Driving Needs, part two

"Okay," said Chris, with most of his attention on the traffic around them. "We're coming into downtown."

They hadn't spoken much on the way in; Antoinette had turned on the radio and let music fill the silence. "Over there," said Antoinette. "Head for the BOK Tower."

"The one that looks like a 9-11 building?" Chris asked tightly. 

"That one," Antoinette confirmed. "Find us a place to park nearby."

Several frustrating minutes later, Chris turned off the car. "Okay, we're here. Now what?"

Antoinette opened her door and got out of the car, so Chris followed suit. Elyssa was already climbing out. Antoinette held up a hand as Elyssa closed her door and Chris hit the button to lock everything; she fished inside her jacket and came out with a deck of cards. 

Arcana, he realized immediately. The feel was unmistakable. Antoinette glanced around and then gestured, and he felt a faint shimmer of Grey gather around them, hiding them from sight. A moment later she was studying one of the cards, speaking softly. A moment after that, she extended a hand and Agatha appeared in a shimmer of rainbow light, clasping her hand and looking around carefully. He caught a brief glimpse of Tammy Lynn Carterhaugh shimmering on the far side of the connection, and then she reached for Antoinette's hand and came through as well. 

"Agatha," said Chris. "Pleasure to see you again." 

"Likewise," she said, still studying their surroundings. 

Antoinette released Tammy Lynn's hand and said, "I understand you wanted some answers from my wolves."

Tammy nodded, then turned to look at Chris, and then at Elyssa. "I want to know what happened to my cousin," she said, glancing around them and tracing the dome of this isn't clear and ignore all this that Antoinette had placed around them. 

Chris nodded. "What was his name?"

"Sean," she said, and drew a deep breath. "Sean Jameson."

Elyssa shook her head. "I didn't see him. I ran across a small group of first years, tried to get them out. There were five of them. When they were caught, I dropped back and then pretended that I'd been tracking them. They didn't-- none of them contradicted me." She shook her head. "I tried to get them out again later, but it was too late. Valdemont was already feeding on the wards and using them to draw strength from the children." She glanced at Chris. "And the ghost wolf had taken a lot of us; nobody knew who to trust."

"Ghost wolf?" asked Antoinette, half a heartbeat before Tammy -- judging by her expression -- would have done the same.

"We died," Elyssa said simply. "We came into Pettibone angry, because we were tired of the magi coming into our lands and taking whatever they would." She glanced at Agatha, but Agatha was still watching their surroundings and didn't notice. "We captured the children, as we were bidden, and hunted for any who had escaped." She paused, eyes distant. "Then some of us turned up dead. Then more of us. There were scents there, wolf scents, but nothing we could track back to a killer."

"Truly?" asked Tammy. "I never saw anything like that in the reports."

"Nobody listened when we talked about it, either." Elyssa shook her head. "And what could we say? One of our own, an elder, might have turned on us? It was a judgement from the gods? There were arguments, dissent, accusations... even desertions." She looked at Chris. "You remember."

Chris nodded. "It was bad," he said. "But Sean Jameson... he was a second year learner, I think."

Tammy nodded.

"So far as I know," Chris continued, "he was gathered with the other students. He would have died when professor Valdemont tried to absorb the Heart." He hesitated. "I'm sorry. I wish I had some comforting tale of his courage or resistance to convey to you. I'm sure he was a good kid."

Tammy Lynn Carterhaugh drew in a deep breath, then released it. "That's more than I knew before, at least," she said after a long moment. "I wish I could have him back." 

Elyssa nodded sympathetically. "I wish the whole thing had never happened."

Chris nodded at that. 

"All right," said Tammy. "You kept your promise." She glanced at Agatha, who nodded, and then Tammy drew out her own deck of cards. She pulled the top card, focused on it, and then began to mutter quietly to the person on the other end. 

"Good to see you again," said Agatha, and then stepped up to Tammy, who handed her across to whomever she was speaking with. A moment later Tammy was gone as well, leaving only a rainbow tracery behind her. 

"I''m sorry," said Antoinette. "I thought we'd go and sit somewhere before we had that conversation. The two of you handled it beautifully, though."

Chris grunted and turned away. "Give us a minute," he requested. "That... that was a lot."