Feargus

  Crew Placement:

  At sea ? Everleigh, Riz, Rhydian, Evelyn

  At the base ? Maryse, Markus, Bells

  The tavern ? Zack, Rhian, Strauss, Sebastian, Adeline, Michael, Jakob

  The Gander ? Quinn

  Days Before Leberecht: 4

  Things To Do Before Leberecht:

  ? Check in with Zack

  ? Spend time with my sister

  ? Plan an amazing date for Addie

  ? Update Alex on operation Verena

  ? Check on Quinn

  ? Enact operation Verena

  ? Sort out Florea (?)

  In the underground tavern, the brothers had finished telling their story—side by side, shoulder to shoulder sitting on the edge of the stage. Together, Addie and I looked around the room. Jakob, snuggled between Strauss and my sister, crying. Strauss kept his cool while still comforting his adolescent copycat. Michael’s brows were narrowed in deep thought on the other side of me. And my sister? Aye, well, my sister looked righteously pissed off.

  Look, I really couldn’t blame her. I’ve spent so much time thinking about that day, mates, and I’ve come to realize the problem wasn’t what Zack said, and it wasn’t even how he said it, it was all the things he didn’t say. All the practical information was there, wasn’t it? But for someone worrying so much about conviction without empathy, I’d be the first to admit he made a poor example of it.

  And frankly, Zack would be the second to admit it.

  Anyhow, my sister and Sebastian locked eyes for three, four, seven seconds until she nodded, and then he started crying, too.

  Over on our couch, I rubbed my beard, and Addie chewed her lower lip.

  The first question the crew had came from Rhian, asking Zack how he could go behind his brother’s back and negotiate with the Six. We all know Zack’s reasons by now, and his answer to her question was reasonable, but Rhian was hurting for her friend, and I completely understood, because I was hurting for both of mine.

  “Why have you been helping us?” Rhian asked.

  “I owe it to my brother. The Six broke their half of the agreement when they failed to deliver you dignity and autonomy.”

  And also, we were madly in love.

  You know, in a friendly way.

  “That’s interesting. And were you concerned about our dignity and autonomy when you decided who we could fuck?”

  I puffed out my cheeks and deflated them through the hole between my lips, and as you ought to remember, it went back and forth like that for a while. Rhian wasn’t letting up on Zack, and everyone had questions about whether or not we were all related to Sebastian—you know, not by blood, but by blessing, I guess. But it wasn’t all bad, was it?

  “Right—unless I’m misreading the situation, seems to me the pair of you have a mutual bone to pick with the Six,” I pointed out in case my mates hadn’t noticed.

  “We do,” they answered together.

  “So you’ll help us?” Adeline clarified, even though she knew they would.

  “You know I will,” Sebastian answered.

  Zack looked to his brother. “Do you remember what we would do each time we’d write a new song together?”

  “How could I forget?” Sebastian said. “We would do it your way.”

  “And then?”

  “And then,” Sebastian responded, “we would do it my way.”

  Zack nodded. “We’ve done it my way, brother. Now let’s do it yours.”

  So there you have it, mates. The brothers were officially in and on board to destroy the Six, and this time, Zack was relinquishing control to his brother. My sister was still mad at Zack, but I’ve said it before: my sister hated almost everything before she loved it, so I still had hope—especially with Zack moving in with us at the base.

  As for me?

  Well, I needed a snack.

  And a drink.

  And a shag.

  And a nap.

  As you might remember from The Second One, Strauss had been concerned about me acting strangely recently. The fact is, I had a lot on my mind, what with worrying about Zack, the impending Verena operation, the impending Leberecht reunion, Florea, Quinn, and trying to find some time for Adeline. He didn’t know how badly I needed a snack, or a drink, or a shag, or a nap—but he did know I needed some quality time with my sister. What a champion.

  After making arrangements for us to pick up some parcels in Jaska for Zacharias and Adeline, we puttered around the tavern where Addie poured us all some fresh drinks from the bar I’d already stocked in preparation for this day. Thanks Everleigh.

  While we drank, Rhian and Sebastian had a heart-to-heart on the other side of the room. That’s when she found out he believed she was descended directly from a line of Partisans that traced all the way back to him, unblemished by the sounds of things.

  He was really excited about it, and Rhian was Rhian about it. But that thing she said to him, about the mirror, seemed to make him happy. He then offered to tell us the sex of the baby, and while Adeline was all for it, I was in the same camp as Strauss and my sister: a surprise would be better. But Rhian gave Sebastian permission to tell Addie privately, and for a long time, they were the only two who knew. I wouldn’t let her tell me.

  Anyhow, I had no way of getting Zack alone without giving us away, so the best I could offer him were a few reassuring glances here and there, and when Sebastian and Rhian were finished with their chat, it was time to go.

  Zack led us out of the tavern and opened the hatch.

  Rhian didn’t have anything to say to him, and she was the first one out. So when my sister disappeared topside out of sight, I gave him a quick hug.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Zack tipped his cane just as I turned to leave.

  “So, how fucked up was that?” Rhian asked.

  “Mate, tell me about it,” I answered.

  It’d been a while since we’d had time alone together, so for the first little while of our journey to Jaska, we walked at a regular pace.

  “Aye, and just wait—that uptight pain in the arse is going to ask us to go easy on Avis. As if that’s even an option after what she did to Jakob and all those people. And to Michael.”

  I rubbed my beard with my mitten. “Michael seems all right, though, doesn’t he? And once we’re back at the base, we’re gonna get him fixed up, aren’t we?”

  Rhian side-eyed me.

  “You and Strauss seemed to be having a nice time when we met you at the man-cave.”

  “The what-what?”

  “Uh—you know, Zacharias’s hovel.”

  “Aye, we had an all right time and whatnot.”

  “What’d you do?”

  “He taught Strauss to play the piano and sorted out why I couldn’t teach myself to read properly. And now I can.”

  “Wait—you can read?” I came to a screeching halt in the snow.

  But Rhian picked up the pace, so I hurried to catch up with her.

  “Aye,” she said. “Sort of.”

  “He must have been a great teacher if he taught you to read in three days.”

  “Aye, on account of he trapped us in a time bubble,” Rhian answered. “So for me and Strauss, it felt more like three weeks.”

  “No kidding,” I said. “Well, that was nice of him, wasn’t it?”

  Rhian shrugged. “Seems to me he was trying to soften us up before he laid whatever the fuck that was on us. Don’t tell me you were buying anything he was selling?”

  Mates, I had to be careful if I wanted her to buy what I was selling, so I linked arms with my sister while we walked. “I don’t know. I mean, I can understand why he may have felt like he was on trial. And just think about it—how tricky was it to keep me in check growing up?”

  “What are you saying, mate?”

  “Just that you know what it’s like to be an older sibling to a pleasure-seeker with impulse control problems.”

  “All right, sure,” Rhian answered. “But I’d never betray you like that.”

  “Can we really ever say for certain what we’d do in a situation we haven’t faced?”

  “All he had to do was tell him.”

  “What, with an apocalypse hanging over their heads, and so they could bicker back and forth the way we’re doing now? For the millionth time, probably?”

  Rhian sighed.

  “Look,” I continued, “I’ve no stake in the game.” I had so much stake in the game. “But you forgave me when I came clean about all the spying, right? Besides, I reckon it’ll be much easier living and working together if we can all find a way to get along.”

  Rhian didn’t answer, and we walked in silence for thirty, thirty-two, thirty-six seconds before she finally said, “Say, you reckon it’s a girl or a boy?”

  I stopped again, and this time Rhian did, too. Stepping in front of her, I wiggled my fingers around her midsection as if mystically divining the answer. “Are you sure you wanna take my bet, Rhi-rhi? You know I’m gonna be right.”

  “Ugh,” she answered. “Never mind.”

  I grinned, and we started walking again.

  For the record, mates: I was right.

  Our first stop in Jaska was the glassworks to pick up Adeline’s gift for Strauss, which we all know now was a pair of sunglasses. They were simple and round in design, nothing flashy, with two small shields on either side so he wouldn’t feel self-conscious about his missing eyes. While we were there, we ran into Alexander who took us for lunch at the Silver Spoon.

  I caught Rhian eying Everleigh’s gloomy table at the same time I was, and I hoped she and Riz were having a nice time. But at our regular-looking table, Rhian and I traded sips of our soups between catching up with Alexander.

  She had the pumpkin, and I sipped the onion for the time being.

  “I can’t believe we’re sort-of-but-not-really related to Sebastian,” I said.

  “I’m still getting over having given him a piggyback,” Alexander mused.

  That made my sister laugh, which then made me smile.

  “I’ve been thinking of getting a gem-toned suit to celebrate my lineage. I’m thinking green, or maybe red. We’ll have to get one for you, too, Rhi-rhi.”

  Alexander looked between us. “I wish I could have been there.”

  “I dunno, mate,” I answered, giving him the short version: bad parents, not bad parents, denial, more denial, sass, more sass, something about a pox, something about the end of the world, and an awkward truce. Aye, it was all fun and games, until suddenly it wasn’t.

  While Rhian stowed away the box containing Strauss’s sunglasses, she whipped out something else in its place. One, two, four seconds to realize what I was looking at.

  V’s locket—why did she have V’s locket?

  But then it all made sense: my sister was there when V died, and must have recovered it from her ashes. I watched from somewhere outside myself while she handed it over to Alexander.

  “Reckon she’d want you to have it,” she said to him.

  I caught a meaningful glance from Alex before he tucked the locket away in his breast pocket. As much as I wanted it for myself, I wanted Alex to have it even more.

  “Ivana and I helped each other through a lot,” Alexander said.

  “I know,” Rhian replied. “I wish I could’ve—”

  “She was tired, Rhian,” Alexander offered. “You can let it go.”

  But V wasn’t tired—I mean, aye, she was bored, but we were changing that. Still, Alexander knew what he was saying, and he trusted I’d know it was being said for my sister’s benefit.

  I sipped my soup and stared at the wall.

  It wasn’t long before we left.

  After lunch, we picked up a box of sticky buns at the bakery, found a rooftop overlooking the city, and gorged out on sugar together. So far, so good, mates. I had my sister, my drinks, my snacks, and now all I needed was that shag and a nap.

  “How are things with you and Strauss?” I asked.

  “We don’t have problems, but it seems we’re always getting separated for some reason or another. It was nice spending all that time with him at the—what’d you call it? Man-cave?”

  “Aye, and I’ve been thinking Sebastian’s place could be the hen-den.”

  Rhian cackled. “Aye, well—Zacharias made sure to give us our alone time. I dunno where he went in the meantime, but I kept imagining him standing outside the door. Made the whole affair a bit awkward, but whatever. The bed was comfy.”

  It really was, and the chances were, Zack was standing behind the door.

  “How about you, mate? Seem a bit off—you feeling any better since the fire?”

  Right—the fire where my made-up nameless villager girlfriend died. “Been up and down.”

  “Reckon that’s how it goes,” Rhian said. “But don’t think I haven’t bloody noticed you spending so much time with the Squeaky Lass lately. Anything there?”

  Seeing as Addie and I were still carrying on a clandestine affair, I kept it casual with, “What’s not to like? She’s great to spend time with.”

  “You’re not wrong,” she said. “But mate, that would be fun, wouldn’t it? The four of us.”

  “Rhi-rhi, I really didn’t think you were into that kind of thing.”

  My sister pulled my hat off and smacked me in the back of the head with it. She then put it back on for me. “You know what I mean.”

  I grinned.

  And once again, it was all fun and games until it wasn’t.

  We were halfway through our box of sticky buns when we heard them below: Councilwoman Faust and Councilwoman Blanchett. For Rhian, finding them wandering around Jaska was a surprise. But for me, it was both mission accomplished and completely horrifying. Addie’s plan to bait her mother into showing up in person was a rousing success. We wanted Blanchett to come to Amalia to investigate, but there they were—talking about the Gander, about Adeline’s work there, and about the staff singing her praises.

  Which meant they’d gone to the Gander.

  Bad, bad, bad. Right? Wasn’t it? But wait—if it was bad, why wasn’t Quinn with them? Was it her day off? Actually, I didn’t know. But wouldn’t one of the other employees have accidentally spilled the beans about Quinn if they’d had their minds read? And why weren’t they talking about her? Who knew. Well, I didn’t know. I didn’t even have a way to find out, because as soon as they disappeared into the Silver Spoon for dinner, Rhian and I hurried to the Steel Needle to collect Zack’s packages before disappearing out of the city.