“Ohhh man,” Maggie said.
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“Makes me look bad for associating with you. But I’m here, and that ship has sailed already. Our usual deal is still on the table?”
“You help me, I give you access to material at a later date.”
She nodded. “Everything has a price. Doing it this way, it’s more polite, and it’s safer. Like selling something for one dollar. Maybe you’d normally give it away, but doing it like this means you have a receipt. Generosity doesn’t stretch too far in this world.”
My eyes met Tiffany’s.
Should I have arranged for more of a transaction with my friends?
“Come on in, Tiffany,” I said. I glanced at Maggie. “Maggie’s an ally I made in Jacob’s Bell. I had a library of books and a need of backup, Maggie was willing to give me backup for some knowledge.”
“Serendipitous,” Maggie said.
“Tiffany’s a recent friend of mine. Another friend introduced us, and Tiffany got on board with the whole magic thing.”
Maggie extended a hand. Tiffany shook it.
“A champion?” Maggie asked.
“No,” I said. “Supporting cast.”
“I met one of your champions at the bus station. Guy in white with a handgun?”
“Fell.”
“He pointed me this way. He told me to tell you they’ve set up in two more locations, and we should distribute our firepower, emphasizing escape routes. He’s going to go check on the others, then try to steal some rest before things get hairy.”
I nodded. “Right now, we’re using guerrilla tactics. We’ve got the entire spirit-world version of the city to hide inside, and our opponent gets weaker so long as he’s being opposed by equal or superior opponents. Rose and I were just discussing additional options.”
“Summoning something non-diabolic,” Rose said.
“Just the one something?” Maggie asked.
“When we’re talking about things this nasty?” I replied. “It makes sense to limit it to one.”
“Well,” Maggie said. She grinned. “Speaking as the resident expert in the nast-”
She stopped short.
“Really!?” she asked. “I did not mean anything rude! Not even close! And how does that count!?”
Tiff looked at me, eyebrow raised.
I shook my head. “I’ll try to explain later.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “Rephrasing, I deal with goblins. Not so far removed from bogeymen and bandersnatches, or whatever it is you’re dealing with. Guy in white-”
“Fell,” I said, again. “At least I hope it was Fell. The alternative is that he’s the Lord of the City, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“Fell, right. He said he was Fell. He described the situation. We’re outnumbered and outgunned? You got me, your enemy got Mister Behaim?”
“That’s the gist of it,” I said.
“Then we need raw power.”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” I said. “But I’m leaning towards a more defensive strategy. It means my friends don’t get killed. You included.”
“Aw,” she said. She reached up toward my cheek. I flinched.
“Oh, oops?” Maggie said, her hand still in the air.
I shook my head.
“You were calling me a friend? That makes me feel things. I don’t have many flesh and blood buddies, you know.”
Maggie belatedly lowered her hand. I glanced at Tiff and saw an alarmed look on her face. From the familiarity?
“Well, don’t like to break it to you,” Maggie said. “But Maggie Holt doesn’t have a history of doing things halfways. You asked for me, you got me, and you got someone who knows their way around this sort of thing. Dealing with the ugly things. Tell me more about them?”
Down to business?
“We’ve got a Bloody Mary,” Rose said.
“What’s that?”
“A boggart or a wraith, not sure. A ghost loaded with enough negativity that it went off rails. Built with echoes that aren’t its own. Lurks in mirrors, carves up women if they spend too long looking.”
“I don’t think I’m ever going to sleep right again,” Tiff said, her voice quiet.
“You know how to summon and bind it?”
“Yes and sort of. But it’s unpredictable.”
“I can deal with the unpredictable. What else?”
“I didn’t tell Blake about this one, it was a subhuman, before.”
“Elaborate? I don’t know the fancy terminology you people with the books have.”
“What you get when a collection of feral children grow up and breed for a few generations, or when you have that small branch of the population that lives off in the middle of nowhere or on some mountaintop, left with nobody but their own family. Less human trappings to tie them down to reality, a lot of energy, lust, or bloodlust to stir up the spirits, and you wind up with whole families of inbred, messed up almost-humans.”
“You can summon something like that?”
“If they become Other enough, and certain conditions are met. This one is called Midge.”
“Midge,” I said.
“She’s the sort of thing you call on when you need to knock a house down. Not subtle, but not so inhuman that the authorities can’t explain her away.”
I nodded.
“That’s one more,” Maggie said.
“Tallowman,” Rose said. “Told Blake about him. Revenant.”
Maggie nodded. “Zombie?”
“Zombie with a theme and a grudge.”
“Cool. And the one you were too scared to deal with?
“Corvidae.”
“Bogeyman?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I think I might have to put my foot down on that one.”
“Some ghost, an inbred human-turned Other, and a candle man. Sounds like a way of evening the odds, if we’re clever,” Maggie said.
“Someone recently accused me of being the equivalent of playing with fire,” I said. “This sounds more dangerous than fire.”
“Have to be dangerous if we’re going to win,” Maggie said.
I glanced at the others. Evan’s expression was unreadable, Tiffany looked spooked, and Rose…
“Blake,” Rose said. “Please.”
“I’ve dealt with goblins, I’ve seen what they’re capable of,” Maggie said. “You don’t get much more intractable or unpleasant than goblins.”
“I’m kind of surprised that you’re okay with this,” I said. “The danger, the fact that Rose is talking about monsters that are bad enough they were almost classified as demons, not so long ago…”
“A lot of things about me would surprise you,” Maggie said. “I’m here, I’m helping for the time being, and I’m raring to go.”
“You’re excited,” I said.
“For this? Yeah,” she said, smiling.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “Why?”
“Because this? The contest? Predefined rules, boundaries, minimized damage, a lot to gain? I’ve been hoping for something like this for a long time now.”
I nodded slowly. I wasn’t sure how to take that.
“Don’t suppose you could give me more details?” I asked.