Marking Territory (Freelance Familiars Book 2)

by Daniel Potter

  Possibilities whirled in my head. Did she mean that Rudy predated the Veil itself? I wondered again just how old the happy-go-lucky squirrel was.

  Weaver turned back to me and gave a little bow. "You will call on my services again, Mr. Thomas. I am eager to see what exchanges we can arrange if you survive your Brother's task. Fair thee well."

  Weaver turned and jabbed at the handle on the back door of the van.

  "Wait," I said. "Where are you going?"

  "Why, I am going to spin a web and see what your world offers. It has been too long since I have sampled the cuisine beyond Pangea. Adieu, fellow hunter." With that the van doors swung open and Weaver leaped out into a wooded area, her toolbox thorax clanging as she lurched into the trees. The thin secondary growth crackled under the weight of her metal body.

  My own thoughts ran around in a hamster ball, cursing like a hyperactive mantra. CrapCrapCrapCrap. I let a giant spider spirit out into the world for a hunting holiday. CrapCrapCrapCrap.

  "I wouldn't worry too much about her," Rudy said. "It takes her days to digest a person. She'll probably grab a cat or two before the Veil drives her back home."

  I glowered at Rudy. "Are you saying that to make me feel better, or are you hoping for a reduction in the feline population?"

  "Humans aren't actually the top of the food chain, Thomas. Sometimes they get eaten too. Not your fault. You can't protect everybody. Besides, it’s not every day you get a magus in your debt."

  "Are you really older than the Veil, Rudy?"

  "No, of course not. Don't be silly. That would be totally nuts." He made a head nod toward the magi still in the van. If I wanted a chance at clearer answers, we'd have to ditch the trio.

  Mentally, they appeared to have ditched us. Richard still clutched at Harry, their eyes closed. Tom leaned back in his seat to place a hand on Harry's shoulder. The van hadn't been moving since I'd gotten back from the beyond, and we appeared to be surrounded by trees on all sides. Had we driven off the side of the road? I still had the link closed tightly, so I let out a loud "Ah-hem!" to get their attention.

  Tom opened his eyes first, shaking himself as he took in his surroundings. "That… That was too bloody close for comfort. What was that thing?" He stared at the darker spot of carpet where the tool chest had been anchored to the floor of the van. "Where— You know what? I don't care. That was amazing, Richard."

  "Dude, that was all Thomas," Rudy said.

  Tom gave a start, and I felt a momentary spike of fear. "You can summon spirits? One that large?"

  "Course he can," Rudy cut me off before I could respond. "Anything Harry can do, Thomas can do better, since he sees what's going on, magically at least."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" I protested.

  He just held up a paw toward me and said, "Quiet you. I'm negotiating here," before continuing to speak to Tom. "Understand that Thomas is a good soul. He don't ask questions. He just saves his clients. No matter how crazy friggin stupid they've been." Tom and I blanched at the squirrel's sudden vehemence, and Richard opened his eyes. "That trick is going to cost Thomas big time down the line and don't ya'll forget it. That went way beyond the call of duty."

  "Rudy, what the hell you trying to pull on me here?" I whispered.

  Rudy rounded on me. "I'm making sure your clients know what you did for them before you can be modest about it. Magi understand two things: tass and favors. If you don't call a favor a favor, they'll be happy to forget it ever happened."

  Richard didn't look happy about it but nodded. "Harry's rescue was reckless. We acknowledge the debt."

  "Would have worked fine if the Veil had fired up," Harry muttered, not opening his eyes. "Nobody would have seen anything definite then."

  "And why didn't it?" I asked. "What did you and Jules do while we were gone?"

  All three of the magi's eyes snapped wide open. Fear oozed through the link, not the adrenaline-soaked flight panic that had them in its grip while fleeing the cops, but pure dread. The magi didn't have many laws, but a big one was you do not screw the thing that is protecting all magi from the pitchforks and torches. It was punishable by death, with qualifications. Qualifications that meant an elder magus might weasel out of it. But a technomagus? Probably not.

  "That’s not possible," Richard said.

  "Unless..." Tom said.

  The pair stared at each other for a moment. Harry paled. Richard turned back to me. "Thomas, we need to confer with Jules."

  Tom took out a cellphone and called a number, turning away from me as he spoke into it. Several terse nods later and the three lapsed into silence as he hung up.

  "Well?" I said. "I am your bond, you know. You going to tell me what's going on?"

  "I don't think that would be a good idea, Thomas. At least until we get clarification from Jules about what he's done," Richard said.

  "You might be better off breaking the bond now," Harry suggested.

  Richard shuddered. He liked having access to an actual familiar, that was for sure. "Let’s hold off on that."

  "What the hell has the skinny man and the fat cat done?" Rudy demanded, his tail shaking.

  "He wouldn't say over the phone," Tom said. "Told us to meet him back at the 'Pillar.'"

  "So we're just supposed to sit here and wait for you?" I said. "Noise is still at the Pillar."

  "Noise has no chance at being sullied by this. She's not a magus or a familiar. If Jules did what we think he did, then you shouldn't get involved any further. We'll fix this." Richard's smile was not entirely reassuring.

  "Hell no. You ring me when you want to meet," Rudy said as he hopped down on the floor. He shoved my cut of tass into a bag and scrambled up on my shoulders.

  "Or just, you know, open the mental link you're clearly straining to keep closed," I added, prodding the link with my mind. Richard had been keeping it closed fairly often over the last three days. Whatever the technomagi were up to, it had him anxious when he thought too hard about it. I kept telling myself it didn't matter, that I had half of what I needed for O'Meara's treatment in my harness already. Waiting through the waning half-moon would take longer at this rate. Once I made sure Noise got fixed, I could revaluate my positions.

  Still, I stepped out of the van with deep misgivings.

  Tom had somehow driven the van deep enough into the woodland that I couldn't see the road. He backed out hurriedly, a tree claiming a side-view mirror in his haste. Rudy and I watched it disappear down a hill and presumably back to the road.

  I did a bit of grooming while I attempted to figure out where we were. The skeletal trees weren't much help on their own.

  "There's no GPS signal!" Rudy exclaimed. "I've got signal and even data but no GPS!"

  "So you have no idea where we are? I guess we'll have to do this the old fashion way." I listened for a road. Oddly, once the sound of the van's engine had faded, I didn't heard another vehicle. I set off in the same direction as the van. "So, who died and made you my agent, Rudy?" I asked, filling the oddly quiet forest.

  "If you wanna be crass about it, Harry did, and you weren't going to charge extra for an emergency resurrection. What'd you promise the Weaver? Or was this a first-time-is-free sort of deal?"

  "I didn't promise her anything. A friend called in a favor."

  Rudy mulled on that for a microsecond. I'd told him about Bone Whistler a little bit previously. "Well congratulations! You now owe a serial killer a favor."

  "He's not a serial killer! He's just a—"

  "Cougar, and if the Weaver owed him, he's not a cougar. He's more like THE Cougar. And trust me, cougars are serial killers. They'll stalk prey for days or weeks for fun."

  I grunted. "Well, he's not THE Cougar anymore. He's got my old body."

  "And this has made him a compassionate individual?" Rudy asked.

  I shivered. I joined Bone Whistler's hunt occasionally. I wouldn't describe him as cruel. He killed his prey efficiently, but compassion had no place in his world or his m
ind. A deer once pleaded for its life in front of him. It might as well have been animal bleating. "No."

  "It will be something you really don't want to do."

  "Like kill someone?"

  Rudy laughed. "Ha, no. To a spirit like him, killing somebody is no big deal. Cougars as a rule aren't big on grudges. That’s totally a housecat thing. Nah, he's gonna want a new hunting ground. That's what cougars want. More territory. Or maybe he'll want you to kill a bear?"

  I huffed. "You really have no clue, do you? In fact, I suspect you're attempting to distract me from asking why the hell the Weaver knew you."

  "Flaming hot cashews, Thomas! Leave my age alone, will ya? The damn rodents are bad enough."

  We reached the crossroads and I immediately knew where we were. More importantly, I knew the way toward O'Meara’s. The trio's refusal to go to the Inquisitor's place for help even while Harry bled out had me worried.

  Rudy took no notice of the crossroads.

  "The rodents?" I asked innocently.

  "Oh, don't get me started on the rodents! You know squirrels can live twenty years normally, right? That makes us practically elves to a rat!" Rudy chittered so hard I felt the vibration. Interesting.

  I did some mental math and said, "It's closer to a dwarf. They're supposed to live about six times as long as a human. Elves live about fifteen times the average human lifespan, if they die of old age at all. Depends on the particular type of elf."

  "I am not a dwarf!" Rudy snapped.

  "Replace the beer with cashews and I think there's a pretty good resemblance." I grinned at my troll.

  "You're the dwarf! Mules have nothing on cougars, apparently. We should just sit this out, Thomas. Take your tass and go home. Whatever Jules is doing will probably blow up in his face," Rudy chittered.

  "What says we're not?" I asked, innocent like.

  "Because we're going to O'Meara's to tattle on him."

  "I prefer the term "'second opinion,' since the trio slammed the door in our noses. Besides, all my stuff is still at O'Meara's."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  "That’s some serious Harry Potter level shit," I said as I set foot on what should have been O'Meara's property. Rudy's weight focused into two points and I heard his little sniffles as he scented the air.

  "This IS the right place. Where's the house?"

  I scanned the area. "Where's the yard? Even the mailbox is gone!" The house, the entire property, had disappeared like it'd never been here. The space between the two other homes had narrowed to make up for the sudden loss of landmass. The neighbors were now only a stone's throw away from each other. We crouched in the woods behind them. I wanted to creep forward and look at the road and sidewalks; or follow the faint line of purple that threaded between the houses, but both showed signs of occupancy.

  Elizabeth, one of O'Meara's neighbors, stood in her kitchen with another woman I didn't recognize. The house's kitchen opened to a back porch through a large sliding glass door, which allowed us a pretty full view of the inside. Across the way, the lights were on in the other neighbor's house. I decided to take the risk. Keeping my body low, I crept onto the deck and hunkered down against the wall next to the door, put my ear against wood and concentrated. I could hear their voices, but the house's insulation muffled the sound to mere murmurings. Not good enough.

  I risked sticking my head out a few inches and pressing my ear against the glass. I didn't hear screams.

  I recognized Elizabeth's voice, creaking with fatigue."-bout you? Holding up?

  "Oh, don't know any more, Liz! Least you have Ray home. I can call Josh and we can have a normal conversation, but as soon as I try to tell him what's going on at home the call cuts out."

  "It’s been two nights. He doesn't think it’s weird that he hasn't come home?"

  "He thinks he's on a business trip! Says the company is putting him up at a hotel. And I don't know what to do about Alice. She refused to come out of her room this morning! Carrying on about turning into a monster or something! I made her open the door and she looked like Alice to me! She asked me if I could see the horns!"

  "I'm so sorry, Mary! You don't think..."

  "It not just her! I called the doctor and she said to take a number. She let it slip that Alice isn't the first case!"

  The woman lapsed into silence as I pulled back out of view. "You catch that, Rudy?"

  "Yeah! Did you see how much sugar she put in her tea? Three spoonfuls! Utter madness!"

  I groaned. "Come on. Let’s check out the border." I trotted away from the house and back into the forest.

  Rudy followed close behind. "Okay, let’s go see. So what you betting on? Endless wall of blackness? Energy field? Or just trackless wilderness?"

  It turned out to be none of the above. I didn't realize we'd passed the border for a good fifteen minutes after we crossed it. There is a general scent of civilization, a medley of car exhaust, human sweat and pavement that increases the closer you get to Main Street. We were about a mile beyond the most far-flung development in Grantsville and we hadn't seen a dramatic end of the world. No cliff for desperate citizens to fling themselves off of.

  But that scent, instead of fading as we got deeper into werewolf territory, slowly got stronger. When we found an intersection, I realized we were walking back into town from the opposite side, like the tunnel off the side of the screen in PAC-MAN.

  "Man, I was really hoping for a view of something!" Rudy noted as we turned around. He found the border first, a subtle line of purple threading through the ground. Looking carefully, I could see the differences in the dirt on either side. Jules and Jowls had managed to stitch the ends of the roads leading out of town together, but it wasn't that even in other places. Looking off the roads, out of sight of the cars, folds in space were visible, bright clumps of crumbled space I didn't want to get near. You probably wouldn't even notice you were stuck in one if you got close. The big trouble with traveling through bent space is that time can bend in them as well. And it’s hard to see if the space you're in is bent.

  But if Jules had put us all in a bubble, why were all the lights on? How the hell did we still have internet? The roads lined up. That didn't point to a jury-rigged hack of Archibald's dragon containment system. I could understand cutting off the town in a panic to hide from Ixey's threat of Inquisition, but trapping O'Meara's house away along with it? That spoke to planning and expertise that went beyond seizing an opportunity.

  "I think it’s about time we had a serious talk about honesty and forthrightness with our employers," I said.

  "Your employer," Rudy corrected. "They fired me for saving your tail, remember?"

  "Twice actually."

  "Oh yeah! Crashing the helicopter was to save you too! Uh, why the hell do I save your butt? I could be at home watching the Guvinator blow crap up."

  "Because then you'd have to walk everywhere."

  "I wouldn't need to walk anywhere!"

  "It would be difficult to be my agent if you weren't with me."

  A brief pause as the squirrel mulled that over. "Fair point. Let’s go."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  I had completely intended to head straight to the park and suss out just what Jules and Jowls had done to Grantsville. Wouldn't have taken more than an hour tops, and zig zagging across the border of town dancing around the zones of crumpled space would have made the trip even faster. It was just, well…I ran headlong into a nap. There's a tree in the woods near O'Meara's that has this stout branch pretty high up and really comfortable in a solid sort of way. I've been a cat for nearly six months, and sometimes I really can't help it. I had a good snooze. Rudy didn't even give much of a protest. He objected but didn't light me on fire or anything. He was pretty tired too. It'd been a hell of a morning.

  Hey Thomas. I woke to Richard's voice, and it took a few blinks before I realized he was in my head and not in the tree with me. Where are you?

  I'm about twenty feet off the ground, I thought b
ack as I squinted at the sun still high in the sky. I wondered why I could still see the sun. Maybe the space bending only applied a certain height from the ground? Could I hurdle myself over the barrier and back into the real world? Could it be that easy?

  Thomas, would you focus? Tell us where you are so we can pick you up. We have a lot of work to do.

  Well, the prospect of more work didn't appeal to me at that moment. More tass harvesting?

  Yeah, lots of it eventually. First we need to get a new vehicle. It's going to be a busy week. Richard projected forceful confidence. It struck me as off, since Richard never gave out that sort of feeling unless he'd been deep into a project. He'd broadcasted it when the trio were working the aegis for Jules, but I hadn't felt it since. I yawned. Getting lied to made me grumpy.

  "Are you awake finally?" Rudy squeaked. I craned my neck around to look at him. He was sitting on the middle of my back, cellphone out. He was typing something into the screen and when finished looked up at me. "My battery's getting low. We gotta get to an outlet." He swiped the screen and tilted it so I could see his twenty-five percent battery indicator.

  I wondered who or what the squirrel had been texting. I'd somewhat hoped that Rudy and O'Meara might make a good familiar pairing. They both had certain shared loves. But that would require him letting someone else poke around in that nut-obsessed brain of his, and I suspected there was a lot more in his brain than one would expect in something the size of a quarter.

  Two could play at the secret game. My harness had an external battery in it that I wasn't going to tell him about. I know, small potatoes against possible immortality, but I had to start somewhere.

  Thomas? Richard's thought called me back to the present.

  If you don't have vehicle, how do you plan on picking me up? I'll come to you at the park.

  A surge of anxiety bubbled up through the facade. We have a backup. Sandra's got a car. It will just be a bit of a tight squeeze for all four of us.