Stronger Together chapter 236

The aftermath of the meeting was less of a success than I'd hoped. We  got people on board, sure, but we also got some pointed questions.  Namely from Ebenezer and Joe. Nemesis, as it happened, was considered  something of a state secret by most of the supernatural factions, and me  knowing not just his title but his actual name was incredibly  suspicious. So now I was on my couch being glared at by ancient ass  wizards, and honestly I couldn't really blame them. I'd been playing all  of this close to the vest for quite a while, and with everything coming  to a head, my instincts were telling me to come clean.

I  was pretty we were past the point where they would think I was an  outsider, and even if they weren't I was strong enough to hang with the  council if they tried to make an issue of it, especially given my status  as a freeholding lord under the accords. So in the spirit of  cooperation I just...told them. I regaled all three wizards with the  story of how we got here, or as much of it as I actually knew. Harry  knew some of this, but I didn't think we ever gave him all the details,  and he sat quietly and listened along with Ebenezer and Joe. They let me  get through all of it before anyone responded.

Ebenezar  was the first to say anything of course. "Damn boy, when you drop a  bomb you don't do it by halves do you? I want to be pissed you hid this,  but fact is if you'd told me back when we first met I'd have been duty  bound to surrender you to council justice. The law isn't about  Outsiders, it's about anything from beyond the gates and it's there for a  damn good reason." I must have looked hurt because he held up a hand.  "Now don't go thinkin' I wish you ill or think you're bad news, you know  better than that, but people like you cause problems even when they  ain't tryin' to suck out your soul."

He  looked a bit unsure how to start. "The world is pretty resilient by and  large. Metaphysics are an ecosystem as much as nature, and there are  processes in place in the natural world that keep the system rollin'  along. Part of the reason Outsiders are so feared is because they  operate outside those systems. It's why mortal magic has a hard time  touching them, with certain exceptions." He glanced not so subtly at  Harry though my mentor didn't notice because he was busy taking in the  secrets of the universe.

Joe  snorted and cut in. "You're making it too clinical. Look, the universe  is like a body it has natural systems to fight diseases and infections.  The Outsiders are like that, they're a sickness. But people like you are  something the universe doesn't recognize as alien. When you show up  even the normal systems that handle the parts of the body ignore you,  which can be harmful to the body as a whole. You affect things that the  universe would normally fix but since it doesn't see you there that  doesn't happen."

I  nodded. "Right. Like the thing with Demonreach. The changes I made  caused disruptions in the timeline and since Demonreach was created on a  temporal foundation one of the inmates escaped. No one elses actions  changed any of that because they were already part of the timeline and  even if they weren't the principle for the conservation of history or  whatever fixed it. It also explains why shit went so insanely different  since I started tweaking things despite the universe supposedly being  able to fix itself even when changes are made."

Joe  nodded. "Yes, but not just that. There are more than a few ways someone  outside the natural order can muck with things, but more than just the  damage they can do on their own, the various forces in the world are  restricted by those same rules. They know that getting their hands on  someone from beyond the gates can allow them to affect things in their  favor in the long term. Most of them are too responsible to do so  because damage to the timeline can be unpredictable and often turns out  even worse than whatever negative impact you tried to avert, but you've  met some of the ones who don't care. You can imagine the awful uses they  could put you to."

I  winced at that because I could. Nicodemus and his nickleheads were a  prime example of some of the people we'd met who would absolutely fuck  with the timeline or the universe in general regardless of consequence. I  blanched suddenly. "Shit." They looked at me in concern. "The  Denarians. One of them is with the council. No way to know which one but  it was heavily implied to be Thorned Namshiel. He's a wizard that runs  with Tessa and her crew of psychopaths which means we might have Nicky's  jailbait honeybunny skulking around town during this fight." I looked  to Harry. "Any chance you know a way to track them? Because I really  don't want to leave them running around for the big battle."

He  shook his head. "No. I've never met Tessa but if she has a dedicated  Fallen magic user she wouldn't be someone I could track. Those guys are  all kinds of scary and they have tricks I've never seen before. You  would have better luck asking Dalton once he's feeling up to it. The  Denarians are the kinds of people who run in his kind of circles. What  do you know about Tessa?" He seemed to have gotten past the whole book  character thing, but I was pretty sure he was just prioritizing. That  bombshell was a few years of therapy at the very least.

I  sighed. "Polonius Lartessa, from what I remember, which isn't much, she  was a fifteen year old temple priestess Nicodemus seduced and married.  Or maybe a prostitute. She wasn't that big of a deal in the books she  only showed up once or twice." I gestured to Michaels house through the  window. "Michael would know more, and Sanya would know more than that.  He used to run with her crew when he was briefly a Denarian, and had a  sort of love connection with her lieutenant Rosanna."

Harry  looked shocked, and I felt a spike of guilt as I winced again. Right.  Sanya hadn't been open about his past yet. Damn. This was why I didn't  like sharing things I knew. It was so easy to just think of this all as  data and abstract information but this was their lives. Hell it was my  life now too. If I wasn't careful I could ruin someones whole world with  a casual remark. I'd have to apologize to Sanya later. In the meantime I  had other things to worry about. I said aloud, without raising my  voice. "Hey Kara can I talk to you?"

Without  any need for shouting or even a wait there was a gust of air and Kara  was with us. She gave Ebenezer and Joe a cheerful wave and the balder of  the old wizards smiled at her warmly. "Hey guys, good to see you again.  Heard Cam give you the whole they walk among you talk. It's a bit less  novel coming from me with the whole alien secret identity thing so if  you have questions feel free to ask. I've heard them all before." She  gave a bright grin and I saw the wizards relax slightly, which made me  smile, Kara was a disarming person when she wanted to be and that was  going to help a lot.

I  mentally thanked the gods for my kryptonian. "Anyway Kare-bear, we were  talking about how the denarians are in the city again probably." She  tensed, her eyes flashing with worry and a bit of fear, but I held my  hands up fast to cut her off. "Not Nicodemus, or probably not. His wife,  Tessa, and a bunch of psycho animal brain denarians. I was hoping you  could fly up and look around from a building top or something. A safe  distance only I don't want you getting into a fight with them. But can  you just like, look around and tell me where they are? They'll never see  it coming."

She  looked at me softly, a small smile on her face. With a laugh she leaned  over and fondly patted my knee.With a smile clearly aimed at my concern  she said gently. "No." I must have looked shocked because she just  laughed. "I don't know who any of them are or what they look like Cam.  How am I supposed to spot them without anyone to compare them to?"  I...had no answer to that. Shit. Why hadn't I thought of that. She just  laughed at my expression again. "You've gotten so used to us having all  the answers you just took it for granted, it's fine. People used to do  that to Kal too."

Despite  her comforting words I was pretty embarrassed. It was one of those  obvious things you overlook because it just seems like it would work  differently. However the embarrassing plan did give me a better idea.  "Aiden!" I called, yelling for our new guest. The Outsider eating  machine came bounding into the room, a quizzical expression on his face.  "How close do you need to be to track a piece of the body jacker?" If  Thorned Namshiel was compromised by Nemesis (or I guess if his host was,  seeing as Marcone had been using his coin in the most recent book) then  Aiden might be able to track the fallen wizard and lead us to him and  his pals.

He  looked pensive. "Hmmm. I don't know. Like, close enough to feel them I  guess?" I tried incredibly hard not to face palm. I glared at him as  Kara tried hard to stifle a snicker and he just shrugged. "I don't know  man, it's hard to explain. I don't feel them with any of my normal  senses. It's not like I smell or hear them. It kind of feels like...hmmm  like when you feel like someone is watching you, but backwards? That's  as close as I can get. Point is, it depends on a bunch of stuff and I  can't give you an exact distance. Probably less than a mile if I had to  guess?"

That  was not a large radius, but it wasn't impossible to work with. I looked  over at my mentor. "So boss, if we can detect them from up to a mile any  chance you have any ideas on places we can bring Aiden to try to track  some of them down? I mean Tessa's people are thugs and monsters, they  aren't going to be the kind she puts up at the ritz even if she and  Rosanna and maybe Namshiel are." I paused. "So yeah, I'll add luxury  hotels into the mix, but other than that any advice on places to check  out?" Even if he didn't have a location Harry knew Chicago as well as  any cabbie I could name (not that I knew any cabbies by name) if anyone  could set up a search grid it would be him.

Unfortunately  from the look on his face I was guessing he didn't think they would be  in luxury quarters. I had a sinking suspicion he'd put together some  information I hadn't noticed and formed a theory. He sighed. "If I was  them I would be somewhere impossible to search through magically.  Somewhere with interference where any spells would either get nothing or  way too much. Somewhere with access to the whole city and where their  passage wouldn't be noticed as they made the trips." My stomach sank as  he laid it out for me and I realized where he meant. He saw on my face  when I got it and he nodded. "Yup, best bet is they're in undertown."