“Yes, the mythical ‘Dugpa cult,’” Gida said. “The one you and Roland Blue participated in since you were one of us, before your fall.”
“The one you covered up from me and Nico,” I said, “and then from Dragon, from all of the Nightwise. The one you are a high-ranking member of, Maven. The one that used Roland Blue as an agent in the Life. Didn’t you guys ever wonder why in all the years Blue’s been in business you were never able to nail him, shut him down? He was protected, by the Maven.”
“Don’t listen to him!” It was my old buddy Luke, from the elevator. His partner, Bridgette, was also in the crowd, targeting me with a deadly spell, a look of predatory anticipation on her face. “Ballard’s a fraud, a con man. He attacked me and Bridgette! He’s as dirty as they come!”
“I swear I’m telling the truth, I … I give my word!”
I regretted it as soon as I said it.
“Your word?” Bridgette sneered. “Everyone here knows what your word, your oath, is worth. You betrayed the order and now you’re trying to hustle us to get away with murder.”
“You reputation does make it hard for you to be believed, Laytham,” Gida said. “You were driven from our number because of the things you’d done, the compromises you made. You have reveled in your debauchery and your delinquent behavior your whole life, everyone knows that. You are no longer Nightwise, Laytham Ballard, no longer one of us. You have no code, no honor. You no longer live by the Brilliant Badge, nor can you even summon it. You don’t stand for the weak and the innocent, you prey on them, hurt them, and now you’re under arrest.” The shadow of a smug smile crossed Gida’s face for just a second. Only I saw it. “I’m sorry, Laytham.”
I felt them all preparing, waiting for me to stand down or to fight. I’d die, there was no hustle, no shit I could pull out of my ass here. I’d die, Joey would die and Garland … I looked back at the boy and he looked at me with eyes as big as an owl’s. They were his mother’s eyes too.
I raised my hand. I thought of Garland, of Joey, of Peggy, of Grinner, of Jane Doe, of all the Jane Does, and most of all of Caern, sweet, sad, Crystal Myth, Caern. I took the bitterness of my failures and I hammered them about me like armor. I had made so many mistakes, authored so many tragedies. I had let so many people down. Not today, not the kid. Garland’s words were in my mind as I sifted the formula, went through the routes of the simple ritual and laid myself bare before it in judgment. She told me we all get scared and we all mess up sometimes. We just got to try again to do good. I took a shaky, burning, painful breath and I tried one more time to do good.
The Brilliant Badge burned in the night, hovering above my hand. It was strong, and it was steady, and it did not waver. The light of it illuminated the faces of the circle of wizards and I could see the shock on those faces. The best look of all was Gida’s. I saw fear there, and maybe a little remorse, some sadness.
Dragon smiled and walked away from the Maven to stand by my side; she summoned the Badge as well. One by one, each Nightwise called their Badge to them and the night was pushed back, held at bay by the joined radiance. Gida stood alone now, circled by wizards, their spells leveled at her, not me. No Badge hovered above her palm. She raised her hands in surrender. Her eyes never left me.
“You’re under arrest,” I said.
TWENTY-SEVEN
The waves reached for the heavens, then tumbled under their own weight, crashing, falling into white, hissing foam as they rushed across the wet sand. Garland laughed as the water tickled and pulled at his feet. The child squealed in delight and some seagulls gave a shrill reply. The boy ran along the beach and his father ran with him, playing tag with the endless ocean. Joey had lost some weight while he was in the hospital, but he looked good and he scooped Garland up and spun him around. I stood at the rocky edge of the beach, which was off of Third Street, in Encinitas. Vigil, finally up and out of the hospital himself, stood beside me, his arms crossed. I could feel Garland’s aura reaching out, teasing at the water, at the gulls. The colors coming off him were brighter than the late-morning sun. Garland saw us and called out to his dad who set the boy back on the wet sand and then raced him to us. Garland won.
“Ballard! Vigil!” Garland shouted as he crashed into our legs. Vigil held out a stabilizing hand to keep the little bundle of speed from falling on his ass.
“Easy,” Vigil said, “you’ll knock us old men down.” The kid grinned and I noticed he had lost another baby tooth. “That’s quite a gap there,” Vigil said, kneeling to Garland’s level. “Perhaps the Tooth Fairy will leave you a little something for that.” I snorted and Burris looked up at me.
“Don’t get me started on the Tooth Fairy,” I said. “When he’s not creeping around between Arcadia and Earth, he runs an odontophilia fetish website out of Copenhagen.”
“Copenhagen, huh,” Vigil remarked as he ruffled the kid’s hair and stood back up. “I would have figured Great Britain for that.”
“I know, right?”
Joey walked up. He shook Vigil’s hand. He didn’t offer and I didn’t
