Tortus Bay

2.24: News

The Tortus Bay Examiner

Issue One

Important! Missing items and personages of great value! Have you seen:

Clair Knoss;Mathas Bernard (dead or alive or both);A locket inscribed with the name of Emmaline Cass; orThe skeletal remains of Emmaline Cass?

If so, please contact the staff of the Tortus Bay Examiner at the address listed below. All that is missing must be recovered before next week's Golden Goose Fest! Why? Keep reading for details!

***

The front page of the Tortus Bay Examiner caused a ruckus when the first issue landed in the village. If Henry had thought that the initial wave of readers would be able to keep the paper under wraps, he had been mistaken. The street outside of the cafe once more exploded with people, a reformed A.M. Bazaar, and each and every one of them seemed somehow to have obtained a copy. They traded them back and forth, gossiped about who had said what, and lamented that every story got certain details just a little off.

Nobody needed to speculate at all about who the editor-in-chief might be. Everyone in the village knew that Henry had been collecting stories about Mathas, and this was the logical conclusion of that. Some of them were perturbed that no credit was given for their testimonies. Many more were relieved. In the back room of the Anderson warehouse, the editorial staff was already working on their next project.

"As long as we don't slip up," Aria said, "Leia won't be able to track anything back here. It's one thing to know who's responsible; it's another to be able to prove it."

Kara smiled. "And our sheriff doesn't have a good track record with finding evidence.."

"Is the printer ready to go with what we have for the next issue?" Henry asked. He held a half-drained coffee mug in his hand. The morning was young, yet, but the day was long ahead.

Aria frowned. "Yes. They're waiting on the word. But are we really going forward with that?"

"Only if we don't find anything today. People deserve to know what could happen on the festival day if we don't find Emmaline or her locket."

"And if you find what you need?"

"Then they need to know what it was. We write a new article."

"You write a new article," Aria corrected. "I will continue maintaining our front, so that our printers do not become aware that we are running a clandestine operation."

***

Henry and Kara spent the entirety of what turned out to be an unseasonably sunny day out in the woods. He let her hold the leather strip with which they were trying to track Clair, on the basis that perhaps her connection to that type of magic would help their chances. They had run out of all other ideas. "There's nothing more to do than walk," he said. They went deeper into the trees than they ever had before, and were having a difficult time keeping track of what ground they had covered already.

"Walking I'm fine with," Kara said. She held the strange, hopefully unique, symbol above her head as though it were a treat, and it was a lost dog they were seeking. "What I need is for us to talk about something less depressing than the impending destruction of my home while we do it. It's still early. I'm not up to doom and gloom yet."

"What did you have in mind?"

A wicked grin lit her face. "You went to visit Lucy Brihte with Niles the other night. So... you're seeing Niles again."