Musser walked over to the stage where he’d put some stupidly huge, overly masculine statue, and picked up a steaming cup that had no handle. He tipped it back.
“Why that question?” Lucy asked, quiet.
“Don’t exactly know,” Verona replied. “Feels like a catch-22, either he admits he’s not capable, or he proves it by backing down?”
“Why would that even work?” Avery asked.
“I’m not an ex-fae turned dark goddess, so… dunno.”
“Maybe it won’t work,” Lucy whispered.
“If Anthem kills Miss while Musser here is taking his time, we might all lose,” Verona said.
“He’s really going to kill her?” Avery asked.
“Apparently. Wye says it’s prophecy. We’re not strong enough to stop him.”
Lucy watched as Musser downed his drink, throwing the cup back to get the last of it. He set it down where he’d left it, now empty.
“That’s not alchemy, is it?” she asked.
“Tea.”
“Okay.”
The air in here felt oppressive, which wasn’t helped by the fact the entire space had been altered, and Musser’s familiars were there, standing in the flanks, between the pillars at the sides of the church.
“Lordships can be retaken.”
“They can be, but will they be?” Lucy asked. “Verona says they’re stronger than your guys.”
“The world is filled with possibilities and context. I have many more allies in the wider world of practitioners than you have ever met. I am not especially worried.”
“The way I understand it, we’ve got your allies here. If you abandon any or all of them, that’s going to reflect pretty badly on you. Do you really want to be the guy that took over Ontario, lost all of it, and lost most of his allies?”
“You said they were incapacitated, now you say they’re lost. I’m put in mind of what Avery Kelly did to Florin Pesch.”
“I’m kind of annoyed that he said he wouldn’t get involved or provide information and yet everyone seems to know about that,” Avery said.
“I have augurs on my side.”
“So people keep saying.”
“Am I correct?” Musser asked. “Is it something of that stripe?”
“Let’s say it is.”
“But Anthem is in a position to undo it, and I’m meant to believe that if he does, it will be worse for me than not?” Musser asked.
“That’s the way it was said to me, and I believe it,” Verona said.
“How many do you have in your custody?” he asked.
“All or close to all of the ones you had come in for the invasion,” Lucy told him. “One to one exchange.”
“I have ten tags. The Dog Meat is bound in the other room, as an eleventh. You claim to have eighty. Am I meant to walk away with ten released, the rest at your mercy?”
“We have no interest in keeping captives permanently. That seems like it’s going to cause a whole mess of problems,” Lucy said.
“Indeed it would.”
“But even if we held your people for three days? Or a month? Those are probably people you want. Essential to shoring things up, fighting back. And how much does it screw you up, if you’re trying to go for help from outside Ontario, outside eastern Manitoba, and they know you just left your people behind? Give us something else for the other seventy, starting with a promise to never come back.”
“Let’s find a middle ground. One tag, four practitioners freed? And your soldiers agree to leave my people alone. We wouldn’t need to complicate this or associate further.”
“They’re not our soldiers, exactly,” Lucy said. “I’d start with one tag, one practitioner freed. At random. You want others freed? Give us the damn concessions.”
“And I’d be pressured by the family members of those left behind. It creates more chaos-”
“What we really want is to be left alone,” Avery said.
“Is that because you think you’ve already won? And now you wish to secure your victory by ensuring you won’t be stamped out?”
“This isn’t a win for us,” Lucy told him. “Trading a network of shitty, sometimes monstrous practitioners for what sounds like a network of monstrous, sometimes shitty monsters? How does this affect, like, everything? We don’t know the full picture.”
“I think I do,” Musser said. “Unlike you, I studied these things for more than a few weeks before leaving school. I’ve continued to study them in the decades since. If what you say is true, the Carmine Exile has kept the rule of the seal while subverting its intent. I expect we’ll soon see tolls exacted to limit movement, if they don’t outright put monsters by the roads to attack the vulnerable. It may already be the standing policy. The wilderness becomes dark, and civilization becomes a series of points of light in the midst of it all.”
Lucy tried not to think about her mom coming and going.
She glanced at Avery.
Or Avery. Avery could use paths, but… what about her family? She could bring her mom, even if that would be a whole mess, but what about Sheridan?
Musser glanced at each of them. “You may come to wish for what I was trying to build.”
“I think your way of doing things and Charles’ way are both really shitty,” Lucy replied.
“Yet you haven’t seen any of those ways in true action.”
“Because they’re so broad, they’re building something, reinforcing that something. If nobody stood in your way, you’d set something up and then reinforce it, right? And then by the time we’ve waited to see how it’s going to be, it’s become a tradition, right? And tradition is hard to break.”
“Like the awful practitioner families,” Avery said. “Passing down trauma and stuff.”
“I think I have a sense of where our conversation here is going to run aground on its limitations,” Musser said. “I’m put in mind of how the poor so often point their fingers at the rich, crying out ‘they have too much, we have so little’.”
“The rich do, though? Is this really a question?” Lucy asked.
“And you’re juvenile, you’re not truly educated, you haven’t seen the patterns for yourselves. There is a limit to how far you can see, and there-”
“Isn’t a limited education in the right things better than a skewed education in the wrong things?” Verona interrupted. “A bunch of people have been like, you’ve got gaps in your knowledge, but then like, they kind of have gaps in their knowledge? Avery’s worked out cool stuff because she came at Finding from a neat direction.”
“Milly Legendre doesn’t get that goblins are individuals and that’s a huge blind spot,” Lucy said. “Blind spot so big I ran into it within a few minutes of talking to her.”
Musser raised a hand, indicating for them to stop.
Annoyed, Lucy felt the urge to do the opposite of stopping, adding, “You going to acknowledge those things? Or the fact you have your head so firmly up your own ass that you sacrificed your own son? You don’t see the flaws in this education of yours?”
“That kind of head positioning would leave you mostly blind,” Verona said, sagely.
He lowered his hand. “You’re young, you’re poorly educated, I don’t think anyone would deny that limits your ability-”
“I don’t think we are poorly educated,” Avery jumped in. “Because it’s like- it’s like when you’re learning a language. It’s better to go to a place that language is spoken, immersing yourself in it. We’ve been doing that with goblins, we’ve been doing that with Faerie, with Lost, with Oni. Going to the sources. Getting a lot of coverage.”
“Which isn’t to say the magic school isn’t great. Way cooler than regular school,” Verona said, as an aside.
Not helping our points. Gotta cut back on Musser’s claims, knock him down a peg wherever we can, gainsay, even, Lucy thought. She said, “But there’s a balance. And you guys don’t have it. Especially if you’re discounting us like that.”
“Save your grandstanding for another time. What I was saying was that I understand there is information we all don’t have. You have your clear limitations. As for me, right now, standing here like this, closed off to the outside world, I’m to believe that when you leave, if the Lordship claim is still ongoing, this goddess will come in?”
“That’s what she said,” Verona answered.
“And if I end the claim?”
“She leaves you be. For now. She’s specifically set to take any available lordship. She said she won’t set her own.”
“Then let’s do this. I’d rather not be more blind than necessary, and I’m limited in my view of what’s going on in this town. Judges!”
“Hm?” Lucy grunted.
“Powers that be, and any that oversee this process. I call you to witness!”
“What’s this?” Lucy asked.
A silhouette cut a diagonal across the floor, right to left, passing by Musser. A shadow with no shadow to it. It was white.
The Alabaster. She stood to the right of the door, near one of the pillars to the right of the pews.
Another marked the Sable, the shadow cutting across the church, so black it appeared to have three dimensions to it. He stood to the left of the door.
And the Coil, up near the ceiling, with the window above the front doors behind him. The shadow had a yellow tint to it, and glittered, coiling around Musser.
Musser’s own shadow became a dark silhouette around him.
He looked around. “No Carmine Exile?”
“He abstains,” the Sable Prince said.
“Fitting. He was always a coward. Fine. I withdraw my attempt to claim any Lordship over Kennet.”
“Indeed,” the Aurum said. His voice had a heavy echo to it, probably shaped by the fact he was close to the peak of the roof above and the slanted sides made his voice rebound down. “Much has changed in the last day.”
“It’s understandable,” the Alabaster said, her voice soft, carrying.
“Then I’d like my claim to be dropped without fault.”
“What’s that?” Avery asked.
“Means no consequence,” Lucy said.
“There’s consequence?” Avery asked.
“Kinda.”
“You know as well as any of us three that the fault is a standard convention of claim attempts,” the Sable Prince said.
“A nonstandard situation. You yourselves said it was understandable,” Musser said. “It warrants nonstandard handling.”
“If you wish to do this, then any future claims you attempt here will be harder,” the Aurum Coil said. “We will handle it as we normally handle it.”
Wait. Shit. Shit shit shit that’s bad.
“Your bias shows,” Musser said.
“Future claims?” Lucy asked, glancing at Avery and Verona.
“There is no bias while we hold to precedent,” the Sable Prince said.
“I didn’t know you had a sense of humor, Sable,” Musser said.
“Wait. He made statements of intent,” Lucy said, stepping forward.
“To take what you have. I still intend to, but other business must be minded.”
“You said other stuff. To set down the throne, to set up borders, all that junk,” Lucy said.
“You intend to gainsay me?” Musser asked.
“You intend to come back?” Lucy asked. And you’ll know about Kennet found, you’ll be prepared, you can undercut us in advance. We won’t be able to easily trap you on a second go-around.
“I maintain my intent, I consider this a stay on my efforts, nothing more or less.”
“Some degree of gainsaying is common in the case of an abandoned statement of claim. Even if it’s a stay,” the Alabaster said. “It is typically severe, on the order of weeks.”
“Do you intend to press me?” he asked, turning to Lucy.
“Do you intend to press us?” she asked. “Go the fuck away and stay away. You took your shot, you clearly can’t manage this complex series of Lordships, you abandon Lordships like nothing, you can’t manage this invasion, your people are captured-”
“Which is as coup as fuck,” Verona jumped in.
“-you couldn’t protect your own damn son.”
“Did you forget I have some of your allies?” he asked. He held out the Dog Tags. “You seemed to care about what happened to them. This line of attack is short-sighted.”
“I’d argue that the binding was done as part of the claim, and if gainsaying results from the failed claim, the binding should be undone,” Lucy said, turning to the Sable Prince.
“Your answer?” the Sable Prince asked.
“That it was done fairly, in accordance with my practice, by terms agreed upon in advance, between me and…”
He fished through the tags for a moment.
“Horseman.”
Lucy grasped for something else she could argue, something she could say. Fuck, she hadn’t expected him to walk away, come back…
“I don’t advise this line of attack. I would like to remind you, claims are something my family has always emphasized. You are, in essence, on my battlefield. We can part ways, no acrimony, dealing fairly to exchange prisoners of war. If you caught my people then that’s to your credit. But I caught yours. Let’s make our exchanges, then see to our individual business. You attend to whatever it is you’ve set in motion, I attend to the perversion of the seal.”
“Of course you don’t advise this line of attack,” Avery said. “You lost, you bit off more than you can chew, you’re screwing up, like all that stuff Lucy said! There’s going to be acri-whatever if people you hired attack me and my dad!”
Lucy had the feeling that Avery wasn’t super big on the whole legal debate thing, but she was jumping in with general backup, reinforcing points. Another voice. Which was good because it sparked a thought. She hurried to say, “You lost, you made a big claim and you want to try and keep those guys? If that’s how we’re doing things, then why wouldn’t people make bullshit Demesne claims, corner people into giving up stuff or being bound, then abandon things?”
“Or force people to reveal themselves, or gather information, or get people out of defensive positions. There’s a lot of ways a claim could be exploited. Is there even evidence that this wasn’t a kind of bullshit all along?” Verona asked.
“I’ve made statements of declaration-”
“-and betrayed them!” Lucy raised her voice. “Withdrawing now. Is that what Maricica meant? Are you even capable of backing down? What the fuck does your statement of declaration even mean at this point? What does a Lordship of yours even mean, if you abandon it, and the people you abandon it to can’t hold it!?”
Her raised voice rang in the church.
Musser didn’t flinch, didn’t seem to care. He turned to the Sable Prince. “If you’d allow us a moment?”
“Of course.”
He looked down at Lucy from the far end of the church. He raised a hand in that ‘stop’ motion before, as if to stave her off before she’d even started.
She hated that. It had probably the opposite effect he wanted it to.
“In trying to tear me down like this, you only hurt all of us. I have no special animosity toward you.”
“Fuck you,” Lucy told him.
“Seventy or eighty practitioners coming in to invade us isn’t special animosity?” Verona asked.
“Not animosity. Only strategy. I know that as ground is lost, some forces will consolidate, or shift to other locations to carry on the fight. That is happening close to Toronto, I knew it was likely to happen here, having met some of your Others. I knew the Carmine Exile would likely have something prepared to answer any attempt. As I said before, I’ve studied claim all my life. I was raised with claim always in mind. I am fully confident I could handle these arguments you’re making, but that takes time neither of us have. It’s irritating.”
“Fuck you,” Lucy repeated.
“By your own strategy, this ritual you set up that Elizabeth Driscoll worked out, you can count your coup against my forces, good for you. Perhaps because you worked with him, perhaps not, the Carmine Exile has me at a disadvantage. I am, I admit, in a position to be gainsaid, losing the claim. It’s an established standard.”
“Surrender, then?” Avery asked.
“I was going to suggest a deal, instead. As part of the terms, you don’t drag this out unnecessarily.”
“Depends on what you’re giving us,” Lucy replied.
“My preliminary offer is that I return these to you, you can keep them bound or unbind them as you like, but you do so after I’ve left the town. You free my allies. I instruct them to bear no acrimony toward me, you do the same to yours.”
“You rein in your loose cannons. America Tedd has already attacked one of us when there was a truce going. Back after the Bristow thing,” Lucy said. “They’re your responsibility, their actions are your responsibility.”
“I’m reluctant to agree to that, with the information I currently have. We could continue this discussion in, perhaps an hour? I end the claim, I leave, agree to return to deal?”
“Nah,” Lucy said. We’d lose our leverage here.
“Then no. I think I could bring America Tedd in line, but I don’t know the situation with Anthem.”
Damn. Would’ve been nice to corner him on the Anthem thing, since Anthem’s not looking like he can leave, Lucy thought.
“You make a genuine effort to rein in the people you can?” Avery asked. “And we do the same? No firm promises, some stuff’s accepted it’s going to happen?”
“And Anthem is going to happen? No. That’s troubling wording and continues to feel like a trap. I’ll leave promptly and take who I can. I can’t control a berserk Hennigar or Anthem Tedd if he’s tied himself into a contest. I’ll make it clear to them that they should go at the first opportunity, but if you’ve earned their full ire, you must accept it.”
“And you don’t return,” Lucy told him.
“No, and my refusal on that is non-negotiable.”
“That’s bullshit,” Lucy told him.
“If what I’ve been led to believe is true, the Carmine Exile is now the single largest threat to practice, practitioners both great and small, and to innocents, in this geographical region and every region that borders it. We are, right this moment, standing near the seat of his domain, though it’s hard to access without a day’s march in advance. A march where he will know someone is coming and can prepare accordingly. He is meant to prepare to accommodate any needs, wishes, or assess a situation, but as it stands, he will put obstacles in the way. A Lordship here unseats him. I’d rather continue, but if Wye is warning me-”
“He is.”
“And if the situation is this dire, I would rather step back, step away, and regroup before making my try at him. But I will not rule out what may be the best way to deal with the man. It is non-negotiable.”
“Then you gotta cut us more slack on other things,” Verona said.
“Do I ‘gotta’?” he asked. “Truly?”
“If you want us to back down, I think so,” Verona replied. She glanced at Lucy.
“I don’t want to skip past the other thing you said,” Lucy told him. “Releasing forty prisoners in exchange for your eleven?”
“Ten, frankly. I don’t care to take the extra time needed to take the Dog Meat away with me. But you? Do you not care about the prisoners?”
“Reminds me of my negotiation for the Promenade,” Avery said, quiet.
“I want to do right by the Dogs Tags, Grandfather especially,” Lucy murmured. “But that’s… Musser!”
“What?”
“You gotta give us more. I think you’ve made powerful enemies, you’re on the Carmine Exile’s shit-list, even if he won’t do anything to you directly, you’re on Maricica’s shit-list, and I think your whole organization is way more unstable than you think. We’ve talked to a lot of people who don’t love what you’re doing.”
“Yet they fall in line.”
“I think there’s a solid chance they’ll fall out of line and then you might die. Which frees the Dog Tags.”
“And you have no intention of keeping these people for a long time.”
“This is getting circular,” Avery murmured.
“Deal with us before you make a Lordship claim.”
“No. I don’t trust you, frankly, I think you’re on his side, at least peripherally, and I’d risk tipping him off. The ten Dog Tags, in exchange for eighty. I tell them to back off and exert influence on those who will accept that influence, such as America Tedd, but take no special measures beyond that. And I’ll give you a reprieve. Three days.”
“Fuck you, nowhere near good enough.”
“I’ll remind you, Anthem supposedly has our mutual ruin prepared. Every moment we tarry is a moment he could bring it about, no?”
“That’s about right.”
If Miss dies, Kennet found goes, and we lose her, we lose all we’re building.
And then the gathered forces outside Kennet use that weakness to flood in, and they exterminate all the practitioners.
“Attach people we mutually trust to this,” Avery suggested. “As intermediaries.”
“No. That still risks tipping any hand I have. I suspect we have an irreconcilable difference. I see little alternative to my having to come back here and retake the Lordship. He cannot stop me except by these secondary distractions. You, it seems, cannot accept me as your Lord, but you have to take roundabout approaches to do it because you’re not strong enough.”
“But Maricica says she is, and she’ll answer anything you try here.”
“It seems she was set as Charles’ guard dog. Not leashed, but left to run free and forage for itself, to discourage anyone who might enter the area. It’s fine. I’ll deal with her. Judges?”
“What are you doing?”
“If we cannot negotiate, we cannot negotiate. You keep the practitioners prisoner, I’ll keep the Dog Tags. I’ll manage. You… do what you will. Fight me, delay when neither of us can afford too much delay. I could free any prisoners you still have at a later date if they aren’t free already, when I take the Lordship.”
“Ten for ten costs you nothing.”
He kept his hand raised from where he’d reached out toward the judges. “Ten for ten of my choosing, not random, don’t delay me further. Final offer, that’s it. Yes or no.”
Verona shook her head. “We won’t delay you further in-”
“Final offer, I said.”
“In this, here, with you extricating yourself from your shitty Lordship claim and the Judges,” Verona said. “Keep your final offer, we’re just clarifying the interpretation of it in advance.”
“Fine. Yes.”
They exchanged glances. Lucy nodded slightly at Avery.
“Okay. Yes. But you try to call off Anthem, at least.”
“I made my final offer, anything else is not binding. But I will try. I want him with me regardless. The deal is struck? I swear to my end of it.”
Musser took the handful of dog tags and threw them forward, letting them scatter onto the floor.
“Are you ready to resume?” the Alabaster asked.
“Yes,” Musser said.
“You withdraw your Lordship attempt.”
“Yes.”
“You will be gainsaid.”
“Rexroad and Chaucon. Precedent, which you said you hew to.”
“What?” Lucy asked. “Explain.”
“You said you wouldn’t delay me further,” Musser said. “You do know Rexroad and Chaucon?”
“We are aware of the precedents established elsewhere.”
“Circumstances were unforseen, I withdraw my claim as a result. Gainsaying me while I’m in hostile territory would lead to my potential demise. If this is established as pattern, it discourages attempts to make Lordship seats, which contravenes the wording of the Seal. You must facilitate, not discourage.”
“Chaucon was gainsaid regardless.”
“For three days, starting when he got somewhere safe.”
“You would be gainsaid for more than three days.”
“The precedent is three,” Musser said.
“And, as established by Lucy Ellingson, you’ve abandoned claims, there is room for interpretation that you’re playing a game with the rules. Nothing in the Chaucon or Rexroad disputes influence the duration of the claim. We intend to gainsay you for twenty-one days. The time of that gainsaying would count from when you’ve found safe ground.”
“Nonsense. Three days is the precedent, I speak as a student of claim, backed by the Musser establishment, with no less than two hundred and twenty rituals pertaining to claim under my belt. Three. I must insist.”
“This is what you wish to stress, with all of that?”
Musser shook his head. “It is only its own establishment. We have worked with the rules, we know the rules, we, Musser, in no small part, are the rules of claim. We are internationally known and can sway interpretations and influence results. Three.”
“Three it is,” the Alabaster said.
“What bullshit is that?” Lucy asked. “Sorry, what?”
“It is his prerogative, by right of establishment,” the Aurum Coil said, coiling some at his high spot by the window.
“So the powerful get to interpret the rules? And get more powerful?”
“Or less weak,” Avery said.
“I’ve made a deal with them, I expect them to hold to it. I must see the condition of my people before I prioritize who to bring out of Kennet with me. But first, I expect, there is a sly Abyssal goddess waiting for me.”
He walked forward. They had to part into two groups, Lucy on one side, Avery and Verona on the other, to give him room to pass. His familiars followed after.
“The claim is abandoned,” the Sable Prince said, voice low, heavy in the church, where the statue, decorations on pillars, artwork, and marble were all fading. Turning it into a wooden building that was nice, if a little in need of a paint job, with a runner down the middle that looked like it had seen better days, after being trampled with salt-crusted boots in winter.
The doors creaked as they opened. Musser’s familiars kept them from swinging closed, holding them for the group. They were nice enough to hold them open for the three of them as well – Lucy went for the dog tags, collecting them, counting them, then hurried over while the door was still open.
The Dog Meat was a whole other problem.
Maricica was there, sitting in a pool of blood, legs bent, with one flat against the ground and the other up against her stomach and chest. She was twice as large as she had been, but had a similar frame, and similar features. She’d been coated in blood, and it slicked her hair back, ran down her face, and ran down her body, thick.
Where it didn’t cover her chest, the black veins spreading out from the railroad spike in her chest were visible, dense near the center and almost decorative elsewhere.
“Too bad,” Maricica said. “I was looking forward to the chance to stretch my wings.”
She didn’t have wings anymore. She’d lost one before and something had happened to the other.
“Will you stand in my way?” Musser asked.
“No. I’ll keep to what I said to Verona. I can wait. You’re capable of standing down after all, Abraham, in contrast to all that you are.”
When her lips parted, some of the blood on her lips formed strings, and white teeth with sharp edges to them were visible in the darkness of her mouth.
“He’s said he’ll come back later,” Lucy said. “He’s only standing down for a short while, to get things sorted out.”
Maricica smiled, and it was a mocking smile. The silence felt heavy, and it seemed to Lucy that it felt heavy because the old Maricica would have laughed here, light and airy.
This Maricica- it felt like-
-It felt like someone after a huge thanksgiving dinner, dozy, heavy, tired. Subdued, but only because she had had so much. Lucy glanced, half expecting to see a belly swollen with whatever she’d taken in.
“I will see you later then, Abraham.”
Maricica slipped into that puddle of blood. In the moment she disappeared, Lucy felt like she could hear a massive heart beat, echoing dull across Kennet.
He walked further away, backed by his group, and pulled out a little book. The three of them followed.
Verona looked lost in thought.
How do we tackle this?
I think that deal we made had some parts to it that were pretty advantageous, but how do we get there?
“Might need to communicate with people,” Avery murmured.
Lucy nodded. “Louise.”
“Checking in with our parents. I know my mom’s really worried about you, Ronnie.”
“My mom? She cares about you. What are you up to?”
Verona shrugged.
Abraham turned pages, then turned around. “My people. Where are they?”
“Your book doesn’t tell you?” Lucy asked, glancing at it.
“You pledged to release them.”
“Yep, name them, we’ll release them,” Lucy said. “We’re under no obligation to hold your hand and show you to them or anything like that.”
“Oh, uhhhh, by the way?” Verona commented. She turned to face Musser. “We have a truce, right?”
“Yes.”
“I, guardian and third witch of Kennet, nascent sorceress-”
“Are you breaking the truce already?”
“Reinforcing it,” Verona replied. “I, guardian and third witch of Kennet, nascent sorceress, dabbler in shadow, Half-light, and shape, pledge to you that for one second of time, the patch of ground you stand on, three feet by three feet, is safe ground and sanctuary, guarded by myself.”
Lucy’s eyebrows went up. “So pledged.”
“So pledged,” Avery said.
“You can’t. There are rules for the arbitration of sanctuary-”
“For one minute, then, so pledged!” Verona raised her voice.
“So pledged, deals are made all the time with these measures,” Lucy said. “To secure careful arrangements, bindings, and that sort of stuff. I did get that education from the texts.”
“So pledged,” Avery echoed. “Please enjoy our hospitality on that patch of ground, which we’ve defended, bled for…”
“Oaths,” Verona said.
“Said oaths for.”
“Are you done?” Musser asked.
The Alabaster Doe crossed the road, between the three of them and Musser’s group. She cast a beam of intense light rather than a shadow, and the beam passed over Musser.
“Gainsaying, right?” Avery asked.
“From the moment he’s on safe ground,” Verona said, checking her phone.
“Trivial,” Musser said.
Lucy glanced at the familiars. A woman met her eyes.
Lucy moved her hand slightly, urging the woman to hold back.
Verona had taken a minute or two to think this through, this would be why she’d been lost in thought, but this was an oath. One very similar to the one Charles was forsworn for. And more open ended.
Those familiars-
Don’t lash out.
“If I hadn’t said I’d leave things be,” Maricica murmured, as she stepped out from the trees. “Oh, what a thing it would be, to strike him down and forswear three young witches, all in one act.”
Verona licked her lips, clearly nervous.
Lucy just waited.
Maricica moved without needing to touch the ground. The area around her altered. Trees she passed had marks carved into them that regenerated and healed when she left them behind. Blood pooled constantly below her. The heartbeat sound followed, audible only to the earring, so dull and low that it was almost out of Lucy’s enhanced range of hearing.
“I’ll spare you the hassle of standing in my way,” Musser said. “You’ve gainsaid me prematurely, the ground is safe, I leave it behind, and leave your sanctuary. Now go, either show me where I need to be, or let me carry on.”
Lucy watched as he left the sanctuary.
She glanced at the woman again.
“If you think what happened to Reid will happen to me, you can think again. My claim over them is stronger.”
“Too bad,” Verona said.
“Sorry,” Avery said, to one of the familiars.
Lucy just stared Musser down.
“Go, before I start to think of ways to keep to the letter of the truce while defying the spirit of it, instead of other things,” Musser said.
The order had the same effect as the hand raised in the ‘stop’ motion. It was like being told to calm down. It only made her more pissed off.
But Avery tugged on Lucy’s arm, and Lucy backed off. She glanced at the familiars she’d hoped would turn on Musser, and one caught her eye. Black haired, pale skin, expression unreadable, but unreadable in a way that made it really sad.
They jogged down the street, while Musser and his group walked. They carried on until they were out of earshot, then slowed a bit.
“That could’ve gone a bit better,” Verona said.
“It’s not the worst,” Lucy said. She held up the tag. “Grandfather.”
She threw it down as they hurried forward.
“Fubar. Black. Ribs. Pipes. Doe. Angel. Elvis. Mark. Horseman.”
The sound of the boots of the various soldiers got louder as people joined the group.
“No Miles or Joe?” Verona asked.
Lucy shook her head.
Grandfather answered, “They never came. Doing their own thing.”
“Which is mostly fine,” Lucy said.
“You’re aware Musser is following behind us?” Horseman asked.
“It’s mostly resolved. Truce. Let him be.”
“You guys are okay?” Lucy asked.
“Rarely,” Horseman said, darkly. “Yes, in the way you meant it, I guess.”
“Did we win?” Pipes asked.
“You didn’t. We… I don’t know,” Lucy said. “We’ll catch you up after. Shit, how do we do this next part?”
“Split up?” Avery asked.
“We’re living in a freaking horror movie and we keep having to split up,” Lucy said. “But okay. What’s our focus?”
“Tell Louise,” Avery said. “And everyone. We need to get the word out about the truce.”
“To Anthem in particular,” Lucy said. “I don’t want to send a Dog Tag.”
“I’ll go,” Avery said. “What do I tell him?”
“Maybe that Musser and Wye want him to back off. Be careful with wording, ‘want’ is tricky. We don’t know what Musser wants.”
“On it.”
“Louise should be with our parents. I can go do that,” Lucy said. “Pass on info to the council? Dog Tags? You up for a job?”
“Yeah,” Horseman said.
“Spread out, inform the Kennet Others, pass on the word. I think we need about four of you in Kennet above, three in Kennet below, three in Kennet found?”
“Don’t know how to get to that last one,” Horseman said.
“I think it should be, uh…” Lucy trailed off. “Portal?”
“Or we just ask? Can’t hurt to try. Miss!” Avery called out, cupped hands at her mouth.
“Miss!” Verona called out.
“Miss!” Lucy called out.
There was a sound. Miss had hit the ground, landing amid some bushes that were more stick than anything.
They hurried over.
“I’m alive, not to worry,” Miss said. She shifted position, head bowed, the leaves from the fuller bush just next to the one she’d landed in covering her face. “I can’t be away from Kennet found for long. Not while it’s destabilized.”
“We struck a truce. Musser is leaving, supposedly. But he’ll be back.”
“Can you take Avery and three Dog Tags back with you?” Lucy asked.
“I suppose I can make that one of my abilities and functions as a founder,” Miss said. “It costs a resource that’s dwindling, and I’m simultaneously being cornered out of other abilities and functions by the research they’re doing, identifying and sealing in the rules of my realm. But it’s a good ability to have. I’ll be weak after. Do you have your ID and papers?”
Avery reached into a pocket and held out a blue paper sealed in ribbon so white it almost seemed to glow. Like overexposed photography. Lucy patted her own pocket.
“If this conversation goes okay, you hopefully don’t need to conserve that much more power,” Avery said. “And then we’ll have a chance to grow.”
“I should return. Best you hurry, come to my side.”
“Is my mom still in Kennet found?”
“She is.”
Horseman indicated. Angel, Elvis, and Pipes went to Miss’s side, as did Avery, with Snowdrop on her shoulder. Lucy hurried over. She looked at Verona.
“You go to your mom, figure Louise is still there?” Verona asked. “And I… keep an eye on things?”
“You could come with me. My mom will be happy if you’re okay.”
Verona shook her head. “I’d rather we know what Musser is doing.”
“Okay. Be safe.”
“You too.”
A bit of paper trash blew past Lucy’s face, blocking her vision, and Verona and the rest were gone.
“I’m not safe here. Can you keep up?” Miss asked Avery.
“I can try,” Avery told her.
“Luck!” Lucy called out, but they were already off.
Miss reached the horizon behind the ski hill pretty darn fast, standing at her full, gargantuan height.
Perspective was weird here.
The area around the church had been warded by Musser, presumably to keep people from actually, like, going to church, and Lucy wasn’t about to mess with that while the Dog Meat was still there. The wards were even represented here in Kennet found.
Speaking of-
“Oh, whoever sees Rook? Can you tell her the Dog Meat is in the church? Bound?”
“Yeh,” Pipes said.
“Not sure how we’re handling that guy. Okay.”
It was morning, but in Kennet found, it was a perpetual twilight, the sky a dark red. Things were illuminated as if it was a full moon, but the moon was bleeding so much it shouldn’t have reflected anything. Everything that had been that deep blue of post-sunset, pre-dark twilight had turned a red cast.
She felt so scattered, so out of place. She worried about going home, even though they’d crossed the worst hump.
What had her mom learned in the meantime?
An Other was out on the street, and turned to face her. A huge guy, wearing a suit, big around the middle, with a stone helmet that looked like a castle made of red stone, and a stone belt that jutted out about six inches, providing a platform. Tiny humanoids were rappelling all out around him.
There was a little siege machine being set up on his belt buckle, manned by two-inch high soldiers.
She pulled out the paper she’d gotten, holding it out.
He turned away, continuing to walk down the street.
She could use her ID, but this was simpler.
She kept the ID in hand and flashed it as she passed a Foundling with a fish eating his head. The fish’s eye acted like the Foundling’s, glancing at the paper.
And there were three really little kids on leashes, like the ones used to manage unruly toddlers, each with helmets that looked like they were from some end boss of one of Wallace’s video games. One had little planets orbiting it, venting a plume of green gas, one had blue fire leaking out of the slits in the helmet, and the last one was bouncing a ball as he ran, chasing after it more than he succesfully bounced it and caught it – that one had horns almost as big as he was, and eyes that glowed like hellfire and wept lava.
The mom or nanny, by comparison, just had a battered helmet that looked like an overturned pot with holes carved out for the eyes. All were wearing red.
“Is everything okay?” Lucy asked, trying to find some connection.
The woman lunged, then saw the paper, stopping.
“It’s attack hour,” the woman said.
“Okay, uh.”
“I hope they get some exercise so they nap later.”
“Yeah. Good luck with that.”
Lucy ventured onto her street, a little weirded out by how different it looked, every house one floor higher, familiar building-faces now altered. In the background, past the woods and backed by hills, not all that far past where they’d had their awakening rituals, she could see a castle, haphazard and falling to pieces.
Her own house was especially strange to see, normally narrow and long in its lot, now almost a little crooked. The front stairs were now on the second floor, made a right turn, and framed one side of the arching, new front door. A locked gate prevented access to those stairs.
The front hall now cut through the center of the house, rather than the right side, and on one side, she could see a sitting room, decorated more or less in her mom’s style, no television or anything. It looked more like it was for meetings and hosting guests. On the right side was a study, and toward the back was a garage-type area.
She went up the stairs and stopped halfway. The lights in the stairwell were off, and her mom was sitting near the top of the stairs.
“Mom?”
Her voice startled her mom. “Lucy. You’re okay.”
“Yeah,” Lucy said, very quiet, not wanting to startle her mom anymore. “You? You okay?”
“There’s something naked, angry, and loud in our kitchen,” her mom said.
“I got it.”
“You shouldn’t-” her mom started, reaching out. “You shouldn’t be the one protecting me.”
“It’s okay. Really. I’ll check,” Lucy said.
She eased the door open. The unused space under the stairs was now the exit from the main stairwell, with no doorway. Lucy peered out and around, then jumped a little at a touch on her back.
Her mom had followed her.
She peered around the corner.
The Other was still there, clapping two rocks together.
“Snowdrop, Snowdrop, Snowdrop!” Cherrypop screeched out a song, out of tune. “Rock rock Snowdrop rock!”
Cherrypop did her version of a death metal scream.
“Hey Cherrypop,” Lucy said.
“I want that opossum! What a jerk! She said she’d spend time with me, an’ that she had nothing to do!” Cherrypop screamed. “She just came back!”
“You were afraid of Cherrypop?” Lucy asked her mom. It would have been funny if it wasn’t sad.
“They said to be careful of people in red. That I had to show these papers. But I showed them to her and she said she didn’t care, and then she screamed, and they said they wouldn’t intrude on the house, but she did…”
“Well. That’s sensible. Sorry you didn’t get clearer instructions,” Lucy said. “Cherry’s okay. Harmless, mostly.”
“I don’t know any of this,” Lucy’s mom said.
Lucy hugged her, and the tight she got back was so tight. It made her eyes start to tear up.
Her mom pulled back a little, and Lucy turned, looking.
Cherrypop ran up to her foot and started biting and flailing at her shoe and ankle.
“Don’t go hugging! You need to bring me my opossum so I can hug her!”
Lucy’s mom had pulled back a little, still spooked.
Lucy broke the hug, and bent down to Cherry, pausing only to wipe at the corner of her eye before reaching out a hand. “Cherry.”
Cherry attacked her hand. Lucy pulled her fingers back.
“Calm down.”
“Opossum!”
“I’ll take you with me. I’ll meet Avery after. Snowdrop’s with her.”
Cherry immediately crawled into her hand and shut up, smiling.
“You’re going out again?” Lucy’s mom asked.
“Yeah. But- ugh. Look… Cherry’s a goblin, like Toadswallow. Just, you know, he’s sophisticated, and she’s tiny, naked, and angry.”
“I see.”
“Apparently when Maricica showed up here, pretending to be child services or something?”
“I remember. One of those odd moments I was thinking about, while talking to Connor.”
“Cherry was the one that knocked over her bag. Made her look bad, screwed up the ruse, kind of.”
Cherrypop thrust her fists into the air.
“You don’t even remember, do you?” Lucy asked.
Cherrypop shook her head but kept her fists up.
“Thank you, Cherrypop,” Lucy’s mom said.
“Did a good job,” Lucy said.
Cherrypop tried to put her fists higher, but she was sitting down, and the attempt made her fall back, hands still extended.
“Maybe I’ll show you my books later?” Lucy offered, to her mom. “Might help you keep track of all of this? Though that gets complicated. The more you know, the harder it is to avoid it all, I guess.”
“And you know a lot.”
“That’s not quite how it works, except… I guess it is how it works.”
“What happened while you were gone? What were you doing?”
“The guy who was going to take over is leaving. Negotiated. Did… okay, I guess. I got to go back out. Make sure everything’s ok as he leaves. Make sure… he’s coming back, I gotta sort things out.”
“You’re missing school right now.”
“I know. I didn’t try to or want to… just bad timing of all of this.”
“You need to find someone who can take over. Someone who can be the local witch. An adult.”
“The options aren’t super great,” Lucy said. “It’s all the sort of stuff I’ve been talking to Dr. Mona about. Old families with power and money, handing it down. Old stupid ideas and prejudices. Arrogance.”
“That’s the sort of thing you tackle as an adult. Your only jobs right now are supposed to be being a teenager, figuring things out, figuring yourself out. I want you to get an education.”
“I’m doing that stuff. Just, you know… a lot of it is on the fly.”
“I want you to get an education and get ready first.”
Lucy shrugged. It was hard to meet her mom’s eyes.
“Things calm down after?” her mom asked.
“For a few days at least. Probably a bit longer. Verona-” Lucy shook her head. “She had a clever moment, you know? Cornered Musser. I don’t know how much Louise told you…”
“She gave me the very abbreviated version before Rook came to get her.”
Rook. That was a bit of a concern.
Kennet needed to have a serious talk with and about Rook.
“Well, anyway, Musser, boss guy, old money, old practitioner. Verona found a trick in wording, stripped him of his power briefly. He was supposed to lose some for a little while, because he said he’d take over. She made it happen sooner than he expected. Anyway, I sorta hoped it would free the Others he’s keeping under his control. And it didn’t, because… rich and powerful cheat, I guess.”
“Some things don’t change, even when you add magic to the mix, hm? You sound like Booker, talking about those things.”
“The one familiar… her eyes. It was like, she’s not even allowed to look sad, while she’s his.”
“It’s not your job to save the world.”
“Barely anyone else is trying, feels like. I gotta go. I gotta find Louise and Rook, I gotta organize, I gotta figure out how to use the little concessions and stuff we got out of Musser. I want to talk, you know? Maybe take a sick day, and just make absolutely sure we’re okay?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“But I’m terrified.”
“I’m scared too. But more- I’m scared I’ll keep talking about why I’m doing this, what I’m trying to do, and you’ll be so scared on my behalf that you don’t hear what I’m saying.”
“I’m proud. I understand you want to help. But over the years, I’ve seen very strong people take stands against injustice, or make sacrifices- especially in nursing. I’ve seen people fight for better and I’ve seen what it costs, I know we wouldn’t be where we are without them. We need that.”
“Yeah,” Lucy said.
“But that cost- the sacrifices, the injuries, the lost jobs, the emotional toll. Even in my parents. I’ve seen it again and again.”
Lucy nodded firmly.
“If someone adult wants to do that, they’re heroes. And I hate that word. I do. Because it’s so often misused, heroes. So often used as an excuse to expect that toll, that cost out of people. I worry that’s what they’re doing with you.”
“Opossum,” Cherrypop said, impatient.
“I made the choice. They said we could cut corners, take the easy road, say we were investigating the Carmine Beast’s death and that’d be that. I made the choice to try, to fight, to make things better.”
“But you were set up to make it. That cost, that toll, it’s fine for others, you know, if they do it knowingly. But you’re fourteen, first and foremost.”
“Opossum,” Cherrypop said, more insistent now.
“I’m the person who can go handle this right now. Maybe later we have Matthew Moss step it up a bit. But for now, I gotta sort stuff out, check in with people, like Louise and Toadswallow. Gotta deliver this goblin to her opossum.”
“Yes,” Cherrypop said.
“Let’s have Matthew do a lot more, okay?” her mom asked. “How is Verona?”
“She’s… she’s Verona. Very, very Verona. She loves this stuff. So smart.”
“The Kellys went back to their house. Expecting other kids to wake up. They were talking about splitting up, one staying behind with me, but I think Kelsey needed Connor with her.”
Lucy nodded.
Her mom looked like she needed someone with her.
“You going to be okay? Do you want me to take you back to the regular house?” Lucy asked.
“I feel like if I look away from all of this, I’ll want to keep looking away.”
“Okay.”
“Does that make sense?”
“More than a lot of things, I guess,” Lucy replied.
“It’s neat, having a different ground floor. All the books in the study are books I haven’t read. Not that I can read when you’re not here.”
Lucy nodded. “Might’ve been a favor from Miss. Giving the house something nice. Dunno.”
“She’s going to have to do a hell of a lot better than that.”
Lucy nodded. Then she hesitated. “Sorry Cherrypop scared you.”
“First Other- Other?”
“Or goblin. Both work.”
“First one I’ve seen without anyone else around.”
“I really do wish they hadn’t left you alone. You’ll be okay like this?”
“I don’t know. I’d rather be with you, I’d rather know.”
Lucy exhaled slowly. She used her Sight, then paused. “Let me check…”
She jogged down the stairs, then opened the front door.
The sky had turned blue again.
Anthem was apparently not hunting Miss anymore.
“Do you have okay shoes for running?” Lucy asked.
Lucy was late. She’d had to find Louise, then from Louise, she’d had to find Musser, which had been a process that took her to three destinations. She was tired, partially from being up all night, and her mom didn’t look much better.
Musser had found his people at the cabins. They were gathered at the foot of the ski hill, cabins behind them, Miss looking over from the horizon, a little slumped over. Healing.
Rook, Matthew, and Toadswallow stood by. Avery and Verona waited near the side of the road, where it sort of dipped down toward the valley. Watching from a distance.
And all around them were some of the local Others. A woman wore a veil that was painted with a hyper-realistic face that wasn’t hers. A man had his head inserted into a frog’s anus, frog skin stretched tight and translucent, like robbers wearing pantyhose on their heads, smushing up his features, with the side effect of little frog organs here and there, and big stretched-out frog eyes over his own eyes. A trio of people had cups of tea or coffee that steamed so much that it hid head and shoulder. A woman wore a stacked-up series of trembling bear traps around head and shoulders, extending down to upper body, one very blue eye and wisps of blonde hair peering out from the gap between two traps. They looked rigged for one to go off and set another few off as well.
“You brought your mom to the big war meeting?” Verona asked, sounding gravely offended.
“It’s no-violence, right?”
“A rule Anthem can break,” Avery said.
“Didn’t know that part. Will he break it?”
“Don’t think so,” Verona said.
“Okay. Good. Where are we at?”
“He asked for Anthem. Anthem didn’t come. So he asked for Grayson Hennigar. Then after he asked for a few more people, he was able to trace them back to here and break in. Got some writs. Talked to Miss and we’re going to give him a pass to get rid of him.”
Musser was talking to Anthem. Anthem’s skin was covered in papers, and they’d pressed down hard enough that it looked like extensions of flesh rather than something on the outside of that flesh.
“I’ll be back soon,” Avery said. She glanced back, then crossed the street, ducking through the group of Foundlings.
“You missed some discussion,” Verona said. “There was debate on Anthem. We could leave him like this. All these writs. Ties him up for a long while, right? And it kind of takes away Musser’s first pick. Since he asked, and we figure… sure, Anthem can leave, but not without paying his dues.”
“Right,” Lucy said.
This felt so weird with her mom a matter of feet away, watching.
She looked back to her mom. “America’s dad.”
“Okay.”
“But we figure it’s probably better if he’s gone,” Verona said.
“He killed a lot of Foundlings, right?”
“Yeah. But it’s probably better if he’s gone, still?”
Lucy sighed. She listened.
“Whatever choice you make now, some are going to be gravely unhappy.”
“Some is better than none.”
“In general, yes. But politically?”
“Don’t lecture me about politics, Anthem. I’m gainsaid for three days. I wish I could have postponed that, but at least I’ll be able to practice sooner. I want you for personal protection, offense. Eliana Graubard is too close to certain centers of power and I don’t want to cross her father. We can assume the Turtle Queen may follow us. I want Eloise Miraz.”
“I don’t know that one.”
“She’s loyal. Very talented. I can justify Grayson. He knows a great deal about the Carmine Exile.”
“They’re discussing their options. The ten people they can take out. How they justify it,” Lucy said, quiet.
“Why ten?” her mother asked.
“A prisoner exchange. All these people want a fast route out of here. It’s kind of an advantage, you know? Because now he has to pick, and whoever he doesn’t pick isn’t going to be happy with him.”
Her mother’s expression was hard to read.
“Maybe they’ll get it. That he doesn’t really care about them. That he isn’t their fast ticket to big things and success,” Lucy said.
“You have a way higher estimation of people than I do if you think that,” Verona said.
“Didn’t really think I’d hear someone say that. Some of them might get it, anyway.”
“That’s closer to true,” Verona said. “Zed got in touch with Avery. She went up to check on her parents. Said there’s something like the Hungry Choir to our west. Pretty close to where Zed’s situated. Except you know, not the Choir. Different.”
“Okay,” Lucy said. She glanced at her mom.
“Louise said something about that. I didn’t really understand it. Something big and bad, you stopped it.”
“Basically. Kind of a living spell or effect.”
Her mom nodded.
“So Maricica was telling the truth,” Lucy noted.
Verona nodded.
Musser cleared his throat.
All ongoing conversation stopped.
“I negotiated to trade ten prisoners taken during the Lordship ritual for ten of you to get an expedited way free of this snarl you’ve found yourselves in,” Musser addressed the eighty practitioners. “Anthem Tedd, Eliana Graubard, Ms. Vanderwerf, Ms. Miraz, Grayson, Hugh Legendre, Chris Cavendar, Francis Songetay, Braxton Hart, Marlen Roy.”
There were some murmurs. People seemed to already know he was taking ten.
“I would have made different decisions, but my hands were unexpectedly tied. Abandoning the claim was necessary, but it’s left me gainsaid, and I’m forced now to compensate, taking people to fill gaps in my own ability for the next three days. As you likely know by now, Lordships across Ontario have been overturned in a bloody and sudden move. I know some of you have lost people you care about. I know others of you are anxious, awaiting news. This only adds to the difficulty in selecting appropriate people. Many of these choices were made because of suggestions I’ve been given about what’s out there.”
“Except he picked his favorites, didn’t he?” Lucy asked. “It’s pretty obvious they’re the inner circle now. Songetay and Cavendar are a surprise.”
“He’s focused on the level of resistance he’s going to get out there,” Verona mused.
Avery got back. She had Elizabeth with her.
“They really brought him,” Elizabeth murmured.
Then she crossed the dip where the road sloped down, then the grass sloped back up toward flatter ground by the cabins.
“…Seal of Solomon has been perverted, and that attacks each of us at a fundamental level. That must be answered and investigated. When I’m free to act, I’ll return to see what I can do for those who remain captured. For the rest of you, I’ll see to it that amends are made, and that those amends are sufficient to make up for this. In the meantime, the Belanger Circle will be made fully available to you to get answers and inquire after anyone you’re worried about. We will be in contact with everyone in the coming days, and we must come together in this, to find answers, to band together. This is the first and biggest test we’re ever likely to face for what we are building. We must overcome. Those who strive alongside us will thrive.”
It didn’t exactly get a happy, deafening series of cheers.
They wasted no time in getting sorted out. Miss moved at the horizon, stirring up dust, little flecks of seedlings from the tall grass, and strands. It obscured Musser’s selected group.
Anthem Tedd’s writs joined the storm.
“Shame. Would’ve been nice to punish him more,” Lucy said.
“You’re telling me,” Avery said. She raised a hand, waving at Miss. “Take us back to Kennet above!?”
Another stir of dust. Lucy pulled her mask down, and the anti-smoke, pro-vision types runes she’d done on the inside helped her keep her sight. She still closed her eyes to help things along.
The sun seemed very bright, as she opened them.
They watched as a group from a distance as Anthem got everything sorted out. Musser’s Familiars went to get the bags from inside, and brought them to a car. One woman got in the driver’s seat, Musser in the passenger seat.
Three cars for ten individuals plus familiars. Lucy wondered if they were stealing anyone else’s car in the process.
“Do you think we could’ve made the familiars count for the ten? And he’d have to leave them behind?” Lucy asked.
“I wish,” Avery said. “Familiar bond lets you count as one person for the purposes of stuff like that.”
“It’s all so bizarre,” Lucy’s mom said, hand up to shield her eyes.
She looked really tired.
They checked and watched as Musser drove straight north, up and out of Kennet. Away.
And just as they were about to adapt to that, they saw the first of the other group emerging, finding their way from Kennet found to Kennet above. They came from the valley, red stamped papers still in hand.
Another batch. Already finding their way out, after Musser had taken his ten people out. If it was this fast for all of them, there wouldn’t be much bad blood. But it wouldn’t be quite this easy or fast for the rest.
One of them stopped to lean against his car and smoke.
Lucy scribbled a rune on her palm, letting her implement sort out the particulars, then cupped it by her mouth, shouting, “You’re supposed to leave straight away!”
The rune carried the sound out.
He gave her the finger.
“Don’t agitate them,” Lucy’s mom said.
But the guy did go inside. It looked almost like they were getting sorted out, a group of people who hadn’t expected to be leaving together gathering things, moving things out of the car, moving things into the car, then figuring out who was sitting where. A nice little blue car that was probably really nice for two people but a real squeeze for four.
“Got Elizabeth out of imprisonment, huh?”
“Figured it was time,” Avery said. “I want this to wind down. I want it to stop.”
“I am in full agreement,” Lucy’s mom said. “But that man was coming back? Musser?”
“Apparently.”
Lucy’s stomach growled.
“Have you eaten breakfast?” Avery asked.
“Haven’t had time.”
“I’ve got protein bars.”
“I’ve got pepperoni sticks,” Verona said.
“Yay. Both.”
“And lemonade?”
Lucy made a face. “I’ve got water. But thanks.”
Her mom frowned. “You need to eat healthier. Just… eat something, tide yourself over, okay? And I’ll take you all out to a late breakfast.”
“Might be a little while. If people keep trickling out of Kennet found like they are, I’d kind of want to keep an eye on that.”
“Are you sure you can’t delegate that part?”
Lucy sighed.
“We might be control freaks, just a bit,” Verona said.
“This stuff matters,” Lucy insisted.
The car pulled away. It took the same route Musser’s car had.
And already, some others were coming from downtown. They stopped in their tracks as they saw Lucy, Avery, and Verona.
Lucy felt bone tired, now. The fact this was winding down. Or- at least the focus had shifted. There was a chance to talk to their parents. A chance to figure out what was up with Kennet found, exploring it. A chance to do a lot.
A chance to breathe. Find balance. Maybe take a nap and try not to sleep until eight in the evening.
But first, they had to handle this.
“We mean you no harm!” Lucy called out, hand cupped. “So long as you’re being good!”
The group approached. One of them might have been a Driscoll. He wore very brown shades of clothing, like Elizabeth seemed to like.
“Same,” the man said. “Are we the first ones out?”
“You can still see the car,” Verona said. “Little blue one. I guess it’s going to be a stream of people gradually leaving.”
“It’s going to be a puzzle, so long as we need to worry about the Turtle Queen. I’ll have to see these guys clear, then go back for others. We don’t have enough who can fend her off. Not with the phones not working down there.”
“We can ask her to chill out, let you go,” Lucy said.
“That would help. Thanks for getting Liz out. We were worried.”
So he was a Driscoll.
“No problem,” Avery said.
“If you wanted to help us out any, if you were planning to stay, it’d sure be nice if you could help fend off any trouble, keep the peace, establish expectations and stuff,” Lucy told him. “Because otherwise, people will keep coming, and each group, it’ll be like we’re not sure what to expect, does that-”
A shadow on the horizon got Lucy’s attention. She turned to look, halfway expecting to see a giant Miss in sunny, mid-morning Kennet above. Absently, she finished her sentence. “-does that make sense?”
“Yeah.”
He turned to look.
But it wasn’t Miss.
Just a black shadow, moving like a bird carrying something.
Carrying a very large man.
A man with wings growing out of the spots where his neck met his shoulders, carrying a stick, she saw. She touched Verona’s shoulder and gave the shoulder a light shake.
Verona saw too.
Then they were all looking.
The man was maybe about two stories tall, and densely built, with a long nose. He had feathers, but he had feathers like a man with a receding hairline and crazy, welcome-mat style body hair. Dense but sometimes patchy and emphasizing areas she wouldn’t have normally expected. His head was hunched forward, and he had a neck that looked like it was broken.
The wings were full-feathered and huge, though. Huge enough he could fly without a problem. He carried a spear that was like a telephone pole.
He crossed over Bowdler, then dipped, falling more than he swooped.
They watched as he took flight again.
The little blue car was speared on the end of the telephone pole. It was carried aloft, bits of car falling away as he flapped vigorously, trying to get the height necessary to go north.
“Oh my god,” Lucy’s mom said.
“Do we think, hmmmm,” Avery mused, “mayyyybe we’ll talk to our guests about the rules we need to put in place, if they want to stay and get this all figured out?”
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