Hold Fast - Part Four
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
A deep, quiet dusk falls slowly over the inlet.
The tearing winds have died down completely. The rain has lightened into the occasional droplet flickering down. It all stopped so suddenly, leaving everything so still and motionless, but every plant on the banks is still dripping, creating a lingering echo of the earlier rain.
The muffled sound of it stretches over the inlet, which has turned into a sleepy, shadowy, black and purple mirror. It reflects back the clouds, the dark silhouettes of the trees. The chirping of frogs and crickets is a soft constant, quietly layered beneath the pattering of the residual droplets of rain. Now and then there’s a distant growl of thunder, but from far off, over the mountains.
A scattering of golden fireflies drifts around Moondancer, floating just above the water by the campground dock. Spreading a bit off into the distance around us, so that it’s less obvious that they aren’t present anywhere else.
The deck of Moondancer is shimmering with leftover rain, but – probably due to Heliomancer interference – the lounge area in the cockpit has dried off pretty much completely. And so have we, at long last. I feel like I’ve been soaked for hours.
I know now just how tired I have to be to fall asleep without Aiden by my side. The fact that I was able to pass out alone in my bunk is testament to the depth of exhaustion I sank to after that rescue. The minute we got Christian and Demir transferred safely to the other boat, I crawled into my bunk and closed my eyes. When I opened them again the storm had stopped, and the crickets were out.
It was a badly-needed crash. Aiden and Robin needed it, too, once the adrenaline wore off. Aiden somehow found a way to fall asleep in a bunk that he makes look child-sized, and Robin passed out laying the wrong way across her bed, so. It was obvious.
I’m glad Robin didn’t sleepwalk during the group nap, since we failed to take any precautions for that. It would seem that problem only affects her when she dreams at night. She did stumble when she came out of her cabin, but that was only because she’s sore and wiped out, just like me and Aiden. Even my voice is sore, my throat raw from all the shouting.
The nap did help, though. I feel something close to clear-headed again. What’s helping even more is the baked potato that Aiden just handed me. It smells so good, and the aluminum foil it’s nestled in is warm against my hands. The steam drifts up in the chilly dusk, warming my cheeks, too.
I take a bite of sour cream and crumbled bacon and soft potato, then gaze up at Aiden with my feelings in my eyes.
He gives me a tired smirk when he catches my expression, dropping down onto the lounge seat next to me. “You look like you have dirty thoughts on your mind, Little Demon.”
“I do. About you.” I nod down at the baked potato. “Ever since you handed me this.”
He watches me through amused, narrowed eyes. “Only since then?”
“No,” I answer, so flatly that Aiden laughs and nearly spits out the bite of potato he has in his mouth.
He blushes, then quickly drags the back of his hand over his mouth, indignant. “Come on, man, why do you have to make me look stupid?”
I spread a hand at him in disbelief. “By complimenting the food you made, then telling you that you’re sexy?”
He swipes a hand at me, looking agonized. “Ugh, forget it!”
I fight down a laugh, adoring him with my eyes. He’s the perfect picture of shy hunky cuteness when he gets all flustered. I didn’t mean to cause this effect, but now I can’t resist making it worse.
I lower my voice to a soft purr, tracing my fingertip down Aiden’s jawline. “So should I not start telling you about how impressed I am with everything you did during that rescue?”
“No, for fuck’s sake, don’t!”
“Because now that I’ve calmed down I have some thoughts.”
“How about having some mercy instead, dude? Jesus!” Aiden stabs his fork into his potato, the wild blush in his cheeks deepening. “Don’t we have more important things to talk about, anyways? Like Coral showing up and helping us? What the hell was that about?”
Yeah, I’ve been wondering the same thing. I take a slow bite of my food, turning it over in my mind. I wish Coral hadn’t vanished the instant we had our rescues safely on board. As usual, she didn’t stick around to let us talk to her, so we came away with no new answers and a bunch of new questions. We didn’t even get to thank her for her help.
“Didn’t Robin say all the sailors in Port Sitka are afraid of the Sitka Siren?” Aiden asks.
“Yeah, but… maybe that’s because she makes them lose control of themselves. Not because she actually harms them, or tricks them into smashing their boats.” I lift my puzzled eyes to Aiden. “I mean, if that was her goal, why help us save Christian and Demir? Come to think of it, how can she be this well-known among the Port Sitka sailors if people didn’t survive to talk about their encounters with her? It’s also not very like Guardian magic to purposefully hurt someone. Assuming she’s not corrupted by the Sorcerer…?”
I look inquiringly at Aiden, who shakes his head.
“Nah, I don’t think she is. Not like Violet, anyways. Her magic didn’t feel like that to me.”
“Okay, then what I don’t get is, if she doesn’t intend to hurt the sailors, why sing and take control of them at all?”
Aiden stares off into the distance, gazing at the shadowy mountains as he considers the question. He falls silent for a good long while, then sits up like something just struck him.
“Maybe to… lead them away,” he says, speaking even more slowly than usual. “From her part of the coast.”
“But there’s no reason she needs to scare anyone off from her territory if they’re just sailing past the cliffs, right? Even if Rose’s Tree still needed protection? Which – it doesn’t, it’s dead, so Coral’s power is already fading away. Why would she spend what little she has left on singing sailors away from her coastline?”
“Yeah,” Aiden says slowly, “But the stretch of coast in Coral’s territory is naturally super dangerous. It’s really easy to get shipwrecked there, we know that now. So maybe, when people get their boats too close to it, she sings them out from it…”
“Oh… to protect them,” I realize out loud.
Aiden and I stare at each other, lost in our startled thoughts.
“You know… Rose made the illusions to scare people off, but mostly they were created to protect the Tree,” I point out. “And they’ve been left alone for a long time now, with nothing left to protect. In that time, Violet started protecting Nolan. Thorn decided he wanted to protect us as soon as he knew us. And Coral…”
“She’s been protecting the Port Sitka sailors,” Aiden finishes.
We both think about that possibility in silence for a moment.
“Oh my god, Aiden,” I blurt out, struck with a secondary realization. “That’s why she needed our help to rescue Christian! She couldn’t steer him safely out of there because she couldn’t lure him, just like she can’t lure me! He’s gay!”
Aiden sits back, blinking hard as that sinks in. “Oh, shit. You’re right!”
“Wow,” I sputter indignantly, stabbing my fork into my potato. “So if you’re a gay man you just get your boat completely smashed? Really?”
“That’s the tradeoff,” Aiden snickers, breaking into a grin. “You’re invulnerable to seduction magic from ladies, but that unfortunately still applies when the lady in question is just trying to help you out with your boat.”
I wrinkle my nose up at him, trying not to laugh. “It sounds weird when you put it like that.”
A huff of soft, tired laughter breaks from Aiden. “What part of this whole entire thing doesn’t sound weird, Keane?”
I let out a helpless laugh, then snuggle up close against him and dig into my food. He does the same, reaching around me to get at the iced lemonade he brought out.
“This means we must be right on the edge of Coral’s territory.” Aiden nods at the far side of the inlet, where the mountains are looming. “What do you want to bet the inlet is what separates the dead illusion’s land from Coral’s? I’d guess that side is where his territory begins. Violet said it was by the mountains.”
“If that’s true, then the campground is on Coral’s side,” I realize, a little disappointed. “Means the hydria can’t be there. If she’d lost it in her own territory, she’d have found it by now. That’s what Thorn said.”
Aiden opens his mouth to answer, then hastily stops as Robin comes up from below decks, re-braiding her hair.
“Oh, please, don’t stop on my account.” She sits down across from us, accepts the baked potato Aiden offers her, and begins unwrapping it very casually. “Talking about the Sitka Siren? Who you guys just know, I guess? Friend of yours?”
“Not yet, but we’re working on it,” I answer, around a mouthful of melty cheese and potato.
“Sure.” Robin adds some chives to her baked potato, nodding in agreement. “So, I have a quick question about that. What in the goddamn, hellbound fuck-?”
“We told you we’re out here dealing with illusions and – stuff like that!” Aiden protests.
Robin lets out an aggrieved sigh, stabbing her fork into her potato. “Should I bother asking why your not-friend came rushing to our assistance? Suddenly I find myself in debt to the Sitka Siren, of all things.”
“We think she’s trying to prevent sailors from wrecking their ships on the coastline,” I answer tiredly. “That’s why she takes control of them, to send them away from the rocks.”
Robin pauses with her fork halfway to her mouth, staring at me. “What – she’s been there for generations, Jamie, scaring the hell out of anyone who crosses her path. We’ve all heard the stories…”
“Then I guess she must have helped out a lot of sailors, because that’s what she’s been doing all this time. Unless – have you heard of anyone actually dying in her strip of the ocean, from an encounter with her?”
Robin thinks about that for a long moment, her wide brown eyes reflecting the fireflies drifting behind me.
“Oh,” she says softly.
“She’s one of the illusions we’re trying to help,” I add. “They tend to, um – develop protective instincts for the humans they meet. It would seem.”
Robin contemplates that, slowly nibbling on her food. “Okay… and what’s the deal with this one you’re trying to find now?”
“No, we’re not trying to find it,” I sigh regretfully. “We can’t help that one. It’s already gone, remember?”
Robin looks like that thought makes her sad, then seems to be bewildered at herself for feeling that way. She gives her head a hard shake, like she’s trying to clear it of everything.
“How is it that you two know all this stuff, that you can – see ghosts?”
Maybe it’s because I’m tired, but I’m a little confused by the question, and unable to land on a simple answer.
“We’re from the Ghost Office,” is what I come out with.
Robin lets out a sharp, sputtering laugh.
“I should have known better than to think asking you two for an explanation would be helpful! I give up, I honestly do. Like seventy-five things that shouldn’t be possible have happened since I left on this trip with you boys. And it hasn’t been one day. One day!”
On a sudden impulse, I hear myself answer – “Then maybe… are you convinced now that it’s okay to tell us about your dream? The one making you sleepwalk?”
Robin stops again, narrows her eyes at me in silence, then lets out a heavy exhale.
“I guess – why the fuck not, at this point. It feels tame in comparison, now.” She leaves her fork in her food, starts fidgeting with her shark tooth pendant. “It’s the same dream. Once a night. Every night.”
Aiden and I stop eating in surprise, listening raptly.
“I’m in a forest somewhere,” Robin goes on, avoiding our eyes. “It’s all kind of blurry, but there’s a lot of huge trees, and boulders, and pale purple flowers. I’m standing there, and I feel like something is… calling me. So I start to go towards it. Think that’s probably when I start sleepwalking.”
“Who’s calling you?” Aiden asks.
“I don’t know. It’s not a voice, it’s just – a feeling I get. Like I know where I’m going, and I know I really need to get there.”
“Okay, then… where does it lead you?”
“Usually right into the door of whatever room I’m sleeping in,” Robin sighs, picking at her food. “Where I wake up and go back to bed. Then it’s over.”
Aiden and I share a curious, bewildered glance.
“The weird thing is,” Robin says, much more slowly, “It’s only been since Faith went missing, and I can’t shake the feeling that it has something to do with her. So I thought, maybe it’s a stress thing? But – the first time it happened, I didn’t know she was missing. I was still at sea, I only got the news when I got home. But I had the dream for the first time the night before we got back. I remember because the next morning I felt pretty uneasy over it, really anxious to get back and see her.”
“So…” Aiden stares at Robin in confusion. “Faith went missing. Nothing happened for two nights. And then you started having the sleepwalking dream, the night before you found out she was gone?”
Robin nods, blushing anxiously like she thinks we won’t believe her. She raises an eyebrow when we both sit back and look at each other with very serious expressions.
“What are you guys talking about?” she asks suspiciously, even though neither of us said anything.
Aiden and I have a quick conversation with our eyes, then turn back to her.
“Nothing,” Aiden says firmly, and then, when Robin frowns at him – “Nothing yet. Once we actually do have something worth sharing you’ll be the first to know.”
Robin gives her head a weary shake, taking a bite of her potato.
“I have about a thousand questions, but I’m not about to spend my time sitting here asking them. Faith is what matters. Faith. And we barely got to look for her today.” She lets out a frustrated breath, her shoulders sinking. “You – you don’t think she was somewhere out in that storm, do you?”
Aiden and I look at each other worriedly, hearing the trace of strain revealing itself in Robin’s voice.
“No!” I rush to answer, earnestly shaking my head. “No, I’m sure she wasn’t! And I know we didn’t really get to look for her today, but we definitely got some new information. I haven’t gotten a chance to tell you what Kaden told me.”
I catch Aiden and Robin up on Kaden’s short-lived trip into the forest with Maggie. The message she asked him to pass on to someone in Port Sitka, but couldn’t actually give him before her dad dragged her away.
“I told Kaden that we would try to get the message on his behalf. At this point I think we need to talk to Maggie, anyways. I mean – we’re on the lookout for anything unusual, and Bruce is behaving very strangely. Maybe Maggie knows why.”
Robin and Aiden both nod slowly in agreement, absorbing the new information.
“Oh, and Bruce searched Moondancer!” I add, remembering all at once. “Earlier today, when we were at the tent campground. Will caught him. He couldn’t get below decks, but he tried.”
Robin looks up slowly, meeting my eyes. “What?”
Aiden and I both freeze in alarm, catching the expression on her face.
Aiden holds out a hand, coaxingly begins – “Robin, it’s okay, just-”
“He did what?” Robin shouts, getting to her feet, crushing her baked potato in her hand.
I hastily set mine aside, my eyes widening with alarm. “Robin, no no no-”
She’s already striding across the deck, her fork still gripped tightly in her hand. Aiden intercepts her just before she reaches the edge of the boat.
“Hate to break it to you, Captain, but you can’t take on a man with a shotgun if you’re only armed with a fork!”
Robin’s eyes blaze up even brighter. “Watch me! That weasel snuck onto my boat, my sacred ground!”
“We have to play nice,” Aiden insists, and then, when Robin furiously opens her mouth to answer – “For now. We can’t be openly at war with Bruce and trying to find Faith at the same time. Right?”
Robin hesitates, thinking that over. As much as Moondancer is her baby, Faith is infinitely more important, and she knows Aiden is right. This search gets a lot more difficult for us if we make an outright enemy of Bruce.
“Goddamnit,” Robin groans. She tilts her head back in frustration, then snaps upright and stabs the fork in the direction of the cabins. “But as soon as I have Faith back safely, I’m showing that man what I think of him!”
Aiden’s eyes sparkle with laughter as a bit of sour cream flies off of Robin’s violently gesturing fork and lands with a tiny splash in the ocean behind him. But he manages to keep a solemn expression on his face as he nods at her.
“Agreed.”
Robin flings herself back into her seat, grumbling beneath her breath, stabbing angrily at her potato. “What was he even looking for on my boat, the rotten bastard?”
“I have no idea,” I admit, flashing Aiden a look of grateful relief as I hand him back his food. “But maybe Maggie does. We really need to talk to her. For a few different reasons now.”
“How do we do that, though?” Aiden asks doubtfully. “Will checked in on her before he went home. He thinks she’s locked in her bedroom. Grounded, it sounds like.”
“She’s been locked in there all day?” Robin’s furious scowl turns into a concerned frown. “Poor thing. Is she alright?”
“She’s not hurt or anything. Will said she just seems really angry.” Aiden hesitates, then adds – “Might not mean anything, but he mentioned that she was, um. Playing with a lighter.”
Robin and I both sit back in surprise.
“Maybe she did start the boat fire, after all?” I murmur uncertainly. “But why would she?”
Robin shrugs her shoulders, thoughtfully twisting one of the auburn curls escaping from her braid. “A girl’s always got her reasons.”
“But what if Bruce wasn’t exaggerating, and she actually is a pyromaniac, and it really was just for fun?”
Robin arches an eyebrow at me. “What, fun doesn’t count as a reason?”
“We’re not gonna know anything for sure until we talk to her,” Aiden cuts in firmly. “Question is, how are we gonna do that if she’s locked in her room? I doubt we can just knock on the front door and ask Bruce if it’s cool.”
There’s a thoughtful silence as we all ponder that.
“We sneak her out?” I offer uncertainly.
“She snuck herself out, the first time,” Robin says, tilting her head to the side. “Once she realized there were people camping here. She snuck out to talk to Christian’s cousins.”
Aiden sits up hopefully, already following. “You think she could do it again?”
“If she’s motivated to, maybe?” Robin looks up at us, nibbling on the edge of her fork. “She might not know we’re here. Bruce caught her last night, and she’s been trapped in her room ever since. It was raining and misty when we walked past the cabins, and we were keeping quiet, so… she might not have seen us at all. Or she thought it was just Kaden and them leaving. I bet you Bruce already told her that those guys took off, but I doubt he told her that someone else is here now.”
Aiden and I look at each other thoughtfully.
“Then we’ll just have to find some way to let her know,” he answers.
~~~~
“I wish we didn’t have to have our phone calls right by the cabins,” I whisper to Aiden, stealing along after him in the misty darkness. “It makes me feel like Bruce is going to listen in.”
“Let’s just stay right here, then.” Aiden catches my wrist, stopping me by the campground rules sign at the entrance to the circle of cabins. “This is close enough. I’ve got reception.”
“Apparently you’ve got reception anywhere you want, Guardian,” I laugh tiredly. “That trick you pulled earlier with my phone – any chance of making that a permanent effect? I’d love to have service no matter where I am.”
“Wouldn’t know how, Linden, or I’d have done it already for my own purposes.” He softly pinches my cheek, his painfully beautiful blue eyes smiling down into mine. “You think I ever want you out of range?”
I blush hard, nervously stuffing my hands in the pockets of my jacket as Aiden turns away to unlock his phone. Hopefully some deep breaths of chilly night air will take down the heat in my cheeks. I breathe in a few, gazing around at the dark, dripping landscape. Keeping a wary eye out for bears.
“Are you feeling alright?” Aiden murmurs, stealing a sidelong glance at me. “After that rescue?”
Yes. Between Aiden’s infinitely reassuring presence, Robin’s calm steadiness, and a hot dinner, I am feeling alright. I mean, I’m deeply fatigued, down to my bones. Sore in every limb, to the point some of my muscles are trembling. I got a little bruise on my cheek where I hit the railing of Christian’s boat when I fell on the steps. I’m also still soothing down the fluttering of my heartbeat from watching Aiden dive into the storming ocean, from Christian not breathing. My throat hurts, too, after all the shouting.
I’ve been making a ferocious effort not to let Aiden notice any of that. I don’t want him to fret about the Guardian lifestyle taking a toll on me. No more than he usually does, anyways.
“Mhm,” I answer brightly, trying to sound as relaxed and upbeat as possible. “I’m all good! Don’t you worry about me.”
I’m unable to keep a slight scrape out of my raw voice, despite my best efforts. Aiden hears it, and gazes intently down at me for a long, silent moment. His eyes travel slowly over my ragged self, then come back to meet my gaze. I answer his lingering look with a warm, sunny smile, trying to hold my slumping shoulders a little straighter.
An anguished expression flashes through the blue of Aiden’s eyes. He winces with his whole face, then lets out a soft whimpering sound, like something just completely overwhelmed him. I find myself crushed against him, his arm holding me by my waist, his other hand catching my chin and tilting my face up to his.
“Jamie,” he breathes, his deep voice gone all hoarse and husky.
My tired, heavy-lidded eyes meet his, still smiling. “What?”
He bites his lip, then puts his forehead to mine. “I – I really love you, you know. You little treasure.”
“I love you, too,” I laugh in confusion, in a soft voice, reaching up to touch my fingertips to his rich stubble beard.
Aiden seems to realize how tightly he’s holding me. He brushes a kiss onto my mouth, quickly releases me, then turns away, blushing crimson.
“Can’t you just complain sometimes?” he rasps gruffly, recovering a little from whatever just overcame him. “That would almost make it easier to bear.”
I let out a wondering laugh. “Would it really?”
“Somehow, yeah! Throw a vicious complaint at me, right now!”
“I – okay, if it’ll make you feel better,” I answer, faltering unhappily. “Let me think, um… oh, I’m sorry you lost your snapback in the ocean! I know it wasn’t one of your favorites, but still.”
Aiden lets out a sharp, strained laugh, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, my god. That’s not what a complaint is, Jamie!”
“But I don’t have any!”
“Yeah fuckin’ right!”
“Oh, what do you want me to do, lie?” I protest, laughing at how genuinely mad he is. “You know I’m horrible at that.”
“You should have like a hundred complaints to pick from, dude!”
“But I’m mostly concerned about how you are…”
I trail off meekly, because Aiden just shot me a look like he’s going to either die or kill me if I say another word.
“I wanted to take a longer nap,” I try again, searching desperately for a vicious complaint. “But it’s good we got up. We’ve got stuff to do.”
“Yeah, I tried waking you up a little earlier, and got a lot of half-conscious Irishman sass thrown my way.” Aiden looks at me gravely, gives his head a weary shake. “You’re not all fun, Keane, you know that?”
“Oh, no! I don’t even remember doing that!” I press my fingertips to my lips, wincing guiltily up at him. “I feel like I put you through that experience so often!”
“You do,” he agrees.
“It’s really very terrible of me,” I answer fretfully, twisting the heist ring around my finger.
Aiden gives me a solemn nod. “So terrible.”
I blush deeply, start pulling together a flustered apology, then catch the betraying twitch of his lips. The barely concealed sparkle dancing in his blue eyes.
I let out a sputter of indignation, swatting his arm. “Oh, shut up! I’m not even sorry! You like it!”
“Great pain of my life,” Aiden sighs, pulling up his contacts. “That’s you.”
“Yeah, uh-huh, whatever.” I let out an adoring laugh, nibbling my lip, resisting the urge to kiss him. “As if that title doesn’t belong to your brothers.”
“You all hold that title collectively,” Aiden informs me.
He tenderly kisses my lips before I can answer, then hits call on Ralph’s number.
Ralph answers on the first ring. He’s sitting down on his porch steps with a cup of coffee right as the video chat connects. He’s not wearing a shirt, and his blonde hair is tousled up, so I’m guessing he just got out of the shower.
“Hey, A, there you fuckin’ are! I was just starting to-” He cuts himself off, then hastily tucks a cigarette into his mouth and lights it. “How’s it going?”
“It’s – been a lot,” I answer honestly. “We thought it was about time to give you guys an update. Can you grab Noah?”
“He’s not with me, dude. What, you think we’re together twenty-four hours a day?” Ralph pauses, then narrows his eyes in mingled suspicion and concern. “I actually don’t know where he is right now. He just took off and told me not to worry, which is – troubling.”
“That is troubling,” I tell Aiden, suddenly wide-eyed with alarm.
“I agree, but we don’t have time to dwell on that at the moment. We’ve got a lot to tell you, Ralph. Some wild stuff has gone down.”
Ralph arches a blonde eyebrow. “You guys have been there for like one day.”
“And yet,” Aiden sighs, making Ralph’s mouth twist to the side, his grey-green eyes full of silent laughter.
“Should’ve known,” he snickers.
He grows serious again as we fill him in on everything, though. At various points in the story his eyes open very wide, but he listens silently until we get to the end.
“Tread carefully,” he says, once we’re finished. “I don’t like the sound of that campground keeper.”
“Oh, shit,” Aiden whispers, peering over his shoulder. “That’s him right there. Hang on.”
Aiden gives me his phone, takes my phone, and uses it to snap a picture of Bruce, who’s standing in the illuminated window of his cabin. He’s on the phone with someone, talking urgently, looking deeply irritated. He can’t see us in the darkness by the campground sign, thank god.
Aiden sends the picture to Ralph, then takes back his own phone. “There. If we also mysteriously disappear, you’ll want to talk to this guy.”
“Okay, but don’t engage if he’s got the shotgun out.” Ralph minimizes our video call and lowers his phone to look at the picture. “Sometimes a strategic retreat is the best choice. Sure as hell worked for Mikhail Kutuzov, right? It could work for…”
Ralph trails off, blinks hard a few times, then narrows his eyes, looking closer at the picture Aiden sent.
“That’s weird…” he murmurs.
Aiden lifts an eyebrow, puzzled. “What’s weird? That you thought we’d know who the hell Mikhail Kutuzov is?”
“No.” Ralph is still distracted by the picture, inspecting it closely. “It’s… this guy jogs something in my memory. Can’t think what, though.”
“You’ve met Bruce?” I ask incredulously.
Ralph firmly shakes his head no. “Definitely not. But I recognize him from somewhere. I’ve got his face in my mind for some reason. Flagged as important, too. I just can’t place him.”
“Okay…” I look up at Aiden, who returns my baffled glance, then turn back to Ralph. “Well, let us know if you remember. Any information you’ve got could be helpful.”
“I will. You guys should tell Noah what’s going on, though. He’s been worried about you.”
“Now I’m worried about him,” Aiden groans.
It shows, because he loses no time after hanging up with Ralph, immediately tries Noah’s number.
“I know he’s doing something we’d tell him not to do. Just watch, he’s probably-”
Noah answers the video call before Aiden can finish. It’s hard to guess where he is, exactly. The only clues are a black night sky behind him, and the breeze blowing through his long hair.
“Yoooooooooooo!” He grins widely at us, his piercings sparkling in what looks like the glow of – a streetlight, maybe? “Aiden, my main man! Besides Raj, obviously. But not in that way. You know what I mean.”
“Noosh, what are you doing?”
“Doing, who says I’m doing anything?” Noah asks innocently, balancing his phone in one hand, looking at something we can’t see from this angle. “Nevermind about that! What’s up with you guys?”
He insists he won’t say a word until we catch him up, so we do. He’s very wide-eyed when we tell him about Coral, and scowling in open dislike by the time we finish up telling him about Bruce.
“Guy sounds like someone who needs to get punched,” he decides. “I’d be happy to offer my services, so let the little lady know that.”
“You haven’t had your fill of breaking noses lately, Noah?” I ask, biting back a laugh. “Between Hanely and Grimm?”
Noah’s eyebrows pull together in faint confusion. “Who?”
“The – what do you mean, who? The cops who were hounding us at the hotel!”
“Oh! Yeah yeah yeah, Hoagie and Jim.” Noah frowns at me. “Well, that hardly translates over to this situation, does it?”
“What I’m saying, Noah, is that there are other ways to solve problems besides punching.”
“Bah,” he scoffs dismissively, only half-listening, doing something we can’t see from this angle. “Jamie, I have two modes, okay? Punching, and not punching.”
“I think technically everybody has those two modes, dude. It’s just that you swing between them more often than most people.”
“Well – I can swing whichever way I like, can’t I? That’s my right, since I’m pan-tantric. Romantic, I mean! Tell him, Aiden.”
Aiden is rubbing his temples. “Swing wherever you want, man, as long as it’s not a fist into someone’s face.”
“We’ll see,” Noah growls threateningly.
“We’re trying for a more delicate approach,” I explain pleadingly, trying to catch Noah’s eye, not succeeding. “We don’t want Bruce actively getting in our way while we’re looking for Faith.”
“I’ll be actively getting in his way if he does,” Noah says, his eager voice indicating that he’s hoping for such an opportunity. He straightens up, revealing that he’s at a moonlit dock. “Why do you think I’m familiarizing myself with a Sea-Doo?”
I let out a shocked gasp, realizing that he’s sitting on one.
“Noah! Do not steal a Sea-Doo! We couldn’t have been any more clear about that before we left!”
“I’m not stealing it, dude,” Noah says, pulling a face like I’m being ridiculous. “Didn’t I just say I was only familiarizing myself?”
“In the dead of night?”
“I mean, yeah,” Noah answers, apparently confused by my confusion. “It’s not mine. Don’t want to be seen, do I?”
“The situation doesn’t call for a Sea-Doo, Noosh,” Aiden says urgently, snatching the phone back from me. “Don’t you steal that!”
“Just figuring out how it works, bro, in case I need to steal it later,” Noah says soothingly. “Long past time I knew how to roll on one of these things, anyways. Think about this: what’s classier than a Sea-Doo?”
“That’s – a thought-provoking question,” I answer brokenly.
“You guys just focus on your missing girl,” Noah tells us, experimentally twisting something on the Sea-Doo’s handle, pressing buttons at random. “You got a plan to talk to this Maggie chick?”
“Yeah, one we’ll be attempting to execute tonight.”
“Alright, cool. Keep me updated-”
Noah breaks off and twists to look over his shoulder, hearing someone rushing down the dock behind him. Aiden and I watch in disbelief as Ripley drops down into view, out of breath and grinning broadly.
“We better get out of here, dude,” he tells Noah, pushing his green curls out of his eyes. “The dock manager is coming back.”
“Whoops!” Noah turns back to us, flashes us a grin with his tongue out, and tosses up a peace sign. “Gotta go!”
“Noah, no no no, don’t steal the – don’t-!”
I break off helplessly, because he’s already ended the call. Pressing my fingers to my cheeks in despair, I slowly turn to look at Aiden. He closes his eyes, tilts his head back, and lets out an anguished sigh.
“Okay, let’s – not worry about that right now,” he decides, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “Let’s stay focused. The plan. Maggie.”
“Right.” I turn to face the keeper’s cabin, taking a deep breath. “Maggie.”
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