Scott's internal phone rang; he absented himself for a brief conversation with his henchman. "Excuse me, Newton, would you mind going up and visiting Dawn?"
    "The cat's not going to do what you ask him," I informed him.
    Scott picked him up and removed him from the room with a protesting yowl.
    "Hey!"
    "I just got a call from Felix, who's telling me that there's a chance that Tybalt's tattoo is magic, not only lets him take on cat abilities but possibly gives the ability to see through cats."
    "I'll put him in his carrier," I agreed immediately.
    "Water's supposed to weaken it," he added. "So being out on the island could help. But that's why I just schlorked him up to Dawn's room."
    "I have never trusted that little...." Phoenix Talon growled.
    "The cat is perfectly innocent," I pointed out. "That would explain how he knows where Phoenix Talon is, there's stray cats all over the bloody city."
    "Which gives us some ideas of what he might be able to do, but not anything specific, because we don't have anybody we can ask," Scott mused. "I was thinking about maybe calling down to Lancaster, seeing if I can get in contact with the Swordbearers. At least they've got a couple of magicians on their team."
    "It's worth a shot," Phoenix Talon agreed. "I wish Chandler was here."
    "I keep checking his empty lot with a park in it.... There's no house. I've got a half dozen places where they're normally found, the names of the thirty or so guys that have actually been arrested wearing gang colors."
    "Are any of them in jail?"
    "Not presently. There's an estimate that there's a hundred members in this, or better," he reminded us.
    "That's a lot," I commented.
    "We need to take one alive," Talon mused darkly. "Ask some questions."
    "You really need to rephrase that statement," Scott suggested on behalf of the rest of us.
    I leveled a finger at Talon. "I don't want to go through this shit again. I want to be very clear about that." No more courtrooms.
    "Anything that happens will happen as a legitimate, unfortunate event," he replied calmly. I resolved to keep an eye on him.
    He did have a point; we need more information. The four of us will go stalking incognito tonight, try to find someone to ask some questions of.
    Gently.
    "Are they going to be staying here for the time being?" I asked Talon, glancing at the floor.
    "Yeah."
    "Maybe we should drag Albert back over here." He can defend the place in case the Alley Cats try anything here.
    The main phone rang. Scott answered it, passed it to Thunderbolt. "Phone for you."

[Aside: Thunderbolt]

    Thunderbolt handed me the phone very quickly.
    "Hello?"
    "Oh hi, honey, it's Molly."
    I closed my eyes wearily. "Hello, Molly."
    "I was just wondering when we were going to be able to go on our next shopping trip. I've got some wonderful things set up, and also there's a designer that I know who's coming in from Paris, I think his styles would be perfect for you!"
    "Um, Molly, I'm set for clothes for like the next three years now, thanks to you."
    "Oh pish-tosh, you can't possibly be," she replied briskly. "We're almost in autumn, the things that I've bought you so far are only going to be good for summer."
    "Molly, tell you what, why don't we talk about this next week," I hedged. "We're kind of in an emergency meeting here."
    "Well, the designer's only going to be in town for the course of next week, so that would be perfect. Why don't we just meet, and I know you didn't get along all that well with Seamus, and I have another nephew who I think you'd really get along with. I've shown him pictures, he thinks you're very, very cute. Bye!"
    I hung up, wondering if I had hallucinated that entire conversation. It would almost be preferable, actually. Someone else's reality must be intruding on my universe.
    "So anyway, what were we talking about? And what the hell did she want from you?" I asked Thunderbolt curiously.
    "I don't want to talk about it," he muttered alarmingly.

[Aside: Scott]

September 4, 1987

Successful hunt. Our meeting yesterday broke up in the afternoon. I locked Newton in a closet with his necessities and one of my sweaters to sleep on, and fulsome promises that I will make this up to him as soon as possible. As dusk fell, we headed out sans costumes, into one of the areas the Alley Cats were known to haunt. The three of us spread out a bit, Phoenix Talon about a block ahead of me, Thunderbolt a couple behind, Scott keeping pace in the sewers below. We kept our eyes open for cats.

| Top |