Chapter 14 — What It Means

Despite all the stress steadily building up since the Emergence (as Cinza had coined it), Rachel was pleased to find that Josh's cooking remained as excellent as ever.

"Honestly, Joshua, you've outdone many a professional here," Kendra agreed, dabbing a napkin at her mouth. "I'd hire you."

"Thanks, but I think I'm gonna be too busy," Josh said, giving a sidelong glance at Rachel. "How many catastrophes are we dealing with now?"

Rachel sighed, stretching back in her chair. "Too many."

"With one more on the way," Will added, looking out the front window at a car that had just arrived. Jackie joined them a few moments later, prompting Josh to fetch another serving of the salmon he'd prepared.

"Thanks," Jackie grunted, digging in voraciously. "It's all bad," she added, wiping her face on her sleeve.

"Totally blocked?" Rachel asked, feeling dismayed.

"It's a disaster zone. Landslides, buncha timbers, the works. Looks like a damn earthquake rolled through." Jackie frowned. "There's no way it was natural."

"No," Rachel agreed. "What did Robert say?"

Jackie shrugged. "Can't clear it easily. It'll be hard work, but he's got people on it. That's all we got for now, since the trains are blocked out too. We can call in a helicopter lift if we really need it, but even that's a stretch with how many of them are tied up dealing with wildfires down south."

"So we're alone," Will concluded, pulling out his laptop.

"Honestly, it's not the worst circumstances to find ourselves at present," Kendra put in mildly, sipping her wine.

"What? We're under siege here, Miss Laushire," Josh said. "Being trapped in with an angry god at our doorstep sounds pretty bad to me."

"She's right, Josh," said Rachel. "Being cut off means we don't have to worry about the emergence spreading any further. Magic will be contained to Rallsburg for now, and that gives us time to figure out how to deal with Omega."

"It's not like anything outside town could help us anyway, unless you want to call in the National Guard," Will added, while typing away furiously.

"What's going on there?" Jackie asked through a mouthful of salmon.

He spun the screen around for them. Rachel saw a scrolling feed of traffic and a breakdown of highlighted intercepted messages. Will had explained to her how he could stop anything they didn't trust from passing out through the town net, now that he had access to the municipal network administration through Rowan. The mayor, of course, had no idea that Will was involved, and simply assumed (along with everyone else) that Rachel was capable of such a feat on her own. Given a year, perhaps she might be—but time was of the essence, and Will was far more experienced in such a system than she was.

"So far we've been pretty quiet. No unusual traffic out from either the college or the town. Most people are just watching videos, playing games or just talking about the usual things. The only traffic I've seen that even hints at magic is some private communication from Cinza, but our favorite cult leader knows her encryption. Besides the empty subject line that I pulled from the mailserver and the username 'Tezofarl', I couldn't get anything else out of it." Will shrugged. "Still, I doubt Cinza's gonna be telling anyone, right? I'd trust her with secrecy at least."

"Quite," Kendra agreed.

"So that just leaves our other security breach. I'm sorry to say I couldn't catch this one, as it used the cell network and made it out before I was set up on our tower. I was only able to spot it thanks to the history log and the fact that the guy sending it didn't have any security on his messages." He grinned, and Rachel felt a brief burst of warmth pulse through her. Even if she didn't share his passion for networks or computers, his enthusiasm was still infectious for her. "Kendra, your employees really are lax on their protocols."

"Collins?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, from his cell phone to an unknown number. The other end was more secure, took a few bounces to figure out where that number was meant to go."

"Enough bragging, kid. Who knows?" Jackie asked.

"Her father, Thomas Laushire."

"Shit."

"He could pose an inconvenience," Kendra agreed. "Heaven knows my father would love to get his hands on a burgeoning market. I don't believe we need to worry about him for now. May I see the exact message that was sent, please?"

Will handed the laptop over. Kendra put on a pair of half-rimmed glasses and scrutinized the screen as if she were looking at a lab specimen.

"As expected, Collins couched his speculations in half-hearted flights of fantasy. My father may not even believe him at first. If he were a more trusted or competent lieutenant, he'd not be trapped at the end of the world with myself."

"Glad to see you think so highly of our town," the sheriff muttered.

"I chose this place precisely for being so far removed from society, dear sheriff," Kendra replied. "My father's influence blacklisted me from virtually all major universities, so I decided to take the opposite approach and find one so beyond his reach that he wouldn't even bother making an attempt to interfere. Unfortunately for my plan, this town has turned out to be far more valuable than anyone could have anticipated."

"Speaking of the town, what's the general mood?" asked Josh. "You two have been running all over, what's your take?"

"Everyone's uneasy," Jackie answered. "News is really starting to spread now. We're gonna have more waves of people trying to figure out how they can do magic too."

"And we're still telling everyone they can't, right?"

"We are," Rachel confirmed, "but we don't know that everyone else is. You can be sure Cinza will be looking to pick up new recruits."

"She still doesn't have any paper though. They can't awaken anyone."

"Oh thank God," Jackie muttered.

Josh laughed. "Yeah, we're spared that nightmare for now. So we can focus down on the two real threats: keeping the council happy and finding Omega."

"You said they weren't happy, Josh," Rachel prompted.

"Not happy with you," he corrected. "The gist I got is that Mabel, Julian and Cinza are mostly down with how this has played out otherwise."

"Those are the three big players?" Jackie asked, scribbling on a notepad. Josh raised an eyebrow. "Look, kid, I'm having trouble keeping up. I won't write down anything sensitive, don't worry."

"All right, whatever. Just leave me out of it. Anyway, Cinza seems to have your back actually. I dunno what you did there but she hasn't bitched about you once." Rachel smiled. Her budding friendship with Cinza was paying off. "It's Mabel and Julian that got me worrying."

"I never got the impression that Mabel was particularly invested in the Council, or magic," Kendra said. "I've never seen her visit the Market once, nor has she ever proposed policy or stepped in on a dispute."

"You don't know her like I do," Josh said. "Mabel's the quiet type, yeah, but she's an old matriarch. Raised a whole family and a half here. Did you know that John Bell, the big guy over at the Kettle, is her grandson?"

"No," Kendra answered. Rachel was surprised too. Even she hadn't known that.

"John's just one of several, plus she's got old family ties with the Harrisons. Those two families practically built this town, even though the Prices own it. They've got a lineage and they like to keep things in the line."

"So I'm a usurper," Rachel concluded.

"Not exactly," Josh said.

She smiled. This was why Josh was a valuable member of her team. Even though he seemed not to care, the guy was far more socially observant than any of them. Josh had a knack for digging his way through social ladders, finding every nook and cranny, and mapping them out. He knew exactly who was linked with whom, and every little feud and bond in between. Every nuance was accounted for.

"Mabel didn't mind when you were an elected councilor. It followed the rules—rules she helped put in place. If we'd done things that way, she'd probably be okay with it. But then you played your hand at the town hall and everything went to shit. Now you're Big Bad Rachel coming to stomp on the rest of the council by declaring yourself the one true representative of the awakened."

"That's not what I did…" Rachel started indignantly, but Josh held up a hand.

"Yeah, I know that, and I'm your other partner here, so don't start flippin' out. I'm just telling you what it looked like to them."

Kendra nodded. "It could easily be seen as another coup."

She frowned. "Neither of you stood up to help."

Josh shrugged, looking totally comfortable. "Because I don't care about being a pillar of the community. You already know that. Who knows what Mabel was thinking during the town hall?"

"Rachel, you faced off against the town to defend one of our own," Will put in gently. "A lot of us recognize that and admire you for it."

Rachel gave him a weak smile, but she still felt like she'd been cut down a few pegs. Had she thrown a coup and taken over the council? She hadn't intended to, but that did look to be the end result. Rachel had simply taken command when no one else seemed to be. Certainly in most council meetings she'd always taken the lead role—this had been no different in her mind.

"What about Julian?" Will prompted, before Rachel could get too lost in her own thoughts. She shot him a grateful look for changing the subject.

"Well, he always hated Rachel," Josh said simply. Rachel snorted, and he grinned. "Yeah, that's about it, but now he's got an actual following. He's been spouting some shit about you making yourself queen of the council and outin' us when we didn't need to yet. It's not enough to overpower Cinza's voting block or your own friends and followers, but it's growing."

"Probably bitter that you threw off his plans," Will added, returning to his laptop.

"Julian the delivery man?" Jackie asked.

Rachel nodded. "He's been a thorn in our side for a while now."

"Mine too," Jackie spat. "Prick keeps drinking on the job, nearly running into the streetlights in his truck."

"Why not arrest him?" Josh asked.

"Because I've never caught him doing it, and I can't toss someone in jail without evidence."

"Of course you had to actually be good at your job," he sighed. Jackie grinned.

"What was that bit with Robert Harrison at the town hall though?" Rachel asked. "Those two are friends now?"

"Hey, something I can answer," Jackie said, leaning forward. "They're drinkin' and huntin' buddies, go out together once a month. I could see Robert helping back his play before, but not now."

"Why not now?"

"Robert hates bein' lied to, and Julian's been hidin' magic from him this whole time and usin' him. Those two aren't friends anymore, trust me on that one. Robert trusts you now—a bit. More than the mayor or anyone from the college, at least."

"Julian isn't an immediate threat," Kendra interjected. "I appreciate your concerns over the possibility of losing your council seat, but if there were ever a case to declare an emergency, this would be it. I think we can table that discussion and focus on the murders."

Her declaration sobered up the table a bit. They'd been enjoying dumping on Julian too much. Rachel took a breath to allow her thoughts to refocus. "First is the legal situation, and how Jackie can handle this moving forward."

Jackie sighed. "Sometime I'm gonna have to file these kids into the system, and it's gonna shoot up all sorts of red flags. Rallsburg never gets suspicious deaths. Worst we ever have are a tourist or two lost in the woods who wandered in from a multi-day hike, or that one loony who jumped out of a plane and landed near here."

"Why can't they be that?" Josh asked.

"Do you got any planes handy?"

"No, I mean lost in the woods. Attacked by bears or wolves or something."

"It'll have to stand up to a legitimate M.E. We don't have anyone here, so they'll call a city coroner. Probably a real expert."

An idea sprang to mind, and Rachel cut in. "We do have Natalie."

The room was dead silent for a few moments. "Wow, Rachel," Josh said quietly.

"She's right, though," Will said, though he too sounded uneasy at her implication.

"Indeed," agreed Kendra. "Natalie could accomplish the required results."

"That's just sick," Jackie muttered. "You'd ask a twelve year old to do… that?"

"Natalie is more mature than you give her credit for, Ms. Nossinger. She would understand the gravity and the extenuating circumstances."

"Look, I'm okay with delaying my report because the system would flip out over this shit. We don't have the right way to deal with it legally yet. But I'm not manufacturing false evidence, or involving a goddamn middle schooler in this mess," Jackie growled. "That's over the line."

"None of us wanted to involve her," Will replied. "We've tried to protect her."

"And now her father's missing, her friend's dead and she's being asked to muti—"

"All right," Rachel cut in forcefully. "Is there anything else we need to cover about the murders?"

"Rika," said Josh. Rachel's heart fell. He got the topic changed—as Rachel had desired—but it had switched right to the last thing she wanted to discuss.

"I thought we'd concluded that Omega killed them," Rachel said, trying to keep the note of panic out of her voice.

"There were electricity burns on the bodies. Omega never used electricity, no one does. No one even knows how to. Only Rika. The whole town knows that too."

"We never saw him use it. Doesn't mean he can't."

"Even if she wasn't responsible," Kendra added, "it would be best that she present herself. If only for protective custody."

"Protective custody?" asked Will, alarmed.

"There's only four known persons with magic, right?" Jackie said. "You've got Rachel, who's spent the whole year buddying up to the entire damn town. You've got Hector, the nice groceryman who most people love and respect even if he's a shitty businessman. You've got Cinza, who half the 'burg is gonna be scared of and the other half wantin' to get her to talk. I'd be more worried about her except that she's apparently got a pretty militant group?"

Jackie glanced at Rachel, who nodded.

"Right, so she can probably defend herself if it comes to that. Which leaves Rika, the lone foreigner who last time she was here caused a huge ruckus and had to be booted right back outta town."

"You heard about that?" Rachel asked, surprised.

"We didn't know what it was about, but everyone in Rallsburg knew you ran your best friend out of the country," Jackie said. "It's still a small town. Folks love a good drama."

"Not all of us," Josh muttered.

"She wasn't good enough for you anyway, man," Will said, patting him on the back.

"Whatever." Josh turned to Jackie. "How hard can it be to find her, anyway? She's a short Asian girl with blue hair in a town that probably has less than twenty non-white people. Hell, you're looking at the only black guy here with school out and Omega gone."

"You find her in a town this withdrawn with only one officer on your staff," Jackie shot back. "I've got so much on my plate already, and not a soul around feels like callin' in useful tips."

"So put Bowman on it."

"I did. He just hasn't come up with anything yet. As soon as she's spotted, we're bringing her in. By force at this point."

Rachel spotted Will stifling a yawn, and decided that was as good a time as any to interject. "Thank you, everyone. I think that about covers it for now."

"So we simply wait until we get a hit in the forest on Omega?" Kendra asked.

"I think Cinza may have some ideas. I was planning on talking with her tomorrow after the funeral."

"Memorial," Jackie corrected.

"Huh?"

"There's no body, so it's a memorial." Jackie shuddered. "And I hope to God they never have to see their kid." She stood to leave. "I don't like just sitting around and waiting, but your call. I don't have any better ideas. Thanks for dinner."

The rest of the group echoed the sentiment and trooped out one by one. Josh stayed long enough to gather up the remaining ingredients he'd brought over before wishing them good night.