by JM Guillen
“Okay.” She paused. “Simon?” Her plaintive voice seemed shy.
“What, kid?” Simon seemed disconcerted, and I understood why. The fact that she could even ask a question while under the effect of the card said something about the child’s power.
“Thank you. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Oh.” For a long moment, Simon just stared at her, bewildered. I thought his voice trembled when next he spoke. “No—no problem, Liz.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t listen to this next part, all right?”
“Okay.” She gave him a dreamy smile.
He shook his head, and glanced at me. He still held the card where the girl could see it.
Now he spoke to me. He spoke to the record of memory to be carried through the years.
“Liz, I never done nothing like what we’re gonna do here. If Rusiel told me square—and I have no doubt he did—your peculiar little gift is somethin’ fierce. Stronger than anything Rufus had, stronger than anything I’d ’a ever known.”
For a moment, he seemed to struggle with words. When he spoke again, his voice cracked with emotion.
“I hope you know I done my best.” His eyes shimmered a touch. “I hope you aren’t mad I ran a little roughshod over you today. You were so scared. You were so young, and so frightened, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
i don’t think you harmed the girl, simon.
“Please don’t be mad at me. I know sometimes I been pretty rough with your dad too, and he is my best friend in the world. I weren’t trying to do anything here today other than take your fear.” He paused. “I wish you could see how beautiful you are. I wish you could see the look in your eye when the wind is bursting in your heart.”
He paused again and glanced around the diner. Then he wiped his eyes and composed himself.
“I hope you understand I’m scared too.” He placed the card back inside his coat.
The girl blinked and drifted out of her daze. I noticed that as she awoke, Elizabeth covertly peered within Simon’s open coat.
“A playing card, huh?” She nodded toward his coat, grinning. “Not the throwing star?”
“No!” Simon seemed horrified. “That would’a killed everyone here!”
4
Alicia pulled back from my face.
I blinked as my mind shifted back to the present moment.
I wept.
“Do you still believe what you said before?” Alicia asked softly, but I could tell how much the question mattered to her.
It wasn’t her question, not really. Abriel worried how I might perceive Simon now that I knew the truth.
“I do.” I sniffled at her as tears ran down both cheeks. “I understand some people would be offended at the liberties Simon takes. I’ll admit, I would never choose to have him mess around in my head…”
“I understand that.”
“But I know what motivates him.” I sniffed again. “I believe him when he says he just wants to take care of me. And I remember how afraid I was, how hard I tried to hide it from him.”
“He didn’t exaggerate, you know.” The white began to fade from Alicia’s eyes. “He was afraid too. Simon is a man well acquainted with fear.”
“He is a man of indirect lines.” I smiled as I quoted the description back to her.
“Yes,” she laughed. Then, growing serious, she shifted the subject. “You’ve already begun to grasp the fullness of your power, you know. After all, Simon told you that you would begin to master more of it as you came into adulthood.”
“No, I don’t.” I tilted my head just a touch in thought. “Well, when I had the Aegis, I was able to do quite a bit more.”
“Simon told you the power was always yours. He also told you he might occasionally craft a trinket or two to assist you with feeling it.” She skewed up her mouth for a moment, as if she tried to articulate something essential. “The Aegis of Dudael is a protective sign, and that is all. A few of the other sigils on the beads allowed you to feel more of your own power.”
“So the exhaustion didn’t come from the bracelet?”
“Not at all.” Alicia smiled. “I never said it did, you know. The weariness you felt was a direct side effect of grasping too much of the power that rests within you.”
“So, when I ‘flew’ the other night—” I vacillated with one hand to indicate I knew I hadn’t exactly flown. “—that wasn’t really the bracelet. That was my own power.”
“Yes,” Alicia agreed. “As in the fight we got into here in the attic. There came a moment when you did not have time to call up one of the Seals Simon had taught you. You simply struck. Reacted.”
“Yeah.” I furrowed my brow in thought. “But last night, after the Aegis broke, I didn’t feel as much of my own power. So if I’m supposed to ‘master more of my gift’ as I come into adulthood, how come I didn’t feel it last night?”
“I can’t know, obviously.” Alicia shifted on the bed. “But if I had to guess, I might say your mastery of this thing would naturally have come in slowly, like a child learning to walk.”
“Oh my God.” I sank my head into my hands and groaned. “I’m so tired of that metaphor.”
“I think it likely to be apt.” Alicia grinned at me.
“But, of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. Simon set things up so that either he or I could release the fullness of your strength upon you.”
“Yeah.” My heart beat fast in my chest. “I caught that too.”
“Nervous?” asked Alicia. I could tell by both the intonation and the fact that she quirked up the side of her mouth.
“More than a little bit.” I took a breath. “I mean, I remember the coffee shop. I remember how I got lost in the vastness of the Wind.” Then I had another thought. “What about the Seals?” I cocked my head at her. “Are they not required? Some kind of Dumbo’s feather?” I narrowed my eyes. “Like the blue jay feather?”
“Simon crafted those Seals specifically to give you guidance and focus. They are like lines and signs along the road. You certainly don’t need those things to drive.”
“They help a hell of a lot, though.” I nodded. “Okay, the Seals are useful.”
“Do you wish me to do this thing, Elizabeth?” The words held a touch of formal staccato, and I knew that if I glanced at my friend, I would see her eyes burn with radiant truth.
I took another breath.
I gazed at Alicia and felt the irrepressible shine glow from her eyes.
“It is your birthright, to hold Grace.” Those words came softly and almost caressed me.
“Yes, oh A’Briel.” I spoke the name wrong, and I knew it, but I wanted the form to be right. “Give me my birthright, and grant me the mastery my mentor wished me to have.”
“It is yours, Elizabeth Shepherd.”
The moment she said my name, great floes of ice burst somewhere deep within my mind, a sundering crack that jolted me straight to my core. I gasped and my spine bent, and I lurched backward.
I fell onto the bed.
And the Wind…
It was every song that had ever been sung on the lips of every lover who had ever lived. It had carried every war cry, had thundered over the fall of every civilization.
It burst in my bones. It sang in my sinews.
As I relaxed my mind into it, I fell into the forever-ness of every human’s breath.
“Oh, God,” I babbled. “Oh holy fuck me God.”
“Liz!” I could hear the horror in Alicia’s tone.
Yet that seemed distant, so far away as to almost feel foolish. I bathed in the Wind. My soul cavorted within it. I flew through every summer tree; I set the leaves to dance.
Joy.
I knew the face of infinity.
I tasted the kisses of God.
I sang, and it sang, and the world stormed along, a tumult of everything that could ever be.
The Arms and Equipment Guide
It took more than three hours before the guys show
ed up again, which was probably all for the best. For most of that time, I remained on my back and stared at the ceiling as I babbled about the secret mysteries that lay within the Wind. According to ’Licia, I sang soft songs, whispered dreamily, and in general took a complete leave of my senses.
That was okay, I thought. Reality had been particularly shitty lately.
Fortunately, when the guys showed up, they had the answers to everything, in that awesome way that guys so often do.
“What’s up, ladies?” Baxter walked in the front of the store as the bell over the door tinkled. “Good news, Rehl and I have solved all of our problems!”
“Yeah?” We had come downstairs to let them in, but Rehl had just used his new key.
“Last night, we decided to have ourselves a little bit of a pow-wow,” Baxter asserted.
“Bax decided he didn’t want to go back to the dorms,” Rehl explained.
“Which is what led us to have the time for a movie marathon.”
“Okay?” Alicia, who by now had her jeans and her pentacle shirt on, stared at the guys as if they didn’t even speak English.
“We watched Blake Runner.” Rehl gave me a smug grin. “All three of them.”
“As a result, we feel ready for today.” Baxter arched his back and puffed his chest out. “All we gotta do is figure out exactly where the front door to Fallen Leaves is—” He drew one arm back, and thrust it forward as if to strike an opponent. “— and punch through!”
“Oh God.” I stared at Alicia, horror evident on my face.
“What?” She seemed confused.
“We’re going to die today, Alicia.” I grasped her shoulder. “We’re definitely going to die.”
2
Ten minutes later, the guys had finished congratulating themselves on how funny they weren’t. We made our way upstairs and stopped to plan at my father’s desk.
I’ll admit, I found a little difficult to focus. I felt the Wind within me, as it drifted about me. Even though I kept it inside, it capered through my hair, just a touch.
“On one hand, this should be pretty simple.” I leaned back against the desk and parked my butt on it. Rehl and Baxter sat on the bed, and Alicia curled up in the rolling chair. “Our goal is to extract Simon and get away. We don’t know much about what Lorne has in the shop, how large it is, or what he might have waiting for us. For this reason, it might be best for us to spend a couple of hours scouting the area around the store. We can figure out a safe place to drop back to.”
“I figured I’d have my car parked somewhere.” Rehl jerked his chin at Baxter. “Bax had the idea of leaving the keys inside it somewhere. That way, if anyone needed to use it to get away, they could.”
“Not that we’re going to be able to speed away in Brooklyn,” Baxter reasoned as he fiddled with his stitches. “But it’s a nice failsafe.”
“Quit,” Alicia muttered, and pulled his hand away from his face. “Honestly, you’re like a dog.”
“I also thought I might take my motorcycle. I figure if anyone is likely to get caught up in some of Lorne’s bullshit, it’ll be me. If you guys know I have a ride, it frees you up to escape.”
“You say our only goal is to extract Simon.” Rehl raised one eyebrow at me. “Of course, last night, before you let us on a merry chase Underhill, you said your only goal was reconnaissance.”
“That’s a fair point,” I sighed. “Obviously the Gaunt Man is due some payback. If I have the opportunity to make him hurt, I want to take it.”
“Simon would counsel against that,” Alicia muttered, as if she felt it needed to be said, but didn’t want to be the one to say it. “He would tell you to get what you need, get out, and get gone.”
“Simon’s philosophy got him caught,” I snarled. “But I get it. You aren’t wrong.”
“Jokes about how awesome Blake Runner is aside,” Baxter put in, “Rehl and I did actually talk quite a bit of strategy this morning.”
“Well, we all remember we get an attack bonus when flanking.” I smirked at him. “And also during backstabs.”
“Those are obvious,” Rehl replied. “We also talked about making certain we’re all well-equipped before we go on campaign. Unless one of you ladies can think of a good reason why it shouldn’t be this way, I thought I would focus mostly on firearms and ordinance.” He shrugged.
“Okay,” I nodded and tried not to grin in delight at the Wind’s touch. “Go on.”
“I’m the best trained with guns in general and so I thought I might focus on that stuff more than the magical doodads.”
“Not that I might not take that handy shotgun.” Baxter grinned. “But the other night Alicia tried to work as an on-the-spot pronunciation dictionary for both of us while we dealt with Simon’s special toys.”
“If Bax uses more magic items, and I use more firearms, then Alicia doesn’t have to babysit the both of us to make us effective in a scrape,” Rehl explained.
“That…” I turned to Alicia, “actually makes some amount of sense.”
“We didn’t know, though, if you’d take any of Simon’s gizmos, Liz.” Baxter gestured to my now bare wrist. “If you’d rather, Rehl and I can both take guns.”
“No.” I smiled at him. “I’ve got a handle on things. I think I levelled last night.”
“I never get any experience points,” Baxter pouted and crossed his arms.
“There’re other things we need to consider.” I gazed around at each of them and made certain I had their attention. “Do you remember the story Simon told, about when I was a kid? The one where he had the secret behind the dumpster?”
“Yeah, and it wasn’t a hobo.” Baxter shook his head. “I was really interested in learning more about the hobo.”
“Well, do you remember how quickly the Silent Gentlemen showed up then?”
“Oh.” Baxter completely deflated. “I didn’t even think about them.”
“I assume the reason they didn’t show up the night we fought Lorne’s goon and hounds in the shop, is due to the Aegis.” I turned toward Alicia. “That due to its power, the Facility couldn’t tell we were changing reality with Simon’s toys.”
“I think it’s very likely.” Alicia’s voice went soft, as it often did when she listened to Abriel.
“So it sounds as if we might be a little bit stuck.” Rehl fiddled with the long braid that hung off his goatee. “If we use the firearms at the wrong time, we’re going to call the attention of the police.”
“If we use Simon’s magical doodads, we might get black bags over our heads,” Baxter added.
“I somehow doubt this is an issue once we are inside Fallen Leaves.” I raised one eyebrow at them. “Think about how each time Lorne sends one of his Billy Goats Gruff, we get dragged into some nightmare reflection of the world.”
“So Fallen Leaves is some kind of pocket dimension-thing?” Baxter gazed at me in wonder.
“Simon said as much. I think once inside we can play with all of our toys.”
“Are we certain the Ass-hats can’t detect what happens in these pocket places?” Baxter scratched at his stitches, caught himself, and ran his fingers through his sandy hair.
“Knucklebones wasn’t damaged in the assault.” Alicia looked thoughtful. “Not much anyway. I’d say when Lorne drags us into his little horror-show, it doesn’t affect the ‘real’ world all.”
“Right. That’s because we weren’t in this—” I waved one arm around, “—place, I guess. It seems as if when we’re all other-planar, the Ass-hats don’t care about using juju.”
“So that’s the line then.” Rehl nodded. “Play nice until we get dragged all extra dimensional.”
“I have a question.” Baxter pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Don’t the men in black know when Lorne does his juju?” He paused for a moment obviously to search for words. “Why doesn’t he get black-bagged every time he drags us through portals?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “And, unfortunately, it
doesn’t matter. He either has some understanding we do not, or opening those gates doesn’t cause a blip on Facility radar.”
“That’s just no fucking fair.” Baxter crossed his arms.
“On another topic, you guys made a good call last night in the Ramble. There are walkie-talkies and headsets in the Armory.”
“That’s point number two.” Rehl raised his eyebrows at me, and then pretended to count on his fingers. “Point five. Something.” He shook his head. “The Armory.”
“Yeah?”
“We should take an hour, preferably two, and go over some basic weapon etiquette.”
“Keep in mind, the cops are going to come if we shoot.” Baxter frowned. “It doesn’t help Simon if we’re in jail for endangering the populace.”
“It will be worse than that,” Rehl said sunnily. “We don’t have permits for any of these weapons. If we’re caught with them, it’s going to look like we stole them.”
“We can’t go in unarmed.” I shook my head. “We also can’t rely on everyone using Simon’s trinkets. Alicia can’t spend all of her time helping us pronounce Empyrean words of power.”
“It might be a mistake to assume that we all need weapons,” Baxter mused as he gnawed away at something in his mind.
“Really?” I raised one eyebrow. “Jax said Simon was ‘suffering, but undying.’ I think that guns might help us avoid that kind of thing.”
“I’m just saying, when you have weapons, you’re more likely to use them.”
“A lot of the situations that involve guns sound as if they also might involve the police,” Alicia worried.
Neither of them were wrong.
“We’ll decide what we’re taking once we’re up in the Armory,” Rehl said. “Smart move is to go ahead and spend some time learning basic firearm safety. As interested as Baxter is in that shotgun, the better play is to have a weapon you can hide, something you can conceal.”
“That all seems reasonable,” I agreed. “Let’s go upstairs and get some training in. We can talk more there.”
3