Chapter 17 – Shows of Influence.

Callie heard them long before she saw them, sirens wailing as they tore along the rode towards them, a small convoy of vehicles, all with their lights flashing. Police, ambulance, fire service. The trio. Perhaps more too, but she had no idea how much influence the Guardians had out here. Nor was she sure how they were going to be explaining all of this. Public relations was far from one of her strong points, and most of what happened they would not be able to mention at all. As far as she was concerned, Riddling could deal with it all. He struck her as the talking type, and that he had missed most of the battle, being stuck in the utility vehicle, probably worked in their favour, in many ways. He couldn’t reveal what he hadn’t seen. Neither to the emergency services, nor to her parents. But if there wasn’t some influence there somewhere, questions would be asked. There was not going to be an easy way to explain away the mess that was surrounding them.

There was a total of seven vehicles that screamed up to them, only slowing down when it became clear to them that this was the place, Burt standing in the middle of the road, weakly waving his arms. And then just collapsing to the ground when it was apparent that they had spotted him. Two each of the emergency services, and an unmarked car that had been tailing at the end. It looked like it was all of the response crew from Resinfalls, which seemed like a stupid idea, especially given the time that it would take to get them back. Riddling stepped up to the side of the road as they reached them, still on his phone and watching them intently. Callie, Uriah and Julia just stayed where they were, waiting to see what would happen.

There was definitely a sense of disbelief as the emergency workers exited their vehicles, the swearing and exclamations very audible. Callie couldn’t blame them. She would have been exactly the same had she not been in the middle of it. Most of them just stood still, taking in the scene and waiting, while a couple of medics raced to Burt, checking him over. The door to the final car opened, a tidily dressed man in a long coat and a fedora stepping out. He looked every bit the classic detective, with an expression to match. He looked at Riddling, Burt, at the vehicles, over to them, and then back to Riddling as he made his way to him.

“What the #%@# happened here? It looks like a war zone.” The detective stopped in front of Riddling, a scowl on his face.

“An unfortunate accident it seems,” Riddling said calmly, as he moved his phone away from his face. “Or perhaps someone did leave some military grade munitions lying on the road? It certainly did a number on our vehicles.”

“Are you #% with me?” The detective didn’t look like he was buying any of it.

“No. Not at all. Six dead, one seriously injured. It’s a miracle that some of us managed to get out at all with only minor injuries at worst.”

The detective just stared at Riddling. It was very clear that he still wasn’t buying any of it.

Riddling didn’t seem to be worried at all though, his expression surprisingly neutral. “You have but our word for it, and the evidence that is this scene of carnage. If you can offer a better explanation as to what blew our team off the road and left this mess, I am all ears. However, I have Theodore Calworth on the line here, and he would like to have a word with you.”

Callie’s blood ran cold at the mention of her father’s name, the detective looking a little pale as he carefully took the phone from Riddling, and held it up to his ear. It confirmed that Riddling did indeed have a connection to her family, but also meant that he would now have some awareness of what had happened here. The conversation was short, the detective saying little at all before he handed the phone back to Riddling and shook his head.

“Right, let’s get this over with.” The detective turned back towards the members of the convoy, shaking his head. “Marion, can you put that man in an ambulance and give him a thorough check over on the way back. Stanley, you’re on detail here till the Guardians clean up crew arrive. They’ll be handling all of this, just make sure that no one touches anything. Cordon it off if necessary. I’ll arrange someone to come relieve you this evening. Everyone else – we’re heading back. Seems like there was some miscommunication. You three,” he added, looking directly at them, “you can ride back with me, along with this gentleman here. Should be enough room.”

“We’ll fit fine,” Uriah stated, looking at the detective. “Riddling can ride in the front with you.”

It didn’t take the medics long to load Burt into one of the ambulances, and by the time that they had stood and made their way to the car, all bar one police car and the detective’s car had turned around and left. Whether or not they actually understood the significance of the name of the Guardians, they had acted on the detectives instructions. Not even any complaints from the medics about not being allowed to check the wreckage for survivors, but perhaps they did. The detective’s car wasn’t overly large, but neither were any of them, relatively speaking. After placing the gear that they had managed to rescue into the car’s boot, they squeezed in, Uriah behind the detective, Callie in the middle, and Julia, still carrying Felicia, on the other side. She had half expected a look from her, but she seemed to be back in her thoughts again. The detective didn’t even give them a look, buckling himself in, and then tearing back off down the road. Fast, but not excessively above the speed limit, his driving actually not too bad. Mind you, she only had servants and taxi drivers to compare to.

“Why is the fox here?” Riddling asked, shortly into the journey, speaking but not glancing back at them.

“That is none of your concern,” Callie quickly replied. She did not want him, nor her parents, knowing any more about Felicia than couldn’t be helped. Nor did she want him to try and get rid of her. She was a foundling, and right now, she would push that if needed.

Riddling didn’t ask any further, and the journey went in relative silence. None of them spoke, well aware that there were two additional pairs of ears. Uriah took her hand, Callie happily intertwining her fingers with his as he leaned back into the seat and appeared to doze, Julia also leaning against her, also appearing to doze off.

‘How are you coping?’ she tried thinking in the direction of Felicia. Talking like this was very much foreign to her. She had always just heard Felicia’s voice, even if no one else had.

‘Still tired. Everything that has happened took a lot out of me. I haven’t felt like this in, like, forever. Not that I am complaining. I happily chose this, and would do so again in a heartbeat. Not that I actually can, but I’m sure that you understand what I mean.’

That she did. ‘Very much so.’

‘I won’t take long to recover. I am bonded to you after all, and your magic is rather potent. I guess it is as much mental as physical. What about you?’ That measure of care was back again, clear in her voice. Well, mental voice, or whatever it was.

‘I’m okay? Maybe? We only just formed the bond a few hours ago.’ She’d only admitted that she was a girl a few hours ago too, but they were both very much connected. ‘Okay, perhaps not so okay. I’m scared. Worried. All this is as new to me as it is to Uriah and Julia and you. We’ve never been involved in something like this. Especially not with one of the originals. I really don’t know what is going to happen. I know what I want, and I know that they will refuse.’ She took a deep breath, looking out the front windscreen of the car, at the other vehicles ahead of them. ‘I don’t trust Riddling either. He was on the phone for all that time. To father and mother? While he may not have seen anything, he’s seen the result.’

‘We’re in this together you know. Julia too. You have Uriah. Your not boyfriend.’ Felicia giggled at that. ‘Fiance now. Husband really, for all intents I think, irrespective of what actually happens.’

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Callie blushed at that. It sounded so right. And that she would be his wife. That was the whole point of marriage after all.

‘He’s always been your rock, hasn’t he? Always there for you. A perfect fit I think. Even if he isn’t your typical man either. It’s almost like he was made just for you. You’re so lucky in that regards you know.’

Callie blushed again. He really was, and she was so grateful that he’d always been her friend, had always stuck with her. Had tolerated whatever her parents had thrown at him.

She must have dozed off at some point as well, awareness coming back to her as the car slowed and started making sharper turns, a clear indication that they had reached the town and were veering off the main road. To the same motel that they had stayed at last time. Julia made some contented noises as she seemed to come to as well, looking a little embarrassed as she righted herself, brushing loose hair behind her head. Felicia was back to looking like she was dozing, Uriah rolling his shoulders as he glanced around.

“This the place?” The detective asked, as the car fully stopped.

“Yes. This will do fine,” Riddling answered, without any emotion. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

And that was it, all of them hopping out of the car, collecting their gear from the boot, the detective then reversing back out of the parking space, and heading further into the town.

“We will be staying here till the recovery team arrives. Make whatever arrangements you want. I need some time to de-stress from all of this.” Riddling made a dismissive wave as he started to head towards the reception office.

“Riddling, why is it that you haven’t made any effort to find out what actually happened there?” Julia frowned, staring at the man. Callie had been wondering that too, but she had her own suspicions about it all starting to form.

“It is not my place to know, nor would I wish you all to repeat it thrice.” Riddling shook his head, not even bothering to turn around. “Theodore will be asking when he gets here, especially since Fraser hasn’t answered his phone.”

Callie cringed at the use of her former name, a mild annoyance in comparison to the dread of hearing that her father would in fact be coming with the recovery crew, Callie taking a step back and feeling suddenly weak.

“They don’t need all the details,” Uriah said quietly, his arms around her, steadying her. “Or most of them in fact. It’ll be alright.”

Callie did not share his confidence there. She knew what her father was like. But there was no point in worrying about it at the moment.

They ended up with the same room as last time, Callie happy about that. There was some comfort to the familiarity, to all four of them being together. Sitting on the edge of one of the beds, she pulled out her phone. Even without doing anything, she could tell by the smell of it that it was never going to be turning on again. Her magic had fried it. It wasn’t the first time that that had happened, her aspect and that particular type of technology not at all compatible. This one though had been enchanted, like the comms gear that she had used to use, even though she hadn’t had her magic at the time she’d gained it. That hadn’t been good enough it seemed. She was kind of relieved about that though. One less thing to worry about right now, but one that would come back to haunt her later.

“The waiting is going to kill me,” Julia mumbled, collapsing onto the other bed, Felicia curling up beside her, her tail tucked underneath her. She was doing the fox thing rather well.

“We don’t have to just stay here,” Callie said, tossing her phone onto the table. “I wouldn’t mind getting some groceries for tonight, and a walk would probably do us some good. They won’t get here till tomorrow at the earliest.” And if they came via the method that she was suspecting, they’d hear them before they arrived.

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Uriah agreed, sitting down beside her, and then leaning back onto the bed.

Callie couldn’t help herself, blushing a little as she looked at his laid out body, the way he looked like that, his t-shirt having crept up a little. He really was rather alluring like that. She leant over, placing her hands on his chest, and then sliding them over as she laid her head down on his chest, wrapping her arms under him, pulling herself in close.

“You have no idea sometimes...” she mumbled, closing her eyes. She wouldn’t mind dozing for a little first, like this, just letting everything else, all the worries, just melt away.

“Heh. I think that applies to us both,” Uriah replied back, as he wrapped his arms around her. She felt comfortable, safe, like this. In his embrace. Time could halt in this moment, and she would be more than happy.