Sell you a Bridge chapter 252

June 3rd 2016 Advent Manor, The Nightside 6:00 PM EDT

We  went back to Julian's. It was our only real option for long term  habitation, and it was looking like we might be here for a while. I'd  been hoping this would be a quick trip, but given the stall in our  search it might be a week or two at least. I'd be going crazy the whole  time, but it could be worse. At least we had a safe place to stay. Plus I  was happy for Jim, I knew he would be happy to spend more time with his  old friend.

When we made it  back I slipped off on my own, and pulled out my phone. This entire  experience had made it clear I needed to take this place more seriously.  My friends and loved ones were in danger here, and I needed to do  something to prevent that danger from being fatal. I wasn't planning to  make us all immortal or some stupid shit like that, not that I could  afford it, I was strong enough to protect them as long as nothing came  along and one shotted them before I had a chance to do anything about  it.

In the  spirit of that necessity, I started scrolling through my phone, looking  for anything I could use. I was up to a hundred and twenty five thousand  points, which was pretty damn decent in terms of spending money, and  being able to use my power directly to substitute points was a game  changed in terms of saving up, but there was still plenty of things I  didn't have enough for. I could probably cheat a bit with my ability  there too, but even if I did it wouldn't be too much, and my head would  be soup after.

I  scrolled through emails, looking for anything decent I could try.  Defensive artifacts, miracle healing drugs, protective amulets, there  were dozens of potential avenues I could take, but despite the  usefulness of them, nothing seemed like what I needed. A single use item  wouldn't do it, I would need something more...repeatable. This place  was far too dangerous for me to count a single item to protect anyone no  matter how useful or powerful (and some of there were both, the fucking  golden fleece was actually listed on here, though I couldn't afford it)  so I needed to find something more.

There  were plenty of possibilities, but I found myself unwilling to commit to  anything that wasn't perfect here. I knew it was petty, but if I didn't  get exactly the right ability I was putting everyone at risk, and I  knew if that happened I would hate myself for rushing it. It was worth  taking my time to identify just the right ability to get, and I had  settled on an ability. Finally though, I found something perfect. A do  it yourself kit that would teach me a skill and give me the materials to  get started on the project.

The  kit purported to teach the user how to make 'Voo-don't dolls', a term I  was positive was both made up and probably offensive. The basic concept  was a sort of reverse thaumaturgical link the bound the doll to you  backwards. When something should happen to the person, it would happen  to the doll instead, creating a substitute for a dangerous or life  threatening attack or a dangerous spell effect. The doll would be  destroyed from most any dangerous attack, but it would provide a single  use shield that would keep the subject of the doll safe against mostly  anything.

Making  the dolls was complicated and required a shit ton of magic and a piece  of hair or skin from the subject, but you could make multiple dolls at  once, allowing me to protect everyone I was here with, and not just one  person. It was exactly what I was looking for, and when I clicked the  button I was happy to see the hundred and ten thousand points vanish as I  bought it, along with ten thousand dollars from my bank account that I  knew I wouldn't miss. I was still one of the richest people in the  world, and money was pretty much literally no object to me.

As  expected there was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, a box sat  outside in the hall. The knock had been quiet enough that the others  hadn't heard it, so I pulled the box into the room and shut the door,  not wanting to explain anything to anyone who didn't know. I picked the  box up easily (with my strength I could have lifted it if it had been  made of lead as easily as wood) and carried it over to set it on the bed  so I could open the thing up and look inside at what I was working  with.

The box  was unique, as most of them were. A worn but pretty wooden trunk with a  leather handle and a series of stickers all over the outside. The  stickers were beat up and faded but mostly in the shapes of odd things I  didn't recognize, symbols and logos that belonged to strange places and  groups, though most of them involved death from what I could tell. I  didn't know where this had come from, but wherever that was, it had seen  plenty of use there.

I  flipped a pair of brass latches next to the handle and opened to big  trunk with a creak, staring inside to see what the kit looked like. I  was somewhat underwhelmed with what I found. The inside of the trunk was  faded yellow plaid, sectioned off into small boxes with various  materials. Cloth thread, a few vials of odd dust and several nails that  looked old and brutal. The big iron kind you see in objects from the  early twenties sometimes.

There  were no dolls, not premade ones, which made sense, because the book  that came with the thing was pretty clear that you needed to make them  from scratch for them to work. They were complicated magical foci, and  honestly without my perfect memory and my sky high dexterity I would  have been worried about being able to remember and sew in all the  complex patterns needed to create one. Lots of tiny symbols and formuli  that needed to be woven into the doll itself during creation, an amount  that almost anyone but me would have probably needed literally months to  fashion.

With  the combined talent for deft motions and the memory I was pretty sure I  could do one in a few hours, but the sewing wasn't the only step. I  would probably be better served asking Zee for a hand with the first  few, just to make sure I didn't miss any details. If I learned it right I  could make them even without the kit, but that required understanding  the directions, not just following them, and I wasn't a tithe on Zee in  terms of magical knowledge.

Luckily  calling her up here was easy enough, all I needed to do was reach out  through our bond internally, and she headed right up. She knocked on the  door perfunctorily but opened the thing without waiting for an answer,  which drew a smile from me. Rather than simply come over to help though,  she walked up to my, yanked me down into a hard kiss, then smacked the  back of my head and told me. "You're an idiot."

I  grinned and chuckled at her, rubbing my head as if it was sore despite  both of us knowing she was incapable of hurting me like that. "Yes dear.  What specifically did I do this time to prove my idiocy? Just so I can  avoid repeating myself in the future. Finding new ways to prove how  stupid I am is what keeps our relationship fresh." I felt her love for  me through the bond, so I knew she wasn't really angry, just making a  point. Despite her scowl though, I also felt a surge of affection at my  comment, even though she rolled her eyes on the outside.

She  kept her disapproving expression pasted on her face despite knowing I  could feel her emotions. "Because this isn't your problem. Or at least,  not only your problem. You think we haven't felt you up here lambasting  yourself about not finding Kit yet and worrying about how to protect us?  Hell, Artemis knew what you were thinking even without being able to  read your heart like we can. Drea figured since you needed my help you  would be more willing to listen while I tore a strip out of your hide  for being a presumptuous moron."

I  was surprised to hear her talking to me like that. Not because of the  emotions, I could feel those, but because Zee wasn't the type to get  genuinely mad. She twisted the two of us around her finger and left us  tied in knots when she was mad, and mostly we barely noticed it  happening. She didn't really do berating. I was about to respond, but I  figured if she was saying it like this I'd better listen, and I put my  hands up in surrender.

She  gave a satisfied nod. "Good. Now I felt like I should nip this in the  bud, because you've been getting more and more in you own head again  lately. Once again you're acting like everything is up to you and on  your shoulders, which means you aren't letting us help. Don't think I  haven't noticed the neat new magic you have here by the way, but it  isn't as important to me as you are. We are a family. You, Drea, me,  Morana, we are bound, forever and always. You know that. So stop acting  like you're protecting a bunch of helpless idiots and start acting like  someone who knows we love him and want him to be safe as bad as he wants  the same for us."

Her  violet eyes blazed with righteous fury as she glared up at me, and I  smiled at her softly as I leaned down to kiss her again, pulling back  afterward enough to make sure I could look her in the eye still as I  rested my forehead on hers. "Yes love. I'm sorry. I can be a bit slow,  but you two always manage to pull my head out of my ass when I get back  to my old tricks." I gave her a sly look. "Now, having been taken to  task, how about you help me put together these dolls to protect  everyone. Since, you know, I was asking for help in the first place."

She  snorted. "Using me for cheap manual labor isn't asking for help. Just  because I have big tits doesn't make me an airhead, Morgan O'Malley."  She bumped me aside playfully with her hip. "In fact, I'll be taking  charge of this project, as punishment for your presumption." She stuck  her nose in the air with a sense of feigned dignity, despite both of us  knowing she really just wanted to be the first to play with the new  magic. I didn't mind though. She was right, I wasn't in this alone. As  long as everyone could be kept safe letting her take charge wasn't a  problem.

She  leaned down with a solemn expression, picking up the booklet and  flipping through it cooly. Each page that passed left her looking more  and more intrigued, until she finally dropped the pretense completely.  She looked up at me eagerly with big starry eyes. "This is fascinating  baby! I've never seen anything like this. I've used thaumaturgy before  of course, but nothing like this." She continued babbling about the  magic as she took stock of the resources in the kit, figuring out how we  could make more dolls when they ran out and how many we had enough for.  I just smiled at her fondly and put my arms around her waist, letting  her lose herself in the project as I committed the details to memory.