“Let’s call Steve Ferryman.” Meg turned toward the counter and the phone. “He can give us the name of someone who works at one of the schools in Ferryman’s Landing. They’ll already have the lists of books they use for each grade. And a teacher from that village will talk to us.”
“Maybe we should ask about books that would be relevant for the kinds of things learned at the technical college too,” Ruth said. “We should find out how people learn trades among the Intuits. Plumbers, electricians, that kind of work.”
Meg made the call. Steve was helpful, but she could feel him thinking hard about what she was asking and why she would be asking. After all, the Courtyard wasn’t the only place that would need schoolbooks. So would the five young cassandra sangue who were living on Great Island. So would any children in the new River Road Community, even if they were meant to attend schools in Ferryman’s Landing.
He gave her phone numbers and e-mail addresses for the principals of each school in Ferryman’s Landing and promised to call them immediately so they would be expecting her request.
“Meg, I can stay here and watch for deliveries while you and Ruth run up to the Business Association’s room and send the e-mails,” Merri Lee said.
“Anything you want me to do?” Eve asked. “Until the Others take possession of the apartment buildings—or until they clear out the furniture and that efficiency apartment is ready for a good scrub—there’s not a lot for me to do. I was going to go up to the Green Complex and check the garden, see if it needed any weeding or watering while Pete watched the kids, but that can wait.”
“I think we’re covered,” Merri Lee said.
Brittle cheerfulness, but Meg thought they all felt better about being able to do something.
? ? ?
Monty had expected all the patrol officers under Burke’s command to show up whether it was their shift or not, and he wasn’t surprised to see Commander Louis Gresh and his bomb squad in attendance, but he was surprised to see the other captains who worked at the Chestnut Street station file in to hear . . . whatever this was.
“Make a little room?”
Startled by the voice, Monty took a step to the side to make room. Apparently, even the station’s chief was attending—and looking apprehensive.
Burke stood behind the podium. “I appreciate you all responding so quickly. I’ll be brief so you can get back to your duties.”
Burke hesitated, and Monty felt a cold knot in his belly. Douglas Burke didn’t hesitate.
“As most of you know, I have a pretty good grapevine when it comes to getting information.” Nervous laughter followed Burke’s statement. “This is a best guess based on the photos news reporters took when they went back to some of the towns in the Midwest and Northwest for a follow-up story, as well as reports from police officers who drove to towns where they couldn’t raise anyone from the police station or government building.” He scanned the room. “Based on those sources, I would say the terra indigene retaliated against every town or ranch that had some residents who killed the Wolfgard. They gutted those towns—in some cases, literally. The terra indigene slaughtered the humans in the same way the Wolves were slaughtered. In some cases that meant they killed everything that was human, whether it was a man, woman, or child. In other places, a phone call was made to the nearest surviving human place. The people who answered that call found all the young children in the community together in a building at the edge of the town. Those children were unharmed, so I’m speculating that the Wolfgard young had also escaped the slaughter of the adults.”
Burke waited a moment, letting all the men consider that. “Gentlemen, I’ve seen a few of the photos taken of the people who died as retaliation. These killings weren’t done by the shifters humans usually have contact with. They weren’t done by any kind of shifter most of us have seen—or will ever see while we have any chance of staying alive. The denizens of the true wild country—those parts of Thaisia that have never been touched by anything human—are no longer willing to let shifters like the Wolfgard act as a buffer between them and us, because we’ve just shown them that we can, and will, kill the terra indigene who were dealing with us. So now other kinds of earth natives are on our doorstep. They had already declared a breach of trust and had limited the use of the right-of-ways that run through their land and connect human populations. I think from now on, we should assume there is no right-of-way. Not for vehicles traveling on the roads; not for the trains. Certainly not for any vessel traveling on the lakes or rivers.”
Burke gripped the podium. “This next part has to stay with the people in this room. You’ll be tempted to tell other family members and friends and your next-door neighbors. If you do, you’ll only cause panic over something I hope will never happen.”
Extinction, Monty thought, feeling cold as he recalled Simon’s comment about not fearing humans because most of them would be extinct.
“Every family member should have a go bag,” Burke said. “A couple of changes of clothes, toiletries specific to each person, including any prescription medications that person needs to carry. Have a separate bag for general medications and first aid supplies, or put essentials in the bags for the adults. Include a list of bank account numbers as well as any important papers you don’t keep in a safe-deposit box. Put the go bags someplace where they can be grabbed by people scrambling to find them. You want your families to be out of the house in a couple of minutes.”
Silence. Uneasy looks.
Louis Gresh cleared his throat. “Having go bags is fine, but if they’re needed, where are our families supposed to go? If the terra indigene are going to attack us for what was done in another part of Thaisia, and if your point about there no longer being a right-of-way through the wild country means the Others are going to attack anyone who tries to leave the city, where can we go?”
“Here.” Burke sounded grim. “We’ve been working with the Lakeside Courtyard and have gained the trust of the leaders. I think if this is put the right way to Simon Wolfgard, he might know how to prevent a direct attack on this building and its personnel. He might be willing to help us.”
“Captain?” Kowalski raised a couple of fingers. “Why now?”
“Some of you met my cousin Shamus Burke, who was visiting from Brittania. I received a cable from him this morning, which is the second reason I called this meeting.” Burke glanced at the station chief. “I don’t know how far this news has traveled through official channels, but the Cel-Romano Alliance of Nations attacked the terra indigene all along their border. They have new kinds of weapons—airplanes—that can fly over a long distance and drop bombs that can destroy buildings and kill a lot of people, no matter their shape. They bombed terra indigene settlements situated between Cel-Romano and the wild country. Troops followed and killed the Others who survived the bombing. The Alliance of Nations has expanded its borders by miles in one collected attack.”
“What have the terra indigene done in response?” the station chief asked.
“They’ve done nothing.” Burke looked grimmer, if that was possible, and pale. “They’ve done nothing. If you read Thaisia’s history—or the speculations that have been written about conflicts in the past between humans and the terra indigene throughout the world—you’ll see they do nothing while they consider the actions and behaviors of the predators attempting to take their territory. Those hours or days are usually the calm that precedes a catastrophic counterattack. I have no doubt the terra indigene are going to strike Cel-Romano. Maybe, if we’re lucky, the Others from the wild country won’t understand that the Humans First and Last movement is the common factor between the attacks on the Wolfgard in Thaisia and Cel-Romano’s grab for land that resulted in an unknown number of terra indigene deaths.” He paused. “That’s it.”