A hush fell over the room as we all looked over at Annie. It was obvious, and I had overlooked it. By the expressions on Bill and Jessie’s faces, they’d overlooked it too. I suppose we could all be forgiven for the oversight. I always worked alone. I assumed the same was true for Bill and Jessie. None of us were used to thinking in terms of teams. So, the expedient of simply calling in more support never reached the top of our respective decision trees. Apparently, Annie read our expressions as some kind of judgment or dismissal.

“Well, why not? For all we know, Carter is going to show up with a bunch of lackeys. You’re not the only magical mercenary in the world, Jessie.”

“She’s right,” Jessie said after a moment of contemplation. “God, what if he shows up with Bone Peter.”

“He won’t,” corrected Bill.

Jessie eyed Bill. “How do you know?”

“I killed him.”

“You killed Bone Peter,” a thunderstruck Jessie said.

“I didn’t set out to do it, but he didn’t give me another choice.”

Jessie shook her head in disbelief. “Jesus, I guess the stories about you really are true. I thought he was the best.”

“He wasn’t. Jane the Blade is the best. We all best hope she doesn’t show up. I don’t think I could take her in a fair fight. I wouldn’t even want to put odds on an unfair fight.”

“Jane the Blade,” said Jessie with a dismissive snort. “She’s second-tier at best.”

Bill gave her a meaningful look. “That’s what she wants everyone to think. Keeps people from trying to make a name for themselves by taking her out. I’ve seen her fight when the chips are down. Trust me. She’s the best.”

“I don’t suppose she owes you a favor?” I asked.

“Sadly, no.”

“Anyone else owe you a favor?” Jessie prompted.

Bill pursed his lips and shrugged. “Probably. At least they do if they’re still alive. I’d have to make some calls.”

I looked over to Jessie. “How about you?”

“I know plenty of people who would fight,” Jessie offered, “but none of them owe me enough for something like this. They’d fight for pay, but I doubt we could afford more than a couple of them.”

Bill smiled. “Maybe they don’t owe you, but they might owe me. We should compare lists of IOUs and see if we can blackmail ourselves some help.”

Bill jerked his head toward the kitchen and Jessie trailed after him. I wondered briefly if there’d ever been so much concentrated magical mayhem at that little kitchen table before. I hoped the room could take the strain. I caught Annie giving me an expectant look.

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I stared back at her for a moment before I lost patience. “What?”

“Don’t you think you should join them?”

“And do what?”

“Surely you must have a favor or two you can call in.”

“I really don’t. I only run across other people in the same line of work occasionally. None of them owe me saved your life-level favors. Bill’s been at this for like twenty years. I’ve been at it for like three.”

“Jericho,” Gran chided. “You know that’s not true.”

I rolled my eyes and conceded the point. “Okay, it’s been more than three, but not on Bill and Jessie’s level. Hell, I’m still not operating on their level.”

“You survived Carter,” objected Annie.

“No, I did not. Jessie survived Carter. I ran away. There’s a huge difference.”

Annie rolled her eyes at me after that. I looked over at Gran who had an odd, abstracted expression. A thought occurred to me.

“What about that Hartworth guy, Gran?”

“Hartworth? Adrian Hartworth?” Annie asked.

“Um, yeah, why?”

“I met him once,” mused Annie. “I don’t think this is really his wheelhouse.”

Gran’s eyes slipped back into focus. “It’s not. He hasn’t found his way yet, lad. Involving him could disrupt the plans of some powerful beings. Beings we’d rather not have to appease.”

“It didn’t hurt to ask,” I said as I considered Annie. “I notice you didn’t volunteer to recruit anyone.”

“Who do you imagine I know that would get involved in something like this? I’m a healer, Jericho.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

I leaned back against the wall and racked my brain for someone, anyone, I might be able to enlist to help. The trouble was that I really didn’t know anyone. I’d bumped into a few people along the way who might be useful, but I sincerely doubted they’d be interested in something so likely to end with bodies on the floor. I could hear some quiet murmuring drifting out from the kitchen and wondered if they were getting anywhere. Bill’s comment about blackmailing some help came back to me. It had struck me as funny when he first said it, but now I wondered if he’d meant it as a statement of fact. I hadn’t felt especially great about dragging anyone else into this problem even before I considered the possibility that it would happen under duress.

Even worse, I had the sneaking suspicion that Bill wasn’t thinking twice about it. Was that what I had in store for me ten or fifteen years down the road? Would I get to a place where I wouldn’t think twice about strong-arming someone into a dicey situation for no other reason than I needed more pieces on the board? The notion chilled me. I didn’t want to end up as that person, but I was even more worried that I might already be that person. I was pretty confident that I'd already be on the phone if someone owed me a big enough marker. It might eat away at my conscience, but I’d do it.

“Penny for your thoughts,” said Annie.

“I was trying to think of someone that I could press into service.”

“No luck?”

“Not so much.”

Annie started to say something else, but Gran sat up straight in her chair. Her eyes whipped around the room before they landed on me.

“Jericho, you need to get over to the diner right now. Take Bill. There’s something wrong.”

“Bill!” I roared. “We need to move!”

I didn’t wait to see if Bill would follow. I jerked open the front door and bypassed the steps entirely by leaping from the porch to the ground. Then, I took off at a dead sprint. I figured that since Gran lived less than a block from the diner, keeping a sprint the whole way shouldn’t prove too taxing. Even as I ran, scenario after scenario ran through my imagination. Was it Carter? Could he be here already? It seemed unlikely that he’d have had enough time to track us down and make the trip, but it wasn’t impossible. If it was him, what would he have done? Set fire to the diner? Taken hostages? The rundown neighborhood buildings blurred by as I ran, and I gathered magical power for a fight. Whatever was waiting for us, I’d be ready.

Except, I wasn’t.