Mark Del Franco - Unfallen Dead

“Everything okay?” I asked.

She read something on her computer that made her frown. “Yeah, just busy. You must have heard about the hearing.”

“Briallen told me.” Her frowned deepened a bit as she continued reading. “Something going on, Meryl?”

She clicked her mouse and shook her head. “No. Briallen and I are having a disagreement about something, that’s all.”

“What about?” She raised an eyebrow that made me shift in my seat. “Fine. Don’t say.”

She leaned back in her chair. “How’d you get in this time?”

The various ways I gained official access to the Guildhouse amused Meryl. “The hearing. I’m scheduled to testify.”

She dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling. Not amused. “I did yesterday. They want me back tomorrow.”

“It didn’t go well, I take it.”

She rocked her head back and forth. “Ceridwen’s a pompous bitch. She said she didn’t like my attitude.”

I compressed my lips. Meryl didn’t take criticism well. Since she was already annoyed, I figured I might as well say what I had been wanting to say for the last couple of weeks. “You’re hardly known as Miss Congeniality around here.”

She scowled. “It’s a job, not a beauty pageant.”

“So quit.”

She sighed again. “I would, but I like the job. I stupidly keep thinking one of these days this place will recognize me for what I do and not be so damned political. The last thing I want to hear right now is that I’m cranky to work with.”

I picked up a paper clip and tossed it at her. “You have been cranky lately.”

She tilted her head forward, a healthy anger storm building in her eyes. “Lately? You mean lately, like since I was possessed by a drys and let it die and thought I watched you die and then thought I was going to die? That kind of lately? Or are we just talking this week?”

I felt a flush of heat. Between her words and the exhaustion in her voice, I didn’t know what to say. Nothing bothered Meryl. Actually, everything bothered Meryl, but nothing usually penetrated. We made sarcastic jokes about Forest Hills. I didn’t realize what lurked behind the jokes. “Meryl, I’m sorry. I thought you were talking about work. I wasn’t considering what you went through.”

She shook her head. “You don’t remember it, Grey. It sucked. Now I have Briallen bitching at me, and Ceridwen prying into stuff that’s none of her business.”

A drys was a tree spirit, one druids held sacred, assuming their philosophy went in the way of worship. I wasn’t so sure it was a demigoddess, but it was powerful and humbling. I did remember Meryl’s being possessed by the drys. She looked amazing. She looked powerful. And scary. Then a cloud descended over my memory. I don’t know what happened after that until I woke up with my face in the dirt. “I don’t believe you let the drys die. Whatever happened, happened because it needed to.”

She shook her head. “You don’t remember it.”

I leaned forward. “I don’t need to. You would never have done anything that drastic if it could have been avoided. You did what needed to be done. I believe that.”

The corner of her mouth dimpled. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”

I smiled. “I didn’t say it to be nice. What can I do to help?”

Again with the up-and-down shoulders. “Nothing. I’ll figure out something. It’s just crap that needs to be ridden out.” She gave herself an exaggerated shake. “Okay. Pissy fit over. You look like you haven’t slept.”

“The dream. It’s happening more than once a night,” I said. The same dream had plagued me for more than a week. A stone fell through the sky, fell and fell, until it plunged into a dark pool of water. The impact made ripples that grew into waves. The air filled with mist and a sound like thunder. The images became confused, without any clarity, things moving and rushing and calling. The mist vanished, and two figures appeared in the distance, one all black and the other all red. They struggled, then there was a white flash and I woke up with the sound of screaming echoing in my head.

“I still think it’s a simple cause-and-effect metaphor. Something happens and causes something else. Your metaphors tend to be pretty simple.” Meryl was a Dreamer. She had visions in her sleep that told her things, sometimes things about people, sometimes things about the future. The visions tended to be littered with metaphors that mean something only to the people who have the dreams. Meryl was one of the few people who could consistently interpret her dreams. Mine started after my accident, but I never understood them until too late.

“What about the figures?”

She twisted her lips in thought. “Two many possibilities. You’ll have to Dream more to understand if they’re your generic symbology or a distinct message. They could be two sides of an argument or two real people or a past memory or a future struggle or…”

“Okay, okay, I get it. I have to figure out my own personal metaphors. At least I’m not seeing dead bodies this time,” I said.

Meryl looked skeptical. “As far as you know. There is screaming involved.”

I slumped in my seat. “You always have a way of looking at the bright side.”

She shrugged. “Can’t help that. It’s my sunny nature. What are you going to say at the hearing?”

I pursed my lips. “Pretty much what I know. I think the part they’ll be most interested in is the part that I don’t remember.”

Meryl leaned back again. “Lots of politics in that room. Briallen and Nigel Martin have a battle of wills going.”

Before she became my friend, Briallen was my first mentor on the druidic path. Nigel took over after her. I used to think he and I were friends. Now I’m not so sure. “Briallen and Nigel have been bickering as long as I can remember.”

Meryl grinned. “Pretty much everyone is angry with him except, ironically, Eorla Kruge.”

“Eorla Kruge’s at the hearing?”

Meryl’s eyes gleamed with mischievous pleasure. “You didn’t know? She got the Guild Director position. It’s driving Ceridwen nuts. Eorla refuses to testify or recuse herself from the hearings.”

That didn’t surprise me. Nigel made some kind of deal with Eorla in exchange for her help at Forest Hills. When Eorla’s husband was murdered, she became the most powerful elf in Boston. Even though she was a high-ranking member of the Teutonic Consortium, her politics were nuanced enough to let me like her. She had the deft ability to anger her elven comrades as often as their fairy opponents and still get what she wanted. I respected that.

I glanced at my watch. “Speaking of hearings, I have to go.”

Meryl rocked out of her chair. “I’ll walk with you. I need to go upstairs and get some supplies before anyone finds out the budget is being cut.”

Out in the corridor, I slipped my hand onto Meryl’s back and gave it a soothing rub. She didn’t pull away. The elevator arrived empty, and she hit the button for the next subbasement up. I hit 23. “How do you always know so much about what goes on around here?”

She eyed me meaningfully. “Because the people upstairs always treat their assistants like crap, and they tell me stuff while they’re waiting for research.”

Once upon a time, I was one of those people upstairs. “You are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

The door opened, and Meryl stepped out. “Not yet.”

That was when I had my oh-shit moment. “Meryl?” She turned with a smile. “I forgot to mention-I left an angry boggart in your storeroom.”

She swept her hands up under her bangs, as anger flooded her face. “I am going to kill you.”