4338.210 · July 29, 2018 AD
The Long Cold
Luke has hours before anyone in Bixbus will miss him. Hours to strip the Berriedale house of everything useful, to erase the evidence of a life that no longer exists. But some things refuse to stay buried — memories surfacing with every piece of furniture moved, questions multiplying about Guardians he never knew existed, and the growing sense that he's not as alone as he should be.
The Ironbachs are Paul's problem now, walking toward Bixbus with bags packed for a fortnight they'll never complete. Luke has other work — the Berriedale house still full of furniture that could serve the settlement, cupboards holding years of accumulated belongings that sentiment won't protect from abandonment. The bookcase Jamie assembled crooked. The couch the dogs claimed as their own. The fondue set still in its original box. Each item makes its way through the portal while Luke's mind works through everything else: Melanie Bandy and whatever Guardian network he's stumbled into, James Fletcher's business card still in his pocket, the question of whether competition or alliance awaits. By evening the house stands lighter, emptied of weight Luke hadn't realised he'd been carrying. Then darkness reveals what daylight hid. Across the road, Karl Jenkins sits in his car, watching for signs of life in a house that shows none. Two men in winter cold, both waiting, neither willing to move first.
