Unmaking Percy

Part III - IV, continued (The Dizzy Tent)

"Yes, I know about those hiding places. I saw you go into one."

He was swung face-first into a smacking regret. Why had he even mentioned anything? He blamed it on past wine that made him presently foolish. He decided his only recourse was to brave it out with full audacity.

"So... did you?" he insisted.

The words "it's none of your business" seemed right at the tip of her tongue. But instead, she chose to savour other words.

"Yes, I did" she smiled. "But we didn't go there. We went somewhere else. And you? Did you have fun?"

He did not dare to answer. If he opened his mouth, the quicksand would get him for good. Valeria had drowned him with her eyes closed.

Just then, the fabric partition flapped open, revealing Myrtle victorious. It immediately fell back on her face with a thwomp, but she was not the kind of weak creature to allow such a thing to dampen her triumph.

"I never thought I could get so many people to sign up in a single night" she beamed, flopping down on the floor next to Percy. She grabbed her knitting needles with a vigour that would have made him run for the hills, were her good humour not so apparent. "Turns out, people can really be motivated to move their arse and do something about the shit conditions they're in, if only someone reminds them that they are shit conditions."

"Did you manage to win over that flutist?" Percy asked.

"He signed up, but he said he meant it ironically, and that the others were all sheep. I said he probably I thought I was a bit of a bitch, and that I myself think he's an ass, so between all of us we can build ourselves a neat little farm. I've almost finished your scarf."

Percy exchanged a glance with Valeria. Myrtle was never gentle on worn-out minds.

"Where's Evans?" she asked, nearly stabbing herself with her needle in her bewildered enthusiasm.

Barely a moment later, Evans arrived. He smiled a greeting as he lifted the fabric flap, though there was something sheepish about it, Percy thought; a smile on tiptoes.

"Had fun?" Valeria asked him.

"I did" he answered in his usual threadbare simplicity as he sat beside her.

The Percy of one hour ago might have noted, with a disapproving sniff, how Valeria did not ask Evans whether he had found anything worthwhile, but merely if he had "fun". But present Percy had left a good deal of his energy back in the nook with Leo, along with a stain on the carpet.

"Did anyone find anything useful?" he asked.

He was busy tucking himself behind a wall of cushions. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps he hoped to protect himself from the shame that would come to claim him soon.

"Nothing" Evans shook his head. "Which is curious, in and of itself. When a curse is placed, you always find people to tell you how it affected them, or who saw it happen, or who witnessed an enchanter claim they did it. But here... nothing. Everyone but Tombert seems pleased with how things are. And that no one bragged about placing this curse – that's stranger still. Something this size, with so many under its charm... any fae would want to claim credit for it. Unless they were hiding for some reason. It's only be known to have happened... once, perhaps twice."

Evans added those words hastily, casting a swift glance at Valeria. Percy hugged a beaded pillow against his chest once he had finished stacking cushions around him – now, he was invincible. But he still couldn't help a nagging feeling that he'd been a little useless. He too had been having "fun" instead of foraging for clues. None of his interactions in the past hours were of any use whatsoever.