Author: Wildbow

Let Slip – 20.6 | Pale

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“You’re blushing.”

Avery shot Verona an annoyed, sidelong glance, before returning her eyes to the stairwell.  The building had stores on the ground level and apartments above, and a narrow stairwell on the other side of scratched glass doors allowed access to the floors above.

Nora stepped around the corner at the top of the stairwell, talking to one of the other band member.

“Your ears are pink,” Verona observed.

“Shush,” Avery replied, adjusting her hood to cover her ears.  “It’s cold out.”

Nora jogged down the stairs, leaving the guy from the band behind, opened the door, then stopped short as she greeted them- breathing hard, not just from the jog down the stairs.

“You did it!” Avery exclaimed, jostling Nora.

“I did it.”

“You just did your thing in front of all these people.  Little warning, new place!”

“Yeah!”

“That’s so cool!”

Lucy saw and came over from where Jasmine, Booker, and Booker’s girlfriend were, wearing her new coat, dog tags out front.  She glanced around at the surroundings as she walked, hands in her pockets.

“I didn’t think you’d do it!” Avery exclaimed.

“I- I have a promise I made to myself,” Nora replied.

“A promise?”

“A singer I liked said you have to get out there, take any opportunity.  The more you’re out there, the more chance there is for good things to happen, meet people, make contacts, have someone discover you.  And I know that if I ever maybe possibly want to do something in music, not necessarily drumming, I- I have the worst personality to be doing that.  I wouldn’t ever say yes so I have to always say yes.”

“It’s so good though, and it worked out!  You were good!” Avery told her.

“I got sloppy at the end.  My hands got cold.”

“Did they?” Lucy asked.  “There was supposed to be heating and stuff up there.”

“I dunno how you heat winter.  I wouldn’t worry about it,” Nora said.  “It was cool, thank you.”

“If I asked you to perform at a kid’s birthday party, with clowns and toddlers pelting you with popcorn, would your promise to yourself mean you had to?” Verona asked.

“Are you paying?” Nora asked.

“Is that the qualifier?  Does it have to be a paying gig?  Because this-”

Avery covered Verona’s mouth.  “Stop being annoying.”

Verona fought her way free.  “Avery was so into it.”

“Shut up,” Avery told her, pawing at Verona’s face with gloved hands, trying to mush her mouth shut.  “Let a good moment be good.”

“I’m glad you were into it,” Nora said, “I feel awkward now.”

“No, no, don’t!” Avery urged her.  “You’re good, you’re great.  I like this- that Nora.  Which doesn’t mean I don’t like regular you, but-”

She was saying this badly.  All three of the others had eyes on her.

It didn’t help that Snowdrop was currently roughousing with Doglick, Peckersnot, Tatty, and Cherrypop a block away.  It was like trying to ignore a car crash only she could see.

“-Regular you makes my day.  But the you with drumsticks in your hand, playing all intense, that- I have a huge crush on her.”

Avery felt her ears heating up.

“I don’t think you can have a crush on someone you’re already dating,” Nora said, stepping over and hugging Avery’s arm.

“Can too, because I’ve got one,” Avery said, and squeezed her arm against her side to squeeze Nora’s arms and hands closer.

“Do that again.  Warm up my hands a bit,” Nora told her.

“If you want to warm up some, there’s a hang-out happening on a rooftop a block away,” Lucy said.  “Close enough for more music.  I figured we could go there next, as a possible stop.”

“Another rooftop?” Nora asked.

“Is that a problem?” Avery asked.

“Just cold.”

“There’s a fire,” Lucy said.  “And it’s enclosed.  Glass.  So no wind.”

“Oh, that sounds nice,” Nora replied.  “You guys hang out on rooftops a lot, huh?”

“Hmm,” Avery replied, a little confused by that.  “Oh, you mean the patio above the garage, where we sat with Liberty?”

“Yeah.  And the music tonight.”

“More than the average person, I guess?” Avery replied, shrugging, looking at her friends.

Lucy came in for the rescue, “It’s reserved, Booker and Alyssa will be there, parents may come through.  Some friends, neighbors.”

“Yeah?” Avery asked Nora.  Nora nodded.

“We’re doing gifts there, right?” Verona asked.

“Yeah, that’s the general idea.  I don’t think anyone’s going to sweat it much if we’re a bit late with gift giving,” Lucy said.  “Except maybe Tatty or Cherry.”

“I could run over to where I’ve got gifts stowed, run back,” Avery said.

“I feel bad,” Nora said.  “I didn’t bring anything much.”

“You’re fine,” Avery said.  “You brought yourself.  I’ll, hm, is it okay?  I won’t be long, I don’t think.”

“Go,” Verona urged.  “We’ll look after Nora.”

Avery gave her a suspicious look.

“We’ll be good,” Lucy said.

Avery nodded, then jogged off, winter boots a little heavy.

A coin ‘tinked’ off a surface to Avery’s left as soon as she was a certain distance from Nora.  She caught it out of the air as it bounced toward her.

“Yeah, yeah.  I know,” Avery told the night sky, as she headed toward the less occupied end of downtown.  “Bailing on a walk I wanted to go on, quality time with Nora.”

Around the corner, down an alley- she checked the coast was clear, reached up her sleeve, found the bracelet, double-checked the coast was clear, and undid the clasp.

Walking further down the alley, side doors changed out with heavy movements, slams and bangs.

There wasn’t any apparent pattern to the door colors and markings, but there were some she could recognize.  Sometimes she could get a whole bunch she didn’t know, and other times it would be something familiar.    Putting on and taking off the bracelet didn’t change a given door to something else, but if time passed and she came back, she wouldn’t always find, for example, the same door to the Cakewalk.

The Garricks were doing their own research there.

She saw a door, white, with a black wheel on it.  She reached under her sleeve, found the black rope, and used it.  A double-check no innocents were around or looking from some random window.  If she tried and tripped, that’d be telling.

It wasn’t enough that it had to be a Path she understood.  It had to meet some qualifications.  The big one was that she needed it to have the right kind of exit.  If a Path had a door in it, she could use that to exit, but otherwise she needed the right ‘dismount’.  Finishing any given Path either moved the practitioner to a new Path or dropped them somewhere on Earth, but the rules for where they put people varied a lot.

The Forest Ribbon Trail was generally pretty good for those who took the one boon that let them use it again and again- it put the practitioner exactly where they wanted to be, though you did have to pass under the Wolf’s nose.  Falling Oak Avenue dropped the practitioner on the Oak Street, Oak Road, Oak Boulevard, or whatever that was closest to the desired destination.  Could be a few blocks away.  Could be the next city over.

“Star Crossed,” Avery said, pushing the door open.  She added a quick, “I hope.”

Didn’t want to open the white door with the black wheel on it in the evening gloom, only to find out it was an off-white door and navy blue wheel.

Could happen.

The door opened, and she stepped onto slanted wood, dropping to a crouch.

She felt a quizzical message from Snowdrop.

It’s okay, she thought.  Quick one.

A river of miniature stars cut through the darkness, each too bright to look directly at.  Fragments of star and licks of flame ‘splashed’ up on either side of the vessel, a ship with black wood and black sails that was only visible because ash and dust had collected between the boards.

The river cut a wild path- one that zig-zagged, dipped, rose, and followed courses no real river could.  Including a few loop-de-loops, with one of them looping and then crashing through itself to carry forward.  Pretty much had to get off the Path by then.

Boat, stars, and ‘splash’ were frozen in time, the deck slanted.  Avery held onto the doorframe to avoid sliding, looking around.

On the upper deck, there were two figures.  A girl, a few years older than her, with brown skin and thick black hair, and a light, airy scarf that, combined with her clothes, suggested she was from somewhere warmer.  Her face had a shape to it that Avery didn’t have good words for- with the sort of chin that changed angles a bit to give the end of the chin its own shape.  Was she from India?  The design on the scarf made her think so.

Behind the girl was a woman, old enough to have mostly gray hair, severe, wearing more scarves, shawls, and sashes.  Her eyes and mouth were stitched shut.

The girl reached behind her back and pulled out a wooden rod, less than a foot long.  She flicked it, and it became a fishing rod, string glowing.  The string settled, forming an ‘s’ shape on the deck between them, hook at the end, glowing.

“Hello,” Avery said.  “I’m not a threat.  Just passing through.”

“Kī tusīṁ pajābī bōladē hō?”

Avery blinked.  “English?”

The girl shook her head.

Avery adjusted her position, leaning with her back against the doorframe, and raised her hands in surrender.

“Asīṁ kī karī’ē, māsī?” the girl asked, looking up at the woman with stitched eyes.  Familiar?

There was a pause.

“Hmmm,” Avery said.  “I just- let me walk a few feet over?  I won’t get in the way?”

She motioned between herself and the door with the white circle on it.

The girl had to cross the raised deck at the back of the ship, leaning forward, to see.

“Iha navāṁ hai.”

“Is it okay?” Avery asked.  “Hmm.  Actually, since you’re here, it might muck up timing… hm.”

Avery motioned to her wrist, tapping, but at the same time she was moving, the girl’s head snapped around, looking at the woman with stitched eyes and mouth, so she didn’t see.  Avery kept her hands in front of her, waiting.

She tapped her wrist when the girl turned back to look at her.

“Usanē iha kihā. Tusīṁ usanū samajhadē hō?”

Avery, eyes wide, shrugged.

Then, slowly, she moved her hand, forming an ‘ok’ sign.

“Mainū patā hai ki.  OK!” the girl said, firm on that last word, happy to have some vague understanding.

“Are you okay?” Avery asked.

“Kō’ī samāṁ nahīṁ hai,” the girl said, looking up at the sky.  Then she motioned, pinching fingers close together.

“The time?” Avery asked, tapping her wrist.

The girl nodded, looking back at the woman with stitched eyes, before moving back, hugging a mast.

Avery nodded, retreated to the door she’d come in through, and hesitated.

The ship lurched.  Time had stopped and now it moved, a steep nosedive down the next dip.  Stars sprayed, light flared-

Avery quickly closed the door most of the way, bracing her body against it.

‘Splash’ hit the deck, but because the river was what it was, the splash was plasma, iron so hot it could act like water, and licks of ignited gas.  Some of it hit the deck near Avery, banked, and passed through the gap in the door.  Fire roared through the alleyway to Avery’s right, and she could feel skin prickle even past the barrier of her winter clothing, her hood up, head turned away, eyes squeezed shut.

“OK!” the girl on the far side shouted.

“Thank you,” Avery replied, stepping around the door and back through.

“Tusīṁ jāṇana la’ī cadaramā dē ālē du’ālē tāri’āṁ dī giṇatī kara sakadē hō,” the girl said, pointing up at the moon that loomed over the scene.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, I’m sorry.  Hm.  I’m just going to-” Avery ventured onto the deck, which was now steeper than before.  She walked over to the door that led into the back of the ship.  The deck that OK girl and the stitched-eye woman were standing on was the ‘roof’ of this section.

Kind of, anyway.  The door opened and led to Avery’s bathroom on the top floor of her Thunder Bay apartment.

She looked up and saw OK girl leaning over the railing, looking down, stretching forward as much as she could manage without tipping forward and doing a header right onto Avery.

“Be right back.  Please don’t close this door,” Avery said.  “Stop?  You stop?  Wait?”

She motioned, hand out for ‘stop’, then held up a finger before tapping her wrist.

The girl nodded.

Avery ducked through the door, going from her bathroom door in her Thunder Bay apartment to the apartment proper.  She’d set gifts aside, because the car had already been crowded, she was worried that having any mystical gifts in among the luggage could mean a Sheridan or Declan with prying eyes might stumble on them, or an accident could reveal them.

She sorted things out, bagged it up in a gym bag, then carried it to the door.  She put it down, walked back, and went to her desk.  She quickly scribbled out some stuff on paper from a schoolbook, grabbed some of her favorite chocolate-covered protein bars, took some petals off her High Summer Rose, and put them in an envelope, then grabbed one of the six escape keys she’d picked up from the smaller markets, tore off a bit of opaque tape, and turned the tape into a tag she could write on.  ‘An emergency way home’.

Her bracelet clicked.  She stood straight, turning-

To look at Sheridan’s side of the room, her heart hammering in her chest.

She searched- had another squirrel or pigeon gotten in?  One of Sootsleeves’ spies?

Then, on Sheridan’s desk, behind the computer setup, she saw the mirror.  And reflected in the mirror-

She turned, stepping to one side, and saw Ok girl at the doorway, looking in.

“Oh, hi.  Just…”

She got her stuff, went to the door, and then remembered she’d forgotten the gym bag with the gifts.  She went back for that, and the girl moved out of the doorway, leaving her room to step through.  Avery closed the door firmly behind herself.

“Ika sūraja pichalē ḍēka nū mārana vālā hai,” the girl said, motioning.

“Man, I feel like I’d run the Cakewalk blind if it meant understanding languages.”

Light flared.  The girl backed up, and Avery took her cue.

The boat lurched.  She grabbed a railing just in time, as everything moved.  The drop finished, hit a curve at the landing, creating a massive splash.

Three quarters of a sun in a lima bean shape banked off another part of the splash, almost curling inward as it flipped back toward the boat.

It hit the back decks, and exploded into a wave of plasma, heat, superheated gas and molten iron.  Black-painted wood turned white with the heat, and heat washed past Avery.

Everything lurched to a stop, momentum arrested, portions of the back deck still on fire.  The boat looked ready to ascend an impossible slope.  If she remembered her notes on the Star Crossed, it was possible that it wouldn’t reach the front part and tip forward, if sails weren’t adjusted.  Which meant falling back into a river of blinding, burning plasma.

The old woman with the stitched eyes and mouth walked over, already preparing t do that.  She navigated between and around the patches of burning back deck to adjust the back sail.

“Hmm.  Good.  Looks like you’ve got a handle on this.  Here.  A token of goodwill…”

She gave the girl the package she’d made.  A paper with her email, name, and title.  She wasn’t going to pull a Verona and stack titles together, so she only put ‘Avery Keller, Finder and Path Runner, guardian of Kennet’.  Bit of survival food for the path.  The fact she was vegetarian helped because if this girl was from India, she was probably vegetarian too, so the snacks had been pre-checked.  The key, the petals-

The girl took the envelope, looking.  She shook her head, handing it back, looking vaguely alarmed.

“You sure?  It’s useful.  Okay.  Anyway.  Hi.  Bye,” Avery pocketed the glamour.

“Avery Kelly?” the girl asked.

“Hm?” Avery asked, turning.

The girl pointed at Avery.  Then, with slightly different emphasis, she said again, “Avery Kelly?  Garrick?”

Oh, so it had spread that far?

“Not a Garrick.  But yes.  Avery Kelly,” Avery said, pointing at herself.

“Māsī, iha Avery Kelly hai!”

The older woman turned, expression unchanging.

Avery backed away a few steps.  She sensed Snowdrop and turned, and saw Snowdrop at the door.

“Hey Snowdrop.”  She put out a hand, and Snowdrop ran to her side.

“Tusīṁ rēlagaḍī dā śataraja calā’i’ā sī? Iha Snowdrop hai? Kī jādū dā daravāzā ika varadāna jāṁ ika vasatū hai?”

“I- I really do have someplace to be, but if you’re willing to be good… I dunno, Snowdrop, you think it works to have them come by Kennet found?”

“Do we have anyone who knows languages?”

“Douglas Did It didn’t actually learn any languages.”

“Okay, hmm, Douglas Did It is a bit of a minefield though.”

“There’s nobody else.  I know that because I keep track of that stuff.”

“Kī uha mazabūta hai?”

“Hmmm.  I think, just to be safe, maybe won’t invite them over on the spur of the moment.  Can exchange some probably messy and wooble-translated emails first.  Or maybe she knows someone who can field that.  Email?” Avery asked.

She approached, the girl looked confused, and then Avery tapped the paper.

The girl nodded.  “OK!”

Cool.  Probably, in retrospect, considering she had so many emails coming in already, she didn’t need to do this to get more, but she kind of wanted to establish good connections, and to be someone who was good to run into, not a Little Wolf or Wunderkand threat.

The girl’s head turned.  She looked at the woman with stitched eyes, then up at the moon.

She motioned for Avery to come with.

“I’ve really gotta go.  But thanks,” Avery said, going to the door.

The girl nodded.  “OK!”

“Okay.”

Avery went through the door with Snowdrop.  She watched as the girl hurried over to the side of the woman with the stitched eyes.

The boat dipped, crashed into water, and then began to sail up an incline.  Light flared as a whole slew of miniature and fragmented suns started to come down onto the deck.

She closed the door before the first impact.

“How are you doing?  They’re not beating you up too badly?”

“Yeah.  It’s brutal,” Snowdrop replied.

“You doing okay?”

“It’s not the same.  Cherrypop’s become a total bore, she’s stuck on the slide thing, Tatty’s gotten boring and cranky, Doglick’s barely like a dog anymore, and that’s never fun.”

“That’s good.  We’re hanging out on the rooftop.  If you wanted to stick to human form, you could come with.”

“You know my sleep schedule flipped around, I’m a boring old day-walker now.  I’ll be asleep later tonight, the goblins are usually up and about…”

“Sure.  I think the rooftop’s open all night, so it could be a good time to catch up with others.  Drop by any time.”

“I can’t come by as an opossum for snuggles with Nora, huh?”

“That might raise questions.  She’ll think I’m an opossum whisperer-”

“Which you aren’t.”

“Which- I whisper to one opossum sometimes.”

“Meh.”

“Anyway, I said something like how I wouldn’t be long, then I got caught up in meeting a random Finder and a woman I think was her familiar.”

“She had that sort of smell to her.”

“What?”

“Not that I’m really good at seeing that kind of thing.”

“Huh.  Well.  I might see you later?”

“I’m seeing too much of you as is.”

Avery mussed up Snowdrop’s hair.  She felt a twinge on Snowdrop’s scalp.  “Tell them to stop pulling your hair.”

“Yeah.”  Snowdrop grinned, then ran off.

Avery hurried back, navigating her way to the others.  Rook’s rooftop…

She happened to see Jasmine talking to her dad, and Doe off to one side, smoking, looking like she was taking a moment for some quiet.

“Hey there,” her dad greeted her.  “They’re up there.”

“Yeah, figured.  Am I okay?  I don’t have anything weird?”

“Weird?”

“I dunno, I’m not on fire anywhere, no strange smells?  Smoke?”

Her dad sniffed her, then shook his head.

“Cool.  See you up there?”

“We thought we’d give you kids your space.”

“Okay!  Either way.”  She flashed a smile at her dad, then Jasmine, and ran past them and up the nearby fire escape to the roof.

Different roof than the one they’d had the confrontation with Musser on, but similar-ish deal.  Glass enclosed, like a greenhouse, with branch-like wrought-iron between the panes, which were tinted green-black at the bottom and clear at the arched top, which had an iron rod going up to one pane that had been pushed up and back, letting some snow and cold air in, and smoke out.

The three joined tables becoming a three-branch conference table at the center was gone, though, and a fire pit had been set up.  The old tables were moved to the sides, framed with greenery, and there was stuff like bread, meat, cheeses, grapes, nuts, all along one table, for snacking on, another table with soup and bowls, presumably for anyone still hungry, and two more with drinks- one for cold and iced ones, one for hot things.

Rook was there, in human guise, off in one corner, talking to Horseman.  Hollow Yen was bringing things to people on request, acting like the waiter and host.  He’d ditched the mask for now.  Toadswallow was wearing a human glamour, well-dressed but vaguely greasy and sweaty, with thick glasses, with Bubble at his side, wearing a dress in red sequins and a green boa that looked more like the sort of Christmas decoration meant to be hung up outside the house, durable and stiff enough to weather the winter.

Speaking of- she could see Luna, who’d also removed her mask, but she wore winter clothing, including a neckwarmer she’d pulled up to the bridge of her nose.  She was sorting out dishes, entirely unnecessary, but she liked to be helpful, apparently.

Avery went to Luna first, on her way to the fire.  “You don’t have to.”

“Hm!  Oh, hello.  Nice to see you again.  Happy holidays.”

“Happy holidays.”

The hair at Luna’s brow was sticking to her forehead.  Sweaty.

“Changed up the mask?”

“We thought it would be weird.  There’ve already been some questions about the musicians on one of the rooftops, who wore masks.”

“From Nora, or-?”

Nora seemed to hear her name being said, turned, and smiled.  Avery waved a bit.

“Booker’s friends and Nora.  Some others.  There are some people that wandered into Kennet below a few times, not very financially well off?” Luna asked, leaning in, confidential.

“Sure.  I guess being in a bad place makes it easier to become a black sheep?”

Luna nodded.  “So people like Toadswallow and Rook help out a little, to… to be nice, maybe.  But also to keep them from wandering to the wrong end of town.”

“I see.”

“They came by first thing.  Sat for a bit.  A few of them are grouping together, throwing a Christmas party for people without any family to be with.”

“That sounds super great.  You good though?  You look hot.”

“Uh,” Luna replied, looking as out of sorts as Avery had seen her, and she’d seen Luna with Snowdrop hanging off her, mock-biting her.  “I don’t want to leave my face uncovered.  That’s weird.  But this is warmer than it looks.”

“If you want to get away, hang out with Snowdrop, she’s near the bar.”

“Um,” Luna replied.  It looked like she was flagging in mental strength, taking a while to get gears turning.  “I might go for a walk.  They’re a lot though.”

“They are.  Hmm.  Maybe take a walk, come back, hang out, then when it gets too hot again, go by?  You can enjoy the chaos for a bit, I know Snowdrop adores you.  Then when you get your fill or that gets to be too much, you can mention there’s food here.  She said she might drop in.”

“And she’ll come for food,” Luna concluded.

“She’s predictable like that.”

“That’s a good plan.”

“Don’t overheat, okay?”

Luna nodded.

Avery got a drink, checked with Nora, who held up her own, then walked over to the bench, putting the bag down so it was beneath the bench.  Nora scooted over to make room, but it was still a bit of a squeeze between Nora and Lucy.

Nice though.  Squeezing with Nora.

“Who’s that?” Nora asked, looking back in the direction Avery had come from.

“Luna.  She’s a sweetheart.  But she’s overheating, wearing that.  Was checking she was okay.”

“She’s got a face thing,” Verona supplied.  “She’s shy about it.”

“She shouldn’t be,” Lucy added.  “It’s fine.”

“I’ve got a cousin in Puerto Rico who has vitiligo.  It’s the same.  I think it’s beautiful, but obviously I don’t have to live with it,” Nora said.

Music started to play on one of the rooftops in the distance.  Nora put her hands out toward the fire to warm them.

“Lucy?  Verona?”

Avery turned to look.  It was Hollow Yen with two men- one she felt like she should recognize.

“You set this up?” the one she didn’t even remotely recognize asked.

“Kind of.  We all got permission,” Lucy said.

“You did.  We didn’t think it would be nearly this big, but it’s fine, really.  The police chief was annoyed, but…”

“Is that so?” Lucy asked, in a tone that was almost but not quite amused.

“It’s a lot of activity they weren’t prepared for, and it was short notice.”

“Have there been any problems?”

“No, but…” he trailed off.

She raised her eyebrows.

“We were talking.  Me, some business owners downtown-” he indicated the man standing beside him.

“Hi Mr. Black,” Verona said.

“Hello.”

Oh.  One of her classmate’s dads.  Right.

“-This could be a yearly event, couldn’t it?” the other man asked.

Ohh, as Avery interpreted that, she vaguely recalled the face of the man she didn’t recognize.  The mayor?

What did it say that she didn’t even know what the mayor looked like?

“It could, maybe,” Lucy replied.

“Formalize it, give law enforcement more warning, maybe shift it a day, so it’s not right when they want to take their holidays…”

“I’d have to talk to some of the people who were involved,” Lucy said.  “But I feel like this is better as a random thing.  Less for tourists, to draw people in, more… a reward for being around.”

“You intend to keep doing this sort of random thing?” the mayor asked.

Lucy shrugged.  “Yeah?  Making Kennet a bit more magical and interesting.”

“Like the haunted Arcade?  That the police had to clean up.”

“Wasn’t me.”

“Your name keeps coming up.  At the school, it sounds like you were one of the planners.”

Avery looked at Mr. Black.  Did Brayden blab?  That donkey.

“This is starting to sound more like an interrogation,” Lucy said.

“Kids say you guided them in.”

“We didn’t start it, didn’t set it up, didn’t end it.”

“People followed us in,” Verona said.  “Following is different from guiding.”

Both technically true statements, Avery thought.

“If you know anything, the police have been asking around.”

“That was months ago,” Verona said.  “Halloween.”

“They’re still asking.”

“Not doing a very good job then,” Lucy said, under her breath.

“Let’s keep the good, not have the bad?” the mayor asked.  “Run stuff by us more?  There could be funding in it for you.  We can bring in more visitors, that’s good for Kennet.”

“Visitors come and go.  We’ve gotta give them a reason to stay,” Lucy replied.  “I’d rather focus on that.”

“Visitors bring money in.”

“People move out, they take money and business with them,” Lucy replied.  “Why don’t you… I dunno.  Let us do these random cool things, and you can take the money you’d fund us with, and put it toward, say, the hospital?”

“Okay,” the mayor said, in a tone that was very much not agreeing, but more like he was fed up, automatically rejecting the notion as it came up.

“Not enough doctors or nurses, there aren’t many patients but they’re still pretty overloaded.  What is it, twenty patients per nurse?  And it’s supposed to be five?”

“That’s an entirely different conversation.”

“It’s worth having, though?” Lucy asked, brightly.

“For your special projects like this, if you could all please just give us more warning, involve us more, help us help you.”

Lucy shrugged and nodded.

“Merry Christmas, enjoy your evening,” he said.

He turned to go, and stopped short, because Avery’s mom and dad, Verona’s mom and Jasmine had come up and were behind him.

“Everything okay?” Jasmine asked, as the mayor and Mr. Black left.

“We did want to involve them more,” Lucy said.  “But he’s a butt.  I can’t wait until they vote him out.”

“It’ll be a while,” Avery’s dad said.  “The cogs of government don’t move fast here.”

“Give me the rundown later?” Jasmine asked.

Lucy nodded.

“Can you give me the basic rundown now?” Verona’s mom asked Jasmine.

The parents went to get coffee or something, talking.

“Haunted arcade?” Nora asked.

Avery nodded.

“It was pretty cool,” Verona said.  “Special modified games, deathtraps, horror elements.”

Real horror, real deathtraps, Avery thought.

“It sounds cool.  That’s sort of your thing, then?  Your sort of project?  And this?”

Lucy nodded.

“How do you even do that?  Setting this up like that?”

“Gotta know the right people,” Lucy said.  “Speaking of… gotta give some Christmas presents.”

“Me too,” Avery said, reaching between her legs to get her bag and pull it forward between her feet.  She unzipped it.  “For you guys.”

“Ooh,” Verona said.  She sat with her cat sleeping in her lap, petting it.

Avery unzipped, sorted through stuff, then handed Verona and Lucy boxes.

Verona reached into her inside coat pocket, and pulled out a small box with a ribbon.  Lucy had to get up and go to the corner where she had things, to get something for Avery.

“So,” Verona said, as Avery undid the ribbon.  Julette looked uncomfortable, because Verona held the box resting against her back, and squirmed a bit.  “I kind of already gave you an advance present with the coat, so this is minor-ish.”

“The coat alone would’ve been great,” Avery said.

“We talked about it before,” Nora said.  “She was so excited.”

“Anyway, this is minor-ish.  Here.  You too.”

Verona passed a box to Nora.

“I- I didn’t-”

“You look after one of my best friends, okay?  You make her happy, that’s a big enough present.”

Avery undid the ribbon, waiting until Nora had done the same.

It was a bit of wood, carved and inlaid with something that looked like gold, but a touch brassier.  Half of a deer’s head, with an antler.  The box’s little insert had spaces to hold it firmly in place, and then three clasps that looked like they could be attached to the flat inside of the carving.

“I dunno how you want to wear it,” Verona said.  “Or if you want to alter it any.  But I thought it could be a clasp for a scarf or something, or you could wear it in your hair like Nicolette does, above the ear.  Or do up your ponytail, or take that ridiculous number of bracelets and things and just bind them together some so they aren’t so loose, or tie them up.  It’s tempered.”

Nora had a similar one.  But it had been painted or inlaid with something black, and it had no antler.  It was gold-lined, with a crescent shape for a closed eye.

“It’s actually a carving that didn’t work out super great, but then I worked with it, experimented, it turned out cool.  I thought you could match.”

Avery scooted over, which she could do because Lucy had gotten up, and gave Verona a hug.  She sat back down next to Nora, reached over, and tapped the snout of her little deer head to Nora’s.

“Let’s see what you gave me…” Verona murmured.  She opened the box.

Avery had used a little box that had once had an assortment of teas in it.  She’d kept seven of the tiny jars that had held the tea, and put powders of various sorts in six.  Six little glass cases that had once had mini-candles in them now had dirt.  In the final row were some charms- magic items of the most minor sort.

“You know how I have the flower in my room?  You can grind the petals?”

“I know the one you’re talking about.”

“Those little seedpots, if you can pull it off, they’ll grow pretty exotic little plants like that.  They’re actually pretty tricky to get-”

“I know,” Verona said.  “I asked around.  I’m surprised you managed to get someone to let go of them.”

“Built up trust with the right people, I guess.  They might be tricky to keep alive but I figured your house would be a cool place for that-”

Verona nodded quickly.

“-then you get a little taster of the powders in the others.  I figured that’d open doors, might be useful.  And then the little knick-knacks.  To match, aesthetically fitting, even if you don’t have use for them, they’re cool little decorations…”

Verona hugged her.  Then to Nora, she said, “I paint.  You can use pigments, mix your own paint, you know?”

“Ohhh.  I was wondering.”

You can do a lot more than paint with that, Avery thought.  But it was good cover.

“Did you think it was drugs?” Verona asked.

“No, no, not at all.”

“Stop teasing Nora,” Avery said, pushing Verona lightly.

A seedling for replenishable glamour of six types- winter left out.  A bit of glamour of six types, and a fairy trinket for each of the six courts.

Avery got her present for Lucy, twisting around.  They exchanged boxes.

Lucy opened hers, and had to move quickly to catch something before it fell.

“Sorry, should’ve warned.  Loose pieces,” Avery said.

“Oh wow,” Lucy said, dropping down to her knees, to lay the box on the bench beside Avery.

It was a flat, shallow box, and at five points around the center, there were accessories- two rings, necklace with chain, a more durable, longer chain, maybe for the dog tags, a little loop for Lucy’s ponytail, if she wanted it.

And in the center, in a small glass bottle that was laid on its side, surrounded with material to keep it from rolling around, was a firefly, more red-tinted than the others.  She’d put some plant life and a twist of Snowdrop’s hair in there, for the Lost-ness, and the hair illuminated with the firefly’s soft red glow.

“I found a little smithy-slash-jeweler’s.”

“A little one, huh?”  Lucy asked.

Fairy one, yeah.

“Looks like such good quality.  Wow, this is great,” Lucy said.

“I thought it would be cool to try to match your earring in style, but for other pieces.  I used a picture and gave a description.  And the firefly- I got in just in time.  Don’t worry about keeping it alive, it’s really self-sufficient.  And it’s surprisingly cool and useful.”

Lucy nodded.  “I remember you telling me.  Yeah.  Thank you.  Open yours.”

Avery did.

The box was long, and came in strips about a foot long, separated into two piles, with a hard divider between them.  There were packets, shallow, backed by something like wax paper on one side.  At the head of the box, heaviest part of all, were little blocks.  Avery opened them and turned them around.

“Ink cartridges, for the special ink.  For the packets, don’t get them wet or expose them to light for too long, or they’ll mess up or fade.  I did some myself, to see if it worked, then left the rest for you.  I’ll give you tips later, it’s a bit fiddly.”

They were temporary tattoos, in the one pile, and the kit for making her own temporary tattoos in the other.  They looked like they were long enough to be for a bicep or forearm- partial sleeves.

“You were saying your parents were nagging you about having to draw and redraw tattoos for a year, make sure you liked what you had,” Lucy said.  “This makes it way easier to have something good and consistent.  They last for a week.”

“I was planning on using sharpie.”

“Now you don’t have to.”

“This is great,” Avery said.  She looked through some of the ones Lucy had done.  She suspected Verona had done the designs.  Some deer stuff.  A Kennet skyline that bled out into watercolor below- three different ones, she saw, in black, red, and blue.

And below those- packing tape sealed the rest of that stack to the bottom of the box.  Avery recognized symbols drawn onto the backs of the paper- seals.  To keep practice from activating on its own.  Books of practice used them to keep runes and diagrams on the page from kicking into  life.

“War paint,” Lucy said.

Like what they’d used before confronting Maricica and at the end of summer.  Something for the arms, shoulder, and maybe back, if she could manage it.

Avery hugged Lucy.

She saw Nora with eyes wide.  “Heya.”

“Good gifts.”

“Yeah.  So good.”

Her mom passed by.  Avery craned her head backwards.  “Hey.”

“Hey hon.  Let’s not stay out too late, okay?  You’ll wake up your sister when you go to bed.”

“Okay,” Avery agreed.  “Did Sheridan or Rowan take the invite?”

“Rowan’s with friends.  Sheridan’s hanging back.  Weird mood.”

“Okay,” Avery said.  Then, to Nora, she said, “I’ve got a few more to hand out, you want to come with?  I can introduce you to a few people.”

Nora nodded.

Avery grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, and looked around.

“Over there, we have Mr. Toad and Bubbles-”

Toadswallow and Bubbleyum looked over as their names were said.

“Mr. Toad and Bubble?”

“Nicknames, because their actual names are weirder,” Avery said.  “He mentored Liberty.”

“I remember there being a thing with a mentor?”

“Yeah.  This is the mentor.”

Avery kept looking at Nora as Nora studied them.

Yeah.  Probably not what you imagined.

“Remember how I told you how the teacher I had a crush on was a traveler?”

Nora nodded.

“He’s… even more of one.  A genius, a teacher, a… I don’t know what you call it.  Someone who finds people like Liberty and brings the best out of them.  If he was into music production, he’d be the kind of person who was responsible for finding a handful of the really big stars.”

“Huh.”

“I know, right?” Avery asked.

“Renaissance man?  I think that’s what they used to call them,” Nora said.

“That works.”

“And she is-?”

“Someone who saw something in him before he’d even properly started out.  It looks like they’re having a nice moment.  She’s been working in another city, and can’t always get away to see him.”

“Like your parents.”

Avery nodded.

“And, let’s see.  Nibble and Chloe.”

Nibble looked over as she said his name.

“They live in one of the factories at the southeast end of town.  They had a rough go of it, but they’re pulling it together.”

Avery reached into the bag, searching.

“Oh no, no no no,” Chloe said, raising her hands.

Her nails were painted.

“No?” Avery asked.

“Lucy already got us things.  We’re spoiled,” Nibble said.

“No need, no,” Chloe said.  She looked at Nora.  “Hello.”

“Hello.”

“You’re Nora?  I’ve heard such nice things.”

“It’s really weird coming to some town and half the people seem to know me.”

“We’re friends.  We help each other out.  But it feels bad when we feel like the ones getting helped out all the time.”

“You’re not.  You helped us out, you babysat Marlen…” Avery reassured.  “Cleaned for Verona.  She made it sound like it really helped get her over the hump and get her place nice again.”

“We had other motives, for that second one.  Not sure about the first,” Nibble said.

“I came across these, they seemed to be your vibe,” Avery said, handing over the boxes with the little lifeforce amulets.  She waited as they opened them.  “I like your nails, Chloe.”

“Toadswallow helped,” Chloe said.  She used one nail to cut the tape that held the box top on.

“Did he?”

“Alpeana was around, she had to leave for work.  He helped there too.”

Nibble got his box open.  He looked at the amulet.

“They’re both for both of you.  I know you guys believe in lifeforce and crystal stuff, and this is supposed to balance that out.”

Nibble nodded slowly, while Chloe put her hands to her mouth.

“It’s just a help.  Make bad days less bad, save up the good from good days.”

“This is amazing,” Nibble said.

“Thank you, we’re so spoiled,” Chloe said.  “I offered cleaning.”

“You’ve helped us out a lot.”

Avery startled as Chloe stood, and wrapped her in a sudden hug.

“I like your sweater,” Avery said, as she was hugged up against it.

“I do too.  Lucy got it.  And a coat.  It’s protected on the inside, too.  I somehow always ruin my coats.”

“That’s so great.”

Chloe nodded.  And as the hug ended, Avery saw a glimpse of moisture in Chloe’s eyes.

Conversation kind of died with that, because it looked like Chloe was trying to hold it together.

“I’ll see you guys around?” Avery asked.

“Yeah,” Nibble said.  “I think I see Alpeana.”

Avery looked, and she had to look twice.

Alpeana was wearing a black dress, black patterned tights, and black boots, and her hair, still voluminous, had been made… reasonably decent.  Her skin was still ‘never sees the sun’ pale, and she looked a little scattered, lingering near Matthew and Louise, but not really interjecting in their conversation.

“And this is?” Nora asked.

“A friend.  Hm…” Avery trailed off.

It felt like Nora was a little daunted- maybe even in that space where she was suspicious, or trying to connect dots and not seeing how.

The interconnectedness of this, everyone helping each other out.  A big piece of the puzzle missing.

She’d wanted to bring Nora partway in, and maybe like this, it felt like the scale of this was pushing her away.

She struggled to think of what to say.  “It’s a lot of new people.  Sorry.”

“I want to meet them, or talk about them.  See that side of your life.”

“There’s stuff that helps all of this make sense.  But I can’t get into it,” Avery admitted.

“For how long can’t you?  Tonight?”

“More like…” Avery reached.

“This week?  This year?”

Avery tried to conceptualize it.  What timescale?  When would it be okay?

She had a scale she wanted, short-term, she wanted to tell Nora now.

But was that fair?  Did that put her at risk?  She thought of how stressed her mom had been, and Nora was way more prone to being anxious than her mom was.

“It might be more of a… when we’re talking marriage type thing, years and years from now,” Avery admitted.

Nora huffed out a sigh.

“Sorry.”

“That’s a big one.  But I think I can guess?” Nora asked.

“Can you?” Avery asked, alarmed.

“You said your mom was a CEO?”

“…Yes?  Co-CEO.  For the Thunder Bay branch of her company.”

“And Jeanine was saying… sorry.  I shouldn’t dig, shouldn’t pry.  Okay.  It’s okay.”

“You’re sure?” Avery asked, not even sure what was cool.

Nora smiled, and- Avery didn’t even know.

She frowned, thinking, trying to connect what Nora was talking about to what was going on.

What would come up during marriage talk, but would be weird to talk about before?  And would have anything to do with her mom being- oh.

Did Nora suspect they were secretly rich?  Or something like that?  And she had to keep it secret because otherwise she’d attract the wrong people?

She reeled with that thought, wondering if it was good or bad, if it was a notion she needed to dissuade Nora from, or…

She wasn’t sure.

It covered a lot of bases.  Explained connections.  Explained other stuff.

But you’ve seen our house.  Our apartment.  Do you think we’re slumming it?  Or weirdly thrifty?  Why would we be in Kennet?

But if it soothed Nora’s worries any, maybe it was okay?

She let herself relax.

Lucy was talking to Grandfather, Doe, and Horseman.  Nora was already watching and listening in.

“I’m pretty nervous about this,” Lucy said, quiet.  “I hope it’s okay I went ahead and tried this.”

“We told you to stop apologizing for things,” Horseman told her.  “You don’t have to apologize with a gift.”

“I- I mean, on the one hand, I really do, because they didn’t arrive.”

“It’s fine,” Grandfather said.

“On the other, I- I guess I’ll explain.  Do you know Foggy?”

Horseman shook his head.

“Okay.  Um.  Midas?”

“Rings a bell.”

“Or Trick?”

“Yeah I knew a-” Horseman started.  He stopped, and he folded his arms.

“I talked to Anthem.  He gave me contact info for some people.  Gave his blessing to use his name.  Then I called around, talked to some people.  A lot of this I could only do when Musser-”

Lucy paused, glancing over her shoulder at Nora, then back over her other shoulder, at Booker.

“-only doable recently.  I dealt with them, they agreed.  Three dog tags are in the mail.  Probably coming in the new year.  Foggy, Midas, and Trick.  From the same time you, uh, were deployed over there.”

“Foggy might’ve come and been taken out before he could find us.”

“I was thinking it might be the case with some or all of them.  But I was also thinking… maybe you knew some of them?”

“We did,” Horseman said.  “Two.  Trick, wasn’t for long.  Midas, for a bit.  Golden touch with a gun.”

“They’re free?” Grandfather asked.  “No strings attached?  No… restrictions?”

“No.  All clear.  As soon as they get here.  I know John would’ve liked to get ’em, but the fact the people who had the tags are still alive…”

Grandfather nodded.

“Is it okay?” Lucy asked, very quiet, nervous.  “I know… you’re not the biggest fan of the people who had the tags.  And me dealing with them…”

“It’s fine if you’re fine,” Grandfather said.  “You said the tags are no-strings-attached?  But do you have strings attached now?  Are they going to bother you?  Is there more to this?”

Lucy shook her head.  “Bit of money.  Avery helped.  Anthem’s name probably cut the cost down ninety percent.”

Avery tugged on Nora’s arm as Grandfather put one arm around Lucy’s shoulders, pulling her in for a rough half-hug.

Leading Nora away, and closer to Alpeana, Matthew, and Louise.

Verona was doing their gift to Matthew, but Avery had something for Alpeana- a ‘dark lantern’ that was supposed to be an omen collector.  Nicolette had helped with that one.  It would absorb omens, sort them out, and project them.  The idea was that if Alpeana had a mess of a job to do, cleaning up the universe’s wrinkles, this could be a big ‘bam, let’s skip that one, blast the wrinkle to smithereens’.

Then it would slowly gather omen-ous energy again, for another charge.

Nicolette thought it could be the sort of thing that, for Alpeana, would let her handle the sort of thing that would otherwise be a pain in Alpeana’s ass across a whole week, requiring lots of little jobs to tackle, if she didn’t have the key to handle it.

But how to even explain that with Nora around?

Instead, Avery said hello, asking how Matthew was doing, and made small talk, holding off on the gift for now.  Maybe she’d hand it over at a better time, without Innocent eyes looking in and Innocent ears listening in.

“The lads and lassies from tha other school dinnae come by, neh?” Alpeana asked.

“They stopped in for the concert.”

“Aye.  A wee shame,” Alpeana replied.  “Least we ken relax.”

Avery nodded.

She was struck by a feeling of something- profound, almost.  Alpeana, wearing a human guise, supported by Toadswallow.  Toadswallow and Bubble doing the same.  Rook looking in, tolerating civilians in her rooftop sanctum.  The music playing from various sides of Kennet.

The gifts.

It was big.  It was so much of what she wanted, with the periodic, like, slap in the face from the Christmas spirits, almost.  Hey Avery -slap- here’s something else that’s nice and unexpected, like Alpeana dressed up and mingling.  Take that.  -Slap- here’s Matthew and Louise being cute and sitting together.  How do you like that, bitch?  -Slap slap- Here’s Nora maybe finding her own explanation for what you’ve been up to and where you’re coming at things from.  Bitch.

She imagined the slap-happy Christmas spirits saying ‘bitch’ a lot, for some reason.

She looked up at the glass that surrounded them.

Down at the fire.

She put her arm around Nora, hugging her against her side, and carried on talking with Alpeana.

Nora:
is your sister asleep?

Avery leaned over the side of the top bunk, much like the practitioner on the Star Crossed Path had leaned over the railing.

Kerry was bundled up and lying there asleep, her mouth open yawn-wide.

Avery made a face, then copied the expression for Nora’s benefit.  Nora smiled.

Avery settled back down, careful not to jostle the bed too much.

She was in the top bunk, Kerry below, and past the various bags, Kerry’s stuff, and everything else, in the opposite corner of the room, Nora was in Sheridan’s old bed.

They’d discussed their gifts for each other, and Avery had asked what Nora really wanted, and Nora had wanted something lower stress.  They’d agreed to take it easy on presents, getting each other stuffed animals representing themselves.  So now they lay there in their beds, looking at each other.  Avery with a stuffed seal bigger than her pillow against her front, while Nora had a stuffed deer.

The seal had a nice texture.  Almost like her soft sweatshirt.  She nuzzled it, maintaining eye contact with Nora.  Then, one arm around the seal, the other out in front of her, she texted.

Avery:
u ok?

Nora nodded.

Avery:
this is very soft
I love it.

Nora smiled, then texted by way of her own phone.

Nora:
that was the plan.
you’re going to have to explain the deer thing to sme someday

Avery nodded.

Nora kissed the deer on the top of the head, which made Avery, lying in her bunk, kiss the seal, which started a game of one-upmanship, silently making out with and groping the stuffed animals, until Avery was silently laughing hard enough that Kerry grunted at the bed shaking and turned over, below, Nora covering her mouth in shock.

They stopped, settling.  A few texts, ongoing eye contact, neither of them sleeping.  A day of Christmas morning, travel, Avery’s whole immediate family plus Nora being in the mix, then the evening with Lucy’s concert and the rooftop meeting.  The feeling that they were stacking so much, so damn high, and that it was all fragile as dammit.

Lying there, all of that unwound.

Raquel:
surviving

Avery blinked a few times.  She had to get her bearings.  The phone had illuminated, shaking lightly, and- it was half past four in the morning.

One word, a text response, middle of the night.

She’d texted everyone to wish a round of happy holidays to each of them, and here and there, there’d been short strings of replies.  Zed filling her in on the Christmas day.  Nicolette was having Christmas with the Belanger family- or part of it.  Avery wasn’t one hundred percent on the dynamics there, but she had the sense it wasn’t Wye’s side of it.  Fernanda was doing okay.  Her brother was away, trying to help Wye build a fresh foundation for business and leveraging the tough times, helping people navigate the Lord situation in the region.  The better Wye did, the better the Whitts did.

With her cousins, there had been isolated pieces of family drama to share- which had made the evening video call between the extended family a lot more interesting, with tidbits shedding light on small expressions, or people sulking in the background.

And with Raquel, she hadn’t been sure she’d get a reply at all, given how things had left off, and then she’d gotten a short, curt ‘you too’.

She’d asked how Raquel was doing…

And Raquel had taken five and a half hours to respond.

Just with this.

Was she mad?  She’d signed the contract for the market.  What had happened?

Avery typed.

Avery:
Can we meet?  Can I drop in?

She waited.

Would it be another five and a half hours for-

Raquel:
Yes.

That didn’t communicate much.

Avery:
yes what?
where do I go?

Raquel:
It’s a trip.  Swansea, UK.  The Ehrharts.

Avery:
can I drop in like I did with you + fern?
are there wards?
guards?

Raquel:
I’m not a prisoner.
Yes.  You can drop in.

Avery looked at Nora, who lay there, face buried in the stuffed animals, fast asleep now.

Quiet as she could manage, she climbed out of bed to the ground, changed into her jeans, got her socks and rune-inscribed shoes, protected by connection block, and sorted out her bracelets and bag.

Silence rune first.

Then bracelet off.

The doors appeared as she walked through the house, slamming into existence without a sound.

She walked down to the front hall, opened the front door, and let Snowdrop in.  Together, silent, they went through the house-

The light from the Burning Daylight was so intense she thought she’d go blind.  Or that the light in the kitchen might somehow reach upstairs or the basement, startling someone awake.

She stepped through, Snowdrop at her side.  Then she crossed it, careful, until she reached another door.

Didn’t have to go far.  Didn’t have to worry about some of the Path’s solar movements.

“Stay in possum form, Snow?” Avery asked.  “This is semi-sensitive, I think.”

Snowdrop changed.  Avery picked her up and lifted her to a shoulder.

She opened the door, exiting into Raquel’s room.  There was light outside, which was a bit startling, and she smelled breakfast.

Raquel startled, arm up, shielding her eyes.  She relented as the light faded, then startled again as she saw Avery.  She was wearing silk pyjamas, with pants and a kind of halter top that draped down from a circular collar at the neck, her hair in a ponytail.

“I didn’t mean now!” Raquel hissed the words.

“Well, you should’ve said that, then.”

“When someone asks if they can come over, there’s usually more than an instant before they turn up.  This is like calling to invite yourself over and the moment I say yes, you’re pushing the door open!”

“If it’s an issue, I can leave.  I could slip away, come tomorrow.”

Raquel huffed.

The moment the anger went, Raquel deflated.

It looked like bone-deep sadness settling in.

Avery started to cross the room, realized her boots would lead to too much tromping, and that people were awake out there, and sat in a chair to unlace them.

“This is your Christmas?” Avery asked.

Raquel nodded.

“Any family around, or-?”

“Aunt Carolyn.  She’s kind of watching me.”

Avery’s eyes went to the bedside table.  The engagement ring.

“I wear it,” Raquel said.  Responding to a question Avery hadn’t asked.  “When I’m outside the room.  But when I’m sleeping or lounging… it catches on things.”

“Makes sense,” Avery replied.

“No point showering or changing clothes til the afternoon.  I don’t see many people,” Raquel said.  “Don’t judge me.”

“No judgment,” Avery replied.

“Watching a lot of TV.  It’s-” Raquel stopped herself.  “I’m bad at watching TV, somehow.  I tell myself I shouldn’t watch the best shows, even when there’s so many good ones, not when I’m… my head’s wrong.  I wouldn’t enjoy them as much as they deserve.  And so I’m watching… such crap.”

Avery nodded.

“It’s not improving my mood, so I keep watching it.  I spent yesterday binging six seasons of Fuck Tuck.”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

“Be happy you don’t.”

“Yesterday was Christmas day.  Do they celebrate or-?”

“I went downstairs for the Christmas celebration in the morning.  We opened things at the breakfast table.  I got a necklace.  I went to lunch.  I went to dinner.  Otherwise I was in my room.  I guess that’s my life now?”

“I thought if we beat your uncle… maybe things would work out.”

“They did, at first.  Now?” Raquel gestured at the massive room.  The laptop on the bed.  The view.

She wasn’t gesturing at them like they were good things.

It was like the expense of them made them more of a prison.

“What happened?” Avery asked.

“Uncle’s trying to rebuild, but nobody’s really buying it.  A few hanger-ons.  The Songetays.  Allies who swore oaths, who have to.  But I think, pretty much any day now, we’re going to find out he’s gone.”

“Gone, like…”

Raquel shrugged, sitting down on the corner of the bed.  She looked out toward the window, in what Avery assumed was the direction of Ontario.  “It sounds like the family thinks he’s a liability.  As long as Durocher is mad at him, anything we try to do might get a Primordial stampeding through it.  So if they can find a way, find an angle…”

She let that idea hang.

“Does that bother you?” Avery asked.

“No.  I might love him, in this vague, small way.  He’s family.  He was there.  But no.”

Avery nodded.

“He’s strong.  But if you look at our whole family, there are a lot of people who could do okay.  Studied from the same books.  Foundations in the same power.  Put ten of them together?  Their fortunes and their everything hinge on getting my uncle gone.”

“But what about you?” Avery asked.  “Surviving?”

Avery pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Oh.  Yeah.  I wasn’t even thinking.  Family’s thinking about how to recoup what we’ve lost.  Lots of properties, lots of power, resources… and here I am.  One piece of leverage.  Promised to a family that’s pretty up there.  They’re talking about it like it’s a merger.  Broken Musser family merging into the Ehrharts.  And I’m one part of that.  One piece of it.  My uncle’s gone- or on his way to gone.  But the engagement holds.”

Avery reached up to her shoulder, putting a hand on Snowdrop, and rubbed.

“Can you run?” Avery asked.

“Could.  Wouldn’t be good though.”

“Because I can get you out as easy as I got in, I think.  Take you back.  Hide you.  If you can put up with Verona, I think she’d be okay having another fugitive hiding out.  Pay her by teaching practice, maybe.”

“I can run, but the engagement-” Raquel stopped short.  “I swore.  They swore.”

Avery stopped.  “You… okay.  Well, what are the terms?  That’s- if there’s wording, wording can be subverted.  Was there a contract?  I know a guy.”

“Verbal contract.  Sworn oaths.”

“But what was-”

“Avery!” Raquel cut her off.

“What?” Avery replied.

“I swore.  The oath was simple.  And simple is pretty tough to work around.  I said I’d marry him.”

“Who is he?”

“Ehrhart guy.  About my age.  He’s… he’s a real gilded dildo.”

“A gilded dildo?”

Raquel nodded.

“Is that like a gilded lily?”

“No.  It’s like a regular dildo, fake and upright and fake and impossible to take all that seriously.  But also fancy.  Looks nice, I guess.  I don’t care and I’m shocked at how little I care.  Because it’s fake.”

That bone-deep sadness just all the more intense when she couldn’t even sum up the tiniest sign of amusement at calling someone a gilded dildo and spelling out just how.

“Can you leave?”

“Sure.  I can do whatever I want.  But the wedding date will come, I need to be there, or I’ll be forsworn.”

“Where did you make the oath?” she asked.

“Ontario.  You don’t want to go to the Carmine, or-?”

“No.  But… there are options.  If you’re willing to try?”

Raquel sat there.  Sad, lost.

“Come?” Avery offered.  “Or do you want to wonder, ten years from now, what would’ve happened if you’d gone, at least trying?”

Raquel  looked down at her hands, then over at the laptop.

“Come?” Avery offered again.

“I was never very important to the family.  My mom screwed up, I- I inherited her sins, I guess.  I never got much trust.  Even if I had, I’m a girl.  The family still holds onto the fathers and sons fixation.  Occasionally someone will crop up, a woman with talent.  But the family tries to forget about her.  Sometimes they write her out of the family annals, make it out to be a brother-and-sister accomplishment, or something.  My uncle kept… he kept letting me think I could maybe get somewhere.  Then he’d push me down.  Made it worse than if he’d never let me think I had a chance.”

“Yeah,” Avery replied.  “But what does that have to do with you coming?  Raquel, I- I’m happy to talk to you about this, but that’s a whole thing, one I really feel for you on, but it’s not the thing.”

“I’m really tired of feeling let down,” Raquel replied.  “Of being third-hand.  Lowest rung on a ladder that’s not even- the family has more important ladders.  I thought for so long that I just- this was what I needed.  A chance.  I can marry someone important enough.  Get leverage.  Use it.”

“Yeah.”

“And now I’m looking at what that would look like and I just… the only thing that ends up different between me and some woman who gives up on life and swells to five hundred pounds, is they expect me to be pretty.  We- that woman and me, we watch the same show.  Fuck Tuck.  That’s a give-up-on-life show.”

“Then don’t give up.”

“But the only thing worse than that…” Raquel said, looking up to meet Avery’s eyes.  “…is this feeling.  She has hope.  That woman on the couch.  That me who’s basically her but dressed in nice fashion and made to stay thin.  There’s something there, a chance it can get better.  But if I do this, if I leave with you?  And it doesn’t work?”

“Yeah.  But isn’t having hope and not being willing to chase it just as bad as having no hope at all?”

Raquel shook her head.

“I- I don’t know what to say,” Avery told her.  “I want to back you up.”

“Thank you.”

“I wish I could make promises.”

“I feel heartbroken,” Raquel said.  “I’ve had so many shots that went nowhere.  It feels like it was one a day at least, from my uncle.  Hints that I could budge him.”

“He used practice to absorb the memories and capabilities of all the practitioners in his family line,” Avery said.

Raquel blinked.

“That’s a lot to budge.  I don’t think you can blame yourself.”

“I’m not.  I’m just… heartbroken and tired.”

“I’m tired too.  It’s like, almost five in the morning.”

“Huh?  Oh.  Time zones.  Right.  Sorry- you didn’t have to come.”

“You’re a friend.”

“You know, he- my uncle?”

“I know your uncle.  Kind of.  As an enemy.”

“He has this way, maybe you’ve seen it, he makes things revolve around him.  Or made.  Made- you got caught up in it.  His approval became everything.  A big plan, it became about him and his part in it.  And when you’re looking for a way out, it feels like, if you can stop him, you stop it all.”

Avery nodded.  “We had bigger issues.”

“The Carmine.  Right.  Well… he felt like the start and end of everything.  But he’s gone or going, and things are still moving forward.  The engagement.  This life.  The Musser family.”

“Yeah.  Would it- what if you could meet Sheridan?  From the podcast?”

Raquel showed the first glimmer of anything but sadness.  A fraction of a smile.  “Nah.”

“Or- I could cite episodes from the show, rally you to action.  Or play a song from Claudias.  Or I could enlist Fernanda.”

“I’m talking about something deep here, Avery.  A lifetime of being set up to think I can do something and then having that opportunity snatched from me.  And this- this feels like the capstone.  A friend of mine stopped my uncle and I thought that’d matter more than it did, at least for how this is all going to go.  And you want to try to fix it with a song from a musical?”

“It’s around five in the morning my time.  You’re going to get what you’re going to get.  I’m tired and I’m prepared to deploy my opossum familiar, to scream sing the lyrics from Claudias and get it all at least slightly wrong.”

Snowdrop sneezed.

“You want to wallow in misery?  Then I’ll threaten you with wallowing in the misery that comes with having a favorite song shit on by an opossum who’s going to get the lyrics backwards.”

“That’s cruel and unusual.”

“You woke me up at about four thirty in the morning.  I’m used to waking up early for practices, but… you get cruel and unusual.  I like you, Raquel.  You’re a friend.  You’re fun.  But I’m still going to metaphorically kick your damn ass if you wake me up at four-something in the morning and then don’t let me help you.  Come.”

“I need to- let me shower.  I’ll be quick, but I don’t-”

“You look better now than I do when I’m trying.  You’re pretty, you can get away with it.  Pull on some fucking jeans, get a top on, be ready for cold weather.  Skip the shower.  You’d probably get second thoughts anyway.”

Raquel sagged a bit, looked like she was going to come up with another excuse or distraction, but Avery found her jeans in the dirty laundry hamper, threw them at her, and she relented.

Avery turned her back to Raquel as she got changed.

“Done.”

Avery turned around.  “Okay.”

“But I swore.”

“I know.  Come on.”

They went back through the door Avery had come in on, into the Burning Daylight, then into the street past her house.

From there, she walked down, studying doors, until she saw what she needed.

Another door, which led to a Path.  The Path led to another Path, and she walked that path until they could dismount.

Into a subsection of a Faerie court.  The back of a shop filled with doors.

They slammed noisily as Avery walked down the row, Raquel at one side of her, Snowdrop at the other.

A shout behind her made her turn.

A human-sized fairy hollered in a language Avery didn’t know, before turning to English.  “Pests!  You walk your Path, you drop in here, I should set mousetraps!  Giant mousetraps!”

“Sorry!”

“Bah!  Pestilence!  Like rats in grain, you’re in among my doors!”

“I’m just passing through!”

The doors kept slamming.  Avery twisted around, looking.

Raquel pulled a ring out of her pocket and instead of wearing it, held it out.  Not her engagement ring.  Something else, magical.

Creating a circular barrier, with a segment at the front that emulated the ring’s crest.  Some kind of complex, reactive diagram.

The fairy swung his broom at the barrier.  It produced dust, dust clogged the diagram work, and it began to falter.

Avery walked fast, eyes scanning.  Searching a hundred doors on either side of a narrow walkway, as they changed out, reacting to her presence.

A door with a skull painted at the front, a crescent moon piercing the skull like some curved stabbing weapon.

“Hold your breath, move fast.  Stay close.”

Raquel nodded.

The fairy was beating his way through the barrier- the billowing dust cloud reached them as they worked their way over to the door.

Raquel sputtered and coughed.  Avery held her breath, opening the door.

Raquel gripped the back of Avery’s sweatshirt, following, as Avery led her into the Path.

Taking a breath here was lethal.  An inhalation brought the four horizons crashing in from four sides.  An exhalation sent things flying outward.  Stopping for too long was lethal- it was like this particular Path realized someone was there and collapsed in strategically.

Like that metaphorical mousetrap.

But the door on this Path was one of a row of them – many with specific rules and powers.  Avery could exit the door, lead Raquel a few doors down, open it, and go through.

A shortcut.  One that led the way into a place she’d been before.

Here, the snow stopped at walls at the perimeter, about a fifteen minute walk out.

Everything inside was green, like a segment of spring or early summer had been captured and kept alive here.

Here, things were warm.  Men and women, boys and girls of various ages were around, reclining, many of them sleeping under the night sky.  Most wore thin white clothes, almost like togas.

A couple were awake, talking into the evening, and turned their heads, looking alarmed.

Moonlight shone down, past tree branches, those same tree branches creating unique, angular shadows.

The angular shadows became form.

Form became recognizable.

A woman, backed by moonlight, wearing white furs, with antlers arranged as part of her uniform.

“Alabaster Doe,” Avery greeted her.

“You didn’t come here by customary means.”

“No, guess not.”

“It’s meant to take a day.”

“I’m not sure Raquel has that long.  The wedding is soon.”

Raquel nodded.

“What is your request, then?” the Alabaster asked.  She seemed irritated.

“To undo the vow to marry.  Raquel swore it under a kind of duress, as I understand it.  She was essentially coerced.  She’s a minor, the people who made her swear it are the people who should bear the penalty.”

“That is not nearly enough.”

“Circumstances have changed.  Things that people referred to as impossible have happened.  Musser losing like he did chief among them.  How many voices said Musser would win, like it was inevitable?  How much power did we get, by challenging that, and gainsaying them all?”

“No,” the Alabaster Doe replied.

“But- there’s no way?”

“Her word matters enough for her to practice, and she practiced for years without complaint, or anyone calling her right to practice into question.  Her youth doesn’t matter.  Your power from gainsaying doesn’t matter.  She made an oath and reneged.”

“Doe.”

Avery turned.

The Carmine Exile had entered.  With his presence, bloodstain spread across earthy ground.  He brought snow with him, but that snow stained crimson, as if it had been thrown over someone or something that was bleeding very badly.

“Allow me?” he asked.

The Alabaster Doe nodded.

She left, motioning, and her various followers in white followed her.

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“Nobody else will grant it,” Charles replied.  “Not Alabaster, not Sable, not Aurum.  For others, you’re outside their jurisdiction because you’re inside mine.  All across the world, you’d be hard pressed to find any higher powers as sympathetic to what a bad oath and its consequences could be.”

“I was forced to say the words,” Raquel said.

“I know.  It doesn’t change anything,” Charles replied.

“What do I do?” Raquel asked.

“You hold on for one moment.  Avery?”

Avery looked the Carmine in the eyes.

“You apparently have the power to access a Judge’s realm, without the days of lead-in.”

“Apparently,” Avery replied.

“Something you could have used against me, in a future confrontation.”

Avery nodded.

“Alright,” Charles replied.  He looked at Raquel.  “Break your oath.”

“What?”

“Make another oath, contradictory to the oath you made to marry.  It’s one step of what we’re doing this early morning.”

Raquel looked at Avery.

“Charles,” Avery said.

“Avery Kelly.”

Avery frowned.  “Is this a ploy?  A trick?”

“No more, I imagine, than your motivations this morning.”

“That’s not helpful or clear.”

“Raquel?” he asked.

“I swear to pick my own husband, when the time comes,” Raquel said.

Another impulse move.  It reminded Avery of the contract signing.

It was like these were getting more common with Raquel’s escalating desperation.

The air in the sanctuary space shifted.  It had been the Alabaster’s, then it had transitioned with Charles’ arrival and the Alabaster’s departure.  The light from the moon above them changed position and intensity, and Raquel, standing there, was cast in new, unkind lighting and tones.

The ground trembled faintly.

“So this is it?” Raquel asked.  “Everything lifted?  No pressures, becomes nothing matters anymore?  I’ve hit rock bottom?  It’s kind of peaceful.”

Avery could see that in how Raquel held herself.

“That peace doesn’t last for long,” Charles told her.

“Still.”

“Still, you’re forsworn, Raquel Musser.”

She nodded.

“Now ask me to undo the forswearing.”

Avery watched carefully, holding Snowdrop in her arms.

“I- I appeal.  I ask that this forswearance be ended.  I don’t deserve all this.”

“You’re too young to be married.  The Ehrharts and Mussers have pinned fortunes on their ability to see this through and marry.  But it’s a hollow deal in every sense.  Forced, tainted by your inexperience, loveless, enterprising, barely a partnership.  Raquel Musser, I lift the forswearing.”

Where darkness had crept in, darkness retreated.

Moonlight shone in through trees and onto bloodstained snow.

“That’s it?” Raquel asked.

“Avery gave up a kind of power, revealing she could access me in my domain, if she chose.”

Avery wasn’t sure she could’ve pulled it off and won against Charles, but she held her tongue.

“I give up my own power, in exchange.  You lose some advantage, so do I.  We’re even.  But what matters-?” Charles asked.  He looked at Raquel.  “A child shouldn’t be in that position.  If you’re grateful at all-”

“I am,” Avery admitted.

“-Then… consider what I’m doing, and why.  My willingness to do this for her.  And for others.”

“How much does it cost?” Avery asked.

“In power?  It’s both incredibly expensive and less than you’d think.  Other judges share power and costs with me.  The more I build, the more power I earn, on a daily basis, that I can then use.”

Avery looked at Raquel, who looked like she was still reeling.

“This affects others in jurisdictions that are not my own,” Charles said.  “But that, I think, is important.  It becomes a statement.  A notice going out to the world.”

Avery frowned.

“That’s for me to worry about,” Charles said.  “For you… you three requested a holiday.  A vacation from practitioner fighting practitioner, practitioner fighting Other, practitioner fighting innocent.  It’s Christmas.  Take your friend.  Enjoy the time.  I hope you know I don’t relish what comes when this truce ends.”

“You could just, you know, not.”

“Whatever Edith tells you, whatever you think you’ve gleaned about me… it’s simpler than they’d paint it.  I’m too aware of what’s too unacceptable, to step down or stop.  Things like what I’ve acted on here tonight.  If I’m stopped, it will be because someone stopped me.”

He loomed there, intimidating, getting more worked up.

Avery reached out for Raquel’s arm, pulling her back and away.

“You know where to find me.”

Avery nodded.

He didn’t blink, didn’t move.  So, hand at Raquel’s arm, Avery pulled her friend back and away until they were no longer in the Carmine’s domain.

Raquel, settled in the House on Half Street.  She hadn’t woken Verona by calling or texting, but the intrusion had been noticed, and then the door opened.

She wasn’t sure about Raquel, but if the house-sense was like her Snowdrop-sense, then Verona had sensed her approach, and trusted her enough to open things up, on impulse and surface reads alone.

Approaching her house, Avery moved quietly.  Up the porch stairs, inside-

Her parents were up.

She quietly shut the door behind herself.

Declan and Kerry weren’t up- things would be noisier if they were.

Nora didn’t seem to be up.

Her mom beckoned, and Avery followed.

“Did Grumble die?” she asked.

She followed her mom into the dining room.  Furthest room from Grumble, Declan, Kerry, and Nora.

And Sheridan, who was meant to be sleeping in the basement.

Who was sitting at the table.

“What happened?” Avery asked.

“I felt weird, leaving the apartment.  Especially with stuff left behind,” Sheridan said.

“What?” Avery asked.

“I’m not used to us renting, it felt weird, thinking the landlord could let herself in and we wouldn’t know,” Sheridan said.  “So…”

She turned her laptop around.

“I sat on this, all last night.”

Black and white.  Captured on laptop camera.  Her other, less serious laptop.  She’d been given a nicer one to use with her new podcasting hobby.  The old one had been intended for school, to start with and to end with.  This one had actual storage space.

There, in grainy and low-resolution black-and-white, was a teenager in their apartment.

“Someone broke in?” Avery asked, trying to sound alarmed.

“There.  Past her.  The door.  What’s going on there?” Sheridan asked.

The door led out onto the Star Crossed Path.  The practitioner Avery had talked to was there, peering in.

“Glitch?”

Avery watched as the girl in the image looked right past the camera, then noticed the girl at the door.

Watched her get set.

“Weird,” Avery remarked.  She wasn’t sure what she was commenting on, or why.

On the screen, she saw herself forget the gym bag she’d packed up, remember, and go back to pick it back up.

“That’s you,” Sheridan said.

Sheridan hit the button to take the video back ten or twenty seconds.  Avery watched herself repeat that sequence.  Forgetting, going back.

“That’s so you.  That’s her,” Sheridan told their parents.  “How?  How was she here yesterday afternoon, at the house mid-evening, and then at the party with you guys right after?”

Avery looked at her parents.

“Do you even know?” Sheridan asked.

“We know,” their dad replied.  “Let me make coffee.  In the meantime, Sheridan?  Wake up Rowan.  We’ll go over the basics before Avery’s guest is up.”

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