Page 24 of Aftermarket Afterlife

“I think that’s everyone,” said Kevin. “Can everybody hear me?”

General assent from the group confirmed that yes, they could hear him. There were some discontented mutters from the carnival, as not everyone seemed to have appreciated being summoned to a meeting.

“We’re getting to it,” said Kevin. “Verity? Would you care to make your report?”

Verity took a deep breath as she shifted positions to put herself at the center of the screen. “Approximately an hour and a half ago, the Covenant of St. George launched an attack on the aboveground Nest of the dragons of Manhattan. One dragon, two bogeymen, and eleven Madhura were killed in the strike, and far more were injured. Seven Covenant field agents were killed in our response. We don’t know how many of them escaped. They were using missiles fired from nearby rooftops, to hit our roof, and they took out half of it, setting the rest on fire. The structure has been effectively demolished. The dragons are fireproof, and were able to clear out their hoard before the upper floor collapsed completely.”

Meaning the authorities would find signs that the place had been being used for illegal habitation, but not the ridiculous amount of gold that had been stored there for the health and comfort of the dragons.

“Let me be clear,” said Verity. “We have no idea how the Covenant was able to locate us. The last known field teams in the city were eliminated four months ago. We’ve seen no signs that they’d been replaced, and we’ve been watching. Our best guess is that they managed to smuggle another team in somehow, and they combined the intelligence they had from the first team with their own more subtle information-gathering efforts to pinpoint the location of the Nest.”

“What else do they know?” asked Mike. “How many of them are left?”

“We don’t know,” said Dominic. “We didn’t even know they were here until they attacked us.”

“Did Kitty make it out?” asked Drew.

Verity nodded. “She’s fine. Some minor lacerations from trying to dig the bogeymen we lost out of the rubble, but nothing that can’t be taken care of quickly. Why?”

“Let her know I’m going to be calling in a few favors and activating the Toronto gossip tree,” said Drew, gravely. “If they got this information from the bogeyman community, even tangentially, someone will know about it. If they didn’t, there’s still a good chance one of us will know about it.”

“I’ll do the same here on the West Coast,” said Jane. Drew nodded his approval. Everyone in the family knows that when you want gossip, you go to Jane. She’s plugged into more whisper networks than anyone else, even most bogeymen, and she has the credit to burn—and the secrets to trade—to learn virtually anything she wants to know.

“If you start picking up activity traces all the way out there, we have a problem,” said Drew.

“I think we already have a problem, Uncle Drew,” said Verity sourly.

“I mean a bigger one,” he said. “An attack in Manhattan is awful, but it mirrors what we’ve been seeing. The Covenant is mostly European, so they’re assigning target priority based on what they believe about the United States. And if you listen to media, the only important cities we have are New York and San Francisco.”

“On behalf of Chicago, I would like to invite them to screw off,” said Mike.

“Yes, we—” Drew stopped as another window blinked onto the screen.

This one showed a redheaded woman in some sort of underground chamber, various blondes clustered behind her, all of them looking absolutely terrified. Kevin and Evelyn both sat up straighter.

“Hello,” said Evelyn. “You are?”

“Osana,” said Alice, sounding delighted. “Hello, dear! How’s the new husband working out?”

“Oh, he’s keeping the ladies quite distracted with his care needs,” said Osana, politely. “He’ll never be a husband for my daughters—wrong species—but he’ll make a fine mate for theirs.”

Verity interjected then. “I sent an invite to the Burbank Nest, because I was near there when the snake incident happened. They’re not family, but they may be at risk because of my actions.”

Antimony rolled her eyes and muttered something. Verity, for once, ignored her.

“We’re here to observe, if that’s all right,” said Osana.

William lifted his head and said, solemnly, “I vote they stay. They have one of my sons, and an attack on them is an attack on me, at least until he reaches his adulthood.”

We’re still learning the social rituals of dragons, which seems silly, given how long we’ve been existing alongside them, but is a natural consequence of having cut the species in half and driven them to the border of extinction rather than sitting down and asking them how they liked to do things. William’s statement was firmly enough made that it became inarguable, and might well cause serious problems if we tried to contest it.

“That’s fine,” said Kevin. “Honestly, it’s probably a good thing that you’re here. Do you have any contacts with your local bogeyman community?”

“This is Hollywood,” said Osana. “We’re some of the most in-demand extras and audience-fillers in this city. We have contacts everywhere. What do you need to know?”

“Has there been any muttering about the Covenant of St. George recently? Anything at all? It doesn’t matter how small, or how silly, it seemed when you heard it; we’re looking for signs that they’re outside New York, or that they’re planning more attacks like the one they just pulled off.”

“Not that I’ve heard, but I’m not the one to talk to,” said Osana. “I’ll ask Brenna as soon as she gets back, and if she doesn’t know, she’ll be able to find out. I know the atmosphere around town’s been tense the past few months, but the atmosphere around town is always tense, if you’re talking to the right people.”

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