Soul Stone

A Big Dumb Joke

"Well, what do you have to say about the incident in Forcier?"

Donovan Reilly just stared back at his questioner, silent and thoughtful. Of course, Donovan Reilly had been an assumed name. His real name wasn't one he was particularly interested in sharing with anyone. As far as he was concerned, his name was Sweeper, and it had been since his early twenties.

"Well?"

Sweeper looked up at the much larger man calmly, though anyone who was familiar with him would've recognized the flash of surliness behind his eyes when he heard the man pressure him to answer. He just shrugged, allowing his lack of interest in answering questions he deemed as stupid to be fully put on display. "What am I here for, exactly?" Sweeper asked, finally.

Deputy Headmaster Smith glared back at him. "Donovan, you know the sort of trouble I went to five years ago to get you through background checks for this job unscathed. I put my neck way out for you, and we both know exactly why," he lectured "Now I suggest that you answer my questions. If anything sensitive comes up, you know you can rely on me to conveniently forget all about it before I can inform the higher-ups."

"I'll be happy to tell you everything I know, Jonathan, if you'll tell me why I was called down." Sweeper replied, simply but with undisguised contempt.

"You walked into this school on a day off carrying a half-dead teenager on your back, then refuse to get him looked at medically, and take care of him yourself. Naturally your name was going to come up in the inquisition. I've already vouched for you to the board for directors, but I need you to be cooperative, here" Smith replied, visibly annoyed.

Sweeper eyed the door, looking almost nervous. "Its locked from the inside, and sound-proofed" Smith assured him, dryly "As it has been since my predecessor held the position of Deputy Headmaster."

Sweeper nodded, rolling his eyes at the mention of an old acquaintance he had never been particularly fond of. "If you must know, I was in town. As you know, it was my day off, and I hadn't visited the antique shop in a while. Completely by chance, Zeke Alistair also happened to be visiting the store, claiming to be window shopping. We ran into another student, named Kayne, and the two of them wound up talking for a moment. After Kayne left, Zeke followed him out and that was the last I saw of him for about a half-hour," Sweeper explained "Now, here's where I can't tell you facts anymore, and I have to go by what witnesses told me, and I've put together for myself; There was some kind of conflict involving Soul Stones between Zeke and another guy. They almost leveled a clothing store in the fight, and apparently, Zeke got hit hard enough to go flying about two blocks north of that store, which was where I found him. There was only one witness without prior knowledge of stones, as far as I know, which is a small miracle."

Smith's eyes widened. "Alistair had told me he had no idea about Soul stones," he replied, confused "Though I had the feeling he was hiding something..."

"If you don't mind, I'll handle Alistair" Sweeper answered, sharply.

"Are you sure that's such a clever idea, Donovan?" Smith asked.

"Why do you keep calling me Donovan, if this room is as well-protected as you claim?" Sweeper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You and I both know that when it comes to protecting our identities, the board is the least of our worries," Smith pointed out "but are you sure 'looking after' him is the best thing for either of you?"

Sweeper shrugged. "He's a dead man walking, if I don't. The Dark Tree knows about him now, and god knows Sara won't be able to keep him alive when they choose to come for him."

"I assume Sara is his sage" Smith muttered reflectively, with a slight chuckle "She said they were dating, when I saw them earlier. The story wasn't particularly well thought out."