“It’s agreeable,” I said.
“Then for the release of the Iaiah that you gave me, I grant your terms. I have some traveling to do before I can find your abyss-dwelling companion, and it seems… a very unexpected group has just passed into this realm.”
“Unexpected?”
“Don’t concern yourself for now. Your companion I’m to recover, what is their name?”
“Green Eyes.”
“So be it. I will be in touch before long. Turn around.”
I did.
A door stood in front of me.
“It will take you where you need to be.”
I stepped through.
The cafe in the ‘downtown’ of Jacob’s Bell.
My family.
Mom, dad, Ivy, Uncle, Uncle’s current and ex-wives, Jessica and Steph, respectively, and my cousins Kathryn, Ellie, Paige’s twin Peter, Irene’s youngest Christoff, James, and Roxanne, in descending order.
No Paige, no Aunt Irene or Callan, though they could easily be heading this way, if they’d left Christoff with family.
Molly was there, at the back of the cafe.
Mags was outside, looking in the window.
I moved to Mags’ side.
“Well?” she asked.
“It’s done. If we can get her to move, we should be able to corner her. Then we can bind her or whatever else.”
I stared inside. They were agitated. Half the parents were busy watching the kids, Ivy was dumping food on the floor and nobody was cleaning it up, and the one other occupied booth had two very annoyed looking patrons inside.
Short of grandmother dying a second time, getting the inheritance out of the hands of the current custodian and heir was apparently the only thing that would bring this group together.
It didn’t look like they could exchange two words without looking aggravated, annoyed, or smug. But all the same, Uncle, Aunt Jessica, and dad each had stacks of paper in front of them, highlighters, pens and sticky notes in hand, ignoring the chaos of the younger teenagers and children, Ivy’s squalling, and the aggrieved looks of the cafe’s staff.
There was something to be said for Thorburn bullheadedness.
“We need Molly out of there,” I said.
“We also need a plan,” Mags said. “I’ve got the salt-soaked rope, but she’s not weak, and she’s aware enough to know we’re trying something, and even to grasp exactly what we’re trying to do.
“She knows about bindings,” I said, “Yeah.”
“She shouldn’t be this clever,” Mags said.
“Molly is absorbing paranoia, anger, and all the trace thoughts that come with the feelings,” I said. “Ghosts are made of that kind of emotional picture.”
“I feel like we’re being tampered with. More than just a prophecy coming to pass.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Second guessing yourself?”
“Just a little,” she said. “Frig.”
“Molly’s going to be prepared,” I said. “You’ll need to be careful.”
“Fuck being careful,” Mags said. “We’re doing this my way.”
“Your-”
“Who’s the biggest shit disturber in there, among all your cousins that’ve lived here?”
“Um. Probably Ellie. Poor impulse control, property damage, petty theft, slept around. Woman with tattoos. Looks like a human weasel.”
Mags was winding a strap around her hand.
“Why?” I asked.
“Need a story.”
I thought of what I’d told Rose. “Can that story involve interrupting what they’re doing?”
“Naturally,” she said.
“Naturally?” I asked. “How’re-
But Mags was already moving, opening the door.
I had to remind myself that the Maggie I’d gotten to know in Toronto wasn’t this person. It was a fake.
And the real person was apparently the type that had to move and act. When push came to shove, and she wasn’t facing down a regret bigger than maybe losing her name, she didn’t give herself a chance to hesitate.
She didn’t hold anything back, either.
“Hey, bitch!” Mags practically bellowed.
Ellie turned. She’d been taking up a booth all by herself, not helping with paperwork or managing kids, lounging.
“What the fuck are you doing back here?” Mags asked.
“I don’t know you,” Ellie said.
“You know me. My bike?”
“I’ve seen a lot of bikes.”
“Wasn’t it you that stole my bike, years back? You bitch.”
“Kid, if you want to get on my bad side…” Ellie warned.
“What? What are you going to do?” Mags asked.
“I’ve fought girls twice your size,” Ellie said.
Mags didn’t hesitate. She stalked forward, Ellie raised her hands defensively-
And Mags shoved her.
It wasn’t the kind of strong that screamed magic. It was the kind of strong where Ellie teetered backward and crashed hard into the wall, just beneath Molly’s ghost.
“And lost?” Mags taunted Ellie.
Molly seemed almost delighted. She hadn’t been fond of Ellie, and the negativity latent in the whole scene… yeah, that wasn’t helping the wraith problem.
Before anyone could stop her, Mags grabbed one of the fat glass salt shakers from the table. She tossed it into the air, caught it with the hand she’d wound the strap around, and hurled it at the wall like she might’ve thrown a fastball.
Molly’s ghost disappeared an instant before the shaker shattered explosively.
The staff had reached Mags, who backed away, pulling her hand away from one grip.
“Let go of me,” Mags said, “Seriously, let go!”
When she was released, she straightened her jacket. She reached into her coat, and pulled out her wallet. “For the damage, and the inconvenience.”
She removed bills, slapping them down onto the raised border between two booths. “Say when.”
She’d slapped out five bills before the manager or cook or whatever had his bearings, stopping her.
“I understand if you want to ban me from the premises,” Mags said. “Sorry for the trouble.”
The cook looked between Mags and Ellie, then at the family, which had undoubtedly caused him no small amount of grief. He pitched his voice low. “No trouble. You can come back, but not while they’re here. For now, out, out.”
Mags nodded.
“And the rest of you, out. Too many headaches, this is my final straw. You stay, but you are not eating? Enough. Come back tomorrow, you can stay so long as you eat.”
Mags strode out with an air of victory. I moved to the exterior, where the window looked out on the street. “There.”
“‘Your way’ involves more violence and destruction than I would’ve thought,” I commented.
“You don’t know the half of it. I’ve used frigging plastic explosive. It’s a casualty of spending too much time around goblins, you get to think like they do.”
“That’s a little scary.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“I like doing things directly, and I did get the ghost to scram.”
“That you did,” I said. “Now we’ve got to find her.”