Pale: 7.4 - Avery
Author: Wildbow

Gone Ahead – 7.4 | Pale

“May I come in?” Nicolette asked.

“What are your intentions?” Lucy asked, voice hard.  “You namedrop Zed, but you’re on Bristow’s side, aren’t you?  You’re supporting all of this?”

“I’m on my side, which I think puts me closer to you guys than you’d suspect.”

“It’s awfully crowded in here,” Verona said.

Avery looked around.  John stood behind the door, Tashlit stood with her back to the wall, standing by the desk.  Verona was on the other bed, and Lucy sat next to Avery on Avery’s bed, with Snowdrop set between them in opossum form.

“There are things I want to talk about I cannot, out here, with others potentially listening.  I’d have to get permission to…” Nicolette leaned her head in, and John tensed.  Nicolette made eye contact with Tashlit.  “…talk with her here.”

“Is this conversation for your sake, ours, or Bristow’s?” Lucy asked.

“Can it be all three?”

“I don’t think it can, but maybe you’ll surprise us,” Lucy said.  “What do you guys think?”

She made eye contact with Avery first.

“Yeah.  I think more communication is good, almost always,” Avery said.

“Sure,” Verona said.  “Tash, come sit.”

“Maybe on a towel?” Lucy asked, visibly wincing.  “You’re still wet, and-”

Tashlit took the two steps to round the bed, then plunked herself down on the floor between the beds.

The bed bounced as Lucy hopped up, grabbing bags, books, and things, and quickly sorting them out.

Verona put away the phone and feather where Nicolette couldn’t see either.

“Thank you,” Nicolette said.

“Don’t thank us yet.  I’m thinking.”

“Okay,” Nicolette said, still out in the hallway.

Avery was still sore, and as Lucy put one hand on the footboard, she could see Lucy’s ‘wounds’ from this conflict.  Fingertips dyed darker, cuticles frayed.  From the long exposure to the Nettlewisp.

“Can you see that this situation is bad?” Lucy asked.  “Nicolette?”

“Then can you see that we’re on guard?”

“I’d like for you to give permission for John to shoot you if you do anything untoward.”

“I don’t think that’d change how people responded.”

“It’d change how spirits responded.  And maybe we could make an argument that dodges expulsion or something.  And keep John from being targeted.”

“I don’t think that would work,” Nicolette said.  “Spirits yes, the rest no.”

“It’d make me feel better.”

“Would it?  Bloodstain on the wall, the alarm of the student body?”

“Gainsaying my friend isn’t a great way to start us off.”

“Instinct,” Nicolette said, “sorry.”

“And I would feel better,” Lucy said.  “My inner self?  At the core of me?  I think that would be satisfied.  Even if everything else would be freaking out.”

“Then I’ll say it.  John may shoot me if I violate your hospitality.”

Lucy sat back down on the bed, beside Avery, then nodded at John.

John leaned back, opening the door.  Nicolette stepped in, and Lucy indicated the space by the desk.

Nicolette took that corner.  John shut the door, then adjusted his position, feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped in front of him, gun held with index and middle fingers resting on the barrel, a half-inch from the trigger.

Nicolette gave him a good long look.

Then she looked around, up, at where they’d put an augury-spoiling rune on the ceiling, and on the floor, where they had the broader connection block.

“Do you want a few tips on refining those?” Nicolette asked, adjusting her glasses.

“Is it working?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, but an imperfect diagram can be broken through by a fierce enough Seeing.  I see you’d be alerted if that happened, unless it was especially subtle, but Alexander could do that kind of subtle. Wye too, for that matter.”

“They’re both enemies of Bristow, aren’t they?” Avery asked, quiet.  “Is that what we’re doing here?  You’re nudging us that way?”

“It’s just how I’m thinking.  It would work against me and the others too,” Nicolette said. “I thought it would be a good way to show good faith.”

“If it works then let’s leave it alone.  The room’s warm with this many people inside, so maybe get to saying what you came to say?”

“I liked being friendlier, Nicolette,” Avery chimed in, because she could see the direction this was going.  “I’d like to get back to that.  Help us do that.”

“Can I talk with ‘Tash’ present?”

“Hold off on sharing anything specific to our hometown or situation,” John told her.  “She knows some.”

“You heard the man,” Lucy said.

Nicolette nodded, and adjusted her hair ornament.  Avery couldn’t really see it because Lucy and Lucy’s hair were in the way,and it was on the far side of NIcolette’s head, but it looked like blue feathers.

“Normally, when I’m working for Alexander, I’d approach a client with a few opening questions.  Making sure I have the lay of the land, and that they have the understanding of what’s going on that I think they do.”

“Isn’t it past tense?  You working for Alexander?” Lucy asked.

“This hard-nosed thing where you keep your opponent on their toes was a lot more fun when you were pointing it at Alexander.  But yes, you’re right.”

“Instinct.  Not sorry,” Lucy replied.

Avery didn’t miss Verona’s smile.  Smiling because… verbal barb?

Yeah.  She wanted nothing more than a nap and a snuggle with Snowdrop, and she was feeling worn out on a level that really felt like it dug into her chest and laid her heart bare and vulnerable, and whenever that happened she really missed having what her parents had, where her dad would look after her mom after a bad day, running a bath and stuff, or her mom would do little things for dad.

But as low and lonely as she felt, she had to force herself to perk up here, to pay attention, because Lucy and Verona did their own very specific things when they were tired and vulnerable.

“First question, then.  What’s your understanding of the current situation?” Nicolette asked.

“Are you digging for information?”

“No, Lucy, but I have to diagnose the situation before I can address it.  If I show up to a client’s address, I want to know what the Other is, or what the disaster is.  I don’t want to waste time telling them what they already know.  Alexander, Wye, Tanner and even Chase would do something similar, in their own ways.  With Alexander it’s how you know he’s on your side… often because you’re paying him or he needs you.  It’s him getting down to business on your behalf.”

“Bristow lost the school a few years back, Alexander took it by establishing a Demesnes here.  Bristow turned up again, he had ways to get most of Alexander’s apprentices, one of whom is now forsworn.  Now it seems like Alexander’s busy managing his circle and can’t do much about the school?”

“Years ago, I was hurt by my brother.  I became vulnerable to Others, nearly lost my mind, and I found a way to survive, on my own.  Alexander seemed to see something in my abilities and natural talent, and he reached out.  I took the Belanger family name because I didn’t want to be a part of the family that let that happen to me and tried to shrug it off after.  He led me to believe that I could be a part of the family and rise in the ranks, but he never made any explicit promises.”

“And he didn’t live up to what he didn’t promise?” Lucy asked.

“No.  Seth came to the school after I did and got more of just about everything, including a spot in the inner circle. He didn’t try, he didn’t work for it.  He’d come here and go off to that little town you were in yesterday, to mess around, steal, and compete with some other guys over this girl that used to live there.  But he was blood, he was invited to Alexander’s study… I didn’t mean for this to be a griping session.  I got a better offer, from a group that does real good for the world.  They’re taking a system that’s been word of mouth and metaphorical bells tied to strings for centuries and they’re updating it.  Keeping tabs on really monstrous, dangerous Others, on perimeters that might fail.  Too many bad things happen if an old practitioner f- messes up, and other practitioners don’t know they’re dead or worse, when they had responsibilities we were all counting on them to do.”

“Like?” Verona asked.

“Like the perimeters.  Like protecting a population, or a specific object that would be catastrophic in the hands of the wrong Others.  Spirits can manifest as representations of a major city.  What happens to that human representation of Windsor can be extrapolated out to the city in general.  Just imagine what happens if that manifestation becomes regular, and goblins get their hands on it.”

“Or the wrong practitioners,” Lucy said.

“Or- yeah.  Probably more likely to happen, even.”

“Bristow found out about this group?” Avery asked.  “Brie said.”

“He knew them and has worked with them.  A lot of the school founders have, like Musser and Raymond, and the Lairs, the Ports… it’s not like I let my guard down.  Those connections were already there.  It’s just that one of them happened to be- they told me they wanted me to work with Bristow, as a prelude to my work with them.  My recruitment was contingent on joining them.”

“We kind of got that story from Brie’s reporting of what happened in Alexander’s office,” Lucy noted.

“Yeah.  Here’s the thing – this doesn’t have to be the end of the world.  Bristow isn’t my favorite person.  But there’s a possible outcome at the tail end of this that has him on top, that isn’t horrible.”

Lucy made a face, turning back to look at Avery and Verona, even looking at Tashlit and John.

“We can hear you out.  You helped Snowdrop, so we can do that much,” Avery said.

“The school is going to be a mess.  I think that happens even if Alexander takes charge again.  There’s no big magical fix that makes it bearable.  I think the senior students can strike a balance.  The students from families that have to be in this are going to find a way through because they need to.  And maybe that shuffles some to the bottom and some to the top, and it leaves a bunch by the wayside-”

“Including us?” Verona asked.

“Well, that’s part of why I’m here.  I talked to Lawrence Bristow about you three, and I have a few tentative deals to put forward.  He said he’d agree to them if you did.  The first being that you’d swear to a deal, and he’d be hands off.”

“This seems like it’s pretty close or identical to what he was gunning for from the start,” Lucy said, and her tone was chilly.  “Bullies like him treat people like crap and then expect them to act like stopping with the crap is some great huge favor.”

“I have to put it forward.  I hope you understand.  I have a sense of your priorities, and I made it part of this proposed deal.  I’ll get to that in a second.  You would be agreeing to be part of a broader network.  The kind of thing Alexander wanted to build, but this wouldn’t be held together by metaphorical shoestrings, gum, and implicit threats from an Augur who has studied your vulnerabilities.  There would be certain duties expected every year, dues to be paid, but rewards in kind.  Help, communication, networks, a sharing of books and libraries.”

Verona tilted her head.  Avery stuck her foot out, jabbing Verona’s shin with the toe of her running shoe.

“Attending meetings, and an open-ended ‘dues’ system where you’d make three contributions a year.  One contribution could be a text to be submitted to the collective for approval, can’t be sloppy or rendundant, three weeks of labor from each of you or one of your apprentices, if and when you ever get to that point, it can be participation in someone else’s ritual, providing ritual components that can’t be easily acquired elsewhere.  Among other things.”

“We’re thirteen,” Verona protested.  “This sounds worse than paying taxes.”

“It is meant as a tax system.  He wants to have a network and a kind of lordship that extends over a region, instead of a city.  Wouldn’t supplant or challenge existing lords.  We’ve had a few scares with some pretty big forces in recent years, and a lawless system of us realizing that there’s a metaphorical wildfire blazing and it’s been blazing for months, then relying on volunteers to go and handle it?  He says it doesn’t work and I don’t think he’s wrong.”

“Is this something he truly believes in?” Lucy asked.

“Enough that he would step down and let someone else be the person in charge?”

“Ah,” Nicolette said.  “No, that’s, uh…”

“He’d be a tyrant, wouldn’t he?” Avery asked.  “Letting stuff like today happen.  Underhanded, cutting, so long as it targets his enemies.”

Nicolette nodded a bit.  “One way to look at it would be to ask if a poor leader is worth enduring for a little while, if it means bringing civilization and society to ramshackle territories.”

“I’m not sure it is,” Lucy said.  “I kind of want to ask my brother what he thinks, but my gut says no, it’d start bad and get worse from there, not better.”

“I said a bit ago, I negotiated on your behalf, with some proposed ideas.  I told him I swore to stay out of your affairs, as part of events, I couldn’t share the details.  But I made the pitch that he’s spreading himself too thin, he’s at his most effective when he’s a hammer, and you three are enough of a natural foil to Alexander to be worth having on board.  He agreed.  He and everyone in his network would agree to what I agreed.”

“To stay out of Kennet?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, with minor provisions.”

“To avoid looking into it?”

“Yes.  Again, provisions.  You can invite people in, you can ease the restriction or invite people in as part of your payment, if you can’t pay your thrice-a-year dues.  And if something big enough happens that involves others…”

“Like the Carmine Beast,” Avery whispered, under her breath.

“DId you say something?” Nicolette asked.

But Lucy had heard.  “This isn’t a good deal.”

“Designed to fail,” Verona chimed in.

“Exactly, it’s- more than that, a good, ironclad deal is probably going to be one where both sides have really strong incentives to keep the arrangement in place.  And now we’re building in this baseline idea that Bristow has incentive to take it down, and we lose our benefit?”

“I believe the notion was that you’d want to prioritize the dues.  While I’m listing other downsides and heavier things, you’d be expected to help in the event of a serious enough matter.  Volunteer basis just doesn’t work when the stuff we’re dealing with is scary enough.  If a team of experts agrees, then you’d need to drop what you’re doing and prioritize the crisis.  You’d have to have someone available to help with at least a day’s notice.”

“So no way the three of us go travel to Japan to study Oni or whatever?” Verona asked, looking at Avery.

“Kennet is our priority,” Avery said.  “By oath.”

“Not mutually exclusive.”

“This is making my head spin,” Lucy said.  “No.  It’s- did you take the deal?”

“The Augurs I’m working with did.  As a member I benefit from the group being a bit of a buffer between me and the deal with Bristow.”

“Then,” John spoke, voice heavy and sudden, almost like a gunshot in itself.  It got Nicolette to jump.  “is there an implication?  That if Kennet’s practitioners do not sign onto this contract, that he will come at them later, as enemies?  Is he that kind of tyrant, as Avery labeled him?”

“Yes,” Lucy murmured.  “He is.  With everything that implies.”

“Eventually,” Nicolette said.  “Which brings me to the second proposed deal.”

“Hoo boy,” Verona said.

“Walk away.  Go home.  You wouldn’t take a hand in this, you wouldn’t help the students who are rejecting Bristow.  You leave, and… it’s my understanding you want to protect that place, and you’re eager to learn.  We can give you access to the Atheneum Arrangement.”

“No idea what that is,” Lucy said.  “Raymond’s thing?”

“Like the library you’ve been using here, it’s a collection of books that virtually every practitioner can expect to have on their shelves.  Easy to acquire, some old or outdated, but… if you want general knowledge, it covers that base well.  There’s also a repository of articles, opinion pieces, scanned records, and photographs, and a ‘wait list’ of other books and pieces that haven’t yet been judged as having merit, and you’d want to be careful with those, because people do put traps and things in there.”

Lucy looked at Verona.  “Why do I feel like hearing that last bit about the wait list made you more interested in it, not less?”

“No comment,” Verona said.  “I like hidden treasure and I’m pretty good about traps.”

“Pretty good isn’t great,” Lucy said.  “Nicolette, it feels like you’re treating us like idiots.”

“Athenum,” Verona said.

“Is the arrangement thing a thing we’d have anyways?”

“Yes, eventually, but it requires a certain setup.  Raymond and his apprentices provide specialized keys and tools, depending on need.  There can be a wait.”

“So we leave, we step back and let him take over, we get access to this thing as a concession, what, how long would we normally have to wait?”

“Weeks or months.  But you’ve let slip that it’s important you have everything you need this summer.”

“This feels crappy, Nicolette,” Lucy said.  “We were friendly and it feels like you’re going full practitioner and you’re trying to… I wish I knew a good metaphor.”

“Giving us twenty bucks and trying to convince us it’s a fortune?” Verona tried.

“Sure,” Lucy said.  “And it’s manipulative and you’re hinting that you’re spying on us.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do.  The others are spying some, yes, Alexander did and probably still does, I hear about some of this by happenstance.  And you would get something similar with Bristow that you had with Alexander.  I negotiated for that.  Five years without interference.  He gets to do his thing, he avoids Kennet, he has his network avoid Kennet, and you’re free to do what you need to.  Protect your space, negotiate, train… you’d renegotiate after the five years.”

“With Alexander it was five years or until we solved a certain mystery, whichever came first.”

“I left the latter part out,” Nicolette said, smiling a bit.

“Thank you,” Avery said.

Lucy shook her head, “We also talked to Alexander about doubling the time, because he let Bristow’s Aware attack us…”

“I tried to pitch that, it didn’t sell.  I did manage to get Bristow to let things go with the gainsaying of Verona, as part of this deal.  If you were willing to accept either deal, he wouldn’t push it.  Let the spirits and greater powers judge you gainsaid in the hereafter, maybe, if you believe in such.”

Lucy shook her head again.  “So we’re assuming that it’s five years, we have a truce, he can do his thing, and then what happens at the end of the five years?  We’d be eighteen, and we suddenly have to deal with the tyrannical Bristow and his alliance of practitioners poised to descend on Kennet?”

“I want to be fair to you guys, I do, but… if we’re talking about things you’d have already… isn’t that something that’s going to happen, no matter what?  You’d at least have time.”

“It might be worse to have time,” John said.

“Worse?” Nicolette asked.

“Right now, two primary groups are poised to descend on Kennet.  Alexander and Bristow.  Change the dynamic, make it us against Alexander, and both us and Alexander are preoccupied.  At least a little.  Bristow is free to amass an army, prepare, decipher our defenses, and study how we fight as we fight his enemy.”

“Maybe,” Nicolette said.

John went on, “The Aware that he sent.  Are their actions his?  I didn’t have the impression they were.”

“No more, I think, than your actions are the responsibility of these three girls, John,” Nicolette said.

“Exactly what I was thinking.  If a summoning on this campus causes harm because of error or lack of attention, willful or not, the practitioner may get in trouble, but it isn’t necessarily expulsion.  Yes?”

“And this is how and why his Aware can currently run rampant?”

“So he can swear to a truce, as Lucy put it.  A mutual nonaggression pact.  But if he then leaves or leads his Aware in the direction of Kennet and lets what may happen happen…”

“It could happen,” Nicolette said.  “I could ask.”

“I think he’s exactly the type of person who’d do that,” Lucy said.

“Let me ask, I’ll-”

“And tip him off?” Lucy asked.

“I’ll ask the cards,” Nicolette stressed.  She reached into her pocket, and John raised the gun.  She froze as her eyes stared down the barrel.

“Easy, John,” Avery said.  To her left, Tashlit rose to her feet.  The eyes all blinked out of sync, starting at the top of the head and rolling down to her feet, making an eerie wet sound.

“Divination cards,” Nicolette said, not moving.  “Not a weapon.”

“It’s okay, John,” Lucy said.  “But Nicolette, can’t the people you’re seeing tell that you’re doing any divination or augury about them?”

“They can, potentially.  It’s not always direct.  If you read someone’s future the act of observing it can help bring it to pass.  Once it’s one hundred percent guaranteed, it becomes capital-T Truth.  Next to inviolable.”

“Maybe we don’t want that reading, if it helps bring a bad case to pass.”

“I wish you’d trust me just a bit more.  I’m not your enemy, and I think we all want a resolution here,” Nicolette said.  “I’m good at this stuff.”

“Can we stop?” Avery asked, a little louder than she meant to.  Snowdrop stirred, sitting up.

All eyes were on her.  With Tashlit so close, there were a lot of eyes.

“Can we pause?  Reset?” Avery asked quiet.  “Put the gun away, John?  Put the cards away, Nicolette?”

“You can make that an order, you know,” Lucy said.

Avery frowned, looking at Lucy.

“You don’t have to make it a question.  You can be stern, if it brings you closer to the person you want to become.”

“I’m kinda ticked at you too, you know.  I’d be stern with you.”

“Then… put the gun away, John.  That’s too much.  Nicolette, we’re not comfortable with the cards.  It already feels like we’re being made to go along with what others are doing, making us sit through a reading with maybe a little less control over things after isn’t great.  Lucy… go easy.  Nicolette did help Snowdrop, I don’t think she’s the enemy.”

John put the gun down.  Tashlit sat.  Nicolette held up her empty hands a bit.

“I’m the messenger,” Nicolette said.

“Bearer of bad news.”

“Lucy,” Avery stressed, in the same moment Verona tossed a stray sock at Lucy.

Avery leaned forward, her elbows on her knees.  “I’m tired and I’m covered in mud and I’m shaky and sore… and maybe that isn’t the super confident Avery type thing to admit, but… mostly with the tired thing, I’m feeling like I’m lagging behind and it’s hard for me to jump into this discussion or say stuff when I want to say it, and I don’t like the way it’s going.  So can I take point, just for a bit?”

Verona threw another sock at Lucy, for no apparent reason.

Avery took a second to gather her thoughts.  It wasn’t easy, with so many eyes on her.

That stray thought about her parents, about love and showing love and being cool to one another.

“You keep saying, um, it’s not your intention, you don’t want this, you don’t want that.  You want us to trust you, right?” Avery asked.

“I know it’s a big ask, given what I did to you.  Stranding you on the trail.”

“Okay.  That’s a whole other thing but if we can stay cool then we can put it behind us.  With this, you showing up here, bringing offers, what is it you do want?” Avery asked.

“I wanted this to be easier than it was.  I had all these hopes, a plan in mind, that if I could thread the needle and balance my workload with Alexander without going over, I could do the big ‘I quit’ speech, throw down the gauntlet, and walk away.  I’ve been super careful about covering myself to make sure I’m not forsworn, keeping to my duties, and giving him no rope to hang me with.  And I didn’t get to pick my moment.  I’m…”

“Are you okay?” Avery asked.

Nicolette’s hand went to her hair ornament, adjusting it.  She didn’t voice a response.

“I know you and Zed were friends.  And Zed bailed.”

“Yeah.  He’s not happy.  He’ll come back, because Brie’s here, at least long enough to pick her up.  Maybe to stay.  A lot depends on Raymond.”

“But putting Brie and Raymond aside… what about you?  Who do you get along with, here?”

“Zed,” Nicolette replied, meeting Avery’s eyes.  “And Eloise, a bit.  Liz, some.”

“Elizabeth Driscoll?” Verona asked.

“Yeah.  That was more of a work relationship.  But it was… we could talk the entire time we were working and it felt like we could keep going for hours longer, but we didn’t, so I always looked forward to the next joint project.  We found excuses to do them.  I think it was the same with her.”

“They’re all on the other side, now.  Or gone.”

“Gone, on the other side.  Yeah, both.  I was really looking forward to this summer.  Zed comes and goes, but he was going to be here.  Elizabeth studies at University and comes back for summers only now, Eloise is around more with Ulysse, but they get pulled away, and between me going to do jobs for Alexander or poking my nose into this weird protected territory at the top end of Lake Superior, and them having other projects, we’ve kind of been ships passing in the night.  If I’m here they’re not, or they’re just leaving or are busy, or the other way around.  More of a hi and a smile in passing.”

“That’s really disappointing.  And lonely.”

“It’s not great,” Nicolette said, terse.  She shook her head, then pulled off her glasses, to clean them with the bottom end of her dress shirt.  “I didn’t want or expect this to happen this way.  I thought I could leave and the friendships I’d made, at least, could be stuff I maintained after. And I haven’t actually gotten to leave and the friendships are…”

“Maybe for the long run.  I was really looking forward to this summer.”

She didn’t seem to realize she’d already said that line.

“Have you had lunch?” Avery asked.

“Yeah.  Yeah, I ate in my room, then I tried to make Seth eat.”

“Do you want to stick around?  You could have tea while we eat, maybe?”

Nicolette put her glasses on, and her hand remained in front of her face for a second before she dropped it to her lap.  She’d taken that second to compose herself more.  She shook her head.  “Thank you for the offer, but I have things I have to do.”

“Okay.  Another time, maybe?”

“Okay.  Let’s try.  Thank you,” Nicolette said, standing and smoothing down the portion of her shirt she’d used to clean her glasses.  She adjusted her hair ornament, hair, and glasses.  “Thank you.”

“Sure.  We appreciate you trying to negotiate on our behalf.”

“I don’t want to end up on opposite sides of you three, as well.”

“It would be great if we could avoid that,” Avery said.

“Thanks,” Nicolette said.

John opened the door for her, and she gave them a brief nod before walking off.

“Getting a better idea of Bristow’s plans,” Lucy said.

“An awful lot of broken friendships in this broader, more consolidated network he’s making,” Verona observed.  “A lot of divisions.”

“At least we’re okay,” Avery said, giving Snowdrop a stroke.

Tashlit put up her hand, and it took Avery a second to realize.  She gave Tashlit a fistbump.

There was no nap, in the end.  Avery grabbed a shower to wash off the Warrens, dressed, finished off a whole box of adhesive bandages, and emerged to find John waiting by the door to the showers.

Snowdrop was with him, wearing a ‘baby got back’ t-shirt featuring an opossum mom with 10 opossum pups on her back.  She looked more animated, holding the rusty fork in both hands, when it was barely a one-handed weapon.

“Yeah.  Were you on guard?”

Avery nodded.  “And you, Snow?”

“Terrible, I’m going to die from being punched.”

“Being knocked out can be severe,” John said.

“It’s especially severe if someone like one of our goblins gets to you.”

“The goblins?” Avery asked.

“They’ll kill you,” Snowdrop whispered.  “Straight up dead, no humiliation or anything.”

“Oh, right, the marker thing.”

“I don’t need any markers,” Snowdrop said.  “I’m sufficiently armed.”

“We’ll look into getting you something of Verona’s.”

Verona and Lucy were in the room.  Tashlit sat in the chair at the desk, the loose face-skin that shrouded her head twisted to one side so she could feed an ear-bud through the eyehole.  Her head bobbed.

“What do you think?” Verona asked, handing Avery a slip of paper.

An order for a snack.  A cheese pizza.  ‘Regards, Lawrence, T. Bristow, esquire.’

“What happens?” Avery asked.

“Nobody’s really spelled it out in any detail, but they’ve said it’s bad,” Verona said.  “What do you think?”

“We were talking about possibilities,” Lucy said.  “Two things that concern me.  One is, well, what if it’s giving them any gratitude at all is the trigger?”

“Even someone else’s,” Verona clarified.

“Okay.  That’d suck.”

“The second thing?  Verona says that putting stuff to the page has wonky connection stuff happening.”

“What does that mean?” Avery asked.  She activated her Sight.

Sure enough, it was like a spiderweb.  From Verona’s face and hand to the page, where the word had been put down.

She wasn’t sure how to interpret that.

“You’re better with this than either of us,” Lucy said.  “You tell us?”

“I could only guess.”

“Okay,” Avery said.  She reached out and gingerly touched it, peering closer.  The feather motif ran through the bands.  “First guess is that they could trace it pretty easily back to the source.”

“I think they could do that anyway,” Lucy said.  “They’d just have to ask spirits, right?”

“Second is… maybe Verona’s tie to this line is stronger than Bristow’s.  It reminds me what Miss said about entanglement.”

“Does me dropping this off and getting outta dodge help?” Verona asked.

Avery took the paper and walked back, motioning for Verona to walk.

It helped, but only a bit.  Maybe one in five of the connections faded out.  Avery shook her head.  The movement made her neck twinge and reminded her how tired she was.  She was sore from being tossed around, the tumbles and rolls on the ground, and the countless sudden changes in direction, straining her legs to alter trajectory, feint, and throw the plastic-bag-head Other off.

“When practitioners do stuff, they like to do it in threes,” Verona mused.

“And we want to break the connection between you and this.”

“Or strengthen Bristow’s.”

“Do we each do one, then?” Lucy asked.  “These things work better if we trade off instead of doing it alone.”

“Sure,” Verona said, glancing at Avery.

Oh god, Avery thought.  It was just like the Nettlewisp.  She wasn’t good at that.

But she was keeping Lucy’s advice in mind.

To be firmer, to be more sure about what she was doing.

“Okay,” she said.  “Let’s make it sting.”

Lucy nodded.  “Then… let it be said, Lawrence T. Bristow claims ownership of all that happens in this school.  Pain, chaos, and unfairness follow from his arrival, and he makes no apologies.  He’s wronged students, denying them their education and disrupting this natural order.  He wronged us, attacking our town for petty reasons, and this follows naturally from all of that.  He deserves it.”

Some of the connections and bands snapped or faded away.

Verona said, “he challenged me to make him regret his actions.  In setting out a challenge, he established an arena for us to fight in.  He and I are locked in competition, and more things are fair in the confines of an arena.  He invited me to make him regret it, I say we give him what he asked for.”

Some more snapped.  Not as many as with Lucy’s.

“He founded this school.  He had a part in setting up the arrangements with the buried ritual circles, the stones, and all the arrangements around the school,” Avery said.  “He had a role in putting a lot of this school together.  Including the arrangement with the Brownies.  What’s more poetic than bringing things around to the same?”

More effective than Verona’s, even.  Some remained, and some of those were heavy-duty.

“Nice one,” Verona said.  “How did you know he arranged it?”

“I said he had a role.  But I’m pretty sure it’s a big one.  According to the map, the kitchen doesn’t have servants quarters or facilities attached.  It would have to be staff living in the student area, here.”

“How does it look?” Lucy asked.

Avery reached into her pocket, got a bit of glamour, and began to illustrate, painting in the air.  Five strands, two of which were seatbelt-wide, a quarter inch thick, with images carved into them.

“That’s more than I expected,” Lucy said.

“It was a lot to start with.  There’s a good chance there’ll be a lot more going to Bristow, but right now we’re sitting in the middle of a connection blocker.”

“You think this kicks to life if we go outside the room?” Verona asked.

Avery shrugged.  “I think so.”

“Okay,” Verona said.  “And if the tie between this thing and Bristow is stronger than the tie to me…”

“It’d land on him, probably,” Lucy said.  “But remember that these things can bounce back.  When Hailey took our tape player and the cold tears guy went after her?”

“He could bounce it back,” Verona said.

“Then let’s hold onto it.  We drop this on him when he’s preoccupied enough he can’t do that.  Let’s assume he’s really good at stuff,” Avery said.

Both of the others nodded.

“Then, in the interest of that preoccupation… we’ve got a bit of time before Raymond teaches an afternoon class,” Lucy said.

Verona put the bit of paper into an envelope, licked it to seal it shut, then put a connection blocker seal over the licked part.

They got sorted out.  The disorganization of unloading stuff from Lucy’s ritual, packing up quickly, unpacking to get what they needed for showers and various projects, and now having to get ready with extra people in the room… it made stuff as simple as finding shoes a whole ordeal.

“You staying, Snow?  Getting some Zs?”

“I won’t help later,” Snowdrop said, as she lounged on the bed, brushing off some of the dried mud that had fallen off Avery during their conversation with Nicolette.

“We could ask the Brownies about a room clean,” Lucy said.  “After this thing with Bristow resolves.  It’s probably best if we’re not asking too much of them before that kicks off and settles.”

“I don’t want room service,” Snowdrop proclaimed.

“Too bad!” Avery told her.

Snowdrop flung the covers back with enough force that more mud flecks showered the floor, climbed in, and then flung the covers back over herself.

They went looking for the other students from Alexander’s contingent.  Or the anti-Bristow group, anyway.  Talos, Jorja, Tymon, Melody, Laila, and then two members of the trio of Eastern practitioners, Reese and Steyn, were all sitting on the grass.

A little distance away, Corbin and Mikey were kicking a soccer ball between them.  Avery itched to join in.

“There they are.  Catch a nap or something?” Talos asked.

“Getting sorted,” Verona said.

“Are you going to try to catch Raymond’s class?  He’s pretty no-nonsense, so I think it’s a safe place to be.”

“Sounds good,” Lucy said.  “We were thinking the same thing.”

“Hi, Reese, Mikey, Steyn,” Avery said.

“Heya,” Reese answered her.  “You should be careful with the more monstrous Others, while the Aware are around.  It’s not the biggest deal, I think most of them know, but…”

Tashlit gave Verona a pat on the shoulder, then started walking off toward the trees.  A monocle glinted from a bush.

“Yeah,” Verona said.  “Be good, be safe.”

Tashlit gave her a thumbs up.

Part of the reason Avery had reached out to Nicolette was because she’d thought of her parents.  How one parent could put everything aside to take care of the other.

Here, even if it wasn’t in a romantic situation, she could try to do the same.  She had a bunch of questions and she was sure Verona had a million things she wanted to ask the Eastern trio, but, that wasn’t the priority.

“Apparently you three are in the same boat as us,” Avery said.  “Not from an established family or anything?”

“We’re not wild, though,” Reese said.  “Fine line, but we stumbled into it.  No patronage, just lessons for payment.  Like finding a book in a library.  And then the thing escaped and we had to make do with what it had already taught us.”

“Similar situation, though,” Steyn said.  “Nowhere to go except home.  No connections.”

“Are you managing?  Do you have a plan?”  Avery asked.

Reese answered, “Steyn’s parents can take us in for a bit if we have to leave.  Mikey and I haven’t been in touch with our parents in forever.  Back when the going was good, we had a key that’d take us to a huge empty palace.  It was easier to stay there than with parents.”

“Jealous,” Verona said.

“Don’t be. It got confiscated around the time things went bad.”

“What about tonight?” Avery asked.  “Because that seems like it’s going to be a make-it or break-it time.”

“We might actually leave, depending on how it goes,” Reese said.

Avery could see Talos and Tymon’s expressions change at that.  Their postures, even, as they sat there.  A little heavier, shoulders dropping.

There was a detonation off to the side.  Avery, Verona, and Lucy all looked to the school.  The shockwave rippled past them, but it wasn’t like a wave of wind or a heavy punch.  It was sharper, like the ring of a bell.

John was frowning.  A few others had noticed something had happened, but they weren’t reacting like they’d felt what Avery had felt.

“What was that?” Tymon asked.

Verona jumped, and John reached for her, seizing her shoulder.  He plucked the envelope from her back pocket, then held it out.

The connection break mark was gone, the paper a bit burnt where it had been.

“Focused attention,” John said.  “With some power behind it.  I did something similar to you, Avery, once.”

When I spied on you.  The diagram burned out in a flash because you were so vigilant.

“It’s gotta be the Augurs,” Lucy said.  “They just busted right through our connection breaks.”

“They got curious about what we were up to?” Avery asked.

“Verona,” Lucy said, “Ave, do we?  We don’t have a lot of time.”

She moved like she was going to tear the envelope in half.

There was no hiding it.  The augurs would be able to read it and see what they were doing.  Either they used this or they scrapped the plan.

A plan they weren’t sure of.  Maybe it was 70-30?

Either it complicated Bristow’s stay here, or it complicated their own.  They could leave, he couldn’t.

“Yes,” Verona said.  She seized the envelope, tearing the flap open.  She removed the paper.

“Then do it,” Lucy said.

“What the heck are you doing?” Talos asked.

“Making a move,” Verona said.  She threw the paper into the air, pulled out a spell card, and penned a dash to finish the diagram.  It released a gust of wind that bowled over Talos, who was sitting, and made Lucy’s hood pull back like a windsock.

She held the paper out, moving her hand.

Sending it straight into a room.

Lucy drew a line in the dirt between them and the school using her toe.

“We might need backup,” Avery said.

“What did you do?” Talos asked, standing.

The others roused as well.  Corbin and Mikey hurried over, Corbin carrying the soccer ball under one arm.

“Saying would be dangerous,” Avery said.  But we ordered a pizza under someone else’s name.  With regards.  Admitting it out loud would hurt the claim that it’s Bristow’s regards and not ours.

She wasn’t sure what she expected.  A stirring from the brownies, as they came at them for cheating?

A retaliation?  A big flash of light?

Kevin Noone’s girlfriend walked around the side of the school.  Really, really pretty, but she exemplified what Avery thought she’d seen in Matthew and Edith, but now knew was something else, Edith’s diminished humanity.

Shellie was with her.  She was carrying a bow, and had ten different arrows stuck through slits in her skin, only the shafts and feathered ends sticking up.

As a collected group, Avery, Lucy, Verona, John, and the other anti-Bristow students edged to the left, closer to the front doors of the school.

“They were sent,” Tymon said.  “Whatever you did, they just got their marching orders to respond.”

“Yeah,” Avery breathed the word.

“We still don’t know what Kevin’s girlfriend does,” Lucy said.

“We figured that one out.  She survives,” Melody said.

“Intertwined aware.  Only the person most connected to her can hurt or hamper her.  Only Kevin.  Her fate was diverted and turned from what it was supposed to be enough times that it’s all entangled with his.”

Shellie the Bright-Eyed.  Rae the Intertwined.

Ted Havens.  He joined the other two, with Kevin in tow.  Kevin with the evil eye.

Kevin whispered something to Rae, who nodded, her eyes fixed on their group.

“I guess we set things off,” Verona said.

“Get inside,” Tymon said.  “Get to class.  Kevin can’t get at us directly, so long as we have the charms.”

Some of the others had made charms last night.  Eye symbols on strings, made of clay or carved wood.  It didn’t take much to divert the evil eye, but it was an easy weapon to deploy, and it just had to be timed for when they weren’t looking.

He probably knew the ins and outs better than they did.

“Go!”  A shadow passed over Tymon, like a cloud had passed over the sun, but the sky was overcast, a light covering of clouds that cast it in grey.  At Tymon’s back, a black scar appeared at his shirt and began to spread across his back.  He kept visible signs from appearing at his front.  He glanced at them and his eyes were bloodshot, but with black, not red.

They took Tymon’s advice.  Straight for the front door.

Shellie, Kevin, and Rae began to jog over.  Only Ted remained behind.

Avery wasn’t sure if that was alarming or not.

This is faster than we’d planned, Avery thought.

She was faster than most of the others.  John kept up with her, and Corbin was steps behind.

She got to the doors before anyone else, and was prepared to haul them open and hold them open, but the doors opened before her hands touched the handle.

Fernanda, backed by Yadira.  Backed by five other students.  Barring the way.

They looked up as John approached, but didn’t budge.

John could hurt you, Avery thought.  I don’t want him to, though.

But the Aware were chasing, the way was barred-

“Move,” Raymond called out, from the far end of the classroom.

Some students flinched, starting to move, until Fernanda touched one’s arm.  One of the Legendres, covered in small gouges and cuts, did much the same, urging them to stay.

“I won’t repeat myself here,” Raymond said.

The others reached the stairs.  The Aware were catching up.

A door emerged from the ground, as the front door of the school dropped down out of existence, leaving on the flat stone exterior.

This other door wasn’t set in anything, freestanding, but it was wide, and it looked into the classroom.

They pushed through, almost so rushed that they nearly bowled one another over.

Avery, being first to the front door, was last through this other doorway.  She turned, looking, as Shellie reached them, holding a large knife, eyes wild.

Avery took some satisfaction in slamming the door in Shellie’s face.  The exterior of the door broke away, hit the floor, and dissolved into glowing lines.  Leaving just the side of the classroom.

“Please take a seat,” Raymond said, from the front of the class.  “Except you, at the rear of the room.  You can stand, watch, and observe without participating, or you can leave, but I will not brook or encourage interference in my classes or students.”

Some stalked off.  Others remained, standing at the rear of the class.

It didn’t make Avery feel better, those eyes boring holes into the back of her head.  Even with John leaning against the wall, not taking his eyes off the other group.

“Text my phone.  Tashlit has it,” Verona whispered to Lucy.  “Warn her?”

“Quiet, please!  Today’s lecture is on living items,” Raymond addressed them.  “Please settle, calm yourselves down.  We have a lot to cover.”

A long class was good, in that it meant they had more of a reprieve, in this makeshift sanctuary in a renovated church.

It was bad, in that they had to wait to see just what the aftermath of this move of theirs would be.  Bristow had definitely noticed it.