by S T Branton
She pulled out her phone and tapped a few commands into the flat screen. A few seconds later, she nodded.
“Got it. Let's roll.”
We piled back into Ally's car and Splinter scrambled out of my pocket onto his favorite spot on the center console. I made a mental note to figure out a way to make him a little bed for it. He deserved some comfort and luxury after everything he’d gone through right alongside me. Maybe when the Guild came for me, I’d leave him behind with Ally so he could live a good life.
The thought made my eyes sting, and I forced myself to concentrate on my excited anticipation as we started toward the promise of tacos.
It wasn't to be.
“What do you mean this place is closed?” I protested. “Didn't your little fancy phone have that piece of information available?”
“It didn't say it was closed.” Ally pulled her phone out again and jabbed it angrily. A few seconds later, she let out an exasperated sigh. “Apparently they were shut down last night temporarily due to health code violations.”
“To be fair, some of my favorite tacos have come from places that have had their share of run-ins with health codes. What's the alternative?”
“It looks like there's a twenty-four-hour diner across the street,” Archie offered. “Maybe they have something good.”
The menu at the diner was as disappointing as every other eating establishment I’d visited in the time I'd been out. No tacos. Not even any taco-adjacent food like nachos. I would have settled for a few slices of jalapeño and a sprinkle of cumin on my burger. As it was, I had to settle for what they called a ‘gourmet grilled cheese’ because it had five different types of cheese and was slathered in garlic butter. It was gooey, greasy, and satisfying, but a far cry from a good taco.
After we'd been eating for a few moments, I wiped my hands off on a napkin, then pulled the papers out and spread them across the table. I gestured at the mess.
“What can we figure out so far?”
“It's an outline for the plan they're working on. I recognize some of this stuff from other Harbinger documents,” Archie informed us.
“Whatever it is, it's massive. They must have been working on this for a long time.”
It was abundantly clear how much work went into crafting the plans laid out in front of us. Of course, that didn’t do us a hell of a lot of good since the vast majority of it was coded or burned and what we could read was so vague it could mean almost anything. It was in a Far language and I recognized a few of the words as ones I'd seen or heard during my time in The Deep. But most of it I couldn’t decipher. I scanned the pages over and over and my mind picked up a pattern. I went back to the first page and swept my eyes over it.
I pointed out a shape on the first page. “This symbol is on all the documents. Do you know what it means?”
Archimedes looked at it and nodded, then swallowed his mouthful of French fries.
“It's the symbol for Dyadology.”
“That’s runecraft, right?” Ally confirmed.
Archie looked at her, impressed. “Right. It’s a discipline of magic, like Thrash’s atomism or Bentham’s aethermancy. Not many of us practice it, though.”
“Why not? Sara can really kick ass with that locket around her neck. Why wouldn’t everyone want to do that?”
“That’s part of the problem, anyone can use them. The most respected among The Guild don’t like the idea of us sharing our magic around. They completely prohibit them in The Heights."
“Nothing that has anything to do with The Near is allowed there.” I preempted Ally’s next question.
“Runes require something from The Near and something from The Far, as well as specific spells. The fact that it's reliant on items from The Near means it seems pretty shady by magical purists, but they are extremely useful. I've seen Dyads that can do just about everything. That's why they’re so heavily regulated by the Guild.”
“But that doesn't stop the black market,” Ally criticized.
“Do your human laws actually prevent any crime?”
“How long do they last?” Ally ignored him. “Can you use them into perpetuity?”
“It depends on who made it and the quality of the material used. Different runes have different shelf lives depending on what type they are and the skill of the maker, along with the materials. Some of them can only be used once. Others can be used hundreds of times before they’re rendered unusable. Others can be utilized in small doses, but then need time to recharge before they’re effective again. There are some that can, in theory, be used indefinitely.”
“Wow. I may have to rethink that whole selling my skin thing.”
Archie looked at her. “It’s not only blood and guts. Runes made with biological material like that are often incredibly powerful, but it's not necessary. I've seen amazing Dyads made with pieces of plants and bits of buildings. It's all about the type of magic the maker wants to instill in it and how long they want it to last. The thing is, even when creating powerful runes, Dyadologists don't usually need a large amount of any material. But the Harbingers are different. They bought everything I had available, and asked me to source more. I sold them quite a variety. I don't know what they needed it for. They never explained it. But they wanted a huge amount.”
“Maybe they're planning on making a massive rune?” I hazarded a guess. “Is that even a thing?”
“I suppose it could be,” Archie agreed. “But I've never heard of something using this amount of materials. I don't know many Philosophers who would take the risk of making something that big. It's too dangerous, too much potential to run afoul of the Guild.”
“You said you sold them more than the Farstuff,” I pointed out. “What else? What else did they want from you?”
“I told you I sold them a few of the runes I'd already made. It wasn't many of them, but they were effective ones. Mostly weapons. What was really strange is they chose my flashiest weapons over my most powerful.”
“They wanted flashy weapons that weren't powerful?” I confirmed.
He nodded.
“Exactly. They didn't want anything like your locket or switchblade, something subtle and small that could be easily overlooked. They wanted things that grabbed attention more than would have a tremendous amount of impact. More bark than bite. That's not my normal style. Can I see your switchblade?”
I took it out of my pocket and handed it over to Archie. While he examined it, I snatched a few french fries from his plate and slipped them into my jacket pocket so Splinter could eat.
“It belonged to Solon.”
“This handiwork is better than mine, and that's saying something. Most runes don’t last long, even the good ones. The fact that they’re made from elements of two different worlds means they’re highly unstable. But this blade looks ancient.”
He handed it back, obviously impressed by my little weapon.
“I honestly never thought about it. It was something he always had that he taught me to use. I guess he knew it would be mine one day.”
I was lost in a sudden wave of reminiscing about Solon when Ally jumped in the booth beside me, nearly making me choke on my milkshake.
“I found something!” she exclaimed.
“A cockroach?”
“No, a zip code.”
That was both better and more surprising.
“A zip code? Where?”
She pointed on one of the documents, and I saw a series of numbers.
“It's not just any zip code. I know where this place is.”
“You do?” Archie asked.
“I told you about the story I was working on before I found you again, Sara. About the missing people?”
“Yeah, you said there were several of them spread out across a few different locations.”
“Right.” Ally shook her head. “But the first one happened in a small town in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina called Alton. I read addresses from that small town probably a thousand time
s. I’d know that zip code anywhere. So, what are the odds that same zip code for that small town would be written here in these documents?”
She and I exchanged glances, then looked at Archie.
“It’s a stretch,” he cautioned.
“But it's our only lead. I say we follow it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
"You two be careful and let me know when you get back," Archie said when we stepped out of the diner.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"I need to bow out of this part of our mission."
"You mean you're going to punk out of it," I corrected.
"Are you kidding me?" Ally asked. "You're seriously going to run off?”
“I’m not running anywhere. I’m helping the only way I know how. These Harbingers are well-equipped, and if you’re going to stop them, you’ll need some weapons. Here." He pulled out a card and handed it to me. "This is where I'll be. Find me when you're done."
"That's fine." I shoved the card into my pocket. "Ally and I can do it ourselves."
"Yeah!" Ally said enthusiastically. She looped her arm somewhat aggressively through mine, and we turned to stomp toward her car. "Are you sure we can do this? Without him?" she muttered at me.
"Of course, we can. I got this far without him, didn't I?"
We got into the car, and she grinned at me.
"Before we go, there's one thing we need to do."
"What's that?"
"You'll see."
I rolled my eyes as I shoved my seat belt into place and slumped back in the seat.
"I'm tired of the riddles and surprises."
Ally laughed and pulled out into the street. We'd been driving for about twenty minutes when I started to recognize things around me. They didn't look exactly like I thought they would, but they were familiar enough to know where I was. We were headed toward Charleston.
"Don't worry," she reassured me after seeing the look on my face. “I'm not bringing you to see your family."
"Good. That would be the worst intervention ever."
A few minutes later, she pulled into a driveway I hadn't seen in a decade. My heart pounded slightly when I looked at the house and noticed all the details that hadn't been there the last time I was here. Flower beds along the front were blooming with flowers where box hedges used to be, and the massive weeping willow that had taken up most of the front corner of the lawn was gone. There were Jones For Congress signs in the yard.
"Nobody's here. My parents are out of town for a few days, so you don't have to worry about anybody seeing you."
"What are we doing here?"
She pulled me around to the back of the house.
"There's something we need to pick up."
"You’re kidding me." I grinned when I saw it. "I thought it was gone."
"Never." She climbed out of the car and gave an affectionate pat to the hood of the old station wagon. "I don't drive it regularly anymore, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it."
"Does it still run?"
"Sure, it does. My dad takes it out for a spin around the neighborhood every couple of months to make sure it's still functioning. Tinkers around with it on the weekends. It might be in better condition now than it was when we were teenagers."
She reached into the wheel well and pulled out a magnetic key box. She took the key from it and unlocked the driver's door, then leaned across to unlock mine. I jumped in and immediately felt the comforting, familiar surroundings take some tension out of my shoulders. Everything since I escaped felt so strange, but this felt like home.
Ally got in and cranked the engine over.
"Hold on. It gets better."
She reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a CD. After popping it into the portable player she attached to the radio, she hit the play button.
"You still have this CD!" I nearly shouted as the sound of Panic! At the Disco filled the car.
"Of course, I do. Do you know how long I stood in line at that merch table waiting to buy this thing? There was no way I was getting rid of it."
I laughed. Ally had bought this CD at the concert the night I was arrested. The concert I missed. Listening to the song brought me back to that night, but instead of studying and getting arrested, I was at the concert, blissfully unaware of everything I now knew about my world. I was back in a miniskirt, watching Ally dancing with some asshole, and thinking about how we’d never have more fun than we were right then.
As we drove down the road, Splinter worked his way out of my pocket and found a sunny spot on the console between us. He curled his little body up and rested his head on his paws. I'd never seen him quite so content. He was practically purring.
"Where did you get that thing, anyway?"
"His name is Splinter." I affectionately rubbed one fingertip along his bristles. I learned a while ago not to attempt to pet him with a full palm. "Be nice to him."
"I'm sorry, Splinter."
"I told you he found me when I was in The Deep. He needed me as much as I needed him, and we stuck with each other. He's been my companion, and he's looked out for me when I didn't have anyone else."
"He might still be creepy as all get out, but I'm glad you had him when you were there. It makes me feel better to know you weren't always alone."
"Me too."
The track switched and both of us burst into song, our dancing reaching a pitch so fevered the aged station wagon was nearly bouncing like it was on hydraulics. Our sudden enthusiasm didn’t amuse Splinter, but he wasn't willing to give up his cushy spot on the console or the patch of sunlight that likely represented the only time in his life he'd been able to sunbathe. So, he dug his sharp little claws into the console, held on for life, and buried his head lower to ride it out.
Several hours later, we were still dancing and singing and making fun of each other for forgetting the lyrics, then making fun of each other even harder for remembering them, when we approached the town of Alton. Ally's face dropped, and I looked through the windshield to see police tape stretched across the road and tied to utility poles on either side. Beyond it, where the town should be, was blackened rubble.
"What happened?" she muttered in a muted, defeated tone.
The road stretched in front of us should have been a quaint small-town main street. One of those places people call downtown as a joke because it has about ten shops, a tiny hotel, and a coffee shop. Instead, it was a wasteland.
"It looks like it burned down. There's a notice."
We got out and walked toward the pole positioned in the middle of the street that displayed a notice on county letterhead.
"A gas main burst," Ally read. She looked out over the town again.
I shuddered.
"Something isn't right."
Ally pulled out her phone and a few seconds later had an article about the town up on her screen.
"It says that they haven't found a clear explanation for it. They're considering it a freak accident. But everyone had to evacuate until further notice.”
Her eyes slid over to mine, and I shook my head.
"This wasn't an accident."
She shook her head back.
"No."
"Let's look around. Maybe we can find something that will give us an idea of what really happened."
We skirted around the police barricades and made our way along the side of the town. Or rather, what used to be a town. A barn ahead of us was the only building that had escaped the brunt of the blaze. Parts of it were singed, but it was still standing. That meant there was space inside we could search.
"What do you think?" Ally nodded toward the barn.
"I don't think it's a coincidence it's still mostly standing."
"You think it's another hideout for the Harbingers?"
I nodded.
"What better way to find some privacy than to burn down the entire town?”
“That sounds like some twisted villain logic.”
“Well
, we’re dealing with some twisted villains. Let's go.”
We rushed up to the barn and pressed our backs against the side, looking around and listening carefully for any indication that they'd seen us. When all stayed quiet, we crept toward the door. I had the compulsion to toss myself on the ground and roll a few times for the effect.
It seemed like all the most successful spies threw in at least two or three floor rolls per investigation, so maybe there was something about it that made the investigating part more effective. We made it around to the door faster than I anticipated, and I decided to forgo the roll.
"What are we looking for?" Ally asked.
"I'm not sure. I guess we'll figure it out when we find it."
"That's super helpful."
It took both of us to open the large, heavy door to get inside. If there had been a huge stash of Farstuff here, it wasn't anymore. Empty crates cluttered the floor and shelves designed to hold feed and tack supplies were bare.
"Let's look around. There might still be something here."
Ally countered, "It looks like they cleared it out. They must have known we were coming. Maybe the ones from yesterday gave them a heads-up."
"Doesn't matter. There still could be something here. You have to understand, it's like I said. Most Farfolk are fine and go about their lives without causing death and destruction and mayhem to anyone. Not everyone is like that. The ones who aren't and, let's be honest, some who are, have very few good thoughts about the people of The Near. Nearlings are fairly low life forms in their eyes, but their low opinion of us kind of gives us an advantage. It means we get to prove them wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"The Farsiders with that perception of us think that Nearsiders are nowhere near as smart as they are. They wouldn't feel like they needed to be careful about clearing out everything because any Nearling who found it wouldn't be able to recognize it or realize it mattered."
"Like this?"
I looked across the space and saw her holding a grisly-looking needle between two fingers.
"Oh, dear jiminy, what the shit is that?"
She shook her head while pressing her lips together like she didn't trust herself to open her mouth again. I rushed toward her and took the syringe from her as carefully as I could. There was no telling what the strange green and blue swirled substance inside was or what it might do if the tip pricked me. I really didn't want to find out. What I did want was prepare myself for whatever ridiculousness might lurk around this place. My locket had powered back up, and I made sure it was ready to go so I’d have as much strength and speed as possible if the need arose.
