Chapter 23- Liability

Session Six

Molly had never been concerned with keeping her subordinates up to speed. For Troy, she didn't bother. He pieced most of it together, though, from her uneasy silence on the drive home (or at least uneasier than normal) to the displacement he had sensed while the others were battling to Kurt pretty much getting him caught up the next day. Kurt did just fine keeping people up to speed.

He was worried about the situation, as he should have been. Ever since he returned from the academy, his mother had been bitching about the new management at her job. Associating Golden Sun with evil wasn't a stretch; in fact, it felt right.

There was a small part of him that was angry at being left out of the battle. Now that several people that weren't Molly had told Troy that he could have a good career in the MST, he took it to heart. Getting involved by helping the local field agent would have been good practice. Then Kathryn complained about her injury, treatable as it was, and he was reminded that it was an actual fight and, from all accounts, an unwinnable one.

Still, he was at peace. He trusted that Uriel and Kurt would take care of the grimoire situation; if they needed him to jump in and help, he'd get involved then. Troy even saw a silver lining nobody else had: the Chioni had the book, therefore Donovan didn't. Troy could sleep well knowing that.

That night, he wasn't asleep yet. Instead, he maintained his tranquility cuddling with Marie on the couch as a movie played. The movie wasn't that interesting: not enough explosions for Troy's tastes. In fact, Marie only rented it because she thought the male lead was 'hot.' If anything, his lack of interest in the movie let him invest his thoughts elsewhere, making him cognizant of how at peace he was. Nestled next to a girl, career path in sight, no magic book on Donovan: Troy needed moments like these to realize how good he had it.

When the movie ended, neither he nor Marie were in any hurry to move. It was too perfect, and she seemed inclined to prolong it for a few extra moments. For Troy, it was indeed too perfect. Something was out of place, and once the credits started rolling he figured it out.

“My mom's not home yet,” he said, a little perplexed.

Marie groaned. “Oh God, you don't want to try again, do you?”

“No!” He blushed at the thought. Surprisingly, that was one of the few things that did not cross his mind. In hindsight, that too seemed abnormal.

He sat up and shook the numbness out of his left arm. The more he thought about it, the more he worried. Ellen wasn't a late night person, at least without a note telling Troy he's on his own for dinner.

Chastising himself for being paranoid, but unable to withstand it, Troy reached for the phone. “I hate doing this...”

“She's probably just out somewhere,” Marie said, standing up. “What time is it?”

“Ten to eleven. She's usually asleep by now.”

Marie checked her watch. “Already?! I have to get going. My mom is home and I'll never hear the end of it if I'm not back by midnight.”

After getting a 'number not available' message, Troy hung up. Maybe giving Marie a ride home would get his mind off of it. But on the drive, he couldn't think about anything else. His mother liked to know where he was at all times. The reverse held true as well. That, combined with a sinking intuition, made Troy worry.

As soon as he had dropped off Marie, he made another call. He was sure to catch flak for it, but he couldn't think of any reasonable alternative.

“What's up?” Kurt answered.

Troy shook his head, embarrassed that he was doing this, and afraid of Kurt's response. “You know that gizmo you got from the MST? Can you track people with it?”

A pause. “Who are you looking for?”

“My mom.”

Another pause. Troy cringed and waited for the inevitable laughter. None came.

“I haven't seen her since she left for work and her phone's turned off or something,” he explained.

An extra-long pause. He wondered if he had lost Kurt as well. Finally, rather than the ridicule Troy expected, Kurt was dead serious. “Get over here as soon as you can.”

Thankfully, Kathryn wasn't over this time. Kurt shooed Troy through the door, checking his Bloodberry the whole time. “I was afraid he'd try something.”

“Who?”

“Uriel. This morning he said he was working on a way to get some info on the Chioni. If he stooped low enough, Ellen's an easy pick.”

“But she doesn't know magic!”

“But she does know about the MST. It's not the first time they've tapped non-wielders to do dirty work.”

Troy fell into a chair, all sorts of bad possibilities running through his head. “So... you think she got caught?”

“Maybe. What's her number?”

Kurt tried calling her again, but not even the magically-infused Bloodberry could get a message through. He set the device on the counter and took a seat nearby.

“Man, I'm half-tempted to go down there myself and-”

The Bloodberry rang, interrupting him and his foolhardy plan. Kurt didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway.

“Kurt?”

He couldn't quite place the voice. It sounded familiar. “Yeah?”

“Darren Silars from Golden Sun. Sorry to call so late, but it's about the job.”

Kurt's face turned white and he squeezed the phone hard enough to shatter it. He did not, however, respond.

Silars continued, casually smug. “Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to be a good fit with the company. Not quite enough experience. Oh, and the whole thing with enticing my employees into espionage? That's a no-no.”

“Where's Ellen? She's a non-wielder and has no business being involved.”

“I agree. But it wasn't my decision to get her involved, now was it?”

“It wasn't mine either,” Kurt snapped back. “So where is she?”

“She's safe for now. We won't harm her. We did stick her with that Hokoni, but I don't think he'd do anything to her. Still, I wouldn't leave them for too much longer.”

Kurt gritted his teeth, damning Uriel for putting both him and Ellen in this position. At this point, he probably should have contacted Uriel to make him clean up the mess, but that wasn't feasible this late. “Okay, so what do we need to do?”

He could sense the smile on Silars' face. “Sacrifice all rights to Grimoire 17. The Chioni owns the book in perpetuity.”

“That's all?” Kurt said, despite knowing the MST would never agree.

“You know what? Since we're doing the whole ransom thing, throw in a million dollars in unmarked bills. Just for the hell of it. We'll even hand over the Hokoni.”

Kurt was about to protest, but there was no point. Uriel wasn't going to acquiesce to the first demand anyway, so there was no sense arguing about the frivolity of the second.

Still, playing along might draw some info. Keeping his rage in check, Kurt said, “So where do we pick them up if we say yes?”

Silars laughed. “Right, like the book's already signed over and you can swing by the ATM to get the money. Knowing the MST, it's a process, I'm sure. First get the papers signed, then we can hammer out the details. We'll keep in touch.”

Kurt couldn't get another word in before Silars disconnected. Setting the Bloodberry on the counter, Kurt stoically walked across the room and sat down in front of Troy.

“They've got her?” Troy asked, in a hushed voice.

All Kurt could do was nod sadly.

“So what happens now?”

“Official policy is to report to the district commander, tell him the situation and what the Chioni's demands are. Uriel will say 'no chance in hell' and we go from there.”

Troy blinked. He didn't like that policy. “And leave Mom there all night?”

“At least. Uriel hasn't exactly been on the ball with this situation.”

“There's nothing else we can do?”

Kurt stood up and sighed. “I said that was the official policy.” He returned to the counter and took his Bloodberry. “What we're actually going to do is go after her ourselves.”

Troy nodded. He liked that plan a lot more. Still... the sight of Kurt calling Molly at eleven at night was a little unnerving. “Wait... right now?”

“Yep. None of your mom's coworkers in the way and we might even get lucky and they won't be ready for us. Still- call Kat and Yuki. We'll need everyone for this.”