Chapter 47 - Ditcher

  Jewel hums to herself as she sweeps the depot’s bay. The other runners come and go in bursts, dropping off their empty satchels and grabbing fresh ones. By this point, most are on their third runs, and the available routes are the longer distance ones. The noon-bell had rung about an hour past, and there had been no sign of Alex returning.

  He’d used an intent-movement when he left, and Jewel chalks it up to him trying to show off. She thinks to herself that Alex had probably just blinked out of sight and then started to walk or run normally from there. There’s no way a Faded soul would have the fortitude to keep up with the drain of the skill for more than a couple bursts.

  For most people, feeling the first signs of strain on their spirit is enough to scare them away from continuing to use any skills. The fear of dissolution is a powerful motivator. The new kid must just be trying to show off, trying to impress her. In a way, it’s cute. The thought makes her smirk to herself as the thought crosses her mind.

  Just as she’s turning to face the bay’s open doors, she sees a blur of motion. Alex and his two animal friends land softly from another leap. The broom slips from Jewel’s fingers as her eyes widen. He’s carrying two empty bags in one hand, and a pair of kabobs in the other.

  “Good call on suggesting we grab food while on the run.” Alex says with a grin. He collects his ticket-stubs and tosses the bags into the return bin before jogging up to the bewildered Jewel. “Brought a couple for you.” He offers her the skewers, still warm enough to lightly steam.

  As if on auto-pilot, Jewel reaches to take the skewers, her eyes never leaving Alex’s face. Then she notices that he’s not even looking winded or strained. There’s no way he’d made it across the whole city and back, carrying two parcels, and exerted himself enough to do at least 2 intent-movements. Trying to impress her is one thing, but trying to cheat the job is another.

  “Please, for the love of hell, tell me you didn’t ditch the packages.” She says, her disbelief souring into suspicion and anger. She drops her hand without taking the kabobs. “Dale will have both our asses if you’ve done something that stupid on the first fucking day.”

  Taken aback, Alex just blinks and tips his head. “What? Why would I have ditched them? I del…” But he’s cut off as Jewel’s hand swings out, snatching the tickets from his grip instead of the skewers.

  “You. You don’t get it. Do you know how bad things would get if people don’t get their packages?” Jewel’s voice rises. “Dale’s office. Now.” She nearly shouts, turning to storm off towards the office doors. On the way, she looks back over her shoulder to see Alex following. “We get one every now and then that tries to pull this shit and claim the deliveries after ditching or selling the packages. I didn’t expect you to be one of them.”

  “But I di…” Alex starts to protest, only to get cut off again.

  “CAN IT.” Jewel growls, slamming through the door into the office hall and stomping her way to Dale’s office.

  Following behind, Alex looks aside to Hara and Corvus. The Apex’s crow face is unreadable, but Hara looks just as confused as Alex. The trio follow, hearing Jewel continue muttering to herself as she opens Dale’s office and goes inside.

  “Jewel, what the hell? Don’t just come barg…”

  “You stuck me with another ditcher. He took TWO of the long routes and just got back acting like he completed both. I am NOT going to be blamed for this shit again.”

  Alex can hear the voices before he even reaches the door, Jewel having left it open. She’s leaning over Dale’s desk, glaring at the manager when Alex gets inside and closes the door. She snaps her head around and glares at Alex too. “Just tell us where you dropped them and maybe we can get someone to go find them before they’re reported as undelivered.” Jewel snaps, “And then maybe I don’t beat your ass for this.” Her voice cracks, the high emotions running away from her.

  “I dropped the packages at their destinations. Both got delivered.” Alex says, spreading his arms in a placating gesture. “I promise.” He tries to assure her.

  Dale just sits back, a bleary look on his face hinting that he’d already been in the bottle after the morning speech. He’s clearly fine with letting the pair sort each other out and dealing with the aftermath.

  “Don’t give me that bullshit! Carrying just one of those satchels and doing just one of those routes would have worn out any of us. You took two! On top of that, you used an intent-movement to leave, and another for show when you got back, and you aren’t even winded. There’s no damn way you delivered both, and had time to eat a fucking snack!” Jewel all but screams.

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  “Faded souls don’t do that. Why the hell would we burn our spirits out like that? On top of that, it would be a hell of a strain!” The rant continues before Alex can get a word in. “If you’re gonna run this kind of fraud on us, you could at least make it believable!” She gestures up and down Alex’s form. “You’re still looking fresh and vibrant, so there’s no wa…”

  Alex doesn’t wait for her to finish. A side-look at Hara and a flare of his will reaching for her gets the aid he needs. Alex takes a step, blurring across to the opposite side of the small office. But he doesn’t stop there. In a chain of small, rapid leaps, he circles the office, creating streaking blurs of color that encircle Dale and Jewel. And then he stops, stepping down right into the spot he started in.

  “I DID complete those deliveries. The fact that I can use the intent-movement fairly easily, and have Hara and my crow friend assisting me, is why Dale hired me in the first place.” He says calmly as Jewel starts to catch on to what she just saw. “I’m not trying to cheat anyone out of anything. I’m just fast.” He says, and tries to offer the kabobs to Jewel again.

  She blinks, reaching out for them a second time. And this time, her fingers close around the ends of the skewers. As she takes them, Alex starts to speak softly. “I made a risky deal basically within minutes of arriving in Hell. I’ve been Faded since the first day. I ran here from Last-Stop, using Intent-movement most of the time. And yeah, it had me wrung out. But I made it here.” Alex says, shrugging.

  Jewel looks him over again. She couldn’t see any signs of the dulling effect of a Faded soul nearing Dissolution. “But, you look fresh… how?”

  Alex chuckles. “I hit Hadrick’s as soon as I made it to town, got topped-off by trading some news. That was the day before yesterday.” He says with an apologetic grin. “If you’d seen me before that, you probably would have seen what you expected.”

  Jewel turns to look at Dale, and the older man just nods. “He’s right. He made the claim about his movement capabilities when he came in yesterday. And he said his companions provide an assist. It all checks out. Last-Stop to New Europa in under a week.” He spreads his hands over the desk. “The timeframe checks out, that’s only a little longer than it would take for someone without any thresholds to make it. Granted, that’s still possessing their Animus.” Dale says, shrugging. “I’ve toyed with the idea of doing limited runs to other towns around the area. But it would be so expensive that only those who could just as easily make the trip themselves could afford it.”

  Jewel gapes, then slowly turns back to look at Alex. “So, you didn’t dump the packages?” Alex just shakes his head and Jewel deflates, slumping a bit to lean on Dale’s desk. “I’m sorry. I just…” She trails off, collecting her thoughts for a moment. “We’ve had problems before with people thinking they could cash in a small profit over a day or two by just dumping the parcels and claiming the delivery.”

  Alex gives her a reassuring smile. “I probably should have told you why I was so confident I could do it.” He says, offering his hand. “Everything’s cool with me.” Jewel takes it and gives a light shake.

  Dale picks up the two tickets and examines them as Jewel and Alex make peace. He recognizes one of the recipients and gives an amused snort. “Just to be sure, and set poor Jewel’s mind at ease. Alex, this delivery here, can you describe the location and recipient?” He asks, waving the ticket for Alex’s first delivery.

  Alex takes a look at it and shrugs. “Some bureaucratic building. All stone-brick construction, real imposing looking. There was a guard out front, and when I went in, the guy who received the package was some office clerk. If he wasn’t clearly human, I’d have sworn he was an owl-demon.”

  A satisfied smirk settles onto Dale’s face and he nods. “I’m satisfied, he actually made the route. That’s Baxter alright.” The manager hands Alex back his two tickets and makes shooing motions with his other hand. “Now you two loud-mouths get out of my office, I’m busy.” But he puts the lie to that statement by picking up a bottle from under his desk before they’re even out the door.

  Jewel rolls her eyes as she closes the door. “Busy my ass.” She mutters, earning a chuckle from Alex.

  “Is he always half sauced?” Alex asks, a grin spreading across his lips.

  Jewel gives a snort of her own. “Yeah, and the other half the time he’s completely drunk.” She retorts, but then sighs. “All the same though, he’s one of the best guys I’ve worked under. As long as things get done and done right, he leaves us alone to do the work. But if something goes wrong, he’ll be the first to get his hands dirty to fix it.”

  She looks over at Alex and the smirk falters from her face. “I’m sorry for accusing you. I know you said we’re cool, but… I’m sorry.” She says again, clearly still feeling bad about exploding on him.

  Alex waves away the apology. “Don’t worry about it. If I had someone new show up that was doing things that seem impossible to me, I’d probably react the same way.” He says, leaning over to pat Hara’s head and give a nod to Corvus. “If it weren’t for these two, I wouldn’t have made it this far, or be able to do what I do.” The hound wags and looks up at Jewel.

  The woman crouches down and offers a smile to the pair. “Then I think I owe you two an apology as well.” She says, looking into Hara’s amethyst eyes.

  “Hara ok if Alex ok.” The hellhound responds, causing Jewel to startle and overbalance backwards, falling on her ass. She hadn’t been aware that Hara was more than a beast or familiar, but hearing the voice dispels that illusion.

  Jewel looks between Alex and his two animalistic friends. “They’re both awakened, aren’t they?” Alex just grins and nods.