"Well, we're here," said Damian, peering out down the street. There was an isolated church at the end, a beautiful little building with flowers scattered everywhere. The sky was cloudy, with patches of blue, and rain was coming in little drips all over the place.
They didn't see a single person around.
"Are you sure this is the place?" he asked, glancing over.
Natalie nodded. She'd triple-checked the address, and checked it again when they got there. They were at the right place. It might not look like much from a distance, but appearances didn't mean much to people like her. She knew what Cinza could do.
"You want me to stick around, Jenny?"
"That's okay. Thank you, Mr. Kincaid." Natalie pulled her jacket on a bit tighter, trying to block out the cold. The heating in his car was broken. She wanted to use magic to warm up, but couldn't while he was still there. "I'll call you if I need a ride back."
"Uh uh. I'll be in town. You call right when you're ready, and I'll be here."
"You don't have to do—"
"I'm happy to, Jenny." He glanced around again, slightly confused. Still not a soul to be seen.
She nodded. Truth be told, she definitely didn't want anyone else to give her a ride, in case they got an idea where she was living now. Quinn's family was still safe. She needed them to stay safe. As Natalie opened the door to the car, he spoke up again.
"I'm sorry about your friend."
"Thank you."
Natalie waited until he'd driven away, back down the street and around the corner, then immediately murmured a spell, focusing on the pockets of air under her coat. She sighed in relief as her shirt warmed up like a heated blanket. She rubbed her hands together a couple times, then stuck them in her pockets and started walking toward the empty church.
Every step, she felt more nervous. Who was going to be there? Who would she see? The only people from home she'd even spoken to since May were Hailey, Kendra, and Lily. And none of them knew what she looked like now. Who she'd become.
She stopped walking. I can't do this. She couldn't face them, all alone. No matter how much she wanted to go in, these were people from the past, the memories she'd been trying to bury. Hailey...
A screech from on high. Natalie glanced up, surprised. She knew that sound.
From over the woods past the church, Percy shot out of the sky, fluttering over the sidewalk and landing neatly on Natalie's shoulder. He rubbed his head against her temple, flapping his wing against the side of her head affectionately.
She stroked his head a couple times, while he took a few awkward steps on her thick green coat, finding a better position. Natalie turned back to the church again. She brushed her hair away from her face and steeled herself.
She could do this.
As she'd expected, the church shimmered slightly as she approached. It was so subtle, she doubted anyone would have noticed unless they were really looking for it — and had eyes like hers. Even she could barely tell something was off. Percy shifted talons nervously as they approached the wall. The path seemed to curve away as they walked forward, and Natalie could feel her brain trying to tell her to keep going, that she'd run into something she couldn't see if she walked forward.
Natalie plunged through without a second thought.
The entire world seemed to shift in place. Things emerged as she passed through — the cars parked in the small lot in front of the church, the flowers laid around the front doors. Percy ruffled his feathers in panic as they walked in, but as soon as the world righted itself, he settled down.
"Natalie?"
That's my name. Even though Quinn knew it, she heard it aloud so rarely that it was still a shock. Natalie glanced up from Percy to see Josh Miller dressed in a thick black overcoat, peering back at her from the top step of the church. He was the only one outside, sitting on the railing and staring out at the sky with a worried look.
"Hi," she called back. She crossed the parking lot quickly and hurried up to join him. She'd never exactly liked Josh — he was always the Councilor most likely to treat her like a little kid and ignore anything she had to say — but today? Seeing someone from home, whom she didn't have to hide anything from or explain anything to?
His eyes flicked over to her ears. Okay, maybe I have to explain a couple things. "I like them," she said, before he could say anything.
Josh shrugged. "If you say so." He looked around. "Anybody else with you?"
She shook her head.
"Well, I guess that's probably everyone then." Josh leaned back against one of the support columns, taking a long breath. "How the fuck did we get here?" He gulped and glanced back at her. "Err, sorry."
Natalie rolled her eyes. "You can cuss around me, Josh. I'm not a little kid anymore."
He glanced over her again, lingering on her scar, her eyes, everything. "...No kidding."
"Who's here?"
Percy made a half-cry, almost like a loud squawk, and Josh jumped. "Shit."
"...Was that you talking to it?"
She nodded. "Percy won't do that again. Don't worry."
Josh's face twisted into that bemused smile she was so familiar with from the old Council meetings, where he clearly didn't understand what was going on but had decided to just go with the flow, like he always did. "Well, to answer your question, a bunch of people: Hailey's parents, the Silverdales, Cinza and a few other Greycloaks who came with me, and some more I don't know. I was taking a break out here, waiting for Hailey."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"She's not here?" Natalie asked, looking around confused.
"Not yet." Josh frowned. "She called everyone together though. I'm sure she'll be here."
"And what about—"
"Nope. Nothing from Rachel." He sighed.
Natalie didn't even feel disappointed anymore. She knew Rachel wouldn't be here.
"Why'd you come separate from Kendra though?" he continued. "Thought you guys were living together."
Natalie shook her head. "Not anymore."
"Then…" Josh trailed off. "Whatever. As long as you're good. Are you good?"
Natalie nodded, though she knew it was a lie. She doubted Josh could tell though. She'd gotten really good at lying lately, as much as she hated it. "Yeah, I'm good."
"Okay." Josh frowned. The entire conversation felt awkward and uncomfortable for them both, clearly. Natalie didn't know what to say, and from his pauses and frequent glances away, Josh clearly didn't either. "Shit."
"What?"
"I don't know how to do funerals. I've never been to one."
Natalie nodded. "I have."
A dark cloud passed over his expression. "Oh, damn… Jenny's memorial, right."
"Memorial?"
Josh sighed. "'Cause there wasn't a… a body. That made it a memorial." He winced. "Sorry, I forgot."
She shook her head. "It's okay." Natalie glanced inside. "Do I gotta go by Jenny, or is everyone here okay?"
"Well, Hailey's parents are here, and a few other new people, but I don't think it really matters." Josh shrugged. "It's up to you."
I want to be me. At least for today, I want to just be me again. "Natalie."
He nodded. "Good to see you again, Natalie."
----------------------------------------
The doors swung open again. Jeremy looked up from his spot in the front corner, but it wasn't Hailey. Just Josh Miller again, accompanied by a teenage girl with a hawk perched on her shoulder, stunning purple eyes, and a deceptive amount of muscle filling out her small frame. She wore a thick, military-style green overcoat, tight dark jeans, and — if Jeremy wasn't seeing things — had actual pointy elf-ears just barely peeking out through her brown hair.
"Who the fuck are these people?" whispered Maddie, also watching the girl wander in. The hawk took a few fluttering steps, and seemed to glare straight at Jeremy for a second, but the girl made a beeline for the Silverdale parents toward the other end of the room and the hawk soon lost interest.
"Thought she explained everything to you," Jeremy murmured, referring to Rachel. They'd agreed not to mention her name once they were at the funeral. Rachel refused to attend, for one reason or another she declined to share, and had made it quite clear she wanted to stay in the shadows.
"Not about the goddamn elf-girl with the pet hawk. And that cult seemed way nicer in her description," she added, nodding toward Cinza and her three companions, who were talking to Rika Nishimura and Ryan Walker, recovering well from the injuries he'd sustained. Malton's men had been as gentle as a kidnapping could be, since he was wanted as a lab specimen, so Walker was going to be just fine — scared and jumpy, but fine.
Small fuckin' mercies…
"You talk to them yet?"
"Shit, Jere-bear, I'm still workin' up to talk to the damn billionaire in the room," she said quietly, stealing a quick glance toward the front. "Least she seems normal."
Kendra Laushire was seated in the front row of benches, tapping away at her phone as if she were sitting at home, paying little mind to anyone else in the room. Her fiery hair was pulled up tight, partly concealed under a wide-brimmed black hat, and she wore an elegant black dress that matched it perfectly.
Everybody's wearing black except those cloak freaks and the teenager… Whose idea was it to make funerals all about wearing black? Make a depressin' day even more fuckin' miserable.
"I'm gonna—" Jeremy started.
Maddie waved him away. "Go, I'll keep Courtney from pissing anyone off."
Jeremy wandered away. He didn't really have anything particular in mind, since he had no clue where Hailey was, so he just hovered past the different clusters in the room — listening in, hearing their conversations, waiting to see if he could pick up any more information about magic, and Rachel, and everything else going on.
He'd passed on all the information about Brian and his location, as well as his ties to Felix Wieczorek, to the FBI, but they still came up with nothing. Aderholt was getting everything he asked for after the devastation of the neighborhood in Lakewood, but they had no idea what they were really looking for. Two men they couldn't find and unsupported accusations against a multi-billionaire across the Atlantic didn't really lead to results.
On top of which, Aderholt still refused to let Jeremy back into the Bureau. Spiteful motherfucker.
"...seriously, Joe's alive?"
Jeremy stopped a few meters away from the cluster of Greycloaks, where a black-suited and bruised Ryan was looking flabbergasted. Nice suit, though…
The shortest of the group nodded, the shining gems and charms that adorned her neckline catching the light as she did. Her voice echoed in an unnatural way with every word. "He's one of us now."
"No shit. Cloak and everything?"
So that's Cinza… Pretty much what I expected. The crimson-haired girl beside her chimed in. "Joe understands what's important."
"My love, Ryan intended no offense."
Ryan shrugged. "Wouldn't have called that in a million years, that's all." He glanced around. "Stayed home though?"
"He's helping Makoto maintain the Greywood's barriers," Cinza explained. "Keeping sanctuary."
"Could use some fucking sanctuary about now," Ryan muttered.
"You're alive," snapped Rika.
Ryan looked like he were about to match venom for venom — but one look back up front, a reminder of why they were gathered, and his voice never made it past his throat. He fell silent.
"We've made great strides in protection magic," said Cinza, filling the silence. "Our home has not yet been found by a single unwelcome soul. All who wish to stay there are welcome."
"Might take you up on that." Ryan frowned. "But if you guys gotta power it all the time, there's a serious fucking hole in your defense, isn't there?"
"We're working on it," said Nikki. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she dabbed at them a few times with a handkerchief before speaking. Last time I saw her was on a hospital camera… She looks like she's aged ten fuckin' years since then.
"Nikki had a theory," explained Cinza. "Using the energy of less complex entities to fuel the spell."
"Well, shit, that's easy," said Ryan.
Everyone in the group looked at him, dumbstruck. Even Rika, whom Jeremy had concluded saw every single person in the room as dirt compared to herself.
"...Do tell," said Cinza dryly.
"I did somethin' similar with lizard eggs. Self-sustaining enchantment until the egg runs dry."
Nikki frowned. "But… what was the spell?"
"Set off a bunch of fire in every direction when it got stepped on." Ryan shrugged. "Never used it outside the science lab, but it worked." He grinned. "Freaked Josh the fuck out." Ryan looked over toward Josh, sitting near the Silverdale parents and Natalie, and winced. "...I should probably apologize or something."
Nikki spoke up impatiently as soon as he finished, sniffling slightly. "But that's such a simple enchantment. We're trying to power a complex mechanism here. Dozens of layers and components. You can't just use a single egg like that."
"What about a whole dozen?" asked Rika sarcastically.
"That's not really—"
"Hmm," Cinza cut in thoughtfully. "That's actually not a bad idea."
"The fuck?"
"Not eggs, of course, but if we used many power sources, we could power each component of the spell individually. In fact, if we use something that can actually produce its own power…"
"The trees?" asked Ruby, her eyes sparkling.
Cinza looked over at her with a smile. "Yes, exactly. The trees themselves can protect us."
"Until somebody awakened comes by and notices your massive fucking spell tugging on every tree for a mile across," said Rika darkly.
"The awakened aren't who we're worried about," said Ruby.
"...She's right though," sighed Cinza. "We need to be ready for anything now, magical or mundane."
Jesus… Jeremy really felt for them. They all seemed more on edge than he'd ever felt in his life, and they could do magic.
"What do you think, Mr. Ashe?" she asked, looking past Rika to where he stood.
Fuck. "Sorry," he said, walking up to join them. "Didn't mean to eavesdrop."
"I welcome your input," Cinza went on. "You've been a great ally to us, as Hailey tells it."
"Saved my fuckin' life, man," added Ryan, clapping him on the back as Jeremy joined the circle.
Jeremy shrugged. "Stebbins and Hailey did that, I just got in the way."
"I saw you in Tacoma," said Ruby. "You saved people there."
Jetemy raised an eyebrow. "You were there?" he asked.
Ruby smiled. A second later, she vanished into thin air. Jeremy took an involuntary step back, seriously unsettled, and she reappeared again. Nobody else had even moved. Cinza rolled her eyes.
"So that's how Hailey got away," he muttered.
"Despite our abilities," said Cinza, shooting Ruby a look, "we still aren't exactly safe. We'd love your advice and experience, Mr. Ashe, so that something like this doesn't ever happen again."
Jeremy nodded. "Whatever I can do."