Fear Her Wrath II: Crucible of Glass

Chapter 42

"Why does it feel like I only make things worse?"

"You don't," Ben said quickly. "Maggie, seriously, just because you—."

I wasn't looking for reassurance, and his lame attempt at making things better just turned my self-pity into rage.

"She died, Ben! She died because I didn't get there fast enough. She died because I couldn't get a door open."

I slammed my fist on Simon's old workbench, making his dusty tools rattle.

"She died because Deadstream killed her," said Ben after a pause.

"Well, if I took that as an excuse, I wouldn't be wearing this cape," I snapped. "And if you hadn't been trying to make me go easy on myself—."

"Guys, please don't..." said Ellie quietly, but neither of us was paying attention.

"When did I tell you to go easy on yourself?"

"Well, what was all that crap about not wasting my energy tracking down Glassface?"

"I told you not to make things easier for the bad guys when you could be helping the Fen," said Ben. "And that's what you're doing now, so—."

"Yeah, and it's working out just great!"

Ben and I glared at each other with our fists clenched. Ellie was curled up on the sofa, clutching one of Simon's old work aprons like a security blanket. I was too focused on the complicated tangle that was my feelings for Ben Vang to notice she was taking this even worse than I was.

"You can think whatever you like," said Ben. "But throwing a tantrum every time you don't—."

Throwing a tantrum. Ooh, now he was really pushing my buttons. I took an angry step towards him, and I was ready to go full Rachel Moylan and pulverize him when I noticed my phone was ringing. Fortunately for both Ben and me, it was Corrigan.

"Hey," I said, doing my best to sound like she hadn't interrupted me in the middle of an argument. "What's up?"

"Body's on its way to the coroner's," said my police contact. "I'm bringing some friends in from across the river to go over the crime scene with a microscope and tweezers. If he left so much as a partial print or a stray hair, we'll find it."

"Awesome," I said. "Uh, anything I can do?"

"Whatever you did this time almost worked. As long as we keep breathing down his neck, he'll eventually screw up. Then we've got him. Keep at it."

"But we didn't save her. The old lady, I mean."

Corrigan sighed heavily.

"No, we didn't. But we did what we could. We're both human, vigilante. Remember that."

She hung up. I tossed my phone aside and slumped onto the sofa next to Ellie. Somehow, the exact same message was way more convincing when it came from my police mom instead of Ben.

"Hey, Maggs?" said Ellie, wiping her eyes. "Maybe we should, I dunno... go get tacos or something. Eat your problems away, y'know? Lime chicken and Cholula is the best medicine."

Despite my frustration, I smiled. Ellie was, as usual, the smartest one of all of us. She couldn't make things better, so she didn't try.

Also, I was really hungry, and tacos sounded amazing.

"Fine," I said. "I gotta change. Benedict."

"I think I'll wait right here," he said, leaning against Simon's old work desk. "I've seen it all already anyways."