And Off We Go

Outside the morning sun did its best to break through the haze of clouds, sparkling white gold peeking around the grey edges, falling across the blacktop and glinting off the windscreen of a parked car. Winter bare trees reached for the sky and Isabelle thought of all the mornings she’d taken in this same view when she was a student here. It could have been a normal day in Haven except for the boiling fog wall in the distance.

Isabelle took a deep bracing breath of the cold air and stalked forward. The parking lot was full of vehicles but with the sheer number of accidents, explosions, and other things that had happened to the roads it was easier to just walk. It was maybe a mile or two to Poplar and from there barely three blocks to the Soleil house. On an ordinary day this would have been a thirty minute errand.

Why didn’t they think to pool resources like this before everything had gone to hell in a hand basket?

She glanced over her shoulder to find her entourage was in fact following and cursed Dwight under her breath again. Something black near her boots caught her attention and she bit back a laugh. Even the cat was coming along. Great.

Maybe they’d get lucky and the monster would be asleep.

Maybe they wouldn’t meet anything else out there.

Maybe she’d close her eyes and when she opened them again the shroud would be down and everything would be back to normal.

Tanner blinked against the sunlight, feeling it sharp in a way that unsettled him- or maybe it was just the cold.

Or maybe it was- what had Riesy said?  Projecting synesthete? He didn’t know what that meant, exactly, but someone’s smile shouldn’t taste like anything, and he didn’t smell turned earth- frost, yes, turned earth, no- and he had no idea what it sounded like, but if Riesy had noticed the music...

“Maybe?” he answered, shifting uncomfortably.  “I.  If you’re hearing... music, then- yeah, I- not everyone notices it, I just.  It’s new.  I didn’t used to be-” he cut himself off, because Riesy’s us Troubled folk had definitely sounded like an indication that her Trouble wasn’t new.  “It happened, when.  Just as the- fog went up.  I can’t make it stop.”

He scraped his palm against his jeans, trying to quell a phantom itch, and frowned.

“And you shouldn’t believe anything Adam says, ever.  And I didn’t sign up for anything, nobody- talked to me, I just.  It sounds like maybe... you could use an extra pair of hands?  And I wanted to get out of there, anyway.”

Lilybeth slipped into the middle of the group, trying to avoid drawing any more attention that she already had.   She'd done it; it looked like she was going to get away with this.  Not that she could have pulled it off without Riesy floating in to charm everybody.  She didn't get people like that--how did they do it?  At any rate, she was grateful, and also inclined to agree that a bigger group could only be a good thing.

Especially a group that included Doc. She wondered fleetingly what could possibly have prompted him to come along, but couldn't deny that she felt safer.  That guy who'd come up with Riesy looked familiar, though, and not in a good way...what was it that was bugging her about him?  Whatever, she thought, it's probably not that important

As she breathed in and out she repeated like a mantra to herself, Don't fuck up. Don't die

Riesy smiled brilliantly at Tanner. "Well what the hell, why didn't you say that when I was grilling you for no good reason? Whatever, here." S/he flipped shiz bag around to the front, narrowly avoiding smacking Lilybeth with it as she brushed by them. "I can't hear the music, I can smell it. Smells like we're kicking up dirt in springtime, on our way to bigger and brighter things." S/he held out a narrow tube towards him. "Retractable pool cue. My da makes them. You played baseball, right?"

With another wink, s/he lengthened shiz stride to catch up to Isabelle and the silly cat, leaving the pool cue warm in Tanner's hand.

"Stay close," s/he murmured to Doc and Lilybeth. "Tell me if you feel anything funny."

"Animals are gone," Doc grunted.  "Fled as far as they can."

Isabelle heard the footsteps coming closer and debated quickening her pace. But that would be childish. Instead she slowed down, let Riesy catch up with her.

"We've got a two mile hike down McLauslan, and then once we get to Poplar it's three blocks down to the house, right on the coast. Book's in a safe in the attic," she gritted out once Riesy was in step.

Lilybeth shuddered a little at Doc's remark. Animals were smart, they knew shit people didn't a lot of the time, and they were about to go into an area they'd all fled from. Though, come to think of it, the black cat was still with them, and that was funny.

She glanced at the guy who was now holding Riesy's pool cue. There was something in the way he stood, that reminded her of somebody.

"Animals won't help none anyway," Riesy said over shiz shoulder. "Lucky for them, my Trouble don't cross their wires. In't that right, mippen?" S/he reached down to tickle the cat's tail. "I don't make you feel all crazy, do I?"

S/he turned back to Isabelle. "We got a combination for that safe?"

Staring after Riesy, Tanner considered the weight of the cue in his hand- it wouldn’t carry half the momentum of a wooden bat, but it might at least match an aluminum one, as long as it didn’t break.  He could work with this, and it was definitely better than running unarmed.  He wanted to say thanks, wanted to defend why he hadn’t tried to explain himself, but Riesy talked a hell of a lot faster than Tanner could work up a word in response, and was moving on before he could sort himself out, and he wasn’t sure if that was because her words were distractingly solid or just because she flustered him.

He shook his head, trying to ignore the softer, keener notes of the music, because he already knew he was flustered, he really didn’t need to hear it, and caught the sideways glance Lilybeth threw his way.  He smiled in response, making an effort to look unassuming- something he was usually pretty good at, but he wasn’t sure how effective it’d be in the middle of all this.

‘Unassuming’ didn’t necessarily mean much, now.

“Hey,” he offered in acknowledgement, as neutral and unthreatening as possible.

"Dwight didn't give it to you when he was briefing you on the mission?" She snarked, the taste of hot coffee dancing on her tongue. She registered the coffee consciously a moment later and realized Riesy was being serious. She sighed and pulled out the paper Dwight had given her.

"5-12-36" she read off. "The sister's birthday."

"I keep trying to figure out where I recognize you from," she said. "Did you use to go to West Haven?"

Hex flicked her tail at the "animals won't help none" comment and shot a glare at Riesy. She did not know what help she could possibly be in this situation, except maybe as bait, but s/he didn't have to say it.

She glanced over to Doc, wondering what exactly his Trouble was that he could so declaratively say all the animals were gone. She knew they were - after all, she'd been wandering all over the place since the shroud dropped and she found herself in a small furry body - but none of the other humans had picked up on that as far as she could tell.

She lagged behind a step, crouched down, and sprang upward to scrabble up onto Riesy's shoulder for a better view and a lazier journey.

“Nah,” Tanner said, his smile going a little wooden, “I was at East Haven, all four years, but when they did the redistricting?  Our house was pretty much right on the line.  So I got to stay at East Haven, but my brother went to West Haven.  Brandon.”  Not that Tanner particularly wanted to be associated with Brandon- where he’d always been happier to keep his head down and his opinions firmly behind his teeth, Brandon was a smug, self-righteous little prick.  “But it- if you don’t, know him?  I work, in town, the- my family owns- owned- the butcher shop on Third.  So if you were ever- but I guess you’re probably, you probably wouldn’t have been buying a lot of meat in bulk, probably."

"Lookie here, boss, you got me shook," Riesy said, holding an arm out to display the chilly bumps from Isabelle's sarcasm. "Listen, hardass-" s/he broke off to adjust under Hex's weight, "he came to you first. You're his choice. I'm just here to make sure you get back to your boyfriend in one piece." S/he nuzzled into the cat's fur. "Your fur tastes like marshmallows, you're not even white."

The coffee taste on Izzy's tongue turned bitter as Riesy continued to talk. But s/he had it all wrong. "I don't care about being the boss, here." Izzy turned to look at Riesy. "I'm leading this mission that makes me responsible for all of you. It'd be one thing if everyone was an experienced member of the Guard but you're not and that just makes it all the scarier for me."

Izzy took a breath and blew it out slow, getting a hold of herself now that she'd said it out loud, acknowledged the problem.

She shot Riesy a sideways look. "And if you're implying Dwight's my boyfriend you're sadly mistaken. He's dating Charlotte Cross."

Hex meowed back at Riesy, leaning against shiz head and neck to stay put on her new perch. This was better. And warmer.

Riesy quirked that damned eyebrow again, fingers tangling in Hex's tail with a slow smile. "Well lucky her. Hey," s/he reached out and wrapped callused fingers around Isabelle's forearm, thumb brushing over where the tattoo laid and catching on the fabric of her jacket. S/he looked her right in the eyes. "We're gonna be alright. I mean it. You've got this, and we've got you. We good?"

"Yeah, I know Brandon," Lilybeth responded flatly. "Which brother are you? I remember he was always super into the East-West rivalry 'cause both of you went to East."

Tanner flinched, because yeah, she definitely looked like she knew Brandon, and wasn’t impressed.

“I’m Tanner. Middle brother, Adam’s our older brother. Brandon- is competitive,” he said, as tactfully as he could. It felt less like betraying his family than saying ‘Brandon’s an asshole’, anyway, even if the latter was more accurate. “He’s- very serious about representing where he stands, and who he stands with.”

Izzy took a deep breath and returned the smile, no french fry taste this time, just Riesy. She patted Riesy's hand. "Thanks," she said quietly. Isabelle knew they were just words but she did feel a lot better. Maybe Riesy wasn't as flighty as s/he came off. She probably didn't have this but it was nice to think that someone else thought so. She felt a lot less alone which was something. Maybe between her and Riesy and the Doc they could get the other two and the book back home. "We're good for now."

Isabelle matched her pace to Riesy's as they came around the bend of the road that linked the high school to McLauslan Street. McLauslan was lined with pines as far as the eye could see, tall green soldiers whispering quietly in the chill breeze. The way between them was still in shadow though not dim enough to trigger the Darkness but dim enough to remind Isabelle that it was a factor they might have to deal with. She could hear Lilybeth and Tanner talking quietly behind them. Doc, silent as ever, bringing up the rear.

A glint of something off in the trees drew her attention. It was a spark and then it was gone. Isabelle turned her head to look more carefully. There it was again, another flash in the dim light near the trunk of one of the pines on her left. The shadows under the pines were dark enough that Isabelle was genuinely worried about the Darkness Trouble triggering under them. She strained her eyes again.

"Did anyone else see that?" she called to the group.

Tanner, huh. Lilybeth studied him a little more. Why was he here? Could he be a plant by the Rev's people? Brandon Martin certainly wasn't shy about letting people know how he felt about Troubled people. Paranoid much? she asked herself. It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, another part of her brain added.

"Yeah, Brandon definitely likes to let everyone know where he stands. What about you? That where you stand?"

And that was a loaded question if there ever was one.  Tanner felt his stomach twist, heard the sharp, tense repetition of strings underlying the tension, and shrugged one shoulder.

“I just like having a team to play for,” he said, trying to keep his voice level, trying to push the strings to the back of his mind, because so far Riesy had been the only one to notice and he wanted to keep it that way.  He didn’t need anyone else hearing just how uncomfortable he was, how much a point of conflict his family’s behavior- and his own inability to challenge it- was.  “And we’re all in the same boat, aren’t we?”

He looked away, glancing forward at their leader’s words- and felt a thrill of unease, heard the eerie flow of bells and chimes that could be intrigue or horror.  He tightened his hand around the cue, but took a step forward- he needed the space, anyway, and this was as good a distraction as any.

“Too big to be a firefly,” he commented, which- it was the middle of winter, of course it wasn’t a firefly.  “Should- I can... look?  Closer?”

"Tanner!" Isabelle protested but he was already stepping off the road and into the brown stubble of the winter grass.

Under the trees whatever it was winked again, a bright round yellow flash the size of a tennis ball that bobbed up and down then disappeared.

"I got him, I got him, relax. Here, Doc, hang on to these for a sec, will ya?" S/he held the bag out to the big man, rummaging in it first. S/he pulled out a water bottle and tossed it to Lilybeth, "Just in case," said with a wink, followed by a big blue maglite flashlight to hand off to Tanner, saying nothing more than "Trade," and then a second flashlight on an elastic harness.

"Down, boy," s/he said, in the same tone one would use to correct an unruly dog, and scooped the cat onto the larger man's shoulders.

"Holy shit knock that off," Riesy groaned in Tanner's direction, scrubbing at her arms. "What the hell, it's supposed to smell!" S/he followed him over to the treeline, adjusting the harness around her head and clicking the light on.

Doc's attention didn't waver from the light as the cat scrambled to settle itself, even though there was a certain amount of claws in use.