Chapter 27 #3
“I can arrange for her to stay in St. Unoc,” Dana continued. “Minimal security. Six months if the desert shadows behave. If not, she stays where she is.”
Benedict’s gaze flicked from Lev to me. “She wants to use you as hostage for Thoth’s behavior? How does that even work?”
It doesn’t, fizzed coldly through me.
“As a show of goodwill, I won’t press charges against Petra for stealing that stick, provided there is an apology,” Dana finished.
My lips curled in disgust. “Just so I have this straight, Dana. You want me to say that I incited a group into destroying the vaults, the same group that you want to burn alive, as if they are trash? You can’t have it both ways.
If you assign them agency to make decisions, then you assign them the same rights as a person.
We can catch Thoth, Dana. Don’t help him destroy everyone’s future.
You’re an airologist. We could really use your help. ”
Dana made a small noise of negation. “Grady, surrender yourself before I lose custody of the shadow in question.”
“His name is Pluck,” Herm said forcefully, and the shadow’s skin rippled in and out of reality. “And we want to see him first. Make sure he’s okay.”
It would be a chance to free Aasta if nothing else. Too bad Dana knew that, too. “Sorry, Ivaros. You will have to trust me,” she said smugly.
“We don’t have to do anything of the sort,” Herm shot back. “We see the shadow, or nothing happens. You want this to go away? So do we. Once we know Pluck is safe, we talk.”
“Fine.” Dana sighed. “I will bring the shadow, but I’m not letting it out. You can ascertain the health of it through the glass.”
It wasn’t the best situation, but it gave us a chance, and I nodded my agreement. Marty seemed to shudder in a mix of relief and anticipation.
“Tonight,” Herm said, and Lev frantically waved for him to stop. “Somewhere neutral,” Herm continued, his eyes fixed questioningly on Lev. “The records building, perhaps?”
“Tomorrow,” Lev mouthed, but it was too late.
“The Surran building,” Dana said, and I frowned.
It was just across the street. Close. We might lose our hiding spot.
On the upside, the Surran building was university property.
Any magical mishaps would be contained and wouldn’t end up on the news.
“But our conversation will have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight I’m inspecting an old vault for possible use. ”
Both Lev and Benedict sighed in relief, making me wonder what they had been plotting while Herm set this up. Marty, too, was pleased, which made no sense at all unless…
We are liberating Aasta tonight, Pluck fizzed, and I eyed all three of them. Figured. But it was a good idea. Marty wouldn’t wait around, and if she went alone, she’d be caught. Probably.
“Fine. Tomorrow noon,” Herm grumped, and Lev gave Marty an extravagant thumbs-up, grinning from ear to ear. “But if Pluck is not in that jar, the deal is off.”
“He’s in the jar, and he’s going to stay there,” Dana said. “Ivaros, I expect you to—”
Still staring at Lev, Herm ended the call. “Why tomorrow, Lev,” he said flatly.
Lev brushed a nonexistent dross drift from his shoulder. “Because I am going to free Aasta while Dana is busy inspecting that new vault.”
My gaze shot to Marty. The woman looked ready to bolt, damn the risk. Herm took a breath to protest, exhaling in surrender when I nodded my agreement. “She’ll be expecting that,” he warned instead. “I doubt she’ll leave Aasta sitting on a shelf. There will be security.”
“Nothing a small team can’t handle.” Lev grinned at Marty. “I figure two rangers and a weaver can handle it.”
“I am not useless,” Benedict grumbled, and I bumped into his shoulder.
“Good, because I need you with me,” I said, and both Herm and Lev turned from their infant argument.
“If Dana leaves some of her security with Aasta, she will have less when she goes out to inspect the vault. I want to talk to her,” I added, gut tightening.
“Face-to-face. Convince her Thoth exists and that we could catch him if she’d get off my back. ”
“Ah…” Herm said in anticipatory understanding.
I glanced at Pluck for his opinion, and the shadow flicked an ear. Dividing our resources may be a good risk, given the return. Dana may still choose not to believe, but if Marty liberates Aasta, it will remove the mage’s hold on us.
“I’m coming with you, too,” Herm said, and Pluck hazed in annoyance. “I have a few things I’d like to say to Dana as well.”
Lev was decidedly smug. “All you need to do is figure out what vault. I don’t know of any more in the area large enough to make a dent in the dross problem. I doubt it’s military. Cameron might know.”
Marty fidgeted. She was flushed, but it was in hope. “Aasta said Dana was talking about it being at ‘their failed, great test of their time.’ ”
“Like I understand wise-old-shadow-speak,” I grumped.
“Soon as we free her, we’ll find out,” Lev said, but Herm made a satisfied harrumph.
“She’s talking about Biosphere 2,” Herm explained, and my eyebrows rose.
The then-state-of-the-art facility had made news in 1991 when eight people locked themselves in a sealed structure in the Arizona desert to study if long-term space travel or planetary colonization with self-renewing food, air, and water sources was even possible.
What most people didn’t know was that it wasn’t just air and food they were watching in a contained system.
It was dross. Which, as Aasta had said, failed miserably.
When the university bought the facility, they emptied the twin vaults, having to treat the accumulated tinkered-with dross with more care than atomic waste. The vaults, though, remained.
“Those vaults are empty…” I mused. If Thoth knew about them, they’d be broken by now. “Herm, we have to get out there before Dana does.”
The old Spinner bobbed his head. “Marty, she’s your shadow. It’s your call.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Yes,” she breathed, gazing at all of us in relief and gratitude. “Thank you for helping me.”
Lev brought his hands together in a loud pop, then hopped from the stage to the floor. “I’ll tell Cameron. I know she’ll go for it. Marty, can you sketch out what you remember of Dana’s apartment? I’ll be right back.”
“Ah, wait up,” Benedict said as Lev hightailed it to the stairs. “Shouldn’t we have a contingency plan or something?”
“That would be the grotto,” Herm said. “We leave in five minutes. Dana didn’t say when she’d be out there and I want to get there first. Hey, Lev! Bring the truck around, will you?”
“Got it, old man!” filtered down the stairs, and then the fire door slammed.
Benedict’s gaze went distant. “We should bring water…” he whispered, then darted off.
A fond smile quirked my lips. You get stranded in the desert one time…
I turned to Marty. “You going to be okay working with Lev?” I said, and she nodded, breathless but eager.
“He won’t let you down,” I added, glad to see the new strength in her.
She was going to need more than a mystical bond with a sentient energy source to see this through, and I put an arm around Marty, giving her a half hug.
“But if this doesn’t work, you, me, and Pluck will sneak out together and do it ourselves,” I whispered. “Okay? You are not alone.”
Marty’s gaze flicked to Herm’s hunched shoulders, then Benedict’s worried frown as he counted our water bottles. Pluck sat beside him, panting like the dog he wasn’t. Up to now, I’d been the bad guy. Up to now, she hadn’t understood.
But this time, finally, Marty nodded as if she had begun to believe.