She didnt respond. What was she supposed to say? Thanks?
How is your leg, my dear? Do you feel well enough to come back to work officially?
Yes! The word came out a little too loudly, a little too eagerly. She couldnt help it. Yes, she wanted to get back to work. Wanted to have something to do besides sitting around her apartment being mocked by the empty walls, by the empty spot next to her on the sagging couch. Wanted something to do aside from avoiding having Lex inside, because she knew if she invited him into her apartment he would expect to be allowed into her body as well, and she didnt think she could face that conversation.
Wasnt even sure she wanted to have it. Why? Why give up a friend and perfectly serviceable bed partner for one who couldnt be avoiding her more obviously if hed hung up signs around her neighborhood telling her to stay the hell away from him?
Elder Griffin didnt seem to think she was overeager, though. Excellent. Excellent. Wait here, please.
Chess and Dana exchanged mystified looks as he unfolded himself from behind his desk and crossed the floor. In the pale yellowish glow from the gentle lamps, his stockinged calves flashed, dried blood spatters from earlier forming lacy patterns the color of dead leaves against the white. He left the room and closed the high dark wooden door behind him with a quiet click.
What was he doing? She would have thought he was going to get a new case file for her, but he wouldnt assign her a case right in front of Dana, not on a whim like that. She had no idea where she even stood in the case queue; two weeks of hospitalization and another two weeks of enforced rest had taken her pretty far out of the game.
So, back to work, Dana said, in the weary, flat tone of someone talking simply because she thought it would be rude not to talk.
Luckily for Chess, she didnt have the same concerns, or the same discomfort. She just nodded, pressed her palms together, and glanced around the room. Glanced at Dana, taking in the other womans blond curls and expensive rings. Well, why not? Most Debunkers spent their money on actual things, rather than just buying anything they could swallow, smoke, or snort.
Unlike Chess.
Speaking of which Three hours now since shed taken the Panda and Cepts. She had plenty of time, a few more hours, but it never hurt to be aware.
The door opened, and Elder Griffin came back in, followed by Elder Thompson and a red-haired woman Chess had never seen before.
Not that it mattered, because the woman was clearly a Church employee. Her bare arms were decorated like Chesss, like Danas, with one striking exception: the black snake, coiled up the length of her arm from wrist to shoulder, each scale perfectly delineated in a silvery magical ink that gave off a faint shimmer in the dim light.
A member of the Black Squad. Church law enforcementChurch government, as opposed to Debunkers like Chess and Dana, who were regular Church employees.
Her blood turned to ice. Had the woman come for herhad they found out? Shed been so careful all this time, all these years, never letting anyone get too close, never letting anyone see her take so much as a fucking aspirin, and nowand in front of Dana, of all people? They were busting her in front ofNo. No. She was being stupid, acting like some panicky moron, and she needed to stop it.
Preferably right that second, because the red-haired woman was looking at her rather oddly. Examining her, as if she could see the guilt. Not good. Chess tightened her grip on her own fingers to calm herself, and held the redheads gaze. The woman wanted to play power games, wanted to have some dumbass little staredown? Fine. Her loss.
The woman smiled; then, very deliberately, she broke the contact and looked down at the floor. Ohhhkay. What did that mean?
Dana, Elder Griffin said, breaking into whatever the hell was happening, perhaps you should go back to your cabin. Get some rest.
Dana opened her mouth, then stopped. Elder Griffins dismissal hadnt been rude, but it had been a dismissal just the same, and Dana wasnt stupid. She left in a flurry of muttered goodbyes.
Chess was alone with two Elders and a woman who probably had the power to throw her into prison just for looking at her funny, and the silence in the room pounded into her skull like a speedfreak with a hammer.
Elder Griffin sat down. Cesaria, may I present Lauren Abrams? She just arrived from New York this morning.
The womanLaurenheld out one thin pale hand. Her tattoos went all the way down the back of it, like a fingerless glove; at the end of those bare fingers her nails were short like a mans, and shiny. Nice to meet you, Cesaria. Ive heard a lot about you.
An electric hum ran up Chesss arm when she shook Laurens hand. She ignored it. Ignored too the way Lauren clearly wanted her to ask what shed heard, or make some kind of joke. It wasnt her job to jump through hoops, and she didnt like this one bit.
Shed done some work with the Black Squad before, a few little side jobs, but this was different. This time she wasnt being brought into a group and given a quick briefing; she wasnt meeting a gang of lower Squad members. Laurens power, her air of command, told Chess more clearly than anything else could have that this woman was a higher-up. Very high. In fact