Two Clocks Past Midnight Part 8 (28)
Madeline Gardner was the weird witchy girl's name, and her two idiots, as she called them, were Jett Hoover and Otis Gross. They were juniors and more than happy to be a bad influence on me.
“So, how tall was that Allen Wrench man?” Madeline asked.
“What do you care?” I blew out smoke.
“I like my men tall,” she explained, “but not too tall. You know?”
“You know, looking back on it, I don't remember him having a personality.”
“That's fine. I have enough personality for two.” Madeline's razor sharp smile gleamed.
“Yeah,” One of her idiots chuckled, “you're a total bitch and a right bastard.”
“Shut up, Otis!” Madeline shouted, “Don't think I won't bite your face off!”
I rubbed the end of my third bummed cigarette on the floor in front of me, “Mind sparing another?”
“Uh? Oh sure.” Madeline looked over me as she offered another platinum cigarette, “Hey, I'm all for saying whatever, but do you think you’re overdoing it?”
“Yeah, those premiums are a cut above the norm.” The other idiot, Jett, said.
“Yeah, I can tell.” I lit the stick and inhaled. I was feeling the best I had in weeks. “I can't just stand by. But I don't know what I can do by myself.”
“You're still a freshman, aren't you?” Jett asked, “You should still be on a freshmen team. Why not ask them to help?”
“I can't let them endanger them.” I answered.
They stared for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Don't be stupid,” Madeline said, “Doing dangerous stuff together is the best reason to have friends. Heaven knows I've led these two idiots into plenty of close calls. Nothing we couldn't handle in the end, but still.”
She smiled at me with her shark teeth, “You have to trust them. Especially if you expect them to trust you.”
I sighed and stood, “Yeah, okay. I'll see what I can do. Madeline Gardner, was it?” I asked out of formality.
“That's correct, and you're pretty cool, Jessica Black.” She smiled wider, “And don't forget, you own me four cigarettes.”
I smiled back. Debt was a currency of its own in magical circles. She had basically opened a line of credit for future favors. I had made a good impression on her. “Thanks. Mind if I made it five?”
She laughed and handed the whole pack, “Take them all. I trust you're good for them.”
I turned and slipped out of the hiding spot. First period was done and passed, and second period was nearly up. I had to stay for lunch, but I would probably just bunker down behind the school and hope Jesse wouldn't find me. I didn't want to face her.
At least that was the plan, until I saw Jerry strolling through the hallway and into the bathroom, on the opposite side of the school from Class J. He was up to something, and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. I followed him into the bathroom.
Bursting in I found him washing his hands in the sink. A quick scan of the room confirmed it was empty. I still didn't drop my guard.
“Jessica,” Jerry said with his smug smile. “This is the boy's bathroom. It's improper for you to be here. Imagine if Stienfaust found you in here.”
“Can it, Jerry,” I shouted, “What are you up to? I swear if you're jerking me around!”
“What are you talking about? I have no idea-”
“I said knock it off!” I summoned power forth bringing a glow to my hand, “I'm tired of your cryptic threats!”
“Threats?” Jerry laughed. He still had his hands in the sink. Just where I couldn't see them. “I'm not your enemy, Jessica. Believe me.”
“Would love to. If you dropped the bullshit!” I called more power to emphasize my impatience, “You know something. You taunted me back in class, and now you're going to explain yourself!”
“Not so fast cowgirl,” Amanda said from behind me. She had slipped in without me noticing and pressed something to back of my leather jacket. “Why don’t we slow it down a bit.”
I tsked, “You think I’m scared of you?” I prepared a casting of a force blast in my hand.
“I don’t need you to be,” she said as she ratcheted the something me, “I just need you to be sensible.”
I caught my breath and tried to keep cool. The bitch had a gun on me. I gritted my teeth as I dropped my casting and raise my hands in surrender. “You have some nerve.”
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“She means well,” Jerry turned the water and dried his hands. “After all you have a lot to face. You need help where you can get it.”
“So what? You’re threatening me with a helping hand?” I stared at him as he stood there with his smug smirk. “I'm getting tired of you cryptic games.”
“Well then you're in for a bad time, because the game is just starting,” Jerry shrugged his shoulders with another chuckle, “because the game is just starting, and you don’t even know who you're playing against.”
“And you do?”
He laughed at me, “Jessica, do you even know how my powers work?”
I narrowed my eyes and tried to think of what I actually knew about Jerry, “You know things. Things you shouldn't. All without being told what it is.”
He laughed again, “Close enough. My powers allow me to gather information from places no one else could reach. At least not in any way that matters.”
“There is so little keeping me from killing you.” I said, and Amanda poke her gun into my back.
“And I appreciate that,” Jerry said. “After all, that's not always the case. You will come to face forces that will not have any such limitations, but this is only your first test. What will you do?”
Something shifted in his eye. His smug confidence turned into malice. His smile was a scowl. Amanda dug the barrel of her gun deeper into my back. I had to think.
Amanda was the most immediate danger. Literally a gun to my back, but Jerry was a whole wild card. Attack Amanda, and Jerry would sucker punch me. Far as I knew he also had a weapon and was ready to pull it.
I side eyed the bathroom mirror. I perfectly aligned with the edge and could see my face and nothing behind me. I couldn't tell how far back she was standing. Any move I made would be a losing one.
Why are they doing this? I thought to myself. I could feel my nerves coming undone. Thoughts were racing through my head, and I noticed something in Jerry’s words. He said I would come to face forces without limitations. As in not now, but later.
I force my mind to focus. I have to remember that neither Jerry nor Amanda, or even myself, were normal people. We were other. Demi-humans. And demi-humans had rules all on to themselves that they had to follow. Based around honor, respect, and most importantly power.
Honor meant I had to play fair and square. Tricks and faints were allowed, but not right lying and breaking promises were off limits.
Respect was the simplest and most damning. So long as you followed the rules you could use the rules to protect yourself. I could provoke a higher authority like the school itself against. While carrying a firearm in a school with students who could set you on fire if they thought it hard enough was seen as sensible, exactly using it would require justification.
But that was a double edge sword. Going through with that would mark me as weak at best, and a coward at worst. I didn't want to risk my reputation so easily. I had to think about the power scale here.
I had power in spades, if I was willing, but I didn't know powers Jerry or Amanda had. They were slippery, but they had to follow the same rules, and one them was you never whine up a punch you're not willing to throw.
That was significant, because it meant while Amanda wasn't likely to shoot me on school grounds, she was perfectly willing to. But that would mean that she was in fact willing to. They were slippery, not ruthless, and tricks were allowed in this game. Like hiding a non threat just out of sight.
As the end of day bell rang I twisted my head to see Amanda out of the corner of my eye, “You're bluffing.”
Her wicked smile lighting up into a too proud smirk and revealed a socket wrench. The long handle pretending to be a barrel she twisted the ratchet around to mimic the sound of a hammer pull.
“Took you long enough,” She said beaming, “I thought you were about to break.”
“Bite me.” I said, “What even was the point of all of this.”
“No point as all,” Jerry said as he stepped up next to me, “After all, your enemies will not be so blasé.”
I tsked, “Bastard.”
“Indeed.” He chuckled, “Though while I have you, I want to ask, what are the Eldritch?”
Instantly every muscle tensed. I turned to face him, “How? How do you know about that?”
He just smiled back. His smugness was palpable. Of course he would knew. His whole whole thing was knowing things. The bastard.
I tsked, “It's no concern of yours. And shouldn't know about them anyways?”
“Well like you just said, it's no concern of mine. How am I supposed to know?” He asked and I just wanted to punch him square in his jaw. “Yes. And sadly the central library doesn't have any information. Neither does our school's library, so I guess it doesn't matter.”
“Did you try the other schools?” Amanda asked and Jerry shrugged.
“I haven't, but the central library is so massive, I can't imagine finding some secret trove.” He shrugged, “C'est la vie. Bonsoir, Jessica.”
He said my name with a French accent and strutted out the door leaving me alone. My nerves were fried. I took a deep breath and realigned my thoughts. What was everything I knew?
I knew Jerry was a right bastard and a smug prick who deserved to have his face punched off, but also he likely had no connection to anything happening. Which left me with nothing.
“Excuse me!” A voice came from behind me. I turned and nearly jumped out of my skin as I saw the gaunt face of Abraham Prince, the demonkin spellcaster, and looked pissed.
“Where did you come?” I asked in a controlled panic.
“I came from Class J, and I stopped here on my way to Magical Defense Theory.” He answered with a bitter tone, “Here being the boy's restroom. It's improper for you to be in here. Please leave.”
“What? Oh, sorry. Sure thing.” I sheepishly apologized as I strafed around him and nearly fell out the door. I did a quick scan to see if anyone saw me and bolted into a quick walk. I didn't want to have to end any rumors.
Luckily everyone was either heading to extra classes or trying to escape the school. I joined the escapees and slipped out into the front of the school. There I took a cigarette in my mouth and reached up to grab enough to light it. Unfortunately the sky was just cloudy enough to make it impossible.
“Damn it.” I sighed and found a place to sit for a moment. I needed to think on what to do next. I had few options. Jerry’s mention of the library came to mind. Progress City had one of the most impressive library systems in the world, and the central library was in the city, just south of the river.
However, it was a stupid idea. Allen Wrench’s words came to mind. There were other people, professionals whose job was to handle this, handling this. In complete honesty the best move was to just head home. Dive into some charm crafting to protect my friends. Get Abraham or even Runesir to help. I'm sure they both were in the loop, or at least at the edge of the loop, and they were both good enough guys. They wouldn't turn up their noses to something so simple yet important.
As the sun peeked through enough for me to weave a few rays into just enough of a fire to smoke with, I had made up my mind.