Chapter 22 #3
“It can wait,” Benedict said more firmly as he tore open the antiseptic wipe and gingerly swabbed his palm. “Petra turned blue from cold the last time. Sunrise is soon enough.”
“If you’re sure,” I said, and he nodded.
“Could you…” he said as he handed me a Band-Aid. “It’s awkward.”
“Sure.” I tore it open and put the Band-Aid on. He sighed and tugged me closer and I felt his entire body relax against mine. I didn’t really care where we were going—unless it was to one of Herm’s desert bunkers.
“Hey, ah, is there a plan we’re working from?” I asked, and Lev turned where he sat so he could see everyone.
“I suggest we check in with my superiors. They can give us sanctuary.”
Cage, drifted through my mind, but I wasn’t sure if it was me or Pluck.
“Absolutely not!” Benedict protested. “Petra already has too close a tie to them. Going to the militia for help will make it tighter.”
“I’m not taking Petra to the militia,” Herm agreed. “Next suggestion.”
“Herm, you can drop me off anywhere in the quad,” Cameron said with a huff. “I have to jam some knowledge down Dana’s throat. She practically called me a liar. I am not delusional. I know what I experienced.”
“Which is why I say the militia,” Lev said, and Cameron frowned. “We have specialists who can vouch for what you experienced. You want court-worthy testimony? That’s where you’ll get it. They’ve been working on this since Petra first showed up.”
“Actually,” Herm said thoughtfully, “that’s not a bad idea.”
Pluck fizzed, the wind raking through his form as he tried to take on definition.
“But not for Pluck or Petra,” he added, and the shadow subsided with a soft grumble. “I’m taking them off-grid.”
“Ah…” I started, ignored.
“I can have you tucked away in six hours,” Herm continued, the light catching the bristles on his chin when we went under a streetlamp. “And when Thoth breaks the next vault and you aren’t even in the same country, they will come to their senses.”
“Hey!” I shouted, and Benedict hid a smile a heartbeat too late.
“I am not going to Mexico. Or Canada. Or anywhere other than St. Unoc. I have to find Marty. None of you know what she’s going through.
We are asking her to leave the man she loves, and for what?
This mess? No one wants her here except the people in this truck and Ryan.
All we’ve given her is grief. No wonder she ran off. ”
Mmmm…Pluck asserted, and I elbowed his semicorporeal state to be quiet, wondering if the tingling jolt felt warmer than usual.
“And selfishly speaking, we need her.” I took a slow breath, remembering the feel of Benedict doing magic in another room. “I don’t think I’m a weaver anymore, and we need one to catch Thoth. That and five balanced sticks.”
Benedict took my hand in his. “You really want to trust her to help catch him? Put your life in her hands? You’re ignoring the facts, Petra. She’s not reliable.”
“I am not ignoring the facts. The fact is that we need her!” I barked.
“Enough!” Herm exclaimed, and I scowled when he pulled into a night-emptied parking lot, bringing the truck to a squeaking halt and putting it into park. The engine stilled. Hands still on the wheel, Herm looked out at nothing. “What is this about five balanced sticks?”
I glanced at Benedict, and he shrugged. “I didn’t have time to tell him,” he said. “I was more worried about getting you out of university jail.”
Pluck was fizzing enthusiastically, and I shifted to face Herm more fully.
“Pluck and I think Thoth can be caught by five people who use light and shadow in unique, distinct ways,” I said.
“Thoth won’t be able to adapt.” Cameron stared at me, and I added, “One stick, two sticks, three, four, five. Stand them straight to stay alive?”
Her eyes widened. “You want to snag a clinically insane shadow with a children’s rhyme?”
“It’s not a children’s rhyme,” Benedict said, and Pluck’s gratitude twined a glittering fizz about my own. “It’s an instructional manual in a world that doesn’t know we exist.”
Lev’s incredulous expression began to ease. “Yea-a-a-ah…Jimmy Tross is the modern equivalent.” His head tilted. “Five balanced sticks makes sense. So…mage, Spinner, weaver, sweeper, and shadow? I call dibs on the mage.”
Benedict bristled, and I put a soothing hand on him. “Not quite,” I said. “I don’t think the type of magic user is as important as them using magic differently. Water, air, earth, fire, and ether.” I took a slow breath, hesitant. “Which brings me to my next trick,” I added faintly.
Herm chewed on his lower lip in thought. “I don’t know. Your weaver abilities are compromised.”
I flushed. “It will work because my weaver abilities are compromised. I am not broken. No one has ever been both weaver and shadow and yet neither.”
Cameron, too, shook her head. “If it could be done, they would have done it eons ago,” she said. “Herm is right. Thoth almost killed you.”
“He woke something up in me.” I leaned toward the window between us.
“I lost my fields,” I said, finding it easier to admit.
“No fields means no inborn shadow protection. He thinks that makes him safe, but he’s wrong.
Not being able to turn dross inert has forced me to learn how to tune entire dross drifts.
It gives us an edge, and we need to act before Thoth figures that out. ”
Benedict’s hand in mine tightened. I wasn’t broken, damn it!
So what if dross went out of its way to burn me.
I could tune it now. Use it. “I am exactly what’s missing,” I said.
“We can catch Thoth.” I hesitated, knowing they weren’t going to like this next part.
“But we need to find Marty. It’s my fault she’s in danger.
She was helpless when he followed her here, but I gave her a stone.
She’s learning how to use it. She’s becoming a threat to Thoth, and if we don’t find her, he will. ”
Herm’s brow furrowed. “You think he will hurt her?”
I nodded, and Benedict’s arm went more securely around me. “I’m in,” he said.
Lev scowled. “Me too.”
Herm’s sigh was loud and long. “Okay, you two, out,” he said to Lev and Cameron, and the two mages stared at him.
“Go get the court-worthy evidence from the militia to keep Petra and Pluck on this side of the bars after we bag Thoth. While you’re doing that, Benedict, Petra, and Pluck will find Marty. ”
I was going to find Marty, and a thrill of relief fluttered through me. Cameron, too, grinned, clearly pleased as she punched Lev in the arm, saying, “Just remember I still outrank you, Evander, even if we are in your clubhouse.”
“I’m going to regret this.” His expression holding a mock horror, Lev opened the door and got out, Cameron quick behind him.
Motions slow, Herm got out, too. “Petra, take the truck. You need it more than me.”
Immediately Benedict vaulted out of the truck bed and spun to lift me down.
It was happening, and Pluck’s excitement fizzed through me.
“You’re not coming with us?” I asked Herm, and then my attention fixed on Benedict as his hands found my waist and he gently settled me on the ground.
“Thanks,” I almost whispered, and Pluck bubbled, impatient to be away.
“I have to talk to Ryan,” Herm said. “He’s got three of your dad’s sticks. He might know where the last one is.” His stubble caught the faint light as he chewed his lower lip. “Odd that your dad made five to begin with. Maybe he knew something?”
I gave Herm a quick hug. “Be careful.”
“You too.” Herm’s gaze went from me to Pluck, the shadow’s ears pricked and his tail nothing but a drift of dark matter. “Do not take on Thoth without us. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, even as Pluck phased in and out of solidity in excitement.
Herm was patting his pockets absently, but the keys were still in the truck. “Lev, you do not speak for Petra or Pluck. Let me hear it.”
Lev put all his weight on one foot in a show of annoyance. “I do not speak for the shadows or weavers.”
I didn’t like us breaking up like this, and my gut hurt. “Thank you for trusting me on this,” I said, and Herm patted my shoulder.
“Always,” he said, rusty voice rumbling. “I made a mistake not trusting your dad. I won’t do it again. Be careful, Petra.”
“Always,” I echoed, but the old man was looking at Pluck, not me.
Benedict was already in the front seat, adjusting everything to his height.
Ice cramped my ankle as I got in, shortly followed by Pluck’s grumpy bubble and fizz.
But Benedict’s reach for the key hesitated when Herm leaned in on the open window.
“Everyone funnels their intelligence back to me,” he said. “I will disseminate it.”
“Ah, old man…” Lev started, voice tight, and Herm’s gaze shot to him.
“I’ve been off-grid longer than you have been alive, Lev Michael Evander, and I have pioneered three stealth techniques that you militia brats can’t detect, much less get around.”
Lev’s humor evaporated. “How did you get my middle name? My real one.”
Herm pushed from the window. “Use the burner phones I gave you. Everyone talks to me. I talk to everyone else. No cross talk unless I go silent, and in that case, someone come get me out of jail. Lev and Cameron will get the professionals to validate the marshal’s report.
I get the tools to successfully snare Thoth.
” His gaze came to me holding an equal mix of worry and pride.
“You three find Marty.” I nodded, and he added a terse “Go!” Herm smacked the window frame twice, and Benedict put the truck into drive. “Pluck, take care of her.”
It’s what I do, grumbled coldly through me. Though it’s hard when she doesn’t listen.
“Good luck!” I shouted, and Lev gave me a wave, even as he walked away with Cameron. We were just outside of campus. One call, and someone from the nearby militia outpost would come get them. They’d be fine. Herm was gone when I looked back.
“I suggest we try the tunnels and aqueducts,” Benedict said.
I agree with the mage, Pluck thought. With Benny, he added belatedly, making me feel better. Benny, he had called him. It was a start.
“You mind if we hit the bus station first?” I said. “I want to rule out that she’s left St. Unoc, and they have a camera in the ticket kiosk we can check.”
Benedict’s expression lightened. “Huh. That’s a really good idea,” he said, then did a U-turn right there in the middle of the four-lane road.
My arm rested on the open window and I looked out at nothing. We would find her, and somehow I’d teach her enough magic to survive Thoth.