Chapter 4 #2
Pluck’s thoughts bubbled to the surface, his mood sour. Good, because that’s not going to change.
“Petra…” Benedict complained, and I shook my head.
“I made it,” I insisted. “If you say otherwise, I’ll say you’re trying to cover for me.”
A smile quirked the corners of his lips. “Which is why I’m going to tell the marshal the truth when she asks. It will be your word against mine, and as you say, I’m the respectable one.” Eyes fixed to mine, he brought my knuckles to his lips again. “We are in this together, Petra. All three of us.”
Pluck bubbled and fizzed sourly, but I appreciated the sentiment and I scooted closer.
“I’m not worried about that half as much as what happens if the university blames the shadows for someone else’s shoddy workmanship,” I said, quickly adding, “I can’t believe the vault cracked.
That just doesn’t happen. I mean, that’s the point to it. ”
Benedict’s forming protest faltered, and I snuggled in under his arm. “If they keep blaming the shadows, someone is going to get hurt,” I said softly. “I doubt it’s going to be an eon-old, living energy source who uses dark matter to change the laws of the universe.”
I felt him sigh, his entire body moving against mine. “You think they will hurt someone?” he asked, his voice rumbling through me.
I glanced at the driver, her little cap and curly red hair in bright relief as a car passed us. She wasn’t listening, fiddling with her phone and music list. “No. They have too much to lose,” I said. “They won’t hurt anyone unless threatened with being put in a bottle and burned to death.”
But to magic users, a human life outweighed a shadow’s existence every time, and I bit my lower lip in worry. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right, but it was what happened.
Pluck’s dissatisfaction twined about mine, darkening my mood. He wasn’t sharing something, but I could guess. We’re going to change that, I thought as a hint of his regret drifted through us. But it has to be done through human laws and beliefs, not aggression.
Agreed, he thought, a new sliver of doubt coloring him. But I understand this only because I have seen the depths humans will go to when afraid. The shadows who have taken up residence in the city have not. They will cleave to the tools of violence because that’s what saved us before.
Cold cramped my fingers, made my leg ache. You don’t look saved yet to me.
Oblivious to our shared thoughts, Benedict pulled me closer. “As long as the marshal thinks you are controlling them, you can salvage the situation.”
“Sure,” I said dryly. “Until some stupid mage tries to put one in a bottle and it lashes out. Then it’s my ass in court if I say I’m controlling them. Which I’m not. They make their own decisions based on the cruelty of centuries-dead mages. Shadows don’t die easily, but they understand death.”
A whisper of Pluck’s panic twined through my thoughts as he stifled a memory.
Benedict sighed, his worry obvious in the glow of the bridge lights as we passed into St. Unoc.
“Three additional months until a functioning vault. Everyone wants someone to blame, and you and Pluck are convenient. The mages are angry with you, the sweepers, and the shadows. Not necessarily in that order.” He winced, his gaze on St. Unoc’s low skyline.
“Can you talk to them? The shadows, I mean? Tell them to at least lie low until the vault is repaired?”
I pulled my hand from his under the excuse of rubbing my chin. “I can try. Maybe if those shadow escape valves were actually going in, they might be more amenable.”
“What about Pluck?”
Alarm brought me up cold. “What about him?”
Benedict pulled his arm from behind my shoulders. “Can he talk to the resident shadows?”
I have what they want, Pluck fizzed through my thoughts. They won’t listen to me.
Agreeing, I slumped into the cushions. “They won’t listen to him. They’re jealous.”
To put it mildly, Pluck thought sourly.
“Fine, I’ll talk to them,” I added. “Ask them to be patient. But I don’t want the marshal knowing I have an in with them.
” I tilted my head to look at Benedict. “Okay? Tell her I can talk to Pluck, but I can’t talk to any other shadow.
If she knows I actually can, she’ll never believe I’m not telling them all what to do.
” Shadow spit. Everyone on campus called me queen of the shadows when the truth was, most shadows thought I was an ignorant yeth.
“She won’t hear it from me.” Benedict took my hand in his again, and we were silent as Beth wove through the night-emptied streets, brightening and dimming like artificial days and nights.
It’s an angry loop, Pluck mused darkly. If society wants something, the natural order always suffers.
A bird species is eradicated because it is deemed a pest when it disrupts human sensibilities.
The insects they once ate multiply and destroy the wheat that fed the people.
The people put down chemicals that kill everything, not just the insects but the butterflies and fireflies and bees that pollinate the fruit trees.
People starve. Just leave the birds who eat the insects alone.
Whatever damage or disruption they are creating is nothing compared to a human using poison to make the world easy for themselves alone.
Pluck subsided into a dark fizzing, leaving me alone in my uneasy thoughts.
“Benny, if the university reneges on their agreement to put in shadow release valves, I don’t know what they will do,” I said softly.
“Every single one of them has endured the horror of watching their weavers murdered, only to be threatened with being burned alive in a vault of active dross. Now they have a real chance to find balance again.” I looked up at him, wishing I could make him understand and knowing he never would.
Not really. “They call me an ignorant yeth, but I’m their foothold, and as long as I’m alive, they have a hope that they will find weavers. ”
“Mmmm.” Benedict tugged me closer again. “Still, you can understand the university’s frustration,” he said, making me wonder if someone from the board had talked to him. “You and Pluck are one weaver pair. How many pairs will it take to process the dross from just one city?”
“More than we will have in my lifetime,” I admitted. “The shadows know it. That’s why they agreed to allow vaults. Can’t we start freezing it with your new procedure despite the risks? Stack it up on a shelf somewhere?”
Benedict winced. “I doubt it. The university knows shadows can make it explode.”
“Then mages need to stop making it,” I said shortly.
I sat up and began to gather my things. We were on my street. It was darker than most because Pluck had blown out the streetlights and there was no one left to complain.
Beth took her earbuds out. “Which building are you in?”
“Here is fine,” I said, scooting to the front of the seat.
“The dark one?” she said, voice incredulous. “I thought it was abandoned.”
“It’s not,” I muttered, not sure I liked that everyone in the small complex but Lev had moved out when it became public knowledge I wrangled shadows for a living.
The car halted at the curb, and Beth practically flung it into park before reaching for her door. “Can I help you get your bags inside?”
“No, thanks,” Benedict said cheerfully. “We’ve got it from here.”
And as I got out of the car, I truly hoped we did.