And reintroducing a very special guest.
Burning Church -> Sloane's Apartment
Anya pinched the bridge of her nose, trying her best to hold back an exasperated sigh. She had known things wouldn’t work out well today, but had hoped that by being there she could help stop it devolving into complete chaos. That hadn’t worked out at all. It didn’t help that the majority of the sensible members (few as they were) hadn’t been there - leaving only her and Sloane to hold the fort. Difficult, when everyone there hated them.
There was nothing for her to say to the two that had fought - both disliked her, and she had no interest in lecturing them. Jack had already done a good enough job of that. Instead she approached Jack again, leaning in close.
”Jack, when you’re done here, can we talk?” She smiled, glancing at the nearest PRA agents. Best not to be too specific.
”We have loads to catch up on.” She turned her head towards Sloane, waving her over. With Sloane so near to Meifeng, Anya didn’t want to directly call her over. She widened her smile, trying to communicate with her eyes that they should talk when Sloane was done talking to the agent. Hopefully Sloane would understand.
”Sloane too.”“Thank you, Agent Liao,” said Sloane, pocketing her phone and a business card as she caught Anya’s look.
“I won’t take anymore of your time. If you’d excuse me…”After an hour or two that consisted of cold showers to wash away the remaining residue from the tear gas, changing of clothes (and, in Sloane’s case, bandages), and a couple rounds of teleportation taxi, everyone regrouped at Sloane’s penthouse downtown. The golden rays of the afternoon sun filled her spacious living room with a warm light, the modernist design of her penthouse a hard contrast to the wellkept Victorian furniture that looked like it had belonged to a grandmother’s grandmother, likely living a vast majority of its life beneath a sheet before Sloane had pilfered it. Two grand bookshelves were stacked to the ceiling and between displays of antiques and oddities was a bizarre mixture of dry histories and art criticism, volumes of now irrelevant encyclopaedias, topics on various schools of occultism, philosophy, and religion, and a small smattering of poorly written supernatural romance novels that had been marketed to lonely teenage girls.
A quiet television between the bookshelves was running coverage on an arsonist setting fire to the church, talking heads doing what they could to dissuade the guest from starting another satanic panic by blaming the homeless instead. Sloane shut the tv off with a look, her channeler being pulled out from beneath a silver platter carrying a kettle, tea cups, a saucer of cream, a bowl of sugar cubes, and a plate of cucumber sandwiches as she set it down upon a coffee table. She fixed everyone a cup of tea, taking hers plain, and sat back in an uncomfortable looking upholstered armchair.
“So today went poorly,” said Sloane, blowing on her tea to cool it. She turned her eyes towards Jack.
“Until I saw the state you had returned in, I assumed either you or Auri had set us up. The sealing didn’t work, did it?””Sealing?” Anya raised an eyebrow. She leaned forward to pour a small amount of cream into her own tea, sitting on a more comfortable couch. Her gaze moved from Sloane to Jack, and back again, as she nursed her tea. She took a moment to remember what had happened - Stormy, Auri, Britney, Jack and… Layla had all disappeared before the PRA raided them. Just like Sloane, Anya had assumed one of them was in on it, with Layla being the least likely that she’d almost forgotten about her. But she was the only one of those five with a particularly nasty Apparition attached to her.
”Was it the Void you were trying to seal? How did you come back so badly hurt by that?”Jack sat across from Anya, slowly sipping on a mug of tea as black as the Void itself, recalling the events. He leaned to one side, opposite to where he had been shot. He left his coat in the Shadowzone to not smear blood on Sloane’s furniture.
”Last night, well after Alizée’s death,” her death still stung, and it showed on his face,
”Auri decided that we needed to seal the Void Heart to save ourselves the trouble of dealing with him while we’re searching for Father Wolf. I agreed. But the Void Heart knew well enough that he had very few friends among us, so I planned to earn his trust by hiding him and Layla in a place no sane person would go.”Another sip, as he let them take that in.
”That, of course, was the Void itself. A particular area of it that I often stayed at, where it is relatively safe for humans. I needed both of them to believe that I was truly on their side, while not being on everyone else’s. But I also needed the rest of us to be in the dark until after,” He added,
“Since the Void Heart is a clever creature. If he or Layla overheard anyone speaking about the sealing, or anything implying it, they’d both be suspicious.””The Temple, those cultists Leon and Alizée were associated with, sent two of their… operatives, their agents, whatever they call them, to stop us. One of them was a purple Adept who could follow the use of purple Lux, who I should have accounted for,” Jack admitted, taking another sip.
”When we were children, I spent time with the Temple to study from their library. I believe that is how they knew who to send to deal with us. It just so happens that one of them uses a gun for a channeler.””Of course.” Understanding dawned on Anya’s face, and she took a sip of her tea. If there’d been a gun at play, and two unknowns, it was understandable that Jack and Auri had come back so hurt.
”That would explain why Leon stormed in yelling about someone teleporting, just before the PRA came to our door. He must have spotted you before you left and called them in.” “Jack had only just told me their plan seconds before they acted on it,” said Sloane, making it clear that she hadn’t been holding out any information from Anya.
“I didn’t even have the time to tell him how dumb and reckless I thought the idea was. Obviously the Void Heart is a menace, but now wasn’t the time.” Sloane shifted in her chair.
“You’re burying the lede, Jack. Did the sealing fail? Where’s the Void Heart?””Supposedly, he’s with Britney, Layla and Stormy, being sealed as we speak. Those Temple rats demanded to do it themselves, and we weren’t going to let them do it without oversight. Layla fought back, believing the Void Heart cared for her,” he did
not sound happy about that fact,
”But I trust the other two. Britney has the Noble Vow and its power, and Stormy has enough protection to win a war. And the Temple knows we would hunt them down if those two don’t return.”Sloane took a sip of her tea at the mention of the artifact, masking her interest with the mug. The Void Heart being sealed was ultimately a good thing for the city, but the sealed apparition being in the hands of the Temple left her with a feeling of unease. People used to make annoying jokes about the Coven being a cult back in the day, but the Temple was an actual cult. Even the most altruistic of cult movements only needed one strong voice to radicalize good intentions into future atrocities.
”Sealing him so soon, without anyone else to support us was unwise, in hindsight. I should have consulted one of you two before we executed that plan, and I don’t have an excuse for not doing so. I apologise for that.” Prideful as he was, there wasn’t any denying that it was a blunder on the resident wizard’s part, and he wasn’t stupid.
”That was a major oversight on your part,” Anya sighed softly, putting down her cup with a light clatter. She reached out for a cucumber sandwich, but didn’t eat it yet.
”As Sloane said, it was dumb and reckless, and you’re lucky the Temple agents didn’t kill you all when they had the chance. I wouldn’t put it past them… Thankfully, it didn’t end in much of a disaster. I’m sure Britney and Stormy will ensure it’s done, or call for help if it's not. You can easily go get them if necessary.” Anya smiled, seemingly genuine, at Jack.
”And your apology is accepted. I’m a little hurt that you didn’t think Sloane or I were trustworthy enough to keep it a secret, but it’s all water under the bridge.” “Sure,” said Sloane curtly, shoving a sandwich in her mouth. It was the best she could do when it came to telling Jack that she forgave him and was glad that he hadn't been shot in the head.
“We’ll probably have to deal with the Temple at sometime, but right now one of the biggest problems with our current situation is the utter lack of focus on the thing that matters and getting distracted by stupid personal issues. Lynn and Linqian’s embarrassing display is proof of that.”Her broken nose was proof of that. Sloane grabbed another sandwich and gestured at Jack with it.
“Kali’s also dead. Father Wolf killed four people in one night and they’re wasting time complaining about who should feel more sad, or how their opinion has to be weighed in on every single thing, or how the food provided wasn’t enough,” said Sloane, taking her sandwich and tossing it back on the platter.
“All we’ve accomplished so far has been making it easier for Father Wolf to track us down.””Yes, there’s a complete lack of direction,” Anya sighed, finally taking a bite out of the sandwich she’d picked up.
”It’s exactly how the coven was ten years ago, and we all know how that ended. We,” she gestured to the three of them,
”as the few sensible members will need to work much harder to keep everyone alive, unfortunately.” Jack thought about it for a moment, idly biting into a sandwich as the gears turned in his mind.
”...At the risk of sounding sentimental, the need for survival is what kept us on the same page as children. Until the others rediscover their will to survive, we can’t rely on that to assuage them. We don’t have focus, so this is what I think we should do: We forget about focus. We can’t force them to care about their own lives, and while they all do to some extent, we can only do so much when Father Wolf is such an abstract threat. We can only hope they’ll come around on their own.”He sat up on the couch,
”We’ll come to the others as a whole once we’ve found evidence- Not a lead, evidence. We should absolutely communicate with them, but if we arrange an entire meeting every time we simply think we know where to turn our attention, who will remain once we find a target to watch? A trail to follow? In the meantime, while we investigate ourselves, we reach out to the more coherent organisations in the city. 8th Street and Greenwood, if we can convince them to speak with us; Approaching them at night would make it easier to escape, with my teleporting magic, in case they’re hostile to us. If we do this, we won’t have to waste anyone else’s time.”He looked to them both for their thoughts.
“Of course we’ll need something better than just another one of Auri’s hunchs, but playing detective is getting ahead of what we need. We need to prioritize the safety of everyone, even those who are too stupid to even try and protect themselves,” said Sloane as she stood from her chair and walked over to the window. What keeping everyone safe looked like she did not know. Perhaps it would’ve been better to have everyone get hauled away by the PRA. Her reflection in the polished glass exposed the concern in her eyes as she looked out over the city.
“Father Wolf escalated last night. Having evidence of who’s responsible matters little when everyone you present it to is dead.”“It was over a week since they killed Ashley. I suppose if you want you could act under the assumption that they function like a normal serial killer and have a cooldown period. But that’s a risk I’m not willing to take,” said Sloane, looking over her shoulder at Anya and Jack.
“Are you?”No, it’s not,” Anya easily lied, shifting to meet Sloane’s gaze with a slight comforting smile. Of course, Jack’s plan of the three of them finding Father Wolf was most beneficial to her - she only cared about saving herself, and preferably keeping both Sloane and Jack alive. The rest, she wasn’t quite so bothered about. But above that was keeping up the guise that she did, in fact, care.
”We should prioritise their safety, as you say Sloane, and investigate where it doesn’t interfere with keeping everyone alive. Once there’s a safety mechanism in place, we can start looking into leads.”After another, thoughtful bite of her sandwich, Anya continued.
”Ensuring everyone’s safety is the difficult part. Auri’s suggestion of the ‘buddy system’ is inadequate. There are many who won’t follow it. Greyson because of his job, Lyss for similar reasons, Tayla due to her family, Luca thanks to the rot, and Linqian for… obvious reasons. There are a few we don’t have to worry about so much. Leon has the temple, Drake his family, and I’m sure Evelynn, Lila and Jasper will stick together.””We don’t have much information to use for this. Father Wolf seemingly appears and disappears without a trace, targeting those that are alone. It’s difficult to protect everyone from something so unknown.”“Right,” said Sloane as she walked back to the others. She remained standing with her hands in her pocket, her eyes turned down as if the ground had the solutions they needed. Sloane had the good fortune to be able to hide herself away in her ivory fortress, albeit not so impenetrable as she once thought it to be. Worst case scenario she could run back to her parents and have them secret her away like they had done themselves when the Stygian Snake had attacked. She wouldn’t, but the option existed. She had to remember that others didn’t quite have the luxury to completely abandon their daily lives and routines and come out on the other side okay. When freedom was limited it became people’s most prized possession. Even if the three of them came up with a good solution there were some who wouldn’t listen to them and outright refuse, choosing rather to die by their own choices than live by their compromises.
So then they just wouldn’t tell them.
“I have an idea.”The television turned back on as Sloane looked at it, the faintest hint of blue and orange light reflecting off of the wall from the Hexmark on the back of the mounted flatscreen, images flashing by in a blur as the channels flipped to a CCTV of her penthouse. Multiple boxes showed live feeds of rooms in Sloane’s penthouse and the hall outside her door, as well as feeds monitoring every point of entry or exit to and from her apartment. If Jack or Anya were particularly eagle-eyed they would notice a card lift itself from Sloane’s nightstand and whip its way past several cameras before it floated to a stop in the living room, hovering within arm’s reach of Anya who would notice the tiny symbol of Sloane’s Hexmark on the corner of the card. The card itself was just the back of one of Sloane’s business cards. However, scrawled on it in neat handwriting was contact information that Meifeng had given Sloane.
“I thought that Kali failed to deliver on his promise to protect us, but maybe that’s not the case. I’m not thrilled to seek help from the feds, but they already have a vested interest in stopping Father Wolf and owe us recompense for their unjustified raid. Besides, we pay their salaries.” Most of them did, anyway. Sloane doubted the IRS made it out to the Void yet.
”I don’t think anyone would sleep more comfortably knowing that they’re being surveillanced by the agency, but at the very least they’ll be more likely to wake in the morning. Perhaps once we finish our tea you could call and make an arrangement for some kind of security detail, Anya,” said Sloane.
They both knew that Sloane lacked the diplomatic chops not to chew out Meifeng now that they were no longer at a severe disadvantage and presumably separated by miles of city.
“I heard one of the agents mention a Director Alcott in a hushed tone. Perhaps if Agent Liao drags her feet you can request to speak with them,” said Sloane, settling the card down on the table next to Anya. Sloane didn’t love the idea of working with the PRA, knowing that it would likely become a problem in the future, but she couldn’t think of any other options that gave them a future in the first place.
“As for everyone else, perhaps they’ll be happier not knowing.”Jack was fascinated by the display of magic, watching the television suddenly become a central collection of security cameras. Was this how Sloane had eluded death and danger up until now? Keeping a watchful eye on
everything? That was precisely what they needed.
But he had no idea they knew the name of the PRA agents’ superior. This was exactly why working together was important, one of them could be aware of things the others were not. It seemed to him that some things only get better with time after all. He couldn’t help but grin a little at how prepared Sloane had been.
”That could be very clever,” Jack nodded, approving of it on paper,
”If we execute it properly. Based on the way she responded to Kali’s death, she won’t want to lose Bianca, or her other agents… That idea has merit. Though, we should tread carefully if that is what we do. Meifeng and her agents have shown that they are willing to resort to extremes when it suits them. If they decide we shouldn’t know about this Director Alcott, or if they have other reasons for attacking us again, we would need to expect a struggle.” The tear gas and the medical attention Sloane needed was proof of that.
”Personally, I am not confident that the church was only a lapse in judgement. The PRA takes anyone they can find, and that means some of their agents don’t have the most impressive trigger discipline.””I've grown quite used to being around undisciplined people again,” said Sloane flatly.
”Most of which haven’t been using tear gas and rifles, lately.”No, mostly just lightning and fists, thought Sloane, falling silent.
Anya leaned forward to take the card, holding the corner between her fingers and glancing over the number, smiling genuinely. While she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of working with the PRA, they were the best option to keep everyone safe. It was smart to use the fact that they unnecessarily attack them for their own gain. Of course, nobody would agree to it if asked, so it would have to stay between the three of them.
”Don't worry, Jack, doing things properly is my forte,” Anya said.
”Besides, if they wish to attack us again they will, a call to discuss a mutually beneficial relationship aside. It's in their interests to keep us alive when one of their agents is also at risk. They’re undisciplined, perhaps, but their raid was just a show of power. If they want an excuse to attack us again, they could have use paranormal fight that Linqian and Lynn nearly got into.”She picked up her tea again, taking another sip. It was lukewarm now, and not so pleasant, so she finished it quickly.
”If there are no objections, I'll make the call now. I'm sure a few hours will have been long enough for them to return to their base of operations.”With there being no objections, seeing as they were all for the idea, Anya pulled out her phone.
”I'm going to put it on speaker so you can both hear the conversation, but I trust that you'll both let me do most of the talking.”If they couldn't hold their tongues she could turn off speak mode anyway. Anya swiftly typed in the number on the back of the card, and hit the call button.
The phone rung for a moment.
Before the worst option occurred.
“... Yello?” Trevor’s voice could be heard on the other side.
Anya narrowed her eyes. That wasn’t Meifeng, that was… It took her a moment to place the voice. Their healer? If he hadn’t screamed over getting his flesh rotted, she’d have no idea who it was. What was his name again? Of course they’d been given the wrong number.
”... Hello, this is Anya Baksh, of the Sycamore Tree Coven, who I’m calling on behalf of.” “Heyyyyyyyyyyy, ain’t you the girl that Agent Liao said had a crush on me?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed at that as Sloane sat down in her chair and buried her face in her palm.
Anya was rendered speechless for once, shooting questioning looks towards Sloane. Sloane sunk deeper into her chair as she felt Anya’s eyes on her.
”No. She must have been talking about another Anya, it’s a common name. This isn’t a personal call, but a business one, for collaboration between our coven and you… agents.” “Ooookay, you want a…” Trevor chuckled on his end of the phone, and Anya could just
hear the finger quotes, “‘A business collaboration’. What can Agent Silent Flute do for you?”
”Ask if his boss would come to the phone, for a start,” Anya replied, with as much polite cheerfulness as she could muster. She somehow doubted that this agent would be able to get them anything.
”Or pass on a message for us.” “Lemme put you on hold real quick.”
The phone went on hold for about three minutes, a silence falling over the room as Sloane continued to avoid making eye contact, before Trevor returned.
“Yeah, she told me to fuck off. So… maybe I can help you out
myself.”
Anya held back an exasperated sigh. How very professional.
”Alright. We’re looking for protection for our fellow coven members, in compensation for the unjustified attack earlier today. Likely through some kind of surveillance. Our killer, who will also target our former member in your ranks, attacks when people are alone. We’re looking for help to prevent that.” “Hmmm… Lemme see what I can do,” Trevor started, “I ain’t a Senior Agent, nor do I have the clout of Agent Cornell, but I hate to see someone
soooooo cute get cut down.”
Anya lips twisted downwards, her face contorting into a very ugly expression. However, she managed to keep her voice sounding calm and reasonable, as if she didn’t want to throw her phone to the other side of the room.
”Thank you, any help would be appreciated to prevent any of us from getting ‘cut down’.” “I can pass along one of my pistols to you for safety. Don’t worry, it’s privately owned and I
will report it stolen if ya’ go crazy and try to murder someone with it.”
Then he let his words hang in the air.
Sloane slumped forward with her elbows on her knees, face now buried in both of her hands. Her muffled words were almost inaudible, saying something about what was with all the agents just giving guns away.
“... Maybe for a date, I can get you something bigger.”
Then he made the most obnoxious kissy noises into the phone.
Anya’s mouth opened, and then closed. For a second time, she was speechless. She looked at Sloane, and then at Jack, as if they could somehow make this situation any better.
”Thank you for your kind offer, but I’m sure we can legally acquire our own guns. Let me make it clear that I’m not looking for a date, nor do I have a crush on you.” ”This is agonizing,” Jack commented, quiet enough for Trevor not to hear.
By this point Sloane had slid out of her chair and was resting her head on the seat of it, burning an accusatory hole through the ceiling at an uncaring god. Maybe if she cursed them enough she’d get lucky and be smited by a bolt of lightning.
“Awwww, okay,” Trevor said, “Then what kind of ‘help’ are you thinking of, then, sweetheart?”
Anya pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath to calm down. She could handle this, if only for the fact it would be near impossible to claim she didn’t care afterwards.
”Surveillance of our members, primarily the entry points to their homes. CCTVs or similar. A way to check that they are still alive, and to catch a killer who goes after people when they’re alone. You knew our names, and easily found our location, so clearly there’s someone skilled enough with technology in your ranks.” “... And you’re talkin’ to ‘im!” Trevor excitedly said. “So, wait, hold on… you’re
asking for the gubnet to breach your privacy?”
”Not my privacy.” Anya had really hoped it wouldn’t be him, but had somehow guessed it would be. He sounded like a man in technology.
”I will be partaking in a different method of security. But yes, I’m asking for a breach in privacy of the rest of my coven for their own safety where they won’t partake in saner methods.” “Waaaaaaaaait a minute,” Trevor trailed off for a moment. “That don’t sound all that fair to ask me to monitor everyone but
you, suspicious even!”
Trevor let the words hang in the air.
“What are you doing what they say in those rap songs… what’s the word…” He thought about it for a moment. “... Yeah! Are you
trapping or something?”
“I feel trapped,” muttered Sloane under her breath hopelessly, head and arms now splayed across the coffee table as she poked at a cucumber sandwich.
”Absolutely not,” Anya replied calmly, because she wasn’t. She just didn’t want some creep thinking she was giving him permission to access her cameras.
”I wouldn’t be the only one exempt. Sloane Faris and Jack Hawthorne also won’t need surveillance. But we will also need agents to come help us if we call, or any coven members in danger.”“Now
that I can do,” Trevor said, “I know Agent Keagan’s a bit, uh, pissed about how all of this went down. But, I know she’d be more than happy to send a few Agents your way if you need it… if you want it, really.”
Trevor started chuckling.
“I’ll keep an eye on ya’ll… just know the PRA isn’t exactly the most well staffed government agency -
it’s hard to find people who won’t try and put ya’ in the psych ward if you tell ‘im ghosts are real - so we probably won’t be able to jump to your rescue 24/7.”
He paused for a moment.
“The big boss, Director Alcott, wants us to find, uh, that Stygian Snake thing ya’ll defeated. Like that’s the top priority… heh.”
”What?”Sloane rolled her head to look at Jack. Had they heard that right?
”Just the option to call in backup is fine.” Anya paused, eyes widening when she actually registered what Trevor had said - she’d only been thinking about anything coming out of his mouth at a surface level, because most of it was absolute drivel. But this? This was some very important information. Perhaps this phone call hadn’t been a waste of time after all. She looked at both Sloane and Jack, in their varying states of distress, before responding.
”I see. I’m afraid we can’t help with that… What reason are you looking for a multidimensional threat defeated years ago? Not to release it, I hope.” “Well…. That’s what we’re tryna’ prevent,” Trevor started, “There’s just a big ol’ threat to national security just chilling in a tree somewhere. That, far as we can tell, nobody is watching or protecting and anyone can just buy that land, decide to put a mall or another stupid boat-themed store there, and accidentally release it.”
Trevor let his word hang in the air before he continued,
“... And I don’t know if you know, but there are a
lotta different cults and psychos in St. Portwell
and beyond. Who knows who might try n’ release it or try to harness it’s power - but hopefully, they watch a lotta movies because you know that trope where the evil wizard tries and releases the dragon and goes ‘Oh no! It’s too strong, I can’t control it’...?”
”We know about the other covens, and have been keeping an eye on them,” Anya rolled her eyes when Trevor went off on a complete tangents about movies, which had no bearing on reality.
”None of them know its location either. If you find it, what’s your boss’ plan with it, then? A safer sealing location?” “Hey now,” Trevor said, “I can’t share all that information over the phone! I shouldn’t have said anything in the first place! Especially to someone who doesn’t even have a crush on me!”
Anya raised an eyebrow, ignoring the last bit.
”But you could share it in person, rather than over the phone?”“Maybe,” Trevor started, “What do I get outta it?” Then he made another obnoxious kissy noise.
”Kill me,” muttered Jack.
Anya’s lips twitched as she suppressed the urge to spit out something rude, or hang up.
Think of this as a business exchange. It would be like all the fake friendships she’d formed over the years. A lie to get information that would ever go any further. Easy. He seemed easy to manipulate, after all.
”I suppose… It could be a date.”“Oooooh, I know the perfect place!” Trevor said, “It’s a bar we like to go to, The Far Harbor!”
“Hold on, wait a minute,” said Sloane, the tea platter clattering as she slapped her hand on the table and gave Anya a look.
“Isn’t this going a bit too far?””It's fine, Sloane,” Anya said quietly. She returned Sloane's look with one of her own, trying to tell her with her eyes 'of course it's not a date, it's just information gathering and you and Jack will be there.' Even with someone more expressive like Anya, it was hard to actually read any of that from just a look.
“This isn’t fine,” said Sloane, gesturing to the phone and missing the point. The unprofessionalism of the PRA was even more outrageous than she had thought it would be. This was clear cut harassment and abuse of power.
”We'll discuss it later,” Anya said quietly, knowing that her look hadn't been interpreted correctly. She should really develop a mental communication spell. Louder and into the phone, she said,
”that sounds perfect, we can meet there. Are you free this week?”“Well, I’m getting off at four,” Trevor said, “... If Agent Liao doesn’t make me do overtime until 8am…. again.”
”... four it is then. You can text me if you can't make it.” Anya massaged her temple. This day was just getting longer and longer.
“Will do!‘ Trevor excitedly said, “I’ll talk to you later, we just made it to the Dairy Queen - Hey, wait for me! I want the Peanut Buster-” He said before he hung up.
Anya locked her phone, and put it on the table in front of her. She then put her head in her hands, much like Sloane had before. She had no words. If anything, she regretted the last few moments. She'd been too focused on gaining information that she could use to think about the consequences. She would have to see that agent, whatever his name was, again. Oh god, that was the worst experience ever.
Jack felt like he had aged a millennium by the end of Anya’s phone call.
”I think I’ve come to the conclusion that tear gas and burning buildings are preferable to that.”“Yeah…”Sloane stared at the phone like a shell shocked veteran, the guilt of even suggesting they call the PRA for assistance weighing heavy on her soul. A heavy and uncomfortable silence blanketed the room as Jack’s hypothetical was weighed against Anya’s reality. Sloane slowly turned her head towards Anya as she gained the courage to look at her defeated friend, only able to offer a blank stare as that was supposed to be sympathetic as her brain blue screened. Outside, a cloud passed in front of the Sun. Inside, it felt as if an entire day-night cycle had happened as the room became darker and then eventually returned to being lit. Sloane blinked. She was completely exhausted. She didn’t even bother getting up from the floor.
“Um,” was all Sloane could manage to say. Words couldn’t express the debt that they owed Anya. A part of Sloane couldn’t shake the idea that they had just made a horrible miscalculation. In times like these, it was always best to just power through and move on. Her voice sound completely drained off all energy as she said,
“Jack, you mentioned the other covens. I don’t know how to get in touch with Greenwood, but I had been thinking about Emily ever since Auri said she didn’t even invite her or any of the others to the meeting yesterday. That just didn’t sit right with me. Either Emily knows what’s going on and she’s going to throw a massive hissy fit when she finds out nobody invited her to our little reunion, or Emily doesn’t know about the Father Wolf situation and even more people are in danger.“Regardless, someone should speak with her,” said Sloane. Emily and her weren’t on particularly good terms, although from what Sloane remembered about Emily that was fairly typical. However, Sloane had adamantly and openly opposed Britney remaining in the Coven when her misdeeds had come to light. While she had also publicly disapproved of Emily using her victim status to justify being an absolute terror, perhaps Sloane had earned some kind of trust by being one of the few that hadn’t put their hand up when it came to voting out Emily. Plus, if Anya had to deal with Trevor, the very least she could do was make it up to her by falling on the sword and dealing with Emily.
“Actually, I’ll do it.””Emily Reed…” Jack often tried to make the best of bad situations during the old days. Kicking out members only made them weaker, but Emily was a major contributor to the cracks that formed in their foundation. Jack always tried to vote against kicking anyone out, but he made an exception for Emily.
”She is still adjoined to Babylon the Great, isn’t she? If she hasn’t changed in the last decade, I can imagine she would be… unhappy to see any of us. Do you intend to go alone?”“Like you said, she’d be unhappy to see any of us. Imagine how indignant she’d be if more than one of us showed up uninvited,” said Sloane, tracing the rim of her unfinished cup of tea with her finger.
“Besides, I don’t think they’d try anything so openly stupid like shooting the messenger.”Emily was an utter bitch, but 8th Street had a valid claim to being responsible for taking Das Sonnerad out of St. Portwell. Still, that didn’t mean they had a spotless or even good record from what dirt Sloane had been able to previously dig up on her own, and being better than literal nazis was about as low as the bar could be set. Plus, Sloane still believed there could be a reality where Father Wolf had been a former member of the Sycamore Tree Coven.
“However, the past 24 hours have forced me to accept that a lot of our former peers are unable to do anything but throw themselves at the stupidest possible decision with reckless abandon. It’d be best to be prepared for the worst. I think I should still go in alone, but Jack you should be on standby in case Emily decides to join the status quo,” said Sloane.
“I could hex my phone to make it appear off while allowing you to listen in, and when things go array you could teleport me out.”He nodded.
”You’re capable, and I know you can take care of yourself. But these murders have made me paranoid for everyone’s safety. If you want me to extract you, you’ll need to meet Emily when the sun sets. I can only teleport from places that are dark.”He looked over to Anya, who he noticed was catatonic.
”Anya?””Huh?” At the sound of her name Anya removed her head from her hands, slowly turning to look at Jack. She visibly rebooted, like a computer that had hit an error code and completely crashed to fix itself, expression blank and vacant before returning to her normal sharp calmness. Aware again, she processed everything that had been said in the interim - she'd caught enough, at least.
”Well, after dark will be perfect, seeing as you both have to come with me to my d-”She balked, before forcing herself to continue. As much as she wanted to pretend she'd never made that meeting and just not turn up to it, she couldn't allow herself to do that. That was practically admitting failure and Anya
did not fail.
”To my information gathering meeting. I'm certainly not going alone. You can both watch from another table to make sure he doesn't… try anything.”“Of course,” said Sloane, unsure if she’d just be capable of playing chaperone. Even if Trevor didn’t try anything, she’d still call Anya a few minutes into her da…er, information gathering meeting to allow Anya to make up a family emergency for an easy out.
Anya then turned to Sloane with a slight smile. If there were any hard feelings for the unfortunate phone call that came from her suggestion, it wasn't obvious from Anya's expression.
”I would be careful with Emily, Sloane. She caught me visiting her dreams a few months ago and wasn't particularly pleasant about it. If it's you, perhaps she'll be open to discussion. I suppose I'll handle the PRA while you handle 8th Street, with Jack ensuring none of us are harmed.”“Sounds like a plan. Once those two are wrapped we can look into finding out more about Greenwood. Honestly, I had kind of written them off,” said Sloane.
“I know you will, but be careful with the PRA too. Don’t give them more information than you get. Part of me thinks the whole bumbling and inept agents thing might just be a ploy. While their concern about the Stygian Snake being unsealed is valid, I doubt the government would be content with just letting something so powerful sit away in storage forever.”The Coven really should’ve considered the dangers of sealing the Stygian Snake in a tree at a time. On average, trees only lived for a handful of centuries. Even if someone didn’t chop it down, it’d still die one day. She couldn’t remember what they had been thinking at the time since it had been scrubbed away with the location of the Sycamore Tree. Had the hope been that the Stygian Snake would fade away before its prison died after everyone who had known about it had been dead for hundreds of years?
“It would be a bad idea to look for the Sycamore Tree, right?” asked Sloane.
”I don't plan to give them any information,” Anya smiled, before considering the matter of the tree. She'd never liked the plan to seal it in a Sycamore Tree and wipe everyone's memories for this very reason. Whether she'd voiced that disagreement at the time she wasn't sure due to the removal of her memories. Of course there was a risk of the information falling into the wrong hands, but surely a few of them should have been entrusted with the location for its protection? Now the government was after it. Perhaps this current leader would be reasonable, but what about the next, and the one after that? It couldn't be trusted in any hands but their own. Having it outside of her control was…
Not something she was happy about.
”And no, I don't actually think it would be a bad idea. It would be better than it falling into the hands of inept agents, or perhaps worse - capable ones who try to use it. Why the old leaders wanted it sealed like this in the first place, I don't know, but they're dead or gone.”She pursed her lips. Perhaps it would be a bad idea with a killer on their trail, but was Father Wolf after the Stygian Snake? He would need to leave someone alive to get to it. He likely had other goals.
”I think it would be best that we found it, and put it under our protection. But if we do, we must not let word of what we're doing get out of this room.” She then turned to Jack.
”What do you think, Jack?"”I don’t think we can afford to search all of St. Portwell for that tree. At least, not now. We need information on our killer, and we need to develop a plan to stay alive. The PRA monitoring us is helpful, but you heard what he said. There is only so much they can do. I worry that hunting for where the Snake is sealed will stretch us too thin.” They needed their own affairs in order before they put themselves to a task like
that. ”Now, sealing it in a tree may have made more sense back then compared to now. We weren’t overly equipped to contain a demigod, and there is the very real possibility that someone can unleash the Stygian Snake at any moment, but I believe we should focus on things we know we can make progress towards, rather than search every tree in and around the city.””As for the plan to meet that agent, I’ll be there. Either in the shadows watching him like a hawk, or somewhere more obvious. I wouldn’t dare let you go there alone. I’m sure you could handle him, especially in broad daylight, but I have the impression he couldn’t be trusted with an unattended drink,” he was putting it mildly. Trevor sounded like a creep, honestly.
”If he makes any sort of distasteful pass at you, I would be more than happy to bury him in the Void,” he said, half joking. Well, it was
probably a joke.
”You make a good point,” Anya nodded. If they spread themselves too thin then they’d be risking their own lives, which was something Anya was unwilling to do. They couldn’t exactly get help from anyone else, either. The only person Anya would consider bringing in was Britney, but Sloane would never allow that.
”We’ll keep tabs on the PRA’s search for the Sycamore Tree via our… contact, and when our lives are less at risk we can consider searching for it ourselves. Perhaps we will find a way to unlock our memories. The agent on the phone didn’t give me much confidence in the PRA monitoring, so we’ll have to put our own protection methods in place too.””And thank you, Jack, I wouldn’t put it past him either,” Anya sighed.
”Considering how he was acting even after I made it clear I wasn’t interested from early on. Don’t worry, I can handle him outside of something like this. Getting information out of people I’m not fond of is something I do often. Once I meet him today it will be easy to get into his dreams too.””If either of you find yourselves in danger, I’ll teleport you back to this location immediately, and we can decide what we do from there.” A thought occurred to him.
”...What will we do if the PRA tries to blackmail us? We want this to be a secret, but what stops them from exposing us to the others when it benefits them?” A small part of Jack found working with the PRA to be somewhat nerve wracking. Most of the coven was terribly opposed to associating with them, what would they do if they found out?
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter. I figured they’ll find out at some point anyway. If they want to be ungrateful because we tried to protect them then let them,” said Sloane, draining the last of her tea and pushing herself up from the coffee table.
”I don’t care what the others think. If either of you are worried about their opinions you can just tell them the truth that it was my idea and I would’ve called them in regardless of whether or not the two of you supported it.”“Any other concerns?” asked Sloane, adjusting her watch.
”None. That sounds like the best course of action, letting them think of it how they will.” He did value the opinions of the entire coven, but Jack was objective enough that the big picture wasn’t lost.
Jack finished off his tea, and stood up.
”I need to check on Luca. I’ve been scheduling regular check-ins with the others individually, and he’s next for now. I’ll be ready to support both of you by the time we make contact with anyone.””Of course,” Anya smiled. While she did care about the coven members' opinions of her a bit more than Sloane, it was nothing compared to looking good for people that were actually important. She wasn't quite so cruel as to throw her only friend under the bus.
”Let them think what they like, plenty of them have already formed negative opinions of us… Anyway, remember four o'clock, the Far Harbour. I'll let you know if the agent cancels.”“Well, maybe you’ll get lucky and the others will go start a street fight at another strip club,” said Sloane a little too seriously.
“Meeting adjourned.”
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