Fear Her Wrath II: Crucible of Glass

Chapter 19

"Hold on, she?" said Ellie.

"Yeah," I said, pressing the phone to my ear as I sprinted down the road to the bus stop. "The Nihilist's name is Josie Connelly. She's 14, her parents died in the Penhook Street fire, and she disappeared from the orphanage about five months ago. Emery taught her how to make the bombs. Apparently she thought it was a purely academic exercise."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah. And that's not everything. There's a copy of Catechism of a Revolutionary missing from the nuns' collection of confiscated books—a really old copy they confiscated a hundred years ago and never threw out. Everything fits. Can you get hold of Terrence? I think Murraytown's our best bet for tracking Josie down. Maybe we can find her before she kills anyone else."

"Will do," said Ellie.

Terrence Rashad got back to us about an hour later saying he'd have all his best informants ready in Murraytown tomorrow night, which was Saturday. I spent the rest of Friday evening on the sofa at home, gathering together everything I could find about Josie Connelly. My suspicions that the Nihilist persona was just a smokescreen were confirmed with every word I read. Though she apparently told Emery she was an atheist, Josie's entire family was on the parish rolls at St. Maria Goretti—Simon's old church—and I found some photos of Josie smiling at a youth group retreat from two years ago. She had no history with anarchism—actually, from what I could find, she wasn't really interested in politics at all. She was just an ordinary 14-year-old who went through something really traumatic and decided to use her pain to fight back.

That was a little too relatable.

I got up just before lunch on Saturday—which was early by my standards—and set out for Chilltern Banks. Simon's trial was adjourned for the weekend, but he was scheduled to finally give testimony on Wednesday morning. That meant the jury would be making its decision by that afternoon, and this horrible ordeal would finally be over. I was already planning to skip school for the trial's last day, but I wanted to see him before then, and this was probably my only chance. So, I checked myself in at Merceron Prison and did the walk of shame to the maximum security wing.

As usual, it took a few minutes to overcome the awkwardness.

"I, uh... finally went to see Emery," I said. "She was... something."

For the first time in weeks, Simon actually chuckled.

"Yeah, she's... a l-little overbearing."

"And arrogant. And she can't seem to get three words out without insulting you."

I could tell by the look on Simon's face that he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"But was she... h-helpful?" he asked.

"Yeah. She's helped me out a lot. You know, with homework. I've got a big test coming up."

I desperately wished I could say more, but there was still a guard at my shoulder, and the security camera was picking up every word we said. I had to trust Simon to read between the lines.

"Y-you can trust her," he said.

"Sure, but will I be able to make it through another study session without ripping her head off?"

Simon laughed again, which was the best sound I'd heard in weeks. My heart felt lighter, even if I was still grumpy about Emery and worried about what was coming.

"You... get used to it. She's had a rough life. I d-don't blame her for being a little... prickly."

"I guess," I said, still not quite convinced. "She promised she'd help me with... some homework you'd had trouble with."

Simon looked a little surprised, but he passed it off with another small laugh.

"She always... n-needed to be the best."

There was a long silence. Simon's hands twisted in his lap, and I heard the clinking of his handcuffs. I pretended to inspect my nails, which were starting to look as ragged as Simon's after all the stress of the past few weeks.

"I didn't want to ask her," I said reluctantly. "But... do you know how she—?"

I gestured vaguely to my pupils.

"Oh—uh, sure. At least, um... I think it was an accident. W-with chemicals, when she was a kid. After her parents died. I don't really know more than that."

"Wait, so did she, like... was she the one playing around with the chemicals in question?"

Simon shrugged.

"I d-dunno. But really, you can trust her. I wouldn't have... I've n-never seen her screw up."

"I trust your judgment," I said, forcing a smile. "But... it's still not the same."

I left pretty soon after that. I told Simon I had to meet with some friends for a group project—God, I was sick of speaking in euphemism—but it was only kind of true. Terrence wasn't expecting me in Murraytown until after 9 o'clock, which gave me plenty of time to swing by the Night Chapel and change into my gear. I was just a little overwhelmed. It seemed like everything in my life was coming to a head, and I wanted a break. Calling Corrigan had been my go-to when I was stressed, but I didn't want to do that until I could tell her to come arrest the Nihilist. So instead, I called Ben.

"Hey," he said. "How's my favorite redhead?"

"Uh, fine," I stammered. "Just... bored."

Argh. I hated the way even his joke flirting could get to me.

"So that's why my 'lonely girl' sense was tingling. I figured it was either you or Chaeri Park. You know, she's always asking for help with trig, even though she has an A+ in the class and her best friend's also in the Math track. Makes you wonder."

"Makes me gag," I said, with slightly exaggerated disgust. "I just wanted to know if you were up for a little sparring. I have a few hours to kill and I'm kinda antsy."

"Sounds good. I had a few jiu-jitsu throws I wanted to practice."

"Don't get your hopes up," I smirked. "Usual place?"

"Sure. See you there."

I hung up and stuffed my phone back in my pocket. The nearest subway station was about a block away, and I would need to get moving if I wanted to beat Ben to the empty lot in Brand Hill. I scolded myself for the fluttering feeling I got in my chest as I thought about spending the afternoon sparring with Ben. I had a boyfriend—a boyfriend that I loved, and who wasn't an obnoxious womanizing pig. But... Ben had just dropped everything just to make me happy. It wasn't wrong to appreciate that.

...Right?