“Kind
of like you don’t know exactly what you mean,” he said, “Like you’re spouting
some doctrine you’ve been hearing for a long time. Do you ever question what the Witch’s means are?”
“It’s important to question the things you
learn,” Elys said, surprising Dave, “I’ve studied the teachings and I know that
my father doesn’t follow them. He says he does. But he’s allowing members to
use guns. He’s letting members get away with brutish methods. And he’s allowed
Ember Horrors into our ranks.”
“Ember Horrors?” Dave asked.
“Awful things,” Elys said, “I’m not sure
what they are but they’re unclean. I think they might actually be evil, and I
say that despite the Phrenic Witchseer’s distaste for such black and white
terms.”
“I heard they’re guarding the Crown,” Dave
said, “Speaking of, if I was a member, do you think they’d let me access it?”
“I don’t know,” Elys said, “Maybe. I’m not
sure how important the Crown is. My dad didn’t want to talk to me about it. He
said there are things that he can’t tell me about. Like I’m not responsible
enough to know or something.”
“I was told that the Candle Crown is a
conduit for great power,” Dave said, “Or at least, it makes one power hungry. I
assume that it provides the means to supply this power.”
“Who told you that?” Elys asked, “A fortune
teller somewhere.”
“Uh,” Dave said, “Some girl. I didn’t see
her face.”
“What was her name?” Elys asked, “Or did she
not give it to you?”
“She gave me a name that sounded like it
came from a lame fantasy novel,” he said, “Sharpdusk.”
“Bira Sharpdusk,” Elys said, “I know her. She’s
an incisor. Don’t trust her.”
“Why not?” Dave asked, “She was like some
kind of magic detective girl or something.”
“Just don’t do what she says,” Elys said, “Maybe
believe me when I say she’s not acting in your best interest.”
“Ok,” Dave said, “I wish you’d explain more
but I guess you’re going to be all cryptic until I join your Stonelayers or
whatever.”
“Bricklayers,”
Elys said.
“I know,” he said, “It was a joke.” He was
still holding the bomb. He was unsure of whether or not he was actually
responsible enough to hold something that had such power.
“A bad joke,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“So, the bomb,” Elys said, taking it back
from him. “It’ll go off when he turns on his car.”
“You made a car bomb?” Dave asked, “That’s
not what I was expecting or hoping
for. I thought we’d set it off in such a way that… like… no one would get hurt.
Just his car would get jacked up.”
“Yeah,” she said, “He won’t be injured. I
couldn’t think of a detonation method I liked better though. This way he might
even think he somehow caused the damage. There’ll be nothing left of the bomb
once it goes off. So all he’ll see is a broken engine. It’ll be perfect.
Almost.”
“Almost?” Dave asked.
“You saw the damage,” she said, “Nothing
short of his death would make what he did alright.”
“It’s just a statue,” Dave said, “It’s not
like he—”
“What do you love, Dave?” Elys asked, “What
is there that you love?”
“I don’t know, I—”
“Imagine that you entrusted what you loved to
someone who said they loved it too. And instead of protecting it, they cut its
throat and left it for you to find. That is what this was.”
“You trusted him with the statue?” Dave
asked.
“He was over last night,” she said, “Keeping
me company. And I fell asleep. Because I didn’t think he’d do anything.”
“He’s an asshole,” Dave said, “Why would you
think he wouldn’t do anything.”
“I fucked up,” Elys said, “Ok? I maybe
slipped up for once and now I’ll make sure I never do it again.”
“Shit,” he said, “I’m sorry.”
“Good,” she said.
“You wanna go somewhere and get some coffee
first?”
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