The spirit grinned, revealing too many jagged crystalline teeth. “This answer, it too pleases me. You have earned my favor, human. The easiest choice seldom is the correct or best choice. There is much one doesn’t know and the future is an unknown.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Cat mused. “It is easy to criticize past choices in light of present information that wasn’t available back then.”
“There’s no past or future, only the present. Hold tight onto your convictions and carve your future.”
“Would you help me?” She asked, eager to know if the earth fairy would become her guide.
“I already did,” the spirit giggled. When Cat frowned, it stopped. “You believe I am to become your fairy guide. You are no hero, though. And on top of not having enough magic to sustain me, you are not of the Washoe people. I cannot create a bond with someone that doesn’t have the right bloodline. I must remain here, in this place of power.”
Cat sighed. She didn’t think her visit was a waste but she felt dismayed. Her hopes were stirred only to be cruelly shot down by her own ineptitude.
“But I must thank you for your offering,” the fairy laughed, suddenly wearing her coat as the light level of the cave rose mysteriously. “I’ll grant you one magical gift that will be helpful in your struggles. A minor boon only, because you don’t have enough magic.”
“What is it?”
“You are already using it, silly!” The earth fairy sputtered. “But now you must go, I grow tired of staying manifest for this long. Your visit has ended. Take care outside, I heard it is very cold.”
The fairy vanished with her coat. The only thing keeping her from freezing to death in the relentless mountain winter. She looked around and fished for her phone only to notice she could see the cave. Was it the fairy’s gift? Dark vision? It surely was useful but how would she fight a demon with it? She started to hyperventilate and Mr. Mouser rubbed his head on her cheek, purring.
They climbed out of the cave, the piercing cold stinging her skin and making her shiver as she approached the exit.
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The shaman was glowing with a green-brown light. Cat rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things but the glow was there. Even the rock formation behind her glowed slightly, dispelling the shadows.
“How was it?” The shaman asked as she walked out in the sunlight. “You’re freezing, where is your coat?”
“Somehow the spirit thought it was a gift and took it.”
She opened her rabbit fur overcoat and hugged Cat. “Let’s walk out of here, then. What did the spirit say?”
“I think it gave us the power to see magic,” Cat mused. “I can see you glowing, Shaman. The Cave Rock too. The cave spirit said we didn’t have enough power for a stronger boon.”
It was awkward to walk that way but they needed to share the overcoat. Cat just didn’t have enough body fat or body mass to protect her from the cold and she would freeze in minutes even using her companion as a fur scarf.
Once outside the trail, she saw a row of houses in the distance. “Let’s go there! Before I freeze to death!” She said as an idea formed.
They knocked on three houses before someone agreed to sell her a winter coat for three hundred dollars. The other two dismissed her and her Native American guide thinking it was some kind of prank. It also let her test her newfound gift on other people. They had no glow whatsoever. No longer at risk of freezing to death, the melodramatic youngster and her mentor set out to return to the military base north of Carson City. She called an Uber for the thirty-mile ride and frowned at the ride fee but it was necessary. They were making the driver go to the middle of nowhere without a passenger to bring back. Cat made a decision to tip him the same value of the fare to compensate for that. She wanted to sleep in a warm bed tonight.
While waiting for the ride, she got a call from Oliver. Right after answering, the exasperated lawyer told her, “Thank heaven you are fine! Tune in the news!” before the call was cut off. She frowned as she saw that, while she hadn’t lost signal, her internet connection was dead. Then she saw the few people at the park pointing up. A military helicopter was approaching their location.
The helicopter found an empty area in the parking lot and touched down. A squad of soldiers rushed out of the vehicle with live weapons and came for the women.
“Miss Wallenstein! Shaman!” The sergeant shouted. “We have orders to escort you back to base!”
The two women had no choice but to board the chopper, giving the few people enjoying Lake Tahoe a spectacle. Less than a minute later, they were in the air.
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“Sorry, ma’am,” the Sergeant said. “Captain Murphy ordered us to bring you back to base. There’s a situation. We had to deploy active jammers to block signals from civilian devices.”
“What happened?” She already could feel her heart rate rise and sweat on the back of her head. A thousand scenarios passed through her head, all of them terrible, none of them even close to reality.
A soldier approached, “We have a priority call incoming on a secure channel. It’s captain Murphy.”
He handed her a reinforced military tablet. Jack was on the screen, “Catherine, are you Hurt?” She shook her head. “Good, return to base immediately. The DoD issued DEFCON 3, effective immediately. All military and support personnel are to stay ready to deploy. Sorry, that includes you, Mr. Mouser, and the Shaman. I see the cat, is the Shaman with you?” Cat tilted the tablet to put the shaman on the screen. The woman waved at the officer. “Okay. I’m ending the call, get back to base. And stay safe,” he added in a whisper.
“He cares about you a lot. I hope you are satisfied and stop giving him a hard time. He made some tough decisions,” the Shaman said.
Cat was worried beyond belief. What happened? She could only worry. The ride was quiet except for Mr. Mouser who didn’t like riding on helicopters at all. At the base, she saw the soldiers going around as if someone had kicked their anthill. Jack was waiting for them. Cat disembarked on the landing pad.
“What happened?” She shouted over the sound of the blades, ducking under the artificial wind.
“A terrorist attack!" Jack shouted back. "The Marble Palace is down. We have hundreds killed or missing and even more wounded. The Capitol, Library of Congress, and surrounding buildings were severely damaged. We don’t know who did it yet, but I authorized the use of the silver we collected to craft ammunition.”
She felt dizzy and Jack had to hold her or she'd fall to the ground. Catherine would’ve actually swooned if she had a body to do so. Mr. Mouser was worried, pawing her face. “That’s crazy,” she said as she regained her footing. Mr. Mouser was pawing her purse, telling her to take the anxiety medication. “I’ll do that, baby. Just a moment. What could’ve done that?”
“An explosive device, planted inside the building. We don’t have many details but there’s a good chance Mr. Marthan is behind it. Come, you need to rest.”
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She stayed in her designated dormitory in the base. She called Oliver to say she was safe with Jack and sent messages to her friends as well as posting to manifest her outrage and solidarity on social media. She shut the phone down immediately after because people were in a full-blown panic. The George Washington Bridge was a shoot-out, Guantanamo an inmate revolt. Doswell was covered up as a military exercise, Fort Hamilton and Brooklyn as a weapons malfunction but this? This had no cover-up possible. It was a dire blow at the very heart of the nation.
She turned on the television and watched the news unfold. Every channel was the same and regular broadcasts were suspended. The entire world had a sleepless night as they watched the events transpire. Speculation was rampant, with fingers being pointed everywhere. The doomsday clock was set to fifty seconds to midnight than ever in the last fifty years.
China and Russia quickly called a press conference expressing solidarity and a deep disgust for what happened. They obviously didn’t want any shadow of suspicion that they were behind the attack. North Korea and the Taliban also issued official statements condemning this act of terrorism. Cat couldn’t believe the Taliban would do such a thing but if she wanted to see a hypocrite, all she needed was a mirror.
Night fell and the hours passed as more information became available through normal channels. The supreme court was having an appeal hearing regarding the “trustapocalypse”, to decide if the trust funds should be unlocked or not. The building was crowded with reporters, lawyers, and other concerned citizens. The explosion was broadcast live from a hundred different angles as media teams outside the building caught the initial blast on video before being blown by the shockwave.
Helicopters and drones illuminated the area as rescue operations continued without stopping through the night. The Library of Congress caught on fire, damaging its precious and irreplaceable collection. Amidst the chaos, priorities were on rescuing people, not centuries-old treatises. The list of confirmed deaths grew every minute. Among them were the entire Supreme Court and several lawyers.
Her phone buzzed with a text from her favorite female lawyer.
> Agatha > I’m fine, I’m alive. I was at the hotel when the bomb went off. How are you, Cathy?
>
> Catherine > I’m in the mountains. Wait? Wait, wait. Why wouldn’t you be…
>
> Catherine > YOU IN DC?
>
> Agatha > Yes. I was barred from watching the session because there was no room for me. Cathy, I feel so guilty! I was supposed to be there but the room was too crowded!
>
> Catherine > For the record, since the NSA is recording this conversation. Do you have any involvement with the attack or knowledge about the perpetrators?
>
> Agatha > Hell, no.
>
> Agatha > Sorry.
>
> Catherine > NVM.
>
> Catherine > Then trust me. It’s survivor guilt you’re feeling right now. It is not your fault. I’ve been there when Oliver was shot. Stay safe, Agatha. I need you. Alive and Hale.
>
> Agatha > You too, Cathy. Stay safe, honey.
Emotionally drained, she fell asleep on the couch without even changing her clothes.
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She woke up late in the morning with a buzzing headache that felt exactly like a hangover. With her mouth dry and her eyes caked with dried tears, she stumbled into the bathroom to wash her face. Dazed, she tried to figure out why she was feeling like that when she remembered the literal terror of yesterday. The TV set had a feature to automatically turn itself off if it didn’t sense anyone watching.
“Fuck,” she cursed staring at the mirror. “They blew up the Supreme Court.”
“I’m going to take a long shower, then get some clothes that don’t stink of me after a weekend in the wilderness. Then we’re going to see what happened, and how screwed we are.”
Freshened up, she stumbled into the cafeteria for breakfast with Mr. Mouser, who had already had his in the room while she showered. The soldiers stole glances at her but nothing out of the usual. She was in their territory, anyway. She also didn’t make use of the room service and sat with a group of female soldiers to eat. The subject, as if it could be anything else, was the terrorist attack in DC.
She remembered she probably wouldn’t be allowed to go back to Vegas and stream. In fact, it was already too late to start, she’d lost most of the morning. She took her work phone and sent a message to her patrons. “No stream today, guys. Sorry, I’m too shocked by what happened. I’m safe and with friends. #Justice for our honorable Justices.”
“The perpetrators left a message,” one of the irate female soldiers said, “They had the gall to quote Justice Brandeis.”
“Which one?”
" ’If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.’ "
To her that was one of the affected by the “trustapocalypse”, the message was clear. It also painted a good picture of what happened. The 1% didn’t like their assets seized and finally decided to fight back.