by S T Branton
“But it wasn't,” I insisted. “I only confessed to save my father. They were threatening to take him away and I couldn't let my siblings be without him. But I didn't do anything. And neither did he.”
“I know that now,” Dog reassured me. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what you must have gone through. You paid for another person’s crime.”
Even in the dark room, I saw the pain on his face. He handed Solon’s blade back to me, then started to leave.
“I'm sorry for your family.”
He looked at me over his shoulder and gave a slight nod.
“Not nearly as sorry as the true killer will be when I catch up with him.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Despite how exhausted I had been when I got back to the hotel two hours earlier, I was still awake. Now that Dog had left, I’d reclaimed the bed and was lying in it, staring at the ceiling again. It was a familiar situation. Splinter was curled up against my side, snoring like a little drunk. Every so often, his bristles would perk up and I could only imagine he was dreaming of his epic heroics. I couldn't get what Dog told me out of my mind.
"Why would the evidence point to my family?" I muttered.
Splinter was wholly unaffected. He kept right on snoring and flipping his little feet around like he was running up the guy again. The thing was, I'd never considered that there was anything that might suggest my family had anything to do with the crimes against The Far. I always assumed the Guild had made a terrible mistake. But now that I knew Dog had made the same mistake, it didn't feel as random or as accidental.
After another forty-five minutes of tossing and flopping around, I decided it was futile to keep trying to sleep. I opened the locket and grabbed Hobbes's book. It only took flipping through the first few pages for my mouth to fall open. Archie was right about me being the prime piece of evidence. I was everywhere in there. My name was splattered across those pages like I was the main character.
Hobbes was terrified of me and wanted everyone who read the book to be, as well. I could attest to its effectiveness. I was reading it and becoming a little terrified of myself. One thing was glaringly obvious as I read through the manifesto. Without me, there was no revolution. All the vehement desire to bring down the Pax Philosophia so they could wipe out the Nearlings came right down to me.
I read further and had to laugh.
"You know who this reminds me of?" I asked Splinter. He let out a snuffling sound, and I poked him in the belly hard enough to wake him up. He blinked at me, but I chose to take that as rapt attention and fascination with what I had to say. "This sounds like Solon. I mean, the content is more on the I hate Sara Slick side than he'd go, but the tone is like his. Straightforward. No nonsense. That air of everyone should have a basic knowledge of this absurdly complex concept only a select few really know." I laughed again and looked over at Splinter to make sure he was still awake.
“You know, in the early days, he assumed I'd never be strong enough to take on the Farside threats I'd have to face in The Deep. He knew there was no way I'd ever be able to protect myself or fight back against them, so he focused his teaching on showing me how to outsmart them instead. There was this one guy who gave me all sorts of trouble. He was my first experience with a troll. This dude was always picking on me. Anytime Solon wasn't around, he'd threaten to hurt me or eat me or whatever else came to his mind that day. I wanted Solon to get rid of him for me, but he wouldn't. Instead, he said he would teach me how to get back at him without ever having to throw a punch. Considering I had exactly no skills at the time, that was for the best. I thought that meant he would kick his ass for me, but no. He wanted to show me how to outsmart him. He taught me the valuable lesson that the enemy of your enemy can be your friend.
“At his direction, I stole some food from another prisoner. This was a new guy, a vicious cyclops. Solon told me to tell him that the troll had done it and was coming after him. Of course, this new cyclops was still fresh off the streets and hadn't been as ground down by The Deep as most of the others. I wished Solon and I had some popcorn that night while we watched the new guy kick the shit out of the troll who had been threatening me."
I laughed again, but the sound suddenly died in my throat. It hit me.
What if Hobbes framed me?
My family didn't know anything about what had been The Far before the day the Philosophers Guild showed up. It didn't make sense that there was so much evidence tying my father to the murders. We had to have been the patsy. Maybe it was because Hobbes had set it up that way. He had created the entire thing so he could have a villain to rally against and achieve his goal.
It didn’t matter that he was threatening my city. He had already ruined my life.
Chapter Thirty
Staying in my hotel room for the rest of the night was a study in the limits of my patience. I knew Ally needed sleep and Archie had probably stayed up doing his mad scientist thing for a while after we left, so he’d need to crash for at least a few hours if I wanted him to be any help. That meant I couldn’t leave right then and start pursuing my new theory. Splinter had long since gone back to sleep and I bored myself into a few winks by counting his bristles. It wasn’t as soft and fluffy as counting sheep, but it worked.
After an hour or two of forced sleep, I was awake again and still had plenty of night to push through. Another shower took up some time and freshened me up some, then came pacing around the room while I waited for my hair to dry. That was swiftly followed by making a list of things I would need during my time out of The Deep. So far it included real shampoo, a toothbrush, and deodorant.
I might as well spend what little freedom I had left smelling well.
For the next hour, I practiced planking on various surfaces of the room and made a mental note to ask Ally when I saw her if that was still a thing. I’d resorted to jumping on the bed in what I would later refer to as dexterity exercises when the sun finally started coming up. That was good enough for me. I changed clothes and headed out. I walked toward Archie’s house and had gotten a few blocks away when I heard a car horn behind me. Ally pulled up beside me and tilted her head down to gaze through the window.
“Want a ride, hot stuff?”
I opened the door and slipped into the passenger seat.
“I know you’re teasing me, but that’s the first time someone’s propositioned me in a long time, and it feels pretty good.”
She grinned at me.
“I’ll throw more at you any time. Just let me know.”
I shrugged.
“It’s better when it’s spontaneous.”
Archie was leaning out of his door again when we got to the house, and I started wondering if there was a tracker chip situation going on. I hoped he would tell me if he was going to implant me with something so he knew where I was all the time, but I’d learned not to underestimate the Philosophers.
“It took you long enough,” he said as we walked up the sidewalk to him.
His voice was sharp and bitter, putting on full display that he wasn’t thrilled I’d roped him into our save the world scheme.
“Are you tracking me?”
“What do you mean?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. Good morning.”
“Come on. I have breakfast going.” He ushered us into the house.
Ally and I exchanged glances.
“Breakfast?” we whispered.
We walked into the house, and I breathed in the smell of the fabled breakfast. I could detect eggs, sausage, and potatoes, and my mouth watered. There was nowhere in the house for us to sit, but that didn’t matter. I’d perch on top of one of the leaning towers of random stuff if I needed to. It had been way too long since I’d had a breakfast like that, and I wanted all of it.
It turned out I didn’t have to perch. Instead, Archie shoved loaded plates and oversized mugs of heavily creamed coffee into our hands and urged us back down into his basement workshop. I wasn't the biggest fan of eatin
g near some of those vessels and vials, but chose a spot as far away from his equipment as I could and tucked into the breakfast anyway. Archie set his plate right on the counter next to the Bunsen burner and shoved a whole link of sausage into his mouth.
“I love human food,” he mumbled through the bite.
It would seem like a glimpse of humanity from him, if he was human to begin with.
“Me, too,” I agreed.
We ate in silence for a few seconds before I washed down a massive bite of potatoes with my coffee and turned to him.
“I read the book. You're right, Hobbes has a serious thing about me.”
“That's putting it mildly.”
“Something occurred to me while I was reading it. It doesn't make sense that there was so much evidence against my family. We had nothing to do with Farsiders or the division between the realms before the Guild showed up at our house. That means somebody went to extremes to make it look like my father was the one who committed all those murders.”
“Yes,” he said, like he was guiding me to my next conclusion.
“So, why us?” I asked. “Why my father? He never did anything wrong to anyone, so why would someone choose him to be the scapegoat for something like this? And what really pushes me over the edge...all the evidence pointed specifically to my father.”
“So?” Ally prompted.
“Obviously, somebody was doing their best to frame him for these murders, but when I confessed, nobody said anything about it. They went right along with it like that was what happened. This makes me think they were looking for a human to blame for something. And that got me thinking. Hobbes has clearly been against the Pax Philosophia for a long time. Much longer than people have thought I was a brutal murderer. But nobody took him seriously. He needed something to be his battle cry. He needed a ‘Remember the Alamo’ moment.”
“So, you're saying that you're the Alamo?” Ally clarified.
“Those murders are. What if Hobbes created this whole thing so his raging against the Pax got some traction and he could get support for it? He didn't care who Farsiders were against, as long as there was a human they could vilify. It ended up being me.”
“They framed you as a sacrifice to the cause,” Archie stated.
I nodded.
Ally looked at us. “What do we do? Ally asked. Can we go to the Philosophers Guild and explain everything to them?”
Archie shook his head vehemently.
“No. As soon as you got anywhere near them, they would arrest Sara. Even if you convinced them that she didn't commit those murders, she escaped from The Deep and has committed other crimes now. And then, if they were willing to show understanding and mercy because they believe you, there's no guarantee the Guild could stop Hobbes and his cult. The Philosophers Guild is essentially good for cleaning up carnage, not preventing it. You can't involve them unless it's the absolute last resort.”
I agreed. “So, it's on us to stop them. How are we going to do it?”
“I spent the night working it over. We already know they’re building a massive rune for whatever they're planning. Whatever it is, they'll need a ton of Nearstuff to do it. Not only the type of stuff that’s lying around everywhere. That won’t make the type of rune they want. They need the illicit stuff, the type that will create an instrument of evil,” Archie informed us.
“The rune version of a weapon of mass destruction,” Ally summarized.
Archie nodded.
“What I offered got toasted by you.” He pointed at me, and I took a small bow. “And if they want to do something as big as we think, it'll take a lot more than what they could have gotten from Vincent.”
"The kidnappings,” I blurted in sudden realization. “That's probably where the victims ended up. Ally, you told me that some bodies were in bad shape, and some never showed up at all. The ones who are gone must have ended up with the Harbingers.”
“Is there any way we can find them?” She gave us a hopeful look. “Maybe we can save them.”
Archie shook his head.
“There's no point in being hopeful about that. If the Harbingers kidnapped them, they're dead by now and turned into supplies. Blood, hair, bone. They'll end up being used to make runes.”
Ally shuddered, and I glared at the Philosopher.
“That was diplomatic.”
“What's the point of sugarcoating it?” he snapped. “Hope is a delusion we can’t rely on. There’s no happy ending in this thing, not for them, anyway. They wouldn't kidnap people for fun. By now, they’ve harvested those people and there's nothing we can do to help them. We need to turn our energy to what we can do.”
“And what's that?”
Ally’s voice trembled, and I knew she’d held out hope for those victims. All the time she’d devoted to searching for them and finding out what happened had crashed down around her.
“Stop them,” Archie told her. “We can’t undo the damage the Harbingers have done, but we can ruin their plan. All we have to do is find their stash and torch it. At least then we’ll avoid the real devastation, and avenge your kidnapping victims as well. They'll still be gone, but their blood will only have been spilled, not used to spill more.”
Ally's eyes widened, and her head snapped to me.
"The old woman."
"What old woman?"
I used the tip of my finger to shove another piece of sausage into my mouth and placed a chunk of potato into the eager pink hands that popped up out of my pocket. Splinter pulled it inside, and I heard his happy little sounds as he dove into the treat. I probably should have paused in stuffing myself during the solemn moment, but like Archie said, they weren't coming back. Letting my breakfast get cold didn't seem like a meaningful tribute to them.
"Remember when we were first talking about The Far and I asked you about vampires because I interviewed that old woman? She said she was positive there was a coven of vampires living next door," Ally reminded me.
"Oh, right. The one who stalked her neighbors from her window and noticed they only came and went at night."
"I notice you conveniently skipped over the whole blood thing."
"What blood thing?" Archie’s curiosity piqued.
"She looked through their window one night and saw blood everywhere. She didn't really go into any detail, only said that she saw a lot of blood." Ally jumped down from the stool where she was sitting. "It's probably nothing, but it's worth checking out.”
“All right.” I finished my meal. “Take me to it.”
Archie dismissed it. “It’s a waste of time. Odds are, this old human is merely bored. I need you to gather me some supplies.”
“Good. Then I’ll go.”
"No." I shook my head. "Not on your own, Ally. No way."
"I'm on my own all the time, Slick. It's what I do, remember? This is like any other investigation."
"Except this time, you aren't hoping to find people so you can write a report. You're hoping to sop up what's left with a sponge and save the world. Slightly different motivations," I pointed out.
"Not the world." She grinned. "Not the whole one, anyway."
It was the same thing I'd said about myself, which meant I couldn't very well fight her over it. I'd dragged her into this, but now that she was in it, nothing would stop Ally from pursuing it. Damn my best friend and her motivation.
"What are you going to do if you come face-to-face with the Harbingers? It's not like you're prepared to fight."
"Here. Take this with you."
Archie held out a small golden ring with a brilliant red color woven throughout.
Ally took it. "It’s lovely. What is it?"
Archie blushed a little. I didn’t know Philosophers could do that.
"It's a rune. A distress beacon. If you end up in trouble, spin it clockwise three times and it will let us know."
Ally and I looked at each other, then back at Archie. He must have worked on that ring all night.
"Thanks. And I'll be
fine, Slick." Ally gave me a tight hug. "I always am."
"The second you think something might be wrong, use the rune," I warned her.
"I will." She looked at Archie. "Don't let anything happen to her while I'm not here."
"I'd prefer if nothing happened while you were here," I retorted.
She shot me another reassuring smile and rushed up the steps. It was obvious she thought she was on some sort of trail and didn't want to lose it.
"Speaking of runes," Archie said when she was gone. "I think it's time for you to have an upgrade."
"What do you mean?"
“Like I said, odds are we won’t be able to find them. But they want to make a spectacle, right? So they’ll show their heads sooner or later. And when they do, you need to be prepared with a little spectacle of your own.”
I smiled. “What exactly did you have in mind?”
Chapter Thirty-One
When Archie told me I would get a new weapon, I assumed I would take a journey. I envisioned traveling deep into the woods to find a kindly tree to grant me access to a cave that would test my courage and the purity of my heart before allowing me to the inner sanctum where I'd find a silver sword. Which would have really sucked because my heart wasn't that pure these days.
Fortunately, it wasn't that complicated. All I needed to do was gather supplies from some of Archie’s less-than-reputable colleagues. They weren’t the types to revel in all the pomp, circumstance, and mystery. A giant-ass abandoned grocery store near the edge of town was good enough for them.
Archie gave me the most disturbing grocery list I'd ever seen and sent me on my way, promising to let me know if he heard anything from Ally. I grumbled to myself for most of the walk to the sketchy part of town, pissed that I didn't get a more dramatic entrance than being on foot. Considering I had only gotten my learner's permit when I ended up in The Deep and they didn't provide me with behind-the-wheel driving education during my time there, it wasn't like I had many other options anyway. It simply felt like there should be more than strolling along the cracked sidewalks, listening to the birds and wondering if powdered bone came in sacks or tubes.