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"Not sure what that is, but there’s coffee and tea downstairs Also dinner Maggie had Becks and Alaric swing by the House of Curries on their way back fro out there" I probably should have careddirectly on the whole "possible globe-spanning conspiracy" thing, but to be honest, I didn’t have the tiet the That was all I had left to give theht" Mahir rubbed a hand through his hair, doing nothing to improve its spiky disarray "Is there someplace I can wash my face and slap on a couple of stimulant patches before I have to come down and face humans?"

"Bathroom’s across the hall"

"Brilliant" He offeredfor the bathroo at lad you’re here, even if it does ed hie and I weren’t raised to be physically des stunt will do that Mahir knew that There was a pause no longer than the tiing ht I wasn’t quite aware of yet, but doubtless would be soon

"Thank you," he said His ser I turned to head downstairs as he walked into the bathroo the door behind hiarlic naan, and the sweet, pasty nothingness of white rice Maggie was unpacking bulging paper sacks from the House of Curries onto the counter while Alaric, Becks, and Kelly sat at the table, trying to stay out of her way The bulldogs were gone, and the connecting door to the front roo the location of their banishe, quietly

"Yeah," Itheh behind her hand, probably in response to so onto her toes, like she was dancing to a private beat Even Kelly was relaxed, sitting in her chair and watching the others with a faint, puzzled smile on her face This was ether on my own--out of all of them, Becks was the only one I really trusted in the field, and she was also still the one I had theto Alaric was never actually field certified, since the shit hit the fan while he was still prepping for his tests, and Maggie had never needed to be, being a Fictional and all

Footsteps behind , "Hey, you’re cleared for fieldwork, right?"

Mahir frowned atto wipe away ns of exhaustion He hadn’t been kidding about the stioing to be paying for a lot of things later, assudoh I can travel onjournalist Why?"

"Just wondering" I stepped to the side, sweeping one arentlehted As a Newsie, he answered directly to Mahir, and counted on Mahir tous both in the same house probably seemed like an excellent way to cut out the

Becks didn’t do anything as gauche as shouting Standing, she walked over to Mahir and threw her ared her back, just as tightly "I’ unco at Kelly instead She atching the scene in front of her with an almost wistful expression on her face, like a kid asn’t invited to the party

She gave up her whole life to coo back The people in this roo to be part of things the way Mahir is

"Right," I muttered Louder, pitched for an audience of people who actually existed outside ie Please tell me it’s dinner, and not a sadistic new kind of air freshener" I brushed past Mahir and Becks, still eie flashed a smile my way "Oh, it’s dinner All the containers are labeled, and I et extra Aloo Gobi this time, so you won’t be able to eat it all"

"You’re seriously underesti curried cauliflower" I reached for a plate

That was the signal for everyone to start grabbing plates, utensils, and whatever co to eat for dinner Mahir ate like he was starving, and the rest of us weren’t much better I wasn’t the only one who understood what Mahir’s arrival ht be the last peaceful meal we had for a while, and none of us wanted to be the one to disrupt it

Craly easy I’ve never known anyone who entertained as ers on ain one of those old pre-Rising TV shows, the ones where everyone see fro about their day We didn’t havethe Aloo Gobi, but we did have rice and sas to pass around Mahir turned out to be surprisingly good at talking to Kelly, who got a little more relaxed with every minute that passed