Feargus

  Things That Happened While in Istok:

  ? Everleigh Gloom spending three days with Della Trager.

  ? Lidia Roska befriending and turning Helena Varis.

  Things I Missed Because of What I Did Next:

  ? RAM returning to Oskari.

  ? Lidia negotiating with Rhian at the pond.

  ? Rhian learning she was pregnant.

  ? Rhian running away.

  ? The missing villagers’ return to Oskari as Anima, unbeknown to RAM.

  ? Ivan’s death.

  ? Michael and Strauss learning that Ivan’s aunt Rose was one of the Anima.

  So, now you know the story of how I met Derek, fell in love, and we went our separate ways almost instantly afterward. You also know the story of how I saw my sister do unspeakable things, and no, not murder. But aye, also murder. Now, you’re about to get the story of how I, Feargus Alistair Finlay, dealt with it.

  To start with, I quit.

  No, I didn’t tell anyone that I quit, but I quit. After that, I went to the Gander to see if Tanis had found a replacement for me yet. She hadn’t, and she was happy to give me my job back while they continued looking. I loved my job at the bar, and there was very little chance any of the members of RAM would find me there. There was also very little chance Derek would find me there now that he and Della were moving in at the Jaskar.

  I was out of drink, and Tanis didn’t have any Hocks spirits or berries, so getting drunk on the cheap wasn’t an option. But I still drank as much as I could afford anyhow, and I spent the next few days in a Resonance haze. Between the employees (who I never had to pay) and the clients (who never had to pay me), there were plenty of folks looking to get a piece of Jack Finnegan.

  Not to mention, I’d made a bit of a name for myself around the city as a storyteller, an acrobat, a Strachan with a mighty steed, and, depending who you asked, a priest.

  Things were looking up while everything was collapsing inside.

  Here are some of the highlights of my multi-day bender:

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Reception, Day One

  I received a missive from Captain Kavelin.

  I burned it. I didn’t even read it.

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - The Broom Closet, Day One

  “Where’d you learn to do that?”

  “This gorgeous, finely aged woman in Delphia. Changed my life.”

  “Mine, too. Will you do it again?”

  “Will I? Aye, I will.”

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - The Broom Closet, Day Two

  I stepped out of the broom closet, and I kissed another nice random lass goodbye. I hadn’t been sober in two days and I was feeling great. Derek who? Rhian what? Aye—feeling great.

  I rounded the corner to the bar and immediately wished I hadn’t.

  Della, looking fine as ever, tapped her fingernails against the surface while she waited. I considered turning around right back into the closet, but it was too late.

  She stopped tapping, and she smiled. “Jack. Do you have a moment?”

  Did I have a moment? I rubbed my beard and had a look around the mostly empty theatre. It’d be filling up soon, with Everleigh Gloom scheduled to perform in an hour. But for now—

  “Aye, reckon I do.” I said.

  “Are you high?” she asked.

  “Oh, aye, I’m so high.”

  “Yeah, Derek, too. Can we—?” Della nudged her head in the direction of the broom closet.

  We turned the corner together and I opened the door for her. “Welcome to my office,” I said, as we wedged ourselves between a mop, a bucket, and a lopsided shelf.

  “Well, I love what you’ve done with the place,” Della remarked.

  “Thanks,” I answered. And then I blurted, “How’s Derek?”

  “There’s a part of me that wants to tell you he’s fine, so you don’t worry about him,” Della said. “But that’d be an injustice. He really likes you, Jack. I haven’t seen him like this since our early days. But he just can’t be exposed to—”

  “Aye, I know.”

  “You could defect, couldn’t you? You could move in with us. We’d love nothing more.”

  “It’d be too dangerous for you and Derek, Della. And we’d be…”

  “Defenseless?”

  “Aye. No offense.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “None taken. Our circumstances call for us to stay on people’s good sides—especially the other Anima. In some ways, that’s why we keep doing what we do. We all have our part to play, I guess.”

  Truer words. “Aye, well—I hope Derek feels better soon. But I’ve gotta get back.”

  She smiled sadly, we stepped out of the broom closet, and Della kissed me goodbye.

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Zack’s Place, Day Two

  “Feargus Finlay, are you high?”

  “Aye, I am.

  “I see.”

  “Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, would you like to be high with me?”

  “Yes, I would.”

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Reception, Day Three

  Burned another missive from Captain Kavelin.

  Didn’t even read it.

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - My Bunk at the Brothel, Day Three

  I was crying into my pillow when Ben, the dancer, came by.

  “Hey,” he said. “Do you want to go out tonight?”

  I sniffled and lifted my head to look at him. “Aye, sure.”

  Ben gave me a thumbs-up and left. I resumed crying in my pillow.

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - The Broom Closet, Day Four

  “Where’d you even learn how to do that?”

  “This dashing, roguish lad in Delphia. Changed my life.”

  “Yeah, mine, too. Do it again?”

  I did it again.

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Tanis’s Office, Day Four

  We sat on the leather couches in the corner.

  “Jack, are you okay?”

  “Never better,” I said.

  “Okay, well, professionally? You’re doing a great job as always. But I just get the impression you have something else going on. If you need to talk…”

  “I don’t need to talk. I just need a safe place to let loose.”

  Tanis stood, I stood, and she tipped her flat cap.

  “Welcome home,” she said.

  “Thanks.”

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Backstage With Everleigh Gloom, Day Five

  She sighed. “What do you want.”

  “I need to cash in my favour.”

  “Okay.” She shrugged.

  “I need all the Hockberry wine, spirits, whatever, from the Jaskar.”

  “Why. So you can black out and be even more of a loser.”

  “Exactly.”

  She poked me in the chest with a skinny, pale finger. “No.”

  “You can’t say no. You owe me.”

  “I technically don’t owe you anything until someone is out of his box.”

  “Ugh—please?”

  “Why are you so pathetic all of the sudden.”

  “Derek watched my sister kill four men, and now we can’t be together.”

  “Okay. So what are you doing here.”

  “Having a grand time getting high and having sex, thanks for asking.”

  “That’s dumb.”

  “I don’t know, is it really?”

  “You’ve given up Derek for your sister and your weird life, and now you’re not even living it.”

  “No, you misunderstand. I’ve quit everything else, and I’m choosing this.”

  “Give me a break.” She rolled her eyes, twirled her finger, and in a short moment, a sound barrier formed around us. “I know why you’re really here. It’s why I’m here, too.”

  “You’ll have to be more specific,” I said.

  She sighed—again. Whatever she was about to say, it looked like it was going to be painful—for her. “My father used to dream about changing the world. He said he tried to do it once, but the world got away from him, and now he’s stuck, and the world is sick. So when I left home, I promised myself I’d do what he couldn’t. And when I told you that you were going to help me, I didn’t only mean waking up Zacharias.”

  Well, that was the most I’d ever heard Everleigh Gloom speak at one time. “You want my help to change the world?”

  “Aye. You and your friends. They seem okay.”

  “Let me guess, you vetted them?”

  “Obviously.”

  A Day in the Life of Jack Finnegan - Captain Kavelin’s Office, Day Six

  We chatted casually over our bowls of chicken soup.

  And then, “I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner, mate, I’ve been… going through a few things.”

  The Captain nodded. It looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. “Thanks for coming at the end of the day. I just don’t know who else to talk to, and I don’t even know if it’s you I should be talking to, but I—I just get the feeling it might be. And that I can trust you.”

  “Trust me with what?”

  The Captain looked at me, unblinking across the desk. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

  I could relate. “What’s going on?”

  “So, with everything happening out in Oskari, it’s kicked up some dust in my mind around what happened here five years ago. I was only sixteen and a recruit then, but I remember thinking the whole investigation felt odd. Anyway, I don’t have the case files anymore, but I started looking through other files, and Jack? There’s some weird shit happening around here. Like, a lot of it. Going back decades, and patterns, I don’t know what to make of it.”

  Poor chap. Sat in this seat by Faust before he was ready, drip-fed information like the rest of us.

  “You’re not wrong,” I said. “But hold on—“

  I reached around my neck for the Anima whistle, braced myself, and blew.

  It hurt, but nothing popped out at us.

  Kavelin raised an eyebrow. “Okay…?”

  “All right,” I said. “I’m going to let you in on a secret.”

  “The way you’re saying secret makes me think it’s a life or death kind of secret.”

  “Aye, can I trust you?”

  “I think you’re only here because you already know you can.”

  I scooped the last spoonful of chicken soup and ate it, and for the next thirty-seven minutes and twenty-five seconds, I sat by the fire with Captain Kavelin and told him everything.

  Well, almost everything.

  See, mates, I finally realized I’d been doing it wrong. The whole time I’d been spying on my friends, orchestrating nonsense for Palisade. Aye, for Kelly, Faust, and Hall who were, like us, intent on fighting the system. But they were still the system. So that’s when I decided:

  I quit. I quit working for Palisade—I quit working for Kelly, Faust, and Hall. And instead, I started working for my friends. I was going to spy on my friends, and on everyone else, for my friends. Because if we were going to change the world, we were going to have to do it our way, and if we were going to do that, we were going to need connections, allies, and a plan of our own.