Semper Fidelis
Chapter 9
Do you know what the great thing is of having the Faerie Court serve as your fashion consultant? They have access to materials and magic that all the best designers in our world would absolutely kill for. Take my latest look courtesy of Maeve for example and tell me this is not just the absolute coolest thing.
It was made entirely from sheer and nearly see through silk, yet it was reinforced with spells that kept the wearer's body at a comfortable temperature as if walking around in the mid seventies regardless of the outside conditions. The near transparent aspect was enhanced for proprietary sake through the use of multiple layers to just barely protect one's modesty though I'm certain my mother would still have a heart attack if she saw it. It also did nothing to support, compact, enhance, or detract from what nature otherwise provided so I was happy to see aikido training was providing fruitful benefits beyond just mere self-defense skills.
Maeve also informed me that the outfit was further enchanted for some resistance against basic combat spells; those of means such as fire, cold, acid, and so forth. It also would provide some help any common projectiles like copper slugs from guns. Being Faerie make of course it held no protections for iron or steel. Being as that you cannot usually tell what type of bullet is coming toward you until after they dig it out of your body I therefore decided I'd stick with my shield bracelet if such events became necessary since it could handle all. And so there is no doubt let me further explain that I had every intention of avoiding such events so this did not become necessary.
Maeve then explained the coolest part of this particular outfit was that it appeared to outsiders, singularly or collectively, as whatever the most advantageous apparel would be. That meant while I could look like the Goth Faerie to me, I could walk into Father Forthill's church and he would see me in very conservative clothing so that it would not be an issue for discussion. Maeve said all Faeries used this in order to not attract attention from those they did not want to, and to purposely attract attention from those they desired. I remember how Harry had described Mab when she came to his office the first time in disguise and those time he had crossed paths with Maeve and figured they were wearing such these types of things in those encounters as well. As a neat side-effect if I cared to concentrate I could even look down and see what the other saw to prevent any confusion or how they envisioned me.
The two downsides to this of course were that those from the Nevernever could see right through the illusion, but they would also understand that this outfit and my icicle pendant procalimed me an agent of the Winter Court. Secondly like all Faerie spells the apparel would dispel at dawn but as part of my payment she would ensure a new outfit just like it arrived at Harry's place just after dawn for the next week. I guess all things considered that was a fair deal though I'd have negotiated for longer if I thought I could get away with it. I mean who else gets to dress up in late November Chicago like a Faerie tart with combat boots and still get the love and acclaim of their conservative parents?
My hair Maeve of course dyed black to match the outfit and then went a little farther with so mascara highlighting around the eyes to darken my blue and make them stand out even more. Mab was Queen or Air and Darkness so black really was a central theme color to the Winter Court. I don't normally wear lipstick but in this case I indulged and Maeve provided a shade of dark red that I have to say Maxfactor would do well to try and copy.
With our game of dress up completed, which thank to Faerie magic took less time than a regular color and cut job, I turned back to the most critical part of my deal and began to question Maeve on these events. Knowing she could not lie is one thing. Making sure she would answer completely is another. Each question had to be very specific without allowing her wiggle room that might cause me to deceive myself.
"Let's start with the basics Maeve." I said. "Did the Winter Court plan, execute, or sanction the attack on the Summer Lady and Knight?" What I realized I need for this type of discussion is a law degree. I wonder if Harvard has a course on Faerie law.
"No sister." Maeve replied. "While the Winter Court as a general rule applauds such actions that weaken our rivals, we prefer they do so at a time and a means of our choosing. This current event was neither and in fact places us in nearly equal jeopardy of a war whose time and choosing is not currently within our interests."
"Can you say then with certainty that a Winter's agent was not responsible for the attack?" I asked.
"No, I of course cannot. This is especially so if you did indeed see a Winter token found by Summer on the one they claim responsible." She answered. "As of this time not all tokens or those we have blessed with such items are fully accounted for so I cannot say what you saw was a deception." Great so it may have been a Winter agent acting rogue. That would be incredible hard to prove to those harmed.
"Has Winter tempted Summer's elite forces into transferring sides?" Just because they had not cause the action did not mean the Faerie of the Unseelie Court would not try to profit from it. This action happening now certainly placed their rivals in a much more tenuous position.
"To my knowledge no such increases in our armies have occurred." Maeve responded.
"To your knowledge?" I asked catching heavily on the inflection she had placed on these words.
"Yes of course." She replied. "Were the Queen of a mind to do so she could perform this action without my knowledge. But even so each Court is so vast it is therefore impossible for even the Queen to know all that takes place within their demesnes. If as you stated earlier some rogue agent is responsible for these actions then they might indeed be hidden within the lands of Winter beneath our notice. But I state clearly again if such is the case it is not with sanction that I know of."
"But this recruitment could also be with Queen Mab's approval and you simply have been left uninformed about it." I repeated what I took to be the unsaid but important fact again.
She merely nodded "As I said, I do not know the mind of my Queen in all things." She offered her answer with these very specifically selected words. The problem with those words and their meaning lay in that Harry had told me he and perhaps even Maeve herself believed that Queen Mab was possibly going insane. If Maeve was therefore willing to acknowledge she did not know the mind of her queen at this time could she really be saying that insanity was now fully manifested and these events were merely the prologue of even worse things to come? That thought sent cold shivers through my body at the implications of such a potential for the Nevernever and for our world.
Such a thought started to lead to panic but before it could take hold I closed my eyes for a moment and focused upon my inner chi as Hisha had showed me how to do. A few forced deep breaths kept my heart from racing and allowed my body to calm somewhat so that I was better able to focus my mind. I rationalized that it made no sense for me at this point to worry about an insane Queen of the Fae for that was too big of a problem for me to deal with. As I had been told God only provides us those challenges we can overcome and this was one beyond me.
Instead I chose to focus on those events I could do something positive, which meant in this case I must work off the assumption that it was not Mab or Maeve behind these events but rather some rogue element and that once exposed the Faerie Courts could deal with it appropriately. That was a problem better suited to my deductive skills that I could successfully deal with. The rest of these concerns merely required me to have faith that everything else would work out as it was intended. That realization brought me a sense of comfort.
I opened my eyes to see Maeve looking at me with an odd look that dare I say bordered upon respect. It was if I had grown somewhat in stature in her opinion.
"Lady Maeve, how can I get in touch with you if I need further information?" I asked her by using her full and formal title to demonstrate my own respect as well. Just because I had no further questions at the moment did not mean that I would not have some in the future that she might be able to answer for me so it was a good idea in my mind not to burn bridges or have her too busy to respond when I needed her.
"Well since Harry has not yet instructed you on summoning circles I suggest you merely place you hand on the token and call forth my name three times." Maeve said in response reminding me this is the common means to attract the attention of a Fae.
"You would be well advised sister not to do so rashly." Her eyes flashed dangerously at me. "By our contract I must answer your inquiries but I will not forget any insult offered by assuming I exist to serve your needs." Okay, so Maeve was explaining she was not at my beck and call but I doubt she understood that I had little desire to spend any more time in her company than I absolutely had to. Having this means of reaching out to her merely provided me options for possible future contingencies; ones I'd be quite happy not to have any reason to exercise. But that aside, right now I had more pressing engagements to attend to and departed with merely a nod of my head.
I made a quick stop at Harry's place to let Mouse out for a quick walk and to make sure there was food and water to feed both his beasts before I headed to the hospital to relieve mom. I also took this opportunity to call the number Elaine had left with me in order to keep her up to date as I was expected to do for the other Faerie Emissary. I found it totally unfair that she was still sleeping when I called and because of this injustice I felt no regret whatsoever for waking her up to tell her only that I had found out little from my interview with the Winter Court except that they of course denied any and all involvement in these events.
We talked for another few minutes so that I was confident she had grasped everything I had told her and even after that point neither of us came up with an appropriate lead to continue our investigations. These events were all taking place in the Nevernever and neither Elaine nor I felt particularly confident in our powers or status regardless of our supposed protection to continue our investigations there, at least not at the present. If the Faerie Courts were indeed preparing for a war, the last thing I wanted to be doing was walking around annoying those who were brewing for a fight by asking questions.
Less than satisfied with our options, I promised Elaine I would check in again with her tonight when I got back to Harry's place and see if either of us had come up with a new angle we were overlooking at the moment. She made a crack about how this whole private detective thing looked a whole lot easier on television and I could not help but agree. "Hell even Harry works his way through these things and he is not the brightest of men." I said and heard Elaine laugh in response. We left things on that relatively high note at Harry's expense and I finished cleaning up.
I was just getting ready to walk out the door and close the apartment up when the phone rang again and I rushed over to get it. I was close to running late so I expected this would be my mom calling to check up on me and ensure I would be on time but I was wrong in guessing the caller. It turned out to be a completely different Carpenter.
"Molly?" I thought I recognized Daniel's voice but it held a tone of embarrassment in it that I had not heard from him in years. In fact I figured puberty had delivered Daniel an overabundance of confidence along with his deeper voice and inevitable body odor.
"Daniel?" I asked just to confirm for myself that it was him and not Matthew calling.
"Yeah." He said with a long drawn out sigh as if having second thoughts about this.
"Ummm what's up?" I asked because I really did not know what else to say since he had been the one to call.
There was a really long drawn out delay as I could literally feel my brother debating on whether to answer my question or not. I'm not trying to suggest that my sensitive magic abilities even allow me to sense the emotions of those I talk with on the phone, I just really knew my brother and what the various sounds he made meant. The fact that it was this awkward for him told me that it was also something pretty important.
"I need a favor." He said almost choking on the words so that he sounding like he was planning on asking me something I was going to want to say no to. Or it could also be he was going to ask me to do something that he did not want me to tell our parents about. I guess he did not understand that if it was the second one that would not really cause me much of a moral dilemma providing he was not involved in anything dangerous or illegal.
"Anything bro." I said trying to be calm. "You know I'm always here for you." I said trying to make him feel more comfortable and therefore get to the point of this conversation.
Did you know that you can actually hear a person cringe on the phone if you listen close enough? I realized in that instant that my attempt at trying to be the perfect accommodating sister was the inadvertently the absolute worst approach I could have chosen. Daniel and I had been playing cat and dog to each other so much lately that my ability to push that aside and willingly help him in a time of need forced him to consider if he would do the same for me if the roles were reversed. It really screws up your whole outlook on life when your opponent does things you have to describe as 'good.' That sort of leaves you aligned with the other side I guess.
"I need you to come down to the police station and get me out." He said in a nearly silent voice that I had to strain to hear.
Now I know I'm not a parent but I got a sudden sense of just what effect those kinds of words can have when delivered by someone you love. "Are you alright Daniel?" I asked with a bit of panic in my voice. "You are not hurt or anything are you?"
"No, I…it's not anything like that." He said and then I heard him mumbling to someone standing nearby, the voices muffled like he had put his palm over the phone so I could not hear what was said.
"Miss Carpenter?" A new voice spoke a few moments later. "This is Officer Alexander. Your brother was picked up by the police a few hours ago and because he is underage we can only release him into the custody of an adult." He explained calmly as if he had said these words hundreds of times before which he likely had.
"I don't understand." I said confused. "Was Daniel arrested? Do I need bail money or to call our family attorney?" While I had bail money we did not have a family attorney but I figured it was worth tossing that out there as a caution to the police. I remembered my own run it with a detective who had questioned me without my mom and how this had nearly backfired on him when Harry pointed it out.
"No we are not filing any charges." The officer answered quickly as if prepared for this. "But we still require a legal guardian be informed of his detainment and he has requested we contact you. How soon would you be able to get here?" He informed me of which of the station Daniel was at and its address. I was surprised to hear it was not the one near our home but instead one almost clear across town. I thought about its location for a moment and what I still had on my plate and then said I would be there before six. The officer accepted that and then turned to ask Daniel if he needed to talk to me. Surprisingly I could hear Daniel say he did not need the phone back and I suspected he was too embarrassed to talk further, especially in front of who knows how many strangers.
I left Harry's apartment and arrived at the hospital with two whole minutes to spare. My mom was already wearing her coat and had said her goodbyes to dad when I strolled in. The look the pair of them gave me as I came through the door almost stopped me dead in my tracks because my thoughts had been so focused on these events with Daniel that I had forgotten completely about my new Unseelie attire.
"Molly what are you wearing?" My father asked first as my mother's eyes grew wide and she broke out in a smile.
That was a most excellent question! What was I wearing, or better yet what did they think I was wearing? It took me a moment or two to gather enough concentration and then look down at myself to see what it was they thought they were seeing.
I nearly choked on a laugh because the pair had subconsciously selected basic jeans, sneakers, and believe it or not a letterman's jacket with the colors from our school. Since I never had gone out for sports in my entire time at that school I had no idea just how either of them had come to the idea that I might actually have, much less wear such an item. But I guess parents are the best for hoping their wishes came true where their children are concerned and willingly believed nearly anything.
Worse still I noticed that since my hair hung wild thanks to Maeve's new style cut, I could also see they were picturing me with my completely naturally blonde hair. Again that was almost as unlikely as the letterman's jacket. Let me be clear, short of seeing me in a cheerleader uniform I thought this to be the most ridiculous outfit they could possibly have pictured me in but I did my best not to laugh.
"Um, these are just some old things I threw on after I woke up." I said hoping they took my choking smile as one of embarrassment and we could move on to other subjects.
My mother hugged me, she has been doing that a lot lately, but this one made me feel like I had made her every wish come true. Now for those of you who do not know my mother you might find such a thing sweet. For those of us familiar with Charity Carpenter I can only say it was highly disturbing. I mean picture Freddy Kruger buying all the kiddies of Elm Street ice cream type disturbing. Thankfully she had to leave to get home for my siblings so the awkward moment was cut short. I'm so glad my schedule had not allowed me to arrive any earlier because I doubt I could have handled much more of this.
Mom reminded us that tonight was also Christmas Choir rehearsals at school so she would be on her cell phone if something important came up. I knew that meant my mom had to race home now ahead of the rush hour traffic, get everyone fed, and then pack them all back into the minivan so she could get them back to school to hear Alicia, Amanda, and Hope all singing together. She reminded me to be available for my sisters' actual recital in two weeks and laid the guilt on think saying she hoped she could have all her daughters around her to enjoy this event. This was of course accompanied by another awkward hug because I had not had the foresight to step out of reach and lasted until I promised to attend the event. She left smiling in a way I had not seen her do so for days.
My mom had not been gone ten minutes before my dad finally spoke up. "I know she does not tell you herself, or at least not often, but your mother is very proud of you Molly just like I am."
"Thanks dad." I said because I did not know what else I could say to a statement like that.
"Harry said you are coming along in your studies." My dad continued with his praise. "But sitting here every night watching your old man sleep can hardly be helpful for that. So since I plan to go back to sleep for the rest of the night why don't you take the night off for yourself. I get the feeling you need some time for your own issues. It seems a fitting reward for the smile you put on your mother's face today. And since I will be asleep it's not like I can tell your mother that you were not here if you chose to leave." He said with a conspiratorial wink of father to his eldest child.
We argued about this for maybe two or three minutes but in the end I gave in, partly because I did indeed have more pressing matters to attend to, such as getting my parent's eldest son out of jail, but more so because I could not continue to argue with a man I loved and respected while he was hooked up to a jungle of wires and tubes. I kissed him on the forehead as he closed his eyes and performed my role of the dutiful daughter. Hey in his mind I was even dressed for the part.
I was at the police station more than an hour ahead of the time I had promised and other than an unfortunate incident where the police metal detector suddenly fried out exactly as I passed though there was no problem rescuing my brother after showing my ID. This was the second such failure of these devices that I had personally observed and I hoped the city got their money back for these obviously defective machines. Officer Alexander met me in the waiting area and led me to the private interview room Daniel had been waiting in, thankfully they don't place innocent boys in the holding cells with the less than innocent, and announced he was free to leave.
Daniel looked up at the words and then saw me standing in the doorway. I watched a battle of emotions, relief and anger if my senses were correct, spread across his face as each did battle inside of him. I had never really stopped during one of our quarrels to look closely enough but now I could feel there were actual bad blood between my brother and I. And while I struggled to accept the implication of this revelation the darker side of him won out.
"Great." He said dryly to the officer and then stood up and barged past me and through the doorway as he headed for the street entrance. That close brush, because of how little I was wearing regardless of how it probably looked, gave me an instant of even deeper insight into his feelings. I suddenly realized that my brother's issues with me were not just ones of normal sibling rivalry. He actually resented me, if not openly hated me. That realization was almost the worst blow I had ever taken.
"Daniel wait a minute!" I said as I rushed to follow him out the front door not caring what this must look like to the officers standing around. It was not like they had not seen family disputes before but that thought was no comfort to me at the moment. In truth I could care less what they were thinking. It was my brother's opinion that mattered most.
"Don't worry I'll grab a cab." He said without turning to even look at me as I scrambled to catch up. I have mentioned he is bigger than I am and a jock to boot so you understand that so he moves pretty fast right?
"No I am driving you home." I said as forcefully as I dared while in a jog so I could reach out and grab his coat, an actual letterman's jacket by the way, and spin him around to look at me. "We need to talk Daniel before thing get any worse."
"No we don't." He said shaking off my arm and walking back around to the back side of the building so I had to give chase again. Once around the corner and out of sight of those officers who may come through the door though he broke into a sprint and like I said my brother is an athlete so I knew I was not going to catch him.
Make that I was not going to catch him through normal means. As I chased after him I called up magic to me and just as he began weaving through cars of the parking lot and his steps became less confident I aimed and released my spell. "Gravitus!" I called out to the area right around him.
When Harry casts this type of gravity spell he has been known to bounce cars hard enough with this burst of gravity to blow out all their tires. By comparison on my best day I can only make a car rock a little bit. But that amount of force was just enough to make my brother, who was already off balance and dealing with an icy parking lot, wobble to his knees before they too collapsed and sent him sliding along the ground. I figured a little ice induced road rash was a fair punishment for not talking to me.
I was standing with my back to a car beside him offered my hand to help him to his feet before he even understood he had fallen down or that my obvious Latin word meant I had been responsible for it. "I'm sorry about that but like I said we need to talk."
"And like I said no we don't!" He had reached his knees by this point and from out of nowhere swung a punch in my direction. Had Murphy not been training me so hard to instinctually dodge I probably would not have been able. I was very pleased for these new survival skills made my body react appropriately even though my mind was still totally confused.
And it was a good thing I did dodge because the force behind the punch was enough to shatter the side panel of the Saturn I had been standing next to. For all those who own a Saturn part of their appeal the salesmen tell you is that the car's body is not supposed to dent. What the dealers do not tell you is that in below freezing cold they can break like cheap plastic if they are hit just right. And for those who do not know it winter in Chicago is cold.
I like to think the blow had hurt Daniel's hand but if that were the case he showed no signs of it and if it did anything at all it only seemed to get him even madder as he found his feet. I half expected him to turn green and say he was going to smash me.
"Daniel wait a minute…" I started to say holding up my hands and taking a few steps even further back as he turned toward me with unbridled rage burning in his eyes.
"You never know when to leave things alone do you Molly?" He said coming at me. I got out into the pathways where we were not right between cars because Murphy in our training had shown me the advantages of mobility, especially when facing a bigger opponent. Of course for Karrin just about everyone was a bigger opponent but she had never seemed to have trouble dealing with that. "You never listen to anyone but yourself regardless of what it does to those around you."
Thankfully the drivable part of the parking lot had been salted so while a little gritty, it was nowhere near as slick as the icy patches between the cars. I found a relatively good place to make my stand and try once more to reason with him. My feet told me it also was where I felt comfortable defending myself if reason was not going to work.
"Look bro you called me." I said. "I think you owe me an explanation of what is going on don't you?"
"I owe you?" He said with incredulity. "The only thing I owe you is an ass kicking." He came on with another charge and a punch that thanks to Murphy I saw coming as far away as Cleveland. I ducked it and slid to the side as he brushed past and as Karrin taught me laid my heel into his knee as he went by. If I had been meaning to hurt him I'd have done so on the side of the leg with an intention to dislocate his knee but because he was my brother my kick merely struck the back of this joint and caused the leg to collapse and therefore dropped him to the pavement again.
I did not want to believe that the brother I had grown up with could actually hate me, not when I knew about a whole series of other potential explanations. I suspected Daniel had either been affected by a spell of some sort or maybe he was under the possession of something sinister. The Denarians for example had tried to do this type of thing with Little Harry years ago so it is not impossible that perhaps they had made another attempt at my family that we did not know about. It would be payment in their eyes for all the damage my father had wrought upon their plans over the years. And there was one quick way Harry had shown me recently that I could find out if either of possibilities were true.
As Daniel tried to get his feet back under himself I opened my third eye, the one that all wizards metaphorically have, and stared at my brother through Wizard Sight. The downside of this action is that whatever I saw would be with me forever seared into my mind much like a soul gaze. The upside though would let me see immediately what if anything was wrong with Daniel.
As I have stated before, physically Daniel is an opposing figure for a boy his age. He very much takes after our father and is if anything even more broad shouldered and therefore physically intimidating than dad. I expected to see a similar overwhelming power of spirit underneath the skin that encompassed it but that belief could not be any further from what my magic enhanced vision showed me.
Daniel's spirit was not the glorious golden warrior like my father's that I had expected. It was not even a dark and evil mass that might lead me to believe he was under the possession of some evil creature. Instead it was a small and withered thing that looked vaguely slug-like and was colored the same sickly yellow coloration of an old bruise. I had never observed such a thing before but I knew immediately either through my magic or some other gift that his spirit had been scarred and broken a long time ago and it had never healed since. And looking upon this I also knew just what had done this to him for I had been responsible.
When I first came into my powers I had used them to do what I thought was the right thing. I had entered the minds of two of my closest friends and created in them a magical fear of drugs. I thought if I made them afraid of these narcotics their bodies were addicted to then I would through this action save their lives and especially the life of their unborn child. I had thought this was the reason God had given me these powers. But I had been too young, too naive, and especially too proud to know how wrong my actions actually were and the cost they would demand.
In creating this fear linked to an addiction I had inadvertently created a perfect receptacle for creatures who fed on fear. Here in the real world the White Court vampire family of Malvora consider fear like this a delicacy and would likely have fed on my friends for days before moving on to other rich targets. In fact one of their number had even been responsible for creating Splattercon for the sole purpose of creating just such a perfect buffet of fear through all the horror movies the convention projected during that week.
Unfortunately for all involved the creatures that had sensed the fear I had created was not from this world but was instead something of the Nevernever. They were called phages in magical terms, but for the uninitiated it would merely be easier to say they are the creatures that bring nightmares into your sleep and feed off your fear. When you awaken in shaking terror and turn on the light to banish the fear, you send them packing as well. Unfortunately due to my spell, turning on the light did not allow my friends to put a halt to their fear; it was a constant part of them. Therefore the two were the perfect portal to open the doorway to bring the phages here into our world. Because this all occurred during Splattercon where the best of modern horror was on display to scare us all, when the phages entered our world they took on the form of some of the most notorious movie villains of modern films; ones called Scarecrow, Reaper, and most importantly Hammerhand.
Since I had cast the original spell and been inadvertently responsible for their arrival, when Harry's counter spell to send these creatures back after their summoner went off the creatures came to our family's home looking for me. Scarecrow and Reaper took me without much of a fight. Daniel, however, as the man of the house while my father was away on God's business, stood up to and battled Hammerhand with a fireplace poker even though he was only fifteen years old. Harry had told me my brother never had a chance and that Hammerhand had left his spirit as well as his body battered and broken by the encounter. It was meant to serve as a reminder of what my actions had done even though I had thought I was doing the right thing.
When these events were resolved Daniel and I had never talked about any of this. Mom preferred at first we not speak of magic and this suited my desires so as to not to face the damage I had done. I had hoped by not picking at it I was allowing it to heal. Now I could see that this was also the wrong choice. Daniel had never healed from these wounds. Something had prevented that from happening. Okay physically his body had been restored, but his spirit remained a crushed and withered thing. And we both knew that I was directly responsible for this.
I probably should have also remembered at this point not to get trapped into the allure of what Wizard Sight reveals as Harry has tried to tell me time and time again. Daniel may have been down from my knee strike but he was hardly out and as angry as he was it took him only moments to find his feet and reorient himself on me. And during those precious moments I was coming to my realization of what I had done to my brother so was not watching what he was about to do to me.
I told you that Daniel was an all-state football champion so it should not come to a surprise to you that when he lowered his body and slammed into my stomach with his shoulder in a perfect tackle position that his two hundred plus frame of hard muscle had no problem launching my just slightly more than one hundred and twenty pound body across ten feet of roadway and into the hood of a parked Mercedes. Damn those German engineers for using quality steel and you should also know that little hood ornament hurts like hell when your spine slams into it. I heard cracking that could not be good and felt pain unlike any I had previously experienced as I slid to the ground in front of the car. Some detached part of my mind wondered how bad I would feel if I had not been wearing the Faerie enhanced protective clothing.
The only upside of this event was that my impact set off the car alarm, and even activated the car's airbags too, which blared noisily throughout the parking lot calling attention to us. Unable to even recognize my feet I had to hope that a car alarm in a police parking lot would get checked up on before my brother killed me. Thankfully the combination of the noise and my battered appearance brought Daniel out of his rage and down to just average anger. With a glance perhaps to assure himself I was still breathing he turned and ran off before anyone got a look at him. I tried to stand up and do the same but my mind could not get my body to respond at the moment. My spine appeared to be taking a union vote on whether this line of work I was currently in received proper compensation and I was coming to realize I would soon be facing more demands for a new contract.
A few moments later a few of Chicago's uniformed finest came rolling out to the parking lot and found me still sitting legs splayed in front of the blaring but not dented Mercedes that was calling to them. One of them slowly helped me to my feet after proving I could still feel my legs and asked if I had been hit by a car. I figured as a car had been partly responsible for at least some of the pain I was feeling it was alright if I closed my eyes, bit my lip, and merely nodded. All the follow on questions such as if I had seen the type of car that had hit me, what the driver looked like, or anything else the police could use to identify the party responsible for my injury merely resulted in me shaking my head. Reluctantly they let me go when I showed I could walk on my own, okay it was more like a hobble, and with my promise to go to the hospital. I would of course do that, but not until tomorrow when I relieved my mother.
Instead I got into my Mustang, wished silently for car seats made by any high-end mattress company, and drove slowly home hoping I could catch my brother before any further damage was done between us. Unfortunately I could still not move my legs very quickly and each time I was forced to jam on the brakes it caused a shooting pair to drive up my spine that brought tears to my eyes. To counter this possibility I was forced to drive slowly and stick to back roads where such actions were required less often.
I got home and found only the lights in the family room were the only ones lit. There were no cars in the driveway reminding me my mother had the rest of the family at the Christmas rehearsal. All in all that was probably for the best if Daniel and I came to blows again. I was certain that event was a sight I did not want to expose my mother or family to. I'm not so certain that Daniel would feel the same way based upon the anger I had seen in him.
I made my way into the house, not fast mind you and certainly overly careful for slipping on any patch of ice. The front door was locked, almost firm confirmation no one was home, but that did not mean I had gotten there before Daniel. He could have come and went while I was driving slowly. The only way to know for sure was to check out his room which unfortunately meant climbing two flights of stairs; a task that took nearly five minutes and came with free flowing tears by the end of it.
I readied magic and lifted my left hand, the one with my shield bracelet, to push open his door. If he came charging me again I needed that one ready for casting a shield spell if I had any hope of not getting beaten up again. The room, however, was dark and thankfully unoccupied by homicidal siblings.
Daniel's footlocker was also dragged out of his closet and into the center of the room where it lay open. The false top lay exposed and all signs of gold coins concealed within were gone. I shambled over and pawed through what remained finding only a knife I had not remembered seeing the last time I had looked through here. I pulled the blade from its leather sheath and immediately saw its newness and the creator's mark right where the hilt met the blade. It was based on one used in comic books, the letters D and C within a stamped circle. Only this time the letters stood for Daniel Carpenter. I now had proof that my brother the ferrier who was supposedly molding horseshoes was also creating steel weapons. And therefore with this too convenient coincidence I was almost certain who his customers were as well.
I hobbled over to Daniel's dresser and grabbed his comb before fighting my way up the stairs to my own room. Time was of the essence but I needed a phone I could rely on and the only one that fit this description was in my room. I made it there with beads of sweat on my forehead and dialed a number. It took only two rings for a woman's voice to answer.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Elaine this is Molly. Meet me at Harry's place in an hour. I may have a lead on someone who can tell us about the iron weapons in Faerie."