Redux
mineralspine:
“Definitely trading notes,” Jo replied firmly, wondering what the hell kind of creatures he had been up against. She may not know every creature she had encountered, this thing being a case in point. Over the years, though, more than one creepy monster had felt free to travel across Astoria - right up until the point that she met it in an alley and gave it hell.
She watched him prepare to get in touch with someone and bit back a question about who it was. Two more hands would make four more than she had ever had before. “I’ll get the car.”
It only took her a moment to get back to Mercy. It took a bit longer to toss all the junk that had been accumulating in the passenger seat into the back. Receipts, soda cans, oh, there was the hair tie she had been looking for, a half-read dime store paperback - so sue her, she was busy. She slid in, tossing her backpack in the back as well, and took a centering breath.
The quartz was still there in her mind, bumping along. Devin was up ahead, still almost as much a mystery as he had been a few days ago. A fight was almost certainly brewing. It was time to get going.
Jo pulled even with Devin and hesitated, not knowing what was the considerate thing to do in this situation. She settled for putting it in park and rolling the passenger side window down. “Everything good?”
Devin grumbled into the phone to a fellow Japanese transplant. At least his contact knew how spirits were supposed to act (which stood to reason, since his contact was a spirit) and didn’t bother with small talk. Fortunately, his contact was free to help. Unfortunately, his contact didn’t do anything for free.
He ended the conversation with the grudging assurance that his contact could be there within five minutes just as a car rounded the corner and came to a stop near Devin. Jo identified herself, and Devin nodded the affirmative. It only took a moment for him to make his way over, find the door handle, and slide into the front passenger seat. He collapsed his cane and put on his seatbelt, addressing Jo.
“I owe a fox some liver,” he grumbled, “but he’ll be here in a few minutes.”
The sword he had when Jo left was nowhere in sight. There were no niceties such as, ‘nice car,’ or the like. Devin didn’t care for cars, nor did he know a thing about this one. He did investigate the buttons on the dash, knowing where the radio was was important to be an annoying passenger.
Devin fiddled with the worn handle of his cane. “What’s your plan when we get there? Do you know the layout at all?” He still had a headphone in one ear and searched for the facility to do a little background snooping.












