Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘I’ve seen people who seemed to be keeping an eye on her. I’ve seen one here.’

  ‘I see. I think I’m going to trust you for now, Trudy. You can stop trying to hide from me. I’m sure that’ll make things easier for everyone.’

  ‘I haven’t been– Well, okay, when I worked out you could sense me, I did try to stay away. That didn’t work.’

  Nava nodded. ‘It’s not that big a campus. And you decided that Carina should get to know me. I was bound to wonder who her invisible friend really was. And as for these watchers, whether they’re from Carina’s Key to Darkness or not, they would seem to represent a security risk.’

  ‘Okay. I suppose I can see your point. What are you going to do?’

  Nava gave a small shrug. ‘Campus security is a matter for the Student Security Force.’

  ~~~

  ‘You believe her?’ Courtney asked. There was obvious incredulity in her voice. That was not exactly surprising.

  ‘I believe,’ Nava replied evenly, ‘that there are people on the campus who should not be here. It’s highly unlikely they belong to some cult intent upon releasing an ancient god of darkness. That does not change the fact that an independent witness has seen them. They are here.’

  ‘An independent witness who happens to be a Harbinger.’

  ‘That is a point,’ Mitsuko said. They were in the house. Nava had decided that this would all be better discussed somewhere unofficial and private. The lounge seemed as good a place as any. ‘Are you sure you can trust the thing?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Nava replied. ‘I can’t be sure I can trust anyone. I’m not used to judging the reactions of Harbingers, so Trudy is more difficult to assess. That said, I believe she can be trusted. I believe that someone is watching Carina and that at least one of those people has been sighted here. At the very least, I think the SSF should be on the lookout for intruders who may be invisible.’

  ‘Huh,’ Courtney grunted. ‘That’s not a tall order at all.’

  ‘I intend to lend a hand,’ Nava said. ‘I’ll stick with Carina for a few days and see what I can see.’

  ‘Well, I suppose we can issue an advisory and keep a lookout for at least a couple of days.’

  Nava nodded. ‘I think that’s a reasonable response to a report of unusual activity on campus.’

  ‘Just out of interest,’ Melissa said, ‘what are you going to do if you find them and they are members of a cult intent on releasing an ancient god of darkness?’

  ‘I have no idea. If that is the case, however, I think we’ll have more to worry over than a few people snooping around the school.’

  236/1/19.

  Nava did not get a lot of calls on her ketcom. When it began chirping out its call indicator, she usually stared at it for a brief instant as though it were malfunctioning. She did exactly the same this morning – at breakfast, as it happened – even though the small screen on the unit was indicating that the call was from Fawn Tyrell, her ASF contact.

  After that moment of surprise, she tapped the accept button and lifted the device to her ear. ‘First Lieutenant? This is an early call. I’m at breakfast, so if I need privacy…’

  ‘As long as I’m not on speaker, this should be fine,’ Fawn replied. She was sounding serious. That was generally not a good thing.

  ‘Please continue.’

  ‘Someone tried hacking into the ASF’s servers last night. They didn’t get too far, but it was a professional job. They backed out as soon as they were detected, and we couldn’t trace the route.’

  ‘I see.’ It was something to say. In fact, Nava did not see. If they had not been able to trace the attempt, they could not be thinking it came from the school, so why involve Nava? Technically, that would have been Courtney’s problem anyway. ‘Is there some reason you’re telling me this?’

  ‘Because what we did get was an idea of what they were looking for. They were after your confidential records. In fact, if they hadn’t been hunting for those, we might not have caught them. They got the general records out of the forward-facing personnel database, but they hit the harder security on the IRD’s servers and bounced. Have you pissed anyone off recently?’

  ‘No one I can think of. Unless…’

  ‘Unless?’

  ‘I’ve been helping a student here who believes she’s being watched. It’s complicated. I’ll send you some details and you can look into it if you wish. Perhaps her watchers have decided to get background on me since I’ve been hanging around her.’

  There was silence as Fawn considered. ‘Send me the details and I’ll look into it. And be careful. Like I said, this was a professional hack. You may be dealing with some serious operators.’

  ‘I’m always careful, First Lieutenant.’

  ‘Be more careful.’

  Nava glanced at Mitsuko, who was, of course, looking on with interest. ‘I’m getting told that a lot recently.’

  ~~~

  ‘You’re serious?’ Carina asked, blinking at Nava over the dinner table. ‘You’re going to follow me around looking for the Key to Darkness’s watchers?’

  ‘I’m going to tag along with you whenever I can,’ Nava replied, ‘and if I happen to see one of these people, I intend to ask them what they’re up to. If they do happen to belong to a dark cult of some kind… We’ll deal with that issue when it’s confirmed.’

  Carina’s shoulders sagged. ‘So, you don’t really believe me.’

  ‘I believe you’re being followed. Let’s leave it at that until there’s more evidence one way or another.’

  ‘Well, you’re the first person to believe that much…’

  ‘I’ve issued orders to my patrol officers,’ Courtney said. ‘They’re going to be looking out for possible intruders too. Not all of them can keep See Invisible going for long periods, but they may see something.’

  ‘It adds pressure,’ Nava said. ‘The more people looking, the more chance of success and the more careful the intruders need to be. Did you talk to the administration about that hacking matter?’

  ‘Yeah. They’re doing some forensic checks. They haven’t told me about any unauthorised accesses so far, but that kind of task can take a lot of time.’

  ‘You really think they might have tried hacking the school’s servers too?’ Melissa asked.

  Rochester answered. ‘If they were willing to try the ASF, I doubt they would think twice about doing the same here.’

  ‘Precisely,’ Nava said. ‘Not that they’ll find anything interesting anyway.’

  ‘You’re going to a lot of trouble to help me,’ Carina said. ‘Thank you. Though, I suppose if you’re destined to be–’

  Nava held up a hand. ‘I don’t believe in destiny. I do, however, believe in keeping myself and my friends safe. Intruders on campus could be bad, but then they went and made this personal. Whoever these people are, they’re going to regret that.’

  236/1/20.

  Carina slotted her ketcom into her desk, waited for the display to change, and then reached for the virtual keyboard to type in her password. She had been told on several occasions that passwords were paranoid; biometric identification was quite enough to keep people out of your account. In the past day, she had discovered that Nava also used a password. She had tried not to feel smug.

  She paused before hitting any of the keys as a shadow fell across her. Looking up, she found herself under the gaze of three young women her age who still managed to look like they were her seniors by several years. That was attitude, plain and simple: Yaeko Himura and her partners in crime were the unofficial student council for class 14D. The school had no system of class representation, but you crossed Yaeko at your peril. Yaeko’s arms were crossed under her ample breasts. Not a good sign.

  ‘Getting above ourselves, are we?’ Yaeko asked. It helped her self-appointed status that she was a very attractive girl in the classic, Japanese-beauty mould. Pale skin and long jet-black hair. Not at all tall. Her bust did not, perhaps, follow the ster
eotype, but it did help to endear her to the class’s male population. ‘Endear’ might not have been precisely the right word.

  Carina stared at the other girl for a second, trying to work out what she was talking about. Eventually, staying silent started to seem rude, so Carina went with the only thing she could think of. ‘Huh?’

  ‘Sommer saw you arrive at class, Carina Schwartz. Nava Greyling Sonkei walked you here.’

  ‘Yes. She’s–’

  ‘She’s so far above you socially that you shouldn’t be allowed to say her name,’ Sommer said. She was an attractive girl with a somewhat nasal voice which tended to make her sound snide or whiny. She was also a Chevalier Garavain, which tended to make her exceptionally sensitive when it came to social position.

  ‘Our destinies are intertwined,’ Carina said, defaulting to her preferred view of the world even if, deep down, she knew that was a mistake.

  ‘Not that again,’ Dove snapped. Dove Harris Daison was, in fact, a rung down the social ladder compared to the other two, but she made up for it by being – counter to her pacific name – the biggest bully of the three. She was good-looking but not especially memorable. Dark-brown hair, dark-brown eyes, lighter-brown skin. Her face had very good structure with high cheekbones, a straight nose, and hollowed cheeks, but she was ordinary when placed beside Yaeko. ‘There’s no secret organisation watching you, so–’

  ‘Nava is escorting me to class because she and Courtney Martell Garavain are concerned about sightings of intruders on the campus. Intruders watching me. The SSF are looking into it, and the principal has people looking into hacking attempts on the school’s computers.’

  Sommer waved an absent hand in dismissal. ‘Courtney Martell has been all but kicked out of the clan. I wouldn’t trust–’

  ‘A Greyling believes you?’ Yaeko said. Sommer looked surprised at being interrupted. Or maybe at how she had been interrupted.

  ‘Yes,’ Carina said. Then a small part of her mind decided that discretion might be the better part of valour here. ‘She believes there are people watching me.’

  ‘What does that matter?’ Sommer asked. ‘She’s managed to persuade someone else that her idiocy might be real. So what?’

  Yaeko gave Sommer a rather stiff smile. ‘I’m a little surprised you’ve never heard of the Greylings, Sommer. They do not entertain fantasies. If one of them believes a story such as the one Carina spins, then they have evidence to back it up. Nava Greyling was only adopted by them last year, but they don’t take people in unless those people have a lot of talent. My aunt, Misaki Himura, Secretary General of the Clan Council, personally signed her adoption papers.’

  ‘We’re supposed to start believing her crazy ideas?’ Dove asked, incredulous.

  ‘I think…’ Yaeko paused, considering. ‘I think we’ll have to give her the benefit of the doubt. For now.’

  236/1/21.

  ‘Is there some reason one of your classmates is staring at me as though she wants to attack me?’ Nava asked as Carina walked out of class to meet her. Classes were over for the day and it was time to leave.

  Carina did not need to look back to check who Nava meant. ‘That’s Sommer Chevalier Garavain. She’s a little uptight about status and thinks you shouldn’t be associating with me.’

  ‘I’m aware of the Garavain clan’s attitudes.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, she said something about Courtney Martell yesterday. The captain lives with you, right?’

  ‘She’s living with us because her family decided to take away her allowance for “associating” with her boyfriend. He’s a Maynard House and too low on the social ladder for them to accept. Sommer Chevalier will have to get used to you associating with me. I’m not concerned with clan status unless it assists me in some way.’

  Carina frowned. ‘That sounds a little hypocritical.’

  ‘If it stops me having to duel idiots, I’m perfectly happy with being a hypocrite. Come on, the others are waiting outside.’ Nava turned and then paused. ‘What do you think Sommer Chevalier would think if she knew you were about to meet up with the student president, a woman who happens to come from one of the most influential families in the Alliance?’

  ‘She’d probably have a fit of apoplexy.’ Carina giggled. ‘Maybe we should wait around outside until Sommer leaves.’

  ‘I think we won’t. Let’s get moving.’

  ~~~

  It was a nice day outside. The sky was mostly blue and there was almost no wind. The temperature was cooler than Carina liked, but then Shinden tended to be cooler than Grimalkin year-round. She would be happy when she could get back to her apartment and change into warmer clothes.

  Nava was less concerned about the temperature. She was not exactly concerned about anything, though her customary scan of the surrounding area as she left the building had more purpose than usual. She did not generally employ a cantrip to see invisible objects almost constantly, but she was now and, this time, it paid dividends.

  The man she spotted in a dark bodysuit – possibly armour – was not especially tall. He was slim and fairly nondescript. Brown hair and dark eyes, and not particularly handsome. Someone you would fail to remember if you saw him in passing. Just the kind of man you might send to spy on people, in fact, though he was reinforcing his lack of visibility with the Invisibility spell, just to be sure no one noticed him. He did not appear to be armed, but he was a sorcerer with unknown combat capabilities. He was definitely looking their way; it was not a certainty that he was watching Carina, but it was fairly likely, given the circumstances.

  Confirmation was required and, luckily enough, the plans her friends had would provide that clarification. ‘You two have a council meeting, right?’ Nava asked of Mitsuko and Melissa.

  ‘Yes,’ Mitsuko replied. ‘And I don’t need our secretary’ – she nodded at Melissa – ‘to tell me what the topic is.’

  ‘The fair,’ Melissa said anyway. ‘I never knew there was so much to coordinate to get it to happen. From the outside it looks like organised chaos, but–’

  ‘But once you are on the inside,’ Mitsuko said, ‘you realise that it’s barely organised chaos.’

  ‘Francis Goretti is pulling his hair out?’ Nava asked.

  ‘Have you seen his hair?’ Mitsuko countered. ‘There’s so much of it he could lose half of it and you’d never know.’

  ‘A fair point.’

  ‘But he does look a little stressed,’ Melissa said.

  ‘We should get going,’ Mitsuko said. ‘We’ll see you later for dinner.’

  ‘Yes,’ Nava said. Turning, she started in the general direction of Carina’s apartment. ‘Come on, Carina. I know you want to get changed.’

  ‘When the true darkness comes,’ Carina said, ‘the cold will be so deep that no one will be able to bear it. But right now, it’s just me.’

  Briefly, Nava thought the man she had seen was actually after Mitsuko or Melissa. He had moved and she failed to spot him for a couple of minutes. Then she picked him up again, partially hidden behind some bushes ahead of them. They walked within a couple of metres of him and Nava decided that his expression was… bored. Carina’s watcher did not really want to be doing this. Presumably, cultists tasked with watching a young adult walk around school would be just as bored as anyone else, so that did not say much. Still, Nava was not getting a ‘mad zealot’ vibe. If anything, the man felt more like a civil servant.

  Nava waited until they had entered the building’s lobby and called the elevator before saying anything. ‘I’ve spotted one of your watchers.’

  Carina turned to her with wide eyes. ‘You have?’

  ‘If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have said I had. You go up and get changed. I’ll take care of him.’

  The elevator doors opened and, since Carina did not seem to be about to move, Nava pushed her in. ‘T-take care of him?’ Carina asked.

  Nava held the door as Carina stepped into the car. ‘Yes. Hopefully, I don’t mean permanently.’ Then she vanis
hed and, a second later, the elevator doors closed.

  ‘Nava?’ Carina asked. No answer came.

  ~~~

  The man in the black combat suit suppressed the urge to sigh as he watched the front door of Carina’s building. His orders were to keep an eye on her, not to be a pervert. Every day after classes, she went to her room and changed. He did not need to see that.

  The addition of the Greyling girl was a matter of concern. What did the Greylings want with Carina? Or did the Greylings even have anything to do with this? It seemed that Carina had sought out Nava Greyling, rather than the other way around, so maybe the question was what Carina wanted with a Greyling. He had bugged Carina’s apartment, so anything they spoke of there would be recorded. He could review that later rather than observing directly.

  Besides, Nava Greyling was probably a danger to his mission. He had not been able to dig up much on her, but what he had found was that she was powerful and resourceful. She seemed to be what everyone had hoped Carina was going to turn into. There was every possibility that, with Nava Greyling keeping Carina company, anyone spying on Carina would get spotted sooner rather than–

  ‘I’m going to give you three choices.’ The voice came from behind him and he turned to look. Nava was not actually looking directly at him, but she gave the strong impression of knowing exactly where he was. Her gaze was lowered, as though she were disappointed in him for letting her get this close. ‘First, you can run, in which case I’ll disable you. Second, you can attack, in which case I’ll kill you. Third, and the option I’d prefer, you can surrender. I’d like to know who you are and what you want with Carina, but I’m perfectly happy to trace your identity from your corpse if required.’

  There was a brief pause while the man in black considered his options. Then he cancelled his Invisibility spell. ‘My name,’ he said, ‘is Lars Schwartz Malkin…’

  ~~~

  ‘Her family was secretly keeping an eye on her?’ Mitsuko asked. It was more or less a rhetorical question; Nava had just said as much. ‘Why go to all that trouble? Why even send her here if they were going to send a specific agent to watch her?’