A strangling, bitter heat rises from my stomach as I stare at the back of Dell’s head. My throat burns with anger and betrayal, and words touch at the tip of my tongue as I hold back spells from filling coins with death. No, no–this is Clutter’s girlfriend. I can’t jump to conclusions here, even if everything comes together a little too well if I factor her into everything that’s happened since I got back to this world.

“The Preservation, huh.” I say, stifling the rest of the words that want to come out. “Are they good customers?”

She shrugs. “They’re my bosses.”

Shit. That’s one excuse down. I ball my hands and carefully shut the door behind me, pressing a closed fist to the stone as I summon a coin into my fingers. Shield fills it in a second, with just enough of a flare of magic that someone with heightened senses might be able to sense it. Dell doesn’t even flinch.

I press the coin to the door and activate the shield. “Your bosses, huh? So, what, you’re a contractor? Or do you actually report to a… what were they called again? Talkers?”

“Speakers. And we don’t really work for speakers–they’re just higher ranking employees. More powerful, too. I guess I work for… whoever’s in charge of Palastia.” She shrugs again. “My manager’s name is Tobias Jeston, if that’s closer to what you’re asking.”

…Manager? The preservation has managers. For people with Classes. On the other world. I… just… wow. That sounds like the exact opposite of what I’d want if I came by a class coin the normal way. But it makes perfect sense if they’re trying to control the supply.

“Toby. How often do you meet him?”

“Once a week. Sometimes two if I’m finishing up a batch. Which I’m putting on hold for you and Clutter, so don’t tell him if you see him, okay?” She turns, and I step just to the side to block her vision of my coin. “Clutter really likes you. He also complains a lot about you, which he doesn’t really do for anyone else. Oh, yeah, he’s also scared shitless of your pet painted dane; speaking of, where is she?”

I frown and look over my shoulder. “Could’ve sworn she came up the stairs with us. But… wait, didn’t she go do something else before we even got here? Am I losing it?”

A huff directly enters my mind. “I am speaking to you from a very long distance away. You can ascertain my motions when I make them, as I am transmitting directly into your mind. As for whatever else you may have thought, that would be your own imagination filling in the gaps.”

Pearl frowns, then leans forward. “Don’t listen to her–she left an illusory double behind that only you and I can see.”

Illumisia sighs theatrically. “Do you have to ruin the fun so early, Pearlescence?”

As she speaks, a blood red duplicate of Illumisia appears out of nowhere. She walks straight through me and takes a long sniff of Dell’s hair, then turns away with a sneer of disgust.

“She smells like Clutter. I do not enjoy the assumptions I have just made.”

So she wasn’t technically ‘here’ all this time. That’s pointlessly confusing, but there must be a reason for it–maybe she can’t focus on the duplicate and whatever else she’s doing at the same time. My lips curl into a grin that I stifle before Dell can get suspicious.

“She must’ve stayed outside.”

“Oh. I kind of wanted to meet her.” Dell sighs, then turns back around with a wave of her hand. “You aren’t with the Preservation?”

I shake my head. “Nope.”

Dell snorts. “Well, good luck with whatever you’re trying to do. This place is nice enough for now, but in a while, the preservation’s going to really take it over. Hey, do you want me to talk to Toby for you? I bet I could get you a job, but the process will take a few weeks.”

I calmly nod, but my heart’s beating like hell again. “The preservation is going to take Palastia? Not to be a naysayer, but… is that a good idea? Aren’t the horizonguards goddamn terrifying?

“I wouldn't know–I’m not part of the negotiations. All I can tell you is that one of them is looking to ‘broaden his horizons’, and the Preservation wants to step in and fill that void.” Dell shifts to push the fabric against the sewing machine, which somehow hems it perfectly. “We’ve been working close to a native company, Stonestep Solutions, and we’re getting closer and closer to a deal every day.”

“That sounds like a hell of a lot of knowledge for someone not in the know.” I say warily. “Do you… know what happened with the Preservation back on Earth?”

She pauses, then goes right back to work. “Did something happen on Earth? I haven’t been back in… wow, it’s been close to a year.”

It’s my turn to shrug. “That’s what I’m wondering–they were supposed to announce something a few weeks ago, but then they just removed it from their website.” I lie through my teeth. “Were you supposed to finish that deal with… ‘Stonestep Solutions’... a few weeks ago?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Whatever tension had taken her leaves with a quiet sigh of relief. “It’s never had a set date, but I wouldn’t put it past Plead and his pencil-pushers to claim we were right there. Damn it, we can’t afford to lose even more face with the public.”

As Dell’s hands ball into fists, all I can think is that her words absolutely do not sound like the frustrations of a low-level employee. Either she’s lying to me about her station, or the preservation has so few people stationed here that their outfitter gets filled in on the progress of a secret negotiation. Or maybe I’m not creative enough to speculate the truth.

I wonder if the ribbon horizonguard already knew about this. Hell, I wonder if I’m supposed to be her solution to this.

So… what do I do with Dell? I step up right behind her, and she looks over her shoulder. A polite smile gets her to turn back around, and I summon a projectile-filled coin into my hand. Killing her would have completely unknown consequences. There’s a chance she’s pivotal to whatever the preservation is planning, and one well-placed projectile could end their plans before they really began.

It could also do absolutely nothing but shove suspicion onto me like a thousand glaring spotlights. Then I’d have her death on my hands for less than no reason–and Clutter’s loyalty would be lost. I toy with the idea of killing her, but it just doesn’t feel right. The greatest possibility is that she’s a replaceable cog in a larger machine. But… she’s still a part of that machine.

Maybe there’s something I can actually gain from this. I send the projectile away and dispel the shield; if I want this to work, I can’t have her suspecting me of anything. To her, I’m just Shelby–Clutter’s friend and employer. The only way she finds out that I’m the Gambler as well is if she goes back to Earth, or the preservation people here brief her on the situation.

…Actually, there’s one really important thing I need to make sure of before I do anything else. I pull out my Class Card, type a quick message to Clutter, and hope that he’ll answer it while in the shower. Before I can even lower my arm the reply flashes in a hologram, and I feel a wicked grin split my face as I send it away.

Somehow, Clutter never told Dell my name. This makes everything else I want to do so much easier.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m not really looking for a job right now.” I say as honestly as I can. “Although if you have an address for the preservation headquarters, I might need one when the quest Clutter and I are doing is over.”

Dell nods easily. “I’ll write it down for you before you leave. If, uh, you do decide you want a job… do you mind telling them I sent you? There’s a… recruitment bonus we get if we bring in people with classes.”

‘Recruitment bonus’. Even if that’s exactly what she’s making it out to be, I’m not feeling particularly generous right now. But it could be code for how the preservation captures people who don’t fit their ‘legal’ description of class-bearers.

“Oh, of course I can do that.” I say with saccharine sweetness. “I’m sure you’ll get even more than what you’re hoping for.”

I offer her a smile and a thumbs-up. Her face doesn’t change, but she sits up a little straighter, which I choose to take as happiness. Then she narrows her shoulders, leans in, and really gets to work on my clothes.

Which gives me the opportunity to check some slips. I quietly step to the side, and without trying to hide anything at all, start brazenly looking through the stuff that hasn’t been packed away yet. Most of the labels say they’re going to random places–probably just where other preservation members live–but that’s not what I’m looking for.

“What’re you doing?” Dell asks, but not accusingly.

I look over my shoulder and raise an eyebrow. “I’m looking at labels. Clutter told you I’m pretty new here, right? Figured I should have some… safe places to go if I get in trouble. And where’s safer than the preservation’s places?”

She stares at me for a second, then nods. “Most of those are just going to people’s places, but if you find an address that multiple boxes are addressed to, then that’s one of our businesses or headquarters. You could probably go to any address if you’re really in trouble, though I’d recommend somewhere that’s not someone’s house.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I say thoughtfully and set an address slip aside. “What about the rest of the people here? How are the not-humans in your experience?”

Dell goes silent. For… an uncomfortably long period of time. I watch her face go through countless extremely tiny shifts, none of which are even close to readable for me, but she doesn’t seem… happy. Her eyes lock with mine, and I can feel her searching for something in my expression.

“Clutter’s one of the good ones.” She says tensely. “And when the preservation comes in, everything will get a lot better.”

Uh… what the hell is that supposed to mean? I try to keep my suspicion off my face, and from how Dell doesn’t react at all, I do a damn good job of it. She nods to herself, or maybe to me, and goes right back to sewing my clothes. There’s something in her choice of words that sends a horrible shiver down my spine, and a small part of me wants to get Clutter as far away from this woman as I possibly can.

I just… don’t know why. This is definitely a check in the ‘bring Clutter on the quest’ column, though. And it completely removes whatever lingering doubts I have about what I’m going to do. I lean down to a box that’s three-quarters of the way filled with clothes, gently push most of them aside, and tuck a relocation coin under the bottom-most jacket.

Then I move on to the next box–one with a different shipping label. That one gets a relocation, too. So does the next one, and the next, and the next. Until there’s a relocation coin hidden inside a box that’s going to every single preservation store, business, or anything that’s not a simple home. The delivery dates for all of them are still weeks away, so this’ll be something for after the quest.

And once I’m done with that, I flick a final coin between my hands and set it on top of the dustiest shelf I can find. Dell doesn’t notice any of my efforts, or she just ignores them, and either option definitely works for me. I take a step back and silently take in each of the relocations I’ve got hidden away, all ready for a personal touch in just a few short weeks.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” I step to the door and pull it open. “Thanks again for the help. I’ll be sure to repay you someday soon.”

She waves without looking back. “Humans have to stick together. It’s the only way we win this.”

As I pull the door shut behind me, that disgusting feeling returns.