The Fire and the Sky (Book 3 of the... - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

In a small meeting room set back in the garage, May found what she was looking for.
"Good, it's still there!" she said, flicking on the lights. The group had followed her, eagerly awaiting the next step in her big plan.
"What do you need the map for?" Dom asked, watching her circle the board table in the center of the room and head straight for the large map of the word that hung on the far wall.
"Context," May answered vaguely.
The map, and the smaller regional maps tacked up beside it, were used to keep track of the people the Tenna SAR team helped. Whether they were rescuing skiers from an avalanche or simply providing directions, the team met people from all over the world in their line of work. The maps were just for fun, not an official part of their business. May glanced at the bright red push pin struck beside the island of Hoku and smiled.
As fascinating as the world map was, it was the closer focused regional map that she was interested in. She lay a finger on Tenna, then traced the highway that let to Mondova with her eyes. From there she looked south, following the coast she had travelled by train until she eventually found what she was looking for.
"Here it it," she announced, pointing out the city on the map and standing aside so everyone else could see. "I need to get there."
Dom leaned in and squinted. "What's in York?"
"Marina?" Welkin sounded cautious.
"The Rookery," May corrected. "I need to talk to Grant Parker. If anyone can help us figure out how to navigate the different criminal circles the Gardeners ran with, it'll be him."
"Shit, May." Sean stared at her, incredulous. "How did you get in with his people?"
Confused, May blinked back at him. "He, uh, through Jeremy I guess. The Rookery was our safehouse in York when we had to get away from Marina. Why?"
Sean shook his head in disbelief. "It's just hard to imagine someone as sweet as you ending up messed up with all these seedy types, that's all. Grant's been in the game forever, and he's been impossible to pin down. The man has been linked to all kinds of criminal activity – money laundering, systems hacking, grand larceny. Hell, he even kidnapped a kid once and held him for ransom. I don't know who this Jeremy dude is but he keeps some unsavory company, I'll tell you that much."
Welkin sniffed, casting an uneasy glance around the room. "Yes, well, Jeremy always has been a different sort of character."
Meanwhile, May shifted, chewing on her bottom lip. She had always known Grant and the rest of the Murder were a small criminal empire. Though he and his people had made a point of keeping her nose clean, she had never given a lot of thought to their dirty work. After all, they had been so good to her and Em while they were hiding from the Loyals. It was difficult for her to imagine any of them as the seedy crooks and convicts Sean saw them as.
"Tell you what," Sean said with a laugh. "I may not be an officer of the law anymore, but there are some things I can't turn a blind eye to. So I'm going to bow out of this conversation. When y'all are done, I'll be in the office holding down the fort."
May nodded appreciatively as the big man ducked from the room. Dom went back to surveying the map.
"If we drove straight through we could probably make it to York in under 24 hours," he announced with a smile.
"We?" Karin stepped in, arms crossed. "You planning on running off again? Remember how drained you were when you got back last time?"
May cringed. The last time Dom had taken off had been because of her and Em too, and the last thing she wanted to do now was cause any tension between him and the rest of the team. "You don't have to do that, Dom. I'm sure Welkin and I can figure it out. " She paused and glanced at the Star. "Assuming you're into this plan, of course."
"Of course I'm in," Welkin balked, recoiling slightly with a mildly scandalized look on their face. "But I do think you're giving me too much credit with regards to getting us anywhere."
Pulling a face, Dom came up behind May and pinched her cheeks lightly.
"Look at this face!" he cried as she squawked. "You don't really expect me to send her into the unknown on her own, do you?"
"Excuse me," Welkin chimed in. "She won't be alone."
"I'll get you both there, and I'll be sure to take regular breaks to recharge," Dom insisted, ignoring Welkin's rebuke. Karin rolled her eyes, knowing there was never any point in arguing with him. "When do we leave?"
May glanced up at the clock dutifully ticking away above the doorway.
"Is fifteen minutes too soon?"
At the insistence of Karin, May finally agreed to leave first thing the following morning. While Dom took a meeting with Stephenson, the team's superior officer, to arrange the unexpected time off, May let Karin give her a basic medical exam.
"I swear, I'm fine," she grumbled from her seat on the ambulance gurney.
Karin, who was trying to take May's blood pressure, shushed her. "Patients always say they're fine, especially after a turn in the woods. Trust me when I say it's better to be safe than sorry."
Her dark eyes lingered over the nearly faded bruises on May's face, the lingering evidence of her split lip, and the scar at her hairline.
"What happened?"
May pursed her lips and flicked a quick glance at Welkin, who stood watching on the back step, before answering. "I was attacked. Melanie, one of the Loyals, found where I was staying and she didn't like the fact that I wasn't going to tell her where to find Em."
"Oh, May," Welkin breathed.
Karin tipped May's head back so she could get a better look at her battle scars. "Did you see a doctor?"
"Yes, mom."
"Ha ha." Karin ripped at the velcro of the blood pressure cuff and picked up a scope. "Hold still."
After she finished poking and prodding, Karin at last had to accept that May was in fine health. She jumped down from the emergency vehicle and gestured grandly. "You're good to go. Now get out of my ambulance."
May thanked her with a hug, retrieved her pack from where it sat abandoned on the garage floor, and set out for the dormitory laundry room. It was only when she crouched to open the pack and spill its contents onto the floor that she realized Welkin had followed her. They hung back, just outside the doorway and watched her with a dejected stare.
"Are you okay?" May asked, feeling a twinge of guilt. Her earlier dramatics had interrupted Welkin's story. She had since been so caught up with her big plan that she hadn't had a spare moment to consider the Star and what their reality looked like now. While Welkin hesitated, May considered what Dom had said about the punishment of having an important part of oneself stolen away. "How are you holding up?"
The Star shrugged. "I'm sure I'll grow accustomed to this flesh prison eventually."
May smiled. "It's not all bad, I promise. You don't have to stand in the hallway, you know."
Wordlessly, Welkin wandered into the laundry room and watched as May went back to pulling her dirty clothes from the pack and dumped them unceremoniously into the washing machine. She turned to them before closing the door.
"Do you have anything you want to throw in?"
Welkin looked down at themself. "How will I know?"
May frowned. "How long have you been wearing the same clothes?"
"These are the only clothes I have."
"Oh, jeez."
A few minutes and a pair of gym clothes borrowed from Dominic later, May and Welkin sat on the floor, watching their soapy clothes spin through the windowed machine door. May gathered the Star's long golden hair into a ponytail while they waited.
"You're awfully quiet," she said as she gave the elastic one last twist around Welkin's thick mass of hair. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Welkin sighed. "I am... worried."
"Worried about what?"
Twisting to face her, Welkin seemed to consider their next words carefully. "I'm worried you may not be able to forgive Emanthy for sending you away."
May sank back. "Oh."
"Don't misunderstand, you are completely within your right to be angry. And if you cannot forgive her, that is certainly your prerogative..." They trailed off into a thoughtful silence, then shrugged. "I suppose in the same vein I reserve the right to worry."
As the washing machine ka-thunked, May sorted through her feelings. It was true that she was still angry over what Em had done – that there had been no discussion between them or other options entertained. But she also knew that, even if it was a bad idea, Em had made it with the best of intentions.
"I love Em," she said, her gaze stubbornly fixed on a piece of dryer lint laying by her knee. "And I want to be with her again. I want us to move passed this. But she hurt me, Welkin. Badly. It might take me a while before I feel like I can really trust her again."
Beside her, Welkin nodded. "I think that's fair. I appreciate your honesty."
She felt their golden eyes linger on her. Relenting, she looked up to meet them.
"This plan of yours, it likely won't be easy." Welkin's words weren't a warning, they were simply fact. "And once we leave tomorrow, I don't believe there will be any turning back, physically or otherwise. Are you ready for everything to change?"
Smiling, May reached out and draped an arm around Welkin's shoulder. They leaned into one another like old friends reconnecting at summer camp.
"My whole world changed the day I found your daughter asleep on my beach. Whatever happens next, I am more than ready for it."