Chapter 26 #4
My ankle went cold as I sank into the musty cushions beside Marty.
Herm was perched on the top step across from us, the older man clearly uncomfortable but his mood brighter than I would have expected.
“Petra, thanks for that warning text. You and Pluck really saved my ass.” He puffed all his air out.
“I usually can sense it when things are about to go bad, but I was so worried about that damned stick that I wasn’t paying attention. ”
A stick we no longer have access to, I mused sourly. “I’m just glad we figured it out in time.”
“I’m thinking that even though we know where that last stick is, we should take the time to make a new one or try to catch Thoth with four.”
“I can get it,” Marty said softly, her gaze on the four propped up against the podium. “I know right where it is. She will never know I’m there.”
“You?” Again Lev cut his argument short, and all three of them turned to Marty. A flicker of green at the ceiling caught my eye, but it wasn’t Pluck. He was chilling my ankles. The shadowy shape evolving into what looked like a plate-size spider had to be Aasta.
Why is she still here? I thought, and Pluck fizzed a sour nothing.
“I know where she hid it,” Marty said, pale and wide-eyed. “If she catches me, I’ll tell her you thought I gave you up and that I had to escape. When I get the chance, I’ll bring it here.” She swallowed hard. “I can do that. I don’t want to be afraid anymore.”
“Seriously?” Lev barked, and Cameron glared at him to be nicer.
My ankle throbbed in a sudden cold snap, and I looked to the ceiling, drawn by Pluck’s interest. Aasta had taken a solid form, twisted and wrong.
Half spider, half crow, she let herself down from the ceiling on a thread of her own making, six legs and a pair of wings all working together until she found the top of a row of chairs and dissolved into an abhorrent vision of fangs and eight eyes. My God, that’s the stuff of nightmares…
“You need that stick,” Marty said, oblivious to the shadow skulking behind her.
“We need it. I can get it. It’s my fault Thoth is here.
I might not be skilled enough to fight him, but I can do this.
” Eyes wide, she knotted her hands into a tight ball.
“I am not a coward. I didn’t know what to do is all. ”
“Huh.” Lev pretended to open a book. “Let me look up the definition. Oh! Here it is. Coward. See Marty Mayson.”
“Lev, that’s enough,” I said as Pluck fizzed in guilt and heartache.
The man was being more than mean. He was being cruel.
True, as militia he expected those he worked with to give all, risk everything for each other.
But Marty wasn’t militia. She was a civvy.
She hadn’t signed up for this. Any of this.
Pushing her nose into her limits wouldn’t make her brave.
It would cut her off from the very people who could help her become more.
“Okay.” Benedict put up a hand to try to calm everyone. “Five sticks are better than four, but I’m not sure risking Marty is the right way to get it. If Dana catches her, she won’t let her out of her sight.”
Herm bobbed his head, his elbows on his raised knees. “Marty, I’m sorry, but I agree with Benedict. The risk is too high. We will get a set of balanced sticks another way.”
Cameron cracked a bottled water. “Why not just ask her for it?”
“Dana?” Herm said, clearly surprised, and Cameron came up from slamming half the bottle and nodded.
“She wants Thoth in a bottle, too, doesn’t she? The world returns to normal.”
Pluck fizzed and bubbled. Dana doesn’t want normal. She wants everything to return to the way it was five months ago: no weavers bucking the system and shadows destroyed on sight.
“Dana doesn’t want Thoth in a bottle.” I relayed his thoughts, no longer feeling the need to goad Pluck into taking a human form so he could talk.
“She’s made it clear she wants everything to go back to the way it used to be, whatever the cost. If Pluck and I take the fall, everything we are pushing for goes away. ”
Marty fidgeted, her breath fast and her face pale in the shadowed light. “I can get it. Please,” she said, and I stifled a shudder when Aasta stretched one long, twitching spider leg out to inch herself a row closer. “I need to do this. To make amends.”
“I’m sorry, Marty,” Cameron said when Herm stoically shook his head. “Herm’s magic gives him a good feeling about risk and benefit. If he says it’s too risky, I believe him.”
I wasn’t so sure, though, and I dangled a hand into Pluck’s icy presence. What do you think, Pluck?
The dross dust gathered at the corners brightened as Pluck settled deeper into my thoughts. I believe Marty wants to help, he thought. But she ran away once. Trusting her not to do it again seems chancy, and one of us going with her might result in even worse.
Benedict was silently looking at me, the man correctly guessing I was talking to Pluck. “I’m sorry. Pluck and I agree,” I said, and he seemed to deflate. “It’s a brave gesture,” I added. “But we aren’t going to put you in that much danger.”
Marty’s hopeful expression vanished. Motion fast, she stood. “I suppose I deserve that,” she said tartly, jaw set as she went to sit halfway across the auditorium. Behind her, the twisted spider/crow melted into a puddle…and followed.
“Marty, you are a nice person,” Lev said loudly. “But I won’t trust my continued freedom to you.”
It was harsh, but the panic I’d felt when Pluck had been in a bottle sort of kept me where I was, silent as Benedict sighed and Herm studied his shoes. Aasta was creeping toward Marty, jerking to a halt four seats away when the young woman noticed her.
“Marty, we will find a way for you to help,” Cameron said, but Marty’s face was creased in self-recrimination.
Herm pulled his head up, resolute. “Okay, kids. Let’s talk about what we can do.”
The mood was still uncomfortable, and Benedict brushed at a spot on his jeans. “I can talk to Dana. Convince her Thoth is too disruptive to ignore.”
Head shaking, Herm extended his legs, clearly stiff with arthritis.
“Ah, I don’t know. You and Petra hit her crew pretty hard.
I was thinking more like going into Tucson to find a set of matched sticks.
Maybe hit the secondhand shops. We might get lucky.
Marty, you have some skill feeling that out. I would appreciate the help.”
The woman shifted to turn her back to us, oblivious to Aasta waving her forelegs at her in agitation like a jumping spider.
Pluck, can you tell Aasta that a spider is not the best image for making friends?
It’s not Aasta’s idea. It’s probably Marty’s, the shadow thought, reminding me of the time my fear of him had made Pluck appear like a slavering dog from hell with matted fur and broken bones sticking from pus-oozing skin.
Pluck had once said he hid from people because it was too difficult to appear as he wanted, not how people believed him to be. Marty clearly had a few issues.
Cameron forced her gaze from the plate-size spider and sat on the edge of the stage by Lev, her small feet dangling. “Lev and I are the only ones not wanted for questioning. If anyone goes into Tucson, it should be us.”
“We’re safe here for now,” Herm said, gaze roving over the ceiling.
“Let’s get some rest. Do some thinking. Dana might be more inclined to listen if another vault goes, as awful as that might be.
Meantime, Ryan might know someone with a home workshop.
I’ll give him a call.” He twisted to reach his phone, frowning as he stared at the screen.
“Cameron, you’re right about not being wanted by the authorities.
If you think you can keep Lev from doing anything counterproductive, take him and get some supplies.
Then park it up top and keep a lookout.”
“Water,” Benedict interjected. “Lots of water.”
A smile blossomed on the small woman’s face. “Sure,” she said, drawing Lev’s attention from Marty and Aasta. “You going to do what I say, Master Ranger?”
“No.” Lev pushed from the stage, clearly eager to go. “You can drive, though.”
“I’ll stand watch in the garden until you return.” Herm stood, groaning as he held his lower back. “I have to make some calls. And before you say anything, Lev, I’ll ping them off a tower on the other side of town.”
Halfway to the stairs, Lev jerked to a halt, his annoyance gone in a flash of curiosity. “What app are you using?”
Herm laughed. The sound filled the forgotten space as he patted the younger man’s shoulder as if pushing upon his lingering frustration until it fractured and vanished like fog in the sun.
Until the fire door clicked shut behind them, leaving only the echo of Herm’s belief that the day would end better than it began.
Pluck pulled himself into a tight knot, his thoughts cycling further from me until I could hardly sense them.
“I guess we stay here.” Benedict squinted as he looked up to the spot of light at the ceiling.
I stood, slapping the dust from myself. “Cameron is right,” I said loudly, and Marty looked up from where she was eyeing Aasta. “We’ll find a way to get what we need. I don’t want to risk you anymore, either, Marty.”
“It’s my fault Thoth is here,” Marty said, chin high as she tried to balance her fear against her need to make amends. “For once in my life, I’m not going to walk away. I have to do something.”
“You are doing something.” Benedict scrunched down in the chair, legs outstretched and head on the back of the seat. “Sit tight,” he said, eyes closing as he yawned. “Let the militia do what they do. We’ll get what we need in a few days.”
I nodded my agreement, but inside, I wasn’t so sure.
Thoth could do a lot of damage in a few days.