Care

I exit the building and take a deep breath. Looking around to the ice cream shop across the street and taking in the smell of fresh coffee to clear the nose. It's not so much the stereotypical "I Hate Hospitals" (even if I don't like them any more than your average joe) but more the air smells better outside. Better than there, I mean. Not the hospital.

It has taken being outside of Arbuck to really notice. There's a scent in Arbuck. Around the swamp. A swamp scent that is more than just the stink of the Waukepsie. Something is wrong with the oxygen in that place.

I spot the kid that came with me. "Billy" was his name. The love of Lanette's life. Not quite what I expected. He's a big guy. All around. Tall. Fat. Takes up a lot of mental space. You can picture him played by Brian Blessed in the movie adaptation of his life, only Blessed had best dial it up to eleven. For all that, he is currently slouching on a bench near the Center's entrance and looking more like a kid than Lanette ever has.

He had shoved his larger-than-life frame into the backseat of my car while his friend, suffering numerous burns and smelling like a hippie sweatshop, got the front. In the back, Billy held a bleeding Lanette and then started to shout as she lost consciousness. In a rare occurrence, I activated my car's official Order lights. Blue and purple flashes in a complex code that is impossible for vehicles without the correct sigils to replicate. In theory, at least.

We made it to Wales in under a quarter of an hour, moving at speeds that folks not me would have found it tricky to drive. I was so dialed in it felt like terrible slow motion.

He came in with me as I used my ident sigils to sub for a lack of a badge. Wales is more The GLOW than back home, practically. It's good to be taken seriously, again. I informed staff we needed to treat this as an official extension of an important investigation. Then I pinged Nurse to have him start processing all the paperwork to keep anyone, including the local branch of the Order, from poking too hard at the teens.

By the time I had filled in everything needed, including my bank account numbers for payment, Billy had vanished. Lanette is being treated as Intensive Care because she took aether damage from an unknown source. Jayson, the tall and thin burn victim, was conscious but they have put him under to start figuring out skin grafts. Neither are up for visitors so I am not holding anything against Billy.

If he wants in, I can likely pull some strings.

A few folks are ignoring the "NO SMOKING WITHIN 10 METERS" sign by the door. Billy is staring at them with a look I cannot fully decipher.

"If you want, I can tell them to leave," I say to him. Fishing for a proper ice breaker.

He looks at me and shakes his head. Doesn't say anything.

"They will be ok. Wales is high up the aethertech chain. Better than central. Almost as good as the Gulf Districts. Good doctors work here. And I'm covering the costs."

Billy nods but just keeps looking at me.

"Look, kid...I..."

"You're the agent that Maria was talking about. The first Maria. The hot one. Not 'Mer'."

I look at him because only some of those words make sense, but the important one sticks out.

"You know Maria? Madame Sinister?"

Billy's face contorts a bit, like he is digging up a distant memory.

"Fuck. That damned house did something to me. Yes, Maria. She's in trouble! I should have done something sooner but my brain... Someone named 'Claus' snagged her at the bonfire."

I tell Billy to slow down and tell me the facts. He does. They are not good. Maria picked Jayson and Billy up. They went to the bonfire to meet up with some associates of hers (Billy is still not quite sure why). Only Maria vanished. The bonfire exploded. Jayson got terrible burned. The Center had mentioned a lot of other burn victims recently. Several who did not survive. All from a bonfire that had been rigged to blow. Currently being investigated by local police.

At the time I had no good answers as to why Jayson had so many third and second degree burns. Now I know.

Billy is not really sure who Claus is. He had been in a place called Thornrose with other people part of something called the Terranauts. The bonfire had been a celebration for fucking over the fireworks show. Also a front for various people to meet up. Only Claus, presumably, based on something "Erza" said, had set off a bomb.

Claus being the person that presumably has Maria. Unless she died in the fire. I'm not all in on trusting her or anyone from this general area so I resist the urge to go in and give her description.

Also someone named "Burg." That person is also missing after the fire. Erza was distraught, Billy said, at least until she got to the house. Then she was just moody. Whatever it was they were supposed to be doing, it just went out the window. Everyone just started sitting around, playing with toys.

I tap the sigils. "Nurse, can you find anyone named 'Claus' that might be associated with either this region or with something called the Terranauts."

Nurse has no good leads. I think a bit and then suggest he try scanning the Thread Matrix around the bonfire, see if he can figure out connections.

That will take a moment so I turn back to Billy.

"Let me partner work on that for a second. I need to talk to Erza, do you think..."

"Ow, Fuck!" Billy shouts as he slaps a hand down on his pants leg. A few seconds later he snatches it back and I can see blood. The next bit gets fucky, as the kids say. Because coming out of his pocket is He-Man. The doll. A moving one like some bit of aethertech. Only the look on its face is angry. Angry enough you can feel the emotion. And instead of a little plastic sword, it has a knife. And it's looking right at me.

While I am deeply confused and Billy is shouting, loudly, in pain, the figure jumps down and scurries on its plastic feet to the group of smokers, now looking to stare at us and our commotion. It gets to a young, red-headed woman and stabs its blade into her foot. She hisses and looks down and then looks up and bolts right towards us.

"Billy, heads..."

"...up!" I spin quickly out of the woman's way and punch her as relatively gently as you can punch a possessed person in the back of the knees. She crumbles and strikes her head.

He-Man makes no noise as it stabs one of the woman's friends — a black man in his thirties — in the back of the calf and now it is his turn to charge towards me. Only Billy jumps to block...

...and tackles the guy down to the ground. The man is struggling against Billy's larger frame. Looking back to the doll, it has taken this opportunity to climb the final smoker's — same red hair as the woman, so likely a brother or family — pants and shirt and now a third human arrow is shot at me. Like the woman, he proves no difficulty to out pace but I make a grab for the doll instead of taking it out him.

The man blinks a few times and then runs to the woman and starts checking on her. The guy under Billy starts shouting for Billy to get off of him.

The doll, though? It begins wailing loudly like a siren. People are coming out of the coffee shop by the hospital and staring. A police officer on his scrying glass in front of the station starts running over.

"Billy," I say, surprising myself at the calm tone of my own voice, "I really hate Florida."

By Way of Explanation

The dark-haired woman in doctor whites taps on the glass and He-Man lets out another wail, then scampers back. She giggles and turns around. Behind her, several well-cared for fish tanks show off a variety of fresh- and saltwater fish. One that had been emptied is currently, along with a heavy briefcase weighed down by books for a lid, being used to trap the possessed action figure.

The knife was confiscated but since Billy swears he had no knife in his pocket, I can't rule out the option that the damned demon doll can materialize the things at a whim.

Just imagine what this can do the local kitchenware economy.

The woman was introduced to me as "Bev" and has drifted over from the Center for reasons I cannot ascertain. Mostly to talk to the chubby-faced police captain by all indications. Said police captain now opening up a bottle of scotch and — without offering any to Billy, Bev, or myself — is pouring himself a glass. On the desk beside him is an unsmoked cigar. Pacifier for adult male.

"Uncle Richie!," Bev scolds, "Your medical doctor said you were to cut back!"

"You are my medical doctor, dear."

"Exactly!" She takes the glass from him and starts drinking it herself.

"Wait," I say, "Richie? You are Police Captain Richard Ramirez? Like the Night Stalker?"

Bev and "Richie" look at me and stay quiet rather that provide more information and risk further insult. I'm frustrated that I am here but also playing nice. In the complex hierarchy of The GLOW, agents and up tend to outrank local police, but we try to not step on too many toes. At least the agents do not. Field Psychics would have already commandeered this entire precinct. And witches? Well, most people would have picked a different place to be altogether. Including me.

I've met one witch that I liked and I had to do some bad things to protect her and her husband, but that's a different story.

"That's a hell of a thing," Captain Ramirez says, thumbing back towards the tank.

I have no real good answer so I just nod.

"And it was in your pocket, Mr. Lug?"

Billy has been oddly quiet all afternoon and I'm getting confused. I get the feeling that this is out of character for him. Sure his girlfriend is in ICU and his friend is in an induced coma, and another person he met has possibly been kidnapped (or gone off with a very bad person), but I would have readily profiled Billy as the sort to stay loud until he figured it out.

Billy, like me, just nods.

"Look, you two, just think of this from my perspective. I got an Order Agent with no badge and a teenager who, by his own admission, left something called 'The Farm' and was at the bonfire where ten people died last night. Mr. Lug had a doll in his pocket he said he picked up from Thornrose which has been condemned for twenty-plus years. And that doll seems to have manifested a knife and stabbed three people with it, all who then went on a rampage against an Order Agent. You see things like this often, Agent Blue?"

"Frankly, yes."

"Well, I don't. The woman, Cynthia DeWilt, had been admitted to the Center. He brother, Gerald, and her boyfriend, Roland Spritz, are both being looked at. The boyfriend is ranting about wanting to press charges. Convinced you just attached Ms. DeWilt. Now, the cameras back up your story and I am frankly not in the mood to be questioning Order Agents. Paperwork is involved. Speaking of...," he reaches over to try and take the glass from Bev but she slaps his hand. He then picks up the cigar and starts patting in his pockets but she takes that as well. He just sighs.

"...speaking of, we have multiple casualties rooted to us from near Gaston related to the bonfire. Bev?"

She pretend puffs on the cigar a few seconds and then lists the numbers. "We have twenty-four admits. Nine DOA. One dead within an hour. Four unresponsive and likely to add to the tally. Four more who have been downgraded from Critical to general admission. Six able to walk out on their own legs, half with minimal painkillers."

"Now we add another to the mark, brought in by you shortly before the attack. Which means there were others. Were there others, William?"

"Billy...," he says, still in quiet mode. His heard and fingers slowly turning widdershins. Like he is trying to remember something.

"...Billy. Were there others? Injured, I mean."

Billy stops his slow rotation and seems to give something some thought. He looks at me like he is trying to figure out my masterplan and I have bad news for the kid. I just shrug and point. Assuming he's not about to say the words "FINLEY ESTEVAN" out loud, I'd prefer to be above board while not a suspect.

"Claus. That mean anything."

"Santa?," the chemically struggling Police Captain says, then laughs at his own joke.

"No, only...I don't think so. Could be a code name. The people I was with said he did something to the fire. I was only there for a short time, like I said. But Claus did something. I don't know why."

"Can you describe him?" Now Mr. Police Captain has out a notebook and is taking down notes. Bev is taking sips of scotch and taking it all in. She looks annoyingly amused.

Billy shakes his head. "But he is with someone I got a good look at. Maria? About her age," pointing at Bev, "and same color hair, only curly. Tattoos. Dark skin. Chain smokes. Looks like she could whip anyone and everyone in a bar fight."

"This Maria is an accomplice?"

"No. Maybe. She was near Claus when the explosion happened. Only I heard her scream. I think she was kidnapped. Along with someone called Burg or Borg or something."

"Kidnapping is a serious charge, son."

"So is setting a bunch of hippies on fire, Captain," I interject. I can feel him wanting to discredit Billy but like Lanette the boy has decent instincts.

"Now, look here, Agent Blue..."

"I'm not trying to get in the way of your investigation. I'm sure you are nearly there with solving what happened at the bonfire," which is my way of saying that I know damned well that Ramirez has likely avoided filling out any paperwork he hasn't had to which means he has likely declared it a non-issue from the start, "but some force has just attacked two people related to the Order and there are other things afoot that I am not at liberty to discuss so I need to..."

"Agent Blue, I got her," Billy shouts, back to his normal volume levels. I say as a mark of pride that of the three adults in the room, I'm the only who didn't jump. From the corner of my eye, I see Bev laughing to herself as she licks scotch off her hand.

"Got...who?"

"I...um. Madame Sinister." He gives a nod of his head towards the police captain.

"Ok, we're going, Captain Ramirez."

"Now, look here, Agent Blue. Mr. Lug. You have to appreciate that..."

Billy stands up and says, "You. Are. Letting. Us. Go," in a voice I recognize as heavily powered by Soulburn. The kid is strong. I don't think strong enough beat me, but I see Ramirez's face suddenly go slack and his lips move a second. Bev is turning to look from her "Uncle" to Billy.

"Sure, sure, you are free to go. Godspeed, Agent."

As Ramirez turns to look at his fish tank, I grab Billy by the shoulder and pull him to the door.

I glance back to see Bev taking another sip of the scotch and she gives me a little wave. Then we are out the door and walking straight back to my car before whatever compulsion Billy just summoned snaps.

"Ok, Billy, tell me where I am going."

"We."

"Absolutely not. Look at what happened to Lanette. I made a mistake and..."

"We..."

I feel his damned compulsion almost work. I again underestimated him. Too bad for him he's trying to psychically hijack a person who regularly fails to follow order as an MO. I move fast...

...and am behind him. I cough and he turns. I could have gone more aggressive on him but I can't really bring myself to attack him or even really challenge whatever young adult bullshit he has going on that made him think that was a good idea.

"I understand things are rough right now but if you do that again, I leave you behind so hard you will never catch up to me. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, if you are gungho to get a bed next to Lanette. We can discuss it. Get in the damned car."

Torey Makes a Phone Call

Torrey has been a good boy, today. He sat quietly, waiting. After Darel dropped him off, he let himself into his room and just sat on the bed watching TV. Only neither Billy nor Jayson showed up. No notes. Agent Blue and Lanette are gone, too. He walked to a service station and got snacks. Then, around dinner time, he walked down to a local burger joint and got himself some supper.

While eating it, he got a feeling. A strong feeling but not a good one. He's been chewing on that feeling for the last few minutes.

He knows what he needed to do. Of the four, he is the one best suited to doing this. Jayson would say its too much work. Billy would have a plan. Lanette would say they couldn't trust them.

Torey, though, Torey likes to help and likes to do what is right.

He picks up the phone in the room and thinks for a moment before putting it back down. Wiping his face he heads down to the lobby. Guy behind the counter is a young guy like him. Turns out his name is Roman. From Romania. Maybe it's a joke. Torey can't tell. Roman has an accent but it could be French for all he knows.

The two hit it off. Torey fishes a little with a little flirting. Roman takes the bait. That feels good. Torey did not really flirt back on The Farm. Last time he flirted, he ended up helping a gangster steal some electronics. Thinking he was helping. The good kind of helping. Not the bad kind.

After a bit he gets two things from Roman. A phone number that Roman looks up on his scrying glass. And a date.

Torey walks to the lobby phone and stares for a moment. It's the kind that takes a payment card. All he has is cash. Roman laughs and teases and uses his own card. Torey winks at him and then, settling all the butterflies in his stomach, dials a number.

"Lamarkian Order. Wales Office. Agent Daniels speaking."

"Hello, I'd like to report myself from running away from the Farm. We were trying to find something called the Forked Tongue. Agent Johnny Blue is involved. I think he is in trouble..."