On the Verge (A Charmed Life Book 1) (12 page)

Sing looked confused for a moment, obviously having trouble shifting gears, but then his eyes cleared up.  “Oh, right!  Last night.  Yeah, he's fine.  It was just a simple procedure, but my aunt worked herself up into a panic, convinced he was going to die, and started compulsively dialing people and asking them to be there.  Speaking of which-” He reached into his bag and pulled out an unmarked mason jar full of mottled red goo.  “My sister made some raspberry preserves, and I know how much you like raspberries, so I thought …”

Tracy's face lit up as she took the preserves.  “Oh, I love your sister's jams!” she chirped happily, feeling some of that stress lift as she ignored the last day in favor of trivialities.  “I'll make us some toast!”

She opened the fridge to get out some cheese and drinks to go with the toast and preserves, and brightened as she saw the large plate of mini-sandwiches with plastic wrap over it.  She pulled it out and set it on the counter.  “And you guys can help me finish these off!”

“You know, I could just leave,” Jacob murmured, looking a little uncertain of himself.  Tracy supposed he had expected to deal with her solely on a 'teacher of the unknown' basis, and was unsettled to find himself in a more domestic setting.

“No, we still have to go out and take care of that paperwork stuff, remember?” she reminded him.  “Just sit down, we'll have some toast, then we'll go.”

“Paperwork?” asked Sing, settling down at her table and propping his bag up next to his chair.  “What sort of paperwork?”

Tracy shrugged and pulled out some of the fresh new seven-grain bread she had bought the other day while her mind raced to try to figure out a realistic answer to why she'd be doing anything with paperwork with someone she'd just met.  “Oh, he found out about my martial arts after I twisted his arm - didn't get around to that part of it before we got distracted - and he's sort of interested in learning some.  I figured I'd take him around as a thank you.”

Tracy slipped the bread into her toaster oven and closed the door, then went to the cupboard and searched through her mass of mismatched flatware to pull out some of the plates marked with raspberries, finding them appropriate.  Sing took a second knife and started cutting up cheese while she cut up some apples.  She directed Jacob to take the plates and some knives.  While she and Sing continued prepping food, she led Jacob to get out butter, glasses, and lemonade.

After a couple apples and a little cheese, she smelled the moment Jacob cracked open the raspberry preserves – so much fresher and more tangy than the normal labels.  The scent was so strong, so delicious, that she just wanted to dip her fingers into the jelly and scoop it up to her mouth, indulging herself immediately.

Instead she waited, watching the toaster oven carefully as the already dark bread toasted even darker, fighting her impatience to wait for the toast to finally be done.  When it was, she brought it into the living room, and the three of them sat round the table speaking of milder things.  At first it was just Tracy and Sing, but eventually Jacob loosened up enough that he could add his own anecdotes, his own smile, to the group.

“You know,” Jacob teased, popping a slice of cheese into into his mouth and talking around it, “this is the most complicated slice of toast I've ever had.”

Sing grinned.  “That's our Tracy,” he said proudly, putting his arm around her shoulders for a quick hug.

As much as she enjoyed this small talk, and wished it could go on all afternoon, Jacob broke her out of the moment of peace as he reminded her, “Tracy, I hate to be a buzz kill, but if we're going to make it on time, we have to leave now.  I really don't want to be late.”

Sing looked curious again, but Tracy just gave him a regretful smile and a shrug.  “Sorry, Sing…  hey, could you come back at dinnertime? We could go get some food, just you and me.”

Sing considered for a bit, then nodded.  “Sure, I can do dinner.”

“Great!” chirped Tracy, and somewhere in the back of her mind she made a sudden decision.  “It's a date!” she said, lightly.  Sing glanced up at her, a curious expression in his eyes, no doubt thinking of earlier in the week when their friends had been playing matchmaker.  She nodded just a little bit, and his eyes widened and then grew thoughtful, surprise evident on his face.  She smiled and leaned over near him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.  “See you, then,” she murmured.

She felt the nudge against her cheek as he mirrored her movement, and his arms slipped about her waist as he drew her closer for a brief and gentle hug.  “I'm looking forward to it,” he whispered back, soft eagerness in his voice.

Tracy saw Sing to the door and closed it softly behind him, then closed her eyes and hugged herself as she luxuriated in a silent moment of warm, fuzzy happiness.  A flash of impressions ran through her mind - memories of the two of them sharing fun moments, future possibilities for dates, possible ways of phrasing the news for Jill, and the look on Jill's face when she found out, all fluttered in her mind like a freshly disturbed rabble of butterflies.  It was at once exciting and a little scary, what had just passed between them.

“So did you say friend, or boyfriend?” asked Jacob, behind her.

Tracy sighed and pulled herself back from that flutter of daydream to put herself back into reality once more - as real as the world could feel after the past day, at any rate.

“No,” she said, automatically, “Just a friend.” She paused, rethinking that response.  “At least … not a boyfriend yet.”

Jacob's eyes flickered with amusement.  “Ah,” he said, guessing more than she said.  “But your friends all think you are already?”

Tracy felt her cheeks flush warmly, and Jacob was tactful enough to turn away, almost hiding the wry grin that was spreading across his face.

“So,” Tracy asked quickly, “where is this place we have to go?”

“There's a few different places,” replied Jacob, “But I was going to take you to the Northwest one.  It's a little further, but I think it's much better.  It should - ” He stopped, then spat out, “Shit … that won't work.”

Tracy made a curious noise.  “Oh?” she asked, “What's the matter?”

Jacob shook his head.  “I can get there,” he replied, “But you can't.  There's no bus service out there.  I'd have to go get my bike … can you stay on a bike if I'm driving?”

Tracy laughed softly.  “I have a truck, I just prefer the bus.  Easier to find parking, and it isn't as expensive.”

He looked at her in surprise.  “A truck? Really? What kind of truck?”

Twenty minutes later, he was grinning at her from the passenger seat as she accelerated onto the freeway.  “I never would have expected you to have a truck like this,” he said, his voice excited.  “Listen to that engine! You've got a lot of power behind it, don't you?”

“It's mostly standard,” she said, “Modded with a reduction drive, though.  You know engines?”

He shrugged.  “A little.  I know bike engines, which isn't really the same.  You do the work on it yourself?”

Tracy shook her head, pausing in her reply as she maneuvered out from behind a slower car into the next lane just before a faster car could speed up and cut her off.  As she rode the gas pedal hard, the engine responded quickly, though not as quickly as she would have liked - it was going to need some TLC soon.  “Nope.  My friend Diego's the mastermind behind my baby here.” She stroked over the dashboard lovingly.  “But I help a little.”  Such help was no more than handing over tools or changing the oil, but it made her feel better to have some small hand in it.

They talked engines a little longer, though Jacob obviously knew more about them than Tracy did, and Jacob promised to show her his bike sometime as she maneuvered around cars, going a little faster than the speed limit allowed.  “How far away is this place?” she finally asked as they started to run out of suburbs, the freeway growing more empty at every exit.

“Just a few more minutes,” he assured her, growing a bit more serious.  “Look, I need to explain a couple things quick.”

Tracy nodded, giving a slight sigh.  “Go ahead,” she said, setting herself to listen.

“I've only been part of this whole scene for a little over a year,” Jacob said, his voice growing a little distant, “so I don't have the long view of things.  We learn the history, though.  A few years ago, there was no sign-up, no formal rules of engagement.  Basically, we hunted each other, or tried to stay low.  There was a sort of feudal or gang war going on.  You picked a side, and if you didn't want to fight, you gave tribute, and they protected you.  Sometimes they made you fight, anyway.  Or demanded services.  Or anything, really.  The lords of the city were powerful, and could do what they want.  Most other places are still like that, in fact.”

Jacob got quiet, then, and stared out the window.  Tracy stayed quiet, not wanting to interrupt, though she glanced out the corner of her eye at him.  He looked like he was wrestling with something.  This world he was talking about - it seemed medieval, and brutal.  Anarchy.  But this was her city!  How could all this war and death be going on in her own city, and no one noticed?

“Three years ago,” Jacob continued, “that changed.  Lord Brin was some sort of … well, I suppose you could say a Knight Champion, if you want to use an easy-to-understand analogy.  Then Sir Brin, he had an extremely rare token, and his Lord was quite proud of him, liked to use him in fights.  He wasn't nearly at the level of the lords, but he was definitely above average.” Jacob got quiet again.  “Then, one night, Sir Brin killed the lords, starting with his own.”

Tracy blinked and her head twitched with surprise.  “What, you mean, all of them? Just like that?”

Jacob nodded.  “All of them.  Just like that.  And he took all of their tokens.  No one around here has ever had as much power as Lord Brin … and he can do … well, he can do anything he wants, I think.  The rest of us have strengths and weaknesses, stuff we're good at and stuff we find difficult, but … he learns anything he wants, easy as that.  I've never seen any sort of limitation on him.  From the stories I was told, I get the feeling it was always like that, except for a matter of scale.  After he got the tokens of all of the lords, though, scale wasn't an issue.”

He got quiet again.  Then continued.  “He set himself as the sole lord of the city.  Lots of the kiss-ups tried to make him King, but he refused.  Most of the others tried to team up and take him out.  They all died, and he took their runes, again.  He just picked an area of the map, and said that anyone inside that area had to follow his rules, and if anyone objected … he took care of them.”

Jacob looked at her quite seriously.  “Listen.  In this city, and for miles around, he can do just about anything he wants.  You can still run, if you want.  You can pack up your things and leave town.  Get a job somewhere else.  But if you stay here … you have to stop doing what you did today.  You can't just deny him like that.  He's murdered … dozens.  Maybe hundreds.  I dunno.  You're lucky he was feeling merciful, or … liked you, or something.  That could have turned out very badly.”  He paused a moment, and softly said, “I was his hunter.  I've seen him … well.  I don't want to talk about it.”

Tracy frowned, a cold, chill fist settling in her stomach.  Jacob's tone was too scared, too direct, for him to be exaggerating.  She could trust that everything he said was true, as impossible as it seemed.  “But out there … it's a free-for-all, right?”

Jacob nodded.  “We don't have a lot of options.”

“But,” Tracy continued, “Brin - he made laws, right? Stopped all the fighting?”

Jacob shrugged a little.  “Sort of,” he admitted, “Not stopped, exactly.  Formalized.  He made three … stadiums.  Coliseums.  Rings.  He made a small government, made up of people willing to suck up to him.  He made rules of engagement.  But it's still might-makes right.  It only holds together because he can … and does … kill anyone who opposes him.”

Tracy felt terror tingle along her spine.  “Have you … ever been outside?” she asked.  “You talk about it like it's some sort of anarchist wild land out there … is it?  Do you know?”

Jacob shrugged.  “Once.  I was with Lord Brin at the time, accompanying him to a nearby … territory.  The hopped-up lordling we met with is dead now – a couple of months ago.  That wasn't us; it was long after we got there.  But no, I haven't been out there by myself.  I'm scared of Lord Brin, but … yeah.  More scared of out there.”

“It's just a matter of scale, isn't it? I mean, we know what to expect from Brin, don't we? What does he demand?”  She desperately wanted to know that she had a good solution, but she felt like she was defending a tyrant.  The problem was that she just didn't know.

Jacob nodded.  “We don't have a good choice,” he agreed.  “We need to give a small percent of our income to him, as taxes.  A lot of it goes into the buildings and employees he keeps.  We have to follow his laws.  Formalize our duels.  Keep them fair, by having an equal number of tokens between the sides.  We need to keep them secret.  He has very strict rules about keeping norms out of it.  That's why he built the rings - to have out-of-the-way arenas to fight in, where norms couldn't see us.”

Tracy nodded slowly.  “It sounds … good?”

There was an uncertain noise from the passenger seat.  “I don't think 'good' or 'evil' has much to do with Lord Brin.  He's hard.  Cold.  He withdraws from us as much as possible.  The old lords had parties, at least.  Courts.  They seemed human.  Lord Brin … he just retreats into his penthouse, and disappears for days at a time.  He comes out to mete justice, or check on things - make his rounds.  Or to claim newbies as his indentured servants for a year.”