The World Which Is

Chapter 35

"Okay, but I still don't see how that affects me. You said you're coming with me to Kansas City. You're a member, so I can come in with you like I did here."

"What about on the way back? I'm not making any promises I'll return with you. No, it's not a threat. It's just how things are. I've never been to that city. There's bound to be ruins around there to explore, creatures to fight in them. Relics to find and bring back."

"Okay, but I'm going to be higher level by then. And I'm going to know the road, the places that are safe to stop, since I doubt there's going to be one of those clubs each night."

Brandon looks at me like he can't fathom what I'm talking about. "Okay, let's try this. What's the big deal if you don't tell Marygold?"

"I haven't earned my place here. Not that I'm looking to earn one. I told you once I deliver the letter, I'm going home."

"To be a guard. Yes, I got that. So if you're never going to take advantage of it, what's the problem with just letting it slide by? It's not like anyone is going to raise a stink, except Xander, maybe, but no one pays him any attention. People don't go over the list annually to see if everyone has done enough to merit staying on it. You need to screw up pretty bad to be taken off."

"Then no one will care if I'm not on it."

I'm pretty sure Brandon covers up a groan by running his hand over his face. "Are you for real?"

I narrow my eyes. "Why does it matter to you?"

For a moment, I think he'd going to make a joke. The side of his lips quiver, but he shakes his head. "No one's that good of a person."

I snort. "I'm not that good. I disobeyed my dad when we got a monster wave and went to help defend it. I snuck out of town. I let my dad think I'd gotten farmer as a class, instead of standing up to him and just telling him what happened."

I think he's amused, but his expression turns serious as I narrow my eyes further at him.

"Okay, then, how about if you need to protect someone?"

"What?"

"Something tells me that you're going to have an easy time picking up lost orphans and people who are at the end of their ropes. You might even end up with someone in actual danger, like what drew you to that dead end. What if someone's hunting the person you're protecting? You just going to let them sleep in any house offering beds in whatever city you come by?"

"I don't know. Does that really happen? Orphans are left out to fend for themselves?" Dad is always going on about how dangerous the world is, how people outside of Court are no better than animals. I always figured it was just to scare me.

"I am exaggerating," Brandon admits. "You don't get out much, do you? But the point is, there are bad people out there on top of monsters. You met a few of them already. I don't think you're going to walk away the next time it happens. The clubs are safe places. If you bring someone in, they will be protected from just about anyone short of the city's law enforcement."

"What about another city's?"

Brandon shakes his head. "A city's rule ends at its border. It's why there's such a thriving business in bounty hunting. Cities can pay good money for the return of an escaped criminal. But it doesn't matter to the club in another city. Unless that person does something there to get them evicted. We will all stand between them and who's after them. Between who you brought to be protected and who is after them."

"I didn't know the club did that," I say softly.

He chuckles. "You didn't know anything about the club before I told you, so don't feel too bad about it."