“I think it was okay until I started poking around,” Shiki said. “I triggered something, maybe some sort of warning system. And then it reacted badly.”
“Like allergies from hell.” Shasta put the world sphere back down on the table with the others, where Shiki had placed them after removing them from Andraeon. “So what do we do about it?”
“Well, I took them out and he seemed to feel better. He went to sleep almost immediately.” Shiki glanced towards the bedroom, where both Andraeon and Jones had gone to catch up on their sleep. “I don’t know how long they’ll stay out of him.”
“That’s creepy.” Shasta poked the nearest sphere, making it roll across the table until it clicked against the pile. “Imagine if this world is just in the digestive tract of some giant.”
“I don’t think it’s quite the same thing.”
“Probably less bile.”
Shiki gave him a look. “Stop running your mouth, Shasta. For now I’m just going to try and work with Drae so he doesn’t end up hurting himself or Jones.”
“All right. I have some things to take care of so I’m off for a few days. Anything you want me to drop off for your mother?”
“Just tell her I’ll come visit soon.” Shiki pulled him into a tight hug. “I know you won’t tell me what you’re ‘taking care of’ but I really do want you to think about my offer.”
“I like what I do.” Shasta kissed his cheek. “Good luck with Drae. Try to make Jones less grumpy before I come back.”
He gave Shiki another squeeze and stepped back to open a way into the between world. He stood in the fog for a few long moments, trying to sense if he was alone, then stepped out onto the street in front of Kaede’s house. He paused long enough to look up and down the street, before opening the front door and going inside. The house was empty but he had been expecting that and made his way quickly upstairs and into the loft at the top of the house. He dropped down in the office chair in front of the desk and switched on the computer, absently humming to himself as he waited for it to boot up.
When it had, he leaned forward and began opening programs, half-listening for the sound of the front door opening. It took him a few moments to log in and he thought for a moment that Kaede had changed the password after all, then it went through and he was into the database. He did a search on Jones first and quickly realized that it would take too long to search through all the files on people with such a common name. After a moment’s thought he searched Edgemount Research Group and grinned when a few results popped up.
The front door opened just as he was combing the results for any mention of Jones, his daughter, or the project the soldiers participated in. Muttering curses under his breath, Shasta printed everything that looked promising, folded it up, and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans, listening to Kaede’s footsteps go into the kitchen down below. He breathed a sigh of relief that Kaede hadn’t come straight upstairs and cleared all proof of his presence out of the database before shutting it down and bringing up his e-mail instead.
“Hey, Aunt Kaede,” he yelled down the stairs. “I’m just checking my e-mail, okay?”
Her voice drifted up to him. “Don’t poke around in there. Want burgers for dinner? Two days late?”
“Sorry, Aunt Kaede. I went to see Shiki. He says hi. Burgers are great.”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks.” He turned back to the computer and went through his e-mail, though there was nothing of much interest other than some creatively titled spam. He cleared out his inbox and shut the computer down, shoving the papers further into his pocket before going downstairs to see Kaede.
They ate their burgers out on the back porch, discussing the new flowers Kaede was trying to get to take root in the garden. Shasta waited until they had finished eating the burgers—and ice cream for dessert—before he excused himself again to go back out.
“I thought you wanted to stay here and stay low for a while?” Kaede said.
“Yeah, well, things have come up. You know how it is.” He kissed her cheek. “Thanks for dinner. I’ll try to be back again soon.”
“I’ve heard that before.” As he headed out, she yelled over her shoulder, “And tell Shiki to get his ass home for a visit.”
“Will do,” Shasta laughed, stepping through into the between world again. He sat down right where he came out and pulled the papers out of his pocket, leafing through them. Most of them were useless—outdated or containing information he had no interest in—but he found a few reports on Edgemount’s connections with the military—and in one of them he found mention of the children of some of those soldiers.
There were a pair of addresses there too, one identified as the group’s home-based headquarters, and one named as a charity that took in orphans and other unwanted children to educate them. He dismissed the first address as likely to be the place Jones had mentioned when telling him and Shiki about his adventures getting shot by cops, but instinct told him the second address was a gold mine. He folded up the rest of the papers again and shoved them back into his pocket just in case, then murmured a few words and dropped the paper with the address on it into the fog.
A muffled explosion rocked him back on his heels with a blast of hot air and sent fog fountaining up into his face. He waved it away, coughing a bit, and when it cleared a gate stood open in front of him. A small pile of ash in front of it was all that remained of the piece of paper he’d dropped; it had taken the force of whatever guarding spells there were on the place. He saluted it briefly and stepped over it, through the gate, coming out on a wide expanse of green lawn. The lawn surrounded a stately mansion made of pale grey stone and bordered the edges of an Olympic-sized swimming pool and what he assumed was some sort of tennis court. The front of the house was decorated with bunches of colourful flowers but for once he had no interest in the horticulture.
He made his way across the grass to the side of the house, alert for any movement; but other than some security cameras that he easily avoided the house and grounds were silent and still. He found an unlocked window and boosted himself inside, then started exploring.
He found the headmaster’s office by the grand staircase that led up to the second floor. A few moments with the lockpicks in his pocket opened the door and he slipped inside to go through the desk. He found her in the student registry; her name was still Emily though they had changed her last name and given her a record that said her parents had died in a car accident. Her room number was 402 and he headed up there, passing a few maids on their way about the house. They shivered as he walked past them but didn’t see him.
He tested the door first, gently, and wasn’t surprised to find it locked. A quick, gentle test also told him it was spelled to sound an alarm if anyone tried to pick the lock. He considered for a moment then went into the between world just long enough to stop by his house and pick something up before he returned. Dipping a finger in the jar of neon green paste he’d grabbed, he drew a few symbols around the doorknob. The paste glowed for a few seconds then melted into the wood; and a moment later the door unlatched itself without setting off the alarm.
“Thank you, Shiki,” Shasta muttered, and gently eased the door open.
She saw him immediately, though he hadn’t yet made himself visible, and her eyes widened before narrowing again in suspicion. She looked a lot like Jones when she did that, he thought; same eyes, same way of furrowing her eyebrows, same way of frowning. She was also painfully thin and her clothes, though well-made, hung on her frame. Her hair reached her shoulders, curling gently; it was the prettiest thing about her, neatly brushed and tied back.
“Hi, Emily,” he said gently. “My name is Shasta. I know your dad.”
“Daddy’s dead,” she said, but uncertainly. “They said so. They said I had to be good, because nobody wanted me.”
“Not true. Your dad’s alive and he wants you.” He took a few steps in and offered a hand. “I’ll take you to see him.”
She studied his face, fear and wariness plain on her narrow face. She reached out to take his hand then hesitated and pulled back, before reaching out again. He waited patiently until her cool, narrow hand settled in his. Closing his fingers gently around hers, he pulled her to her feet.
Something hot punched him hard in the back, knocking him onto his knees and making him lose his grip on Emily’s hand. She stumbled back, eyes wide and horrified, but when he tried to reassure her, only blood came out of his mouth. All his muscles seemed to come loose and he fell on his side, trying to breathe in the suddenly thin air. He heard a faint whistling noise every time he struggled through an inhale and dimly realized that something must have punctured his lung. Darkness was already creeping in around the edge of his vision and though he tried to sit up, he was helpless as the black tide swept him under.
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