Chapter Fifty-Two - Complicated Conversations

“What’s the job?” Emily asked. She regretted asking the question, even before it left her lips. But she didn’t see any loss in actually asking.

Handshake’s voice had a hint of laughter in it when he replied. “Nothing too complicated. I’m meeting with someone. Name starts with C. You took out one of his buddies?”

Cement, he was talking about Cement. Emily hugged her phone closer to the side of her head. “Okay? And you want me to... what?”

“I’m going to be meeting him alone. Which, let’s say I’m not all that confident about. I bet you can imagine why. I’ve still got a bit of a limp you know?”

“I’m not equipped for dealing with that kind of thing,” Emily said. “Nor are my sisters.”

“Sisters, plural?” Handshake asked.

Emily felt her lips thinning into a line. “I misspoke.”

Handshake snorted. “Sure. Would you be interested in coming?”

Emily shook her head, even if he couldn’t see the gesture. “No. It’s way too dangerous, and you haven’t offered me much.”

“What if I tell you the meeting is about a subject you’re near and dear to?”

Emily’s heart froze up, and for a moment she found it hard to breathe. Did Cement copy the drive? Did someone retrieve it in that river and bring it to him? “What?” she asked.

Handshake cleared his throat. “The Cabal.”

Emily blinked. “What about-- you mean Cement wants to know about them too?”

“It’s more than just that. He knows some things that I don’t, and I know some he doesn’t. It’s a trade. And an excuse to get back on the same page, or at least to set aside some of our... mutual antagonism.”

Emily paced back and forth before the window, considering. Would this be any more dangerous than her last excursion? The obvious and immediate answer was a resounding yes. Going out with heroes was a risk, but if they discovered her, she would be arrested or worse.

Going out to confront a villain. An actual, scary villain? That was a whole lot worse.

“I don’t like it,” Emily said.

“I can up the ante a little,” Handshake said. “I want to know what you know about them too. And I can offer you other things. Money, information. Not too much, mind you. What you know might not be worth that much to me.”

Emily swallowed. ‘I’ll think about it.”

“My meeting is tomorrow evening. Think about it until then. It’s one grand per powered head that comes to help. And I’ll tell you what I know about the Cabal. A name you shouldn’t be repeating if you can avoid it. It’s unique enough to stand out in a normal conversation. ”

“I know,” Emily said. “We’ve been calling them the Clowns.”

“Hah! That’s brilliant. Anyway, I’ll text you the address for the meeting place. Be there, or don’t.” The line went dead with a happy little chime.

Emily contemplated throwing her phone, but she held back. Shows of violence like that were just not her.

“Need help?”

Jumping, Emily looked up and found herself staring, wide-eyed, at Sam. “H-hey,” she said. “Uh, no?”

Sam tilted her head to the side. “You sure? You don’t look great.”

“I’m okay,” Emily said. “Just a, uh, hard phone call.”

“Anything to do with the people in your room?”

For the second time in far too short a while, Emily’s blood went cold. “What?”

Sam rolled her eyes and gestured over her shoulder with a thumb. “I’m not deaf. Or blind. You’ve got two kids staying with you.”

Emily licked her dry lips. “They’re my sisters,” she said.

The girl nodded. “Yeah, alright. You having trouble because of them? I did some babysitting before, it’s a real nightmare sometimes.”

“N-no, nothing like that. My sisters are... actually, they’re pretty nice. A bit, uh, well sometimes they act up, but they’re mostly nice.”

“Alright, cool. So if that’s not it, what is it?” Sam crossed her arms. She didn’t look like someone ready to move away.

“It’s... ah. Is there a place you can bring someone? Someplace that’s discreet?”

“Someone like who?”

“A boy?”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “No shit. You know they don’t really mind if you have a boy--- oh, your sisters. Yeah, you wouldn’t want to be banging your boyfriend with the kids in the room.”

“What?” Emily asked. Her brain caught up, her face caught fire. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. We’re not, no.”

“Hey, it’s alright. Where do you think half the weird noises in this place come from?” Sam let her arms drop and moved a little closer. “There’s a couple of places, you know, for folks feeling a little adventurous. I heard that the roof’s pretty popular for that kind of thing.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Emily shook her head. Her ears were burning still. “I swear, it’s not like that.”

Sam grinned. “Fine. What are you looking for?”

“Just a place a friend can stay the night.” Emily took a moment to examine her shoes.

“Uh-huh,” Sam replied, doubt tinged with humour. “Alright, a place to send a friend. There’s a motel a little ways away that might work. If your friend’s really cheap though, there’s the library. It’s got study rooms that are opened all night. Glass walls, so no space for funny business, but you can rent one out for a dozen dollars and if you fall asleep with a book open in front of you, the librarians won't bother you.”

That... was a better answer than what Emily expected. “Thank you.”

“Hey, no problem, love,” Sam said. She winked at Emily, then headed over to her own room. “You knock if you need anything. Though I charge a lot for anything babysitting related, okay?”

“Thank you,” Emily repeated.

Sam waved her off as she slid into her room, the door clicking shut behind her.

Emily took a deep breath and moved over to her own room. The door unlocked with a swipe and she stepped in to find Jacob pacing back and forth while Athena glared at his back. “I, ah, found a place for you to stay,” Emily said. “For the night, I mean.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “Is it safe?”

“It’s... safe enough?”

He frowned. “I don’t know if that’s enough for me, you know?”

She nodded. “I know. But you can’t sleep here.”

The young man scratched at the back of his head. “Alright, yeah. That’d be a bit... fine. Where?”

“The library. You can rent a room to study and they don’t mind if you fall asleep there. Just, pretend to study something. Or actually study something, I guess.”

“And what about our clown problem? What are you doing about that?”

“Big Sister Emily doesn’t need to do anything about it, punk. It’s not her problem, it’s yours.”

“Athena,” Emily said. She couldn’t fault the girl though, she was thinking something very similar. “I’m going to be... meeting someone tomorrow. I might have more by then, maybe.”

“That’s not enough.”

Emily glared. “It’ll have to be,” she said, then she cleared her throat and reined in her anger. It wasn’t like her to let that out of its bottle. “Sorry. But I’d really not be comfortable with you staying here.”

“You heard sis,” Athena said. She gestured to the door. “Get out of here, punk.”

Jacob huffed, half exasperated and half amused, if Emily had to guess. “Fine, fine. I’ll go take a nap at the library. Maybe actually do some of my classwork. God knows I’m behind already. I’ll call you tomorrow, alright? Just as soon as I find a phone.”

“Sure,” Emily agreed. She escorted Jacob out the door, then, once it was shut and he was gone, she leaned her head against the wall and took a moment to breath. “That was... something,” she said.

“You were awesome,” Athena said without so much as an ounce of sarcasm. It helped, a little.

“We need to get ready... tomorrow.”

Athena sat up. “Ready for what?”

“Trouble. Ready for a whole lot of trouble.” Emily moved to her bed, then sat on the edge not to disturb Teddy too much. She didn’t look forward to moving Teddy onto the mattress. The werebear was heavy, especially as dead weight.

Athena grinned, toothy and vicious. Then she adjusted her glasses with both hands and lost any semblance of being threatening. “I’m always ready most of the time. Are we going to go out in costume to kick butt?”

“Not quite,” Emily said. “And you don’t have a costume.”

“I have a cool jacket,” Athena said. “And I have some pants. We just need a mask.”

Emily pat Athena’s hair down. It was a nice, soothing gesture, for both of them, judging by the way Athena’s eyes fluttered shut. “Alright. More help wouldn’t be amiss. And... do you have any points to spend?”

“Not yet,” she said.

“That’s okay. I’ll spend what I have. Teddy can do the same. We’ll be as ready as we can be. And maybe things will go alright.” She continued running her fingers through Athena’s hair until she’d convinced herself of that lie, then she got up. “Right, go get changed. It’s time for bed.”

“Owls are nocturnal.”

“And little sisters are diurnal. Get your PJs. You can change while I drop this bear in bed.” Emily sighed. “We’ll need our sleep, I think.”

***