arboreal_priestess | The Nest to Sarah's Hotel, Friday Night

After a dinner of lasagna - which, on their new night-shifted schedule was actually more of a lunch - Verity had come up to brood for a bit. Recognizing that her death stalked the streets of Baltimore in the guise of her third cousin had her looking at the future a little more closely. She'd came to Baltimore to prove that she could make it as a professional ballroom dancer. Only things hadn't exactly worked out that way. She hadn't managed to win a single major competition; the times she'd placed, it had always been local, and the prize money she'd received barely paid for the cost of her registration. It didn't touch her costumes, or the hours of studio time she had to beg, borrow, and steal whenever she could. Most people in her tier of the profession supplemented their income teaching classes, but she couldn't even do that anymore. Trying to be a bartender and a choreographer for Kitty and a cryptozoologist took up too much time. Quit bussing tables and she couldn't afford to eat. Quit taking care of cryptids…

If Verity quit taking care of cryptids, she wouldn't even know who she was anymore. She pulled a throwing knife out of her shirt without thinking about it, flicking it toward the ceiling. It flew in a satisfyingly straight line, embedding itself in the wood with a soft thunk sound. The fact that throwing knives into the air was maybe not the smartest idea barely even crossed her mind. She was too busy thinking.

She'd come to Baltimore to dance. The cryptozoology was supposed to be a sideline, something she did to keep to parents happy while she proved that she could have a career if she wanted one. But somewhere along the way, the proportions got reversed. She started spending more and more time with the cryptids who needed her help, and less and less time fighting her way through the cutthroat world of ballroom dance. James had started to chase her down for rehearsals. Before he and Dennis had left, he'd talked to her about seeing other partners.

She was about to lose her dance partner and her chance at ever having the kind of career she'd dreamed of when she was a kid. As a professional dancer, she was on the cusp of failing. At the same time, the Covenant of St. George was in her city, she'd been forced to go into hiding to avoid having them find her, and she had no game plan for getting rid of them. As a cryptozoologist, she wasn't doing much better. All she could really swear to doing correctly was being a member of her family: too pigheaded to know when she was beat, and too contrary to admit when it was time to run away.

She sat up, tucking the knife she'd been about to throw at the ceiling back into her shirt. That was the answer she'd been looking for. It didn't matter if her dancing career was over, or if she'd decided to put on a red wig and become Valerie Pryor full time. No matter what, she was a Price girl. And if there was one thing no Price girl has ever voluntarily done, it was back down from a fight.

Now if only that meant something in the grand scheme of things.

Liam	Picking up on her need to ~~brood~~ be alone with her thoughts for a bit, Liam hadn't followed her upstairs right away after dinner (Lunch, whatever), choosing instead to stay downstairs and help the others put away the supplies. Eventually, though, he did poke his head through the doorway. "Hey," he said. "We should probably get going."
Verity	"Huh?" It took Verity a few seconds to pull her head out of...the clouds, sure. "Oh. Oh yeah. We're gonna meet up with Sarah. Right." She didn't exactly hop up off the air mattress in excitement, though. Liam was a whole other factor she hadn't considered. Was it fair to uproot his life just because she'd had a deal with her parents two years ago?
Liam	Maybe, maybe not. But as much as he liked life in Fandom, he'd meant what he said when he told Verity that he'd follow her down whatever path she chose. "You okay?" he asked softly, leaning against the doorway. Inwardly, he winced as soon as the question left his mouth. Apparently, tonight was his night for asking stupid questions; nothing about this was okay, really.
Verity	"Just kinda - thinking," Verity said, just as awkwardly. "About what happens if we somehow survive this. What I've been doing with my life. Or more honestly, haven't."
Liam	Liam had been through too many life-or-death situations to be stuck on 'if'; his assumption was that they would, somehow. "You'll have a decision to make," he said with a nod. The timing was almost eerie, really, with the news of the purge arriving just as she was within the final few weeks of the deal she'd made with her parents.
	Verity nodded. "Never a good time for a purge, but goddamn this takes the cake," she said with a rueful, bitter laugh. "And, to be honest, I haven't really been setting the dancing world on fire out here." Maybe if she'd gone to New York or Miami...but no. It wasn't the location that had kept her from succeeding. If she couldn't dominate the Baltimore tango scene, what good would being in New York have done her?
Liam	"Yeah, well, your original plan didn't take in to account things like finding a dragon underneath the city," Liam pointed out.
Verity	"Male dragon," she reminded absently, chewing on her lower lip. "But no. My original plan had a lot more dancing. Showing my family I could make a living off my dancing. Winning competitions and becoming a big name in the competition circuit." It wouldn't have been her name, not Verity Price, but it would have been enough.
Liam	Well, yes, but there hadn't been any other dragons, male or female, beneath the city. ... Except Betty, sort of, but the less said about her, the better. "Well," he said slowly, stepping in to the room and moving to kneel in front of Verity, taking her hands in his. "You know I'm coming with you, right? Whatever choice you make?" He'd said it before, but it was worth saying again.
Verity	But this time, she peered up at him with concern. "But what about your job?" she asked. "You're the sheriff. That's a lot of responsibility. Asking you to just unroot yourself on my say-so seems wrong."
Liam	"The job I may or may not have gotten based solely on the fact that I was the first person to walk in to the station since the old sheriff left?" Liam reminded her. "That job?"
Verity	"The job that you're really good at and is surprisingly important for a tiny little island," Verity replied. "Or maybe not so surprisingly, considered it's full of crazy."
Liam	"Okay, yeah, I'm good at it," Liam admitted. "But it's not my calling." That, for him, had come and gone already. "Someone else could step in and do just as good a job."
Verity	"But what if..." Verity stumbled over the small knot of tension that was at the heart of her arguing with him. "What if you hate it there? What if you resent me for making you give this up?"
Liam	"I won't lie and say I think it'll always be easy," Liam said, one hand reaching up to cup her cheek. "But Very, my home isn't a place. It's with you. I could never resent you."
Verity	"I just...don't ever want you to be unhappy," she murmured, looking up into his eyes. "Because you chose to be with me."
	"Key word here being chose," Liam reminded her. "I've made my decision, and I'll have you know I can be extremely stubborn when I put my mind to it." He held out one hand, palm facing outward in a clear invitation. Sometimes words could only do so much, after all.
Verity	Verity hated this. Not Sharing, that she loved, but...being this uncertain. Feeling almost needy. God, having to talk about this stuff instead of just continuing on and letting the details figure themselves out. She laid her palm on his and closed her eyes.
Liam	Liam focused his thoughts, letting the energy flow from his core through his palm and in to Verity. Through the Sharing, showing her just how certain he was that whatever she chose, wherever she ended up, that was where he too wanted to be. Feelings, too, the love and trust he had for her were interwoven with those thoughts.
Verity	"Convenient way to win all your arguments," Verity grumbled, before pulling Liam into a fierce hug. "Okay, okay. No matter what happens, you're coming with me. Assuming we both somehow magically survive a Covenant purge spearheaded by my own evil cousin."
Liam	"It's worked out well for me so far," Liam said, wrapping his arms around her. "On the bright side, you realize that's one more thing we'll have in common now, right?"
Verity	"'Family members attempting to murder you' is not one of those shared traits you look for in a potential partner," Verity snarked, getting up and pulling on her running shoes.
Liam	"Then I guess it's a good thing we're already dating, and not looking, isn't it?" Liam retorted.
Verity	"Still not something I wanted to have in common!" Verity retorted, pulling her hair back. "Weirdly, I liked it better when my family members only fantasized about throttling me!"
Liam	"I'd take Antimony over this woman any day," Liam agreed. At least he'd met Antimony, and had a reasonable idea of what to expect from her. ... Well, as much as anyone could anticipate Verity's little sister, anyway.
Verity	"Right?" Verity asked. "And when you're choosing Antimony over other people, you're really dealing with a piece of work." She grabbed an insulated, fitted coat and shrugged it on. "Mind taking the high road to get to Sarah's?" she asked, feeling a lot better about everything involving her future. You know, assuming she had one.
Liam	"Works for me," Liam said with a nod. "No one followed me here, but even so, that'll make it that much harder for anyone to spot us."
Verity	"And I'd like to get a feel for the rooftops around here before I really need to run across them like my ass is on fire," Verity said, crossing over to the wall with the window on it, placed up high, almost at the ceiling. "Talked to my dad a bit before dinner," she said, shimmying up the rope she'd attached to a beam just for this purpose. "He's sounding the horns of Judgment Day. Had to talk him out of just having Uncle Mike drag me and Sarah back home by our hair or whatever."
Liam	Liam frowned. "I understand that he's worried, but pulling you out doesn't seem like the right move," he said as he followed her up the rope.
Verity	"Nobody sniffs out a Healy like a Healy, and we've only been Prices for two generations." If Verity was going by Grandma Alice and the pictures she'd seen of Great-Grandma Fran, she could call herself a Price as much as she wanted; she was still going to be an obvious Healy girl to anyone with eyes.
Liam	"That works both ways, making you the best choice to take her down," Liam pointed out. "Especially since you've got the home field advantage." Liam didn't generally go for the sports metaphors, but in this case the saying fit.
Verity	"Except, is that the best thing to do?" Verity asked, hauling herself out the window. It was close enough to the roof she could just pull herself up onto in minutes, then hunker down to continue the conversation with Liam as he did the same. "We have numbers...now. But if this whole team disappears without a trace, the odds are good that the Covenant will send more people to find out what happened to them. Maybe we can disappear a second team, but can we manage a third? Or a fourth? Eventually, we're going to wind up being the ones who don't have the numbers in our favor.” And then the purge of Baltimore would be able to begin in earnest.
Liam	"Dealt with that a lot in the Resistance," Liam said. "Being outnumbered. But then, I was working undercover, and could pass on information to the rest of my cell without the Taelons knowing any better."
Verity	"Are you thinking about spying on them, then?" Verity asked as they headed out to Sarah's hotel.
Liam	"We have an address," Liam pointed out. "The problem is slipping in there unnoticed." No doubt the Covenant had set up their own tricks and traps in much the same way as they had around the Nest.
Verity	"If we'd had more notice, we could have insinuated you close by so it wouldn't be weird for them to see you all the time, but we're too late for that," Verity agreed. She was silent for a long time before speaking up again. "...I hate to say it, but the mice make good spies."
Liam	"They're small enough to slip past any traps made for human- or human sized- targets," Liam agreed. "And I know they can be quiet when they care to be. But..." he said, frowning. "Would Margaret know anything about them?" He knew they'd been with Verity's family for generations, but he wasn't quite sure if that relationship stretched back far enough that the Healys who'd been left behind would have any knowledge of them.
Verity	"They came with my great-great-grandmother, Enid, when she married into the Healys," Verity said. "Cousin Maggie - " she made a face " - might not know about them. And, I hate to say it, but we've done it before, when we felt that we really had to. The mice are happy to have something they can do to help the gods." And some of them inevitably wouldn't make it back from their 'holy mission,' because they were mice, and what Verity was contemplating involved sending them out into a world where practically everything was bigger than they were. It was still one of the best ideas she'd had so far and she hated it. Didn't mean she wouldn't use it, though.
Liam	"It's a lot to risk on 'might'," Liam said, making a face of his own. "But I have to agree that they're our best chance at finding out what your cousin and company are up to. Which, that's another thing. Dominic-" he broke off as he followed her on a jump from one rooftop to another.
Verity	"What about Dominic?" Verity asked, voice going a little sharp.
Liam	"Wanted you to know that he never breathed a word to anyone with the Covenant about your presence here," he informed her. "'Cousin Maggie's' being here wasn't his doing."
Verity	"Oh," Verity said, voice growing soft again. "I didn't - not really - do you believe him?"
Liam	"I do," Liam said with a nod. "He may not quite know where he stands, but he didn't knowingly betray you. In fact, his exact words were: 'Please know that my affections for you and for Verity are genuine.'" That last was said in an obvious, if slightly exaggerated, imitation of Dominic's accent.
Verity	"Huh." That was definitely something to mull over. But later, they were almost in sight of Sarah's hotel, which definitely meant they were in telepathy range. Even with the necessary detours and slowdowns created by the variable architecture of Baltimore, it hadn't taken long for them to reach it. Verity had maintained a dead run all the way, burning off the barest edge of her frustration and there had never been a question of Liam's ability to keep up. The Port Hope was the lowest building on its part of the block, being only five stories high. That was useful for their purposes, especially since Sarah was staying on the top floor. "Gonna need the climbing hook," she said from the roof of the high-rise next to the hotel. "Too far of a jump."
Liam	Liam nodded, taking out his hook and a length of rope from the small pack he'd slung over one shoulder even as Verity did the same. "Ready when you are."
Verity	They let themselves down carefully, Verity unhooking herself and jumping the last six or so feet. She hit the roof gracefully and posed for a moment for Liam's appreciation, before sinking down into a crouch and watching for any movement on the rooftops behind them. Sure, there was no reason to suspect they were being followed, but paranoia was a literal lifesaver. And when no one appeared after a minute or so of waiting, she signaled to Liam, then got up and went over to the roof door. Locked, naturally. Fortunately, the faint telepathic static that signaled her cousin's presence was crackling at the back of her brain. Knock knock, cousin.
Sarah	*Very?* Sarah's answer was tinted with a strong feeling of confusion; she couldn't figure out where Verity's thoughts were coming from. Understanding - her understanding - washed over Verity and Liam both a split second before she added, What are you doing on the roof? How did you even get up there? You know what? Why am I even questioning this? Hang on, I'll be right there.
Verity	"She loop you into that?" Verity asked, glancing over at Liam.
Liam	Liam nodded. "I honestly don’t know what she expected," he said, shaking his head. "I mean, it’s you. A rooftop is your natural habitat."
Sarah	Verity just snickered and shrugged as Sarah opened the door to the let them in. "You were supposed to call," she chided Verity, as she stepped out of the way to let them into the stairwell. "There are these things called doors that normal people use." "I'm using a door right now," Verity protested, half-laughing. "Yeah, because I had to let you off the roof," Sarah shot back.
Verity	"And you did a fabulous job of it," Verity assured her, patting her shoulder before she started down the stairs. "I seem to remember a promise of room service." She'd only picked at the lasagna, but after the talk with Liam, the run, and now laughing at Sarah, she was getting something of her appetite back.
Sarah	"Room service and not freaking out,” Sarah agreed. "Hello, Liam. Your girlfriend remains the worst."
Liam	"It's part of her charm," Liam grinned. "Hi, Sarah. Thanks for having us over."
Verity	"I'm not listening to either of you," Verity declared. She was still laughing when she opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, stepped out, and found herself nose-to-nose with Margaret Healy. She'd never seen the other woman up close before. She didn't need to, because there was no one else she could have been. This woman was family. Her hair was the same shade of blonde as Alex. She still had it pulled it into a ponytail, showing the cheekbones they had inherited from their mutual ancestors. Her eyes were a clear shade of hazel — unlike the blue that Verity shared with her siblings - but aside from that, Margaret could have been mistaken for her sister. She blinked at Verity. Verity blinked at her.
Sarah	Sarah, still laughing with Liam, crowded up behind her. "Why are you just standing he-— oh." Her laughter died like a switch had been flipped, replaced by a look of utter bafflement. "Oh. Hello." Verity, I didn't know you had company. Why can't I see her? There was no recognition in her mental voice. Cuckoos recognized people by thought, not by appearance. To Sarah, all humans looked essentially the same. She could tell races, genders, hair colors, and that was about it. It watching TV hard, save for cartoons where characters were color-coded for viewer convenience.
Margaret	"Hello," said Margaret. Her accent was British. She looked past us to the stairs. "Is the roof of this hotel a hopping night spot, then?"
Liam	"Nah," Liam said casually, shifting position slightly to put himself between Sarah and the woman who was quite obviously Margaret Healy. "We were stargazing. I wanted to show Sandy and Val here the Pleiades."
Verity	"Yeah," Verity said, putting a vapid expression on her face to gaze adoringly up at Liam. "Lou here knows so much about astrology. It's really cool." She took hold of Sarah's arm, tugging her with along as she stepped out of the stairwell, into the hall. Verity kept her eyes on Margaret, and kept a her 'totes as dumb as you think I am!' smile plastered across her face. If Sarah couldn't 'see' Margaret, then she must have been wearing some sort of telepathy blocker. Not a good sign.
Sarah	Sarah looked even more confused but nodded enthusiastically, saying, "They were...shiny?" Verity shot her a sharp look, but she needn't have bothered. Margaret was nodding in time with Sarah. There was a faintly glazed look in her eyes. Sarah was freaking out in her own quiet way, and that meant that her natural camouflage was kicking in. Anti-telepathy charm or not, it was hard to counter a cuckoo who was actively putting the whammy on you, and Sarah's survival depended on Margaret accepting her as a natural part of the setting. It seemed to be working, thank God. If Sarah said she'd been looking at stars well, then, she must have been looking at stars. Liam's backpack was large enough to hold a telescope. The story made total sense.
Margaret	"Is there anyone else up there?" asked Margaret. "Nope!" Verity said, shaking her head. "Then I think I'll give these stars a look myself. Thank you for letting me know they were good tonight." Margaret stepped into the stairwell, closing the door behind her, and the three of them were alone.
Verity	Verity made a small squeaking noise in the back of her throat and started towing Sarah down the hall toward her room. "What's going on?" Sarah asked, still utterly confused. "No talking," Verity said. "This is walking time, not talking time."
Sarah	Sarah, wisely, shut up until they had reached her suite, where she unlocked the door and let everyone inside. Verity shut the door, locked the deadbolt, and resisted the urge - barely - to shove a chair under the knob. Sarah watched this whole process, her bewildered expression deepening. "Verity, who was that woman? Why couldn't I see her properly?"
Verity	"That was Margaret Healy." What was she doing at the Port Hope? There are hundreds of hotels in Baltimore, maybe even thousands. So why would the Covenant pick this one? They weren't going to be interested in the math museum. So why-- Unless someone told them Verity might come here. Someone like Dominic De Luca, who had been to the Port Hope before, and who had been around Sarah often enough that he might have been able to remember the location, even if he forgot why it was important. Verity felt herself go cold. Here, then: this was what she'd been waiting for. He'd betrayed them. He was the enemy. She didn't have to feel conflicted anymore. Still felt like shit, though.
Sarah	"Really?" Sarah looked to Liam for confirmation; not that she didn't trust Verity, but this was just so sudden. They had been talking and laughing and now the Covenant was in her hotel? "But...but what's she doing?"
Liam	"Probably assessing the roof for tactical defense purposes." It's what Liam would have done, were he in her position. Which meant— assuming she had any training at all, which she must, or they wouldn't have sent her— that Margaret was going to notice the scuffs in the gravel that marked the place where they'd hit the roof from above. She'd be able to read those marks like a hunter reading a deer's tracks in the wood. Two humanoids had jumped from the next building over; they had recovered without injury; they had gotten off the roof somehow. And she'd encountered the three of them coming down out the stairwell. She'd put the pieces together easily enough. They couldn't stay here; Sarah couldn't stay here. Liam didn't know too much about how her natural defenses worked, but he wasn't willing to risk Sarah's life on the assumption that they would. Especially when Margaret had also seen himself and Verity, who had no such protection to fall back on.
Sarah	"What do we do now?" Sarah asked, sounding like a lost little girl. She'd never been in danger like this before, never been in a situation where her own cuckoo nature couldn't protect her.
Verity	"Get your things," Verity ordered. "We're getting you out of here." She was already prowling through the mess in the main sitting room, looking for stuff that Sarah might want to take with her. But they couldn't just stay. Sarah's cuckoo camouflage might slow Margaret down for a little while, make her second-guess what she was thinking and try to come up with other reasons for people to have been up there, but that couldn't work forever. Cuckoos worked best when they stay near their targets, and they had moved away from Margaret as quickly as they could. Factor in Margaret's anti-telepathy charm, and Verity had no idea how long she'd be confused. Not long enough, that was for sure.
Sarah	Sarah's eyes widened. "But I just got here!" she protested.
Verity	"She saw me!" Verity didn't realize she was going to shout until it was too late to stop herself. Sarah took a step back. She didn't actually go pale - her blood wasn't red, and her biology doesn't support things like blanching or blushing - but she might as well have; her expression showed how frightened she was. Verity didn't stop, though. This was life or death. "Even if she forgets about you, she saw me, she's going to know that there's something wrong here! You know how badly the Covenant wants to get their hands on a cuckoo. Do you want it to be you, Sarah? Because I don't!"
Sarah	"Verity, you’re scaring me," she whispered.
Verity	"I don't want you to feel safe," Verity threw Sarah's earlier words back in her face. "I want you to stay alive." She glared and pointed towards Sarah's bedroom. "We have to leave, Sarah, and we have to leave now, or we're not going to be leaving at all."
Sarah	Sarah stared at her cousin for a long moment. Then, in a small, tight voice, she said, "I'll go pack." She wheeled and stomped off toward her room. It was more fear than anger. Verity didn't care either way. As long as she got her out of there. The idea of what might happen if she didn't was unthinkable.
Liam	Liam frowned as he watched the heated exchange between the two women. He didn't disagree with Verity's assessment; in fact, if she hadn't said they needed to leave, he would have. But... "Why does the Covenant want one of Sarah's species so badly?" he asked.
Verity	"Because they like cutting up cryptids for fun?" Verity snapped at him, still prowling around the living room of Sarah's suite. "And they've never gotten their hands on a cuckoo before, so this will be a learning experience."
Liam	"That much I knew," and as the last living representative of a species that had been hunted to extinction, he'd lived with that fear himself. "But I feel like I'm missing part of the story, here."
Verity	Verity sighed, throwing herself down onto Sarah's couch. Liam had a point, this just all involved thinking about a bunch of things that she didn't like thinking about. "It's my family's fault the Covenant knows cuckoos exist. Before my great-grandfather went to Colorado to look into the movement of a local hive of Apraxis wasps, there had been rumors, but never any hard proof. One of the last communications my grandfather, Thomas Price - the second great betrayer of the Covenant, it should be noted - sent to the Covenant before cutting off all ties was a letter describing everything we knew about the cuckoos. Warning people about them was more important than hiding information from the Covenant. That's how dangerous we thought they were, and how dangerous we still think they are." The fact that Sarah and Grandma Baker both agreed that that had been the right thing to do only made it worse. "According to our contacts in Europe, the Covenant has been trying to get their hands on a cuckoo for research purposes ever since. And while we still have a 'shoot on sight' order for them, that doesn't mean we think they deserve to be 'studied'."
Liam	"And here's one within arm's reach," Liam realized grimly. "All they'd have to do is keep her unconscious so she can't use her telepathy and they'd be able to do all the 'research' they wanted."
Verity	"If Margaret figures out who I am, and what Sarah is, she could kill two birds with one stone: take out a member of the traitorous branch of the family tree, and finally get a cuckoo they could take apart at their leisure," Verity said grimly. "They'll probably throw her a fucking parade." If Margaret figured it out. Except she had Dominic with her, who did have that information, and had deliberately gotten them rooms in the same hotel as where Sarah was staying.
Sarah	Sarah emerged from her bedroom with a small suitcase in one hand and an overstuffed backpack in the other. "Let me get my laptops and my homework from the table, and we can go," she said. She didn't sound happy. They'd been planning a relaxing evening, out of the line of fire. Having the fight follow Verity to her door was never the idea. "Where are we going?"
Verity	"You can stay with the rest of us." The dragons weren't going to be thrilled about Verity turning their old Nest into the new BWI, but with as much as Kitty was paying them, they could cope.
Sarah	"Oh, goody. Slumber party of the damned." Sarah started for the dining room to get the last of her stuff. Someone knocked on the door. They all turned.
	"Did you order room service before I got here?" Verity asked, instinctively dropping to a whisper. She realized only after she spoke that she probably should have done it telepathically.
Sarah	No, sent Sarah, who was smart enough to do what Verity hadn't. There was a soft thump as she put down her bags. Then she stepped up next to Verity, squinting a little at the door. I don't...I can't hear who's out there. I'm not sure there is anybody there. One problem with being a telepath in a non-telepathic society: sometimes there weren't words for the things she was trying to describe. Sarah didn't really 'hear' people thinking, but there wasn't any other way to say it. It got clearer when she was attuned to a person, and strangers could sometimes be almost inaudible to her mental ear. Still, she usually knew when there was someone to be listened to. The knock came again.
Verity	That means it's Margaret, Verity thought, pressing her palm to Liam's so he could hear her, too. Ish. Telepathy was difficult. Maybe she'll go away. The knock came again. ...Or maybe not. Verity looked toward Sarah. Okay. Here's what we need to do.
Sarah	*You're going to say I have to jump out the window, aren't you?* she asked miserably.
Liam	No, Liam replied. That would've been an easy solution, had they brought an extra set of climbing equipment, and if Sarah had the training to be able to make the climb without help. We just need to be quiet, and she'll go away. When this was all said and done, Liam was going to put some serious work in to figuring out if Portals would work in Verity's reality.
Sarah	Verity, I don't like this, Sarah's lower lip quivered, her eyes wide and frightened.
Verity	I know. I don't like it, either. Verity drew a pistol from inside her jacket, gesturing for Sarah to get out of sight. She started toward the coat closet, presumably to hide herself. There was a click as the latch released, and the hotel room door swung open. Verity managed to jump behind the half-wall that separated the living and dining rooms, getting herself out of sight before she could be seen.
Sarah	Sarah gasped. "C-can I help you?" she asked, in a surprisingly normal tone of voice.
Margaret	"Your door seems to have been left unlocked," said Margaret Healy. "Can I come in?"
Liam	Liam had less to risk than Verity did, when it came to being spotted, seeing as he was not a Price. Still, the less anyone from the Covenant saw of him, the better. Which meant that as soon as the latch started to release, he'd made his way over to the door, so that when it swung open, he'd be hiding behind it.
Sarah	Never knew when they'd need Liam for undercover work! "Uhhh...sure?" Sarah said. She stepped back to let Margaret into her suite. "Is there something I can help you with?"
Margaret	"It's an awfully cloudy night for looking at stars, don't you think?" The question was mild, just a comment on the weather.
Verity	There was nothing mild about the chill that it sent racing down Verity's spine, or Sarah's sudden, terrified cry of, *Verity, I think this is the woman from the roof.* Sometimes Sarah's inability to recognize people by visual cues could be a real problem. *I know,* Verity thought back, as soothingly as she could. Try to convince her that you're harmless. We're going to get you out of here. It'll be okay.
Sarah	"The sky cleared for a little bit," said Sarah. "That's why I went up with Valerie and, err, Lou, to see the Pleiades." At least Verity's alter ego came out smoothly, though she stumbled over Liam's made-up cover.
Margaret	"It's odd that you can see them at all, with all the ambient light from the city," said Margaret. "I was ever so excited, until I saw that the clouds had come back. Quite fast, too. I've never seen a cloud cover that thick develop so quickly."
Sarah	"I guess the weather does what the weather wants to do," said Sarah weakly, though her mental voice was panicky. Why is she asking all these questions? She should have believed us. Why can't I see her?
Liam	I don't know, Liam admitted. You need to convince her to leave so we can get you out of here.
Margaret	"I suppose that's true." Margaret took another step closer to Sarah, smiling slightly. "Is Valerie still here? I wanted to see if she had any other suggestions for places where I might go to do a little stargazing."
Sarah	"No, she had to leave," said Sarah. "I'll tell her that you were sorry to have missed her."
Margaret	"Left? Really? That's amazing, since I had a splendid view of the front of the hotel while I was on the roof, and I didn't see her going out." "It must have been while you were going down the stairs." "That's still quite impressive timing. I'll have to ask my colleague who was sitting in the lobby this whole time whether he saw which way she went. I'd love to see her again."
Sarah	Sarah didn't need to be able to see Margaret’s face to know what it looked like. Her tone was one she'd heard before, from Verity, Antimony, and their Grandma Alice. It would be accompanied by an almost feral smile, one that implied the speaker would think nothing of ripping your throat out with her teeth. A dangerous expression for a dangerous girl. "That's probably a good idea," she said, in a small voice. "Unless you'd like to tell me where she went," Margaret drawled. *Verity!*
Verity	Verity gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay where she was. Is she actually threatening you? Or is she just asking pointy questions and waiting to see whether you crack? Do you see any weapons? Not yet - it's just questions - but I still can't read her. Shit. The Covenant has wards against sorcery, witchcraft, and the various psionic powers. Telepathy wasn't common, but empathy was, and a ward against one will go a long way toward blocking the others. Sarah wasn't going to get any readings off Margaret, and Margaret wasn't going to be as affected by Sarah's particular brand of mind-fuck as she should have been. *Try and make her leave,* she said, keeping her mental voice as reassuring as she could. She had no idea how well it was working. Sarah was the telepath, not her; there was no telling how much interference she was going to pick up from Verity's own panic.
Liam	From his spot behind the door, Liam had been running various escape scenarios through his head as he listened to the exchange between Sarah and Margaret. *The staff can smuggle us out the building if you can get her to leave,* he suggested.
Sarah	"I don't know where Valerie went," said Sarah. Her voice was barely shaking and she knew Verity was super-proud of her for that. Maybe that would mean something when she wasn't utterly terrified. "Why don't you go ask your friend? He can probably tell you which way she turned when she left the hotel." "Doesn't she live around here?" "No. Delaware. She was just visiting me for the day."
Margaret	"Ah. Well, if you see her, can you let her know that I--"
Verity	The opening theme music from Dance or Die suddenly blared from Verity's front pocket. She fumbled for her phone, hitting the 'mute' button, but it was already way too late.
Margaret	"What was that?" asked Margaret, all pretense of friendly curiosity gone. She was a hunter, and she had just received confirmation that her prey was nearby. "My phone?" Sarah tried, hopelessly. "If that was your phone, what's that on the couch? You have two cell phones? That seems a bit excessive, don’t you think?" Margaret turned away from the dark-haired nothing girl in front of and start to walk towards the small retaining wall the sound had come from. "You sure your friend left? Seems a little odd that you'd hide her from m--"
Verity	There was a heavy smacking noise, followed by the thump of a body collapsing to the floor. Verity flung herself up over the wall, ready to shoot one her blood cousin in defense of her adopted one. Only to see Sarah standing with her legs braced wide, a decorative vase in her hands, panting in what Verity recognized as terror. Margaret was sprawled facedown on the carpet in front of her. The fall had hiked both her coat and blazer up in the back, revealing the gun she had tucked between her shirt and pants, her hand caught in the act of reaching for it. "Oh shit, Sarah!"
Liam	"Get her gun," Liam instructed, coming out from behind the door. "Do you have any duct tape?"
Sarah	"Why would I have duct tape?" Sarah asked. She dropped the vase to start wringing her hands. It landed without breaking, rolling to bump to a stop against the base of the couch. "Is she dead? Did I kill her?"
Verity	Verity flashed Liam an appreciative look as she crossed the floor to Margaret's unconscious body. "No, not dead," she soothed, "but she's going to have one hell of a headache." She shoved Sarah's bags into her hands before dropping to her knees next to Margaret, producing a roll of electrical tape from her own bag. "Duct tape would have been better, but this will hold her for a while. You have four minutes to grab anything else you want from this place. We will not be coming back here. Understand? Anything you leave, stays."
Sarah	"I understand," whispered Sarah, and ran for the dining room table.
Verity	Verity had learned the basics of tying up - or taping up - an unconscious opponent when she was still in elementary school, mostly by using her siblings for practice. She flipped Margaret over and got to work, moving a little slower than she would have if she hadn't been searching her for weapons at the same time. Unsurprisingly, her cousinwas armed for bear. Acid-spitting, fire-breathing bear. If she hadn't already known Margaret was a relative, the number of knives she took out of her coat would have made her suspicious. Even with that complication, Verity had her bound in less than a minute and a half. "Here," she said to Liam, holding out the weapons. "Take these." The last thing Verity did was remove her necklace: a thin disk of what looked like pure copper floating in a vial of water mixed with crushed herbs. She heard a gasp behind me before Sarah thought, *I can feel her in the room now.* "Swell - I was right. It's an anti-telepathy charm." Verity shoved Margaret's necklace into her pocket. "They're more prepared than I wanted them to be." Someone had been telling stories. Dominic was no longer a friendly.
Liam	Liam's heart sank as he came to the same conclusion regarding Dominic's apparent loyalties as Verity. There wasn't time to dwell on that, though. Once he was finished packing everything- making sure the guns were resting on empty chambers and there were no bugs or trackers- he picked up Margaret's unconscious form and carried her over to the bathroom. Leaving her in there and blocking the door would buy them a few extra minutes, at least. "Let's go," he said. "She's going to be pissed when she wakes up."
Sarah	Sarah crept forward like a mouse between them. "What are we going to do?" she whispered.
Verity	"We run," Verity said grimly, wishing they could torch the place just to keep them from learning anything more about Sarah. "We exit through the kitchen and we don't stop running till we get home." She nodded to the door. "Let's go."