Feargus

  I couldn’t move, and that was because I woke up with Addie’s limbs wrapped around me, fast asleep, the research papers crammed between us.

  Besides having to wee, I didn’t particularly want to move anyhow. For one, I was comfortable. For two, I didn’t want to wake her, and for three, this Strachan’s steed was happy to see the world again, and I wasn’t ready for her to see that just yet.

  So, for the next little while I laid there, thinking about Verena.

  We’d managed to sort out their motive for wanting to create their own Partisans, and that was concern about their position as an independent city or whatnot. They didn’t trust Faust, and expected that some time down the line, she’d send an army to bring Verena back under Palisade control. I knew differently—Faust didn’t care about Verena. The deal she’d made with them, that no silver could leave the city so long as no Partisan entered the city, was twofold, I reckoned: one, illusion of control, and two, to keep Partisans safe.

  That was a bit rich, though, considering the Partisans being sent to Amalia were anything but safe. Then again, the established system was outside her control whereas Verena wasn’t. So, aye, they were preparing to arm their city with equal matches in case Faust brought the hammer down. From the research notes, they hadn’t been successful at all, and Adeline seemed to think that what they were trying to do would be impossible ultimately.

  The good news was, I’d stolen most, if not all, of their research, and hopefully that meant they’d have to stop experimenting on the Barrens for now.

  Adeline stirred, but only to wipe the drool from the side of her mouth. I didn’t want her to put her cheek into a puddle, so I quickly wiped my chest dry, just in time for her to settle her head back down.

  I gave her a kiss on the forehead when she did.

  I wondered what time it was while I considered the day ahead. I’d have to let Faust know what was going on in Verena. By now, I imagine they’d examined the scenes, found the dead guards, spoken to Subject #4 and learned there’d been a Partisan breach. It wasn’t as though they could do anything directly against Palisade, and retaliation of any kind would take time, but in some way, shape, or form, there’d be fallout. For now, though, our goals remained the same, and taking care of Avis and the people of Leberecht was still our first priority.

  I tried to suppress a yawn and failed, and Addie opened her eyes. I wiggled my arm free if only to wrap it around her and give her a hug.

  “Good morning, Agent Finlay,” she said, her voice less squeaky and more raspy.

  I wondered if she’d call me by my title forever. Not that I minded—it was kind of hot. But I’d still tease her about it later.

  “Morning, Addie,” I answered. “You sleep all right?”

  “I slept incredibly, and I hope you did as well.”

  I nodded because I most certainly had.

  “Do you know what time it is?” she asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Oh well.” Addie paused for a moment. “Agent Finlay, what’s your favourite colour?”

  “That’s easy,” I said. “All of them. What’s yours?”

  “I can never decide either! And when’s your birthday?”

  “Soon,” I replied. “On the fourteenth day of the second month. When’s yours?”

  “On the sixteenth day of the second month.”

  “No joke? Mate, we’ll have to do something extra special this year.”

  “I agree! And speaking of birthdays, did you know it was Father Strauss’s yesterday?”

  “I had no idea, actually.”

  “He’s quite shy about it, but I know he was hoping Enforcer Rhian would be back.”

  “I was expecting her back yesterday, so I reckon it won’t be long.”

  Addie toyed with my hair. My favourite. “You must miss her terribly. I know I do.”

  “I try not to think about it, except to remind myself that we’re always together even if we’re not. Are you missing your siblings, too?”

  “Yes. Adair and I are close, and I’m hopeful one day he’ll join us. He’s quite sensitive so I often worry about him, though at least he’s safe from my mother’s wrath. Alice, though—”

  The subtext was chilling.

  “Addie, did your mum hurt you?”

  “Well, you know how she is, so I assume you mean physically.”

  I nodded.

  “Yes, but only until I learned to keep myself safe by anticipating her needs and ensuring I responded correctly at every turn.”

  She didn’t need me to tell her that her mother’s behaviour was appalling. “That sounds exhausting,” I said instead.

  “Entirely, though the world is full of people like my mother, Agent Finlay, so at the very least she’s taught me how to manage them.”

  I pulled her closer to me while I considered something Councilwoman Faust had once commented on, that it was interesting Adair, Adeline, and Alice turned out to be so lovely considering their parentage. But what if Councilwoman Blanchett wasn’t always awful? What if her upbringing didn't inform her cruel behaviour? What if the Six had done something to her? And to Oranen, as well? I don’t know, mates, maybe I was just grasping at something to rationalize how a parent could hurt their child. Or that maybe if there was a solution, we could help.

  “I hope to meet your parents one day,” she said.

  “Aye, they’re gonna love you. I reckon once we have everything sorted out in Amalia, we should all go to Stracha next. I know Rhian would really like that, too.”

  “I’ll be happy to go anywhere that isn’t frozen solid. Winter is quite pretty but it’s terribly uncomfortable and overall inconvenient.”

  “Tell me about it—our southern blood isn’t built for this, is it?”

  Adeline shook her head against my chest.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  “Usually,” I said.

  “Then let’s go see what we can find.”

  And that’s what we did…

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  …right after we made out for a while.

  Obviously.

  We found sandwiches. Evelyn had put together a whole collection the day before, and they were keeping chill in an icebox one of our many elementalists were keeping frozen as needed. Evelyn wasn’t awake yet. Neither was Strauss, and he must have had Teeth in bed with him. There hadn’t been anyone else in the bunk room, and we were alone in the sitting room, so Jakob and Alexander were probably in the theatre.

  It was just after one in the morning, so we’d slept for quite a long time. Or at least I had. I wasn’t sure how long Adeline had been awake reading, and she wasn’t either. We spoke some about her findings while we ate, and while she was still pretty certain the P-series was a load of bollocks, she was confident the S6 sedative could be replicated, but we’d need better supplies and the ingredients. Many of them were derived from plants—some she’d never heard of—and other chemical solutions. I wondered if the botanical forest would have what we’d need as far as plants went, but I’d hold that thought for now—we still had a full syringe and six vials of the S6. Adeline determined only a quarter of the contents of each vial would be needed to adequately sedate.

  By the time we had finished eating, Alexander had joined us, and I caught him up on everything, too. He agreed the estate would be a fine place to host the villagers, if they wanted, and he was hoping Rhydian would be back soon so that he could go home if needed. We also all agreed to keep Verena under wraps for now, primarily until we could chat to Faust about it, and to keep the focus on Leberecht until then.

  “Say, Addie—feel like doing something fun?”

  “As long as it’s also a surprise,” she answered.

  I grinned.

  Alex raised a thick brow, followed by a faint smirk.

  I asked Addie to get her outdoor gear on while I secretly collected a few things from the provisions box. After that, I got dressed up too, and Alexander let us out.

  First thing’s first, I collected a bunch of snow and packed it into a ball, adding more and more snow until it was a bigger ball. I then began rolling it through the snow. Without even directing her, Adeline had begun making her own snowball.

  “Are we making a snowperson?” she asked mid-roll.

  “We are making a snowperson. Would you like to be the bottom ball or the top ball?”

  Adeline laughed, and I watched its echo form a fog and then disappear.

  At the time, our balls were around the same size.

  “Well, let’s make it a competition, shall we?” Adeline suggested. “We go at the same pace, and whichever one of us gets their ball biggest in a minute is the bottom ball.”

  Challenge accepted, mates, and we were off. We rolled, and rolled, and rolled. Twenty, twenty-seven, thirty-five seconds. I sneaked a quick glance over at her ball, still rolling. Forty-two, forty-eight, fifty seconds. I caught her sneaking a glance over at my ball, still rolling, now moving in each other’s direction.

  Fifty-five, fifty-seven, sixty.

  We stopped with our balls side by side, stepping back to examine them.

  I tilted my head.

  She tilted hers.

  “They look about the same,” I said.

  “Mine’s bigger.”

  I didn’t see it. “Well, you might be right.”

  “I know I am. And if it wouldn’t disturb Alexander, I’d get my tape measure to prove it.”

  I chuckled and scooped an armful of snow, bringing it to her ball. I packed it in and took a step back. “Aye, I see it now,” I said. “Definitely bigger.”

  We rolled the winning bottom ball together for a while, making it even bigger, and also allowing us to use the losing ball as the middle ball. I’d never actually made a snowperson before, but I’d seen them outside homes around Amalia, and according to Adeline, they were featured in many of the storybooks she liked as a child.

  As the winner of the battle of the balls, Adeline declared that meant she got to make the top ball. If she thought more work was a reward, well, all the power to—

  My thought was interrupted when the small ball she’d been making clocked me in the shoulder. The lass didn’t want more work, she just wanted to do that. Let’s face it, though: I’d seen her launch it, so I’d seen it coming, only she didn’t need to know that. And if a snowball fight was what she wanted, I wouldn’t be holding back for this one.

  I built my ball, and she collected some more snow before scampering off. I was happy to see she’d gotten herself some practical winter boots. I dashed up behind her and pelted my ball, hitting her square in the rear. She tossed her half-formed ball at me, but I dodged it, scooping more snow for myself in the process. I held on to the second ball, gaining some distance. I waited until she launched her next ball, and I evaded that one with a single-handed back handspring, launching my ball in her direction with the other hand. It hit her in the side of the head, and I winced.

  She laughed gleefully, holding her hands up. “This one’s yours, Agent Finlay. I should know better than to challenge a Strachan to a game of agility and speed, and I should have specified restraint in the rules as I did the last time.”

  I grinned. “Addie, I live for people forgetting to be specific about rules.”

  “Yes, I forgot that, too.”

  Laughing again, we met each other for a hug and a quick kiss. All that, and we still didn’t have our top ball.

  “Well, it could be a Strachan snowperson,” I remarked.

  “You’re right,” Adeline agreed. “Pass me the food products I saw you take from the provisions box and we’ll make it so.”

  I reached into my inside jacket pocket for the carrot, two figs, and a handful of raisins. As would a nurse assist a surgeon as I’d imagine, I handed her each piece of the snowperson puzzle as she demanded it. When she’d finished putting on the eyes, nose, and mouth, I put my hat on its head. It was a bit small, but it added to the charm, I reckoned.

  We took a few steps back.

  “What should we call it?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Adeline replied. “Naming gives me such anxiety, because they’re really so important. I always had difficulty naming my dolls, for example. They’d all end up with titles.”

  “Well, that’s all right, then. What should we title it?”

  “How about… S.P. Kelly, short for snowperson and after Councilwoman Kelly, of course.”

  “Mate, it’s perfect. I’ve been missing Kelly, actually,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”

  “Well, I’m quite certain she’d be proud of you.”

  We pulled each other into a side hug, checking out S.P. Kelly in silence for a time.

  “We can’t leave it here,” I lamented.

  Adeline nodded sadly, but knowingly.

  Together, we dismantled S.P. Kelly and smashed up our balls, doing our best to fill in the tracks we’d made while rolling.

  For the rest of the early morning, we puttered around the base, chatted with Alexander, checked in on Jakob who was reading from one of Strauss’s books in the theatre, and each ate another sandwich. We’d returned to the bunk room, planning on another round of snogging, and maybe a nap, but just as we were getting settled, we heard the familiar sound of the hatch opening over yonder.

  There was a chance it was just Everleigh arriving, or someone else leaving, but we were expecting Rhian back, so there was an equal chance it was her. Whoever it was, there was tons of commotion. We sneaked in a quick kiss, and then we bolted for the door.

  It wasn’t Rhian.

  But it was Rhydian, and Matteus Rizik, and an Endican fellow I reckoned was called Markus, and Lucas Bellamy, too. They had a lass with them I didn’t recognize at all. But if they were all there, then Rhian and Sebastian must have been… where?

  The room was buzzing with introductions. I knew Riz and Bells, of course, and I was right about the Endican’s name. The lass was called Maryse, and I learned she was a psychologist working with Rhydian’s folk. There was a bit of a scuffle when Maryse accused Jakob of trying to kill her aboard an embark, but Rhydian put a stop to that right quick.

  Riz then explained that Rhian and Sebastian were in Oskari, checking in on Marta. I reckoned they’d be pleasantly surprised to find Michael there already, and I was hoping they’d bring him back with them. By then, Markus and Bells had joined me and Adeline, and we four spent around forty minutes chatting. Apparently, Markus had tried saving Bells’ life after Jakob, not knowing he was an ally, threw him overboard. It seemed the pair had gotten quite close, too, with the giant Endican hanging his arm around the Strachan’s shoulder.

  At some point, the hatch rumbled open again, but this time, it was Everleigh.

  “I can feel him again,” she said. “The concert’s on.”

  She’d brought us all clothes for the party, and some horse drawn carriages waiting for us outside, instructing the crew to leave by nine in the evening, sharp.

  I won’t lie, I was a bit anxious about the wagons being parked outside the hatch, but little did I know, we weren’t in danger from the Anima at the moment. They were all just biding their time, waiting to have us delivered to them on a silver platter at the concert. So aye, I was a bit anxious, but I trusted Everleigh.

  And what I was most curious about was—

  Over by Strauss, I watched Riz try not to watch Everleigh.

  Over by the hatch, I watched Everleigh try not to watch Riz.

  We were off to a good start, mates.

  Everleigh then said she needed my help, as well as Alexander’s and Bells’. I wasn’t excited about leaving Adeline, but given Everleigh was probably behind on her preparations because she’d had my back while I was in Verena, I felt I ought to oblige. Besides, who are we kidding? I’d have helped, anyhow.

  We all four left the base together.