I just had to leave the door open for it to happen.
“I have no intention of leaving Toronto in the near future,” I said. “You’ll have my full cooperation, you know where I live…”
“Check in first thing tomorrow.”
I was eager enough to jump at the chance. “Of course.”
“I would send an officer to give you a ride back to your residence, but with the mutters going around the department, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I have errands to run, of a sort,” I said. “That’s fine.”
He gave me a look. “Whatever condition you’re in, I expect to see you tomorrow.”
I nodded.
“Thank you,” he said. A dismissal.
Triumphant, I made my way out, one hand on the wall for balance.
I made my way outside, and leaned against the wall. My legs were shaking.
“He thinks you’re an addict,” Rose said.
I raised an eyebrow.
“You look like you’re in the throes of withdrawal.”
“Ouch,” I said. Evan hopped from one of my index fingers to the other, then back again. Some passerbys stared. My locket dangled from one wrist, the Stonehenge charm from the other.
“You’re not in any shape to do this.”
“This isn’t going to be a run-around binding, or I’m not going to be able to handle it,” I said. “Even without… this, I’d be too tired to do anything of the sort. This one is one we’re going to have to tackle with our brains.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m counting on your brain.”
“I hope I’m up to the task.”
“Rose? I talked to the Knights. This one scares the fuck out of me.”
“I can imagine.”
“I’m not sure you can,” I said. I drew in a deep breath. “Can you follow the chain back to Conquest? I need you to send Fell, so he can give me a ride.”
With that, Rose was gone.
“Let’s fly,” I said, flicking my finger. Evan took to the air, and I limped.
The abstract demon wasn’t the end of it. Five minutes after midnight, tonight, Pauz was free.
5.05
It was already dark. Heavy snow was falling, making it feel darker, even if the snow was white. The lights that shone through windows felt oddly small, and headlights offered fleeting flashes of brightness.
Conquest’s tower still loomed in the distance. A hint that I was seeing glimmers of the spiritual. It was probably altering my perceptions, the balance of light and dark, the shape of things.
It was probably visible from anywhere in the city, to Others and reckless practitioners who were struggling to hold on to their humanity, like myself. Conquest’s symbol of power.
Either way, things weren’t nearly as distorted as they’d been when I’d re-entered the police station and made my way into the morgue. It was hard to say whether I was recovering or whether I just wasn’t zig-zagging between the real world and the spiritual. Maybe things were simply leveling off, and I was viewing things through a faintly spirit-tinted lens.
I’d gotten out. Not out free and clear, but out.
I moved my arm until the locket itself reached my palm, and then popped it open. I rubbed my thumb on the inside of the lid. “June.”
Evan made his way back to me. Surprisingly few people noticed as he descended and made his way onto my shoulder. I moved my hood.
I felt the connection. I drew a smudge on the wall, to feed that connection. “June.”
“Do you want me to get her?” Evan asked. The hood of my jacket was up, and Evan was nestled in the space between my hood and the side of my face.
“I don’t think you can, June being as heavy and unwieldy as she is,” I said. I looked over my shoulder. “Fuck. I said I’d keep her warm. I don’t think she’s cold where she is, but… I’m worried.”
Nobody paid any mind to me as I talked to Evan, crazy and bedraggled as I might have looked. My presence in the world was pretty damn low, and it was very possible that anyone who did see me talking thought I was using bluetooth or drunk. As for the actual words being spoken, I was moving slower than just about anyone on the sidewalk, and nobody was around long enough to hear what I was muttering, if they cared enough to listen.