“I agree,” Rose said. “Yeah. Well said.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“So it’s settled. You’ll send the letter, clearly marking it for what it is, so they can’t ignore it. That raises the second point of interest. The anonymous note loses its impact if Blake Thorburn, new to the area, is seen on a security camera, dropping the letter off.”
“I don’t see a camera,” I said.
“Are you looking?” Ms. Lewis asked.
Right. I looked. Connections. Where was attention being devoted?
I couldn’t see anything. Things were unfocused and unclear. I could barely make out the spirits against the gentle snowfall. “I think I’ve spent a bit too much of my personal power. Rose? Can you see?”
“I don’t think so,” Rose said. Too fast a response. I looked down to make sure that the mirror was dangling outside of my jacket.
“How come?” I asked.
“I just can’t. I… don’t think I can see spirits, after all. I was confusing it with something else.”
I frowned. “Need more info than that.”
“…Later. We’ll figure it out?”
“Right.” I was too tired to argue. “Fine, but that still means we have to figure this out. Or we just ignore the cameras and deal with it.”
“You can do it,” Ms. Lewis said. “Take your time, Blake, don’t focus too much on the particulars.”
I wasn’t happy, shouldering the burden here, but I did as she’d said.
Rose’s voice interrupted my observations. “How much longer before you have to go? We can’t take too long or we’ll wind up walking back without you.”
“We can’t,” Ms. Lewis said. “But I did promise I would see you home, as safe as you allowed me to be. I feel confident Blake can get a good grasp of this.”
“But you won’t do it for us,” Rose said. Still talking when I was trying to focus. “You can’t… except you had that box, and you were prepared to do something.”
“I do. I was willing to violate the spirit of one oath to keep the letter of another. I’m glad I didn’t have to.”
I tried to focus on the spirits, letting my vision blur to help ignore the snow. Focus on the things that were rising. I could see little clouds of fog around vents, where buildings were being heated.
Was I looking at it wrong? The snow had its own spirits, as did the vents.
I relaxed a little. The walls had their own spirits. The cold air did. I was trying too hard to see past things, and in the doing, I was missing the forest for the trees.
Taking it all in was easier, when I was as tired as I was.
The world had a pulse of its own. Things flowed. If I let myself get swept up in it, then I naturally saw the various things at play. The direction the wind moved, the temperature, the weather…
Every time I got a grip on what I was sensing, I was already feeling my attention slip to the next. There. Cameras. I could see the focus they were devoting to an area. Almost like spotlights, as if I could see the outline of their field of view. Some more focused than others. A traffic camera here, a static and blurry image there.
I could see the areas people traveled, when the day was at its height. The aftermath, the lingering emotions, almost like the community left a ghost in its wake. A mood.
“Blake.”
I stirred.
“You haven’t been responding. You okay?”
“My vision is swimming,” I said.
“Don’t get too deep,” Rose said. “That’s dangerous. Maybe you’re more vulnerable because you’re tired.”
“I think I am,” I said. “I’m going to turn it off for now. Keep from draining whatever charge is left in the battery, so to speak.”
“Were you successful?” Ms. Lewis asked
“I think I saw it.”
“Then please lead the way,” Ms. Lewis told me.
I did. I didn’t have the benefit of the sight to make out where the cameras were, but I did remember their general locations. I crossed the empty street, tracing a lazy ‘s’ on my way to the library. The drop-off box was similar to a dumpster, only half the size, and had a sign in a plastic sleeve inside, explaining what it was and the pick-up hours.
“May I suggest saying a few words?” Ms. Lewis asked. “Gestures and words can both lend weight to actions. There is always something listening, after all.”
“I’m not up to much,” I said. “I’m feeling pretty drained. Is this usual?”
“No. No it isn’t. But your situation is a unique one.”
“You mean Rose.”
“I mean your relationship to Rose, yes.”
“I have questions,” I said, “But we should get this over with.”
“If you’re not feeling up to it, I can try saying something,” Rose said.
“Sure,” I said.
“Laird declared himself our enemy when we first met, acting against us, misleading us into thinking we had safe passage, and abandoning us. His actions were in accord with the letter of the law, but not the spirit. We now tender our retaliation, in keeping with letter and spirit of law, to the best of our knowledge. Those who are witnessing us, beings of law, justice, and right, help guide this to the right hands.”
She glanced at me.
“Help guide it into the right hands,” I said, feeling just a little lame, that I couldn’t expand on the flowery, stately language.
I dropped the letter into the slot on the side of the book return box.
“Well said, Ms. Thorburn,” the lawyer said.
“Thank you,” Rose replied.
“You just pulled that out of your ass?” I asked.
“I’m not bad when it comes to that stuff,” Rose said.
“Most definitely not,” I said.
“The letter is delivered” Ms. Lewis said. “You’ll want to be returning home, I expect?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I feel like I could sleep for hours. This is the vestige thing, right?”
She smiled, “‘The vestige thing’, yes.”
“Okay,” I said. “Cool. Which raises a few questions I’ve been meaning to ask.”
“Keep in mind I’m here in a teacher capacity, not as your lawyer.”
“Sure,” I said. “But this vestige thing-”
“I can’t tell you the particulars of the deal we made with the late Rose Thorburn.”
“Speaking hypothetically?” I asked.
“I won’t answer questions about a hypothetical situation so close to my real-world knowledge, lest I give up some information I shouldn’t.”
“Okay, speaking generally then, what advantages are there, to having a vestige partner?” To making a close copy of someone? Can you use that to get around contracts?”
“You can.”
“Rose can’t use magic. Is that usual?”
“That’s more of a question of environment. If Rose wanted more details on that, we could start billing you, and see what we could arrange.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “Environment? She’s stuck in the mirror, but she’d have power elsewhere?”