Feargus

  Crew and Company Placement:

  The base ? Michael, Adeline, Strauss

  On the move ? Rhian, Alexander, Evelyn, Rhydian

  Man-cave ? Zack

  The lair ? Riz, Bells

  ??? ? Everleigh

  ??? ? Sebastian

  ??? ? Jakob

  All right, mates, now that I had a moment to myself, it was time to recalibrate and get my thoughts straight. So far, the mission had been about the crew, what they’d do, and how they’d deal with the threats in Amalia—namely, Lidia. So far so good, except Strauss was blind, Michael was whatever Michael was, I’d suffered at least one nervous breakdown, and Rhian was pregnant. But at least Adeline seemed okay, and we were alive, and we were determined, and things could only look up from there, right?

  Right, except everything was a lot more abstract now, wasn’t it? Find secrets, destroy the ultimate evil. I didn’t even know what that meant, actually. And somehow, Faust left me in charge. Whatever that meant, too. She had a point, though: at least the crew were all reading out of the same book now, but ultimately I needed everyone on the same page.

  Ideally, the same line.

  Now, Rhian told me she planned to ask Rhydian to take her to the lair, so she could see about fetching Riz and whatever else they might need to fight the Trio, help Michael, and save Leberecht. But that was the problem. There’d be no fighting the Trio. Matilda and Delilah were trying to right their wrongs, and Avis was my new best friend’s wife.

  Not to mention, I didn’t think their chances were very good if they tried taking the Trio head on. Sorry, mates, but those were some powerful ladies. And if they were to attack Avis, I reckoned that would put us on the wrong side of the Law real quick, and any chance at reuniting the brothers peacefully would also be out the window.

  If I were right, and I reckoned I was, Sebastian and Zacharias working together was part of the solution to destroying the Six. And frankly, Zack was one of my biggest obstacles. I say that with love, but his story didn’t look good on paper.

  What would I say? “Zack drank a mystical potion, died, came back to life as an Anima, went on to make more Anima all to keep the troupe together and his brother close. Then he and his brother went on tour with this merry band of immortals, ensorcelling the world in the process. Fourteen years later, he turned his son when he was blinded and almost died, and then he locked him up while he and his wife experimented on the other Anima for, oh, a hundred or two years looking for a cure. And then he had a chance to stop the Divide, though the world was already in ruins, and it probably would have failed, so he chose to keep his family safe instead. And then he made some awkward demands of the Six, spent the next four hundred years trying to fix his mistakes by making a whole bunch more mistakes, ended up entirely overwhelmed, guilt-stricken, and depressed, so he went to sleep for another four hundred years. Oh, but aye, he’s actually a really great fellow, and you should take my word for it after I’ve lied to you all for the past few months. And no, I swear, he didn’t do anything to my brain.”

  See, I reckon everyone would have all kinds of feelings about that information, and I wasn’t sure how easily that would reconcile between them. So, there was that. The crew also had an allegiance to Sebastian, especially Everleigh. And given how Sebastian felt about his brother, I reckoned that would complicate matters, too. So, what it came down to, mates, was that Zack needed to tell his own story, and he needed to plan his own apology tour. All I could do was try to minimize the damage and be there for him.

  Furthermore, and I promise I’m almost done: Zack still didn’t know the scope of what was happening in Leberecht. He and Avis were experimenting case by case, and most of it was through a combination of therapy and empathy, at a slow, methodical pace. She’d taken their theories to a whole new level, granted, but their research was the springboard.

  So, there you have it—Zack was an obstacle but also someone I needed to protect because he was my friend, and he was a good man, actually. But I knew how he got when his defenses went up, and if everyone was already salty with him, he’d panic, double down, and only make things even worse for himself. Communication would be key, and timing would be everything.

  I blew the whistle near Zack’s music note.

  I didn’t expect anyone other than Zack to answer, so when the hatch opened and I looked down the stairs and saw Jakob Adler instead, I can’t say I was surprised because I knew they'd reunited, but I was surprised.

  “Come, come,” he said.

  I hurried down the stairs, and the hatch closed above us.

  Without saying anything more, Jakob turned and started walking toward Zack’s door. When we got there, he unlocked the lock with his mind—he didn’t even do the hand gesture. To be fair, they weren’t necessary. But I took from that he wasn’t one for flair.

  “It’s so good to finally meet you, Jakob,” I said.

  “Yes, yes. My father said you would be excited.”

  It was strange seeing Jakob, looking like a fourteen year old lad. He was tall for his age, granted, which almost made it stranger. Because Zack was only thirty when he drank the elixir, and even though I knew he was much, much older than that, the two looked more like brothers than father and son. Zack actually smiled when he saw me.

  I gave him a hug, obviously.

  And obviously, he had to pry me off.

  He ushered us over to the sitting area. Jakob took the leather chair, and he and I sat on the couch. I wasn’t sure it was the best time to bring up V, or anything else, really, so—

  “How are you settling in, mate?” I asked Jakob.

  “Fine, but I want to see uncle Sebastian.”

  “Aye, well I have it on good authority uncle Sebastian wants to see you, too.”

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  Zack ran a hand through his hair, which was a little more disheveled than usual.

  “Where is he?” Jakob asked.

  “Honestly? I don’t know, mate, but I’m on it.”

  This seemed to satisfy Jakob for now, and he leaned back against the chair and crossed his arms. I saw the family resemblance.

  “You still haven’t found him?” Zack asked.

  I may have been offended by the tone if I didn’t know him better—if I didn’t know the question came from concern and not judgment.

  “No, I found him, actually, but then I lost him again.”

  Suddenly, I was stricken with a thought. If Sebastian left the base to find Jakob, why wouldn’t he come here? I knew he remembered Zack’s domain, because he said so himself when I showed him the map of the music notes. He had to figure Zack would find his son the minute he felt him in territory again, right? So why not come here? Well, because he was avoiding being the one to instigate reunion with Zack, I reckoned. But he still wanted to see Jakob, so he was making himself available somewhere he could be found. Somewhere Jakob could find him, or somewhere Zack could find him, if Zack decided he was ready.

  The theatre of it all, mates.

  “I know where he is,” I said, but didn’t say. I hoped Zack could read lips.

  He squinted, and I tried again.

  And then he nodded, ran a hand through his hair again, and looked to Jakob—still sitting there, grumpy, with his arms crossed.

  “Jakob,” he started, “would you like to see uncle Sebastian tomorrow?”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because Feargus Finlay still has to find him. Why don’t you go down the hall to the tavern and work some more on our project for now?”

  “You promise we’ll see him tomorrow?”

  “Well, I can’t promise anything, but if everything goes as planned, then yes. Tomorrow.”

  “Fine.”

  Jakob uncrossed his arms, stood from the chair, and made his way to the door. He opened it with the mechanism hidden behind the painting of a cello.

  “Do you remember what we spoke about with regards to uncle Sebastian and Feargus Finlay?” Zack asked.

  “Yes. If anyone asks, they’re dead.”

  “Then please be careful,” Zacharias said. “And please don’t forget to set a trap at the door the way I showed you.”

  “…I won’t.”

  The door closed and locked behind Jakob.

  Zack sighed heavily against the back of the couch. “I haven’t had a drink in over a thousand years, but I could really use one right now.”

  “Do you need a cuddle instead?”

  “No, but it’s good to see you. I’ve been—I’ve missed you.”

  “Me, too, mate. So much. Reckon we have a fair bit of catching up to do besides.”

  “That’s why I’m delaying our reunion with Sebastian until tomorrow. There’s much to discuss, not the least of which, Ivana. I’m so sorry, Feargus, I know the two of you were intimate, and—”

  “We were in love, actually.”

  “You were? She was?”

  “She couldn’t say it, but—aye. I mean, she sort of did, I guess.”

  “Creation—I… when I heard the news, I—I didn’t know. What they were planning—the fire. I’d have been there. You have to know I’d have stopped it.”

  “I know you would have, mate. I didn’t know either. It happened while I was busy being kidnapped. Again.”

  “Kidnapped?”

  “Only for a little while, and the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Everleigh Gloom was trying to keep us safe from the Anima retaliation.”

  “My brother’s daughter?”

  I nodded. “She took Strauss and Adeline, too.”

  “And this was the night of the fire?”

  “Strauss and Adeline were taken the night of the fire, aye.”

  “That may explain why he was gone when I returned for him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I felt Jakob in territory, I found the two of them walking through the forest not far from where I expected they’d arrive. Running is challenging enough as it is due to my lopsidedness, let alone with one person. Two is almost impossible. I brought Jakob first with every intention of returning for your friend. By the time I got Jakob settled and adequately convinced not to run away, the fire in Oskari had already begun and done its worst. I put out the last of the flames, and then I searched for Andrei Strauss but to no avail. I would have done more, but I didn’t want to leave Jakob alone for too long. I’d promised him I wouldn’t.”

  “You haven’t got to explain yourself to me, mate.”

  Zack pressed his lips together thoughtfully. “That must have been difficult, however fabricated it was, to have been kidnapped again. And then Ivana—do you need a cuddle?”

  I flashed my friend grateful smile. “You’re off the hook. I got one from my sister.”

  “That’s wonderful to hear. When did you see her?”

  “Well.”

  That’s when I told Zack everything. I told him about Sebastian and the crew, the Trio, what was happening in Leberecht, what they’d been doing to the Barrens, the Anima, and to the young Partisans before conscription. This put everything into context as to why Delilah and Matilda were trying to help Avis. I also told him about the rebellion, and that my superiors were asking us to find a way to destroy the Six, and how ever many of their cronies.

  With regards to Leberecht, the only thing we didn’t know was exactly what Jakob had been through in the time after Zack went to sleep. Jakob wouldn’t open up to him yet, and the only thing I knew was that Delilah and Matilda had only recently learned about his existence.

  For every new piece of information, the colour drained from Zack’s face, and by the end of everything, he was doubled over with his head in his hands.

  I rubbed his back.

  “It’s all right, mate. We’re gonna sort everything out. If anyone understands how easily something can spiral, it’s me, and so I get it. I really do think Avis means well, she’s just—”

  “Extremely unwell.”

  “Aye.”

  I couldn’t speak for the Barrens, or the Anima, because I’d never been a Barren or an Anima, but I could speak for myself as a Partisan who’d seen what Palisade did to people. Whatever the Trio had done to Michael and Varis as children, how ever wrong it was, may have contributed to their exceptional resilience. Look, that’s not to say Michael wouldn’t have been strong enough to get through everything he’d been through on his own—there’s really no way to know that—but I am suggesting that whatever they did to him, may have helped to a point. And if that was their intention, then I understood. Still inarguably wrong, but I understood.

  And that little bit of understanding led me to a loose hypothesis: the Trio were trying to protect Partisans from the horrors of Palisade and therefore, could very well be on our side when it came to opposing it, and that was all the more reason we needed them.

  So, it was another twelve minutes of Zack spiralling over what Avis and his research had become before he looked to me and asked, “What should we do?”

  “Right now, there’s only one thing I know for sure: you need to fix things with Sebastian.”

  “Tomorrow,” Zack answered.

  “Aye,” I said. “Tomorrow.”