They were out on the street before Igraine managed to get any words out. The late summer humidity hit her before an oncoming tuba player did.

“Watch it, lady,” he said as he ran off to find his marching band.

She was about to issue him a stern “WTF! You’re the one who’s running with a tuba!” when the breeze off the ocean brushed lightly against her cheeks. It didn’t smell good, but it momentarily swept away the sticky heat. It was just enough to give her a moment of clarity until she remembered she was standing closer to danger than she was to safety.

Panic began to rise. She looked around for Dolly, and almost lost her within the crowd of people dressed in red trying to get to the parade grounds in time. It was her enormous blonde hair that gave her away.

Igraine sprinted to catch up and called out to her. Dolly straightened up a bit, but didn’t change her pace or even look back.

Dolly crossed an intersection with the crowd, and the light changed to Don’t Walk, before Igraine could follow. She promptly stopped at the corner as the light changed and car traffic flowed. All the drivers were eager to get out of the area before the parade started and cut them off from their destinations.

The farther Dolly walked away, the faster Igraine’s feeling of abandonment grew. She fought back, determined that whatever service or assistance Dolly had to offer, she no longer wanted it. She wanted to let Dolly walk away. But Igraine did not like unanswered questions, and she had too many for her to stay put.

She bolted into traffic without looking, causing an oncoming car to slam on their brakes. At the sound of the screeching tires, she put out her hand as if she were capable of stopping it. The car halted inches in front of her. She simply said, “Sorry” before running off.

If the driver swore at her, he didn’t waste time lowering the window so she could hear it.

Igraine pushed past several people and almost took a cheap plastic flag to her eye before she grabbed Dolly’s arm.

“What the hell is going on?”

Dolly finally turned around and was ready to swing her purse, but thought better of it in the crowd. Her face had lost the smile and held a tight frustration in its place. But the sense of superiority was still there. That never went away.

Igraine loosened her grip on Dolly’s arm, and Dolly yanked and reversed the hold, leaving Igraine bewildered. Dolly pulled her forward to keep pace with the crowd.

Dolly asked, “Remember my first rule of coping?”

“Denial?”

“Good, you’re a quick study. You’ll do fine.” Dolly released her hold on Igraine and picked up the pace.

Igraine waited for a signal from Dolly to follow her, but there was none.

“Wait!” she squeezed through the crowd after Dolly.

“I just want to know what that was all about.”

One of the paradegoers had started blasting music from a local group that had made it big years ago. The crowd erupted in cheers.

Dolly’s response was diminished by the noise. “Keep up and I’ll let you know.”

For being short, Dolly was fast. I think it’s the muscle she builds up from the drag on her enormous hair. It’s like natural resistance training. If you could call the glue used to keep her hair that size natural.

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They had reached the next intersection and the light was about to change against the pedestrians when Dolly set foot on the crosswalk. There was no way she would make it to the other side before it changed. This time Igraine followed.

She caught up to Dolly again, who asked in a bitter tone, “Viktor didn’t tell you about the conspiracy theorists?”

Igraine, who was almost out of breath, huffed, “People who believe in aliens and stuff?”

Dolly abruptly turned left away from the crowd onto the walkway which was practically clear by New Cari standards. She slowed a bit, but was still clearly rushing, and said, “No. People who have an interest in keeping the paranormal from being normal.”

“I think we’re talking about two different types of conspiracy theorists.”

“I take back what I said about you being a quick study.”

Igraine was a little hurt by Dolly’s remark, but didn’t interrupt her when she continued to speak.

“There are groups and organizations that try to suppress the stories of people like you.”

“Why?”

“You’ll have to ask Viktor about that. All I know is that there are a bunch of them.”

“More than that psychopath back there?”

They approached a set of stairs descending into the subway, and Dolly took them.

“Yes... no. There are groups. Burton’s just one member of a particularly violent group.”

“This is so weird.”

“We didn’t even get to the groups full of magic users and the ones filled with true believers like Burton.”

Igraine opened her mouth to speak, but Dolly cut her off.

“No, a true believer isn’t someone who believes in the paranormal. It’s someone who believes the lie.”

“Wait, there are magic users and paranormal deniers working together?”

They reached the turnstile, and Dolly swiped her card. But Igraine didn’t have one and couldn’t follow.

Igraine shrugged her shoulders at Dolly, who gave a look that she would probably regret doing this and reached over the turnstile and swiped her card for Igraine.

“Thank you.”

Dolly kept talking instead of acknowledging the bit of kindness she had just demonstrated.

“No. The mages and deniers work to the same goal in their own way. Never together. The groups like Burton’s tend to have the word ‘Truth’ in their name.”

Igraine’s pace started to slow as she was processing all the new information, while Dolly followed the signs to the train with the bear logo, which was local shorthand for the stop at Library Market Square. Signs with the official name of 11th Street Station were covered in stickers. The more courteous graffiti artists made sure to use stickers with bears on them.

They made their way to the platform just as the doors to the nearly empty train were getting ready to close. Dolly broke into an impressive stride, pulling even farther away from Igraine, saying, “Gotta keep up if you want to hear more.”

Igraine ran to catch up and watched Dolly step into the car only for the doors to start closing. She silenced the voice inside her that said it was too late to get on. She pushed her way through the narrowing gap of the closing doors.

She had one foot planted in the car and was reaching out for something to stop her momentum when the door closed on her ankle. A buzzer sounded, and the doors released their grip on Igraine before shutting all the way.

As Igraine was catching her breath, she waited for Dolly to continue speaking. But Dolly stared back in disbelief and said, “You know, hun, you could have caught the next train.”

“Would you have waited?”

Dolly shook her head and then walked back in the car. It seemed to Igraine that none of the seats were up to Dolly’s standards. They were still scouting for a spot that was the optimal blend of clean and as far away from other passengers as she could get when Dolly continued on her explanation.

“The group Burton belongs to has this rule where if they catch you talking about something paranormal in public, they'll harass or outright beat you until you give them the cash you have on them.”

“Sounds like a reason not to carry cash. Wait, why did you have so much cash on you?”

Dolly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped a perfectly clean seat before occupying it. The seats were hard plastic, and no matter how light a person was, they always made a noise when someone sat down. Her hair was so full that had anyone been sitting in that space they would have had to move.

Igraine sat down across from her without cleaning the seat first, and Dolly shuddered.

Igraine reminded her that she had been asked a question. “So, why were you carrying—.”

“Shhh!” Dolly waved her down and whispered, “I don’t want anyone to think I’m still carrying it.”

Igraine gestured that she still hadn’t answered the question.

“It was my protection money.”

“What?”

“I pay protection to a magic user, and this is the type of thing he’s supposed to protect me from.”

“So what will he do about it?”

“We’re about to find out.”