“So, I can say that you three are pretty strong for your age.” Crickett turned back to them. “You all managed to form and maintain Resolve Stalls. This is a great thing for Guns who just earned their pistol. You also interpreted a Critical Moment, that was good. And you even threw up the Rite of Release.” He pointed to Calvin. “Your bum teacher here taught you all that?”

  Logan rolled his eyes, chewing on some beans. “I taught them about the Stalls. But we didn’t get a chance to go over CMs, that’s why I was pissed that you did that. I definitely didn’t teach them the Rite of Release. I don’t know how Cal learned that.”

  “I saw some of the Guns doing it.” Calvin made the gesture with his two fingers pointed and his thumb out. “It’s like a finger-gun. I watched it focus their Resolve. I thought it was cool. It works.”

  “Yeah it works, dumbass.” Logan nodded, “Otherwise we wouldn’t go waving our hands around like idiots. I’m just surprised you taught it to yourself.”

  “You’re Clubs, ain’t you?” Crickett nodded to Calvin

  Cal pulled out his card, the Two of Clubs. “Yup. Clubs.”

  “Well that’s no surprise then.” The sage waved a hand, “Never met a Club who didn’t surprise me with their abilities. All three of you got some gumption to come here and ask for help.”

  The Bootknife had to smile a bit, “I told you, they got hefty nuts.”

  “Well, you weren’t lying. Tomorrow we will begin with the Critical Moment. This is gonna be a hoot!” Crickett slapped his knee.

  Logan had always known that Crickett was Hearts, even though he had carried a Spades card for as long as Logan himself had been alive. Now, it was clear to see the old man was enthusiastic about helping others grow. Lou Cobb had always scolded him about being a real Heart, he even had Logan questioning himself. But watching the boys, he found he felt the same as Crickett. He was happy to train them and help them get strong enough for the exam. He sat there for a long while, watching the group eat and laugh. John seemed to be in higher spirits, and Calvin was having fun again. Buster never stopped having fun, as was the way with Clowns. Logan let himself feel just a little at home with the group.

  It wasn’t too long before Quatro returned, now sporting a companion. What looked to be a young man stood behind the little mushroom, his shape and flesh indistinguishable from a young man, all except the prominent mushroom cap on his head. It looked very much like the hats that all the Six-Guns wore, only it was as much a part of the young man as his arms and legs were. He wore the simple attire of the Plaids, rough boots with a pair of jeans and a red plaid-patterned shirt.

  “Master Crickett, you called for some Elixir?” The mushroom man raised an eyebrow.

  “Uno!” Crickett grinned wide, “Look! We have guests!”

  The group looked on Uno with curiosity.

  Elise was the first to speak on the subject, “So that’s a mushroom guy like Quatro?”

  “Why do you have to be so blunt?” John gave her a withering look.

  The blonde witch searched for a witty response, but came up short. She just shrugged.

  “I was made with Fungal Neurogenesis.” Uno nodded to her, “I’m a mushroom too.”

  “And through exposure to Resolve, you took on a more human form.” Logan leaned over, scratching his stubble. “Pretty amazing, old timer.” He looked to the sage.

  Crickett took the jar of Elixir from Uno and smacked his lanky knee. “That’s exactly right, whipper-snapper. You can do a lot through study and meditation.”

  “He even kinda looks like you.”

  “True” Crickett took another gulp of the shine, “Their mushroom bodies are like sponges for Resolve. He soaked up a bunch of mine, and then took up my shape.”

  “So he’s like your son!” Mavis marveled at the handsome looking mushroom boy.

  “No.” Uno put on a flat look.

  “Yes!” Crickett smacked Uno’s back jovially. “They’re all my boys. We make Elixir up here. I been making this stuff for years!”

  “You ought to stop.” Logan chuckled. “It nearly killed Gatz.”

  “Gatz?” John looked to him, a little bored of the mushroom talk. He had settled back against an overturned tree trunk. Elise was fiddling with his hair, making a little braid.

  “Yeah, another Gun I came up with, his name was Andy Gatz.” Logan lit up a cigar, drawing in the herb-laced tobacco. “Bunch of us came up the mountain to see Crickett’s brew, we weren’t too much older than you guys. Might have been, oh, 18 or 19. This was about when the Prohibition times just started. You couldn’t get booze just anywhere, like nowadays.”

  Crickett patted the spot next to him and Uno took a seat, listening with curiosity. Cal leaned in a bit. Logan hardly ever shared stories of his youth, he must have been feeling a little relaxed.

  The Bootknife continued, his voice wandering back and forth as he recalled, “Oh, let’s see… It was me and Gatz, we were on a team with another named Francis… Laudry? Don’t remember, I ain’t seen him in a long time. Your dad was there too, Cal. Baird was on a team with Cobb and Doherty. They had just got back from a hunt. We all came up to see Crickett and get some of his shine. We didn’t know no better.” He snickered.

  “Anyhow, the old man offered up a jar what looked like the one he has now. Probably the same old jar. I took a sip and spit it right out, that shit is ugly. Even still, I could feel the effect it had on my Resolve, just the drops that I may have actually taken in. It’s crazy stuff. Gatz thought he’d show off, he really was always like that, and he took a big gulp.”

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  Smoke billowed from Logan’s lips in uneven puffs as he laughed.

  “Oh I remember that now!” Crickett swayed a bit, “The poor kid threw up his breakfast. I thought he was going to kick the bucket.”

  “We did too!” Logan let out a guttural laugh, “Cobb and his witch jumped in to help. They set Andy straight, but I think he slept for like two days straight after that.”

  “Did Louey drink some?” Asked Cal, hands on his knees.

  “No he didn’t.” Logan smirked, “He was going to, on account of he was there with Doherty and Baird and he knew they would do it. But that witch of his said no way, and that was the end of that.”

  “Madeline?” Cal tilted his head. The firelight made the shadow of his hat brim dance across his face.

  “Yeah, same one. She was the boss of him back then and she is now. When she put her foot down, that was the end of it. Cobb’s a smart man, he always listened.”

  “Cobb is the guy we met last night in the saloon?” Elise asked John.

  “That’s him. He’s the head of a major family in the Posse. The Cobbs are nobility just like my family.”

  John had been taught about all the major houses of Grady’s Posse from an early age. It was his responsibility to recognize a noble sorcerer when he met one and offer the respect owed to their lineage.

  Elise and Mavis exchanged a look. That Lou Cobb they met was a dream of a man to them. To find out that he was sensible around their kind even as a younger guy was no surprise. To Elise, that was how it ought to be. Witches like them were beautiful, magical powerhouses who deserved that kind of respect and admiration from these gun-toting yokels. Looking to John, she wondered if he might be more sensitive and affectionate too. He had made no attempt to engage her. When Elise found out about the pacts, she thought that these boys would get too flirty and try to take advantage of the witches. Seeing John and Buster in action, she understood now that they were not the animals she thought they were. She caught herself wondering if John even liked her at all. It was a frustrating feeling, made even more aggravating by the realization that she was the one having these feelings, not him.

  “Well you ought to take notes from him.” She hadn’t been able to stop herself from driving the issue, “He’s a smart man, like Logan said. He listened to his partner witch.”

  “Cobb’s witch is a lady, unlike you.” Logan had to take the jab. “That’s why your experience is different.”

  Elise’s eyes began to glow fiercely, her hair glittering with power. “Yeah I can see why you don’t have one!”

  “Hey, uh, you’re a lady too.” John said, still lounging next to her. He looked like he was defusing a bomb. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Too easy” Logan shook his head, “Anyway I’ll continue if it pleases the princess.”

  Elise had on a pouty look, but she had come down. She was a little embarrassed that she took the bait again. She went back to making little braids in John’s hair.

  “Alright, well Lou Cobb didn’t drink because Madeline set him straight. That left Baird and Doherty. Of course, Baird had on that shit-eating grin. Even back then it seemed like everything was amusing to the guy. Doherty was no better, he was always trying to get one up on him. If I was Lou, I would have tore my hair out back then.”

  Elise’s gaze wandered over to Calvin. She watched him listen with a soft smile as Logan went on about his father. Cal had a subtle complexity to him, she could see it in his emerald green eyes. She had been thinking about him since Crickett’s test. Calvin had stood firm without her help. She knew he felt bad about the other girlies rejecting him, it must have hurt to feel alone in that moment when John and Buster were not. But she could tell there was more to it. He was angry, it had sifted through the cracks at times. There was something frustrated which turned to cold anger, instead of a plea for help. John wasn’t an angry person, even with his problems. That was something Cal had that the others just didn’t.

  At the moment, Calvin seemed content to hear about his dad. Elise wondered about that. Calvin shifted at times from liking his father to dismissing his legacy. She could tell he was deeply conflicted about him. A small smirk crept across her face as she watched the firelight shimmering in his eyes. There was something irresistible about his smile. She hadn’t really put her finger on it before, but she really wanted him to be happy.

  Elise had to catch herself after a moment. She pursed her lips. Was she really admiring Calvin? He was friendly, sure, but he was still one of the gunslingers. He was overconfident, competitive, and needy. The weird anger issues were a major red flag as well. Elise’s mind wheeled out all of these to play Devil’s Advocate against the part of her which was fawning over the cursed Six-Gun. He was not as handsome as John either, she preferred the cornsilk blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes of the Calhouns. All of these gunslingers were problem children, to her, but Calvin was the worst of the lot. It was obvious from his lack of a partner witch that he didn’t have enough positives to cover the massive negative of his curse. That cutting part of Elise’s mind had a field day with him. It felt good to level these judgements, it made her feel as if she was back in the driver’s seat in her head. No bubbly girly witch here, Elise was different. This was what she liked to think about herself.

  “Doherty and Baird both took a pretty sizeable swig.” Logan continued, ignorant of Elise’s riveting debate with herself, “But not as much as Andy had took. I suppose they weren’t as confident as they seemed. Both of them just looked at each other, Doherty with those creepy piercing eyes he had and Baird with his smug grin. It was a stare down I’ll never forget. Each of them was waiting for the other to crack.”

  Crickett chuckled, “Yeah it was weird. Them just looking at each other. I remember that. But they both handled it. Went back for seconds. Shame about the red-eyed one.”

  “Who?” Calvin rubbed his hands together.

  “Doherty” Logan answered him, “He’s talking about Gareth Doherty. Doherty family has crimson eyes, something they had since before Grady. I know you’re gonna ask so I’ll just tell you. Gareth Doherty broke his oath and turned on the Posse. He turned on your dad.”

  Calvin and John both pricked up a bit. Buster had already fallen asleep in Mavis’ lap.

  “Did… Billy Baird kill him?” John asked, looking between Logan and Cal.

  Cal just shrugged, he was similarly out of the loop.

  Logan signed, eyes on the fire. He wore a forlorn look now. “No, he didn’t. Doherty backstabbed him, and they duked it out. Baird won. He gave him a freebee for old times, I think. Didn’t finish it. He could have, but he just walked away. Billy Baird has never spared any other enemy of the Posse like this. I think he was hurt.”

  “I would be…” Cal nodded.

  “Yeah, but you ain’t really like him.” Logan looked to Cal, “He never got close to anybody. He was friendly enough, but you could tell you were at an arm’s length with him. I guess it was different with Doherty.”

  Cal blinked at him, processing this new information. The picture of Billy Baird in his mind had been shaped by the things people said to him for years. He was a larger-than-life figure to many, a friend to Louey, and a detached asshole to Logan. Cal wondered what he was to his mother. He now wondered what he was to this Gareth Doherty person, whom Louey hadn’t once mentioned. To Calvin his father was nobody at all. Cal nodded a bit.

  “What happened to Doherty? Do you know?”

  Logan drew more from the cigar, his eyes closed. The thin shadows from the smoke shivered over his face in the firelight. He took a long time to answer, “No. I don’t.”

  “You’re lying.” John stared at him. He had had the feeling that Logan hid something important ever since they went to the Green Coven. The Witch Superior had given him a hard time over something in his past.

  “I don’t think I owe any of you an explanation.” Logan spoke slowly.

  “Do a lot of you guys turn coat?” Elise raised an eyebrow.

  “It happens, yeah.” Logan nodded, “It’s happened a lot in the past couple decades.”

  The Bootknife stood up, his boots sliding on the grass. He stretched out. “I’m gonna hit the hay. Put that fire out and get some sleep. You ain’t getting much from now on.”

  With that, the conversation had ended. Elise turned to Mavis.

  “Ready to head up?”

  “Do I have to?” Mavis whined, running a hand through a snoozing Buster’s hair.

  Elise stood up, placing her hands on her hips. “Here I thought the boys were animals.”