Halloween I.F. – “Something Rich and Strange” – Day 20

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Of all the options, meeting up with Vayne did feel like the most promising. Someone claiming they had actual information about the mysterious Person In Black, rather than Star following up on threads that only might lead somewhere?

But something also felt odd about this, and Star wasn’t sure if it was like with Georgio, where he’d just misunderstood the person without getting to know them, or if it was valid. It just felt like it might be some kind of trap. That could be paranoia speaking too, though. Ultimately, Vayne would also have an investment in solving this. The track he raced at had been taken out of commission, and it wasn’t clear if it’d be in any shape to reopen by the time of Vayne’s next race. 

The best bet, Star decided, was to go there early and scope the place out, try to get a view of if it was a proper trap or not. He had the covert cake, which lasted an hour, and Vayne was supposed to be there in an hour, so it seemed like the perfect match.

Just for safety, he sent the group text an update of where he was going, and asked if any of them were able to come spot him and keep an eye on things from a distance. There were ways to neutralize fairies, after all, and no amount of advance planning would do any good if someone came at him with salt or iron. Having a backup against problems was common sense. But—they were also all busy, he remembered. The only one who hadn’t been was Viv, who at least had the advantage of being a witch rather than another fairy; maybe she’d be able to come watch from a distance. Better than nothing.

He received the address from Vayne and did a quick search; it appeared to be a coffee shop—not Beanheadings or anything like that, but a place called Parallelatte that he hadn’t been to before. That was a good sign; Vayne was offering a neutral space for them to meet up, and one where there’d likely be other people around. Star began to head that way.

When he was about ten minutes away, Star took the covert cake out and gave it serious consideration—after all, he had only one slice—for about seven seconds before shrugging and eating it. Better to use it now than save it for an eventuality that might never happen, not when he had his own glamour to fall back on for later break-ins. Plus, he’d expect people to be around for a trap, and not for a break-in! If he wasted it, he wasted it.

Besides, he didn’t want to get any closer before eating it—he didn’t want to run into Vayne too early and lose his chance to scope things out, or otherwise tip off anyone who might be setting up a trap.

It was an odd sensation when he ate the last bite, as if the world was suddenly crisper than usual, and his own awareness of himself more hazy. It was like shifting from actually inhabiting a body to being in a first person camera—although, when he focused, he could still see himself; he wasn’t invisible, just… forgettable.

He tried to shrug off the uneasy sensation of not knowing where his own body parts were, and continued on to the coffee shop.

It turned out that walking around a city during the day when you couldn’t let yourself bump into anyone or let your shadow cross them was a challenge, but he still made it to the address with relative speed. He checked out the inside of the building first, nobody noticing him even when he slipped behind the bar to make sure there wasn’t someone hiding there, or when he walked into the back area and found only boxes of coffee and similar things, no suspicious spell circles or anything of the like. He checked each booth carefully, even those people were at, trying to be conscious of his body and shadow enough to not let them touch anyone even while he was having difficulty focusing on them himself.

Certainly everything seemed safe, but Star couldn’t quite shake the uneasy feeling. Perhaps it was just the desire for everything to be narratively convenient and for the cake not to be a waste, but he didn’t live this long by not following his instincts. Sure, he knew that was the anthem of every horse, who did not stick around to confirm if leaves fluttering in the wind weren’t deadly, but…

He slipped back outside the coffee shop and positioned himself so he could see up both directions on the street, in case a trap were likely to be set there instead, and waited, trying to teach himself patience in a quick, easy lesson.

And about 15 minutes later, he saw Vayne start to walk around the corner and turn back, talking to someone just out of sight. Star’s heart suddenly pounded, and he pushed away from the wall he was leaning against, walking toward them. He couldn’t move too quickly, not without risking interacting with other pedestrians or getting hit by traffic that couldn’t see him, so he was still approaching when he saw Vayne reach out of sight and take something from the person Star still couldn’t see.

It wasn’t clear what it was Vayne took; it looked like some bundle of cords or cables. Vayne opened his coat and shoved them into an inner pocket there, said something, waved, and headed up the street. Twelve seconds later, he passed Star unknowingly, heading toward the coffee shop.

Star broke into a run, but by the time he rounded the corner, whoever was there before was gone. He took a deep breath, trying to scent the air and get a sense of whoever it had been. He just got a melange of normal city smells, especially for down into the valley, a background hit of fairy magic, monsters, demons, blood and rust and vampires, sweaty fur and lycanthropy, and the occasional human smell, nearly drowned out by all the others. Whoever had been there hadn’t used a spell to get away or he would have smelled that stronger than anything else, they’d just either had a place to go—a getaway vehicle, or a nearby alley or street they’d intended to turn down—or were themselves invisible and unseen now.

That was not a great thought. Star walked a bit further up to look around corners and in alleys, but he wasn’t seeing anything, and he gave up. He let himself cross into the direct line of another human, letting the cake wear off—it was about to run out of its expected duration anyway—and headed back up to the coffee shop.

Vayne lifted a hand and grinned when he saw Star enter, beckoning him over. “Hey man. Good work this morning. I heard all about it.”

“Aw, shucks,” Star said, sliding in across from him. He declined a drink just in case, though he did watch a little longingly as Vayne took a big drink of his own coffee. “I just happened to have the right biology to help out there. If it were fire we’d be fucked.”

“Hah!” Vayne snorted. He was a small man, pale, with slightly shaggy brown hair he often wore slicked back like a greaser. In general, actually, he dressed like 1970s Travolta was his personal idol.  “Nothing anyone could do about that one, yeah. About that…”

Star sat back, watching Vayne seem to think through his next words. “About that?”

“So obviously, you know Georgio and I were both down at the track when that all happened,” Vayne said. “The thing is, I was following that person in black.”

Star sat up a little straighter at that. Vayne really might actually have some solid information for him. “You were? Why?”

“The day before,” Vayne said, “something weird happened. I don’t know if Dom told you, but he and I were called in to try to sort out the track double booking. When Georgio and I headed out from that, we went to pick up some of our stuff we’d already deposited by the paddock. On my way back, I saw some people talking to Dom, and then he wandered off like he was in a daze. It was weird, I noticed it first because one of them looked like you, but a chick. And the other was really hard to… to remember or notice what they looked like? They saw me, and I asked them what was up, were they new riders signing up here, and… then I have this big blank.”

“A big blank,” Star echoed. “That’s what happened to Dom, but he wasn’t even aware of the blank to identify it until I showed him proof.”

“That’s the thing, I don’t think they did as good a job with me because they hadn’t meant to talk to me first, maybe,” Vayne said, tone thoughtful. “And no insult, but Dom is a nice guy. He thinks the best of most people. Me, I’m a suspicious fucker. You know?”

Star kind of shrugged. He wasn’t going to just insult the person giving him info, but also, yeah. “It’s kind of your reputation.”

“When I left, all I had a sense was… there were people, I met them, and we talked about something to do with the track mix-up and all that. But I’ve been spending the last day trying to pick apart my memories. I still don’t have much,” Vayne added. “But when I saw that person in black at the clubhouse again I was like, fuck, I gotta see what they’re up to.”

Star leaned forward. “What’d they do?”

“They cast some kind of spell,” Vayne said. “I can’t pick that up the way your kind can or anything like that, but there was mumbling and a bit of hand motion and right after that all the screaming started so, yeah, spell. I figured that there’d be people at the track who could handle whatever happened so I followed this guy.”

Shit, this was juicy. “You followed them?? To where?”

“See, that’s the shit,” Vayne said. “I followed them way down into the Valley, super near the gate, and they went into this old like… warehouse? I figured they must have been using it as some kind of HQ. But I wasn’t stupid enough to follow them into it. I headed back, trying to figure out what to do with the info, and heard about everything that had happened. EMTs and newsies and police everywhere, Georgio being paraded around like some prize bull, everyone saying you were the hero of the day. Kind of got into my head a little about it, like, phew, this person had done something way bigger than I realized that I just walked away from, you know?” He finished his coffee, crumpling the cup as he lowered his hand back to the table. “So after you called to check in with Georgio, I made sure he was safe and out of it and had a good think. I hadn’t known for sure if you were in on it with them, since one of them looked that much like you, but it sure didn’t sound like it from what you were talking about him. I figured, you seem to be investigating this, I don’t know what else to do but tell you about this. I met up with friends to get some stuff to protect myself with in case that weirdo comes after me, but I don’t think I was seen, I just don’t wanna make myself more of a target.”

“Whew,” Star said.

Vayne nodded. “Phew,” he echoed. “So, you wanna know where that warehouse is?”

Slowly, Star nodded, tucking a loose strand of seaweed-tangled hair behind a slightly-pointed ear. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know for sure what they’re doing here, but I know it’s no good. Can you text me the address so I can head there later?”

“No, because I walked there and wasn’t keeping track of road signs, but I can show you where it is,” Vayne said. 

Secondary location, Star thought instantly, though the storyline added up, actually; Vayne hadn’t been anywhere around helping, even though Georgio had come to the track with him originally. And Georgio had mentioned that Vayne had talked to the Suspicious Duo the day before, too, which also fit his description. Sure enough, getting handed something could have been just a way to protect himself, too. 

Nevertheless… “You can’t just describe it?” Star asked. 

Vayne waggled a hand. “Not reliably. You know how things shift around in that tangle near the gate. It’d be easier to see the landmarks and go from there.”

That was also true. There were entire websites devoted to tracking how things shifted near the gate. ‘Old antique store that was there one day and gone the next’ wasn’t just a horror trope, it was daily life. “Fine, we can go there, so I can at least learn where it is. I can always go back later. Now’s good for you?”

“Now’s good,” Vayne agreed. “Can I ride you?”

“Mmm,” Star said, hesitant. “I’d rather not, nothing personal—”

“No, no, I get it,” Vayne sighed. “Bad knee’s just sore from the long walk up and down hill earlier. Don’t worry about it. Let’s get going.”

Vayne tossed his cup toward the garbage, missed, and got up anyway, heading out. Star kicked the cup up to his own hand and tucked it away while miming throwing it out. He was pretty sure at this point that Vayne was on the up and up, but if he wasn’t, having his saliva—or any part of the man—might be useful if they needed it later.

He followed Vayne out the door, the other man opening his jacket and letting the cool air in after the warmth of the coffee shop. They walked together in silence for five, then ten minutes. Vayne’s walk grew a little more unsteady, starting to approach a limp, the unbalanced walk of someone who was feeling a bit tender. It left him a couple steps behind Star, still visible in his peripheral, but not quite walking with him on the sidewalk.

“Hang on,” Vayne said suddenly, voice unsure. He reached to catch Star’s arm, then his other hand came up higher, just a shadow out of the corner of Star’s eye. “You have something in your hair.”

Star tensed. He didn’t like not seeing what Vayne was doing and wanted to pull away, but also didn’t want to offend the irritable man, not if he could provide—or withhold—a direct path to where the Suspicious Duo might be using as their home base…

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