Luna, Variam, and Kyle were relieved to see me, though in Kyle’s case he seemed more happy about Selene. The three of them went in to check the building. When they came out again they were more subdued.
“You did all that?” Luna asked.
“Yes,” I told her.
Variam shook his head. “When I said you might be too nice, I didn’t expect you to take it this far.”
“Someone told me that being nice didn’t work,” I said. I glanced over at Kyle; he was standing next to Selene, talking quietly. “I decided to listen.”
“Can I see it?” Luna asked.
I held up my right hand, and Luna and Variam bent in to look. “It’s like it’s part of you,” Luna said.
“More of a symbiote,” I said. The fateweaver was a steady presence in the back of my mind, ready to be called upon when needed. “Abithriax told me that these items were always unstable. He managed to link with it mentally. I needed something more direct.”
“What’s with the streaks?” Variam asked.
“Connection points,” I said. The thin lines of white running into my forearm seemed a little deeper than they had been an hour ago, but it was a bit late to be worrying about things like that.
“Oh, right,” Luna said. “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”
“No hurry.”
“You’re back out of the bubble realm. The Council can track you again.”
“They’re trying,” I said. I’d attended to that while waiting on the steps. “Their tracking spell isn’t working very well.”
“You can do that?” Variam asked.
“I can do pretty much anything, as long as it’s a future I can see.” The futures of the Council’s tracking attempts failing took a little effort to maintain, but not much. “Think Luna’s curse, but the emphasis is on selection. Which reminds me.” I picked up the red cube and tossed it to Luna. “Here.”
Luna caught it. “It’s okay?”
“Seems to be.” The cube had been quiet since my return. “I’m not sure what an imbued item does once the purpose for its existence has gone. Maybe you can help it find something new.”
Kyle exchanged a last few words with Selene, then walked over. “Hey,” he told me. His weapons were hidden away in his dimensional storage again. “You sticking around?”
“No.”
“You left a pretty big mess back there.”
I knew Kyle didn’t just mean literally. Killing someone like Onyx has consequences. “Sorry, but I’m not going to be here to clean it up,” I said. “I don’t have the time, and even if I did, you aren’t going to want the consequences of having me around.”
“I figured,” Kyle said. He hesitated, gave me a challenging look. “I’m staying.”
“Okay.”
“You going to give me any trouble?”
“I hired you for a job,” I said. “You’ve done it. How’s she doing?”
Kyle glanced back at Selene. “Pretty traumatised.”
It wasn’t really surprising. Selene might have been a slave, but the people in that mansion would have been most of her human contact for the past few years. “Keep an eye on the other girls. Some might decide it’s the time to go settling old grudges.”
“Yeah, I think I’ve learnt my lesson as far as that goes.” Kyle started to turn.
“Kyle.”
Kyle stopped, looked back at me.
“I’m going to say we’re even,” I said. “You agree?”
Kyle studied me for a moment, then shrugged. “Fine.”
I held out my hand.
Kyle looked askance, then shook it before turning away and heading back to Selene. I stretched, wincing slightly at the stiffness in my muscles. “Okay, guys,” I told Luna and Variam. “Time to go.”
Up on the hillside, Variam left to call Landis and check that no one was after him, leaving me and Luna alone. “Are you okay?” Luna asked once he was gone.
“I’m not injured, if that’s what you mean.”
“It’s not.”
“Didn’t think so.” I leant against a tree, the bark rough against my skin, and looked across the valley at Onyx’s mansion. Or what had been Onyx’s mansion—I’d have to come up with a new name for it now. Its windows glowed against the night sky, a network of light in the darkness. “I lost more than a hand back there.”
“Was it the fight with Abithriax?” Luna asked. “I kind of forgot about that in everything else. I mean, I can tell you’re not possessed this time. But it’s like you’re . . .”
Luna trailed off and I waited for her to finish. She didn’t. “Like I’m what?”
“Different.”
“Arachne told me I’d have to make sacrifices,” I said. “Back then, I didn’t understand what she meant. You know what I did with Abithriax?”
Luna shook her head.
“I killed him. Just like Onyx and the others.”
“I suppose they didn’t give us much of a choice,” Luna said with a grimace. “Don’t tell Vari, but I’m starting to feel like I’ve seen too much of this.”
“If you’re feeling that way, you’re probably right,” I said. “But as for the first part, you’re wrong. I did have a choice.”
“Not the best one.”
“I just broke into someone’s house to steal something and killed them when they tried to take it back. That was my choice.”
“I think they deserved it.”
“They didn’t die because they deserved it.”
Luna looked troubled but didn’t reply. Variam reappeared out of the darkness, a slim shadow against the trees. I left the mansion behind me and walked away.
chapter 13
The Hollow was quiet in the darkness. Both Luna and Vari had gone home to sleep and I was alone. I should have been tired but instead I felt wide awake and full of energy. I walked through the Hollow’s woods, listening to the wind in the trees.
The fateweaver seemed to pulse in my hand, singing a song that only I could hear. I traced the futures, flicking from one possibility to another. There was a bird roosting in the branches just above, and I climbed the tree, going hand over foot in pitch dark. I crawled out along the branch, pushing away the futures in which the bird woke, until I was close enough to reach out and brush its feathers. The bird stirred drowsily, carried on sleeping. I dropped lightly to the grass below and kept walking. I’d just wanted to see if I could do it.
A presence appeared in the futures ahead and I turned towards it. I walked into a clearing, moonlight shining down from above, picking out the blades of grass and fallen leaves. At the other side of the clearing, barely visible in the darkness, the light glinted off a pair of eyes.
I stopped a little distance away and crouched down. “Hey, Hermes. How’s it going?”
Hermes moved cautiously forward and stopped just beyond arm’s reach. I held out my right hand. The blink fox leant forward, sniffed. His tail flicked from side to side.
“What do you think?” I asked.
Hermes looked up at me, down at my hand, then backed away and disappeared into the shadows. He gave me a final glance over his shoulder, then was gone.
“I guess I’ll put you down as a maybe,” I said to the darkness.
It was a couple of hours before dawn. There were two people I needed to talk to, and looking through the futures, I saw that they were finally asleep. I turned back towards my bed.
I slipped through Elsewhere like a fish through water, feeling the currents and eddies pulling me this way and that. Funnily enough, this was one place where the fateweaver didn’t make things any easier—in Elsewhere, your mind is a better tool than any magic. I found the door I was looking for and opened it.
I stepped through into a darkened gym. Scattered patches of white light illuminated heavy bags, floor mats, and a boxing ring. At the far end, a door stood half open, light spilling out around the edges: whether it led deeper into the building or out into the night, I couldn’t say. The sounds of city traffic drifted in from outside, and under that, just audible at the edge of hearing, a woman’s laughter.