Feargus

  As promised, Faust asked Michael if he’d be interested in a special job outside the city, which was to act as our bodyguard while we did our special jobs. He agreed, but at this point, Michael still wasn’t aware he’d ever been anyone other than what he was after being tempered. We’d tell him, obviously, but we wanted him to have one last peaceful night with his family before we pulled the rug out. As promised, Faust compensated the Reiders more than appropriately, and left us all with unconditional permissions for Leberecht.

  With that out of the way, Rhian, Strauss, and I planned to spend the night at the Mount Inn, get ourselves a good night’s rest before taking on the road. We all, including Faust, returned to the inn. But she didn’t stay long. The Councilwoman had to get back to Palisade lickity-split, having been unexpectedly sidetracked by our trip to Leberecht.

  After packing up her things, she asked me aside for a private chat.

  “Do you require anything of us? It may be some time before I’m able to return to Amalia, and now that everyone is, perhaps not on the same page, but at least reading the same book, it really is in your hands now.”

  What did that even mean? “So, that’s it: find a way to destroy the Six, and… that’s it?”

  “That’s it. We three will do what we can to remain in communication with you, and I’d ask only that you find a way to inform us before you do anything that directly involves Palisade. I’ll support Lucas Bellamy’s story in the meantime. Considering how long I’ve been gone, it’ll make a strong case for having searched high and low.”

  “Are we allowed to bring Alexander in?”

  Faust nodded. “Do whatever you must. Again, unless something occurs that would directly affect Palisade, would alert Oranen and Blanchett, or would in some way compromise the mission, you’re in charge now. For all intents and purposes, you are me.”

  Brilliant. Councilwoman Jack Thomas Finnegan reporting for duty.

  Except, why didn’t I like the sound of that at all?

  Before checking out, Faust ordered the crew a bottle of Hocks to celebrate having the actual weight of the world on our shoulders, so I returned to my room with the parting gift.

  Inside, Strauss and Rhian were already getting settled. We didn’t see a point in spending on another room, and I’d offered them the bed in mine that night. I was reasonably sure they’d behave, but even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t be anything I hadn’t seen or heard before, would it? Or maybe it would be.

  Maybe they’d had practise.

  I set the bottle down on the table and had a sit in the bay window. “So, uh—”

  “Look, mate,” Rhian interrupted, “I can’t speak for Strauss, but I’m not mad at you. I’m not even surprised. I’m just tired. Can we do anything but talk about work tonight?”

  That was the best idea I’d heard in weeks. I poured a drink. “Strauss? Hocks?”

  Technically, he wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol. But he wasn’t allowed to cut his hair or wear a beard either, and I could tell he’d had a trim since I’d last seen him, and he hadn’t shaved in a while. Besides, I was in charge now, wasn’t I? First order of business: getting every priest in Auditoria drunk off their faces, starting with Andrei Strauss.

  “Why not.” He shrugged, and I delivered the glass into his hand. He sniffed it tentatively before taking a dainty sip. If he was alarmed by the taste, he didn’t show it. Poor Rhian couldn’t drink, but it didn’t matter. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

  Meanwhile, I reckoned Strauss had already had the chance to map the room before I joined them, because he navigated his way around the furniture and over to the bay window without a hitch. I moved the bottle aside so he could sit. He took another small sip of Hocks.

  “I’m not mad at you, either,” he said. “Although, I’m a little bit—I don’t know.”

  “Whatever you’re feeling is probably more than fair, mate. I owe you lot an explanation.”

  Strauss shrugged and seemed to consider the drink in his hand for a time before he knocked the whole of it back. Brave man. He’d be feeling that in about ten minutes.

  “Does Councilwoman Faust know about the baby?” he asked.

  Well, that right there told me: a) Strauss knew about the baby, and b) Rhian told Strauss that I knew about the baby. That was a load off. I chased the good news with a sip of my own. “Secret’s safe. All I really did was talk you up, and I didn’t even have to lie much.”

  Strauss smiled ruefully.

  Other than the news being extremely personal to Rhian and Strauss, I had a clear enough picture of Faust to know she wouldn’t want any harm coming to the child, so not telling her wasn’t a matter of trust. The truth is, Rhian’s pregnancy was an interesting variable. There was a ticking clock on her mobility, and how much physical danger she could put herself in. And look, I wasn’t imposing limits on my sister. If anyone could change the world while nine months pregnant, it was Rhian. But we might have to approach things a little differently, and until I knew how that would look—

  “Oh,” Strauss continued, “we’ve cleared things up with Everleigh Gloom.”

  What did that mean? What did she say? Did my name come up, and how much did they know that I didn’t know they knew? I didn’t know. “How’d that come about?”

  “She admitted to having been playing both sides, and that her reasons for kidnapping us were twofold. For one, the noble reason: she claims there’s a bounty on us, and that the Anima were planning to retaliate for waking Zacharias and slaying Lidia. For two, the concerning part: she had considered turning us in herself.”

  What? “What?”

  “Well, my understanding is she’s in a difficult position because the Anima may be starting to suspect she’s been double dealing. She was afraid, but ultimately, she did the right thing. She’s been staying with us at the base, and she’s there now with Adeline—wait, do you know about the base?”

  Did I know about the base? Aye, I knew about the base, if the base was Sebastian’s music note, and I reckoned it was. But I shook my head, for whatever good that did. “I’m a bit out of the loop, mate. I’ve been with Faust since being rescued by Sebastian Vonsinfonie, apparently.”

  “I guess that explains why you were in such a hurry, if you were meant to be meeting her.” Strauss leaned back against the stone, seemingly satisfied with his highly plausible but highly incorrect detective work. “There’ve been a number of developments, then.”

  I poured myself another drink while Strauss explained Sebastian’s music note, everything I already knew about Vincent, and about Sebastian’s plans to form a rebellion against Palisade. That was news to me. But he said their chat with Sebastian was cut short when he took off suddenly, apparently gone looking for Jakob Adler.

  “Sounds wild,” I said. “So now you lot are living in his underground mansion?”

  Strauss’s head wobbled around a bit. I reckoned it was a nod.

  Now, you may be wondering why I didn’t come clean about everything right then and there. But if Everleigh hadn’t spilled the beans about me, I wasn’t going to spill hers, and especially not before having a chat. And if Sebastian hadn’t fessed up to our shenanigans, I wasn’t going to yank him into things, either. And if Zack—ugh, mates, I missed Zack so much. I hoped he wasn’t worrying about me, but then again, he’d probably do the math and figure I was with Faust. But aye, if Zack wasn’t ready to show himself to the crew yet, then I wasn’t ready to tell them about him yet, either. Besides, if I started talking, I might not have been able to stop, and there were things I still wasn’t ready to discuss.

  It went quiet for a while.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “’Ey Strauss,” I said.

  No answer.

  “Strauss.”

  No answer.

  So, ten minutes might have been a generous estimate. But the poor chap was going to be sore as sin if he slept in that position all night, so I doubled over and hoisted him over my back. He was knocked out cold, not too much different than moving a corpse.

  It wasn’t graceful, mates, but I eventually tucked him into bed with my sister, and with a barely touched bottle of Hocks at my disposal, I curled up in the bay window.

  We picked Michael up at his house the next morning, waiting outside the door while he said goodbye to his family. Matthew and Miriam were proud to show him they’d learned the secret Palisade handshake, and as any good big brother ought to, Michael played along. Before leaving, Mrs. Reider sent us off with some apple pie pockets, much like the ones V used to bake. My heart stopped and dropped straight into my knees, but I smiled and thanked her for mine anyhow.

  I can’t tell you how relieved I was to make it through the gates, all together, and without any further incident. There was a part of me expecting to get jumped by the Trio on the way out. But nothing of the sort happened, and we walked in silence for the first twenty minutes or so.

  It was cold, and we were all bundled up. Lucky for me, Rhian had borrowed Adeline’s hat for the trip, and she still had mine in her bag.

  “Say, where’d you get the fancy cane?” I asked Strauss.

  “Sinclair procured it from the keyhole in the—do you know about the keyhole in the mountain?”

  “Vaguely, aye.”

  “Well, it may have once belonged to Zacharias Vonsinfonie, and—”

  “Seriously?” Michael interrupted.

  Strauss and Rhian nodded.

  “Wow, okay. I have so many questions. But first, let me see if I remember your names,” Michael said. “Fergus, Ryan, and Andrew, right?”

  “It’s more like Ree-Ann,” Rhian said.

  “And it’s more like Fair-Gus,” I answered. “But Gus or Finlay’s fine.”

  “And it’s Andrei,” Strauss added. “But everyone calls me Strauss.”

  “Okay, Rhian, Strauss, and Finlay, then. I just can’t with the Fehhhrrrr.”

  I chuckled, sniffling back a runny nose. “Aye, I get that a fehhhrrr bit.”

  Michael laughed, Strauss smirked, and Rhian, well, she was in something of a hurry, walking at least ten steps head of the rest of us now. We decided Strauss should be the one to break the news about the memory wipe to Michael, given his calming disposition and whatnot, and I reckoned then was as good a time as any. I ran to catch up with my sister.

  “’Ey, Rhi-rhi.”

  She answered by linking her arm with mine, and after a minute she said, “What are the odds we can take care of the Six, say, by next week, and just be done with it?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past you, but I reckon we’re in for the long haul. I mean, if we want to be. We can still run away from everything, can’t we? We have options now and half the Assembly still thinks we’re dead, hopefully, and the other half won’t be able to say anything without implicating themselves.”

  Rhian kicked up some snow. “Aye, but we may as well finish the job, seeing as anyone else might fuck it up worse.”

  “Well, I’m not totally convinced we won’t do that, either, because I’m learning quickly it doesn’t take much. But at least it would be our mess, right?”

  “Right.”

  It went quiet again while we eavesdropped on the conversation at the back.

  “—don’t understand. Why would they do that?”

  “I’m not sure we understand any of that yet either,” Strauss said.

  Only, I did understand, but I wasn’t about to tell them Michael chose this. First of all, that was a bit much at the minute. Second of all, it would break Rhian’s heart.

  “Okay, but how do I know any of what you’re saying is true?” Michael asked.

  I looked back in time to catch Strauss shrug. “Simply? You can’t. But what reason would we have to lie to you?”

  “I—I don’t know.” Michael paused. “So we’ve known each other our whole lives?”

  “Only about a year myself,” Strauss replied. “But you met Sinclair when she was around twelve years old, and the three of you have been friends ever since.”

  “My parents said something to me about being decorated for my work in Verena? But I—I don’t remember that. I thought they were confused, or trying to make me feel good.”

  “I’d mentioned it to them,” Rhian called back. “When I brought you home, I told them all about how you were awarded your sword, Intrepi-what-the-bloody-ever.”

  There she was again, solving our problems before they were problems.

  “Okay, yeah, they mentioned something about a sword with a long name. But if it’s true, how do we fix it?”

  “Well, we’re not certain,” Strauss replied. “But if there’s a way, we will find it.”

  The conversation tapered off around then, and not long after that, the snow started falling.

  It was a cold, uncomfortable walk for the next few hours, and with the wind picking up, and with everybody’s faces covered by their scarves and coats, we didn’t do much talking.

  If it weren’t for Strauss and Michael, I reckon we would have died out there, mates. The storm hit us fast and angry. I’d never felt cold quite like that before in my life, and we could hardly see two steps ahead. Rhian and I weren’t trained for winter survival. Aye, we’d learned the basics, gone through a few simulations, but most of our work had taken place in Delphia, so it was never put to much use. Strauss’s priority was keeping Rhian warm, and Rhian’s priority was keeping Strauss upright.

  Otherwise, we could barely hear each other over the wind while we made our way across the flat, empty snowscape. Finally, Michael stepped in front of us, halting us with a hand. He then pointed toward a gathering of snow pushed up against a rocky cliff.

  We changed course and followed him in that direction.

  When we arrived at the cliff, Michael didn’t squander another second before he started digging through the drift. It had been cold enough that the snow was tightly packed, so it came apart in big chunks while he barreled through with his hands.

  Meanwhile, I huddled up with my sister and Strauss, because let’s be real: I’d been itching to give him a good cuddle, and there was my chance to make it count. While the three of us tried not to freeze to death, Michael carried on doing his thing—whatever that was.

  Three, five, six minutes until it became glaringly obvious what that was. He’d dug us out a den, and while it wasn’t a twenty-five room mansion, it looked big enough to fit us all.

  After giving the ceiling a quick check for integrity, he waved us in.

  We were lucky Strauss was a big fellow with plenty of limb for us all to cling on to.

  “Well, this is one way to get to know us quickly,” I said.

  Michael chuckled. “Yeah, I guess. I’ll have to fabricate something a bit more practical if this continues for much longer, though.”

  “How did you know what to do?” Strauss asked.

  Michael hesitated before answering, “Training, I think.”

  With Rhian in Strauss’s lap, and Michael and I latched on to either side of his body, I side-eyed Rhian. She side-eyed me. No doubt he’d had training, but training didn’t necessarily equate acting quickly and correctly in practise. That sort of leadership came only with experience, and we all knew he’d spent plenty of time in Endica.

  The trip so far had taken a lot out of us, and we weren’t sure how long the storm would last, so we regained some energy by cuddling up in silence.

  Ten, twelve, twenty-five and a half minutes.

  “’Ey, Strauss. Say a Thing or Say a Thing?” I finally asked.

  “With options like that, Finlay, how ever will I decide?”

  “Wait, what are we doing?” Michael wondered.

  Rhian groaned and closed her eyes.

  “We’re playing Say a Thing or Do a Thing,” I said through chattering teeth. “Except we can’t really do anything much all crammed in here. So we’ll each take our turns confessing a deep, dark secret. Strauss, you’re first.”

  “Very well,” he said. “Sinclair, that one time in Delphia when you and Finlay were staying in my room, I did indeed peek at your feet. It wasn’t intentional. You lost your blanket, and I was only trying to help, but I saw the freckle.”

  Mates, I hadn’t heard Rhian laugh like that in years.

  It felt so good I almost forgot I was still miserable.

  “I bloody told you, didn’t I?” she said to no one in particular when she recovered. “I bloody told you all. Not to mention, we’ve got Feargus Finlay in this cozy little snow womb, and yet somehow, Strauss is the creepiest creeper of us all.”

  Strauss chuckled, giving Rhian a tight squeeze. Even Michael—still looking a bit lost, granted—seemed to be having a good time.

  “Your turn, Finlay,” Strauss said.

  “Oh, aye, this should be good,” Rhian remarked.

  Right—I had to give them something juicy without opening up too many doors. Sorry, Alex. “I went to a debauchery party with Alexander.”

  Rhian snickered. “Why am I not even surprised. Again.”

  “What’s a—” Strauss hitched. “Oh.”

  Michael peered over at me from around Strauss. “How do I get an invite to one of those?”

  There he was—the same old Michael, even if he wasn’t. I flashed my favourite partner-in-debauchery a quick grin. “I’ll hook you up.”

  Satisfied, Michael nodded. “Yeah, I’m glad I decided to come with you people.”

  “Aye, mate,” Rhian said. “Us, too.”

  For the record: Rhian insisted she had no deep, dark secrets, and Michael said he didn’t think he had any either. By then, the snow had stopped blowing sideways, and it was only a matter of seventeen minutes more before the wind died down. With no time to lose, we shoved our apple pie pockets down our throats and scrambled out of the den.

  It was smooth sailing the rest of the way to the base.