"Jesus Christ," Jackie breathed. She took an involuntary step back, and her hand found the sidearm strapped to her waist. The wooden door had just appeared directly in front of her, set squarely into the gap between the wall and the dumpster. Rachel put a hand on the shorter woman's shoulder, trying to reassure her.
"It's a door to what we call a pocket dimension. It's where we do business." Rachel pulled the door open, revealing the inky black wall within. "It's okay, we can just step right through."
"Speak for yourself," she muttered, but Jackie followed her through the door all the same.
Beyond the black veil, the marketplace was mostly quiet. A few of the stalls around the octagonal street were open, but there was only so much commerce to be had amongst a community of less than a hundred. The only truly important business taking place that day was in a more permanent structure set off to one side. It was a plain light blue portable classroom that had originally been given to the college for overflow classes, but had ended up unused when application rates had declined. Kendra had found a way to acquire it surreptitiously and move it inside the Market for their use. It now served to provide the council a place for business that could not be conducted in the world proper.
"So this is where the drug trade went," Jackie groused, glancing at the tents and the other doors scattered around the place.
"No, no drugs. We keep a close eye on what gets traded," Rachel replied. "Besides, it's not like we had an actual trade in Rallsburg to begin with, unless you count marijuana."
"State doesn't anymore. No reason for me to either."
"When we go in, just hang back and let me talk, all right?" Rachel said as they approached the portable.
"Hey, this is your world. Far as I'm concerned you're in charge. You're an elected official, right?"
"Yes."
"Guess I'm your enforcement arm too, then. Might not be in writing but that's the spirit of the thing, right?"
Rachel smiled. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. Jackie was someone who respected the law, but also someone who knew when it was too slow to adapt to dynamic new situations. She took the steps two at a time and knocked sharply on the door.
Josh Miller answered, a bemused look on her fellow councilor's face. "Rachel? I thought you weren't coming to this one."
"Changed my mind. I needed to bring a guest."
Josh's eyes were wide as dinner plates as he saw who Rachel had in tow. "What are you doing?" he hissed.
"I trust her, and she needs to know what's up. She won't reveal anything she sees here, not even to her deputy." She glanced over her shoulder, and Jackie nodded an affirmative.
Josh shrugged. "Cinza's not gonna like it."
"Cinza knows what's at stake in the town right now. She can live with it. Most of her followers aren't here anyway, right?"
"Still out, last I heard. It's just the Terrible Trio and their new initiate today. Excuse me, the totally unrelated newcomer."
Rachel laughed. "They're still pretending otherwise?"
"Like it's not obvious." Josh grinned. "The way he looks at her, he's a dead ringer for a devoted cult slave." He stood out of the doorway. "Well, come on then."
Rachel stepped inside, Jackie at her heels. The entire room looked round, and Rachel found herself once again at the center of a spotlight. In this case, it was literal, as Cinza had summoned up a beam of light to blind them. Rachel felt Jackie grab at her shoulder to steady herself from the sudden loss of vision.
"Cinza..."
"My own identity is my choice to disclose as I please, but your position does not give you the right to reveal us all at a whim," Cinza said. Irritatingly, she was back to the airy ethereal echo that Rachel detested so much, rather than the genuine voice she'd allowed to slip free around Rachel. Apparently Rachel was special somehow.
"I vouch for the sheriff. She will keep absolute confidence of anyone she sees in this room today, except in the case of a committed legal crime." Rachel paused. "Someone on the other half of the summit should begin to understand us, Cinza, if we have any hope to emerge successfully. Who better in this town than the sheriff?"
She could hear murmuring across the room, between Cinza and her two seldom-heard associates, as well as Josh and whomever else had attended. Rachel tried to play back the brief glimpse she'd gotten, but Cinza's reaction had been too quick. Thankfully, she didn't need to, as the light vanished only a minute later—sucked away like a switch had been flipped.
Jackie let out a deep breath, rubbing at her eyes.
"There should have been no pain or damage," Cinza called.
"You're good, girl. I'm just trying to make sure I believe what I'm seeing," the sheriff answered. She fell heavily into one of the chairs set around the blank whiteboard, watching the room with an exhausted expression. "Just go on and do your thing, don't mind me."
Cinza turned to Rachel. "We hadn't expected you to attend, since you already cleared him. Has something changed?"
"No, nothing. Proceed as usual."
"Did you want to run the show, Rach?" Josh asked. Rachel winced at the shortened name, but shook her head. "Do you have one of the copies, at least? I may have left mine at home and was about to run to grab it."
She sighed and opened her bag. It only took a minute to dig through the contents and find one of the page copies the Gods had made for them. It was the very same one she took from Jeffrey Rosenberg only a week prior, in fact. She'd begun to suspect that Cinza's people were responsible for luring him to that particular copy, and she'd made sure she kept it on her just in case an opportunity like this arose.
As she handed it directly to Cinza, Rachel noticed a brief flash of recognition cross her eyes, though the other girl hid it well. Rachel took the seat next to Jackie feeling triumphant. One mystery solved.
"Help me out here, Rachel. What's going on exactly?" Jackie whispered, while Cinza took the page to the other side of the room and handed it to Josh.
"This is awakening," Rachel replied, keeping her voice just as low. It didn't matter much if they made noise, but Rachel didn't want to seem like she was intruding more than necessary on the moment. It was a profound experience that could only happen once in a lifetime.
"You mean, this is how..." Jackie started, then understanding struck her. "You told Rowan—"
"We lied."
Jackie slumped forward in her chair, pressing her hands to her forehead. "Rachel, you're making my life insane. Anyone can do this?"
"Not exactly, but close enough. So you see why you need to know this information."
"No shit," she sighed.
"We can control it though. You can't go through with it without having access to a few things. So we have an approval process."
"And you clear everyone who goes through. How are they vetted?"
Josh examined the page briefly, making sure it was intact (or as intact as it could be—they still hadn't ever found a complete page of the book, nor did Rachel ever expect to). He then handed it over to Nate Price, the individual they'd cleared for the day. The rich young heir of the town logging fortune had actually almost been cleared to awaken a long time past, but the incident with Natalie and Robert Harrison had given Rachel enough reason to forestall the vote. After he'd shown enough common sense to understand his wrongdoing, she'd reluctantly voted in favor once again, before she began to be seen as overly controlling.
"We interview them, mostly. Make sure they seem psychologically fit to handle something like magic. Beyond that, we try not to stand in the way too much. We're an elected council, but like I said before, it's for a group of very private individuals. No one would look too kindly on us halting awakenings for petty or personal reasons."
"That seems like it could snowball out of control."
Rachel nodded. "It's always a danger, but there's a few basic laws that help prevent that. For one, magic can't really be used directly on another person. The amount of damage someone can do to other human beings is limited."
"Thank God."
"Besides that, we've had a few incidents in the past involving people trying to assert themselves over the Council. None succeeded, and everyone still here knows what happens when you try to upset the status quo."
"That can't last," Jackie said darkly.
"No, it can't," Rachel agreed. "Which is why I brought you here. It's time we start integrating ourselves into the rest of the world, one small step at a time. It'll be much safer for everyone in the long run if we can establish a proper community."
"Gotcha." The sheriff sat up straight, taking a greater interest in the ritual happening in front of her. "Is that the mayor's nephew over there? Mason?"
"Yes. He's one of the smartest among us. Helped define a lot of the rules on how magic works."
"Never liked that kid."
"Why's that?"
"Condescending little dick, always trying to tell me how to do my job."
Rachel smiled. That was something she could relate to. "He does that to you too, eh?"
Jackie raised an eyebrow. "Careful, girl, your Canadian is showing."
She laughed. "I only grew up there. I was born in California."
"Even worse."
Josh had finished explaining to Nate how to proceed. He stood back to give Nate some space. A cushioned chair directly behind him was the only thing within a few meters. Nate set the page on the lectern and started to read it aloud.
"Abrec tes minnear—"
Nate immediately coughed, and had to look away and clear his throat a few times.
"Is he all right?" Jackie asked with concern.
"Yes. This happens to everyone. He just needs to continue reading it aloud."
"He doesn't sound all right."
"They're just words," Rachel said dismissively. "We're not even sure they actually have any meaning. You don't have to say anything to cast spells. It helps some people to focus, or they just think it sounds cool, but it's not required."
"And anyone can just read these and learn magic?"
"No, not anyone. It has to be from the original book, or one of the special copies that were made for us. You could put the words online and it wouldn't do a thing."
"This feels like demonic shit here, Rachel. You know how it looks, right? You're gonna have all the churches up in arms on this one. Just be ready for the storm when it comes."
Nate began again, and he made it through on the second attempt. Rachel was a little surprised. It wasn't unheard of, but it was certainly somewhat uncommon to make it through the first paragraph in only two tries. Very few failed on the third try, however, and once the first paragraph was cleared it was impossible to stop.
It was potentially deadly to stop.
Nate's voice began to accelerate. His voice dropped in tone and the words began to run together. It quickly became impossible to comprehend anything he said. They'd once attempted to record the words and play them back more slowly, but the recordings only produced raw noise, devoid of anything meaningful.
Jackie clutched Rachel's wrist. "Jesus, is he all right?"
"He's fine, Jackie. Just wait."
Everyone in the room was standing back a few paces. It was an unwritten rule to give a respectful distance to Grey-eyes and not intrude on her work. They all knew the consequences if she failed to appear, but not one of them could recall a single instance where there had been even the slightest doubt that she would complete her task.
Nate's voice began to choke up, as it became clear he was beginning to run out of oxygen. Rachel took stock of the room rather than watch the unpleasant spectacle. Cinza and her trio were excited, but Mason looked vaguely concerned. Josh checked his watch, bored as usual.
Abruptly, Nate's voice cut off, precisely on time. He fell back onto the armchair, gasping as he tried to voice words he couldn't see. Rachel remembered the feeling and shuddered. It was a rare case where she wished she didn't have perfect memory. She hadn't managed to forget before she'd made her mind permanent. Rachel never wanted to feel the sensation of being cut off from the book again, trying to read words that had been torn away.
Nate continued to gasp and choke on the chair, letting out a groan with the little breath he had left. Josh checked his watch again, his brow furrowed. Cinza's group still watched patiently, eagerly awaiting their savior.
"Rachel..." Jackie started.
"Wait." Despite her reassuring tone, Rachel was starting to worry. Where is she?
Nate's face was beginning to shift blue. Rachel started to rise from her chair, and Jackie was following close behind her. Mason started forward as well, his expression grim.
Josh leapt forward, landing next to Nate and putting pressure on his chest. Without hesitation he started trying to breathe life back into the boy. Rachel and Mason were with him a moment later. Cinza faltered, confusion and fear stamped on her face.
She appeared, right in their midst, sitting just to Nate's side. Her soft grey eyes flashed with alarm. In an instant she had Nate's hand clasped in her own, while she began whispering something none of them could hear.
His mouth began moving once more. She waved two of her fingers forward in a quick flicking motion, and Rachel felt air rush past her shoulder and straight into Nate's throat. His lungs began to expand immediately. With more swift motions, the god sitting at Rachel's side sent air flowing in and out of Nate, fueling him with oxygen before he passed out completely.
In only a few moments he began to utter the remainder of the page, finally progressing past the gap. Josh fell back gasping. They backed away to give Grey-eyes and Nate the space to finish. Rachel rejoined Jackie on the wall of the room, planting herself back in the chair.
"See? Nothing to worry about," Rachel said, breathing heavily. Her heart was a pounding drum in her chest.
"That wasn' normal, right?"
"No. Something went wrong. It's fine now though."
"Who is that?"
"Later." Grey-eyes was just about done, and Rachel wanted to try something. She rose and made her way around the room to face her.
She was tiny compared to Rachel—more than a full foot shorter, putting her just barely taller than Cinza, the shortest in the entire community. Still, Rachel was intimidated just being in the same room. There was a distinct aura of power about her, and it was something Rachel wanted to investigate while she had the chance. She composed herself, then let her gaze shift into her other sight as Will had taught her.
The connections in the room began to filter into her sight, hazy lines draped between every occupant of the room. Rachel was bombarded by the stronger connections in the room. There was a strange triangle between Cinza and her two lieutenants, with strong lines connecting all three as well as a strange multi-faceted web that somehow pulled them all together. A line was drawn from Rachel herself to Josh, to Jackie, and to Mason—her three friends and allies in this room. The usual faint but thick line trailed off into the distance, connecting her to Will wherever he might be at that moment. Rachel touched it briefly for the warmth, then tore her gaze away to the one she'd not yet examined.
She felt like she might go blind.
There were countless lines draped off Grey-eyes, trailing away in every direction imaginable. Rachel had never seen such a thick bundle of connections pouring out of a person. She tried to look closer, and for the briefest moment Rachel saw something strange.
The connections were threadbare and indistinct—very unlike most of the ones she examined. A proper connection was like a flowing loop, continuously rolling through the air and bounding back and forth between individuals. It might flow much stronger in one direction, if a relationship wasn't properly mutual, but there was virtually always a return flow of some kind.
Grey-eyes had no returning flows. She wasn't properly connected to anyone, but she was linked to everyone. It was shocking, but Rachel didn't have time to think about it. The moment she looked more closely at the girl, those sad eyes snapped up to meet her own.
Rachel immediately dropped back into normal vision. Grey-eyes' expression was fierce.
"What are you doing?" she asked. She had risen to her feet, while Nate spluttered back to life below her. She was wearing simple clothes, just blue jeans and a dark grey jacket with a rumpled t-shirt underneath, and her appearance was plain and unremarkable, but Rachel had never been more terrified in her life.
Grey-eyes never spoke.
"I..." Rachel started. She had no idea what to say. She was too afraid to even take a single step backward. What was she thinking, trying to spy on a god?
You want to make the world a better place, and this girl is your best shot at it.
Rachel summoned up all the courage she could muster and forced out five simple words. "I want to help you."
"What?"
With that one word, the entire room was stunned into silence. No one expected her to actually answer Rachel's request. Grey-eyes never talked to anyone beyond their awakening. Everyone knew that.
"I want to help you."
"You were trying to spy on my life," she said. Her tone wasn't accusatory. She was stating a fact.
Rachel nodded. "We don't know anything about you, but you've done so much for us. I want to return the favor."
Grey-eyes shook her head, her messy brown hair flying wildly. "I'm doing what has to be done."
"Because we'd die without you, right?"
"Yes."
Rachel took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. "Back at the summit, you—"
Grey-eyes threw up an arm, stopping Rachel mid-sentence. She saw the rest of the room take a step forward out of the corner of her eye, but her gaze couldn't leave the grey-eyed girl. It took a moment for Rachel to realize what she'd done, as the Market was already a very quiet place without the background ambience of wind or nature around them—but as Josh's mouth opened and closed without a sound she understood.
"That was a private conversation," Grey-eyes said quietly.
"I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "It's okay. You wanted to talk. I guess this is as good a time as any." She made a twisting motion with her hand, and a ripple of light moved through the air in a sphere around them. The rest of the room seemed filtered somehow, as if through sunglasses. "They can't see or hear us anymore. What did you want to talk about?"
Rachel was taken aback. She'd wanted this meeting for so long, she hadn't expected it to actually come true today. She'd only leapt at the opportunity after Grey-eyes had been so delayed in her arrival, and been apparently distracted by the medical emergency.
The girl looked away from Rachel, staring determinedly at the wall. Rachel wasn't sure how to react to that. Was she bored? What was Rachel supposed to say?
"Is there any way we can help with awakening people?" She'd finally settled on the topic most immediately relevant, what with the still-recovering Nate now in the corner of the room being examined by the sheriff. Jackie was eyeing Rachel and Grey-eyes with suspicion, but thankfully Rachel seemed to have imposed upon her the importance of inaction for the time being.
"Not really, no. I wish you could. But you'd have to know the Grimoire like I know it. And, well... that's impossible now."
"Because it was destroyed?"
"Yeah..." The girl clasped her hands together, twiddling her thumbs. Rachel watched closely, expecting some kind of magic, but she was still just staring at the corner of the room. For a moment, her face turned a faint shade of red before it immediately shifted back to its normal pale.
Realization struck her. Grey-eyes was embarrassed.
"Are you all right?"
"Huh?" She looked up, startled. "I mean, yeah, I'm fine."
"You took so long to get here..."
"That was... my bad. I lost track of time." She looked over at Nate again and grimaced. "I've never been that late before."
"Hey, it's okay. He's gonna be fine. You got here in time," Rachel said, trying to sound comforting. She felt absurd. Here she was—someone who could barely perform the simplest spells most days—and she was trying to comfort someone who'd teleported into the middle of an alternate dimension and subsequently given them perfect privacy in the middle of the room on a whim.
"Thanks, Rachel," she answered, and for the briefest moment Rachel thought she might smile—but this was Grey-eyes. Her expression was perpetually lonely and guarded. "That means a lot."
"Yeah." Rachel took a step toward her, and the girl didn't recoil. "Still, I wish I could do more than that. There has to be something I can help with, isn't there?"
"I... I don't know. You're the leader, Rachel, not me. I should be asking you that."
Rachel felt her chest swell with pride. "Can you help us find someone?"
She looked away again. "I can. But I don't know if I should."
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, I'm trapped. It's like I'm balancing two glasses of water on opposite ends of a stick, right?" She flicked a finger, and an illusion of that very image appeared between them. "I can go a bit out to one side, but then everything tips." The board began to tilt, and one of the glasses began to spill. Water cascaded out and faded away just before hitting the ground. "So I run to the other side, and everything's normal again, until I overdo it and it spills the other way."
"I'm not sure I follow."
"Spills are bad, but the water can be refilled. It's fixable, just unpleasant. If I go too far though, it won't just spill. It'll break." She let the illusionary glass fall and shatter on the ground.
Rachel jumped. She'd never seen such a perfect illusion, nor one with accompanying sound. It was startlingly realistic. Cinza would give a lot to pull that off.
"You're saying if you support us, you might set off this... other side."
"Yeah." Grey-eyes fluttered her fingers briefly, and the illusion vanished in a puff of smoke.
"But this balancing act, is it really any better?"
"Do you remember that night?"
Rachel nodded. Grey-eyes didn't need to be more specific. They all remembered that night.
"That's the balance. I keep it, they don't come back."
"But they have, haven't they?" Rachel asked.
"What?"
Rachel was taken aback. She assumed Grey-eyes already knew. "A few nights ago, Cinza was attacked."
"She was?" Grey-eyes shot a glance at the trio in the corner, still watching the sphere with wide eyes. The red-haired girl was holding Cinza's hand tight, clinging to her side, while the young man behind them just stood in awe. Rachel wondered what they actually saw, if they couldn't see inside.
"Your cult isn't very well-liked around here, but—"
"It's not my cult."
"You don't like the label?"
Grey-eyes shook her head. "If it makes them happy, they can do whatever they want. But I didn't do anything."
"I'm sorry. Cinza's people then. They were attacked by golems of fire out in the woods. I don't know anyone else who can do something like that, do you?"
"No..." she trailed off. "But, he didn't enter the town. I'm sure of it."
"Omega had an accomplice. Someone was controlling the golems for him."
"I... guess that's possible. But they'd have to be—well, they weren't magical. 'Awakened', you guys call it, right?"
"So we're looking for someone who can't use magic, but can order golems around?" Rachel sighed. "That doesn't exactly make it easier."
Grey-eyes frowned. "I... I shouldn't say, but... Natalie. Natalie is the key."
"Natalie Hendricks?"
"Yes." Grey-eyes shifted awkwardly from one foot to another. "She's seen them out in the woods. Talk to her."
Puzzle pieces were clicking into place. The men Natalie had seen—her father and Omega? Natalie's affinity for nature and the animals out in the woods would lead her to them. Rachel was certain of that now. But... what was she supposed to do when she found them? And why was Natalie's father with him? Did Omega kill him too?
"I'm sorry, I can't stay any longer. Someone else needs me," Grey-eyes said abruptly.
"Another awakening?" Rachel asked.
"No, no. Just... something I have to do." She brushed her hair away from her face. "Look, this... I shouldn't say this, but—" She cleared her throat, then looked Rachel directly in the eye. "Send Rika out of town. Get her away from here."
"You can see the future?" Rachel asked eagerly.
"No, of course not. It hasn't happened yet." Grey-eyes shook her head again. "Her, anyone she's close to, whoever. Just get them out of town."
The sound of heavy breathing returned to Rachel's ears. She looked round, and saw faces snapping up to look at her. Grey-eyes had vanished, just as suddenly as she'd appeared.