I was mightily impressed when Strauss opened the hatch to the underground base on his own, but I won’t lie: the first thing I wanted to do when we got there was leave. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mates, and I was looking forward to spending more time with them, but when I said I missed Zack so much, I wasn’t playing. I really, really missed Zack, and I hadn't seen him since V died. I needed to know how he was doing. He loved her, too.
When we entered the base, Adeline was alone in the sitting room, having spent the past few days with Everleigh. She said they’d had a nice time together, but that she’d been gone all day. I was dying to see Zack, aye, but I was also eager to clear things up with Ever now that I knew what she’d been going through with the Anima.
I wish she’d have told me, but I also understood why she may have thought it was safer if I didn’t know.
Sebastian’s music note looked quite different when compared to Zack’s. His was a single room with few furnishings, and while everything looked expensive, it all had a more functional design. Sebastian’s place had several rooms, including a bathroom and even a small theatre, and though everything was obviously old, it was clearly luxurious.
After Strauss and Rhian finished explaining to Adeline and Michael what they learned from Faust, I spent the better part of an hour explaining myself to the crew. They wanted to know what exactly I’d been spying on them for, and what exactly I’d written in my reports. As you know by now, what I’d passed along to Faust was an extremely small margin of what I’d actually seen, done, and learned in those past months.
I kept it simple during my interrogation as well.
Strauss covered everything important in The Second One, though he may have forgotten to mention that Adeline was thrilled—honoured, in fact—to have been spied on by Feargus Finlay. Now, I realize it sounds like I’m talking myself up, so to set the record straight:
An Interview With Adeline Blanchett
“Thank you so much for sitting down with me again today, Adeline. And Sebastian, for manning the keys.”
Sebastian mans the keys, carefully.
“Of course! After the last interview I could hardly wait to be called upon again. I don’t think I’ve slept a wink. What would you like to know?”
“I’ve been telling the people how excited you were when you found out I’d been spying on you, but I'm worried the people might not believe me. What would you say to that?”
“Well, that’s easy. Who wouldn’t want to be spied on by Feargus Finlay?”
“And where were you, Adeline, when I needed to justify myself to myself? Now, as the people know, I didn’t actually spy on you. Not much, anyhow.”
“Yes, not my favourite news. At least until I finally found out I was being spied on by Zacharias Vonsinfonie instead! How wonderful is that? If I’d have known, I’d have smiled more often or walked around batting my eyelashes. He’s so handsome, isn’t he?”
“He is very foxy.”
Sebastian rolls his eyes.
“Oh, don’t be jealous, Sebastian. You’re very foxy, too.”
“True, and I’m sure the people agree. Before we wrap things up here today, is there anything else you think the people might like to know, Adeline?”
“Yes, given how much I enjoy being watched, I may in fact be an exhibitionist.”
“Well, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Thank you for your candor.”
Following my explanations and all the questions for Michael, Adeline also wanted to know if I still had her trunk in my cabin. Well, I hadn’t been home since being kidnapped by Florea, but as far as I knew, I still had it. I told her I’d pick it up as soon as possible, giving me an excuse to take care of a few things of my own while I was at it.
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One thing I hadn’t been made aware of yet, was that Rhydian was back in territory, and that he’d brought Rhian’s mum with him. They’d been staying at Alexander’s, and since running back and forth between the base and the estate was impractical and dangerous, Rhian made plans to go pick them up. We left the base together, and I was looking forward to meeting the woman who made my sister—still my favourite person in the world.
I wasn’t thrilled to be back in the cold again, but at least I wasn’t locked in a flower shop basement, and there was no blizzard, and I had Rhian with me for now.
“So, cabin?” she asked.
“Aye, you wanna see it?”
Rhian rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”
I grinned and waved her along. It felt so good to run with my sister again, even if we were both beyond exhausted. We Strachan Partisans had exceptional endurance, but even we had our limits. We ran at half-speed, but still made it to the cabin in no time.
Mates, I was half expecting it to be razed to the ground, but everything from the outside appeared to still be in order. While I fished around in my bag for my keys, Rhian tried peeking through the window where the makeshift curtains I’d put up were still crooked.
“This is real nice,” she said. “How’d you find it?”
“Remember Derek?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Well, there’s something I didn’t tell you.”
“What, the pair of you are shacking up now?”
I wrinkled my nose and unlocked the door. “We’re still broken up, but he took me to a ruined tower one night on a date, and I spotted this place from up there.”
“All right,” Rhian replied. “That’s what you didn’t tell me? Mate, that’s about as lame as a date in a ruined tower sounds.”
I chuckled, opening the door to let us in. “I didn’t tell you he’s one of the nice Anima.”
“Fuck, is he really old?”
“Aye.”
When we got inside, I pulled the curtains aside to let some light in, and I locked the door behind Rhian. By then, she’d already started wandering the room. Adeline’s trunk was in the corner where we left it, and though I wasn’t about to go through it in case there were frilly underwear in the mix, judging by the weight, I didn’t think anything had been taken.
“This is one seriously black rug, Gus. Don’t let the Creepy Lass see it if you’re attached to it. And why’ve you got Strachan Petitioner robes?” Rhian asked.
Frankly, I wouldn’t put it past Everleigh to steal her own rug back. Otherwise, the robes were still draped over the back of the chair.
“Right, so, when I was working more closely with Strauss, he had these made for me so I’d have an excuse for being in territory.”
“Did he? Good for him.”
“Aye, that’s what I said, too. I gotta say, apart from his questionable palate, the man’s practically perfect. I get it.”
Rhian just nodded, making her way over to the nightstand by the bed. “Now why’ve you got a crooked basket with nothing in it?”
I moved to the basket and cradled it, tracking the wicker with my fingers. The back of my throat constricted, my eyes began to sting, and if the bed hadn’t been so close by, my knees might have failed before I’d had the chance to sit.
Saying nothing, Rhian joined me on the bed.
“I made it with my girlfriend,” I said.
My sister’s brows pressed together, emphasizing the thin scar she had running through the middle of the one on the right. “All right,” she said. “But then why do you look so sad?”
“Because she’s dead now.”
“Mate, what?”
“She—I was seeing one of the villagers in Oskari. She died in—she died in the fire.”
It felt so good telling her the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. But I couldn’t bring myself to admit it was V. Not only because I didn’t think I could say her name out loud without suffering another mental breakdown, but because Rhian had been there when she died. Adeline said what happened to Ivana hadn’t been preventable, but I knew Rhian, and I reckoned she already felt responsible, and if she knew what V meant to me, she’d never forgive herself. My sister lived with guilt enough as it was.
It was the same reason I hadn’t told her how Derek and I broke up.
I glanced over to Rhian who didn’t seem to know what to say at the moment, but I caught her expression, and it wasn’t good. She was hurt, and she had questions, and I knew what she wanted to say: “I get why you have to keep work stuff from me, but this? How can I be there for you if you don’t tell me what’s going on?” But she didn’t say it. It was a conversation we absolutely needed to have, but we both knew it wasn’t time.
“Was it serious?” she asked instead.
“I think so.” I nodded, but then I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Gus…”
“Aye, it was serious.”
“Fuck.”
Rhian reached for the basket in my lap, but she didn’t take it away until I conceded by letting go. She then placed it back on the nightstand, and we did what we always did when my nerves needed a good reset. Coats off. Boots off. In the bed. Covers up. Arms around. Squeeze, cuddle, and cry.
Ten, twelve, eighteen minutes before we were both fast asleep.
According to my pocket watch, we slept for just over an hour. Personally, I was feeling both better and worse than I had before the nap. Rhian said she just felt worse, point blank. But, places to go and people to be, so we parted ways with a hug.
I promised she’d be seeing me around more often now.