  Whatever protections or practices Deb was employing, they were running out of power.

One cast aside by the wind with its point an arm’s length from Deb’s face.

The next shattered, striking a wall of iron that was covered in wet rust that looked like it was bleeding.  Ann.

Have to get closer- and then what?

The charms on her bracelet wouldn’t do anything in this wind.  Anything she did would be blown away.

It would have to be… what?  Tied down?

That got her thinking about Sight again.  She looked and she could see the tethers of connections.

That didn’t help.  She was okay with connection manipulation, especially getting the ‘ball’, as it was.  Grabbing for things she had a connection to.  She’d done it early on to get the mask from Declan.

But tying something to someone else?

The search for an angle of attack did turn up something.  She could see Mrs. Ferguson’s connections, and she could see one that was thin but firm.

No.  She’d save the charm bracelet.

She reached for her bag, and she dug into the side pocket, pulling out the Jounce.

One of her gifts from the Garricks.  A rubber ball that could tap into something from a Path and bring it into reality.  She’d loaded it with the essence of The Build Up.

Avery hurled it into the tearing wind.

Mrs. Ferguson’s eyes glowed as she glanced Avery’s way.

Wind changed direction.  The ball veered off course.

Which was fine.

My aim isn’t all that hot anyway.  I wasn’t trying to hit you, Avery thought.

The ball hit solid ground, about fifteen feet behind Mrs. Ferguson.

A metal beam dropped down from the sky, a rope tied around its middle.  As it lowered into wind, its velocity was broken, but it was big and heavy enough that it couldn’t be kept aloft for all that long.

It struck ground, only to be picked up again by the tearing, whirling elements.

Mrs. Ferguson had to throw herself to the ground as it spun, kicking around and bucking.  She couldn’t stand again, because it was moving around so unpredictably.

Avery put her hand out, in a claw-grip, her other hand clenched into a fist.  Give me grip strength again, Snow!

She willed it.  Snowdrop, hunkered down in her bag, gave it.

The Jounce came back, fed speed by the wind that carried it.

It was the nature of items like this to return to sender, for the next use.  Claim was the key thing.  She had a claim to it- she’d earned and bought it.

It hit her hand like a pitcher’s fastball, and even though it was rubber, it felt like it cracked bones.

She held onto it, turned- and the wind was strong enough she couldn’t even pivot right.  She had to plant a foot down.

The beam was throwing Mrs. Ferguson off her game.  She focused on the rope, but it bucked and bowed- taut but not always straight.  She had to devote some attention to fending off Deb, too.

Avery had to leave that to Deb.  She wasn’t sure what else she could do.

She ran, and it felt like running through molasses.

Light and motion got her attention.  She turned- and saw a bus.  Offloading passengers who weren’t wholly human anymore.

Odis’ victims, turned into Other soldiers.

She black roped over, and used the bus for cover, weaving through the crowd.  It bought her time to gather her strength and momentum some.

Chasing that connection.

Florin.  He stood on a rooftop, in the midst of a protective circle, surrounded by bodyguards.  Watching.  Odis had been right.

She made sure she was clear, then black roped up as high as she could get without being in reach of those bodyguards.

Snowdrop communicated traces of taint and odd smells that didn’t belong to people.  The wind was dead on this rooftop, and those smells were heavy in the air.

Heads turned.  Florin’s included.

“I’m so disappointed,” Florin told Avery.

“She Who Drowns in Moonlight.  She Who Drowns in Moonlight.  She Who Drowns in Moonlight.”

“It won’t work.  I took measures against her kind of power,” Florin said.

The funny thing is, you’d be better off against me if you’d been willing to suck it up and brave some wind and rain.

A ping pong table came down directly at the rooftop, flung by wind and storm.  The barrier around Florin glowed, and a bubble appeared, deflecting the table.  It crashed off near the edge of the rooftop, landing in a V-shape.

“Deer takes King!” Avery shouted.

She’d written instructions onto her shoes, to have a command phrase to use that didn’t require stomping three times.  Getting that burst of wind.

She hoped the coolness of the shout and the phrase would help get the wind spirits on her side.  She lunged.

His puppets reached for her.

Zoomtown boon.  The ability to navigate traffic.

She ducked and weaved past the reaching crowd.

She was about halfway to him when she saw him reach for a weapon.

Spell card: flash and smoke.

To give herself cover to black rope past Florin and past every set of eyes that was looking in one direction.

She saw too late it was a conductor’s baton, not a gun or anything.  Still, this was okay.

Behind the broken table.  She kicked at the leg of the table, and it rattled, collapsing.

The ‘V’ bend in the table became an ‘L’ with a crashing sound and Florin noticed her.

She looked past the roof’s edge, then rolled off, grabbing for a curtain that was blowing out past a window with no glass in the frame.  She got a grip on it with two hands and her stomach lurched as she slid about a foot down the length of the curtain because even that wasn’t enough when the entire weight of her body was falling and the cloth was wet from the rain.

Build Up boon.  Really convenient ropes and cords.

She got inside, into a vacant office.

She took a moment to breathe, then ran.

Over to stairs.

She eased the door open, but more of Florin’s puppet saw.

“Doe takes King, try number two!”

“That’s not even a chess move,” Florin called out.

She sprinted past the minions once again.

The diagram didn’t stop individuals- if it did, it would need to stop all of Florin’s people.

So she could get past that.  Zoomtown’s boon let her navigate the group.  Someone grabbed for her, and she swatted their hand aside.

“It wouldn’t be a chess move if a ‘doe’ was a piece.  You don’t take kings, you put them in check.”

Florin was using the baton to guide his summoned, controlling Others.  Ones that seemed to be controlling big, able bodied men and the occasional woman.

Different from the other group.  Not covered by the same promises.

“It’s not a chess move!” Avery called out.

But Avery was fast on a good day, even without air spirits boosting her speed and momentum.

She tore off the charm bracelet and threw it, hard.

Need my aim to not be absolute and utter crap.

It hit the back of the folded table, then landed on the lower half that was resting more or less on the surface of the roof.  Glamour broke and the contents of the bracelet tumbled down.  Stuffed animals.

“It’s an Avery Kelly move!” she called out, and she stomped three times to activate her shoe, and used the boost to break free of the hands that gripped her, hurling herself at Florin, arm out.

Clotheslining him.

Driving him back and at the table.

The two of them tumbled onto that ping pong table, her on top of Florin, the both of them going over the edge.

And landing on sidewalk.

Avery crawled a short distance, extracting herself from the broken table and Florin’s grip, and then stood.

Florin got his bearings, looking around.

It was an urban street, but it wasn’t an Earthly urban street.  Graffiti painted most surfaces, with bright animal images and forest scenes.

“A path?” Florin asked.

“Yeah.”

“They’ll send people to me.”

“It’s a pretty exclusive Path.  Found by colleagues of mine, sold only to me and two others.”

“They’ll find the others.”

“And what will your claim look like after that?” Avery asked.  “How long will that take?”

Florin turned over, grimaced, rubbing at his collarbone, and shifted from a crouch to a sitting position, sitting on the floor of the alleyway.  He gave her a long, hard look.

“You were planning that all along?”

“I was going to do it to someone.  Musser was the King I had in mind.”

“I don’t think I was ever unfair to you, Avery.”

“Sometimes dealing fairly with the one person isn’t enough,” she told him.  “Not if you’re playing an ugly game with the rest.”

“I couldn’t reason with you then.  I can’t bargain with you now?”

“Probably not,” she told him.  “You won’t change my mind about how wrong it is to use people.  Or to kill the Lord.”

“I might’ve removed her.”

“Would she step down?  How would that even work?” Avery asked.

“I don’t know,” Florin replied.  “She likely wouldn’t have abdicated the throne for anything but annihilation, but if she had offered surrender I would have allowed it.”

“Okay,” Avery replied.

“What now?  What do I do?”

“Stay?” she asked, shrugging.  Her shirt was plastered to her with the rain.  At least it was warm, here.  “Or you could try to solve the Path, but…”

“Dangerous.  I read up.”

“Yeah.”

“If I stay here, will I be safe enough?”

“You should be.”

“And you’ll come for me?  Put me before the council to answer for my crimes?”

Avery nodded.  “I intend to, but that might be a while.  I’ve got stuff to do to help my friends.”

“Hours?” he asked.

“Maybe a day or two.”

Florin nodded.  “Do me a favor?  Maybe, just in case something happens to you-”

“I’ll let my friends know you’re here.  They can tell people who could extract you.”

Snowdrop crawled out of Avery’s bag, and became human.

They left Florin behind, walking through narrow alleys.

Until they met a rat, about ten feet tall, with the front of its skull carved off.  There was a sculpted, doll-like face nailed to the part of the head where snout, eyes, mouth and everything had been cut away.  The doll face was of a handsome blond man.  He wore colorful surfboarder shorts.

“Hello, Mr. Rat.”

“Hello young path runner,” Mr. Rat greeted her.

Bound to the Party, a path with animal friends along the way.  Each with a rule dictated by its nature.

“I suppose I should tell you a secret, to get it out of the way?”

“No,” Mr. Rat told her.  “You don’t need to.”

“Hazel’s rule of pursuit?”

Mr. Rat nodded.

“Cool.  So I can go straight through?  Anyone I need to worry about?”

“Mr. Snipe’s armed.  Call out around the noodle shop.”

“No kidding?  I thought he would make nasty comments.”

“Terminology catches up and takes over.”

“Good to know.  Huh,” Avery said, looking at Snowdrop.  “Thanks.”

“No boon if you do this, you know.”

“That’s okay.”

Mostly I just need to get back fast so I can contribute.  This doesn’t end with Florin caught.

Avery navigated the Path to the end, calling out to the Snipe before she got shot, being as brief as possible with the ‘animals’ that stopped to chat.

To the exit.  An open manhole with stormy sky beneath.

Back into the thick of it.  To counter Florin’s play, and then make her own.

The Lord of Thunder Bay, in exchange for her doing this, was willing to delay her retaliation against Florin until a time Musser was preoccupied and Avery needed additional distractions for Musser’s forces.

Whether they were pulled to Toronto to help with a key move of Musser’s or toward Thunder Bay to stop a raid on their various territories… they wouldn’t be near Kennet, or they wouldn’t be inclined to care much about what Kennet was doing.

Avery would be leaving town, like she’d told Nora.  But not to go to Kennet.  To go to war.

Next Chapter