Mikkel

I had put a lot of stock into the idea that having a connection with the police would help [unintelligible... maybe the word alleviate] some problems of my own that I saw coming in my future. And Steven seemed so promising when I saw how easy it was to make a psycho-physio connection with him.

Instead, I found myself trying to dig him out of his own pit of guilt that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me in the first place. Why would he feel guilty over doing his job? So the formerly well off people were now scratching for food. They still had more meat on them than most Townies. As far as I was concerned, the job of the police was to care for the Townies, not the society members.

Besides, Poldi was always a little [unintelligible word]. And [unintelligible word] you can tell him I said that. Some actual work would have done him good. But then again, I knew I could use a (unintelligible word) indebted to me.

I also had to check on the plan of attack for the Jaggars and I needed to work on setting up my new House of Cards and figure out what to do with the mystery woman who still refused to give me her name—verbally or otherwise.

Oh, and I needed money. Desperately. Even with Markus as my (unintelligible word), I wouldn't have enough money to do everything I wanted.

And while we're making lists, I was low on the fundamentals: Beton, smokes, and card decks. My last two daubed decks had been thrown into the river (without proof of their marks, I should add) and my favorite deck was missing a few cards. I couldn't remember which shirt I had hid them in, but with my luck it was probably the one I had just lit on fire that day. Who knows what else I had in that shirt and coat.

My lesson for the day was: Check all pockets, including hidden pockets and folds, before setting your clothes on fire.

The good news was, I did remember to get all the bullets out of my clothes and I had that spare gun to pawn. If I could just find that verdam' gebbed necklace to take apart, I'd be [unintelligible word].

Steven

Alright, Mikkel. That's it. I tried, but the rest of this doesn't make any sense. Next time, write sober. And try to lay off insulting people in your writing, myself included.

Oh, and stay out of my house. If Amanda catches you, I can't be held responsible for what she or I will do.

Cory

They day after Steven showed us the news and a challenged us to free Poldi, my bed disappeared from my room. I don't know when it happened. It was still there in the morning when Miles and I went down to eat breakfast. Mikkel and Markus had gone out the previous night for "one last, big game." So it was just the two of us at breakfast. Then Miles left for Dr. Gore's clinic and I sat around with the radio the Serpents had given me.

After that, the men Mikkel had hired from the Midtown station showed up to work on the house. Mikkel probably didn't even remember that he had hired them and judging by the way he had been talking about money recently, he most likely had nothing left to pay them with. That put me in a frustrating spot. Sure, I had some money from the Masters, but it wasn't all that much, compared to what my brothers had taken from the Underground. And I didn't know what these guys were supposed to be working on. But I couldn't just send them away. They needed the money more than I did. So I told them to work on whatever they thought they could fix or clean or whatever and paid them for it myself. They figured the rest out themselves and disappeared into various corners of the house or yard.

I thought about heading out to wander the city a bit, but Anna was feeling uneasy about working in any room of "the vampire house" on her own after the whole bloody clothes mess. So I stayed. I guess I was her guard against any vampires that might jump out of the walls.

"Of course I know that vampires aren't real," Anna said as she changed the sheets on Mikkel's bed. I sat in a chair in the hallway. It was an old, musty chair from one of the unused rooms and the legs sounded like they were going to break underneath my weight, but it was still a chair. "I just don't like the feel of this house," she said. "It's... haunting."

"So now it's ghosts?" I asked.

She threw Mikkel's bed sheets across the bed to the pile of dirty linens at the doorway. "I don't think it's haunted. It's just haunting."

"I don't get the difference."

"Is anyone else concerned about Mikkel's drinking problem?" she said as she stared down at the pile of empty benton bottles on the floor.

"Yes," I said. "I think we're trying to be sensitive about it because it started right after the Underground fell and we were all branded as traitors."

"But the rest of you don't drink like this," she said.

"Well, Miles distracts himself with the clinic and Markus distracts himself with you, so they don't need it. And I can't have it. I got sick the one time I drank the stuff. I don't ever want to do that again."

Anna went quiet and continued putting the new sheets on Mikkel's bed. "What about you?" she finally said, throwing the pillows at the head of the bed and picking up the dirty linens to throw over the second floor railing.

"What about me?"

"You said Miles distracts himself with the clinic, but Markus distracts himself with me. What about your relationship with Miles?"

I shrugged. I hadn't meant the comment to sound like Miles didn't care about me. He just really liked working at the clinic. "I think the clinic makes him feel useful or... less helpless, I guess. I can't do that for him. And he looks up to Dr. Gore. I mean, we all do, but Miles really looks up to Dr. Gore.

"Markus is much more simple," I continued. "Put a pretty lady in front of him and he'll be happy for life." I smiled at Anna, but her return smile was weak. I couldn't place why.

She threw the dirty linens to the first floor and cleaned up the empty bottles and cigarette butts into a bag, which she dropped on top of the pile. Then she moved on to Markus's room and I followed behind her with my chair to sit at the door and keep her company, or have company.

"So how do you distract yourself, Cory?" She said as she tore off the bed sheets.

"Distract myself from what?"

"From what happened in the Underground."

"I don't have to," I said. "I wasn't all that attached to the Underground. I didn't even get a brand from them, even though they bought me from the Masters. I have a brand from the Masters and a brand from the SBS and a brand from the Serpents, but its like the Underground never fully claimed me."

"So you don't feel bad about what happened." She said it quietly, almost like she wasn't talking to me.

"Of course I feel bad about it," I said. "So many people died! I thought for sure they'd all surrender and come out of there, but they didn't and I can never take that back."

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean--"

"But more would have died if we hadn't of done it," I cut her off with a line that I had heard Mikkel say over and over again. It was the only thing that made sense of the massacre.

Downstairs, the front door opened and Mikkel and Markus tumbled in over the threshold. They dragged themselves up the stairs and dropped into their beds just as Anna put the pillows back on Markus's bed.

"Thank you, dear," Markus said to her as she picked up the dirty linens and tossed them over the railing. His eyes were already closed and his voice faded into thin air.

"Did you guys win big?" I asked, hoping I could catch the last of his consciousness. But he didn't respond.

"This is why I make your bed last," Anna said. "Otherwise, I'd never have a chance to make theirs."

I sat on my own bed while she took the sheets off of the bed Miles and I shared. Anna never really knew what to make of me having this bed, but she was too scared to ask anything about it. When she was done, she turned to me and glanced at the pink, lacy bed covers which were still made up the same way they had always been.

"Do I... need to change those sheets?" she asked.

"Nah," I said, "I never get under the covers. It's just like a couch. A couch that I can crawl under when I need to."

"I... see."

She didn't see. No one saw except Miles. Not even Mikkel understood my need for this bed, which is probably why it disappeared like it did.

Anna shook her head and smiled. "The whole lot of you are strange," she said.

Something popped and cracked over my radio and a familiar voice came on. It sounded like Miles, but with an adelige accent that was as thick and smooth as icing. "Cory Cortez, are you there?" it said.

"That can't be Miles, can it?" Anna said.

"Definitely not. It must be Marcel. Quick, how do I show respect over a radio? He can't see me bow."

"Well, how would you greet him in person?" she asked.

"I'd bow and not say a damned thing unless he asked me to."

"Cory Cortez, are you there?" Marcel said again on the radio, articulating every syllable.

"Well, it sounds like he's asking if you're here. So you should tell him that you are," Anna said.

I picked up the radio and took one last, calming breath before holding the button to answer, "Yes sir, I'm here."

"Good," Marcel said. "I need you and Mikkel down at the Capital Building as soon as possible. And use the front door this time, please."

"Mikkel, sir?" I said. "He's..." I stumbled over how to complete that sentence. No truthful answer was appropriate. For a moment, I thought about asking permission to come alone, but I let go of the button and Marcel broke in before I could ask.

"We need both of you down here quickly, please, Cory, and can you ask Mikkel to wear something clean and presentable. You two need to talk to the Advisory."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes stung with something that might be tears or fear. As simple as the request sounded, there was no way I could make Mikkel presentable after a night on the town like that. He had just gotten home from God-knows-what, which was only slightly better than him not being home. And clothing wise, I had no idea if he even had anything presentable in his closet. Most of his clothes were meant to look just shabby enough to be unnoticeable around the card tables. I looked up at Anna for help.

"Well, his clothes are clean, anyway..." she said. That was not helpful. "Tell him, 'yes sir' and let's go see what we can do about Mikkel."

I nodded. "Yes, sir," I said over the radio and jumped off the bed to wake up Mikkel.

I tried a gentler approach this time, rubbing his arm and whispering quietly, "Mikkel, you need to wake up." Anna stood in the doorway holding her breath like she was expecting the worst.

Mikkel breathed deeply and swatted me away without opening his eyes.

"Mikkel, please, I need you to wake up. Marcel called, he asked for us down at the Capital Building."

Mikkel mumbled something that I couldn't understand.

"What? Mikkel, please--"

"Tell him to stick a jine up his schloch."

"Even if that made any kind of sense, you know I can't talk to him like that, Mikkel, please! Don't make me look bad at the Capital Building," I kept my voice soft and sweet, hoping to ease him out of sleep in a good mood, but it didn't appear to be working. He swatted at me again and rolled over on his side. Out of desperation, I grabbed his hand with my right and put my left hand on his cheek where it was easier to make a psycho-physio connection. Through it, I tried to press all of my fear and urgency into him, pushing aside his feelings of exhaustion which laid open all sorts of muddled, drunken thoughts he had floating around his head. They made me dizzy.

"Stay out of my head," he said into his pillow.

"I need you, Mikkel," I said. I focused on the psycho-physio connection, making it as strong as possible. Thoughts and feelings floated on the surface, but if I could make a significant connection, I could pass commands to his muscles, including his heart and diaphragm. It was something I never was able to do before, but now was as good a time as any to practice the concept and force him awake through his nervous system.

Unfortunately, he knew what I was trying to do before I could get very far with it. "I said, 'stay out.'" His voice was much louder now, but he still didn't open his eyes. He tried to wave his hand and knock me off of him, but I held his hand down tight and sat on top of him in order to pin him in place. I couldn't lose this battle. "What are you doing?" He asked once I had positioned myself on his torso. He finally opened his eyes to look at me. "Get off!"

"You have to come with me, Mikkel! I can't let you say no!"

"Fine, just get off of me!" His cheek burned hot under my hand, but I didn't want to pull away so quickly, afraid he'd trick me. "I said, 'get off!'" he sat up straight in bed, knocking me on my back. My left hand dropped from his cheek and he grabbed it to keep it away from him. Then he got out of bed, still holding my hand, and I, his. He walked me over to the door where Anna watched the whole scene with wide eyes. "Here," he said to Anna, shoving me toward her. I let go of his hand at the same time as he let go of mine. "Take her away from me. I'll get dressed to see Marcel." With that, he slammed the door in our faces hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. Behind it, I could hear him groan and curse at the door.

I looked up at Anna. She looked down at me and tried to hold back a laugh. "The whole lot of you are strange," she said at last.

I waited with Anna outside his door, sitting on the railing and listening for any clues that he might have gone back to sleep. After a short time, he opened his door again, dressed in a clean, white, button up shirt and dark dress pants. "Wow," I said. "Where did that come from?"

"What? I can't have a nice set of clothes?" He asked. His eyes were still barely open, but his speech was returning to it's clear, soft adelige accent.

"Why are you wearing a white shirt?" I asked, "Shouldn't it be green?"

He shook his head. "I could get away with it in the Underground because of their respect for my mother's husband. But everyone knows I'm not an Adler. The Serpents would never accept me wearing the family color."

"Well, what was Voltaire's family color?" I asked.

"Didn't have one," he said. "He wasn't an aristocrat. So, I suppose in a way, I am wearing his family color. Anna, dear, would you mind asking Ingrid to make me that hangover cure she made yesterday? It seems I'm going to need it. And Cory, if we're going to the Capital Building, you'll need to change your clothes as well."

"On it!" I said and jumped down from the railing. "Oh, and maybe Anna has an idea on how to make that bruise on your face less... rainbow-y."

"Thanks, Cor', but I'll pass. And if anyone in the Capital Building ask, just tell them a Jaggar did it."

"Will do."

At the bottom of the Rea Estate hill sat a little gas station run by a small, bearded man who mumbled when he talked and always seemed to be talking. There Mikkel stopped to call the police department and connect us with Steven whom we then asked to pick us up, which he did, grumbling all the way about what an inappropriate use of the system it was.

"Grumble all you want to," Mikkel said in the police car, "You owe at least this much to me now since I'm getting your little guilty conscience out of his work assignment."

We were greeted at the steps of the Capital Building by two Serpent soldiers who ushered us inside. One of them I recognized as the man who gave me the radio. He smiled kindly at me, but said nothing. The other neither smiled nor looked at either of us.

They led us to a room that looked much like a library where the walls were covered in books and more books were stacked next to arm chairs. There were ten armchairs in all and each was taken by older men who narrowed their eyes at us and made faces like someone might do if a fly was found buzzing around the room. From the colors of their clothing, I could make out a few of their families, at least enough to know that two of them were Fuchs with shirts that matched Ian's exactly, and one of them was a near family to the Reas, given away by the red trim on his collar and cuffs, as if his shirt was dipped in blood.

Marcel and Ian were also in the room, standing toward the back. Even though Ian was in his twenties, both him and Marcel looked like children next to these men, which made me feel particularly like a baby. I was glad Mikkel was with me, even if he was only eighteen and hungover. He was still much wiser than I, and not so easily intimidated by old adeliges.

The rest of what happened in that room, I cannot say. As a servant of the Rea crown, I am sworn to keep certain things to myself. In fact, I have already said too much. So, let's not share this part until after I'm dead, okay?

Mikkel and I made it back to Rea Estate by mid-afternoon, bumming a ride from the Serpent soldier that had smiled at me. By the time we walked through the door, Mikkel had his shirt unbuttoned and by the time he reached the top of the stairs, his pants were off and left on the floor along with his shirt. I heard his bedroom door lock behind him and knew that I wouldn't see him again for quite some time. Still, I was grateful he had managed to go with me. I would never have been able to survive that meeting on my own.

"Does he have to leave his clothes on the stairs like that?" Anna said.

"In the mood he's in right now, I'd just pretend he brought you flowers and leave him the hell alone," I said.

"So how did it go?" she asked, following me up the stairs. I headed for my room to change out of my dress. I felt particularly vulnerable in skirts after what happened at the Inauguration Ball. Maybe that was what Ian intended, considering I had to always wear this white sun dress at the Capital Building. He had successfully made me feel weak and fearful in his presence.

I shrugged off Anna's question at the top of the stairs while she gathered up Mikkel's clothing. "I guess it went alright. They want me to go back into the South End, though, and map out the tunnel system and all its entrances. Can you unzip me, please, Anna?" I asked at the door to my room. There was a distinct lack of pink in front of me. "Where is my bed?" I said a pitch higher than normal.

"What do you mean?" Anna hurried over to look into our room.

"My pink bed!" I said, "It's gone!"