Verity Alice Price

Verity woke up to the distant sounds of cheering. She smiled slightly, eyes closing again...and then remembered abruptly where she was. Her room was quiet, even the beeping machines were dark and pushed to the corners and she was no longer attached by tubes and wires to them. She waited a few minutes to be sure that no one was going to come barging in before she stretched slowly and folded back the covers, finally moving into a full sitting position. She was wearing one of those pale green hospital gowns. It was almost a relief to realize that those were just as much standard issue in cryptid hospitals as they were in human ones. Verity took a breath, steeling herself, and pulled the gown up to get a look at her stomach where Peter had shot her.

The gunshot wound was gone, and while the skin there was slightly paler than the skin around it, there was no scar. She touched it lightly with the tips of her fingers, feeling the first tears wet her cheeks. She was going to be okay. She was going to be better than okay, in fact. (  And that meant that whatever came next, it was going to be something that she needed to deal with. )
[AND WE'RE DONE! The last bit of text, adapted and mutilated from Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire. Thanks so much to firstofitskind for a) all the preplaying, b) all the coding, and c) her endless patience with getting this done. <3 <3 <3 Could have technically? maybe? done this without you, bb, but nowhere near as well or stylishly.]

Convincing Sarah to stay behind wasn't nearly as hard as it would usually have been. She'd been scared, and that was something she wasn't used to. Uncle Mike got her set up in one corner of the main room with a pile of computer pieces Verity didn't recognize. She settled in to connecting wires and configuring settings, looking happy as a clam. Everybody had their comfort zones.

Uncle Mike, however, refused to stay behind. Not that Verity complained much; with him along, they could take the car. They rode in his sedan, blending smoothly into the traffic. If the Covenant was watching for them suspiciously, they'd know to be watching the high ground. Hopefully, being on the roads would keep her and Liam under their radar.

( They drove down the streets in silence )

Sunil never returned to the counter, going upstairs to pack as soon as Verity came back downstairs. Then they left their (fully human) staff to clean and close up behind them, the five of them leaving with the last crowd about five minutes before lunchtime closing. Neither brother liked that very much, but Verity was going to use every trick at their disposal to keep them safe and that included taking advantage of the Covenant's refusal to involve ordinary humans in their 'holy work.'

It took almost two hours to get back to the Nest, thanks to Uncle Mike's evasive driving techniques, which included a trip over the Key Bridge. Verity and Liam spent most of the drive watching the mirrors for signs of pursuit. They never came.

Sunil and Rochak goggled shamelessly as they entered the Nest. Each of them had a suitcase, and Rochak was dragging a cooler filled with gingerbread, cookies, and jars of assorted types of sugar in both liquid and granular forms. Verity had never realized there were so many kinds of natural sweetener. ( Watching a Madhura pack his kitchen was definitely an education. )

[Adapted from Midnight, Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire and preplayed (and coded!) by firstofitskind. Up late because conventions are delightful but exhausting. NFI, NFB.]

The dragon from the night before was no longer in the ticket booth. She had been replaced by a more familiar, less friendly face: Istas, who was sitting calmly behind the glass, stitching another layer of lace onto the edge of her parasol as she waited for a paying customer to demand her attention. Verity rapped on the edge of the booth. She lifted her head and frowned, eyes narrowing.

( Why are you on the ground? )

[Continuing on the adaptation of Midnight, Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire. Preplayed and coded with firstofitskind, who is a dreamboat. NFI, NFB.]