Fantasy So Night Follows Day by TMaskedWriter

[Ramesh_Rocky]

"Troy said she could smoke in here. It's just a week, we'll air the place out. Better than everyone going to the back porch every time she needs to think."

I shook my head.

"Ok, yeah. Bigger problems, more important stuff. Helen, when's your meeting with the Elders?"

Helen looked out the window and noticed that the sun had gone down outside. She boggled at it, then checked the time on her phone.

"Three hours. Damn, it gets dark quick here."

"Susan," Julie said, turning back to her. "Honey, I couldn't make out all the words everyone was saying back there, but I heard a name you don't use in front of people, and from what else I got, this was the second time today that Helen's asked if you're... well, really you. You know we'd never..."

I put my hands on Julie's shoulders and didn't make her finish saying it.

"I know you wouldn't, Julie. Helen knows about them. As for how she knows, that's the part everyone's trying to figure out. But it goes back to when she got stabbed, and all four of us should be here for this." I heard the front door open. Behind her, Troy walked in, followed by Maisson with his doctor's bag. "And, well, having a medical opinion in the conversation might not be a bad idea, either."

* * *

Helen and I sat on one of the couches, Troy, Julie, and Paul sat on another. Mander rejoined us when Helen didn't come back to the Green house after a while and leaned against the wall. I figured he might as well be in on it, too. Helen agreed, pointing out that it might affect his job.

We told them the story from both sides as best we could. That Helen was having some kind of strange near-death experience that was about to turn ugly when Suzy-Q showed up out of nowhere.

"She doesn't know how it happened yet, either." I told them. "One moment, she was with us on the plane, the next, she was there. Her idea is that it has to do with having been needed badly enough."

"I can see that." Helen commented. "I mean, when I got ready to fight those things, there was a look in their eyes, like they'd been hoping all along that I'd get sick of it and throw the first punch. And then this last time..."

I could tell she didn't want to talk about the Springheel part; we'd skipped the sex stuff earlier, too. That was something we needed to discuss alone. I picked it up from there.

"This last time, I needed her, too. I mean, I figured out myself that she must have some kind of secret exit, but I'd checked the painting already and missed the nameplate thing. As for how I suddenly know Italian," I turned to Helen. "You said that while Suzy-Q was in your head, she had 'some kind of guest-level access to your thoughts.' Well, since the first time, I've been wanting to learn Italian. Maybe Suzy-Q found it in there,' and brought it back."

"If you are able to obtain information from La Contessa's mind without her awareness," Maisson interjected. "Then this means that you are a threat to San Finzione's national security."

"Oh, yeah?" Helen asked. She turned back to me and waved her hands, wiggling her fingers at me. "Wibbly-wobbly-woo, I grant you Top Secret Clearance. This, I do decree as Contessa, yadd-yadda, so let it be written, so let it be done; Franco goes in where the others have been." She turned back to Maisson. "We good now?" He nodded. She turned back to me. "There's actually a little more to it; they'll print out a form across the street, I'll go over and sign it, but that'll do for now."

Helen turned back to Troy before continuing.

"And Susan had been watching the scene in the hallway on the security monitor, so Suzy-Q told me what was going on." Helen turned to Troy. "That's how I knew to hit the stairwells, Troy. And how they were 1able to make the rest of the Triads flee without any losses on our side."

"You let them go?" Troy asked her.

"Yes." Helen lit a cigarette. It still bugged me, but a little less now. "And now Word on the Street is 'Don't try it, she brought her whole fucking army with her.' So, by the time anyone works up the balls to take another shot at me, the Elders' order will have definitely reached the locals."

Troy nodded.

"We didn't look into psychic stuff, Master." Julie stepped in. "We wanted to know how mind control worked, we found what we were looking for, so we stopped. A lot of the books we read talked about stuff besides mind control, too."