It's the end! If, by chance, you aren't ready for the end yet--or maybe you'd just like to read the whole thing over again--that button right down there will take you back to A.

Thea had helped half of London into an air raid shelter before her brain managed to realize that noise wasn’t just happening in her dream. The dream went fuzzy on the edges, and someone started shouting for them to turn the false alarm off, and Dottie kept shouting back it wasn’t false. Something was wrong. The air raid siren meant something, they should take it seriously.

Once it percolated through she sat bolt upright in bed and reached for her phone. It was two in the morning and she reserved that ringtone for things that warranted being woken up by an air raid siren. Like Alice actually calling her, at two in the morning.

“I’m awake,” Thea said into the phone, putting her feet on the floor. “What’s the emergency?”

“I…um…” Alice stumbled verbally. “Okay, so this is going to sound crazy.”

Thea reached over and flipped her bedside light on. “Well, I’m sitting down, obviously. I think I’d be upset if it wasn’t serious.”

“The Honolulu police just put in an information request to the national database for next of kin for Moira Kadagan.”

“Honolulu?”

“I called it.” Alice swallowed. “A body was found three hours ago, it’s an active crime scene and they suspect foul play.”

Thea blinked, and rubbed her eyes, trying to force herself to wake up. “Who was killed?”

“Moira Kadagan.”

“Moira wasn’t killed, Alice.”

“I know that.” Alice sounded especially agitated. “But they think they have a suspicious murder of a woman named Moira Kadagan.”

“As they should, given she’s been dead for a bit, and I wasn’t aware she’d ever been to Hawaii.”

“I checked it,” Alice insisted.

“I don’t doubt you did, I’m trying to figure out what the mix-up is. You’re right, it sounds crazy.”

“They sent me the ID she was using,” Alice said softly. “It says Moira Kadagan. There’s a credit card with the name Moira Kadagan, tied to a room at a little hotel in Honolulu.”

“Is the picture on the ID our Moira?”

“No.” Alice swallowed. “What do I do? Like if they go looking for Moira, they’re going to find her family I’m sure but this is…”

“There’s no way someone is impersonating Moira that isn’t going to wind up at our door on some level?” Thea sighed, and worked her way to her go bag in the closet. “Schedule me a flight, early as you can. Send me the particulars. Keep tabs on what it looks like from here. Unless we’re fronting the zombie apocalypse it won’t be Moira, obviously, but I’d like to know what it is before I get there.”

“I’m pretty sure zombies are above our pay grade.”

“We should definitely have a line somewhere.” Thea dropped her bag at the bottom of her bed. “Do I have time to go back to sleep before I leave?”

“First flight out is at five-twenty.” Alice swallowed. “Other than watching, what should I do?”

“Try to block the flow until they figure out who it actually is. Her family doesn’t need to get a well-meaning phone call in the middle of the night.”

“Should I tell them anything? Their special investigations office seems to be handling the case. A detective Holokai Fukuyama filed the request, I could butt in and make something up.”

“Not yet.” Thea turned the light off. She was going to force herself back to sleep for a few minutes. “Let’s see what we know in the morning before we start injecting ourselves into an investigation.”

“Okay. Wake up call?”

“Yes.” Thea pulled the covers up. “Four.”

“Roger, boss.” Alice signed off.

Thea closed her eyes and forced herself back to sleep. It looked like she’d be going to Hawaii sooner than planned.

“Zombies are not a thing,” she muttered to the room at large. It never hurt to make sure the universe appreciated where she stood on certain things.

So. There's Z. We're not done with Cornucopia Ltd, obviously. What happens next will be in book form, and sort of less focused on this gang. Sort of. And I'm going to soft promise it by the end of summer right now. 

But you know what they say about promises...

It seems weird to dedicate at the end, but I'm doing it anyway. Eventually when there are books they'll be dedicated to Kate because at least half of this is her fault (as with most things). 

But this one is dedicated to Dad, because he always liked the idea of new things. Like I said yesterday, it's been a weird and rocky year. I'd have loved to know what you thought about this, and I'd have been belted up for all the mistakes you found. Love you Dad. 

Thea stared at the moving box she’d just packed, tape in her hand. She just needed to write a label on it and shuffle into the pile that was ready to go.

They still weren’t moving for more than a month. Marie had just informed her the week before they’d closed on the property, and doing the first walkthrough later in the week. They certainly wouldn’t be living there in the interim if they were moving soon.

Seb wanted to move as soon as school was out. There was some sense to that, giving him an entire summer to adjust to a new place before they started school. Marie had forwarded her any number of realty listings; she could take her pick of places. Could choose to rent until they were sure they were going to settle, or just buy.

Seb had packed most of his room already, and Thea understood most of his excitement was the idea of Hawaii. It was infectious, the chance to see the world through his eyes, to think of all the bright happy fun it was going to be living in paradise.

Something needed to change, she realized that now. The way her life was at the moment obviously wasn’t sustainable. Kay thought it wasn’t sustainable, and Kay wasn’t exactly anyone’s marker for upholding a normal level of human social interaction.

She shifted the wedding picture that always went at the top of the box. Her and James, smiling brilliantly for the camera in front of the church on a perfect sunny day. It was the family box, and it was a box full of yesterdays. A box full of her parents, and James. Vacations they’d taken back when their family had been more than just her and Seb.

Maybe in some ways it was more than just her and Seb now. Kay, and her parents, were more family than any number of people who’d been related to them by blood. James’ family was still blood, even if they were a bit more distant than they used to be. Thea didn’t think she hadn’t adjusted yet. She thought she’d forgotten how to adjust. However much she might have liked David on the surface she probably hadn’t been ready to be in a relationship.

How was she supposed to be ready to be in a relationship? Moira had been adamant, Thea needed to reconnect with people, needed to widen her world away from just Seb and Kay. And that was a fine thing to say, and probably right. How was she supposed to do that? How was she supposed to ask someone to trust her, and connect with her, when she couldn’t tell them where she went? When she couldn’t really tell them what she did.

Just promise me you’ll try, Moira had insisted, near the end.

Thea grabbed a pen, and scribbled on the side of the box. Yesterday—Upstairs Hallway.

Hawaii was trying, wasn’t it? A new start, even if she couldn’t be a new person. Maybe she could figure out how to be her old person. Maybe near the surf in the tropic sunshine suddenly everything would make sense. 

A note before the end:

Tomorrow is Z day, and I'll make you guess what we're doing for that one. 

It's also, as it happens, my late father's birthday. This time last year I was with him, and Mom, at their house in Kansas City. It's been a crazy, hard year. And while I've got you all captive because we're down to the last letter I'd just like to say we love you Dad, and we miss you loads. Happy Birthday.

The year Seb was four.

“I’m a xenopus.”

Thea stopped, halfway through putting the dishes away and stared at her son. He’d been quietly playing with his tablet and his plastic dinosaurs for about an hour. She’d checked on him more than once because quiet children were concerning, obviously.

James was travelling for work, and when Seb went to bed she was going to spend the next four hours trying to untangle whatever the data move had done to her Cornucopia records. There were reasons she didn’t just want Alice to over-right them. Not the least of which being about two years of notes that existed on her documents but didn’t exist on the quasi-official ones Alice kept.

“You’re a what?”

“A xenopus,” Seb insisted, tugging on the makeshift cape he’d tied around his neck.

She blinked. “What is a xenopus?”

“A frog.”

“Frogs are amphibians.”

“No, a special frog. The internet said they study them special. A xenopus.”

No one had prepared Thea for the fact that apparently sometimes life with a four-year-old lacked all forms of context. A certain level of that was normal, and she wasn’t sure they were still in the normal level, but definitely Seb’s life lacked context.

Generally, once she figured out what he was talking about, it made sense. Or as much sense as a four-year-old ever made. The kindergarten teacher had pointed out that Seb was a bright boy and sometimes that meant he made less sense than other children his age, because his brain was hanging on to different things than what an adult would expect. And she could keep asking him, but he got frustrated after a bit.

Thea grabbed her phone and typed in xenopus. A family of African clawed frogs used in the study of disease and genetics.

“Okay. How are you a xenopus?”

“You said you know how fast I grow and how I get sick.” He nodded at her, decisively, and ran off to play with his plastic dinosaurs.

Thea shook her head, and texted James. Apparently we’re raising a xenopus.

James: Sounds fun, my flight should be in at nine on Thursday.

Okay. Is it going well?

James: Fine. Give Seb a kiss for me.

She switched to Kay, who probably couldn’t check her messages right then, but it was worth a try. I’m raising a xenopus.

----------: Why does your child think he’s a clawed frog?

I don’t want to know why you know what that is, do I? Apaprently because I know how he grows and I know how he gets sick, he is a xenopus.

---------: Please thank him for his contribution to science. Also, invest in window cleaner. I suspect having a frog for a child will be messy. Is James back yet?

Not till Thursday.

--------: Are you in dire need of adult conversation? I can probably call tonight.

No stress. I’ve got piles to do, once the small frog-thing goes to sleep. Just thought you’d appreciate our latest foray into Life-Without-Context.

--------: I do. I’ll call tonight anyway. Kiss your frog for me.

You’re holding on to this one, aren’t you?

---------: Probably.


Almost through! Tomorrow is Y, for Yesterday.

“Mom, do we have more boxes?” Seb asked, thumping through the kitchen. He’d come down the stairs too quickly, and he nearly skidded to a stop before her.

She placed the last pan in the dish washer, ignoring the way everything shook when he pushed off the counter again and again at the end. He’d hit another growth spurt, since the trip to Lake Superior and he was well and truly up to her shoulder now, and growing more and more excited about the end of grade school. He’d convinced her to let him pick his own haircut, and the spikey bit at the front make him look like a thirteen year old, instead of the ten year old boy she was used to. She’d caught him watching internet videos about surfing the other day, and practicing how to stand.

Thea stopped, and looked up at him. “What kind of boxes, and why?”

“Moving boxes.” He grabbed an apple off the table. “I wanna go ahead and pack the games closet, I don’t need anything out of there before the end of the year.”

“Seb…”

“We’re moving, right?”

“Yes.” Thea wiped her hands. “We’re moving. I just don’t know when yet.”

“Still.” Seb shrugged. “Might as well start now.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter. “Is that all this is, being excited about Hawaii?”

“It’s Hawaii.” Seb flushed. “It’s like the farthest west I’ve ever been. Like it’s so far west it’s almost east right?”

“That is cool.” Thea cocked a brow at him, because there was no way that was all it was. Her child was a little strange and he hung on to the most unusual ideas, but he hadn’t been particularly fixated on cardinal directions for a while.

“And maybe Auntie Kay said this would be the last one for a while. Like she’s gonna come to Hawaii too and then we’ll…stay, right?”

“That’s the plan.” Thea watched him, the way he couldn’t stand still with excitement, the way he wouldn’t quite meet her eyes.

Seb often wore guilt the way his father had, with nervous energy. It’d gotten more and more pronounced as he got older, even without James there with them, and she couldn’t help but remember the few times she and James had moved together, and the way she’d had to work to keep him from packing the things they needed before it was time to move.

And this would the first move Seb could really be involved in. He’d been too young, and she hadn’t really thought to ask him last time. She sighed, and wrinkled her nose. “The rest of the empty boxes are in the box room. There’s a roll of tape in the junk drawer. Don’t pack anything we could even possibly need before the end of the summer.”

“Okay.” He grinned, bright, and dove for the tape. “Cool.”

“And then when you’re done with the games you can come help me look through the house listings,” Thea offered. “Marie sent over a new batch today.”

He didn’t need to be guilty over wanting to stay in one place, and while telling him why it wasn’t going to be the end of the world for her job wasn’t really possible, she could make sure he understood it was okay to be excited to move.


Up next is X:Xenopus!

It was supposed to be the last trip to Brussels. Erika would be waiting at the airport for her, and they were more than done with any investigation. The agreement was that she’d help them cross their t’s and dot their I’s one last time and then it would be finished.

In the beginning there’d been noise like the only way they were going to keep Cornucopia Ltd out of trouble was if Thea agreed to help them. Like they’d turn a blind eye if she helped stitch up their actual money launderers and bad guys. That’d shifted, over the months of working this case. Long ago Erika had reached a stage where she trusted Thea. At least nominally trusted her, enough with what they were doing at the moment. Enough to know if Cornucopia was dirty, it wasn’t dirty like that.

-----------: Make sure you ask her this time.

DeLuca: I sent her information to the appropriate place.

-----------: But she knows you, and this is a personal connection ask, so you should ask her.

DeLuca: I doubt she’d like to be asked by the hired help.

-----------: I’ve read her messages. At least extend the invitation.

Thea dropped her head back against the chair, and sighed. Kay probably had a point. It was fairly unlikely Erika actually thought Thea was the hired help. Or was only the hired help. While Thea had absolutely never loosened up on her standards, or her behavior over the months they’d ostensibly worked together, Erika was very good at her job. As a consequence, she was very good at reading people.

Exactly the sort of person DG DeLuca did her best not to spend extra time with.

----------: I can make that an order, and at this precise moment you do take orders from me.

DeLuca: Msg received.

-----------: Thank you. Keep to your check in, and good luck.

It was a smooth, uneventful flight, but she didn’t sleep. Dottie got to sleep on planes. Got to settle in and let her guard down. That was maybe the part she missed the most, of being a normal, uncomplicated person.

It wasn’t as if she’d never considered quitting. Maybe she hadn’t been dividing herself between Dottie and DG DeLuca as long as Kay had been playing that secret agent tap-dance, but she knew from watching Kay, and all the things Kay didn’t say about the people she worked with, that it took its toll on different people in different ways.

But jobs like this were the good ones. Where the times she was going to go do something good. Most of her jobs as a fixer were some level of being the good guy, even if the people she worked with at the time didn’t see it that way.

She showed up and helped someone get a loved one back. She helped break up a money laundering outfit. She shined light on a broken charity or exposed a scam. Didn’t that make the world a better place?

Maybe there was always another scam to take its place, another potential kidnapper, another crook. She’d carried Detective Stone’s card around with her, since they’d crossed paths. He’d worked a whole life as a detective, and he was still working.

Thea leaned back and looked up at the roof of the plane. After James had died the potential of walking away had left a bad taste in her mouth. She’d almost done it anyway, because she thought she needed to for Seb.

In the end she’d found her feet again and turned back into the wind.

She wasn’t at escape velocity yet. She was going to have to find her feet again.



Come back tomorrow for W: Westward!

Three months after James died.

The lease was up on the house before she’d realized she didn’t want to live there anymore. She might have agonized about that more, but before she started Seb had looked up at her one morning and asked if they had to stay there now that Daddy was gone.

Not that she’d known where they were going to go.

In the short term she’d decided on the lake resort. Or, more aptly, Moira had asked how long she wanted the new two room suite at the lake resort and if she’d be arriving the week after Seb was out of school, or did she have other plans for the beginning of his break?

“Our new gardener doesn’t quite know what to do with that boy and his endless curiosity,” Moira said warmly, walking into the library.

“Do I need to reel him in?” Thea asked, looking out the window to where her son was following the older man around the grounds, peppering him with questions.

“No, he’s occupied and John says he’s helpful, for all he prattles.” Moira sat down, and patted the chair next to her. “Sit with me for a bit.”

Thea dropped into the other chair, and stretched her wrists.

“How’s your Momma?”

Thea’s mother had suffered a stroke the month before everything with James, and she almost hadn’t been healthy enough to come to the funeral. “She’s as well as can be expected. Unhappy about having to go do more contrast tests, and not fond of her therapist.”

Moira nodded. “Do you want to tell me what’s on your mind?”

She blinked.

“I’ve known you since before that boy out there was born. I was at your wedding, and I was one of the first people you and Kay drug into this grand scheme of yours. Maybe I didn’t know what grief looked like on you, before, but I know what guilt looks like. What’re you feeling guilty for, dear?”

Thea rubbed her face and puffed out a breath. “James didn’t know everything, but what he did know he didn’t really like. And he’s…gone now. If I have to lit off and…fix something I have to leave Seb behind.”

“So you want to stop.”

“No.” Thea dropped her head and rubbed the back of her neck.

“But you think you should.”

“Maybe?”

Moira sat silently for a long moment, and Thea was about to come up with something to break and silence and then extricate herself from the situation because she hadn’t ever been very good at sharing with other people when she didn’t know what was going on in her head. And Kay was supposed to join them tomorrow, she’d only left them to go check in because they’d been going to the lake resort and she wouldn’t be alone.

“I can’t tell you what your husband would want you to do,” Moira said softly. “And I can’t tell you what we need you to do. I could, but I’m not going to because it doesn’t matter.”

Thea cocked a brow at her.

“And I don’t need to tell you what you need you to do, because you know. This is a strange life, and sometimes it’s so far past difficult it’s nearly insane.”

“But it’s mine and I’m good at it,” Thea finished.

“It’s just you and that boy now. What do you want to teach him about managing his future? That the dead have more call over us than our own happiness? Cause that seems like a dangerous lesson for a little boy who’s going to grow up without his father.” She smiled sadly. “You’re caught in the undertow right now, I imagine. I’d say try not to make decisions until you come back up.” 



​Come back tomorrow for V:Velocity!

“Hey, at least Hawaii would be warm,” Alice muttered, blanket wrapped tight around her shoulders.

Victoria handed her another drink. “I imagine the bugs probably even that out.”

Thea scoffed. “You’ve clearly never been here in August. End of the season, the mosquitos could carry you away.”

Marie looked up at the sky, sighing contentedly. “The stars are pretty though.”

“Mom, can I come out?” Seb called from the building behind them.

“Yes!” Alice and Victoria answered for her.

“Come sit with me, Seb,” Alice called. “I’ll share my hot chocolate.”

He ran out and poked at their fire for a minute, before he squeezed into Alice’s seat with her. “Cool.”

Victoria grinned. “We’ve been pronounced cool by your offspring,” she said to Thea. “I think we’re doing good.”

Thea laughed. “You’re all cool. I’m his mother.”

“I bet you’re a cool mom, though,” Alice insisted.

“She’s super-cool,” Seb insisted. “Cause not only is she like normal mom cool to me, the other kids are like properly terrified of her. It gives me street cred.”

“Well, that’s good.” Thea nudged him with her foot. “Did you do your reading and everything today?”

“Yes.” Seb shifted. “I was good all day. Can I ask questions?”

Thea frowned. “You can always ask. Nobody may answer, but you can always ask.”

“Is anything wrong?” Seb looked around them. “Like I don’t really know anything, cause I’m not supposed to, but—“

“You live in a house with your mother and your Auntie Kay is around frequently,” Victoria offered. “And you’re a bright kid. I imagine you know much more than anyone has ever told you.”

“We’re talking about plans for the future,” Marie answered. “But nothing is actually wrong.”

“Good plans for the future or super secret plans for the future?” Seb asked.

“Both, probably,” Alice answered wryly.

“It looks like we’ll be moving again this summer,” Thea offered. “And then maybe not for a while after that.”

“Okay.” Seb swallowed. “Can I ask where?”

“Hawaii.”

His eyes lit up and his face melted into abject excitement. “No way. Like…like surfing and paradise and…Hawaii Hawaii?”

“There’s only one, as far as I know,” Thea answered, shaking her head at him. “So you’re clearly okay with that.”

He flopped back. “I take it back. You are the most awesome mom ever.”

Marie nudged her. “See. He approves, and Kay thinks it’s a great idea. It’ll be perfect.”

Thea rubbed her face. All she could envision were logistics and issues, but it wouldn’t help any to rain on their parade. She’d chosen this life, and sometimes it went places she wasn’t sure she was ready to go, but Moira had been right. Dottie occasionally needed to be reminded why she’d chosen it.

Moments like the one she was in were a good reminder. Sitting around a fire, out in the open with people who understood even a little of what that life was about. Watching her son grow with not just her support, but theirs too. The possibility of something good coming down the pipes.

“It’ll be perfect,” Thea agreed. Maybe if she said it often enough she’d remember how to feel it. 

​
Come back tomorrow for U:Undertow

Cornucopia Ltd hadn’t ever really had a physical headquarters. In the beginning they’d used one of the resorts—owned and run by the fund, frequently for the exclusive use of Eriene members—when they needed to have a fund meeting.

While the five chairs knew everything about the organization they were in charge of, they very rarely showed up to the same things, or communicated directly. That was probably a level more security than they actually needed to be existing under, but Kay had pushed quite hard in the beginning for it being better to start under the assumption you needed everything you can manage. Better than discovering after the fact you hadn’t been careful enough.

But the Eriene had officially crested a thousand members the year before. They weren’t a small secret organization anymore.
It technically should have been Kakapo’s job to organize a quiet, safe place for the board to meet, but Marie had only held the title for two months and Moira had never gotten around to explaining how that worked to her.

They’d spent time on video conference while Thea explained how to make the preparations. How to request that Alice make sure everyone’s schedules worked so it wouldn’t be too worrying from the outside that they’d taken a somewhat unexpected vacation.

All so they could all—or nearly all—sit down in a room together.

“Katydid isn’t coming?” Alice—Kagu for the purposes of the meeting—asked, sitting down in the wide stuffed chair. It was her favorite, they’d kitted out the lake lodge—an old crumbling hunting club on the shores of Lake Superior—together, back in the early days. They all felt comfortable there, it had been their place for years.

Victoria Makepeace—Kingfisher—laughed. “When does she ever come to these things? As hard as it is to get the rest of us free and clear, it’s nearly impossible for her.”

“Especially now, I imagine,” Marie input, sitting with a cup of coffee. “She did send me a message. That I was allowed to remind all of you to stick to code-names—which is strange coming from me as I’ve only been Kakapo for a couple of months.”

“It helps to give the warning every time.” Thea sighed. It was going to be harder for her. Outside these exact occasions she was almost never Kestrel in person. “For it to be tradition so no one has to feel nervous about it. The previous Kakapo was the oldest of us, she was always sure she’d be the first to change.”

“You’ve taken up the mantle brilliantly,” Victoria insisted. “None of us ever doubted Kestrel’s choice, of course, but Kagu and I want to make sure you understand we’re just as happy with you as Kestrel and Katydid are.”  

Marie laughed. “Katydid has been quite an adjustment.”

“Most of her involvement comes through Kestrel,” Alice said. “I’m sure now that you’re settled there’ll be less of the sudden text messages from an unknown number at two in the morning.”

“Speaking of,” Marie insisted, smoothly. “She informed me this morning that Kestrel officially had right to make her vote for any decisions we make in the course of this quorum.”

Victoria rubbed her hands together. “Good. So what are we deciding on?”

“Our previous Kakapo felt we’d reached a size, and complexity as an organization that we needed to have an actual headquarters.” Marie pulled out files for each of them, and passed them around. “Inside these you’ll find the details of a property she planned to purchase just outside Honolulu proper. Currently it supports a hundred room resort with all the trappings. It would need a bit of work, but nothing excessive. She also left a detailed efficacy statement geared toward each of your areas of concern.”

“Do I have an area of concern?” Thea asked, flipping through the land value assesments, and pictures of the property.

“Us.” Alice and Victoria answered at the same time.

Thea blinked at them.

Alice flushed. “Katydid mentioned it before. I’m responsible for record keeping and technical security, Kingfisher is responsible for wider member interests and recruitment, Kakapo is responsible for physical assets and property, and Katydid is responsible for high level financial operations. You’re responsible for making sure all of us can focus on those things.”

“Okay.” She frowned. “I’m not sure what that means for Kakapo’s efficacy statement.”

Marie smiled. “First, Kagu, there is a plan for server installation on the property, as you’d asked for a secure placement.”

“Fiber connection?”

“Yes,” Marie answered. “And I have a packet for you about all the available utilities and basically anything you want we’ll make it happen.”

“Okay.” Alice nodded.

“Kingfisher, your biggest concern in recent years has been how to fold people into our organization without raising eyebrows, she suggested a Hawaiian resort vacation would be a good way to remove people from their everyday lives and give them some time to think over the proposal, and also mean if they chose not to join they hadn’t had a strange businesswoman hanging around them.”

Victoria grinned brightly. “I like it. I could work up some sort of ‘travel prize’ for the members who don’t have the money to go on a Hawaiian vacation.”

“We’ll have to pay for everyone’s travel here though, before they become a member,” Thea input, making a note to check the legality of a giveaway, particularly as it wasn’t actually a give-away.

“Kestrel.” Marie looked up at her, and bit her lip. “Yours was a little more complicated.”

“I imagined it would be.” Given she didn’t have the first clue where Moira had been going with this, in regard to her.

Marie smiled. “She wanted this to be an actual headquarters. In such, we would all relocate to Hawaii.” She held up a folder. “I have a selection of living arrangements for all of us to choose from. Cost of living projections and all of that. And why this isn’t a horrible idea is part of Katydid’s statement so I’ll give you that in a moment. For now, she said the purpose of this organization was, in some ways, to create bonds. And it has, for all its members but us. Most especially you. Your involvement and position leaves you constantly out in the cold. This, as you know, always sat ill with her.”

“Okay, skip to how she thought this wasn’t a horrible idea,” Thea said, frowning.

Victoria laughed, leaning back. “Because the rest of us don’t understand how she thought she was going to convince Katydid this was viable, never mind Kestrel.”

Marie nodded. “Hawaii is an island, and therefore something of a closed system. It has a built in cover story, both for us—who wouldn’t want to live in paradise—and for people who need to see one of us in person. As a closed system it is easier to manage our security, both online and in person.”

“It will look strange if we all move to Hawaii at the same time,” Thea offered.

“She thought of that. If we approve this plan I will start working on the resort immediately, so I will be in Hawaii, but not at this stage permanently. Once the property is set to a certain extent Kagu would relocate to finish the server installation and other security issues. She believed Kingfisher would prefer to split her time between her current residence and perhaps spend the winter months in Hawaii.”

“I would love to,” Victoria answered. She had her finger in the real estate folder, obviously having selected a place.

“And Kestrel would relocate before the beginning of the next school year,” Marie finished.

Thea rubbed her face. “And then when Katydid returns she would find a place there as well.”

Marie nodded. “Because, again, who wouldn’t want to live in paradise.”

“When are we voting?” Thea asked.

“Tomorrow. We have some other business to discuss,” Victoria offered. “Do you need to place an untraceable call?”

Thea nodded. “If she’s going to throw a wrench in the security statement, I’d rather know it now,” she said, grabbing her phone and heading for the hallway.

Alice watched her walk away and whispered to the others. “Bets on how much of this was Katydid’s idea?”

“No dice,” Victoria whispered back. “They were both worried about her.”




This week was a little long, but were down to the last seven letters!
Come back Monday for T.

Section 7b Communications Transcript.
Reason: Pre-scheduled wellness check.
Parties: Agent 1473609-2, listed contact Mrs. Dorothea De Luca—further referenced as Subject Alpha.
Duration of Contact: 00:05:47:15
Date of Contact: -----redacted-----
Location of Agent: -----redacted-----

Agent 1473609-2: “Do you ever regret it?”  

Subject Alpha: “Regret what?”

Agent 1473609-2: “Me. Us, being friends I mean. Your life is a lot more complicated than it would have been without me.”

----Five seconds of dead air------

Subject Alpha: “What brought this on?”

Agent 1473609-2: “Don’t dodge the question.”

Subject Alpha: “I’m not trying to dodge the question, where it’s come from can have a big impact on the answer. Why would you think I’d regret us being friends?”

Agent 1473609-2: “Because everything is complicated. Because there’s probably someone in a tiny cement room furiously scribbling everything we say right now onto some sort of record. Because you can’t…you can’t just be Dottie.”

Subject Alpha: *sigh* “Okay, well, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t hate me forever if I walked away so I could just be Dottie. Not that I’m even sure what that means anymore. Which part am I supposed to regret? The part where you’ve been the best friend I’ve ever had for years? The part where your crazy ideas mean I’m not struggling to keep a roof over my head, or my kid’s? The part where I didn’t wind up in giant debt trying to cover three funerals in less than two years? Never mind all of Dad’s end of life care, and Mom’s hospital bills, and…”

Agent 1473609-2: “So as long as the money’s good, we’re fine.”

Subject Alpha: “Don’t be a shit. You know we’d be fine anyway. That’s why I was asking where it came from. Because you said that like it was about the job and how it seems to have swallowed my life. It wasn’t that, was it?”

---------Five seconds of dead air--------

Agent 1473609-2: “I should probably go.”

Subject Alpha: “It hasn’t beeped yet. Now it’s you dodging the question. What makes you think I’d regret us being friends?”

Agent 1473609-2: “Because people like me aren’t supposed to be able to make friends. Because you said we were friends because you were stuck with me for that lab and I twisted that into way more than you meant it as.”

Subject Alpha: “What do you mean people like you?”

Agent 1473609-2: “That’s what you want to know?”

Subject Alpha: “Yes, because the rest of that is…backstory. I decided to be here just as much as you did. What do you mean people like you?”

Agent 1473609-2: “People who do…this. People who know how to not be people.”

Subject Alpha: “Yeah well, some days I feel a little like that’s me, too. You already said you wanted out, but if this is you having second thoughts about that, you’re allowed.”

----------Eight seconds of dead air---------

Agent 1473609-2: “It’s more wondering if I’ve left it too late. The becoming a real person part, I mean. I don’t think I can say becoming a real person again. I mean I did sort of carry you around to prove I wasn’t a sociopath.”

Subject Alpha: “It only worked because it’s true. And the strange girl in college was a real person, even if she wasn’t like anybody else. And you’re a real person now, whatever else you are.”

Agent 1473609-2: “What about you then?”

Subject Alpha: “I’m over thirty and…lost. I’m sure I’m not the first one. But…don’t make your decision about quitting about me. Do what you need to do for Kay. You know I’ll be here whatever you do.”

Agent 1473609-2: “You don’t want me to come find you?”

Subject Alpha: “I don’t think you can do this one for me. I heard the beep, do you need to go?”

Agent 1473609-2: “Yeah, I do. I miss being able to tell Moira I was worried about you, you know? I didn’t think I’d miss that.”

Subject Alpha: “Give the new girl a bit, I’m sure she’ll be all over that. Take care of yourself.”

Agent 1473609-2: “You too.”

Transcript Terminated. Filed for deletion. No actionable or valuable information.



Come back tomorrow for S:Seascapes

Moira’s funeral wasn’t something that needed fixing. Thea wasn’t there officially.

Well, she wasn’t there only officially.

“Mom, that lady’s trying to catch your eye,” Seb whispered.

When Thea looked down at him he nodded to a young woman across the room with flaming red hair and a threadbare black cardigan pulled over and ill-fitting black dress. She caught Thea’s eye and started across the room toward her.

Before Thea came up with a way to at least remove Seb from the encounter that was coming, Moira’s son stepped in front of his daughter and bodily steered her out of the room.

“What was that about?” Seb asked.

“Nothing.”

He gave her an unimpressed look.

“Nothing that concerns us,” Thea amended. Her son was getting entirely too good at realizing when he wasn’t being told the whole story.

A throat cleared next to them, and Thea turned.

“Ms. DeLuca.” The woman standing next to them now was absolutely immaculate, in that natural artless way that was guaranteed to put people off.

Thea achieved that look frequently, and knew it for the armor it was. But in reality, the woman standing in front of her had reason to be wary. “Miss LaValle.”

“Marie, please,” the other woman corrected perfectly. “And this young man must be your son, Sebastian.”

“Seb,” Seb corrected, with all the grace of any other pre-teen boy. “Please.”

“Of course.” Marie LaValle watched Thea for a moment, clearly unsure how to start whatever conversation she felt like they needed to be having. “Moira made an odd request of me, and insisted that I needed to do it now, and I’m not sure if I should or not.”

Thea blinked at her. “Professionally?”

“No.” Her perfect nose wrinkled. “Well…I believe it may have been one of those things that one says in a professional way, but are actually meant to be personal.”

Seb snorted. “That sounds like Moira.” He swallowed. “I’m not supposed to be here for business stuff. I’ll go look at the desert stuff.” He sunk his hands in his pockets like a little man and sauntered over to the buffet tables.

Marie watched him, surprised. “Are you prepared for his teen years?”

Thea laughed, shocked. “I’m not even sure I’m prepared for now.”

Marie flushed lightly. “I apologize. I was told he was a singular boy, I suppose I didn’t take it seriously enough.”

“Moira had a very high opinion of him,” Thea answered softly. “You said she made a request?”

“It was more of an order.”

“They often were.”

Marie nodded. “In regard to you, specifically.”

“Me?” Thea frowned. That didn’t bode well. She could probably have manufactured something, and slipped away. Or she could have head the other woman off at the pass and insisted all of Moira’s requests died with her.

“It is a precarious situation.”

Thea cocked a brow at her. “I hope you’re prepared to live in those.”

Marie laughed softly, nodding. “I’d realized. I’m going to power through this particular one with the understanding that everything I’ve learned of you says I won’t…find myself out in the cold if this is a mis-step.”

Thea waited, because she didn’t have anything to say about that.

“Moira insisted that I make two requests of you.” She swallowed. “The first is less…difficult. I’m to ask that you and I can get a cup of coffee or a drink where-in no official business is discussed.”

She frowned. Moira hadn’t ever been particularly quiet about what she thought of Thea’s lack of social life. “And the second?”

“That I ask that any time you are not specifically working I be allowed to call you at least Thea.” Marie swallowed. “I…do hope you understand I would never have presumed otherwise.”

Thea looked over to where her child was pretending to stare at the deserts. Thought about the number of people in the room currently she should have had a relationship with, should have spoken to and spent time with, and didn’t. Couldn’t, in some cases. “When I’m working any level of familiarity is a risk.” She watched the other woman. “Outside of that, Thea is fine. And I don’t drink much, but there’s a very nice coffee shop over on twelfth. Ten a.m.?”

“Wonderful. Ten a.m. is perfect.” Marie started to step away from her, and stopped for a second. “She didn’t just think highly of your son, I hope you understood that.”

Thea stared through the room toward the flowers and memorials set up beyond the buffet tables. “It was mutual,” she whispered. 


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Come back tomorrow for whatever I thought I had planned for R...