by Joseph Bonis
Tracy smirked slightly as she hurried into the back, scooping up her gym bag and a towel on her way through the changing rooms to the showers. Twenty minutes later, she was clean and refreshed, fighting for space in the changing room's lone mirror. Her skirt was ankle-length and airy, patterned with dark gold and maroon leaves, and her blouse was a matching maroon with a gold collar. She wore a gold-wire necklace of her own creation with it, twined lightly around red stones of various shades and sizes. Hidden underneath the light, long skirts, Tracy was wearing dark red tights for warmth in the cold weather despite the unseasonal outfit.
When she finally got her chance at the mirror, Tracy put her long, still-damp hair into a quick, flat braid and then pinned it up in a circle around the top of her head. She relinquished her spot at the mirror to another of the girls, retreating to the mirror in her compact to apply her foundation. When she was ready, her things stuffed back into her gym bag, she took a deep breath and settled her mind, preparing for what she knew was going to be coming.
She stepped out into the practice area, where members of the later Dan class were starting to gather. Tracy smiled and took a few moments to meet some former classmates from back when they all had been kyu together. Lachie had gone up a belt, and Darren had gotten married, for which congratulations were in order.
“So what's up with Chaz?” Tracy asked. “I haven't seen him in a couple weeks.”
Darren and Lachie looked at each other. “Chaz quit,” Darren said quietly. “He said he didn't have the time anymore … I think he lost his job and had to move, or something.”
“He didn't want to talk about it,” confirmed Lachie.
Tracy let out a soft “oh,” and tucked her hands together behind her back, looking down at the floor.
“Yeah,” agreed Darren, subdued.
Lachie nodded. “Sucks,” he said, simply.
The three of them stood around feeling a bit awkward for a few seconds, the silence stretching on.
“So … I'm taking the black belt test next week,” Tracy said, breaking the silence.
Darren and Lachie perked up. “What, really?” asked Lachie. “That's great! It'll be awesome having you in the same class again!”
Darren nodded in agreement. “You'll pass easy - be catching up with us in no time!”
Tracy smiled brightly. It would be nice to be practicing with them, again. And, she admitted to herself, feeling a little egotistical even thinking it - it would be nice to be challenged again during practice.
“What's Shichidan doing up there?” wondered Lachie, peering past Tracy towards the front.
“Oh!” Tracy exclaimed, her head turning around. “That's right! I forgot! Hey, I have to go, there's this guy who helped me last night and I gotta talk to him about some stuff. I'll tell you about it later.” She backed off, regretfully, and at her last words she gave a wave and made a couple little quick steps towards the front as Darren and Lachie made surprised noises of farewell.
Grandmaster Lee and Jacob were up front, talking in low tones as Jacob looked through some pamphlets. “That actually sounds like a really great deal,” Jacob was saying as Tracy walked up.
“OK, I'm ready!” Tracy chirped, her gym bag's strap was over one shoulder, her thick winter jacket tossed over the other – it was just too nice out to wear it. Grandmaster Lee turned with a smile, but Tracy was familiar enough with him to see the faint disappointment in his eyes - he must have been really close to selling Jacob on a set of classes. She felt a little bad sabotaging Grandmaster Lee's spiel, but she didn't think she wanted to see Jacob every week.
Jacob, on the other hand, looked at Tracy and barely kept himself from gaping. Tracy felt a soft flush rise in her cheeks at the open admiration. “So, um … we going, then?”
Giving himself a little shake, Jacob nodded and handed the pamphlets to Grandmaster Lee. “I'll sleep on it,” Jacob assured him, smiling. “I'm kinda short on cash right now, but it sounds like something I'd be willing to tighten my belt for a while in order to afford it.”
Grandmaster Lee nodded and smiled. “Of course! No time limit, feel free to come back next weekend and attend a complimentary class, if you want to see what you're getting into.” Jacob nodded as Tracy pulled him down the steps towards the door. “And it's really good exercise - makes it easier to tighten your belt.”
Jacob frowned, his brown furrowing. “Hey, wait a minute,” but Tracy had already pulled him out the door into the chill morning air. He looked down at himself. “Was he saying I need to lose weight?”
Tracy shook her head. “He's on a script, don't take it personally. You look fine.”
“Thanks,” Jacob said, looking up at Tracy, who was smiling up towards the sky. She could see his expression out of the corner of her eye, and suddenly felt very self-conscious. “You look fine, too. I mean, you look nice.” Oh, good, that didn't make her feel any more self-conscious. “Are you going somewhere special?”
Tracy shook her head. “No, I always dress like this. I just like looking nice.” She turned and walked up the street towards the corner. “So,” she said, “I don't suppose it would be reasonable to assume you got here by car?”
He shook his head, looking hesitant. “No,” he said, quietly. “I get around … in different ways.”
She took that to mean that his travel methods were part of the discussion, so she prepared herself to leap in feet first. “Jacob,” she murmured, “I never thanked you for last night. Thank you. And I'm sorry for attacking you.”
He shook his head. “It was nothing, you were scared. Think nothing of it.”
There was an awkward silence as he followed her to the bus station. The two of them sat down together on the bench in the small shelter.
“So,” Tracy said at last. “Tell me about it.”
Chapter 4: Doing
“Tell you about what?” asked Jacob.
“You know - about what we are, what happened last night,” Tracy replied, looking at him in exasperation. “What are you, a shaman here to tell me about my secret past and destiny?”
“What?” he straightened up in surprise. “Me, a shaman? No!” he protested, laughter apparent in his voice. “No, no, no, heavens no. Spirits above, Grandfather would laugh himself breathless if he heard that.”
“OK, then what are we?” persisted Tracy. “Are we aliens? Spirits from another dimension? Secret race of Fae replacing human children? Secret society of Wizards? Do I have to travel to Diagon Alley now? What?”
“Oh, uh … human, I'm pretty sure,” Jacob said, hesitantly. “You've got a pretty active imagination …”
Tracy nodded. “Well, some sort of cross between Highlander and Pokémon, right?”
Jacob gave Tracy a bewildered look. “Pokémon?” he asked, confused.
“Yes, Pokémon!” exclaimed Tracy. “You know? Nightfox! I choose you! Shadow Knife Attack, go!”
“Uh… I don't…”
With a roll of her eyes, Tracy said, “Twenty-first century calling Jacob Nightfox. How can you not know one of the biggest children's fads of the past decade?”
“No no,” Jacob assured her. “I know what Pokémon are, I'd just … I never … I don't think of myself as one.” He paused to think. “I guess you're … right … in a way. But I'd prefer to use something other than Pokémon.”
“Sure,” agreed Tracy, “I'd rather use something a little closer, but most people haven't heard of the Codex Alera, and everything else is cartoons, anyway.”
“You read Jim Butcher?” Jacob cried happily, perking up. “Oh, good! That'll make things easier!”
“Wait, wait,” Tracy quickly put in, then paused, trying to gather this. “Are you telling me that book actually is some sort of how-to manual?”
Jacob quickly shook his head. “No, no, no, not at all. It's totally fiction, and doesn't match our stuff. There's similarities, but that's because elemental traits have connotations for a reason. If you've read and enjoyed that, though, then you can probably a
bsorb our stuff pretty easily.”
Tracy nodded, and waited, curious.
Jacob pondered for a bit. “OK,” he said. “First off, it's important to remember that we're pretty disorganized, and we don't really know very much. Just that it happens. We have hundreds of theories on why it happens, how it happens, and whom it happens to, but nothing really scientific or definite. From old books, we know it's been around for quite a while. Some people think we're the sort of stuff you said. That we've tapped into the spirit world. That we're wizards, or shamans, or that we have fairy blood, or that we're descendant from Nephilimum-”
“Nephilim,” corrected Tracy.
“Right, them. Angels. Others think we've got demon blood. Others think it's not us at all - that it's some sort of big game that some super-powerful wizards, deities, spirits, or alien beings have put together. Others think it's just a random collection of natural energies that slowly gather and crystallize in someone, and that the apparent laws are just anthro … anthromorphing-”
“Anthropomorphizing,” corrected Tracy again.
“Yes, that. Imagining our own face on nature. And we don't have a common language, either, even for the basic stuff. Like my knife - some call it a familiar, some call it an extension, some call it a guardian spirit, some call it an inner angel. Foci. Fetishes. There's dozens of names and ideas. Some people think they're creations of our souls, others think they're external spirits that attach themselves to us. And the tokens - they're also called charms, fetishes, medals, trinkets, marks, and dozens of other names. If you end up talking about this stuff with someone, you just have to listen for the context or concept you're looking for.”
Tracy nodded. “OK, so you've impressed upon me how much we don't know. What do we know?”
The bus came around the corner, drawing Jacob's eye. He watched it approach, the two of them standing up to greet it, the conversation on hold. “I don't suppose you brought exact change?” asked Tracy, pulling out her purse. Jacob shook his head, and Tracy sighed. “Of course.”
She pulled out her bus pass, then opened a change purse to count some fare for Jacob as the bus drove along the block and pulled to a stop before them. The door opened with a shrill squeak before them, a familiar-faced bus driver smiling down to them. Jacob stepped to one side to let Tracy precede him onto the bus.
They picked out a seat in the back without anyone around, and Tracy sat down with her gym bag on her lap. The bus started up with a lurch and a hiss of air, the distinctive sound of a public transport. Tracy leaned close to Jacob once more, murmuring, “Okay, so, what do you know about this?”
Jacob sighed and nodded. “Well,” he murmured. He tapped his fingers, as if counting, his face growing momentarily distant. “There are three things you gain,” he went on.
“First,” he said, “Is the sixth sense. You can feel when one of us is nearby. You've already noticed that. There's a couple ways to sneak up on someone, but usually, you can feel them coming.”
Tracy nodded.
“Second,” he said, “You get a familiar or a tool or something like that. I got a knife; you got a bracelet. Some people get swords, some people get hammers, some people get wolves, some people get birds. It's that sort of thing. It's supposed to reflect … something or other.”
Tracy nodded again, just listening.
“And third,” he said, then paused. Part of Tracy wanted him to get on with it, the other part savored just a few more seconds of pretending to normality. “Third,” Jacob continued, his voice still pitched low, “we gain the tokens. Each of us has our own personal token that we can use better than any other, but we can collect those of others, as well. These tokens give us power over elements, though not just the classic four.”
Tracy swallowed nervously, but nodded to let him know she was listening. She had expected the words, but even as such, they were hard to believe.
“Understand,” Jacob said lowly, his voice intent, “that you have to look over your shoulder now, because people are going to want your token, and to most people - that means fighting you for it.”
Tracy perked up, a hopeful look on her face. “Most people?” she asked, a bit of energy in her voice. “What else is there?”
Jacob let out a soft breath in amusement, but shushed her quickly, glancing around at the other folks on the bus, though none were within a few seats of them. “It doesn't happen nearly as often, but tokens can be given as a gift, or they can be wagered on a different sort of game - like poker or chess. Or they can be the basis of a pact or bargain. Be careful about that sort of thing - that binds you to the contract, irrevocably.”
Tracy nodded, her brain racing, trying to put this all together, but there was just too much she still didn't know about - even the most basic parts of this strange underground society were a mystery to her. Funny how secret societies work that way, one part of her brain spoke up with a wry tone.
Jacob continued with what he had been telling her before she had interrupted with that tangent. “Most tokens are common single-element tokens, the four classic Greek elements. Fire, water, earth, air. About… one in ten, generally speaking, is a rarer type of token. I have shadow, for instance, or tech, or mind – there's many unique ones. There aren't many rare tokens out there. You have a dual-token, which is rather more common than the rare ones. For me, I have to find another shadow token to be able to gain stronger shadow abilities, or I need to grow stronger with just this token – both of which are rather difficult. For you, you can grow stronger by just collecting water and air tokens.”
Tracy blinked. “How did you know that's what mine is?” she asked. “You didn't see my charm!”
“Yes,” replied Jacob, “But you used mist to disrupt my shadow knife. Mist is usually from the weather token - the air/water dual-token. See, when you have a dual token, it's more than just the ability to use both of the elements, you also gain a rare element that is like the combination of those elements. Air and water is for the weather. Fire and earth is metal. That sort of thing.”
“Oh,” breathed Tracy. “I guess that makes sense.” They fell silent for a while, seconds stretching to minutes, the minutes ticking past. Finally, Tracy broke the silence. “What about the people?”
Jacob blinked. “What about the people?” he asked. “I don't understand.”
“The people,” repeated Tracy. “What are they like? Do they gather? Is there some secret council or government? What is it?”
Jacob grimaced. “It's a tyranny,” he muttered. “The rule of the strongest. No one can defeat Lord Brin. He's just too powerful. He-” Jacob cut himself off, and considered again.
“What is it?” asked Tracy, leaning closer.
“I gotta think how to do this,” Jacob explained. “I spent all my time trying to figure out how to tell you about the fighting, and the tokens, and how to use the magic. I didn't think you'd be asking for a history and culture lesson.”
Tracy couldn't help but let out a small giggle, leaning back in the seat. “Take your time,” she said. “We'll be hitting my stop in a couple minutes, anyway.”
They sat silently for a short while. The bus bumped over a couple of potholes, and the bus was full of a low drone of the voices of all the other riders talking to each other. Tracy could hear the faint warring musical whispers of three different headphones turned up much too high.
“Last night - you attacked him to get his earth charm, didn't you?” she quietly stated more than asked. “Not to help me?”
“More a little of both,” he admitted. “But yes, I wanted his earth token. You got it instead, though.”
Tracy nodded, and her voice was quiet as she added, “And if you had known that I was one of … whatever we are … you would have attacked me for my dual charm, wouldn't you?”
Jacob nodded silently, looking a little abashed. “But,” he added, “It's really for the best. It's the easiest way for you …”
“So I'm protected? Cause otherwise I have to fight?” Tracy a
sked, bristling just a little. “How is that your choice to make? Isn't that my choice?”
“It doesn't work that way,” Jacob objected, affronted, a bit too loud. He cringed and brought his voice down again. “Once it bonds to you, then you don't have a choice anymore. Letting you bond with it is making your choice for you, too. Would you really have believed me if I had told you what was going on?”
“What keeps me from giving away my charm?” challenged Tracy, “Make the choice now? Not have to fight, anymore?”
Jacob shook his head. “It's bonded,” he said again. “It can be taken from you, it can be given away, but then it itches inside your head forever. Like how you knew I was across the street - but you'd feel that even across the city, or on the other side of the world. It'd always be there, a tiny little headache for the rest of your life.”
Tracy withdrew and fell quiet again, letting out only a little 'oh' of understanding.
The bus hummed along for a little while longer with the both of them sitting lost in their own thoughts. Tracy was trying to understand all she had been told - or, more specifically, to absorb it. It was easy to understand - the hard part was believing it. Part of her expected someone to jump out with a camera any second now and tell her that she was actually on some sort of reality TV show. It was certainly an easier thing to believe - except that while they might be able to fake all the other things that happened, how would they fake what was happening inside her head?
Tracy looked up, blinked, and started paying more attention to her surroundings, twisting to look carefully at all the seats of the bus. They had pulled over to a bus stop and most of the people on the bus were getting off. All of the people on the bus, in fact, other than themselves and the bus driver, were now stepping onto the sidewalk. “That's strange,” she murmured under her breath.
“What is?” Jacob looked first at Tracy, then followed her gaze to see the emptying bus. “Oh,” he murmured. They watched in silence for another ten seconds. “I don't suppose it's normal for the bus to suddenly empty out at this stop?”