Thursday, April 18th, 2069

Smegma, ever curious, followed my dad and relayed what he could hear of the conversation. Which was enough to understand what was happening. My parent’s financial accounts were all frozen. My mother had been unable to purchase a cup of coffee on her way to work today. I frowned when that news was relayed to me. Surely this didn’t have anything to do with—

My phone rang in my pocket, and I distractedly fished it out, before glancing at the screen. Disaster Dave…

With a lot of hesitation, I sent it to voicemail. I would call him back once I had a better handle on what the husk was going on—

My phone immediately began ringing again, and the caller was, unsurprisingly, Disaster Dave. This time I picked it up—a little annoyed.

“Dave, I’m kind of in the middle of—”

“Well, I’m also kind of in the middle of something!” Dave shouted over me. “The police just showed up at school and escorted me out of husking class, Brodie.”

“What?!” I hissed, even as my lungs seemed to clench in my chest.

“Yeah, I’m currently being held for questioning!” Dave shouted. I waited, but other than heavy breathing, Dave seemed to have gone silent.

I asked the obvious, thinking I already knew the answer, since he had called me, but needing the confirmation all the same. “Questioned about what?”

“The night that you murdered Morgan Hallsbrad,” Dave said, stressing the word he would never have used to describe the events from his previous knowledge of events.

“You know that greed jumped me, right?” I responded, pleadingly. I needed Dave to be on my side—I hadn’t realized how much I needed it until this moment—as my heart beat erratically and felt like it wanted to claw its way into my stomach.

“Of course, I husking do, but the police won’t let me go and that’s the wording they’re using. They haven’t confiscated my phone or placed me under arrest, and have assured me that I’m merely ‘detained’, but they also just said they can hold me for questioning for up to twenty-four hours. They keep saying thinly veiled things about spending my night in holding. But like they’re making it out to be worse than the drunk tank, Brodie. I’m man enough to admit that they’re scaring me.”

“Hold on, I’m going to three-way-call my lawyer,” I said placatingly, my stomach was both relieved that he was safe and bubbling with rage at my friend’s response. I expertly pushed a couple of buttons on my smartphone and soon could hear the ringtone.

“I’m already on the phone with your father—” Ms. Stovall said as a greeting.

Hearing the dismissal that line of conversation would lead to I blurted, “The police are detaining my friend Dave for questioning related to the night of the assault. He’s on the other line.”

“Okay, are you near your father to let him know he’ll be on hold longer or should I jump over and inform him,” Ms. Stovall asked.

Glancing around I couldn’t see my dad and assumed he’d retreated to the privacy of the Ford. “You should jump over and tell him. I can’t see him.”

A moment later she was back and ready to be linked in with Dave. I clicked the combine calls and introduced the two.

“Okay, I’ll send an associate down to the station immediately, Dave. From this point on, you tell them that you won’t answer any more questions without a lawyer present—understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I heard a huff of complaint at what I assumed was Dave’s use of the word ‘ma’am’, but a moment later Ms. Stovall was talking again. “Okay, I have to get back to the call with Brodie’s father. Sit tight for now. My associate will bring you back to our offices once she arrives and gets you released. Brodie—I’d start heading to the car. Neither you nor your father will be working today.”

“Okay,” I said and heard her click off the line. I glanced at the screen and confirmed Dave was still on. “I guess I’ll see you at Ms. Stovall’s office,” I said, as a way to follow up.

Dave thanked me a bit too liberally for something I felt was a situation I was wholly responsible for, which made me uncomfortable. Not to mention that if he made just one call to his powerful family—they’d get him off just as quickly. I figured I would have to take him out for some Pho or Sushi to make up for it. Wait—I couldn’t do that if my accounts were also locked…

After hanging up the phone, I pulled Willa aside and explained what was happening. She immediately checked her financial apps and sighed in relief when she still had access. Jarred stood nearby looking at me, then Willa and then in the direction he knew my father had parked.

“Wow, this is pretty intense,” I heard him say as I started to walk away.

“Brodie didn’t outright say it, but I think the bonuses being withheld is due to him,” Willa whispered back. My teeth and fists clenched as my eyes watered. It felt like I was a cursed Item. Something that seemed good for the people who found it at first, but was now causing them endless problems.

Just to be sure of my assumption, I pulled out my phone and opened my banking app. Sure enough, I needed to ‘call my financial institution’ to resolve some sort of problem.

When I got into the car, my dad was off the phone and staring blankly out the front windshield. He glanced at me as I slammed the car door, then put the key in the ignition and started it without saying anything. Just after he put it into drive he said, “We have to go by the home office and pick up your mother.”

That was it. I felt frustrated, disappointed and angry. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted him to do—but I definitely knew I wanted more than this. Still, my Mental Fortitude worked overtime to point out just how illogical that thought was—so, I managed to bite my tongue before saying anything I’d regret.

Instead, I gave a red faced, fist-clenched, nod.

* * *

“You’re going to have an aneurism,” Smegma said, unhelpfully. I glared at him as my body shook from how tightly every muscle was clenched.

I’d thought I was disappointed and upset when my father couldn’t do anything—well, now I was doubly so when Ms. Stovall seemed to also not have a solution. Wasn’t that her job?

Dave sat beside me, shrunk in on himself. My father and mother were across from me and were pale as they heard Ms. Stovall carefully dictate the next steps forward. “Your family will get a stipend of about a thousand dollars to cover food, and—”

“Our monthly rent is double that alone—how are we going to keep our house?” My mom asked, her face impossibly paling further.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“I have a meeting with Judge Dench tomorrow to flesh out what exactly the budget you need to live. This is just a temporary prepaid credit card. So, what I need you two and Brodie to do, is come up with exactly the amount of money you need per month. Put in about a thousand dollars of leeway so we can allow Mr. Varnish to knock it down, to an amount commensurate with the kind of pressure he’s attempting with this stunt. This should only be a temporary freeze regardless, since based on what I was informed of, they are looking for a lump sum payment that would indicate Brodie was paid to kill the ‘private investigator.’”

“Was it Mr. Varnish who also seized all the materials from the Portal?” My dad asked, his voice smaller than I’d ever heard.

“Yes. That, unfortunately, is a separate issue. I will bring it up tomorrow, but other than the expirable goods, I doubt I will be able to get the Judge to release what Mr. Varnish will no doubt be claiming as evidence.”

“Evidence of what, exactly?” I asked, confused.

“Likely,” she sighed. “Evidence that you are capable of destroying Boss-class monsters, and therefore more powerful than you’ve been letting on, and helping to invalidate any claim on being out-classed in the confrontation with Hallsbrad. It would further weaken your self-defense plea in regards to the degree of force you used to protect yourself.”

I didn’t like where this was heading. “What does the items and materials have to do with anything?”

“It doesn’t. Not really. But there is some plausible argument that, with the unidentified nature of some of the materials, that something there could have some possible bearing on the situation.” She shrugged. “The truth is, that confiscating everything complicates your life and those around you, and if it can strip you of your pillars of support, you’re potentially going to be in a weaker position, socially, emotionally, mentally, or any number of areas, when going into your trial.”

I cursed, gritting my teeth in frustration.

“Language,” my mother whispered half-heartedly.

“What about me,” Dave whispered urgently.

“The cops know that they have to come to my offices to request you come in if they want to question you further—so, you should be able to return to your life.” At Ms. Stovall’s words, Dave swallowed and then proffered his phone. I could tell that Swiftgram was open, and could read the headline.

‘Phoenix Academy class interrupted by Police involved in murder investigation…’ As if that wasn’t bad enough, he flipped to another app, and I saw a message that I’d read on my own phone. Call your banking institution for more information. Dave’s accounts were also seized.

We were currently sitting in a large meeting room that could easily seat twenty people, but only contained the five of us. The table was heavy oak, and the chairs were beyond comfortable. The only thing that I didn’t like was that the walls surrounding us were all glass—it made me feel like a fish in a tank. An assistant knocking on said glass and all of us turning to look at the noise didn’t help that feeling.

Smegma chuckled and added, “Dance puppets, dance!”

The comment almost startled a laugh from me, which actually did wonders to unclench my muscles and relax me. Ms. Stovall excused herself but was back in a moment before any conversation could break out. She was holding a yellow post-it and looking right at me.

“Brodie. Mr. Varnish would like to have a settlement meeting this afternoon at his offices,” Ms. Stovall conveyed, her voice a little bit confused, but I could visibly see her collecting herself. “It’s likely a good idea to at least go and see what he wants—I doubt he’ll show us any of his cards but you never know.”

“Can we also attend?” My parents asked in near unison.

“That’s up to Brodie. He’s an adult—so, you aren’t required to be there.”

I nodded to my parents after Ms. Stovall’s words, conveying that they could attend. However, my father cursed under his breath a moment later.

“I’ve already taken yesterday off work.” My dad said, clearly frustrated. “And with two Specialists missing… I think it’s going to have to be just your mother and you, Brodie. Is that okay?”

I nodded, even as Ms. Stovall handed over a card to my parents, which I assumed was the promised stipend . “Don’t worry too much. With this meeting request, I can roughly guess what Mr. Varnish is doing. This strong-arm tactic is somewhat common when you want to spook the defendant and then try to reach a favorable agreement. The only oddity here is that you aren’t really a defendant, and he should know that—so, what he’s after, I can’t say.”

I told Dave I would call him after the meeting, intending to share with him exactly what happened. My friend still seemed shaken up, and he was also the only one in the room that wasn’t glancing around continuously. I knew that was because everyone else knew Smegma was around and invisible.

It might be time to change Dave’s status from outside of this little group and finally bring him into the fold. If there was anyone I should trust—

I walked out of the room, intending to invite him to my parents place later. Now there was just a meeting with the man who had quite literally turned my life upside down since he’d entered it.

Husking Mr. Varnish.

* * *

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Flacarada. Brodie,” Mr Varnish said. The man was in a silver suit that looked like it was for anything but business. While it had a tie, and undershirt, and all the accouterments of a traditional suit—it was also clearly freaking armor.

“Is he expecting an attack?” Smegma, noticing the same, asked. I very pointedly didn’t glance at the Demon but did convey the question all the same.

“My suits are always multipurpose. As an A-rank Awakened I can’t say where my day might take me. Do you like it?” Mr. Varnish asked, his tone conversational. “I can give you the card of the Crafter who designed it.” I raised an eyebrow and glanced first at my mother who looked as lost as I was and then Ms. Stovall who was appraising Mr. Varnish in a new way.

“An A-rank?” She said, giving voice to the question that was written across her scrutiny. “What has you practicing law if you are also called upon to deal with Portals and Fields?”

“Ahh, trying to fish for information, Ms. Stovall?” Mr. Varnish asked with a wide smile. “I must disappoint you, in that regard,” he continued as his smile became a bit more neutral. With a wave of his hand, he ushered us into the building, which, unlike Ms. Stovall's, was a standalone.

Ms. Stovall’s offices, like Sparkle Legion, were inside of a high-rise. Admittedly, Ms. Stovall’s were far more extravagant and better staffed, but this building was strange. It had no exterior markings, and from the outside it could easily be mistaken for a warehouse. Only the doors, which we had just been greeted at, gave away that it was something more.

Two solid wood doors that stood about fifteen feet in height, adorned the street-side of the ‘warehouse’s’ sheet metal. While I could see a glimpse into the building from the open door when Mr. Varnish greeted us, walking in still had my breath catch in my chest.

There was a small entry chamber that couldn’t be more ostentatious. Every piece of furniture, down to the plants, were clearly Portal products. Matching Portal products. Clearly, this was meant to be a waiting room, since it had a large Castenork Desk, with a secretary behind it. The chair she sat in looked more like a throne with wheels than it did an office desk. Honestly, I’d seen leather armchairs in magazines that didn’t look that comfortable.

“I think that’s Bovine hide,” Smegma said, as he also stared at the chair. “All of them are.”

I nodded. The color of the leather was just too foreign to be from earth cows. Bovine was a term now used exclusively to describe creatures that resembled cows in Portals. Things like Minotaurs or massive Bulls. Or anything in between.

The Demon’s words did make me scan the rest of the seats, and I immediately felt myself comparing the matching chairs and tables to Evelyn Treesong’s waiting room. This was definitely a display of wealth and status—and I had no doubt Smegma approved. Mr. Varnish also walked slowly enough that we got plenty of time to ‘get a feel’ for the place.

Once through the side doorway consisting of more Castenork, it didn’t get better. The lights in this area weren’t even electric. No, instead, each office was surrounded by glowing Mana Crystal Glass—something I didn’t even know existed until… right now.

“Are those Mana Crystals?” My mom asked, as I swallowed the lump in my throat. They didn’t just look like Mana Crystals. From the relative lack of any visible frosting in the glow—they were high-rank Mana Crystals that had been somehow converted into glass.

“Yes, they are,” Mr. Varnish answered. “We're still trying to figure out how to add tint to the glass, since we would love to personalize the colors more, but it makes up for our lack of windows.”

“You say ‘ours’, what exactly is the company you work for?” Ms. Stovall asked, trying once again to mine some information. Mr. Varnish just chuckled as he continued to lead the way down the hallway. We soon arrived at a meeting room like Ms. Stovall’s, but surrounded by Mana Crystal glass, which I had to admit I liked far better. Even as we approached, I couldn’t see anything of the internal layout. Same with the offices, I realized, as I looked back to the nearest closed door.

When the door did open, I was greeted with ten people, most seated on the same side of the table. A table made of Portal Ore and Mana Crystal Glass—I immediately felt out-gunned. What the husk did these guys want?