2.07
Maggie glanced over the books. First Famulus, then Implementum, Demesnes, and then Famulus again.
Rose was watching Maggie, but I had still taken the time to collect the medicine kit and a damp towel and bring everything into the living room with me. More stuff in the way, a more crowded space.
I took my time disinfecting my hand, cleaning it up where I’d stabbed it. The blood had trickled out and into the palm, collecting with the bits of rust and dirt where I’d reached into the trash can.
“Alright,” Maggie said. “You’ve got good stuff, and I admit you’ve got me hooked. You want me to be an unofficial ally, in exchange for free access to your books? I’d be down.”
I glanced at Rose. “Did you do any negotiating in the twenty seconds I was in the bathroom?”
“No negotiating.”
“We didn’t propose anything like that,” I told Maggie.
“Are you trying to pull a fast one on us, Maggie?” Rose asked.
“Nah. I just figured I’d put it out there. See if it got any traction.”
“You said you wouldn’t try anything,” I said.
“No bad intentions in my heart, really, but I’ve gotta get the best deal I can for me.”
I sat there, glaring at her, but she only smiled.
“This is exhausting,” Rose said. “Watching every word you say, watching every word others say…”
I nodded. I felt a bit weary myself. Maybe having company when I was this worn out was a problem.
But an ally was an ally, so to speak. Even if that ally was grubbing for any advantage she could get.
“I guess it’s not so bad when everyone’s not trying to take you out of the picture,” Maggie said.
“Guess not,” I responded. I looked my hand over, and then set to bandaging it. I was collecting a lot of small wounds. The cuts from the bird-skull things hadn’t yet healed, and I had sliced at my fingers once or twice to draw blood.
“You’ve got something I want, I’ve got something you want. So… I can propose another deal. You loan me out some reading material, and I promise not to kill you.”
There was a pause. Maggie looked at me and Rose with a kind of expectant look on her face.
“You still have no bad intentions?” Rose asked.
“Huh?”
“Threatening to kill us if we don’t comply?” Rose asked.
“No! No. I worded that badly. I mean, I’ll take the deal. Agree to the ceasefire you proposed at the meeting.”
“Meaning that on top of the gift of reading material, we’d be giving you the other parts of that deal, with protection from whatever might come out of our grandmother’s books.”
“Darn straight.”
“That doesn’t seem very even,” Rose said.
“Supply and demand, my dear friend in the mirror. You have a demand for not being murdered. I can supply that demand.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I said.
“Why not? Look, you want lots of a product I’m offering, called ‘not being horribly killed’. You want it badly enough that I can raise the price. You benefit, because you get lots of ‘not being horribly killed’, I benefit because, hey, I get stuff.”
“No,” Rose said, “I’m pretty sure the two of us understood that.”
“And, on the plus side, if you’re wanting to put the squeeze on the other guys, then you can get them to panic just a little when you tell them there are only two deals left before they’re outta luck.”
“Three,” Rose said. “If someone wants to take the deal where they can still come after us if they tell us who killed Molly.”
“I forgot about that,” Maggie said. “You won’t have much luck. Couple of the Behaim kids met me at school, told me that they’re going around, talking to everyone and making sure that they weren’t giving you information that might start something none of us want to start. Most people are sworn to secrecy, at this point.”
“Most? What about the others?” Rose asked.
I was sitting on the edge of the couch, elbows on my knees, hunched over. I met Maggie’s eyes. “What about you?”
“The ones who swore to secrecy also agreed to go after the people who blabbed,” she said.
“Did you agree?” I asked. I was getting damn tired of people who didn’t answer the questions they were being asked.
She shook her head. “No. But it doesn’t matter, now, does it? I could tell you what happened, but then I’m probably going to wind up with some rather angry people coming after me.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I get it.”
“We’d do something similar in her shoes,” Rose said.
I grunted noncommittally.
“That’s her stuff, there?” Maggie asked.
I had to raise myself up off the couch a bit to see where she was pointing. The duffel bag and pile of clothes was still on the floor just beneath the arm of the couch.
I collapsed back onto the cushions. “Yep.”
“Didn’t really know her that well. Saw her a few times. She didn’t show at the council meetings until the last month, and I don’t think she was game. Took her longer than it took you guys to realize you can go out and maybe not die.”
“We’ve had escorts, and promises of protection in one way or another,” Rose said.
“Still.”
“Still,” Rose said. “It’s dangerous. We’ve gotten hurt every time.”
“I’ve gotten hurt, you mean,” I said.
“Yes.”
“More than your predecessor did, oddly enough,” Maggie did.
“Did she do any of the practitioner stuff?” Rose asked.
“She did. Yeah. She knew some tricks. Mostly defensive. Warding things off. Knew the essentials of how to deal with every one of the creepy crawlies out there. But knowing what you’re doing doesn’t make life easier when the Others scare the wits out of you, y’know? You don’t think straight, you make mistakes…”