Danielle turned back to the Society members’ group just in time to hear everyone saying, “Agreed!”

  “We have a time to go activate the tokens?” Danielle asked.

  “Yep. I also firmed up plans for tomorrow while you were missing in action this afternoon,” Peter said. “Where did you go, anyway?”

  “For a run. I’ll tell you more later, maybe, but for now – I told the agent I was gonna sleep for twelve hours, so I’m off to do that,” Danielle said.

  “Maybe eleven,” Peter said. “We’re leaving town ten-ish, and your roommates volunteered to help wake everyone up, because you have that clock.”

  “Mm. They can wake me up last,” Danielle said. “See you tomorrow.”

  Danielle turned, and the light-headed feeling spun in her head. She paused to take a deep breath and steady herself with her staff. Her singing staff! It was unbalanced; it only sang on one end. She added Flash Shield to it; that was better. The two songs harmonized well.

  “Are you all right?” Gideon asked. She turned back to him – more carefully this time; it helped a little. He looked very concerned.

  “I may have overdone it with mana today,” she said, “and/or triggered a shift in my sensorium. Or both! Both is not impossible. I bottomed out my mana pool twice and that doesn’t happen to me just every day.”

  “Why don’t we walk you to your room?” Zephyr proposed. “We’re all tired, but you’re the only one who’s swaying.”

  “Oh dear, am I?” Danielle asked. “I better – “

  Her staff sang a battle cry; it felt/sounded of an explosion and a direction; there was light but it hit another something that felt/sounded of holes and twisting and whispers, and didn’t come back. Someone wrapped in a stealth Skill had attacked her! She might not be able to see him, and she might not be steady on her feet, but she was fast and her staff sang of moving fast and hitting hard and there was a target in the middle of that other song because that was the direction the attack had come from and her staff was there, sweeping at knee level (maybe) and something made a loud crack that was only a sound, and not a feel/sound. Someone shouted “how?” and the whispery/empty hole song was moving away and Danielle’s follow-through struck true but not hard enough to make another crack.

  “Yes, please walk me home,” Danielle said, as true dizziness rose between her eyes. “Watch out for invisible idiots. They feel/sound like stealth and broken parts.” She added Flash Shield back onto her staff; she needed all the balance she could get right now.

  “I’ll, uh. Take that under advisement?” Zephyr said uncertainly.

  “Who was that?” Gideon demanded. “Was that Jason?!”

  Peter was staring towards building seven, shading his eyes against the low sun. “No, I can still see Jason.”

  “It was probably Vince,” Danielle said. “He told everyone I was unkillable, but I think I’m just unkillable by him. You know, because he’s noisy and cowardly and incompetent.”

  “Heh, he might be, but let’s still head for your room,” Gideon said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

  “OK,” Danielle said, allowing herself to be led along. She slitted her eyes, the better to concentrate on her hearing and feel/hearing, since she was the only one who was likely to notice if Vince (if it was Vince) came back at them. “I bet he got all panicked because today is the last day when being out of camp can save him, and tried to get me one last time. Except we’re in camp anyway, so that was stupid.”

  “I’m impressed that you managed to hit him. I wonder what you broke?” Gideon said.

  Danielle took it one step at a time. The ground was solid, and her feet were solid, but her head didn’t want to stay in line with her feet, somehow. “It might have been his knee,” she said. “Or something in front of his knee. I’m not sure; I could feel/hear him but I couldn’t see him. Stupid stealth song sucked up the light and wouldn’t let it come back. I kinda wanted to grab the light and bend it back onto a proper path, but I promised not to use that Skill until I stopped getting dizzy from hearing mana.”

  “Ah. That explains everything,” Gideon said insincerely, glancing at – Zephyr? Yes, Danielle thought that was Zephyr. He rustled – a shrug? Hard to say.

  Well, she could ask. “Was that a shrug? It rustled like a shrug, but a lot of body language rustles,” Danielle asked.

  “Yeah, he looks like he wants to ask me something but I’m not tracking. That was exhausting,” Zephyr said. “I think I strained my serious muscle. I might have to take a break from being serious for a few days while I recover.”

  Danielle started laughing, because he said it so seriously, which was just ludicrous. “D-don’t make me laugh, I’m listening for hostile songs!” she told him.

  “Oh, sorry,” Zephyr said plainly; then in a perplexed tone of voice, “What?”

  “Do you, um, hear anything? Hostile-song wise?” Peter asked cautiously.

  “I hear a bunch of songs but not Vince. I think he kept going the other way and now he’s too far,” Danielle said. “Maybe. I can’t hear him over my staff, anyway. His song is quiet, though; it’s made to be like that.”

  “I can’t hear anything coming from your staff,” Zephyr said doubtfully, then again, “What?”

  “Oh, leave Zephyr alone,” Danielle said. “It’s not his fault I’m not talking very well. I’m tired and spinny and probably not saying things right.” In spite of her spinny head, though, they were moving quickly; they would be at the stairs in a few moments. “Oh, I, um. I’m not sure I can do stairs. That might be a problem,” Danielle confided.

  “It’s fine, we’ll help,” Cassy said – had Cassy been there the whole time? “Then the guys can drop me off, too,” she added.

  “Oh, yeah, sure we can,” Peter said.

  “How far is your room from hers?” Gideon asked.

  “Not far, just down the walkway. Same level and everything,” Cassy assured him.

  Danielle wobbled, but the staff helped her stay on track. “Zephyr, you should stay with Tom tonight,” she said. “Stay out of sight of assassins until morning, in case they care about the new laws. You can go wherever tomorrow – you don’t hafta come to the prayer meeting. I already said that, right? I mean, it’d be nice if you came, but no pressure. Just get some rest, and stay away from Wolf sneaks.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with a little sneaking,” Zephyr said.

  “Oh, I agree. It’s just the Wolf assassin sneaks you gotta stay – whoah.” Danielle almost unbalanced for real as hands grabbed her, preventing her from going forward. She almost panicked – someone grabbed her from behind- – but there was no follow-up with a blade, and the hands stayed away from her neck.

  “Let’s not just wobble down the stairs with your eyes closed,” Peter said.

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  Were her eyes closed? Danielle opened her eyes. “Sorry, I was so busy listening I forgot to look,” Danielle said apologetically. “Thanks for catching me.”

  Gideon went down the stairs first, and held out a guiding hand; Peter went down with her. Zephyr and Cassy came after. They started around the building together; Danielle gave up on listening for a stealth Skill, because the building was loud. Well, not exactly loud, but it was a lot. Having her eyes all the way open helped with walking a straight line, though.

  They got around the second corner, and Danielle knocked on her door. “Wait, why am I knocking?” she asked, and opened the door instead. “Thanks for walking me home. I’m glad my head didn’t go spinny like this during the meeting! I think a good night’s sleep will help a lot, though. The nap earlier helped,” Danielle told the guys.

  “Sleep well,” Zephyr said; and Gideon said, “See you in the morning.” Peter patted her shoulder, and said, “Don’t worry about sleeping in if you really need to; you don’t have to walk to the river spot if you’re sick or something.”

  “I don’t think I’m sick,” Danielle said. “Agent Bea said they have to check all the delivery guys, but she didn’t sound like she expected to actually find anyone sick. I’m just tired and learning a new kind of thing.”

  “A new kind of hearing?” Cassy asked.

  Danielle paused in the doorway, tapping her finger against her staff, thoughtfully. “Hearing is kind of a better way to describe it, sort of, but it’s not really like hearing, that much. You know how some sounds kind of resonate inside you, and you can feel them? It’s closer to that, but the sensation is more complex; so I’m saying ‘songs’ because it has the complexity and pattern and structure and it carries meaning, but I’m saying I ‘feel’ it because it’s a little like vibration and resonance you can feel and,” Danielle gestured vaguely, “I don’t know, it’s not really any of that. I did not expect this when I – when it started.”

  “I’m going to bring Lucas by in the morning,” Peter said. “But for now, get some sleep.”

  “Will do!” Danielle grinned at him and stepped back from the door, allowing it to close.

  She turned and moved into the main room to find her roommates staring at her with concern. “What happened?” Sadie asked.

  “I overdid it, is what happened,” Danielle said. “I sold the Rangers and the Sending Authority a whole bunch of Skill tokens and I made a lot of mana and tried to take too many Skills at once, and also a Trait. I thought it was See Mana, but really it was Sense Mana, and now I can feel/hear/something all the wards in the walls, and the enhancement and Skill on my staff, and Vince’s stealth Skill, and all kinds of things.”

  Danielle flopped down on her bed, nudging a boot off with her other foot, then repeating the process on the other boot. It felt like an awfully complicated process somehow. “I was tired when we got up this morning, and I haven’t been eating that much, what with my stomach being unsettled a little. The whole vote thing was exhausting, then I spent 40 mana on making tokens and a thousand or two at the Access Point – hadda go to the Access Point to get the Skills to make the tokens they needed. Got a little head-spinny there, but a couple juice boxes helped and then I came home and took a nap, but then I had to go to the meeting. Vanessa and the second Wolf were there – you know, “we don’t need your help” Wolf, from last Sunday. We got that charter made – you voted on the charter, right?”

  “Yeah, it was a lot better than last time,” Heather said.

  “I thought so too! I zeroed out my second mana pool there, though, using illusions for presentation slides. So that was both pools, but not at the same time. Still a lot of mana output for one day, though,” Danielle said. “It was OK while we were sitting, but towards the end, my headache started coming back and when I got up the lightheaded feeling was back. Then someone in a stealth Skill who was probably Vince attacked me, and Flash Shield went off for, what, third time today?” Danielle groaned. “So the guys walked me and Cassy home, and now I’m going to sleep for twelve hours,” she concluded.

  “Did you get any of the catalog questions answered?” Sadie asked.

  “Sadie, don’t you think that can wait for tomorrow?” Akari asked, sounding worried. Danielle didn’t look over; that would have required moving. She didn’t want to move any more today.

  “Not if she’s so tired and dizzy and whatever that she forgets,” Sadie said.

  “Oh, no, I remember,” Danielle said. “Deliveries are discrete, the max safe limit on mana food is three times your base generation, but if I give you Regen Burst, it adds mana to the same limit (so it’s Regen Burst or food, you know?). There’s details there, we can talk more later. Oh, and a ruana is like a poncho and a cape and a shawl. That part was a little confusing, but I don’t think it was just because of when I asked. I think it’s because I’m having trouble picturing a poncho that you wear square like a shawl but it opens like a cape.”

  “Huh. I can kind of picture how that would look on a table, but I’m not sure what it would be like to wear it,” Sadie said.

  “Yeah, exactly. Maybe they’ll bring a sample on order-taking day or something,” Danielle said. “Oh! In other news, I got the rooms. One for me and Akari to expand into, one for the party, and one for the Society. Also, a hidey-hole for me if I keep having assassin problems and need a hidey-hole. And! If we can get the Healer org going in the next two weeks, there are rooms reserved to be bought by that org, as clinic rooms, and the Rangers will help collect the donations. I’m paying them for the help, as my donation, kind of. I’ll still put in a 5-mana token like everyone else too, though.”

  “That’s all good news,” Akari said. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Danielle said. “Wake me last in the morning, OK? I’m super tired.”

  Light was still shining down, bright light, but Danielle was tired and plain pretty-bright light couldn’t really hurt her eyes anymore, so she really did expect to fall asleep immediately. The others were talking softly, but not particularly to her. She was on top of the blanket, not under it, but she was hardly cold – really, quite hot if anything. There was nothing keeping her awake, except –

  She was a town council member. Of a town full of Systemists and mana-murderers. Be fair, it’s also full of Shade Tree Society members, she reminded herself. Plenty of pretty-good type people, as people went, really. Vanessa is on the council. I’m on the council with Vanessa, and she’s mad because I used illusions in the council, what was I thinking? Danielle’s mind bubbled with fear, coming up from some deep hole she’d stuffed it into because laws had to get written and votes had to be taken and tokens had to be traded and there wasn’t time for being afraid of Vanessa. Or being afraid of public speaking. Or being afraid of Wolf Pack assassins. What about the girls throwing rocks this morning? Were they the girls from the Wolf Pack, or was that something else?

  “Do not fear,” another part of her brain whispered – and that was memorized Bible verses, but she couldn’t say it wasn’t relevant. What, really? Not even assassins? yet another part of her asked. At least not Vanessa! Seriously, what’s Vanessa being petty compared to assassins?! a third thought bubbled.

  Somewhere behind all of that, another suppressed bubble of fear rose out of the depths, and its thought was, You are in way over your head – you’re the one that sneaks around the edges to avoid having to deal with the popular kids. You don’t start political parties and fend off assassins and lead cities (small towns) (Outside towns!) – what do you think you’re doing? You can’t handle any of this!

  She couldn’t handle staying awake all night worrying, either. “God, I can’t handle all this,” she prayed in a whisper. “Why did I have to be on the council? Why did you even let Vince hear me say the word saint, or let it spread around like it did? I’m in way over my head and I feel like I’m losing it on top of everything else. What do you want me to do now?”

  As usual, she wasn’t expecting a particular response – maybe a more encouraging idea to bubble up inside, or maybe a helpful song at the prayer meeting in the morning. Instead, she heard the actual Voice again. “Start a Career search now,” it said, as if that was a perfectly reasonable answer to the question.

  “I just took a Career!” Danielle exclaimed out loud.

  “What?” Akari asked.

  “Nonetheless,” the Voice said, “Start a Career search from your interface now.”

  “Danielle? Are you having a nightmare?” Akari asked.

  “No – just another incomprehensible instruction from God,” Danielle said. “Gotta start a Career search, apparently, even though I just did that. Hold on a sec.” She eye-flicked open her Interface, and requested the search. She said, “re-evaluate my Career” as she’d been taught, got the expected “processing” message, and released the interface. “OK, done. Apparently I’m gonna be doing a lot of not-Survivor stuff in the next couple weeks? Oh. Oh, no. Maybe I’m going to get a political career? I really hope that’s not it. I don’t wanna do that much politics.”

  “Should I be worried?” Heather asked.

  “Um, even if it’s just her head being weird, it doesn’t cost anything to start the Career search from the Interface. It literally can’t hurt her,” Akari said. “So, no, you shouldn’t be worried.”

  Danielle was worried, because it didn’t make sense; but then a memory bubbled up from behind all the fear. Her mother was giving her advice on dealing with Vanessa, back in fifth grade when they were working on getting the school to put her with a different roommate, and she said “Don’t fret over it, Danielle; just do the next right thing in each moment as it comes to you. You’ll handle it fine in the end.”

  “See now, that’s the kind of answer I was expecting,” Danielle mumbled. A sense of affectionate laughter, not heard but felt, rose around her. She supposed that was appropriate. Her mother would have reacted the same way! The laughter popped all the fear-bubbles though, and Danielle finally drifted off to sleep, feet still sticking off the edge of the bed, staff still in hand, and the walls singing a comfortable song in the background.

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