The Trial of the Ghost

Chapter 9: All Roads Lead to Danger

Zrayt glared at the four people across from her. It was actually three people and one alien, but that wasn’t a fact she was privy to. All she knew was that if they didn’t want her involved then well, they shouldn’t have started planning while she was right there.

Just a week and a day after the apartment burned down, she and Rox had come to Kra and Corla’s for dinner. Immediately, Rox had pulled Allelosin over and began describing his conversation with his father in hushed tones.

He’d gotten about five sentences in before Losin held up a hand and said, “Wait, Kra and Corla should hear this too.”

“What?” Rox asked, his eyebrows as high as they could possibly be. “Why?”

Losin held in a sigh. “They’ve agreed to help.”

He and the girls had talked about it before. He’d been surprised that Kra had agreed with Corla’s idea to keep the Ghost’s involvement from Rox. He’d thought that she’d been advocating for trusting him, but instead she’d just nodded along as Corla reasoned they should keep the Ghost’s assistant as secret as possible so it had less chance to get back to Thuelar.

It made him wonder if they’d argued about it before proposing the idea to him. He waved over Kra and Corla. They all huddled in a circle against the wall, and then Los gestured for Rox to continue, using his left arm as his right was practically brushing up against Kra’s.

Rox wondered why Kra was involved. She hated danger, froze every time. Corla and Alle probably insisted she help, he realized. Wouldn’t let her say no.

He cleared his throat. He could talk to Kra about this later. Open her eyes later. He had information to pass on right now.

“So, my father-”

He’d filled them in and Zrayt sat on the couch listening in. She glared at their backs. They weren’t even talking low enough for her to not hear. Absolutely insulting, the four of them meeting and not just assuming that she wouldn’t want to help but leaving her with absolutely no company on the day they were supposed to spend together.

So when Losin mentioned Project Sabwemkael, she stood and felt her vindictive side take over. She walked to the outside of the circle and piped up in his ear, “Wow, Losin, so interesting. I’ll let you know if I hear anything!”

For his part, he didn’t jump much, but even if he had, she backed up enough to properly glare at the four of them. Her idiot twin was the only one glaring back.

“You’re not part of this,” Roxeldan said, squaring his shoulders and sticking his chin up so he could look down on her.

Zrayt resisted the urge to punch him in the gut. “I can help. You forget, my dearest, darling brother, that I want our dad in jail just as much as you do. So why don’t you just go right to the Underrealm and-”

“Zraytena,” Corla interrupted, trying to sound placating, “this is dangerous.”

“Oh, so why are you all doing it then?”

“We’re all already involved,” Losin protested. “Your father is dangerous. We don’t want to involve anyone who doesn’t need to be.”

“Yeah,” Zrayt rolled her eyes, “and Corla and Kra aren’t taking an unneeded risk?”

“Corla is in cyber security and used to hack into her school’s announcement board for fun,” Los snapped. “She’s also too reckless to not help.”

“Hey!” Corla protested. She looked like she wanted to keep going, but Kra put a hand on her forearm. Corla took the hint and pressed her lips together to stop the sound.

“And Kra…” he continued. “Well….” Losin glanced at Kra. “She’s my work partner. She’s only in to help go through public records and that stuff. Nothing risky.”

“And I’m doing PR for dad, pretty high up too. I can look around for anything we’re told to cover up. I might be able to gather some data for leads.”

“But-” Rox began.

“It can’t hurt,” Kra interrupted. “Zrayt makes a good point. Why can’t she help? She’s going to be here when we meet anyway, might as well ‘keep her in loop.” Zrayt could have kissed Kra. “As long as she promises to not do any actual snooping, just keep an ear open for anything suspicious.”

Oh well, Zrayt thought as Corla instantly nodded along with what Kra said. Good enough.

“I’d be willing to agree to that,” Zrayt said, painting an agreeable smile on her face.

“But-” Rox tried to start.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Corla said out loud. “Zrayt could be an asset.”

Zrayt’s beam was real. She could kiss her too.

No one caught Corla elbowing Allelosin, but all their eyes went to him when he said, “I agree.”

Zrayt could hug him. They all turned to Rox with deceptively innocent expressions.

Roxeldan only believed Kra’s innocent face was genuine. The rest of them were all demons serving What Is Nameless. I swear to the goddesses I’m going to strangle Zraytena when we get back to her place.

“Fine,” he pushed out. “I hate you.”

Zrayt beamed. “Love you too little brother!”

“I am not little! We’re twins!”

“You’re sixteen minutes younger, Rox. You’re my itty, bitty, little, baby, bro-”

Rox plugged his ears and started singing, “Lalalalalalalalalalalalala!”

Kra glanced at Los the same moment he did the same at her and when their eyes met, they both began to giggle.

Corla, who wondered if she was the only sane person here, yelled, “STOP! BOTH OF YOU!”

Rox and Zrayt both instantly did so, casting guilty expressions at Corla. She rolled her eyes. She had not been awake long enough to deal with them.

“Rox,” Losin said, “you mentioned something about your father wanting to cover my lost belongings?”

“Oh, yeah, he did say that. It was one of the things that convinced me it wasn’t genuine.”

“Can you tell him thank you for me but I’m very particular and don’t want to inconvenience him.”

“But you still want the check?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Los grinned, a drop of maliciousness spreading across his normally apathetic features. “He burned my stuff, he’s paying for it. I just won’t give him the chance to bug it.”

Rox nodded. “I’ll find a way to tell him.”

“Thanks.”

A ding went off in the distance.

“Oh, did you hear that?” Kra asked brightly, clapping her hands together. “Dinner’s ready! Time to eat!”

She practically skipped off to the kitchen and everyone instinctively agreed that the conversation was over.

It took a month before Kra put all the data together into the disturbing picture.

As the Ghost, she kept getting in the middle of gang and mob activities to a startling degree. They were active, more so than normal.

Worse, they were in territory scuffles. Minor skirmishes when a cocky new initiate wants to prove themselves was not unusual. But the borders were normally respected. They were adhered to.

Yet the Pale Knives were expanding beyond Ulerntown. They were crossing into Tiny Tern, Little Zarn, the Lowlands, Riverside District, and, worst of all, the Tribal District. They were systematically taking out or absorbing more rivals than they ever had in the past.

The Tribal District was a powderkeg. Not that Little Zarn or Tiny Tern was any good either. The Zarnish and Ternish both hated the Ulernish, conflicting government ideologies and all that. But the Tribal District, that was a risky move. They had remained relatively independent from the other cultural districts, and they liked it that way. While the east of Lywolf was still controlled by the tribes, they’d gotten used to the west being completely colonized, even if they still hated it. So for an Ulern gang to start demanding tribute in their district? It was dangerous, incendiary. It wasn’t as bad as a Zarnish gang, as the United Islands of Zarn had initially started the colonization of their continent, but it was going to be a shitshow.

And to make it worse? A Dredde gang, the Desert Hawks, was starting to go after territory in northern Emlytos: Mixing Village, Suler Village, Graylingtown, Little Havming. Luckily, the train and electronics districts seemed to be spared. For now. It would only be a matter of time though. And who was immediately south of them? Other than the Music district and Little Crestaling?

Little Dretwom, which had the highest Dretwomish population in the city.

Kra wanted to scream. The other districts didn’t have a big cultural problem with Dredde, all being on the continent Ewyfing, just north of Dretil, the continent with the countries Dredde and Dretwom. Well, except for Suler Village, but that was another nightmare. Suler, being a country on this continent, Agmaler, wasn’t thrilled about a Dredde gang in charge of their territory, but it wasn’t as bad as the Tribal District, which just had Agmaler Natives from Lywolf’s territory. Suler was farther south and had never been colonized, like the rest of the Agmaler continent. Still, this was their continent and they didn’t appreciate control.

But as pissed as they were, it wasn’t nearly as bad as what would happen if the Desert Hawks set their sights south.

Dredde and Dretwom were the only countries on a desert continent with one major lake and river. They’d spent most of their known history, written and oral, fighting over that resource. They hated each other, despite having been in a state of relative peace for fifty years.

Why Dreddevile and Little Dretwom were right next to each other, Kra would never know. She’d have assumed they’d settle on opposite sides of the city, as far from the other as possible, but it hadn’t happened and now Kra wondered what she’d done to get on the wrong side of every single Troan god. Awronadai, Sofeyel, Sheomhal, Okyavhal, Ihooyalel, Tzayikhal, Mavarel, all seven deities of her ancestors.

If the Desert Hawks went south into Little Dretwom, they’d be lucky if people were only injured. She expected blood running down the street.

And who did that leave in the New City? No one seemed to be touching the wealthy districts in the old city, so what cultural districts were left? Music District, Little Crestaling, Magathy Village, Veevathytown, Tiny Ivran, Little Quakir, Northern Balerville, Southern Balervile, and the Hills. Quakir was another Arnirtern country, the southern neighbor of Ulern and east of the island of Tern. The Hills and the Music District were more mixed districts, like Riverside, Lowlands, and Mixing. She wouldn’t like it if the Music District was taken over, that was where she lived after all, but it wouldn’t be a diplomatic incident waiting to happen.

But the others? All Agmaler countries. Magathy, Veevathy, and Ivran were all in the south, but Baler shared its border with Lywolf. The northern Balish people identified strongly with the tribes of Lywolf. To be taken over by a Ulern gang? That would be almost as bad as the Tribal District.

She was lost, unsure what to do. How was she going to stop this?

Why did I just have to make the most prominent port city in Lywolf my home?

The answer was that Emlytos University had an amazing journalism program and offered her a full scholarship, of course, but she still wanted to pull her hair out. Corla had had about five panic attacks at once and declared that she hated her life when she’d told her about all of it. And honestly, Kra couldn’t blame her.

Why couldn’t everyone get along? Why did there have to be gang activity in the first place? Why did people hate each other? She didn’t get it.

She didn't get how people could live with themselves when they hurt someone.

The city was creeping closer and closer to the edge of a cliff. Kra knew she had to pull it back, but it got worse than the cultural tensions because, as Corla said, of course it did.

The Desert Hawks and Pale Knives had gotten their hands on magically enhanced weapons. The moment she’d told Corla about that, she had been sure the other girl was on the verge of fainting. It had taken twenty five minutes, a quarter hour, to convince her that she would be fine against these weapons. All she had encountered them using so far were guns with different enchantments on the bullets. More force, curving, tracking the victim, increased speed, nothing she couldn’t handle. All she had to do for the increased speed was increase her own which was fine. The amount of extra force those bullets had didn’t come close to breaking her skin. Catching them didn’t even cause a tingle. Curving just meant keeping an extra eye on them. Tracking the victim was more of a problem, but she had quickly realized she just needed to pull the magic out until she was left with a normal bullet.

She and Los agreed to start investigating as Corla started searching for the gang’s servers. The three of them agreed that if there was going to be anything they could find remotely, it would be there. For now, they didn’t tell Rox and Zrayt. They had no proof that this was connected to the Thuelar investigation yet.

Los wanted to scream as he and Kra took the bus to their assignment. A small shoot out in Mixing Village. Likely gang violence. Nothing the Ghost stopped, it was the middle of the day. She didn’t work in the daytime.

When had his life gotten so busy? His eyes felt as if they were going to close of their own accord. Was he trying to do too much?

He tried to think of what his mother would say if he confessed the three separate things he was looking into.

Yeah, he was probably trying to do too much.

Next to him, Kra chattered happily. Lucky her, he thought. She’s probably getting over three hours of sleep.

This was not true, of course. As a Troan, Kra technically needed no sleep and took advantage of that, much to all of her friends who knew her heritage’s chagrin. Allelosin was still oblivious to the fact, despite having lived with her for over a month now. Kra was very proud of herself for that.

She grinned and dragged Los off their bus and towards the convenience store. She nearly tripped over feet, but Los planted his feet and kept her from falling. She grinned and then kept pulling him towards the cops, who, obviously, had the scene tapped off.

Kra let Los’ hand go to wave at someone and Los followed her gaze into the store. An officer grinned at her and motioned for her to wait a moment. Kra nodded back and they stopped outside the tap.

“Oh, hello Officer Hagamt!” she exclaimed, spotting another officer. “How’s your sister? Has she recovered alright?”

“Ms. N’tek?” the officer said, smiling back. “Hey! She’s doing well. The surgery went fine.”

“That’s a relief. I hear about these things going badly too often.”

“I know,” the officer replied sagely. “I thank Ferihjen every day for noticing.”

A Ferihjenist, Los noted. The only major monotheistic religion he knew of. Most popular in southern Agmaler. Which he thought tracked. This officer looked to be of Magathy descent. Likely not an immigrant with her Emlytos accent.

“But she's doing fine,” the officer continued. “How about you? How are you doing? It’s been a while!”

“I know,” Kra lamented. “I haven’t had a crime assignment in a long time.”

“Odd,” Officer Hagamt commented. “The Chronicle always sent you over.”

“Oh, you must not have heard. I got a job at Kyp Daily! General assignment reporter!”

Officer Hagamt’s eyes widened with joy. “That’s amazing! Congratulations! Great Ferihjen, Kra, I….” The officer smiled genuinely. “I am so happy for you.”

Kra beamed back. “Thanks, Aladir.” She grabbed Los’ forearm and pulled him forward. “Actually, I'd like you to meet my partner. Work partner,” she corrected, spotting the look on Hagamt’s face. Despite her slightly annoyed tone, her eyes betrayed fondness for this woman, who was probably about ten years older than them if Los’ guess was correct. “Officer Aladir Hagamt, this is Allelosin La’dyliap. We’re working together on all assignments for now. Allelosin, this is Officer Aladir Hagamt, one of the police department’s many talented detectives.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Hagamt said, extending her hand.

“Likewise,” Los replied, shaking her hand.

Kra grinned again. “Officer Hagamt has a wonderful eye for details.”

“Not like you do,” Hagamt replied.

Kra glanced down, her cheeks heating. “Stop.”

“I’m serious, La’dyliap. The best thing for my career was meeting Kra. She can find a loose thread on a rug and is always happy to help.”

“It’s nothing,” Kra insisted.

“No, Kra, it’s not. Don’t undersell yourself.” She turned to the man Kra had waved to earlier. “Oh, hey Iln, did you hear our Kra’s working at Kyp Daily now?”

The man grinned at Kra. Los noticed he was twice their age at least. “I did,” Iln said. “My niece wouldn’t shut up about it. She’s very proud of you, Kra. Congratulations.”

“Niece?” Los asked.

“Corla,” Kra said simply. “Los, this is Iln Anvislu, Corla’s uncle.”

Oh. That made sense, now that he looked more closely. The man clearly was Dretilish, like Corla. He could see the resemblance now.

“Pleased to meet you,” Iln said. “You’re Allelosin, right?” He nodded, not trusting himself at the moment. Iln nodded back. “Corla has talked about you. All good,” he assured with a reassuring smile.

“Corla is a dear friend,” Los replied, smiling. “She’s a wonderful person.”

“Agreed,” Iln said.

“Me too,” Kra added. “But that was obvious. Corla’s been my best friend for years.” She said it with a grin that made the group chuckle. Kra chuckled too, but her eyes landed on the scene beyond the tape and her laugh faded. The others followed her gaze and their mirth dissolved as well. “That looks ugly.”

Hagamt and Iln shared a look. Iln sighed. “Yeah, it is. Three gangsters and one bystander dead. Five more injured at Asasej hospital.”

Kra winced and Hagamt gave her a sympathetic look. “I know, it’s awful.”

Kra leaned in. “I’ve been hearing about magically enhanced weapons, bullets that curve and track targets. Please tell me-”

Iln shook his head. “Sorry, Kra. I… they are. We think the bystander died from a curving bullet gone astray. The dead gangsters were all tracked.”

“Gone astray?” Kra repeated, her mind clearly at whirl. “Isn’t the magic meant to hit the target?”

“Probably,” Iln admitted. “But we suspect they aren’t used to using these magical guns yet.”

“Yeah, one of the dead Desert Hawks was hit from a bullet of the same caliber as his partner, not the other gang’s, Menace Boys, kind of gun. I know, terrible name, but anyway, we think they accidentally target him, trying to correct for the aim they would with a normal gun.”

“Weird.” Kra shook her head. “I…. Who would make a gun like that? I… I don’t get it.”

“We don’t know,” Hagamt said sorrowfully. “We intend to find out if we can, but there’s no manufacturer markings.”

“Maybe I could-”

“No, Kra,” Iln said. “I don’t think even your eyes could see anything.”

“She could at least try,” Los offered, trying to help. “It couldn’t hurt.” The moment the words left his mouth, he saw Hagamt and Iln close off.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Iln said, glancing at some officers behind him.

“I agree,” Hagamt nodded. She shot Kra a look. “Sorry, Kra.”

Kra sighed, disappointment and sadness steeped in the motion. “Maybe next time.”

“Maybe,” Hagamt confirmed, eager to get that look off Kra’s face. It was a loaded look. One that said she wanted to help, desperately, but would badly hide her disappointment and soul deep pain at her inability to. “Maybe next time.”

Kra nodded and a small, forced smile spread across her face. “Well, maybe. Shall we get to business then? Who should Los and I talk to first?”

Allelosin watched in amazement as Iln and Hagamt pointed out the officers she should talk to for the details of the case, as if they hadn’t already spilled more than enough for a story. More than what the other officers gave them.

When they walked away, the moment they were out of earshot, Kra said, “We need to see these weapons.” She gestured for him to come closer. “The Ghost can probably confirm if there are truly no markings.”

Los nodded, surprised they weren’t going to talk about what had happened. “You’ll ask her?”

“Obviously.”

“Ask her if she thinks the gangs with magical weapons are new at this. Could be important, why they’re using weapons they don’t have enough practice with.”

Kra’s lips pressed together in contemplation. “I wonder what she’ll think. Asasej Hospital next?”

“If you’re up to it, sunflower”

“Then let’s go, blazing-heart.”

So they really weren’t going to talk about it.

Cool. That was cool.

Who was he kidding? No it fucking wasn’t, but Allelosin said nothing as Kra charmed the doctors into talking on record about what they think on the rising gang crime. He noticed she never pushed the victims. If they didn’t want to talk, she said good day and dragged him out of the room. If they hesitated, she reminded them they didn’t have to reveal anything they didn’t want to.

His notepad was overflowing. It never was like this when he was on assignment alone.

Los felt himself seething less. He’d be fine. They had a story to work on.

“By the way,” Kra whispered, her hands stuffed her pockets. “We can’t cite Iln and Aladir in the article.”

“Why not?”

“I… I kind of have a system for crime scenes,” she admitted. She nearly groaned. Los looked way too interested for her liking. “I… I’m kind of quietly investigating police corruption. Iln and Aladir aren’t technically my contacts, but… I’ve made a lot of, er, friends. Some directly give me hints and others… I just chat with and see what they’ll reveal. Then I question whoever the department has talking to reporters and if I think they’re lying or deflecting about a suspicious detail, I know to look harder at the story or pay more attention to see if there’s anything shady going on. So… Iln and Aladir can’t know they’re being used as a reference. They’re just friends and I’d appreciate it if you stick to my system.”

“Of course,” Los replied easily. “Nothing that’s not officially on the record.”

“Yeah, and I think we got a few good leads from them. Don’t worry, I won’t forget to tell the Ghost.”

“Sunflower, you have the best memory of anyone I know.” Well, he privately amended, other than the Ghost. But probably second.

Kra grinned. He grinned back. Today was looking like it was going to be a good day.