Chapter 13 #3
“You can still fix dross inert,” Herm said, and I shook my head. “You don’t need a field to…” His words trailed off and his shoulders slumped. Eyes pinched, he turned to Lev, and the militiaman winced in confirmation.
I tucked my light green empty amulet behind my shirt. “Not only can’t I fix it inert, I’ve got dross breaking on me. I may as well be a mundane.”
That’s not true, Pluck thought from the hallway. Mundanes can’t see dross. If you can see dross dust, your vision is as sharp as mine. Mundanes can’t hear me, either.
“I suppose,” I said listlessly, and both Lev and Herm frowned.
“You suppose what?” Herm prompted, and I dangled a hand to encourage Pluck to come sit under me. I didn’t like him blaming himself.
“Ah, I was talking to Pluck,” I said, and the shadow darted under the couch and away from Herm’s sudden scrutiny. “We can hear each other regardless of if we’re touching or not now. Dross is brighter, too. You wouldn’t believe the dross dust hanging about.”
Marty came out from the kitchen, a bowl of rice and veggies in her hand. “Seriously?” she said as she went to sit on the hearth.
“Fancy that,” Herm mused aloud, his bushy eyebrows high as he leaned to try to see the shadow under me. “So maybe Thoth left you not so much mundane as perhaps…shadow? Have you tried to do any magic?”
“You mean with dark matter?” My lips parted, and a spark of something lit both Pluck’s and my thoughts. “What part of ‘no fields’ don’t you get?” I said, surprised when Pluck flowed out from under the couch to coalesce into a dog form.
I don’t use fields apart from holding a form, the shadow thought. Hope was fizzing through him—even if I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t do magic without fields.
Benedict came from the kitchen with two bowls. “Lev, you’re not my girlfriend nor my girlfriend’s mentor,” he said as he handed me one and Herm the other. “You can get your own dinner. Bowls are on the counter.”
“Fair enough.” Lev heaved himself to his feet, struggling to get out of the beanbag chair.
“Thanks, Benny,” I said, and he bobbed his head before following Lev into the kitchen. It smelled wonderful, and I began picking through the rice to find the peppers. Yeah, he’s one of the good ones.
“Oh, this smells great,” Herm said as he dug in; then louder, head bowed over his bowl, “Ryan told me you plan on using the old vault to lure him in.” He glanced at Marty.
“He’s got the sweepers keeping an eye out for Thoth on their rounds, but this is far safer.
Between you and me, I think the new university contact, ah, Dana, is it?
I think Dana is petitioning to go into the memorial and flush out the shadows there in the belief they’re working with Thoth. ”
“They aren’t, and she knows it. I’m not sure what her motives are,” I said between bites. Oh, God. Benedict had outdone himself in a good way, and it burned like dross going down.
“That’s the feeling I’m getting from Ryan, too.” Herm bobbed his head in agreement. “Apparently Dana is convinced that even if it’s not one of the memorial shadows, the problem itself will move on at a show of force.”
Benedict’s flavorful rice went flat. Shadows could defend themselves with devastating results.
They’d been in hiding for a millennium because they had no reason to fight.
I’d given them a reason simply by existing.
Mages wouldn’t have a chance. Cameron was proof of that.
Weavers were the only people who could best them—which in hindsight made it obvious as to why I was Thoth’s target.
Lev came from the kitchen with an overflowing bowl.
“Catching Thoth will end the problem.” He looked at the beanbag chair, then sat beside Marty on the raised hearth.
“Even better, once he’s caught, we can force him to let Cameron go and tell us what he did to you”—he pointed his fork at me—“so we can reverse it.”
Oh, it sounded great, but I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“The only problem I can see,” Lev said between bites of his food, “is that we have to do it before anyone else can get their claws on said shadow and dump him in a vat of dross.”
“Just us five in a race against the entire university’s sweepers’ guild?” Benedict held his bowl high as he gingerly sat down on the box of empty bottles beside me. “Great.”
“We are the ones camped out over the only empty vault in the city.” Lev shoveled his food in as if someone might take it. “Priority one,” he said around his full mouth. “You want to tap anyone else to help? Ryan maybe?”
I shook my head, even as my guilt twined about Pluck’s dark foreboding, knotting my stomach. I didn’t want to risk Ryan. I didn’t want to risk anyone.
“We should be able to handle it,” Herm muttered as he ate. “The vault is safe enough, seeing as it takes a sweeper to open it.” He wiped the heat from his lips. “Which brings me to my next question. How come Ryan isn’t stuffing it full of dross? It was sound when they emptied it.”
“I’m sure Dana wants to.” Lips tingling, I looked at the kitchen, wondering if there was any milk in the fridge to tamp the peppers down. “So we are agreed? We keep what Thoth did to me quiet and tell everyone Cameron is okay but too deep to extricate at the moment?”
No one said anything. I took their silence as agreement.
I’d tell Ryan the truth when this was over, but until Thoth was not an active threat, I couldn’t risk letting the mages know a shadow could destroy their magic.
Ryan wasn’t a mage, but he answered to the board, and the board members were.
Telling him would put him in a hard place I could avoid by keeping my mouth shut.
“I suggest shifts,” Lev said. “Two awake at all times. We got Benny, Herm, you, me…”
My stomach hurt. Sure, sweepers could catch shadows, but one touch and Thoth might drive them insane or, worse, possess them. Only a weaver had any resistance to him, and we didn’t have one.
“I can stand watch,” Marty said, and my head snapped up. “I can’t catch him, but I can stand watch.”
“Marty…” Standing watch was about all I could do, too, but I had a shadow to keep me safe.
“I can stand watch,” she insisted. “I brought Thoth here. I should help catch him.” She took a slow, shaking breath as she looked at Pluck sitting next to me on the couch. “I don’t need to know how to do magic to stand watch.”
Let her help, Pluck offered, his mood as unsettled as mine. It will leave her invested.
He was right, but I didn’t like it. “You don’t have a shadow. I don’t want you in danger.”
“I’m already in danger.” Her voice was low in guilt. “It’s all because of me. The marshal, you, the threat on the vaults.”
“It’s not your fault,” Herm said for both of us. “Marty, your help is very welcome, but if Thoth shows, I want you to stay out of it. You will be with Petra and Pluck.”
“Ah, sure.” I looked up from my bowl, not really liking the idea. It was safer than, say, hiding her in a motel, but not by much.
“Good!” Herm said cheerfully. “Benedict, Marty, Petra, and Pluck will have the day, when Thoth is less likely to show. Lev and I will take the night shift, seeing as we’re used to being up then.
” His mustache turned in when he chewed on his lower lip.
“I’ll tell Ryan something. The less he knows, the better. ”
“Okay…” It was reluctant, and Herm beamed at me.
“I suggest you give a shout down the well at the memorial on your way home and tell those shadows what’s going on and for them to stay hidden until we catch Thoth.
” Herm put his attention deep within his bowl, his thinning hair making an obvious ring.
“Marty, you should take a chunk of moldavite that Pluck tuned.”
“I don’t want to be a weaver,” Marty blurted, an increasingly familiar heartache furrowing her brow.
There’s no dark matter within it to do magic, Pluck fizzed. It is a useless gesture.
“Having a stone around your neck doesn’t make you a weaver,” Herm said, but in truth, she already was one. “And you don’t need a shadow to access a stone.”
“Ah, it’s not like a Spinner stone. Dark matter doesn’t just happen,” I started, and Herm waved his hand in dismissal.
“So Pluck puts some in there,” he coaxed. “She might need it to defend herself.”
Benedict’s eyes flicked from me to Herm as I frowned at the older man.
I knew what he was doing, using magic to lure her into staying.
He’d done the same thing to me. I, however, hadn’t had a murderous shadow trying to kill me at the time.
It had only felt like it. “Pluck?” I said aloud, and the shadow dog pinned his ears.
I can fill the stone’s lattice, Pluck fizzed, and my thigh went cold. But should I? Marty may not be Thoth’s weaver, but he can still use her against you.
True, I thought. But a little knowledge might save her life. Get her invested?
I was using his own words against him, and Pluck’s concern sank to an almost subliminal fizz, bubbling through my uncertainty like acid. “Pluck says it’s a good idea.”
It’s an idea, he fizzed. Not a good one.
“We’ll do that, then.” Herm grinned, his thick, arthritic fingers fumbling for the two unwrapped tuned stones in the bowl and tossing them at me. They hit my palm with a soft thump, and I shoved them in my pocket to mute the roar of the universe.
“How long does it take to charge?” Marty asked, clearly reluctant.
Depends on how much dross is around, Pluck fizzed sourly.
“Few hours?” I guessed, my gaze going to Herm when he stood, empty rice bowl in hand.
“Ben, thanks for dinner. Lev, you’re on KP. I’m going downstairs to look at the vault.”
“Me?” Lev’s fork scraped as he got the last. “What’s wrong with you, old man? You got kitchen-itis?”
“Benedict made dinner, and Petra and Marty need to go home and catch up on their sleep.” The old man’s smile became fond.
“Once I know what state the vault is in, I’ll shift Henry’s parameters.
” Herm took Benedict’s empty bowl and handed it to Lev.
“Senior staff only, if Ryan hasn’t done so already. ”
Herm still has managerial access…I thought, surprised. Even when he went into self-imposed exile, they had left him in the system. Curious.
Mood sour, Lev settled the bowl into his own. “Fine.” He took Marty’s dish and his stack became higher. “Petra, you done?”
I stood to hand him mine, my side becoming cold as Pluck settled himself within the unwrapped stone. “Thanks, Lev.”
“You’re loving this, aren’t you,” Lev grumbled as he pushed past Benedict and into the kitchen. “My God!” filtered out. “Did you have to use every pan?”
“Welp, time to go.” Benedict cheerfully gestured for Marty to head for the door. She glanced at me, then followed him.
Worried, I lingered when they went out and the sounds of the night slipped in. “Herm, I see what you’re doing. I’m not going to trick her into staying. Besides, I’m not a teacher.”
“You could be.” He pushed me to the door, smiling. “Do what you can. We need her.”
“Herm,” Lev called loudly. “You want some coffee? Seeing as we are going to be up all night?”
“After that bodacious rice?” The older man blew his breath out in a soft exhalation. “I won’t be sleeping for a week. Heartburn.”
My long-stick was propped in the corner by the door, and I took it, not sure if it was Pluck’s or my concern that was filling my thoughts.
“Okay. I get how filling a lodestone with dark matter and teaching her how to use it might convince her to stay, but is it worth the risk?” I said as Lev’s complaints and the sound of running water became obvious.
Herm scuffed to a halt. “You think she and that shadow are working together? That she’s a spy? That doesn’t make sense.”
Thoth is chaos. Chaos does not make sense. Chaos makes destruction, fizzed through me.
“No,” I blurted, very sure of it. “But Thoth has been ahead of us this entire time. He followed her here. He used Cameron to try to destroy me. Marty can’t be the only weaver out there, but he chose to follow her, knowing she would never be a threat.
Not because her fields are bad, but because of her boyfriend. ”
Herm’s brow furrowed. He didn’t get it, and I inched closer. “Okay, I teach her magic,” I whispered. “But her thoughts are still two thousand miles away. Not only is she not paying attention, but I’ve made her a bigger, more vulnerable target.”
The older man glanced out the open door to Benedict and Marty waiting by Benedict’s convertible. “All the more reason to teach her what you can,” he said. “Petra, if Thoth is using her, give her the tools to fall to a safe place.”
Pluck was fizzing, but I could tell from the curious hesitation in his thoughts that the shadow wanted Marty to find her way despite Thoth, and slowly his hope began to overpower my uncertainty.
“Go. Get some sleep. See you in the morning.” Herm gave my arm a last pat.
“You’ll be okay?” I said as I took a backward step. It was hard to leave him, knowing what Thoth could do. Catching a shadow was hard enough, but one who ignored shadow buttons and wasn’t opposed to putting you in a coma?
“With Lev?” Herm grinned. “Sure. Thoth is not even going to show. It’s you he wants, not the vault. Breaking the vault is just a means to his end.”
Like Cameron, I thought as Pluck shook himself and dark matter went flying.
“Pluck, keep her safe,” Herm said as I turned to the car.
Better than you, Spinner, fizzed up through me.
But my good mood vanished, souring step by step as I headed to Benedict’s car. Pluck was right. Chaos left destruction, but destruction was often the only way to move forward.
The question was, would it be worth it?