Chapter 6 #2
Ryan’s eyes widened. “Oh. Your text about the car. I saw that this morning. I thought you were being sarcastic.” Expression shifting, he looked the unrepentant woman up and down. “Marshal, I agreed to help organize your inquiries. I did not agree to—”
“I’m looking forward to talking to you after the meeting, Ms. Grady,” she interrupted, a hint of the hard reality of her position showing.
“And Pluck,” she added, her gaze flicking down.
“I’d like your presence when I go out this afternoon to talk to the memorial shadows about their interference with the new vault construction. ”
Because going out there without me might end up with her comatose or addlebrained.
My eyebrows rose, a sensation of contrariness tightening the corners of my eyes.
Thanks to her overhearing us last night, I could not beg off under the excuse that I couldn’t talk to them.
But as I took a breath to tell her the memorial shadows had overwhelmingly agreed to suffer a vault within the city limits, it suddenly struck me.
Maybe it had been Thoth.
My gaze dropped to Pluck. The shadow’s thoughts were carefully hidden, but his ears were down. He’d suspected it from the start. Cheese and crackers. No wonder he didn’t want me telling Ryan about the shadow.
“Sure,” I said sourly, not knowing what else to do. “You mind if I take care of this first?”
Her smile widened to encompass her teeth. “Please. I have a few emails to answer.” She reached for her phone. “I’ll be in the back.”
“Great. Five minutes.” I couldn’t get my teeth to unclench. Motions sharp, I propped my stick against the nearby podium, long-cord and all. It was obvious that our tense conversation had been noticed, and I felt as if I were in a spotlight.
Pluck flopped to the floor beside me like a bored service dog, little rills of shadow poofing up to evaporate as they interacted with reality.
Bracing myself, I put a foot in him so we could talk, not surprised my entire leg went numb with cold.
If you knew Thoth was interfering with the vault construction, you could have mentioned it, I thought.
I can’t send the sweepers’ guild out to find Marty.
If Thoth is with her, he will rip them apart.
Weavers can fend off a shadow attack, but sweepers can’t.
Did I not say we should do this alone? Pluck evaporated, shifting six inches to the left before coalescing again. Only a thin tendril of himself remained wrapped around my ankle. Thoth will not be with her. He used her to find you. He doesn’t need her anymore.
I glanced at Ryan, unwilling to keep him in the dark. He was my mentor and confidant. I knew he wouldn’t set the university on a shadow hunt, and yet…
“She really pretended to be a driver?” Ryan frowned at Cameron now leaning against the wall beside the door, her head down over her phone. She wasn’t there for privacy. She was there so I wouldn’t sneak out.
“Yep.” I took a steadying breath. “Hey, um, would you text Benedict for me and tell him the marshal drove us home?”
Ryan’s hand touched his pocket where his phone lay. “Oh, God. I’m sorry,” he said, and then his expression shifted. “They’re going to be excited you found a weaver,” he added. But my joy was gone as Ryan tapped the podium for attention.
“Ah, sorry about that. Thanks for waiting. Petra?” Ryan gestured to me as he stepped away.
They’d all seen the tension between me and the marshal, and the silence was telling as I looked out over the familiar faces. “Um, as usual, I’ve got good news and bad,” I said. Thoth had broken the vault. I had no proof other than Pluck’s past with him, but it could be no other.
Three rows back, Kyle elbowed Jessica. “Petra, there can be nothing worse than what you pulled us out of last summer.”
A smile, real this time, flashed over me.
I appreciated the vote of confidence, but Cameron let it roll without notice, clearly knowing it was for her benefit.
“Ah, Benedict Strom and I have obviously returned from Chicago,” I said, not sure how I wanted to handle the Marty situation.
“We did not find a weaver in the local school system, but we did find a separatist cell.”
Terry and Webber looked up, until now totally uninterested in what I had to say.
“Pluck and I were instrumental in catching one of them, and my militia contact is handling the rest,” I continued as more faces lifted from phones to me.
“I don’t expect any unwanted repercussions.
That’s the bad news.” I took a breath. In actuality it was the good news, but no need to point that out.
“Good news is that this morning, Pluck and I ran into a woman we believe to be a weaver.”
“That’s fantastic!” Jessica exclaimed, and Kyle whistled as the room filled with noise.
“Wait!” I protested, having to talk over them. “The bad news is I need your help. Her name is Marty, and she’s, ah, trailing unbound shadow.”
Not really a lie, but really not the truth.
Immediately the room quieted, and I winced.
“We handled it badly,” I said, truthfully enough.
“She took off on my bike, and we have to find her.” The need to warn them that Thoth was a homicidal anarchist flickered, quashed by Pluck, probably.
It was hard to know when our thoughts were intertwined so tightly.
But my words had been understood, and my tension eased as worried frowns peppered the audience. Every one of them had been taught that shadows were dangerous. Even a slight warning went a long way. They wouldn’t let their guard down.
Ryan looked pained as he put his phone in a pocket. “I’m open to suggestions, but seeing as we have a university full of dross and a need to tidy it, I’d like to scaffold a search for Marty atop a campus-wide dross purge.”
You flirt with disaster saying even that much, Pluck fizzed, and my grip on the podium tightened. I would not send my friends out unwarned.
“And put it where?” Terry complained loudly, a chorus of agreements joining him. “We got nothing. The new vault was supposed to open next week.”
Hand in the air, Ryan took control of the meeting, but then again, that was his job.
“This is an excuse, not a real purge,” the older Spinner said, and the complaints eased.
“Maybe if they sit in their filth for a while, the mages will stop making it.” He glanced at Marshal Owens, the only mage in the building.
“But I doubt it. As Grady said, your focus is Marty. We are not—I repeat, not—resuming regular dross runs until we have somewhere to put it. Do not pick up anything that’s already in a bottle, within a building, or otherwise contained, such as in a rill or under an overpass. ”
People were complaining, but it was only the usual gripes and none of it was aimed at me.
“If you’ve never been on a purge, pair up with your mentors,” he was saying loudly as those closest to the hall stood to grab a doughnut on the way out.
“Oh, and if you have the bus or train depot in your territory, hit that first. I’ll have vans with empties in the usual places within an hour.
” Worry furrowed his brow. “Though I do not know what I’m going to do with them. ”
“Petra, what does she look like?” Jessica said, and those moving to the door turned.
“Early twenties,” I said. “About my height, slim build, straight dark hair to her shoulders. She’s in jeans and a blue hoodie.
And, um, she probably has my bike.” I flushed when someone gasped.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a call if you see it.
It’s a modified track bike, Pinarello Prince, WSD with a one-by-twelve drive train and disk brakes.
” It also had cost me a couple thousand dollars. Replacing it would be hard.
“A pin-a-what?” someone whispered loudly, and Ryan chuckled.
“It’s a ladies’ red bike,” he said.
“With three bottle cages,” someone from the back added.
“And a bell!” came a high voice. “Jing-a-jing!”
They were laughing, but it wasn’t at me, and I smiled at the unexpected good feeling.
Clearly they were still afraid of Pluck, but knowing they could still needle me was helping.
“Oh, and I can’t stress this enough,” I said even as Pluck fizzed a warning.
“Do not engage with Marty unless she’s in danger.
She’s probably trailing shadow, and it might react badly if Marty feels threatened.
She knows she’s a weaver, but she’s frightened.
Just call it in. Pluck and I will handle it.
” I shifted uneasily, scanning the faces for a sympathetic expression and finding only a vague unease.
It was the most I dared do. They were scared enough already of shadows.
At least, until Terry crossed his arms over his chest and sneered at me. “Can you blame her?” the old sweeper said, and Ryan frowned. Cameron, though…I could almost see her mark him to talk to later, eager to dig up what garbage she could get from him about me—true or not.
“I, ah, guess that’s it,” I said as I met Ryan’s gaze. “Thanks, guys. This means a lot to Pluck and me. The more weavers we have on campus, the less dross we will need to pick up.”
But that didn’t sit well with them, either, and after a moment, everyone moved, the sound of sliding chairs and loud conversations familiar even if I never came to the morning meetings anymore. I exhaled and stepped from the podium, my fingers finding Pluck when he sat up.
Maybe you should have gone with the “more weavers, the more Spinner stones will be produced to elevate them” idea, Pluck fizzed.
“And leave them worried about job security?” I whispered. It was hard not to feel melancholy while watching their camaraderie. I’d lost that when I gained Pluck. I had no regrets. I’d find it again.
Wouldn’t I? I mused, my gaze going to the trio walking out, the sound of Jimmy Tross rising high over their conversation.