"Is that it, then?"

  Hailey nodded. "Everything I know about what happened in Rallsburg, to the best of my memory."

  "Jesus H. Christ," Aderholt muttered, leaning back in chair. "Two psychopaths who can make monsters outta nothin' murdered a couple hundred people?"

  "Yeah," Hailey sighed, "and one of them survived."

  "Brian Hendricks."

  "Yes."

  "And he hasn't given up."

  "Right." Hailey leaned forward again. "You guys need to be tracking him down. Right now."

  "What the fuck do you think we've been doing?" Aderholt threw up his hands. "You're the one that can fly, why the fuck haven't you found him?"

  "But… you guys have satellites. Thermal stuff. Helicopters and so on. Right?"

  "And we're searching a rainforest in the fuckin' fall. If he's even there anymore." Aderholt rolled his eyes. "It's a big-ass country, and from the way you tell it, he doesn't even gotta show his face to fuck you up."

  "He's got followers. They can't all hide."

  "Sure they fuckin' can, because they're normal-ass citizens goin' about their normal-ass days until they get called up for the murder of the week." He glared at her, as if it were Hailey's fault somehow. "Welcome to the modern dumbfuck era. Pick up a few burner smartphones, hook up to public wifi, use end-to-end encryption and you got your very own homebrew terror-fucks. Any fucker can google that shit in ten seconds, and there's no goddamn way we can track it all."

  "But—"

  "And let's not forget, we got no goddamn idea who we're protecting!" Aderholt added, raising his voice. "Your people have literally zero identifying characteristics and no pattern to follow. It could be literally any motherfucker off the shitgutter. We can't protect everyone. You wanna give us a list of awakened?"

  "...No."

  "Then quit your fuckin' whining and let's move on to cooperating."

  "I'm here as a favor to you," Hailey reminded, trying to keep herself calm.

  "Want a cookie?" he snarled, fist clenched.

  She glared at him, folding her arms across her chest. "Where's Agent Ashe?"

  Aderholt rolled his eyes. "I made a call. It was the right call at the time."

  "You called him insane!"

  "Bitch, he was saying the place was ripped up by monsters. What the fuck would you have said, with no evidence and no witnesses?"

  "There were witnesses."

  "Miss Winscombe," Jefferson cut in. He'd stayed mostly silent throughout the description of Rallsburg and the exchange throughout, since Hailey had gone over most of it with him several times over the weekend. "A word?"

  Hailey slid her chair away from the table and stood up. Jefferson followed her to the corner of the room, while Aderholt scribbled something on a notebook.

  "I want to throw him through that window," Hailey muttered, nodding at the one-way mirror against the far wall.

  "As your counsel, I can't advise it."

  "How about I just make that pencil hit him in the face? Can't legally prove it was me, right?"

  "As your counsel, I'd enjoy that—but still, I can't advise it."

  She sighed. "I know."

  "Is this gonna take all day?" asked Aderholt. "My wife's making a roast tonight."

  Hailey clenched her hands tight, out of sight of the irritating man across the table. Her nails dug into her palm, and she imagined her fist plowing right through Aderholt's face instead. It made her feel a little better.

  Jefferson shook his head slightly. "Remember what we're here for. One step at a time."

  "...Right." Hailey took a deep breath. It didn't do much, so she took another, and that one did the trick. She felt calm again. With a straight face and only the hints of indentation on her palms to show for it, she took a seat at the table again. "That was the whole story, Mr. Aderholt. The Rallsburg Incident. No more digging through the ruins." She leaned forward slightly, looking him directly in the eye. "Are your bosses happy yet?"

  Aderholt matched her glare beat for beat. "Who killed him? Who got him in the end?"

  "Like I said, I didn't see it. I was trying to lure the golems away so people could escape."

  "Didn't work, did it?" he said snidely.

  Hailey didn't respond. She just glared at him, while her hands dug indentations in the sides of her chair, out of sight.

  "You got one of my agents shot."

  "They shot him!" Hailey cried. The chair nearly tumbled over backward as she leapt to her feet.

  "Because he was aiming for one of yours!" Aderholt shouted back, also getting to his feet.

  The glass behind him visibly vibrated. Someone was pounding on it, trying to get his attention. Aderholt fell silent, glaring over his shoulder. He stormed out of the room.

  Hailey started pacing back and forth on her side of the table, working through stress and anger. Jefferson stood back, giving her space. He knew better than to say anything.

  Aderholt took a full ten minutes to return. He looked noticeably calmer. Hailey was surprised they'd actually let him continue the interview, but she refrained from making a quip about it. They were supposed to be cooperating. This wasn't helping. She was supposed to cooperate with the good guys. Assuming they are the good guys… Well, Agent Ashe is at least.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Can you give us any more information," he started, in an admirably even tone, "about Brian Hendricks? Accomplices, whereabouts, personal history?"

  "Besides what we've already brought up…" Hailey paused. "Accomplices. One of the guys at the bar in Tacoma."

  "You said you never saw Hendricks there."

  "No, but one of his guys stood out. He's a cop — or at least, he was a cop. He had a badge."

  "Openly?" Aderholt was interested now. "Could you tell what department?"

  "No… I don't think it was even from Tacoma. I'm not sure."

  "If I get you examples of every police badge from the area, you think you could identify it?"

  "Yeah, probably."

  Aderholt nodded. "Well, that's a start. I take it you gotta run though. Got your big fuckin' show tonight."

  Hailey checked her watch, and sure enough, it was getting close. If she wanted to be there on time, she had to fly soon. "Yeah."

  He opened a folder and slid a few pieces of paper across the table, along with Hailey's passport. "In exchange for the previous cooperation agreement, you've got provisional clearance to enter restricted airspace for any FBI operation, without notice. Personnel will be instructed of your abilities so they don't shoot you out of the sky—"

  "If they could," she quipped, unable to resist.

  Aderholt took a breath, visibly restraining himself from responding. "Our office would appreciate advance notice when possible though. There's also instructions here on how to contact us through secure channels. Finally, this paper—" He lifted one to the top. "—indicates that the state recognizes your personal contributions to the town of Rallsburg and will not pursue any potential crimes that may or may not have been committed therein. This includes an agreement co-signed by the DA and the Washington state governor's office."

  Even though Hailey didn't think she'd committed any crimes even worth talking about, it was still reassuring to have it in writing. Who knew what they might try to make up just to hold her down? Things had gotten so violent toward the end… She took the paper and handed it to Jefferson, who nodded.

  "Your lawyer will get the full version later, that's just a summary." Aderholt stood up. "We'll be shifting our operations in the Northwest with this new information. Any further assistance you're interested in rendering to your country is greatly appreciated. I've been asked to inform you that the Bureau is prepared to offer you a full-time position as an expert thaumaturgical consultant."

  "A what consultant?"

  "Magic." Aderholt rolled his eyes. "One of the FAA nerds back there begged for the name."

  "Oh."

  "Offer stands, no need to accept it right now." He pulled out a folded envelope and handed it over. "Look it over when you got time."

  "...Thanks."

  As Aderholt put his hand on the door, he turned back. "One more thing."

  She was still thrown off he was acting so polite suddenly. Compared to most of their conversation, this was unsettling. "Yeah?"

  "Hendricks. He has a daughter, right? We never found her."

  "You mean…"

  "Checkin' against the list of bodies. There were only like four or five kids. She was the only one unaccounted for."

  Hailey hesitated. "I don't know where she is." Not technically a lie… I haven't really talked to her in forever, and I have no idea where she actually lives in Seattle.

  "You don't, huh?" Aderholt frowned. "You know, we never had a picture of her, so we couldn't exactly put out an alert. But say we had one now—"

  "Don't," said Hailey, cutting him off. He raised his eyebrows. "Trust me. Just… just don't. She's had enough."

  "What if she's in trouble?"

  "She's not." Hailey shook her head. "She knows what her dad did. Don't make her famous on top of that. Let her be a normal kid."

  Aderholt stared for a few seconds. Finally, he nodded. "You got it."

  "...Thanks."

  "I'll be watching tonight. Don't screw it up." With that, he pulled open the door and walked out of the room. Hailey slumped back in her chair, waiting for the telltale burst of relief telling her she'd done the right thing—that she was on the right path, helping people, doing what she needed to do.

  It never came.

----------------------------------------

  A couple seconds of awkward silence, then a light flicked off above the audience.

  "Back in five!"

  "Jesus, five minute commercial breaks," Russ muttered. "They're milking this for everything they can."

  "Was that okay?" Hailey asked, while innumerable conversations broke out in the crowd. Everyone stayed stock-still in their seats though. She wasn't sure if she could move. "I felt like I did okay."

  "You were perfect. Just keep it up, you'll be great." Russ stood up, stretching out. "Next segment's gonna have the other guest. You ready for that?"

  "It's the only reason I'm here."

  Russ raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

  Hailey shrugged. "Do I have time to go use the bathroom?"

  "Sure. We agreed to equal time for the two of you, so he gets the exclusive for a bit. You won't be on screen, even if you're here."

  "Okay." Hailey stood up. "Thanks, by the way."

  "For what?"

  "Making this easy."

  "That's my job."

  "He's not here, is he?" she asked tentatively.

  "...I have no idea, actually. That's between his people and the studio. He's on in five though, so I'm assuming he is." Russ shrugged. "He's the most paranoid guest we've ever had, I can tell you that."

  Hailey nodded, thanked him again, and left the stage in a hurry. Someone pointed her to the bathrooms, which Hailey found mercifully empty. She relieved herself, cleaned up and took another deep breath. The pressure, which had vanished entirely out on the stage, returned tenfold now that she was alone.

  She stared herself down in the mirror. You're doing just fine. All you have to do is be yourself. You're showing them that humans have nothing to be scared of. Just be yourself. She repeated the mantra over and over, but it didn't help.

  "Hailey…"

  A crackling sound. The countertop crunched under Hailey's hands. She twisted around.

  "...Beverly?"

  Her soft gray eyes were fixed on the cracks that had splintered out from Hailey's grip. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, totally." Hailey brushed her hair out of her face and put on her usual smile. "Where have you been? We haven't talked in forever."

  "I've been… I've been traveling."

  "That sounds fun." Hailey leaned back against the counter, trying to act casual. "Anywhere nice?"

  "...Not really." Beverly bit her lip, then nodded at the counter. With another crackling sound, almost like the ripple of snapping wood, the countertop melded back together into a single piece — brand new. "I saw you on TV."

  "Yeah, about that…" Hailey glanced at the door. "I'm supposed to go back on in a couple minutes."

  "It's okay. We're uhh… well we're kinda in a… a bubble, I guess?"

  "A bubble?"

  "We can talk as long as we want."

  "You can do that?"

  "Yeah… I learned it from watching… someone else. And I just take it a lot further." Beverly's gaze fell to the ground. "I can do a lot of things now."

  Hailey's first instinct was to ask her to teach it, but she knew Beverly never would—if the spell was even possible for Hailey to cast. Despite being leaps and bounds above normal awakened, there was still a tier above her, one Hailey was itching to climb. "What did you want to talk about?"

  "I don't know. I just thought… well, you looked like you needed a break. Maybe get away."

  Hailey shook her head. "It's just jitters. I felt totally fine out there."

  "Hailey…" Beverly glanced at the countertop again.

  "Seriously. Everything's great." Except we're still being hunted, and the FBI is making things way harder than they need to be, and I didn't tell Rupert any of this was gonna happen, and Hugo still hates me, and I feel awful about ignoring Natalie, and my mom's gonna get even more grief over this, and I still have no idea what's going to happen when Cinza's books get published tomorrow, and I still haven't got a clue how to help Jessica—

  "If you're sure." Beverly pressed her hands to her temples.

  "Are you okay?" asked Hailey hesitantly.

  "Yeah… just tired."

  "There's still a lot of readings?"

  "I didn't… I didn't realize how many pieces there were," she murmured. "It's too much."

  Hailey put a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be okay."

  Beverly shook her head. "...You can't know that. But… thank you."

  "What are friends for?"

  She smiled. "I gotta go, before I get too tired. Good luck."

  "You too."

  Hailey's hand fell through the suddenly open air as Beverly vanished with a tiny gust of wind. Actual teleportation. I wish I could pull that off… The muffled noise of the studio outside resurfaced and filled her ears. The band was playing filler music during the commercial break for the audience. Like she'd implied, no time had passed for Hailey during their conversation, somehow.

  Hailey washed her face in the sink, trying to get back into focus. She adjusted her hair slightly, then wandered back out onto the set. The sound guy was waiting for her, and quickly double-checked her microphone setup to make sure nothing was off. She didn't notice. She was anticipating — along with the crowd, the stage manager, Russ at his desk, and everyone in the world watching — the arrival of the other special guest of the night.

  The whole reason she'd agreed to this little show and dance.

  I'm gonna remind him who he's dealing with.