Calvin sat there trying to hold it together as one after the other girls came up to him and felt his magic, only to all turn away quickly. This lasted for an hour, his Resolve turning weak and pathetic. Buster and John had both been selected for a Pact within ten minutes. The young witches cleared out, leaving Calvin on his knees. He held his head low, embarrassed and ashamed of himself.

  “I am sorry, Calvin.” The veiled witch tapped his shoulder, “You have not been selected.”

  “Do I smell?” His eyes were glued to the cobblestone in front of him.

  “No, my boy.” Her words were warm.

  Logan stepped forward, “We can try next year. No big deal, kid.”

  “Why would you bring him here?” The veiled witch turned to Logan, “There’s no way any witch of the Green Coven could accept this. You had to have known.”

  “I do what they tell me to do.” Logan tilted his head.

  She quickly looked back to Calvin. “My child, you are marked by abhorrent forces. It is curious that you’re even alive. This is not a place for you. I am surprised you were allowed to join the Posse in the first place.”

  Calvin said nothing, processing her words.

  Her tone dropped, “Perhaps there is peace for you somewhere in this world, but it is not here, not with us.”

  “Get up, Cal.” Logan put a hand on his shoulder, “We’re outta here.”

  Calvin silently picked himself up, placing the hat back on his head. He let the shadow of the brim hide his eyes; he didn’t want to cry in front of his teammates.

  John, standing by Buster behind their teacher, raised an eyebrow. He could feel secondhand shame for Cal. Though he didn’t care much for the guy, this was brutal. Elise noted his eyebrow.

  She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “He’s got some gross magic. What’s the deal with it?”

  John shrugged, “I dunno. Maybe he’s cursed.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t get to feel it, but the way Dorene acted at first I’d have thought that guy was a Lycan.”

  “Nah, he ain’t. We trained while the full moon was out. No transformation.” John shook his head.

  Logan took the boys back out of the Coven grounds. Calvin remained silent, trying to hide his pain under the hat. This hurt hard, it was like he had been beaten senseless in his gut. This had been Calvin’s dream, feminine affection from these wonderful creatures. He had watched them in action for years, looking forward to his turn. Now, nearly drowning in shame, he understood that he didn’t get a turn like the others.

  “Well that was something.” Logan spoke after they had been translated back to the Sanctuary. “Calvin, bud, you gonna be alright?”

  Mavis, floating next to Buster, watched curiously. She felt bad for him but wondered how he might handle it. Six-Guns were supposed to be tough, well-regulated. She knew if it was her in his shoes she would break down.

  Cal looked up, eyes appearing disinterested. “Yeah, I’ll suck it up. No big, like you said.”

  Suck it up, those three words had been shot Calvin’s way quite a bit in his time with the Posse. When he scraped his knee or busted his nose, Old George would hand those words down. He had been told to suck it up when he got too emotional thinking about his Momma. He was instructed to suck it up over his father, who didn’t care enough to even write. His instructors, fellows, his friends one and all just wanted Calvin to suck it up. Cal had his pistol, he was now a man. Witch or no witch, he would act like one. It was time to suck it up. The shame should belong to him, never for others to detect. Like going to the bathroom, his heartache would have to remain a private affair.

  For the first time since they met by the well, Logan didn’t see excitement and happiness in Calvin’s eyes. The optimism and hunger had been beaten out of him, if only for the moment. Now Cal’s face reminded Logan of himself.

  “I need a drink.” His eyes drifted, “You boys and girls go get acquainted, learn a little about each other or something. We start training tomorrow.”

  Logan walked through the door into Mulligan’s. Other Guns were around, taking a break. Mulligan’s bar was like an evening club for those with little responsibilities at the time.

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  “Oh good.” He saw the sun-patterns of Lou Cobb’s poncho at the bar, “Perfect timing.”

  Stepping up, he slid onto the barstool next to Lou. The bartender in plaid set a short glass down in front of him. Logan gave him a gesture with three fingers and watched the bartender pour whiskey into the glass.

  “You’re an ass, know that Cobb?”

  Louey looked over, sipping from a stein of cloudy beer. He cleared his throat curiously, “What’s got your goat, Bootknife?”

  “Baird’s brat. You should’ve known they’d hate him. Madeline had to have clued you in.”

  “Calvin has a good personality” Lou sipped, “Surely he made a pact anyhow?”

  “As a matter of fact he didn’t.” Logan’s voice became more agitated after downing all three fingers in a single swig, “They basically spit in his fucking face, Cobb. Kid’s broken.”

  Louey turned a little, eyes studying Logan.

  The Bootknife continued. “Now how am I supposed to train the kid when he’s got two teammates with witches and he don’t got one. He’s gonna be down, shit fire!”

  “Logan. This ain’t like you at all.”

  “Nah, can the ‘Logan’ talk, Cobb.” Logan grimaced, “You should have had the boy destroyed, quick and easy when he was young. He wouldn’t have to suffer.”

  Lou’s eyes dropped. He understood the sentiment. “Rand said the same thing.”

  “Why do this to him, Cobb?” Logan tapped the bar with his finger. The bartender came over and poured more whiskey into his glass.

  With a deep sigh, Lou looked back up to him. “The day I found Calvin, I had sent out a familiar Crane to survey the brush he lived in. I had it on a tip the Yellow Cult might be operating there. I saw him out at the river fishing. I watched him through my familiar, sitting with him as he used Resolve to catch fish after fish.” Lou smiled sadly. “It was wonderful. Such a peaceful use of Resolve, from someone so little. No malice in his heart. Then they came for him in the night. They cut down his mother.”

  Logan listened, sipping from his glass.

  “They took his peace from him. I just wanted to give him something to replace it. I know this road will be hard for him. I know his mark will bring him Hell. But if a kid like that can find some kind of purpose, even with his affliction, then we can all find it. Its redemption, and if he can be redeemed then maybe you can too, Logan.”

  Logan stared at him through a harsh side eye. As much as he hated Lou Cobb and his Santa Claus attitude, the words hit him in a critical spot.

  “What about Baird? He ain’t coming for the kid obviously.” Logan sounded defeated.

  Louey shrugged, “You know I hear all this talk about how he’s just not interested. But I think you and I both know Billy has his hands full. Billy has to walk his path, and Calvin has to walk his own. Maybe one day those paths will cross. If that day ever comes, I would not have wanted to put Cal down out of pity. I’m sure Billy wouldn’t either.”

  “You’re a fucking bleeding heart.” Logan shook his head, “I can’t believe you always end up convincing me.”

  “We both have the Hearts suit.” Lou chuckled, “You just like to pretend you don’t.”

  “But Billy Baird has Clubs.” Another voice piped up.

  Both men turned to face a younger Gun in his early twenties sitting in a chair, shined black boots kicked up on the table. This man was lean, handsome, wearing stylized black leather with white tassels. He looked more like a showman than a traditional Southern Six-Gun. His moustache met his beard with a slight twist. He grinned at them, brown eyes fixed.

  “I’m willing to bet his son has Clubs too.”

  Lou snorted a bit, “Okie, what’s that got to do with the conversation here?”

  Keith “Okie” Willard, a trick-gunner of lightning-fast speed, had every interest in the topic. He flashed his own card, an Ace of Clubs. “Well now I think your Blue Boy needs to cultivate his suit, man! He needs to learn with some other Clubs. He is, after all, the son of the most famous Club ever. Seems like he’s kicking it with Hearts, now he’s all broken-hearted. See what I did there?”

  “Keep your circus shit to yourself.” Logan pointed, “I got the kid, I’ll train the kid. That’s how it goes, I did too much paperwork to hand him over first time he gets depressed.”

  Okie simply laughed, but Lou shot Logan a look, “That’s what I’m having a hard time understanding. You sure got an awful lot to say about Cal. I ain’t seen you so worked up over a kid, ever. You’re even doing paperwork, which is its own miracle.”

  “I honest to God thought the Trial would kill him.” Logan shot back, “Old No-Name would suck his soul or whatever the fuck it does. Degataga thought so too. We all were thinking it. Calvin thought so, he seemed sure he was toast, but I watched him walk into that cave anyway.” Logan’s eyes drifted to his glass.

  “He came out the other side holding Gellerite.” He sighed, “I just… I didn’t know he had it in him. I was sure. I felt dumb. I got him paired with a Rodeo Clown and the youngest of the Calhoun boys. Those are two shoe-ins. To see him standing there right next to them just felt different.”

  Lou smiled brightly, “I told you, he is Billy Baird’s son.”

  “Shut up about Baird!” Logan slammed a fist on the bar, the glasses clanking with the impact. “He is not like Billy Baird at all!”

  Logan’s Resolve flared as he glowered. “Baird would have walked in there too, but he would never have believed he could die. He would walk in and out with that shit eating fucking grin on, like he knew how it would go! He would walk away from the Coven cackling. This kid is nothing like him. He’s got pain and fear, and he is still walking. You shut up with that crap! I don’t wanna hear no more about Billy fucking Baird!”

  Lou stared at Logan in silence for a long moment.

  “Ha!” Okie cut the quiet like a knife. He stood from the chair, “You guys gotta lay off the drink. I think you should let this kid train with me for a while. Take his mind off all this, get him acting like a proper Club. But I see you disagree. Why don’t you give me a call if you change your mind?”

  “Yeah… I’ll think about it.” Logan wiped his forehead, having let out his frustration on Lou, “Honest I will. But I wanna handle things right now. If he is gonna stay alive out there, shit all three of them, I need to teach them how to catch a Lane.”