“So what is your plan exactly? Go stand outside Edgemount and tell Aloria to come get you?” Shasta sprawled across the bed, ignoring the look Jones gave him. “Isn’t that kind of like going outside in a thunderstorm and screaming for lightning to hit you?”
“Why are you in here?” Jones asked, snapping his gun back together after reloading it.
“I really have nothing better to do. And I do want to know what your plan is.”
“I haven’t decided yet. There’s a lot to work out.” Jones slid the gun back into its holster and took out the other one.
“You’ve got no clue.” Shasta pushed himself up. “You basically think you’re going to go run in there with guns blazing, and the rest of us will be expected to pull your dumb ass out of the fire.”
“Been talking to Elle recently?” Jones asked without even looking up.
“Maybe. Come on, dinner’s almost ready.” Shasta reached over and plucked the gun out of Jones’s hand, backing up with it held out like a treat. “Come on, Jonesy, come on. Attaboy.” He grinned at the glare Jones gave him.
“Just give it back, Shasta, I’m not in the mood to play around with you. Grow up.”
“Come get it then. It’s right here.”
Jones glared at him but Shasta could see him considering it; it was in the way his shoulders tensed slightly and his eyes flicked from the gun back up to Shasta’s face. His speed still startled Shasta and he hesitated almost too long before spinning on his heel and bolting from the room. He felt Jones fingers almost catch the back of his shirt then he managed to twist free and took off down the hall, laughing.
He had a hand on the banister at the top of the stairs, preparing to swing around it and leap down most of the stairs in one go, but movement in the mirror across from him made him glance up first. Something seemed to leap out at him from it, so fast he barely had time to register it. His body reacted completely on instinct and he threw himself backwards, colliding with Jones behind him and sending them both crashing to the floor. Somehow he kept his grip on the gun and raised it to aim at the mirror, pulling the trigger.
The gun only clicked; Jones hadn’t reloaded it yet. Shasta stared at the mirror, which now showed only the opposite wall above his head, until Jones reached around him and took the gun gently out of his hands. Breathing hard Shasta got to his feet and reached down a shaky hand to help Jones up, only realizing when they were both on their feet that Jones had gone as pale as he felt. He kept hold of Jones’s hand, studying his eyes and following his gaze when he glanced at the mirror. It remained empty.
“So I’m not seeing things. Not unless we both are.”
“You’ve probably infected me somehow,” Jones said.
“Gee, thanks. Infected you with what, exactly?”
“Paranoia. Some weird disease from your between places. Who knows what’s in that fog.” Jones looked away from the mirror and down at their joined hands. “Let go of me.”
“I don’t have cooties,” Shasta said, but he let Jones’s hand go. “There’s nothing in that fog. I’ve been moving through it for years and I didn’t start seeing things until you showed up. So it’s probably all your fault. Jerk.”
Jones gave him a dirty look but the corner of his mouth almost twitched up in a smile. “Jerk is the best you can come up with? You must really be rattled.”
“Shut up.” Shasta rolled his eyes when this time Jones actually did smile. “I’m going down to eat.”
“Tell Kaede I’ll be down in a minute,” Jones said over his shoulder, already heading back to his room. “I don’t think she wants weapons at the dinner table.”
“Will do.” Shasta started down the stairs, studiously avoiding looking at the mirror until he’d stepped down below it. Then he hurried down the rest of the stairs, unwilling to have it behind him.
Kaede had managed to find another table and some extra chairs to allow them all to eat at the table in the kitchen, though it was somewhat crowded. The conversation was mostly small talk and requests to pass various things, and Shasta excused himself as soon as he had finished eating. He saw Shiki give him a questioning look but just shook his head slightly and went out into the backyard alone.
He felt better as soon as he had sat down in the grass bordering Kaede’s small vegetable plot and started to pull out what weeds he could reach. He let himself zone out, dropping into the rhythm of reaching forward and pulling out, tossing the weeds aside into a pile for composting. His mind settled and after a while he was so zoned out that when someone tapped his shoulder, he nearly screamed. The noise that came out was a strangled squeak and he heard Kaede’s familiar laugh.
“Sorry, Shasta.” She rubbed his shoulder and sat down in the grass beside him. “The garden looks nice.”
“Thanks. Everything okay inside?”
“Mm-hmm. Jones is looking for you though.”
“Has he figured out how to hide my body after he kills me?”
“No, but I think he’s figured out what he wants to do next.” She made a shooing motion at him. “Get lost, I want to do some work out here before the sun goes down.”
“All right, all right.” He pushed himself to his feet and stretched out his shoulders, wincing a bit as his stiff muscles complained. “See you later.”
He headed inside and found Jones seated around the table with Andraeon, Shiki, and Lea. The sound of the TV came in from the living room, where he assumed Emily and Andy were parked on the carpet with their ever-present colouring books. Taking a seat, Shasta accepted a glass of water from Shiki and raised an eyebrow in question at Jones.
“Go on, Jonesy.” He grinned a bit. “I’m here, the conference can start now.”
“You wish you were that special. We’ve already been talking.”
Shasta stuck his tongue out. “All right, so what did you come up with?”
“Blowing up all of Edgemount. Not just as a distraction.”
For a moment Shasta stared at him, trying to decide if he was serious, then glanced at Shiki. Shiki gave him half a shrug in return, smiling a bit. Shasta thought about it, turning it over in his mind, then grinned. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”
“I’m not doing it just to blow shit up. I want some of the files that are in there. I just think it’ll hit Aloria where it hurts, taking away her labs and her cages.”
“Assuming we can get in again without being caught, and take the files we need, and blow it up,” Lea said. “After the last time, she’ll probably be expecting something like this.”
“And she’s already shown she can... I don’t know, program alarms to affect me and Shiki,” Andraeon added.
“I know. That’s exactly why I wanted to discuss it. Especially with people who know her.” Jones gave Shasta a pointed look.
“Oh, now you need me. Let me think.” Shasta propped his chin in his hands. “I haven’t even seen her for years. Just saying. You know, we could ask Elle for help.” He grinned at the expression on Jones’s face. “You look like you just sat on something spiky.”
“The last thing I want is to be in Elle’s debt.”
“Okay, so you don’t ask her. I do.” Shasta pushed himself back from the table. “Uh, if I can find her. Somehow I don’t think dialling 1-800-ELLE will work... or it might.”
“Be careful.” Shiki caught his hand. “Jones is right, nobody wants to be in Elle’s debt.”
“I think it’s a bit late for that.” Shasta leaned down and kissed Shiki’s forehead. “I’ll explain later. See you in a bit.”
Steeling himself, he opened a gate to the between places then, as fast as he could, straight through to Shiki’s house in the jungle. As he stepped out into Shiki’s living room he felt the fog start to swirl around his legs, and shut the gate so fast the backlash knocked him on his ass. Musing that it was a small price to pay, Shasta went to find Elsa.
She was hanging out laundry outside her own cabin, holding clothespins in her mouth as she hung out a particularly unwieldy blanket. Shasta gave her a hand without speaking, and hung out the rest of the laundry as well, aware that she was watching him suspiciously.
“All right, what do you want? You’re not this helpful unless you need a favour,” she said when he was done.
“I need to get in contact with a demoness.” Shasta gave her his most charming smile, but her expression didn’t even change. “It’s kind of important. To Shiki too.”
“Which is why he’s here with you, right?” Elsa sighed. “All right. I’ll try to call her. You owe me big time, boy. I hate doing this.”
She rolled up the sleeves of her loose shirt and brought her forearms together so the runes tattooed into her skin formed one big pattern. As she closed her eyes they began to glow first with blue light, then with a deep red. When she nodded at Shasta, he said Elle’s name and squeezed his own eyes shut to picture her as clearly as he could. Everything around them went dead still, as though frozen in time; even the bugs ceased their incessant noise and the wind died completely.
It lasted only a few seconds and when the bugs began their chorus again, Shasta opened his eyes to see Elle standing in front of them with her arms crossed, giving him a decidedly unfriendly look.
“It’ll never happen again,” he said quickly. “I just really needed to talk to you, and I didn’t know when you might wander by again.”
“Next time, Shasta, just say my name. No magic, no voodoo or hinky little spells, just my name or I will make sure you never say anything again. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Shasta swallowed hard. “Sorry.”
“So what do you want? I’m a busy girl.” Elle glanced at Elsa, who still stood frozen, the runes on her arms glowing. “And that can’t be good for her, she’s getting old.”
“Jonesy wants to blow up Edgemount. We need someone to, uh, distract Aloria.”
Elle gave him a long, thoughtful look, then grinned, displaying her sharp canines. “I knew I liked that man for a reason. Done. Do it tonight.”
“Just like that?” he asked. “No contract signed in blood?”
“If you’d like to sign something in blood, I can make your wish come true.”
“On second thought, contracts signed in blood are so outdated. Thanks, Elle.” He gave her an elegant bow.
“It’s going to be my pleasure. Really. And so is this.” Gripping her right wrist with her left hand, she thrust her right hand forward, palm towards him. A force like a battering ram caught him in the chest and threw him backwards. He had a moment of disoriented confusion as the world swirled around him, then he was sprawled out on his back in Kaede’s kitchen, fighting to get back the breath the impact had knocked out of him.
“Shasta?” Shiki slid an arm under him and helped him sit up. “Breathe in through your nose.”
Shasta did as he was told and felt the band around his chest loosen, allowing him to take a proper breath instead of gasping for air like a fish on land. He spent a few moments getting his breathing back to normal, then gave them all a thumbs up. “Elle says she’ll do it. Tonight.”
“What threw you back here?” Jones asked, and Shasta heard the silent question: Was it the thing in the mirror?
“Elle wasn’t too happy with me bugging her. I’m okay.” Shasta used Shiki to push himself to his feet. “We better get a move on. I really don’t think she’ll be wasting any time and I don’t know how long she can distract Aloria.”
Shiki took over, directing Andraeon out to tell Kaede the plan and confirming details with Jones and Lea, namely that they would be the ones actually setting the detonators while Shasta, Shiki, and Drae killed any alarms or traps. Shasta took a seat at the table again, rubbing at his sore chest, and obediently accepted a detonator pack when Shiki handed it to him. It amused him to watch Jones and Lea unconsciously fall back into military bearing as Shiki gave orders, and nearly laughed when Lea just barely stopped herself from saluting. The look she gave him was half-smiling and half-embarrassed, then she winked and went to continue getting ready.
Dark had fallen by the time they were completely organized and had put Emily and Andy to bed. Jones was insistent that Emily not know what he was doing, and Lea agreed with him; if they were lucky, and if Elle had followed through, then neither child even needed to know they had left. Kaede assured them that she would be fine looking after both children and wished them all luck before opening a gate to Edgemount for them. Shasta, the last to go through, glanced back over his shoulder and blew her a kiss, then stepped out onto the dark lawn, letting the gate close silently behind him. The building was dark and silent, the parking lot empty of all cars.
“Drae, take my hand,” Shiki said softly. “Shasta, take the other one. I’m going to link us so we’re all working together. Shasta’s done this before, Drae, so just relax.”
“It’s like sex, only better,” Shasta said cheerfully, earning himself a dark look from Jones.
“Shasta, don’t cause trouble.” Shiki squeezed their hands and Shasta felt his touch, like gentle fingers inside his mind. “Jones, Lea, whenever you’re ready. Be careful and good luck.”
Shasta watched them go, moving carefully while loaded down with the detonators, then turned his attention to any alarms, guards, or traps. He sensed a few immediately but with Shiki’s help they were quickly shut down, allowing Jones and Lea to slip inside unnoticed. Once they had, Shiki brought Andraeon into their link and Shasta felt the full extent of his power for the first time. He spared a moment to give Andraeon a wide-eyed look, suddenly glad he’d been fired, then let Shiki turn his attention back to the building in front of them.
The minutes ticked past as they disabled more traps and alarms, the majority of which Shasta knew were Aloria’s; they had that distinct feel that he remembered from his childhood. She’d set almost a maze of things to disable and he could only hope that Jones and Lea weren’t running into any other trouble inside. Sweat ran down his nose despite the cool night air and he wiped his face quickly on the shoulder of his shirt, wishing they’d just get on with it already.
The first explosion bloomed in the back of the building, a dull fwumph noise and then a flower of fire bursting out through the roof. Shasta jumped at how sudden it was and looked at Shiki, whose expression said he was just as surprised. Andraeon quickly picked up on their unease, especially when another explosion rocked the building and sent bits of the roof spinning over their heads. Only seconds later the entire structure seemed to bulge outwards, then the windows blew out and fire began to hungrily lap up the walls.
Shasta sensed Andraeon start to move through their connection and was still only just fast enough to grab him before he bolted for the fiery building. Wrapping both arms around his waist, Shasta held on as he struggled, trying to avoid being elbowed in the face and just thankful that Andraeon seemed to be too distraught to turn that immense power on him. He still almost lost his grip when Andraeon lunged forward again, yelling Jones’s name, but Shiki grabbed him as well and together they dragged him back, away from the intense heat of the burning building. Sirens rose into the still air from somewhere behind them but the sound was distant and easily ignored.
Andraeon slumped in their grip suddenly, coughing on the smoke drifting around them; his sudden dead weight brought them all to their knees. The firelight flickered on his pale face and reflected in his eyes, which had taken on a glazed expression. Shasta exchanged a worried glance with Shiki and they attempted to get him back to his feet as the sirens grew louder and closer. He let them get him up, then his face twisted in a sort of vicious, shocked grief and Shasta felt the hairs all over his body stand on end.
He let go of Andraeon immediately and grabbed Shiki instead, but lost his grip in the sheer force of Andraeon lashing out. It picked him up and threw him like a child flinging a toy, but this time the world stuttered around him and he landed in the fog of the between places. For the second time he struggled to catch his breath, then felt his blood turn to ice and all breath escape him completely as a huge dark shape reared up in the fog in front of him.
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