It was the first Friday since they’d gotten back and the first evening they’d all managed to find time to meet. For the duration of the earlier part of the week everything had been hectic. Everything from the surprise storms (which Cat especially hated) to a range of other more personal events almost across the board. Kass’s boss was missing, possibly vanished into a strange house. Cat still hadn’t told Baz she was pregnant. Falco had been called off sea again (shipping out on Monday). Wolf had discovered a deadly mistake in an earlier job. There were the protests at the blood bank that Indi had unfortunately encountered. And of course there was the zombie girl staying at Amanda and Sirius’s place, the main discussion point at this night’s gathering. Only Zephyr’s week had been relatively quiet which was ironic given a therapist was probably just what everyone needed at this point. But with the exception of the night’s main topic no one shared any of their week with the others.
Amanda had organised the meet up earlier in the week and for this one she’d picked Indi’s house. It was a little unusual since they usually met up at Coal’s to discuss work. Indi’s place was more regularly used for social engagements, but Amanda had her reasons for the change in location and tonight no one questioned them.
Cat walked in wearing an entire wardrobe of long waterproof coats and scowl that warned anyone away from questioning her clothing choices.
Indi returned her scowl with a smile. She was pouring tea at the kitchen counter. Kass was sitting across from her and sipping on hers. Zephyr perched on a stool further along the bench.
Down the hall Cat could hear footsteps which likely belonged to Falco. She dumped her coats on a chair near the door. Her scowl softened a little now that she was out of the rain.
“Where are the others?” she asked.
Indi shrugged. “Amanda called to say she was running late and that Sirius was staying behind with the kid. I haven’t heard from Wolf but it’s only just after seven now. I’m sure he’s not far.”
Cat nodded slowly but a frown returned to her face. She opened her mouth to say something just as the door behind her opened and Amanda walked in, red hair plastered to her wet face.
“Sorry I’m late,” she told them as she turned and fought with the door against the cold wind.
Cat shivered slightly as she felt the draft blow past, air pushed in as the door closed.
Amanda surveyed the group. “Is Falco ...”
“Here,” Falco said with a grin as he stuck his head out from the hallway. It was closely followed by the rest of his body.
“Wolf’s not here yet,” Indi said as she held up an empty cup. “Tea?”
Amanda shook her head then paused and reconsidered. “On second thoughts, sure, but one without caffeine if that’s an option in this house.”
Indi smiled and added with a touch of irony, “Who would drink caffeine at this hour?”
Falco came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He glanced down into her cup which contained a dark black liquid. “That’s not tea is it?”
Indi grinned and shrugged guiltily.
Kass gave soft amused smile from across the kitchen counter.
“How about you Cat? You want tea?” Indi asked.
Cat shook her head as she walked into the lounge section of the open plan living space to find something comfy to sit on.
Indi pulled out of Falco’s embrace and reached for a pile of boxes on the counter behind them. “What sort of tea do you want Amanda? I’ve got blackberry, tumeric, tamarillo, dragonfruit, blueberry, chamomile, rhubarb, vanilla chai, peppermint, sufero, green, bluetip, sweetbelly...”
“I think some of those have caffeine,” Falco observed.
“Um,” Amanda hesitated. She hadn’t realised there were so many teas.
“I’ve got chamomile,” Kass suggested helpfully.
“Peppermint.” Zephyr held up his own cup.
“I’m pretty sure Indi’s is actual coffee,” Falco added helpfully.
Indi looked over the top of her glasses at him.
Falco smiled back.
“What was the first one?” Amanda asked.
“Blackberry?” Indi replied.
“Yeah, I’ll have that one, that sounds good.”
Indi nodded and went about making her a cup.
Amanda walked around so she was standing between where Zephyr sat on a stool and where Cat lounged on a sofa. Kass and Zeph spun their seats to face her so the group formed a sort of circle.
“I’ve left Sirius home tonight with Lily so she won’t overhear our conversations,” Amanda started “And I’ve avoided holding this meeting at Coal’s so he doesn’t have a say in what happens to the child.”
“Shouldn’t he get a vote?” Zephyr asked hesitantly, “Given he financed the operation.”
“You mean the operation that nearly killed us?” Cat asked.
Amanda shook her head. “I’m pretty sure I know what he’ll say and I don’t think it’s an option that will sit well with any of us.” She paused. “That said, it is an option we need to consider. I’d just prefer to do it without Coal’s input.”
“What option?” Indi asked as she handed Amanda her tea and then pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the circle, next to Falco.
“She’s talking about killing her,” Cat said fixing Amanda with a blunt stare.
“Technically you can’t kill what’s already dead,” Zephyr quipped in a bad attempt to lighten the tension in the room. He trailed off as Cat shifted her stare slowly over to him.
Amanda started to open her mouth to speak but Indi interrupted.
“You can’t kill her!” Indi proclaimed in horror.
“Zombies have a nasty habit of not lasting very long,” Kass explained softly.
“But still, she’s not, she hasn’t, she seems alive and she’s fine. Don’t people get raised from the dead all the time?”
In the interest of a speedy meeting, Cat took up the explaining baton. “That’s usually immediately after death and even then it doesn’t always last.” She was slightly annoyed that Indi didn’t know all this stuff already. For all her intelligence Indi was sometimes very naive. “The longer it is after death, the more energy and skill it takes to raise the dead and the higher the chance it doesn’t stick.”
“But she seems fine,” Indi protested more quietly.
“She won’t necessarily stay that way,” Amanda explained gently but firmly.
“So? What happens to her if she doesn’t? Wouldn’t she just go back to being dead?”
“Zombism and a rampant unstoppable drive to consume flesh. How do you not know this?” Cat asked in an annoyed tone.
“Easy,” Falco warned, placing a gentle hand at Indi’s back. “Not everyone has experience with necromancy.”
“Zombie breakouts aren’t exactly uncommon,” Cat replied.
“Maybe here in Little Rock,” Falco retorted.
“And Marblewood,” Cat replied mentioning the town Indi was from, one that wasn’t too far from Little Rock.
Amanda held up her hands and was about to tell them too cool it when Indi spoke.
“I just thought that once it had worked...” she trailed off.
Kass was shaking her head solemnly.
Amanda explained. “Sometimes it can seem to work for a bit, but making it last is another thing, Much like when borrowers infuse magic into items. Delayed zombism is the most dangerous kind.”
Indi nodded. “He killed so many people for it though...” she whispered.
Falco frowned. “Is killing her really an option we have to consider?”
Amanda sighed and looked down. “It’s an option we have to consider but one which we hopefully won’t have to carry out. Still we should be prepared for it regardless. It’s not an option I want to jump to first, which is exactly why we are not having this conversation at Coals and why I didn’t want to bring it up first, Cat.” She gave Cat a pointed look.
Cat shrugged. “Just clearing the air.”
Indi seemed more relaxed now that that option was less likely.
“She’s already been through so much.” Zephyr observed. “She died, she was brought back, she lost her mum.”
“And we took her from her father,” Amanda added sadly.
“Can’t we just return her to him?” Zephyr asked “Let him deal with the potential fallout, ideally somewhere far away.”
“Ignoring the fact that we don’t know where he is, that’s just shifting the problem,” Amanda pointed out.
“The guy killed hundreds of people to raise the dead and you want to hand a 10-year old to him?” Cat asked Zephyr, jumping in as Amanda was still finishing, her voice loaded with sarcasm.
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Amanda answered almost immediately, in place of Zephyr, with a shake of her head “His actions weren’t that unreasonable. You’d do the same if you had a kid...” Amanda’s voice trailed off as she cut herself off and her eyes dropped to Cat’s stomach. They didn’t linger but it was long enough for Cat to catch it. Amanda hesitated.
Cat’s eyes narrowed. She had little doubt from that brief exchange that Amanda knew about her pregnancy. Who in starsside had told her? Who knew? Indi, Kass, Sirius. And Coal. It was probably Sirius. There were no secrets between them, at least there hadn’t been. But who knew where they stood with each other now. On their last adventure Kass had been caught kissing Sirius so he was in the doghouse so to speak. It also could have been Indi, she wasn’t exactly known for keeping secrets. It wasn’t likely to be either of the others though Cat was sure of that.
“We don’t know it was hundreds of people,” Zephyr added.
Cat fixed him with a look. “You want to ask Natasha how many bodies she’d need to revive a week old corpse?” Natasha was a local necromancer Cat knew, another one of Coal’s employees. Zephyr had met her only once and he frowned before he managed to place the name.
Amanda held up a hand. “Regardless, we can’t return her to him. And even ignoring what he did that doesn’t solve the problem of what she is, it just puts it on someone else.”
“Someone who deserves it?” Cat replied.
“Who’s side are you on?” Zephyr asked Cat with incredulation while Amanda gave her a warning look.
“If that happens it’s unlikely he’d be her only victim,” Amanda reminded her. “She’s a child, she goes to school...” Amanda had only just let the girl return to school and she’d been reluctant to do that. She still wasn’t sure it had been the right move. She’d told Lily that it was because she’d been though a lot and needed some time to rest but that was only half the truth. The real reason was the danger of Lily going zombie on other kids. What had won out in the end was that Lily sitting around by herself at home, while the others were at school had seemed to be getting her spirits down. Now at least she had something else to focus on. It was a risk though. Amanda knew that.
Cat pulled her claws back in long enough for Indi to ask another question.
“Couldn’t we do something to make her last longer, like maybe...”
“Sacrifice a few more people?” Cat interrupted with yet another sweetly sarcastic statement.
Indi didn’t reply. She just bit at her bottom lip, temporarily lost for ideas.
“It wouldn’t necessarily have to be people,” Kass suggested hesitantly.
“Yes, because animal necromancy is sooo efficient. Are you going to hunt down some rats for us?” Cat asked, knowing full well Kass couldn’t stand rats.
Kass dropped her eyes down to look at her tea cup.
Amanda studied Cat silently for a moment. Sure Cat could be a bit of a bitch sometimes, okay most of the time, but she wasn’t usually quite this bad. “Do you have a better suggestion?” Amanda asked her quite seriously.
That stopped Cat. She seemed to retreat back a little again. She stared back at Amanda but it was a less harsh look than she had used before, and also now matched the serious expression on Amanda’s own face.
Amanda had figured that Cat didn’t have any better solutions, or hell, if she had that wouldn’t have been a bad thing. But just as Amanda was about to ask for other ideas Cat gave an honest reply.
“We could just watch her.”
“And if she turns?” Amanda asked, not against the idea but wanting to make sure what they came up with was fool proof. There was also the question of watching her while she was in school. Amanda’s own kids had promised to keep an eye on her but they couldn’t be there all the time.
Cat shrugged.
“So we want to find a way to prevent her from turning?” Falco asked.
“Or from hurting people when she does,” Amanda replied acknowledging that there were other solutions.
The door opened in the silence just after Amanda had finished speaking. Wolf entered, dripping wet and soaked to the bone.
“Sorry, I’m late,” he said as he shut the door behind him. He removed his coat and hung it on the nearby coat rack, next to where Cat had hung hers earlier.
“Hey Wolf!” Indi greeted him with a smile. “Do you want tea?”
“Hey!” he smiled back very briefly “Did I miss anything? And no tea, thank you.”
“We were just discussing options on what to do about Lily,” Amanda explained. “You don’t know of any necromancy spells that might work do you?”
Wolf gave a brief chuckle and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I’ve just been looking into that. I’ve found a couple that might work but...” he rubbed his chin again then pulled up a dining chair so he was part of the circle. “But the ingredients are more than a little difficult to come by, I doubt even Coal has them.”
“What makes you think Coal might have them at all?” Cat asked, with genuine curiosity.
“He’s supposed to have a stash of things, various magical items, so he can just summon them when he wants them. Apparently he’s got warehouses full of shit somewhere. But not this stuff, it’s too rare.”
“What do we need?” Amanda asked.
“It’s not just that,” Wolf explained “The spells themselves, I’m not sure how reliable they are, and you’d still likely need a necromancer.”
Cat leaned back in her chair and rolled her eyes in boredom.
“I thought the point was to do it without a necromancer.” Amanda replied.
Wolf gave a half shrug. “It’s easier with one. Much much easier.”
“They require human sacrifices?” Amanda asked.
Cat’s attention was grabbed. She sat up straight. “You’re going to sacrifice people?”
Amanda hesitated.
Wolf replied. “We could be careful about who we select. It doesn’t have to be good people or people who would be missed.” He considered the stepfather of the girl who’s body he’d recently helped find.
“Given we just escaped from something similar...” Cat trailed off then picked up again “You’re willing to do exactly what Lily’s father did?” The question was aimed at Amanda rather than Wolf, partly because she was the one who had hesitated and party because she was the one who would make the final decision.
Zephyr held up a hand. “I for one, am definitely against that idea.”
“It would keep her alive?” Falco asked.
Amanda looked to Wolf for an answer.
“Potentially,” Wolf replied.
“I mean, we could always use some criminals no?” Falco postulated hesitantly.
Cat eyed him with a narrowed look. Falco stood his ground and eventually Cat just shrugged and looked bored again.
“How would you pick?” Indi exclaimed, making her objection to the idea obvious in her tone.
Cat shrugged again and waved a hand. “Pedophiles, wife-beaters, rapists?”
“They’re still people, what if they’re remorseful or they were wrongly accused, you can’t just...” Indi stammered.
“I can think of someone suitable.” Wolf commented quietly.
Cat shook her head, either ignoring or not hearing Wolf. “I don’t think remorse counts.”
“Of course it does!” Indi exclaimed with enough shrillness that Falco gave her back a soft rub in an attempt to calm her.
“Guilt definitely does,” Kass added quietly enough that only Zephyr heard her. Her experience with the courts made her reluctant to play judge, jury, and executioner, even though she’d technically done so in the past in another line of work.
Amanda held up a hand. “If we’re not sure it’s going to work I am hesitant to use it.”
“You were the one who suggested it,” Cat objected.
“If we are going to do it it’s better now that later,” Wolf added.
“What do you think Kass?” Amanda asked. Kass had been quiet most of the meeting.
She shifted slightly uncomfortable with the spotlight on her. “We could hand her over to people who are used to dealing with people like her. There are places.”
Amanda didn’t immediately jump at the idea and Kass noticed she actually tensed up more than she had with the other suggestions. Either she was just surprised at the suggestion having not been expecting it or she had some serious reservations about it.
In front of Kass, Zephyr cocked his head slightly and Kass suspected he’d noticed Amanda’s reaction too.
It was Falco who spoke next. “Like a prison?”
Kass shook her head. “Like a hospital, a very secure hospital. There’s one between here and the Emerald city.”
“I know the one,” Amanda replied. The way she said it made even Cat give her a studied look.
Noticing eyes on her, Amanda explained. “That wouldn’t be much of a life for her.”
“If she didn’t turn in a couple years surely she could be let out?” Cat asked.
The silence and the looks on Amanda and Kass’s faces answered her question in the negative.
Seeing Cat’s eyes narrow, her posture stiffen, and her mouth start to open, Amanda finally broke the silence before Cat could say anything. “Those places are very hard to get out of once you’re in them.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Falco started. As all eyes turned to look at him. He continued, “You’d just need a sponsor, someone to take responsibility.”
Kass looked up at Amanda and realised that Falco’s answer hadn’t relaxed her at all. She still seemed in objection to the idea.
Cat didn’t miss it either. She asked Amanda in a confused voice “So what’s wrong with that plan then?”
Cat’s voice seemed to jerk Amanda out of some other thought. Disinclined to explain further Amanda did the next best things and deferred the questioning. She nodded. “We can keep that as an option, but maybe we should run through some others as well before choosing.”
Falco nodded, seemingly unaware that Amanda hadn’t technically answered the question.
Amanda turned to Wolf. “Is there any way we could just check and see if the initial ritual worked?”
Wolf leaned back in his chair. “Not reliably. Unless you know a good psychic.”
“Since when is a psychic known as reliable?” Cat objected, her classic brand of sarcasm returning.
“I said a good psychic,” Wolf retorted.
Amanda gave him a look. She was in agreement with Cat on this one. “Zeph?” she asked turning to him to see if he had any ideas.
Zephyr shrugged and held out empty hands indicating that he had nothing.
Indi spoke up with her own suggestion. “Is there any way of detecting it when she turns?”
Amanda turned back to her, eyebrows raised in surprise. It wasn’t a suggestion she had thought of.
Misreading Amanda’s expression as doubt Indi explained further. “If we could detect it at the moment she turns then we could have her wear an item that freezes her or doses her with something to knock her out and alerts us.”
Amanda nodded eagerly then turned to look at Wolf as their resident magic spells and items expert.
Wolf also looked surprised. “Yeah, that could work, maybe, I don’t know, I’d have to do some more research I think. The detection would be the hard part but I don’t think that would necessarily be impossible. Then she could just live like a normal kid. The problem is what we’d do after.”
“A normal kid that can never take whatever the item is off,” Cat countered.
“That’s not that unusual,” Kass replied “People do wear and put various similar items on their kids. For power binding or if they get lost.”
“That would be expensive though wouldn’t it?” Zephyr asked. “It’s not really a most kids thing.”
Kass nodded. “And the main concern would be, again, getting something that lasts. I think it’s a better option than a necromancy ritual though. Items like that are easier to renew or recharge.”
Amanda nodded.
“And when she turns?” Cat asked.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. “Then we deal with that then,” Amanda replied.
“She might not turn,” Indi said hopefully.
Cat looked doubtful.
“Do you have a better idea?” Amanda asked her.
Cat gave the briefest shake of her head.
“Good, Wolf you look into that,” Amanda instructed.
“I can help,” Indi told him.
“I’ll be away for a week from tomorrow. But I doubt I’d be much help on this anyway,” Falco added.
“What about in the meantime?” Cat asked Amanda.
“It doesn’t need to be solved tonight,” Falco replied looking to Amanda for confirmation as he spoke in part for her. “She seems stable, usually there’s signs before...”
“Sometimes there aren’t,” Kass warned.
Amanda acknowledged the warning with a nod at Kass and then turned back to Cat and Falco. “For now I’ll watch her. If you do want to help you could come babysit for a few hours.” Amanda had resolved that she would do what she had to if the time came but for now it was enough to just watch.
To Amanda’s surprise Cat gave a nod at the babysitting suggestion. Cat glanced to the side briefly and replied, “We’ll see.”
“We’ll need to keep an eye out for her father too,” Amanda reminded them all.
Cat smiled. It was a confident and slightly dangerous smile. “He’s not getting anywhere near her,” she replied.
Amanda looked around the room, checking everyone was happy with the decision. Her gaze finally came to rest on Indi who seemed distracted, more so than usual. She’d noticed that Indi hadn’t been herself this evening. It wasn’t obvious, just little things, she seemed tired and almost like she’d been trying too hard to be welcoming, even before discussions had started. It made Amanda wonder if something was up. She didn’t ask though, not because she didn’t want to or was afraid to but because it obvious to Amanda that Indi was putting in her best effort to appear completely fine. Amanda made a note to check up on her later in the week. If she still seemed off colour then she’d start to pry.
“Well, thanks everyone. If you do want to babysit,” Amanda turned to Cat, “Let me know.”
Cat glanced sideways again then met Amanda’s eyes. She nodded. “We’ll see. Might do. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“When are we meeting next?” Zephyr asked.
“In a week? Friday again?” Amanda suggested. She turned to Wolf. “Or before then?”
Wolf shrugged. “If I find something we can meet earlier, otherwise a week’s good.”
“I might have some old books that will be useful, I’ll stop by sometime,” she replied.
“Okay.”
“I gotta go. Promised a client a late night meeting in an hour,” Zephyr said as he headed for the door.
A round of good byes was spoken and then Amanda turned to Falco. “And you’ll be away?”
“Yeah, but if there’s anything urgent...” he trailed off wanting to offer support if he could but knowing it was unlikely he would be able to leave in the middle of his job.
“I'm sure we’ll be fine,” Amanda reassured him. “Where are you shipping out to, if I can ask?”
“Down the coast, to deal with some protesters.”
“What are they protesting?” Amanda asked.
Falco hesitated and he glanced sideways at Indi.
It was enough for Amanda to understand. “Ah,” was all she said and left it at that.
As the others made a move to get up Indi interrupted. “There’s one more thing, if we’re done with that plan, and if anyone’s free tomorrow...”