Pact

I hated doing nothing, being stalled like this. It was in the quiet moments that I felt like trouble would start breathing down my neck.

It wasn’t that he was being hurtful. He was, but it was the kind of hurt I had to trust to those close to me to provide. That any of us did. The sort of truth that one didn’t want to hear. The sort of truth, even, that one might not immediately appreciate, that could test the friendship.

“So,” I said, “Alexis, Ty, maybe even Tiff, this might a moment that your entire life has been leading up to.”
“All moments are moments our entire life has been leading up to,” Ty said.
“I know,” I said. I had to suppress a sigh. “But I wanted to be dramatic and clever, and there aren’t many ways to do that without lying.”

“We should meet up with Maggie, then start working on the plan to free up your ability to use magic,” Rose said. “If we can’t come up with a plan A, we’re going to have to go with her plan B.”
“You know a plan sucks when it’s the plan B before you even have a plan A,” Alexis said.

Even something so small as a rat can bite, when sufficiently cornered.

“It’s a simple choice. Family or power?”
“Family is power,” Laird said.

“I thought I might save it for a really bad situation.”
“As opposed to being on the brink of death, surrounded by enemies, people you cherish dying?”

In the movies and on TV, being aware of imminent harm is a good thing. You can brace yourself, dodge, do little things to minimize the impact of it.
In the movies and on TV, being in shock bought you time to function before the pain kicked in.
Wrong and wrong.

"Negotiation has to be possible between us, or you wouldn’t have agreed to hear us out.”
“Agree to give me the territory, and I won’t kill you right now. There. Negotiations done.”

Once upon a time, when humans weren’t much more than animals, we relied on our dogs to scare off the Others who wanted to prey on us and do mischief. Cats hunted and fought with the lesser Goblins, returning to owners with torn ears or small injuries. They still have those instincts. To destroy things of darkness, foulness and blight, before rot can set in.

“I don’t trust Maggie. I’m not sure I wholly distrust her either, but I get the feeling that if she could profit from misleading us, she would.”
“If you’re being that selective about our allies, we’re going to be very lonely,” Rose said.

“We could ask someone. Which is probably how everyone else figures it out. They attend meetings and sit back and they figure out what they can do and what they can’t do.”
“Unless the entire town wants to murder you,” I said. “Kind of throws a wrench in the whole ‘ask a friend’ option.”

I still had scars. Some were physical.

“Will you forgive me, Evan?”
“Yes,” he said, decisively. “Because your heart’s in the right place, even if this is stupid.”

Magic has a price, but it’s not always the practitioner that pays it.

I wanted to be a good person, but being a hero wasn’t really in my makeup. At the end of the day, I was more focused on just trying to repay the debts I owed and make sure that I left the world better than it was when I’d come into it.

We’re flawed, people are. We’re damaged. We come into the world nearly perfect, naked, and happy and then life delivers the beatdown. It kicks our asses and makes us feel like shit. It does permanent damage. Bad luck, people, our own mistakes.

Family supports, back each other up. Accept the inconveniences. Sometimes that means a mom wipes a baby’s ass, even though it’s gross and boring. Sometimes it means you give a brother-in-law a place to stay. Sometimes it’s just a listening ear you wouldn’t give to a friend, but you have to give to them because the bonds are that tight.

“What game plan were you thinking of?” Rose asked.
“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” I said.
“What makes you think I have a plan?”
“I don’t think. I hope. Because my plan sucks moose balls.”