“You little idiot! What were you thinking?” Matthew raged. They were gathered in the library, the setting sun blazing through the upper windows. Much of the mansion was still under repair, with staff sweeping up glass and boarding windows. They worked quickly and quietly, trying to keep their heads down as Maine’s brother expressed his joy at her return.
“First you run off without telling anyone where you’re going, worry us all half to death, then you drag Dandy out to the other side of Old Coney on some wild goose chase and get attacked!” He threw his hands in the air as he raged, pacing around the room. He was still dressed in the same clothes from this morning, his hair wild and still smelling of smoke. The staff flinched as he stomped past them, smacking his fist in the palm of his hand.
“How were we to know if something had happened to you?” he asked her. “What if someone hadn’t been there to save you both? Did you ever think about that? Hmm?”
Maine sat on one of the tables, swinging her feet off the ground. “But nothing did happen,” she protested.
“You were ATTACKED!”
“And we got out of it fine!” She shrugged, hefting Ifri in her arms. “What’s the problem?”
Matthew sputtered, making several strangled noises. Miss Imi, who was dabbing one of Dandy’s bruises with a bit of ointment, cleared her throat gently.
“I think what your brother is trying to say, child, is that we were all very worried about you,” she said with some care. She nodded to the pair of Marshals. “He even insisted that these gentlemen leave immediately to find you.”
“Aw, that was no trouble at all, ma’am,” the younger Marshal said, smiling wide and tipping an old, Union cap, almost bleached white by the weather. “Comin’ to the rescue of a helpless little damsel is just part of the job.”
“Helpless?!” Maine exclaimed, but he carried on as if he didn’t hear her.
“I’m just glad that we were able to stop those thugs before they could harm anyone, or use that kerosene they were luggin’ around.” He had an Appalachian twang to his voice that was as smooth as syrup. “I’m not from these parts, of course, but my momma was, and she spoke very fondly of it, and I’d hate to see it burnt up by a bunch of ignorant jackasses.”
“Hear hear!” Kelphin said, breaking into applause.
He bowed fluidly, basking in the adulation. “The pleasure was all mine.”
The other Marshel gave a loud snore, his stetson hat pulled down low over his eyes. He was leaned back in a reading chair, his big, stained boots up on one of the table, despite Miss Imi’s frowning stare.
The first Marshal coughed, a little embarrassed. “Both of our pleasures, heh. Trust me.”
Matthew stepped forward. “Yes, thank you again, Marshall…”
“James Ray Dakota, Deputy US Marshal Special Division” he smiled at him warmly and then winking for good measure. “Dakota’s just fine though, or Dak if you want to get friendly with it.”
“Uh, thank you, Dakota, sir,” her brother said, looking a bit flustered.
Seward stood behind Matthew, arms folded behind his back. “‘Special Division’?” he asked, raising a scaly eyebrow. “I don’t believe I’ve heard of that branch?”
“Yeah, we don’t get advertised much,” Dakota laughed. “Let’s just say that the Marshal’s service decided Elder crimes would be better off being handled by those who knew’em best…”
The Naga’s eyes narrowed as he looked between the two men. “I see. Elders chasing Elder crimes…”
“That’s basically it.”
Maine looked with renewed interest at the two men. Were they really Elders? And what type if they were? On the surface, they didn’t look that different from ordinary Humans, but then she remembered the sleeping Marshal’s incredible strength...
Before she could voice any of the dozens of questions that crowded her, Matthew cleared his throat. “Ah, did you happen to see… That is, was Henna there? Is she all right?” he asked, stammering. Kelphin sucked in his breath sharply and Seward passed a hand over his eyes.
“That would be Miss Henna Alleaf, right?” Dakota clarified. “Madelyn Maierson’s former apprentice?”
“The traitor,” Maine corrected.
“You don’t know that for certain,” Matthew snapped at her quickly.
“Actually, I do.” She jumped off the table and pulled the map out of her bag, slapping it down with a smile. “Dandy and I found proof!”
Matthew and the others hurried over, staring down as she rolled out the map. “What is this?” her brother muttered.
“It’s a map of the mansion,” Maine told him. “We found it in the backroom of Henna’s shop. It shows everything on the first floor, even the Vault, look!”
Kelphin had gone pale. “She’s right! Look there, even the servants' passages are mapped out. That’s how the Firstborn knew their way around so well.”
“Indeed,” Seward agreed. “It seems Miss Alleaf was involved.” Miss Imi gave a great sigh.
Dakota had his face right above the map, as if he was studying intently, but Maine could see that eyes were closed. Instead, he was sniffing deeply, his nose wrinkling up– once, twice. “I’m definitely getting Elf on it, female,” he said after a moment. “Maybe more than one? There’s a lot of chemicals on it though, so it’s hard to pick up much else, but there’s a hint of Human too, maybe Halfling as well? It’s pretty faint.”
Maine stared at him, impressed. “Wow, you can pick up all that?”
He tapped the side of his nose. “The nose knows.” He frowned then. “I don’t think the map’s enough though to tail anyone; the scent’s too weak, we’ll need another lead…”
“Wait!” she said. “You could tail someone through the city just on scent alone?”
He smiled at her. “How do you think we found you?” He leaned down over her head and sniffed the air above her. “I could track a snowflake through a blizzard, darlin’, but you were hardly a challenge.”
Miss Imi snorted suddenly and Kephlin had to hide his laughter. Maine looked around the room suspiciously. “What’s so funny?” she asked.
Miss Imi walked over to her and patted her grubbly, stained jacket. “When’s the last time you bathed, child? Or washed your hair?”
Maine shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably the night before I left school, a couple days ago, why?”
“And you’ve been living pretty rough since then, hmm?”
“Well, sure. I had to hike through the woods to town, hop on a train car, dodge the railways bulls till I got to the city, hitch a ride into Old Coney, hide in the alleys till the day of the Auction-”
“Oh yes! We can tell, dear,” Miss Imi assured her, backing away. She waved a hand in the air to clear it. “We can definitely tell.”
Dandy giggled as Maine made a face. Miss Imi turned to Kelphin. “Remind me to fill up one of the larger tubs tonight for her,” she said. “And use the extra hard pumice stone.” He nodded in agreement.
Matthew however, was frowning, still staring down at the map. “This still doesn’t prove anything,” he said stubbornly. “She could’ve been forced to make this.”
“Urgh!” Maine said. “Are you kidding? The proof is right there!”
He shook his head. “We don’t know that for certain. All we know is that she made the map, we don’t know why.”
“What about this then?” she asked, pulling the recipe sheets out. “Look! She was trying to break our formulas too! Trying to figure out how to make her own version of our Glue Pots!” She started to slam them down on the table, one by one. “Instant Etching Drops, Enamel Repair Paste, Fire Gelatin-”
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“-Where did you…” Matthew snapped, snatching one up. He blinked, staring at it, and his hands started to shake.
“I found it in her shop. The whole back of her shop was full of her experiments too.”
Seward loudly exhaled out through his snout, his nostrils flaring. “This is a very serious issue,” he growled. “Perhaps we should’ve taken more care when Miss Alleaf was dismissed. She was so… involved in our Alchemical research, perhaps we should’ve searched her home more diligently before we released her…”
“No… No,” Matthew mumbled. He let the paper fall out of his hands, turning away. “There has to be another explanation…”
Maine threw up her hands. “You just don’t want to believe it because she was your girlfriend!”
Her brother went beet red. All around the room, the staff seemed to pause in their cleaning.
Miss Imi cleared her throat and motioned to Dandy. “I think it’s time Mr Berria was on his way home. I’ll make sure someone gets him there safely.” She herded the reluctant boy out through the Library door with a few prods of her cane, while Kelphin nodded hurriedly to the rest of the staff.
“Uh, Yes… I think that’s enough work for now in here. Let’s- Yes, let’s move on to the ballroom, shall we?” He started to wave them out the doors, smiling nervously as he looked back over his shoulder. “There’s still a few hours of daylight remaining, and there’s supposed to be a full-moon tonight as well, so that’s plenty of time to work on repairs…”
Matthew waited until the door swung shut behind the last of the staff. He gathered up the recipe sheets, stacked them neatly, and folded them, then tucked them away in his jacket pocket. “Maine, you’re going to go right upstairs and straight to your bedroom,” he said in a tightly strained voice. “I’m going to write to your school, first thing in the morning, and beg for them to take you back…”
Maine folded her arms stubbornly. “I told you, I’m not going–”
Her brother’s hand shot up, cutting her off. “You’re going to remain in your room until either they agree or we find another school that will take you on, but until that time happens, you are not to set foot outside without supervision, is that understood!” he finished, pounding the table with this fist.
Ifri’s back curled up and he hissed at the noise, but Maine just glared at her brother.
“If you think that I’m going to listen to you–”
“You’re going to listen to me because I’m now the head of this household,” he shouted.
“Gran would’ve never–”
“Gran is dead!” There was a shocked moment’s silence in the room. Matthew’s face twitched, as if even he was surprised to hear himself say it. “Gran is dead, and like it or not, I’m the one who’s in charge now.”
Maine ground her teeth. “You’re only in charge because–”
“--Because I’m the eldest and you’re insane,” her brother said over her. “Running off without a care in the world, getting people hurt… You can’t act like that!” He took a breath and seemed to calm a little. “It’s not just the Factory that’s depending on us, Maine, it’s all of Old Coney. We have to consider things carefully before we act. And until you realize that, I need you to stay here under strict supervision.”
She leapt up, stamping her foot. “You can’t order me around like that!”
“I can and I will!” he told her. The door opened up as Kelphin reappeared, and Matthew turned to him instantly. “Kelphin! Please take Maine back upstairs and make sure she stays there this time!” He turned to his sister. “I’ve had the staff take the trouble to board up all the windows on the upper floor this time, so you’re not going to be sneaking away so easily now.”
“What?” she asked. “I’m a prisoner now?”
“Yes, you are, until you learn to behave!” he warned her. “You’re going to wait upstairs in your room until I can send you back to school.”
Kelphin moved to take her arm, but Maine shook him off. “Even if you send me back there, I won’t stay!” she warned him.
“Then I’ll find someplace you can’t run away from!” He paused, his eyes flashing. “I’ll even send you to Mom if I have to.”
Maine took a deep, shocked breath. “You wouldn’t!”
He held a finger up in front of her face. “Don’t try me.”
“If you think I’m going to just sit still while–” she started to say, when there was a sudden ear-splitting whistle behind them.
Everyone winced. Dakota dropped to one knee, holding his hands over his ears.
The other Marshal was awake. He took his fingers out of his mouth and pushed up the brim of his hat.
“I take it the family reunion’s over with,” he said wryly. His voice was deep and gravely, with just the barest hint of a growl.
Dakota climbed back to his feet and coughed. “Allow me to introduce my partner, Deputy US Marshal Fengmi.” He threw a quick look at Matthew and added, “He’s the senior officer out here, so I’d advise you to listen.”
Fengmi grunted, folding his slab-like arms in front of him. They were criss-crossed with old, white scars, looking like the work of multiple sets of claws and teeth. “I’m gonna make this short and sweet,” he said to both of them. “I don’t like this City, I don’t like kids, and I don’t like complications, so already this trip is off to a great start. So I really need you all to act like adults, at least while I’m still in the room.” He glared between the two siblings. “Can you handle that?”
Matthew swallowed and looked at the floor in embarrassment. “Yes sir.” He kicked at Maine swiftly.
“Not sure why it’s my fault,” she mumbled. “I am acting my age after all…” She sucked in her breath as the large man growled at her, a shockingly animal sound.
When he was satisfied that she was going to be quiet, Fengmi nodded. “Good. Now,” he barked, “Maierson?”
“Yes?” both of them answered.
He rolled his eyes. “The older one!”
“Yes?” Matthew said again.
“Maybe now we can get back to what we were discussing before you sister went missing.” He pinched at the bridge of his nose, looking suddenly weary. “Please tell me that you at least set the item aside before the Auction?”
Matthew stared blankly at him. “The item?”
Dakota nodded. “The one we talked about in our letters,” he prompted. He gave a bit of a side-glance to Kelphin and Maine as he went on. “The ‘item’ that your Grandmother was working on?” He highlighted the word ‘item’ so heavily with his hands that it practically had bells on. Matthew still looked completely lost though. “Tell me, at least, you didn’t sell it?”
Fengmi pulled his hand away, a look of horror dawning on his face. “You did get our letters, right?” Matthew continued to stare at him. “We sent you three letters, nearly a half a dozen telegrams, tell me you at least got one of them!”
Seward gave a long sigh from behind them. “I warned you about it, Matthew” he said. “‘The mail’s been piling up on your desk for weeks…’ ‘Why don’t you try and answer some of those telegrams…’”
Matthew swallowed as he started to stammer. “The Auction… I haven’t– God, I haven’t had time to even think about anything but the Auction for so long! How was I supposed to know–”
He stopped as Fengmi held up his battered, scarred hand. “Do you mean to tell me,” he asked, looking like he was in great pain, “that you didn’t read a single one?”
“Well, I’ve been getting so many,” he tried to explain. “Most of them were just RSVP’s, invitation requests, questions from the papers on the Auction… And then there were all the bills, and I…” He trailed off and Fengmi closed his eyes.
Dakota took a cautionary step back, motioning for Matthew to do the same. “Are you good there, hoss?” he asked nervously.
A deep, rumbling growl was coming from Fengmi, but with effort, he seemed to suppress it. “Oh, I’m far from good, but… I’m in control,” he said in a tight voice. Maine wondered however, if his teeth had always been that large and pointy, or if she just hadn’t noticed before.
He fixed her brother with a twitching glare, his eyebrows bunching together and seeming to grow hairier by the second till his brow was one dark line. Maine turned her head and watched, fascinated as his messy ponytail lengthed and spilled out from its wrappings, spreading out along his back. Dakota was visibly sweating, his eyes flashing around the room to all the breakable things present, tables, chairs, people…
“At least tell me,” Fengmi demanded, his voice several octaves deeper, “that you at least have some idea what happened to it…”
Matthew hesitated, caught on the spot. It was at that moment that Kelphin decided to step in.
“Uh, well…” he stammered, then said brightly, “we definitely didn’t sell it?”
Dakota was moving in an instant, throwing his body against the advancing Fengmi. “Come’on there, hoss!” he shouted as he desperately tried to force the big man back. “You know he didn’t mean it, rein it in! Come’on!” Kelphin stood frozen in shock as the younger Marshal’s boots squealed against the floor, slowly being pushed back as the larger man continued forwards. His chest was starting to swell, stretching out the poncho he wore and his hands hung hungrily in the air, nails starting to lengthen and curl.
Dakota looked fearfully over his shoulder. “Somebody say something!”
Seward cleared his throat loudly. “Why don’t you people start by explaining at least, what it is you came here to collect?” he asked. Fengmi’s growl cut off and his bulging neck turned slowly towards the Naga. Dakota’s boots slowly stopped sliding on the floor. Seward stood up straighter, folding his arms behind his back and continuing on smoothly.
“So far I’ve heard you threaten and assume that we’re going to hand something over, but I’ve not heard a single explanation about it,” he reminded them. “Why don’t you gentlemen start with that, and then we’ll figure out what to do about it.”
There was a long, long moment, and then Fengmi started to shrink, his poncho loosening over his shoulders and his brow receding back under his hat. Dakota stepped back cautiously, watching the big man carefully as he let out a great, steaming breath of air through his nose.
“That’s… a good idea,” he said, his voice returning back to normal. He lumbered back to his seat and sat down, the chair sinking and groaning audibly as he settled into it. “You explain,” he grumbled to Dakota, his hat dipping down over his brow. In moments, he was breathing heavily again, seemingly dead to the world.
Dakota let out a great sigh of relief, sagging against a nearby table. “Oh, I hate it when he does that,” he said, taking off his cap and wiping his brow. “He’s a great marshal, you know, just a bit touchy when it comes to his temper.”
Matthew was staring at the snoring man. “Will he be alright?”
“Oh yeah,” Dakota waved his hand. “He’ll sleep it off for a few minutes, be as right as rain, you’ll see.”
He dusted himself off and tossed his cap on the table. “I suppose we better get started at the beginning, shouldn’t we?” he asked them. He frowned a moment, thinking.
“How much do you know about your Grandmother’s relationship with Strabos?” he asked finally.