by J. L. Ray
“Yes, sir!” The two all but clicked their heels.
“Very well.” He paced over to the table, his tail calm enough that the two detectives relaxed a bit. “Who and what have you picked for your SCAT back-up?”
Berry walked, trembling, down the hall to the bathroom. She looked at the figure on the door, then at a door across the hall with a different figure. “They have separate bathrooms?” she mused, then shrugged and went into the one with the skirt. She had used these facilities at the Newman’s house, so she had no trouble using them. They were different, but not that different. She frowned. She still had trouble thinking of the Newmans as her parents. She was washing her hands when she was interrupted by the entrance of another person. The woman who came in, tiny, blond, and sharp-featured, wore a silvery dress that sparkled in the sun streaming in from the high windows. She didn’t so much walk as float over to Berry. She moved far too close to her, so Berry backed up to the white-tiled wall. The creature followed, her face fixed in a smile that was anything but reassuring. Berry kept her right hand on the pommel of her sword.
“Hello, little twin.” Tiny hands with silvery, sharp fingernails glided up and the creature stroked her hands down Berry’s pink hair. “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” As she finished, she grabbed Berry’s shoulders.
Berry’s mouth opened as she tried to think of something to say, but she had no idea what to do. She didn’t think Tony would like it if she ran this creature through or snicked off her head.
“I think you are a good witch, myself. I think that She who wishes to use you and your sister as the means to bring about Her ends is a fool. You will betray her, will you not?”
Berry’s eyes widened. Was this witch, for witch she must be, a spy for Caridwen? Or might she be someone who would help her find a way out of the morass she struggled to cross? If she told this Being her true feelings, what then? She realized that no matter what, she could not afford to trust the creature in front of her.
“I am none of your business, Mundane witch,” Berry answered. She clenched her teeth and drew on her power, power that could also draw on her Changeling’s inherent holding of magic to increase her witchling wielding of magic, even in Mundania. She concentrated that power in her arms and, suddenly, a burst of energy threw Glinda to the other side of the bathroom. Her curly head smacked against the wall, and she slid down it, completely knocked out.
“Blood and Bones...” Berry went over to check and see if the creature still lived. She did. Berry ran for the door as if the Hounds of the Hunt were baying at her heels. And as she went through the door, she ran straight into Pernella.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Hey, doll-face, where’s the fire?” Pernella caught Berry before she could fall.
Berry turned a desperate gaze to the door of the bathroom, then back to Pernella. “I, uh, I, there’s no...no fire, Tooley’s mother!” she answered, hoping the witch would just let her go.
Pernella was a lot of things, but not a fool. Nope. The little broad seemed plenty scared of something. She let go of the girl’s arms and tipped back her fedora. “Hang on, now, doll. Tell me what’s got your knickers in a knot and I’ll try to help ya.”
Berry looked at her in surprise. “You would help me?”
“You’re Tooley’s girl, ain’tcha? I mean, he thinks a lot of ya, so that makes you part of the family.” She leaned forward. “Plus, I think Bogey likes ya, too. My Bogart is a pretty good judge of character. Now, what’s going on in the Ladies?”
Berry frowned and then said, “Oh, this washroom area? It is only for ladies?”
“People in Mundania are private about weird shit, kid. You’ll have to get used to it. They segregate men and women under some circumstances. The crapper is one. Some religious groups do it in church, too. Separate men and women, I mean.” Pernella started chuckling. “I won’t make the obvious comparisons there.”
Berry decided not to tell her that some things weren’t obvious to someone who had no Mundane experience on which to draw. “Ah,” she said, hoping to sound intellectual. It had worked for Tony’s demon. When Pernella gave her arm a little punch and laughed harder, she laughed as well.
“Kid, help me out here. What d’ya need?”
“Tooley’s mother—”
“Call me Pernella, doll.”
“Pernella, there is a witch in there and I...I...she seemed to be...it felt like an attack. I pushed her. She is hurt.”
“Crap! You was going for help and I stopped you. Here, c’mon,” Pernella grabbed her arm and started to head down the hall.
“No, no, you misunderstand. She attacked me. I was running away.” Berry dropped her head in shame.
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. You was running for help. Let’s go!” Pernella gave her a big wink and Berry realized that Pernella wanted her to say that.
“Oh. But—”
“No ‘buts,’ doll. Witch probably works here. Felt the power comin’ offa youse and wanted to get some.”
“Can you sense power?”
“Right now, yeah, I can. You need to dial it down or the station will light up with PTB agents.”
“I think it will anyway. My sister is working on a plan that involves many detectives.”
“Your sister...” Pernella paused and turned to look at Berry. “The two of you together are capable of big things. You know that, right?”
Berry looked away as she nodded, afraid her treachery would show in her face. “Yes. I know. I have been told.”
“I don’t think nobody told the sister on this side of the Divide yet, did they?”
“No.” Berry looked back at her and bit her lip.
“You don’t want her to know, do ya?” Pernella stared at Berry, who kept silent. “Y’know, the folks on this side won’t use you like a rag and throw you away, like the Bitches Council would, right?”
Berry shook her head. Caridwen had broken with the Council long before she acquired the child Adele to raise, so Berry had never met them. Most of what she knew of them came from Caridwen’s rage-filled rants on the New Order that she and the mysterious Being already stuck in Mundania would usher in after they reunited Adele and her twin in Fairie. But none of that could happen until certain changes in Fairie and in Mundania happened first. Until a few days ago, Caridwen’s plans had been only plans.
Then Antonia’s powers awoke, and the plan, precarious at best, was forced into action. Caridwen had taunted Adele as she prepared her for transportation, forcing her change back to human from panther for the stasis spell. She told Adele that the longer Antonia resided in Mundania now that she had her powers, the less likely she would develop full use of them. The power-dampening effects of Mundania would permanently warp her magic, which would still never rival that of Adele’s, who had grown up in Fairie and then had been forced into Changing, acquiring extra resources that could be used through training. But if they moved fast, then Caridwen would be able to force her twin to return to Fairie, Geas or not. As frightened as Adele had been of her foster “mother,” she never believed that the witch would get this far in her schemes.
Pernella interrupted Berry’s musings.
“Hey, doll, you okay? Y’kinda checked out on me mentally there for a minute.”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. I don’t want Tony to know yet. Please?”
Pernella smiled ruefully. “Just want to be liked for yourself, and never mind the wattage, eh?”
Berry nodded, agreeing with the part of the sentence that she actually understood. “Yes. Yes. I want my sister to like me.”
She sobbed just a little at the end, and the old witch, who adored her two boys, felt her heart melt for this little witchling. She patted Berry on the shoulder. “Now, now, girl. Now, now. It’ll all be fine. Trust old Pernella, doll.”
She was shocked when the girl turned and threw herself into her arms, crying her heart out. When Tooley came down the hallway and saw them, she gestured him over.
�
�Hey now, here, doll. Here’s old Tooley wondering what his old mum has said to make Strawberry Shortcake cry!”
Berry pulled her face away from the witch’s shoulder and scrubbed one arm across her face, trying to rub away the tears and just a bit of slime. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It’s my fault. The lady in the bathroom...”
Tony came down the hall, worried about her long absence, and heard the last.
“Which lady?” she asked grimly, wondering whose ass was about to get solidly kicked.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her!” Berry grabbed her sister’s arm. “But she grabbed me with her little silver nails—”
Tony started to push past Berry, “That bitch, Glinda! I will shove her silver slippers up her—”
Cal came down the hall behind Tony in time to block his partner from the door. “Oh no, you do not!” He turned to Pernella, “Hiya! You Tooley’s Ma?”
“I am,” Pernella said.
“Could you duck in the ladies and see if the armory sergeant needs a magical practitioner or not?”
“Happy to. Keep Berry here. The little bitch in there scared her.” At that, Tony growled. Pernella looked over at Berry and said with a grin, “I think she likes you, kiddo.”
Tony raised a brow at the witch while putting her arms around her twin. “Glinda has been acting like the newest resident of Crazy Town lately. I don’t know what bug flew up her ass, but if she upset you, I will totally write her up and get her a transfer to some other ‘service’ industry. One that involves cleaning toilets.”
Berry laughed a little through her tears. “I still do not understand half of what you are saying, but I think you mean to help.”
Tooley smiled at them both. Maybe Berry was going to be okay. Maybe, just maybe, he and his family could settle down here in D.C. and he could check up on her, teach her this weird language and how to use an f-light. Maybe even get her to try jeans and a t-shirt. It could happen.
Tooley’s f-light signaled. He sighed. When they had arrived at the station, Phil had volunteered to stay with Bogart in the area of the building set up for Jacques while he and his mother looked for the lieutenant. Apparently, Lieutenant Azeem had found them, and now he needed to get to the conference room and be briefed on the evening’s plans. It was time for Pernella to switch places with Phil.
“Ladies, I am going to need to send my mother down to sit with Bogey.”
Tony nodded. “Let me just see what’s going on.”
She went into the bathroom and found Pernella squatting by Glinda, running a spell. “Pernella, what the hell are you doing?”
“I’m just running a little diagnostic on her brain, makin’ sure Berry didn’t do no permanent damage to the little bi—uh...witch.”
Tony crossed her arms and gave her cop face. “And that’s all, huh?”
Pernella held up her hands quickly, laughing. “Okay, okay. Ya got me, copper. She’s up to somethin’. I can feel it. And I don’t want it to come back and bite Berry on the ass, or you either. Just figured I could get away with checking and you lot can’t, with your rules and all. Besides, doll, it ain’t like I can do much here without my m-magic. I mean, with the Mundane damper and all…” She looked at Tony’s neck where her medallion lay. She’d almost spilled the beans by mentioning it, but now she wondered if she should. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t legal.
Tony squatted down beside the old witch, and Pernella felt a little apprehensive until Tony said in a fairly reasonable tone, “So, what did you find?”
Pernella nodded. “I knew you was good people, even when you played at being a smuggler.” She put out one hand as if to lean on Tony, though really it was to borrow from the medallion. The she held up her other hand over Glinda’s head and rotated it to produce a silvery sprawl of thoughts that appeared as if written in a spidery scrawl.
“Pretty!” Tony commented. “Useful?”
“Maybe. Again, I ain’t got much juice, but I got enough to make this work.” She refrained from telling Tony that she had enough juice because of borrowing from both Tony and Glinda. The less she spilled about that kind of magic, the better. “Seems like here,” she pointed to one scrawl, “in the middle, there’s some kind of conspiracy, but over here, she’s just pissed because now there are two of you and she thinks Mephistopheles’ll never go for her again.” Pernella tilted her head to peer at Glinda. “She’s a looker, but what a bitch!”
“Conspiracy?” Tony latched onto the term. “Can you get any more on that?”
“Hell, I was lucky to get that at all.” She dropped both arms and shook them like a weightlifter who had just set down a dead lift bar after heaving up a personal best. “My power is pretty sad here in Mundania. Guess I’ll have to start using my wits more and rely on that old witch magic a bit less!” She glanced over at Tony and the medallion again. Pernella smiled to herself. The medallion wanted to be with this twin, apparently. Go figure. She should tell the detective what it really could do, but she was afraid she might get in some trouble, maybe screw the pooch on this visa thing. Besides, the detective might need some back up. She decided to keep her trap shut on this one, for now. She and Tooley could always make another one.
Tony looked back down at Glinda and frowned. “So—Berry didn’t kill her. Why isn’t she waking up?”
Pernella waved one of her tired hands, “Oh, the kid used a little too much juice to push her away. I think Glinda’ll be fine in another hour or two.”
Tony nodded. “I’ll send the MP down to check her into the infirmary.” When Pernella looked confused she added, “The magical practitioner, the magic doctor.”
“MP, huh? Wonder if I could get that kinda job?” Pernella looked thoughtful for just a second before she started cackling. “Job! Me! I crack myself up, kid!”
When Tony got back to the conference room, it had filled with personnel discussing the plan. Phil and Cal would have a team of at least ten Mundane and Fairie SCAT personnel when they returned to Fairie with Naamah. She joined the group and they ran through the plan again. The SCAT members would fan out around the bar and be camouflaged either as patrons or as various types of foliage—trees and bushes. The Mundane SCAT members would be recording the whole operation on the passive f-light audio. By the time the deal went down, the PTB and the SCIB would have enough proof to put Sammeal and the Willow away forever. If the sentence went down in Fairie, which was likely, it would be much worse than mere death; forever actually meant exactly that in the Realms.
“So, have we got Team B in place?” Cal asked Naamah, referring to the group of SCAT Supers in Fairie who were meant to be in the bar before the three of them arrived.
Naamah put her head to one side, listening. “Yes, they are in.” She looked around the table at the SCAT Mundanian Supers who were going to be their safety net. “Are we all ready here?” She looked at Azeem, who nodded to Cal.
“I think we’re a go!” Cal agreed. He looked at Phil. “Got what you need?”
Phil nodded. He grinned at Tony as the room emptied and the team headed down for the portal.
Tony grabbed Phil’s arm and kept him back for a moment. She smiled at him, a small amount of worry in her look. “You watch your backside in there, demon.”
He leaned over and kissed her as thoroughly as he could in just a few seconds time. As he pulled back, he said, “I confess, I would rather you watched my backside.”
She patted his cheek. “So would I, but they want SCAT this time, and I’ve not trained for the teams yet.”
“With a name like that...” He shrugged and she laughed. They walked out the door holding hands.
Berry and Tooley were in the back of the conference room. When they first got back to the conference room, Tooley had spent some time explaining what he did know about the smuggling operation to the detectives and Lieutenant Azeem, but his information was only generally useful since he had not worked with Sammeal and the Willow before this one deal. He had been able to provide a few names of contacts that woul
d help Phil and Cal keep the two criminals from becoming suspicious. The lieutenant was happy enough with his information, and they had worked out a deal for future consultation. All in all, Tooley felt more at peace than he had since his little brother was born. So it was a shock when he turned to Berry and saw her staring at the two walking through the door, tears running down her cheeks.
“Berry? What is it?” He wanted to take her in his arms, but he was afraid to even try. He settled for taking a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping her eyes.
“I...I’m worried.” Berry couldn’t tell him the truth, and she didn’t have it in her to lie. “Are you going with them?” She looked up at him, still distressed.
“I will monitor the progress from the lieutenant’s office,” he told her, frowning. “Do you want to be there?”
“I want to be where Tony is,” she said, though she sounded a bit doubtful.
“She’ll be there. Come with me.” They headed to the lieutenant’s office to join the others around the device Azeem had to stay in touch with Fairie and their operatives while they were there.
“What is taking so long?” Tony muttered, as she paced around Azeem’s office.
“What was that, Lieutenant?” The contact on the other side had heard her muttering but not her words.
Azeem looked over at Tony and shook his head. “Just some background noise.” He put the device on mute and gave Tony a pointed look. “Do you need to wait somewhere else, Detective?”
“No, sir,” she said, and sat down by her sister and Tooley on the couch in the corner of the office. Rumor had it that Azeem slept there more than he did at home, and it was certainly built for his body type, rather than for humans. Not even Tooley, the tallest of the three, could put his feet flat on the floor while sitting against the back of the couch. Tony had gotten up to pace when she realized that she was bouncing her feet around like she had as a six year old, sitting on the big chairs at Bergdorf’s while her mother tried on expensive clothing. She hated waiting.
