Watford Tales

A Truce Explained

Baz

Tonight we have actual work. I'm doing a pretty good job of tuning Dev and Niall out. I mostly want to get a minimum done so I can get back to our room. To Simon. I've done my chemistry problem set and I'm halfway through the reading for Advanced Spellkasting when I catch a whiff of sulfur and Simon is there, looking..... Not good. Upset. Like he could go off at any second. Shit. Something happened.

He hands me a note, wordlessly. In Penny's blocky printing I read. Simon, Premal is dead. They found his body in Hyde Park this afternoon. Mum and Dad are at the morgue now. It's horrible. Simon, I'm scared. Penny.

I just sit there and stare at that note. I read it three times. "Crowley!" I say at last. "Fucking Aleister Crowley."

Dev and Niall are staring at us in complete confusion. "We're on truce," I tell them impatiently.

"Truce?" says Niall.

"Simon and I. We have been, since before Christmas. We're.....working on something."

"Working on something?" says Niall incredulously. Dev is just looking at Simon like he's never seen him before.

"Just.....a project," I say vaguely.

"All right Baz," Simon says, his voice intense.

I look at him sharply. "What?"

"They're in."

"In?"

"Dev and Niall. If you want them. They're in."

"What are you two on about?" says Niall.

"What about Bunce?" I ask.

"Bunce?" says Niall. "What does Bunce have to do with this?"

"Penny'll agree with me," says Simon. "We need all the help we can get. Especially now."

He's right. This is bad. Premal dead. I have this weird tight feeling, like events are starting to close in around us. Bunce is going to be a basket case. I know I put Dev and Niall down all the time, but they're smart and loyal and steady with a wand. And their parents are on the Coven, tied in. With me on the outs with Father, we're going to need them for information.

But it's more than that. I want them in because Simon is part of my life now. It's not just that I love him. This is war and after what happened in the tower, Simon and I have been cast, irrevocably, on the same side. We're more than lovers. We're comrades in arms.

"Whenever you two are ready," says Niall. "You can tell us what's going on."

"Come up to our room," I say. "We'll explain it all up there."

"We?" says Niall, looking at me askance. But they follow me outside.

********

Up at the top of Mummer's Hall my bed is still a tangle of sheets from last night. I suddenly feel embarrassed. If I had any blood in me, which I don't, I'd be blushing. I need to hunt soon. Before I have another go at Simon. Fuck. I take my wand and Neat as a Pin my bed before Dev and Niall get into the room.

Simon's left the window open and the freezing January wind is blowing snow into a little pile on the floor. I go over and slam it shut, then turn around to see the three of them, staring at me uneasily. This is my party, I suppose. My two best mates and my boyfriend. (I can't help it, I get a little shiver of delight every time I think of Simon that way.) The Mage and the Humdrum out to get us. Penny's brother dead. We've got to figure out what to do next.