I found the access ladder bolted to the building and climbed up. Just before I made it up to the roof, there was a small “whumpf” sound and I came to see Larsson already standing on the roof.
She smiled wolfishly at me, “Jumping seemed quicker.”
I shook my head, “Just point to the stinky thing.”
There was a pause as she sniffed around, then pried open the electrical box attached to the antenna and sniffed some more. Eventually, she pointed, “There.”
I reached in, grabbed a boxy looking device and ripped, wincing only slightly from the shock. Based on the solder and differing brand name parts, I could tell that this was a homemade job. Clearly, Voigt’s engineering degree wasn’t entirely for show. I didn’t have much time to consider the device though, because my phone found a signal and immediately started buzzing a horde of notifications. Larsson’s nose had served us well.
“Good job,” I offered to Larsson. She smiled at me, and I wasn’t sure if she was proud or patronizing. Rather than deal with that confusion, I pulled out my phone and checked the notices.
There was a small pile of text messages. Chalmers was keeping us in the loop about the arrest and status of the station, Quinn wanted to schedule a winter conference, and Jacob was letting me know that the signal booster hadn’t been found, but he had narrowed down the location. I was about to put away my phone when the voicemail notification buzzed. There were only three people in my life who left me voicemails, and the number wasn’t any of them.[118] Hesitantly, I dialed it in, a small sense of dread building in my stomach.
“You have one message in your mailbox. New message.” A small and panicked voice crept through the speaker, “Silas, I mean Deputy Tennant. This is, uh, Emily Fairbrooks. From the Circus. You said to call if I saw anything else weird. Well, I didn’t see something exactly, but all the animals are unsettled like they were when Curt first joined up, and although I haven’t seen him yet, it’s really weird. You said to call if I saw anything weird, so I thought you should know. Uh, anyways, I’ve got a show. Um, bye.”
“End of message. Received, TODAY, at ten, FORTY, two P.m.”
I checked the clock on the phone, 11:01, and swore. Then, into the radio, I filled people in, “Apparently, Voigt’s not coming. He’s just been sighted at the Racine County Fairgrounds not twenty minutes ago. Over.”
Carlson responded, “What the fuck is he doing there? We already hauled away the werewolf corpse.”
“Right, there’s nothing else that would be strong in spirit up there, there’s only….” I paled as dawning realization hit me, “What if he wasn’t just coming after me as a replenishing food source like he claimed. What if he was looking to add to his power set?”
Miles spoke up, “We don’t have any indication that he’s aware of the strong in Spirit requirement we know about do we?”
“No,” I said, “but even if he does, we might be wrong about that. It could just be any metahuman. Hell, even if he just thinks that, there’s a whole mess of metahumans at the fairgrounds.” My mouth stopped, but my brain continued, ‘Even if he’s wrong, there’s no way he’s not going to kill and eat all those people.’
The lines went silent for a long second before McCoy cut in, “So, we need to get to the carnival asap.”
I started thinking tactically. Clearly, this was a bust and we were in the wrong location. Driving would take at least 25 minutes. No helicopters possible to get to us in time. Boats don’t go on land and are actually slower than cars.
I shook my head, “To the SUV’s, it’s our fastest travel method.”
Carlson cut in, “They’re too slow. By the time we’ll get there Voigt will have had almost an hour to do whatever he wants. It would be better to get support and show up prepared. We need to get reinforcements. And maybe a helicopter.”
I wanted to yell. He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t like it. People were going to die and if we waited more would. I wanted to go save these people who had entrusted me to their care. I wanted to hurt Voigt horridly and make sure he could never hurt anyone again. I wanted to cause him to suffer like I had and would from being too late. I wanted to do things I couldn’t put to words as raw angrish consumed my…
Larsson tapped me on the shoulder. “I can get us there in thirty seconds.”
I blinked twice. “Come again?” I managed.
She shook her head in a slightly frustrated manner,[119] “If you trust me, I can get us there in thirty seconds. But you’ll have to trust me.”
I cocked my eyebrow, silently asking how. She started to shake her head but stopped mid shake. Her voice heavy with resignation, she confessed, “I can fade out with you all and we can take a shortcut that way.”
I considered my options for all of no time at all and nodded, “I’m in, but you’ll have to ask the others individually.” I had gotten this far on faith, time to double down.
She shrugged and then nodded, “Fair enough.”
We stood by the SUV’s side by side and waited for people to arrive. McCoy was the first to show up having been searching in the nearby area. Barely a minute later, Carlson loped up carrying the harpoon gun casually over a shoulder and a sack of harpoons. Miles, with his duffle bag of doom, wasn’t far behind. When they stopped short of the SUV’s, Larsson stepped forward, “So, I want to kill Voigt for my reasons and you all want to help the people at the fairgrounds. I can get us there in thirty seconds if you’re willing to Fade to do so. If not, I’ll understand.”
Before people could consider, I cut in. “I’m already planning on going, but I can’t order you to follow. Anyone else coming with?”
Almost instantly, Miles said, “I’m in,” and moved over towards us. I turned to Carlson and McCoy.
McCoy was palming silver rounds into the shotgun but shook her head. Carlson however simply swallowed and then asked, “We can bring the guns, right?”
Larsson tilted her head before nodding, “Yes, but I thought you didn’t need them?”
He shrugged, casually bumping the harpoon gun as if it were a pillow, “I don’t, but the harpoon was supposed to stop him from fading, wasn’t it?”
I nodded slightly, but clearly my face was showing doubt, because he continued, “Look, I don’t have a problem going to save people. I have a problem with recklessness. If we were driving there, we would’ve been late anyways, might as well have gotten help,” he stepped forward, leaving McCoy alone, “I’m in to save people. This is the fastest way to do that.”
I eyed McCoy, still shaking her head, “Nope. Nope nope nope. Nope,” she muttered, “I’m not going with the anti-authority werewolves into a place where they’ll be able to abandon us cause they asked nicely. Not a chance.”
I couldn’t blame her, each person had different definitions of what worth it was. “Okay, well then just the three of us will be taking the ride….”
Larsson cut in, talking at McCoy, “You know, if you stay here, you can’t shoot me in the head if I backstab your friends?”
McCoy’s hands shuddered for a second, nearly fumbling while loading another shell. We all waited for her to respond.[120] After a pregnant pause, “Okay, fine, I’m in. Fuck you all.”
Larsson smiled pleased with herself and then whistled loudly into the night, “So, here’s the trust moment. I can’t fade, Full Moon[121] and all that. But I have friends who could. And they refused to let me act as bait with only cops as my support.”[122]
Almost in unison five wolfman werewolves stepped into our reality ten feet away, and Carlson jumped in surprise. I somehow managed not to not show my shock and McCoy only twitched her trigger finger instead of shouldering the gun and firing. Miles however simply looked over at them and instead started asking questions, curious wonder creeping into his voice, “So they followed us from wherever you fade to?”
“They fade to,” she corrected with a shrug, “But pretty much. I don’t fully understand it and they didn’t give me much choice.”
Miles’ eyes lit up, �
�Think they’ll be willing to answer questions as we travel?”
At this point, McCoy started muttering again. I couldn’t hear her, so I leaned in, tuned out Miles, and she repeated herself, “This is such a fucking bad idea. You’re lucky you’re the only person in the MCD I can tolerate.”
I decided not to mess with her,[123] and instead said, “Thank you, this means a lot.”
She just shook her head, “This fucking sucks.”
Chapter 21
World Wonders
One of Larsson’s werewolves looked me in the eye and they slowly grabbed my shoulder with a hand bearing claws that looked even nastier than the ones that had disemboweled me. Despite myself I swallowed. They,[124] met my eye, I nodded, and then I felt myself yanked sideways.
The world I found myself in was only tangentially related to the one I left. There was a covered cove, a large lake, and land, but the similarities ended there. Where there had been a smattering of boats in a small cove turned into large and gaudy palaces and skyscrapers built on stilts over the water, stretching high enough to block out the sky. Surrounding the decadent structures was a wall so high that Donald Trump would’ve been envious with a fortified gatehouse that looked vaguely like the administrative office I had just finished climbing. Turning, I saw the sky unmarred with light pollution, the moon somehow at the center of it all. Around it the constellations, instead of little blips of light, actual animals and figures, danced and moved in mesmerizing patterns. I took a second to witness a celestial dragon stop talking to the large bear that I think was Ursa Major, moving past a smaller bear, logically Ursa Minor, to start another conversation with a swan.
My wonder was interrupted by a throat clearing to my right. I managed to peel my eyes from the wonder above to see the wolfperson who had brought me here looking bemused. For a second I saw triple, with both their human face and their wolf face superimposed with the hybrid form, fading away too quickly to pick up on the details They pointed to Larsson.
Larsson was an intimidating person in reality, but here she towered over us and was wrapped in a pale white armor that covered her wolfman form and an inexplicable sword buckled to her hip. The seeing triple thing happened again, before reasserting into her human form.
“Why do you look human?” I asked and apparently Miles asked in unison. She smiled in a way that made me want to both shrink in fear and have her protect me from those who would make her frown. “Because I felt it would be more comfortable and appropriate for you. Welcome to what the New Moon call the Shade, where truth is laid bare and thought affects reality. Since the truth is, I am all my forms, so I express the one you are most comfortable with for ease.”
I glanced at my hands but saw nothing different. Curiosity got to me as I turned to look at Miles, who stood there looking much as he normally does. His eyes were slightly wider and tinted with his curiosity. His entire face was expressive and full of emotion, from the tear stains and smile lines, projecting his emotions just as well as his abilities did in real life. He had a slight and darker than expected shadow, but it was fraying at the edges. As a whole, the Miles I saw was who I knew him to truly be; caring, inquisitive, and trying to move past a part of his life he didn’t want anymore.
McCoy however floored me. What little of her skin I could see had a grey pallor that almost looked like stone or armor. I say what little, because she was clad in spiked armor that didn’t have discernable gaps, almost as if it was welded on. It was black in such a way that sucked in the color from the air around it. The air around her was several degrees colder and her head was inside what looked like a fishbowl full of whiskey which made her eyes look bloodshot and red. Through the cracks in her armor, I saw a dark shroud that obscured a bright core, frantically fighting to be seen. I tried to make sense of it all. Closed off, reserved, but with a good heart and willing to fight. She looked at me looking at her and the cracks in the armor closed even farther, smothering the light within. I choked on my words for a second before offering, “If I look half as good as you do, I’d be surprised.”
There was a slight chuckle that rumbled from deep within her personal fortress and the cracks opened back up, not as much as they were before but some small amount. “I wonder why we can’t see ourselves.”
“Two reasons,” Larsson interjected, “One, Because the truths about ourselves are always more apparent to those around us. And two, because you see yourself the way you see yourself in the mirror, not as the truth. Overcoming that is always difficult.”
I didn’t have the mental capacity to fully contemplate that right now, so instead I pushed to put us back on track., “As fun as this is, shouldn’t we get going?”
She smiled, “Oh, that won’t be an issue. While you all were talking, our friends were taking us there.”
I turned sharply and felt myself completely thrown off balance as if I had a weight on my back that I hadn’t accounted for. When I staggered back to my feet, I noticed the five werewolves we had come with were now dressed as knights too and had dug their swords into the ground. That had, apparently, lifted us and the ground we were standing on and propelled us across the alien landscape. A man in pristine military dress uniform turned to us and spoke in Carlson’s voice, “Remind me to never go on missions with you again.” His unmarked face was looking slightly green around the edges, “Motion sickness sucks.”
I shrugged, “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said before motioning to the uniform, “I didn’t know you served.”
Carlson’s face wrinkled in confusion, “What? No, I never served. Couldn’t. Why I became a bounty hunter. Way to stop assholes without needing to sit the ASVAB.”
I took a second look at the uniform and noticed that none of the medals were spelled correctly. Often the words were just jumbled messes. Man thought himself a servant of the country even though he couldn’t actually serve due to a disability. Suddenly, my respect for the man shot up and sympathy went out to him.
“My apologies,” I managed before we were lurched to a stop. This time I felt whatever it was on my back start moving to stabilize me. With a mighty “whump” I managed to stay on my feet even as the bubble lurched.
“We’re here,” Larsson proclaimed.
The carnival looked like a Wonder Ball, a thin layer of sugar, excitement, and happiness but on the inside the real truth was laid bare, and all those niceties were just false promises to a hollow and, in this case, trapped center full of predatory monsters. I shuddered, not knowing if the monsters this reflected were Voigt, the showrunners who hid him, or both. Still, there was work to do and I was sure we’d find that answer out soon enough. We partnered backup with our werewolf buddies who brought us sideways. Cautiously, I leaned over towards Miles, “Do I have wings?”
“And so much more.”
I wanted to ask him to clarify, but we were then abruptly yanked sideways and into the Fairgrounds. The overwhelming sense of dread hit me first followed by the smell of the burning. I looked upward and found one of the concession stands collapsed into a flaming mess with the fire threatening to spread. Civilians were running haphazardly and faintly I heard a canned version of “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” playing. The attempt at patriotic tones through bad speakers somehow making the scene turn from disturbing to outright macabre. I took a moment to orient myself, looking around frantically.
To my right, I found Miles collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed with the dread pumping through the Fairgrounds. Carlson was trying to help him but was completely at a loss of what to do. The werewolves seemed better off but were clearly awaiting orders. To my left, Larsson and McCoy were scanning, trying to bring this all in with panic stretched across their faces. My mind raced and it wasn’t going anywhere fast. This was a shit show, we were screwed. We were all going to die.
This was not okay.
I paused and pushed the compounding dread to the side, recognizing it having the same artificial feel as the sorrow in the hospital. The environment and Miles were creati
ng this horrid feedback loop, so to be able to work, we needed to start there. I pointed at the white furred and scarred werewolf who seemed least affected and said, “We need to get Miles out of here and deal with the crowd. Let’s kill two birds with one stone. Could you take him and go over there,” I said pointing towards the parking lot, “And get people out of here. This much panic, I imagine the police are on the way. If you can make it so they can get in, that’d be awesome, but right now my priority is getting potential victims away from Voigt.”
“And potential power ups.” McCoy added in.
“Not helping McCoy,” I snapped. Miles really had to go before the panic got the best of us, but the werewolf was looking at Larsson for orders. I groaned, this was no time for ‘you’re not my boss’ politics and questioning. “Larsson,” I growled, “Can you tell your friend that my idea is okay for him to do.”
I felt her laugh more than I heard it, “Go and help the small one Decapitates-the-Leech,” she rumbled while pointing at a werewolf with matte black fur “And you can help him Lupus Noctis.”
McCoy’s mouth started to move to put the smirk on her lips to words, but I shot her inevitable snarky comment down with a glare. I glowered mentally at her, “We need these people right now, and insulting them is not conducive.” To her credit and my astonishment, she actually backed down.[125]
When I looked back, the ying-yang twins had already taken Miles off towards the crowd, casually leaping over cars, and with him it was as if the smothering blanket of dread lifted. I shook my head trying to dislodge out the remnants, but a thin wrapping of unease still remained. I was about to try again when a thought struck me.
“Okay, that feeling we’re feeling is one of the metahumans in the area by the name of Emily Fairbrooks. If we can figure out where she is, we’ll probably find Voigt and be able to….,” I trailed off considering my words for a second, “Secure Larsson’s deserved spot as Alpha.”
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