The Seventh Guild

CHAPTER FIVE

I have an idea.

A stupid idea, probably. A reckless idea. I know that it's a very stupid, reckless idea.

But it is something. For the last five years, I have wanted something, some way to get back at the Deep for everything that happened, and now, I finally have an idea.

The walk from my house to the Deep headquarters is only a couple of minutes long, and I know it by heart. On the outside, the building is unremarkable. It's a wide, squat thing made out of brick in the middle of an industrial zone. The kind of building you drive past without even questioning what it might be for, which I suppose makes it perfect for a semi-secret hideout.

I don't know if the sweat on my brow is from the excitement or from the sickeningly hot summer air. This is a very reckless, stupid idea, and I have to commit to it before I can convince myself not to.

When the building comes into my view, I can actually feel my heartbeat getting louder. I'm practically running up to it by now. I guess I should be more sneaky, but that would be nearly impossible to do in broad daylight, and I don't have any time to waste.

Maybe I'm impulsive. Maybe impulse is exactly what I need.

I breathe a sigh or relief when I see Alex is standing outside the front door, looking around like a somewhat oblivious guard, like he always has been. I need him if this plan is going to work. Part of me was worried that I would get here and he would have already been killed by whatever's going on inside the Deep, but there he is.

Good. I need to talk to him.

"Alex!" I say when I'm close enough to be within earshot. I wave excitedly at him, and his eyes widen with something between surprise and terror. Immediately, he starts waving me away, but I keep getting closer.

Honestly, I have no idea how he didn't notice me earlier. I live in the part of the midwest where it's nothing but open plains and vast, blue skies, so everyone can see everyone for miles. Especially in giant empty parking spaces outside of flat brick buildings. 

Every time I've seen Alex before the last couple of days, he's been standing outside the door of the Deep's headquarters, and it usually seems like he's the only one on guard duty. I wonder how he possibly got that job, as he is honestly probably the least observant person I've ever encountered in my life.

Maybe infiltrating this place will be easier than I thought.

Alex doesn't let me get all the way up to the building. Instead, he keeps trying to wave me off until I'm maybe ten feet away, then sprints up to me.

"Kenna- what are you doing here? You can't be here!"

"Alex, I have something. I have an idea that I think can get Vincent-"

He shushes me loudly. "Do you know where you are right now? We can't have this conversation here."

I look around. "I have literally never seen anyone outside of this building other than you and that one buff guy you used to get to scare me off. I think we're fine."

"Kenna, this is the Deep. This is the guild specifically dedicated to figuring out secrets, you think they don't have eyes above ground?"

That I don't really have an answer for. Magic didn't really factor heavily into the plan I'd formed in my head, the one I rushed here to start as quickly as possible without stopping to think about it very hard. Careful consideration isn't really my style.

"Okay, so where can we talk?"

He fidgets nervously. "Let's just- if you want to talk, let's just get far away from this building. If anyone starts seeing through my eyes, just pretend like I was chasing you away. Okay?"

"People can do that?"

"Okay?"

"Yeah- fine, fine."

It's a surprising amount of assertiveness coming from him, and it's enough for me to let him lead me back down the parking lot the way I came. We walk down the empty sidewalk in the blistering heat for about two minutes, and then he suddenly stops.

"This is far enough."

"Good, we're almost back at my house. Can we talk now?"

"Yeah, we can talk. We can talk. Just make it quick."

I shove my hands into my pockets.

"So, did you find something?" He says before I can start explaining my plan, eyes gleaming with interest. "Do you have some sort of evidence?"

"No, Alex, I have something better. I have Charlotte's face."

"You have her-?"

"Just think about it! Kenna can't just walk in there and take the throne away from this Vincent guy, because Kenna isn't an initiate at your stupid little cult! But even if I can't be the Guildmaster, I look exactly like someone who can!" I clap my hands together. "Charlotte Gilmore, back from the dead! And when Vincent inevitably tries to kill me, thinking that I'm her, I can prove to everybody that he did it, and he'll be thrown out of the Deep forever, or better yet, killed by an angry mob."

Alex stares at me for several seconds. "Kenna... that is a terrible idea."

"I think it's a great idea."

"It- I can't even begin to describe how bad of an idea that is. Kenna, you can't just walk in to the Deep and pretend to be a Guildmaster. You have no idea what you're doing, you don't know any magic, you don't know anything about the guilds, and you would literally be walking into an organization whose entire purpose is to uncover the truth of things and trying to lie to them. Not to mention, actively trying to get Vincent to kill you! If he wants to kill you, you're dead. Not even the best guild agent can fight him off."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? Leave it alone? Let my sister's murderer get away? I'm not hearing any better ideas. You said it yourself, that Charlotte didn't tell anyone that she had an identical twin, so nobody would expect her to have been switched out with a doppelgänger."

"Look, Kenna, I know how you feel about this, but that doesn't change the fact that what you're describing is a fight that you can not win. You have no idea what you're dealing with, and under absolutely no circumstances should you ever-"

Alex suddenly stops talking.

It looks like he's  been suddenly distracted, and that's what I think is happening, until I see his eyes. 

They've changed color. They were light brown a second ago, and now they're a dark hazel. His eyes haven't widened or exploded with light, they've just changed color.

Someone is seeing through his eyes.

And when he speaks, it's with someone else's voice.

"Charlotte." He sounds completely different, older and breathy and stunned. "Is it... is it really you?"

I've seen enough movies to know what's happening here. Alex has somehow been possessed, and I'm talking to someone else. They think I'm Charlotte.

Well. In for a penny in for a pound, right?

"Yeah. I'm Charlotte. Back from the dead."

No turning back now.