“Feathers and chat. Some meetings allowed if they’re both on good behavior. I’ve read her rap sheet, and I want to make sure he’s protected.”

I looked at Tristan, then at Rain.

They looked so exhausted I doubted they were processing.

I looked at Kenzie, who nodded.

“Sure.”

“We’ll negotiate. You want in bed with us, you’re in bed with us. Congratulations. We’ll share resources.”

I nodded.

“Fine,” Tattletale said. “Let it be known I’m immensely unhappy with this.”

“That’s allowed,” I said.

Behind Tattletale, I saw Chicken Little’s leg jiggle slightly. Surreptitiously, after he looked left, looked right, and checked that nobody on his team was looking, he turned his hand to one side, extending the smallest of thumbs-ups.

I looked back at Kenzie, who nodded.

Tattletale heaved out a sigh. She waved Imp forward.

Imp met Rain halfway. She handed over two feathers, and he took them back to hand to Kenzie.

Important to do this. She needed a friend.

And I supposed we needed the intel.

“You’re wrong, though,” Tattletale said.

“Wrong?”

“These mercenaries you’re looking at… they’re Cheit, your notes are right. The Order is a reference to a verse in their texts. The thousand-eyed beasts, front and back. Lion, that’s your drunk girl. The ox. Your bull guy. You’ve also got the beast with the face of a man, and the eagle. They’re tied up in the fours that run through the texts. Four apostles, four virtues, four whatevers.”

“I think I know the verse,” Rain said. “We have it too.”

“Good,” Tattletale said.

“Why is that important?” I asked.

“Because it means they’re hardcore Cheit, which you guessed. You were mostly on the right track and you might have stumbled on the right answer… if you weren’t keeping your eye out for the wrong destination.”

“The wrong destination?”

“Teacher,” Tattletale said. “He doesn’t have control of his group, so he’s not pulling their strings. He’s happy doing the prison thing, fucking with Goddess, tearing open holes in reality like the one across Brockton Bay and the ones in the heart of the city, but his people turned their attention to people caught in time loops, stasis, other fuckery like that… and Teacher drew the line there. These guys here?”

She tapped the paper before continuing, “The mercenaries from another world? They split from Teacher over it.”

“Are they after Jack?” I asked. “Worst-case scenario.”

Tattletale shook her head. “They’re not that reckless. No. One of the names raised was closer to home than Jack. And while the shit with March is going on, the Undersiders can’t go home.”

Interlude 11.a

“Ahahahaha,” she fake-laughed. “My sides! Oh wait.”

“You need new material, ’Piece.”

“If I didn’t repeat myself once in a while, I wouldn’t get to hear your dulcet tones telling me how unfunny I am.”

“Ha ha.”