Josie let Doctor Occult vanish. She frowned at her old neighbor. She realized she didn’t

  even know his name.

  “You have some internal problems,” she said. “I want you to go to the hospital and get

  looked at by the nurses. There is a chance you could die before you walk home.”

  “I think I can take care of myself,” said the old man.

  “Are you really going to force this?,” said Josie. “I can make you go.”

  “It’s time for me to pass on,” said the old man. “I will talk to my wife about it. She

  should know I don’t have that long to live. It will give us time to prepare.”

  “I can get you five, maybe ten, more years,” said Josie.

  “I’m happy enough with the time I have had,” said the old man. “Prolonging things is

  not as good as most people think. You have your girls to look after, and that jester who

  likes to shock people. That is more important than trying to stop the inevitable.”

  “Are you sure?,” said Josie.

  “I will talk to my wife,” said the old man. “Maybe she will want that time for herself if

  you can give it to her. Maybe I will change my mind about things once we have dinner.”

  “Don’t wait too long,” said Josie. “I have to take care of something. If you have any

  more signs, go over to the Hole in the Wall and talk to Elaine. She should be able to

  arrange for you to get looked at by the hospital people until we get our job straightened

  out.”

  “Thank you for your concern,” said the old man. “You’re not nearly as snarly as your

  friend, Jack, says.”

  “Don’t confuse kindness for mercy,” said Josie. “I have precious little of either. Don’t

  forget to talk to Elaine if you change your mind.”

  “I will, Madam Fox,” said the old man.

  “What is your name?,” asked Josie.

  “It’s Duncan,” said the old man. He smiled a little.

  “I have to go,” said Josie. “When I am done straightening this mess out for the Society,

  I will turn my attention to you. I might even have Jack do something. Five more years

  should be under the restriction they put on him so he wouldn’t keep doing things he

  isn’t supposed to do. Hang on until I get back.”

  “Is this really so important?,” asked Duncan.

  “I’m using it to balance all the ill I have done since I got here,” said Josie. “It’s not a

  real equivalent exchange, but it’s better than nothing.”

  “I understand,” said the old man. “I have tried to make up for things I did with mixed

  results. Go do your thing. Keep your Jack from throwing lightning down in the walls.”

  “That will take the power of the gods,” said Josie. She walked toward where her bird

  waited on the railing of the staircase heading up to the building’s brick second story.

  She took a moment to look around and listen before she started up the stairs to the

  apartments taking over the second floor.

  The bird flew to one door in particular and landed in front of it. It wanted to go inside

  and find its man, but knew she would want to talk to the spy first.

  Josie walked to the door and knocked. She didn’t want to kick the door down. She

  would if she didn’t get an answer.

  Half of her mind was on the old man downstairs. Helping him seemed more important

  than protecting entire countries. She supposed her perspective was on the smaller

  picture while she thought about next steps.

  There would be next steps the way things were going. She saw them picking up

  Rustam’s brother at his estate after they nailed some of this situation down.

  It would depend on how things happened if he made it to the Delve to join Rustam, or

  not.

  “Who is it?,” asked a male voice on the other side of the wooden barrier.

  “Josie Fox,” said Josie. “I’m here to ask you if you want to talk to the king and save

  your neck, or do you want to get set on fire. I am good either way.”

  “I don’t see anything good for me either way,” said the unknown adventurer.

  “One way will leave you alive and well for the rest of your life,” said Josie. “The other

  will rip you apart. I already know the King’s nephew will be in prison. Be smart this one

  time. Extra hours of life is always better.”

  “Life in prison doesn’t seem that good to me,” said the adventurer. He seemed to be

  doing something inside the room. She supposed he was preparing his escape out the

  window.

  She called on Shazam. Lightning wrapped her in red and gold. She pulled back one

  of her fists. She punched the door. Her fist went through, and then the rest of her.

  Wooden fragments flew out of her way.

  Her quarry looked at her in shock from outside the window. He had picked the escape

  route to get away from guards trying to force the door. Dropping to the street should get

  him enough room to get to the gate and get through to the South Gate so he could travel

  to the border with Karieda and circle back to the north.

  A bird flying at his face made him step back and fall off the sign he was using for a

  ledge. He tried to regain his balance, but knew he was going to the street in an

  uncontrolled fall.

  Josie crossed to the window in a second. She grabbed one of the flailing arms and

  yanked. The adventurer flew into the room and landed on his stomach. A kick to the

  head rocked him enough to be bound by his own bent sword.

  She let the transformation go. She shook her head. She had the right guy. Now what

  did they do with him?

  She doubted he knew anything beyond his next contact. She figured that there was

  nothing they could do to him for spying. They needed to tie him to trying to capture

  Caroline again, or using the girls as hostages against her, and Jack.

  Hopefully Jack hadn’t killed the spy he had gone after across town.

  She didn’t fault him for wanting to since Elaine was in the line of fire. If his beloved

  had actually been hurt, she expected a rain of torpedoes to fall down on their enemies.

  Blowing a castle up and filling the hole with water so it was a lake was not something

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  she would put past her friend if he was angry enough to do it.

  She triggered her com. She had her opponent gift wrapped. It was time to move him

  where the King could have a talk with him and find out what was going on.

  “Acknowledged,” said the Enterprise.

  “I have a prisoner I am going to need to put in the brig,” said Josie. “Did Jack catch

  anybody?”

  “The captain ordered two prisoners beamed up and put in the brig,” said the machine.

  “All right,” said Josie. “Take this guy. I have to repair a door and clean up before I come

  back onboard.”

  “Affirmative,” said the machine. It worked the transporter and surrounded its target

  with blue sparks. A few moments later and Josie’s captive sat inside a cell across from

  a few others. None of them looked happy about their predicament.

  Josie looked at the mess from the exploded door. She shook her head. She had to fix this

  before she flew back to the castle in the sky. She should check on the old man before

  she left the city.

  Maybe she could get Jack to make some of his Warner Elixer for their former neighbor.

  That would fix a lot in her opinion. Did she want to enable him just handing the stuff

  out? How much chaos would it cause if the hospital made people younger?

  Did she really want to know the answer to that question?

  She decided that just making a fountain of youth for the city would attract too much

  attention. Just easing the burden would have to do. She didn’t like it, but she saw

  the line the Society drew in the sand. While she wasn’t afraid to cross it, she wanted

  to save that for something more important to her personally than upending all of

  the civilizations they were supposed to protect.

  It was a far cry from the rule breaker she used to be.

  She almost smiled at that.

  Josie pulled on her Zatanna persona. She cleaned the mess up and put a new door to the

  room. She let the persona go so she could go downstairs and look for her neighbor.

  She walked down the stairs and looked over the store. She wanted to talk to the shop

  owner, but decided that was something she could loop back to if she needed to

  depending on what she took from their new captives. Once she knew where they stood,

  she could come back to the shop and fix its owner.

  Duncan was by the door, hobbling home. He waved at some of the people he knew

  from the neighborhood with his free hand. He had a bag of fruit under his other arm.

  Josie caught up with him and snatched the bag from him. He glared at her for a moment.

  Then he shook his head at her.

  “What are you doing?,” asked Duncan. He didn’t ask her for the fruit back. It was an

  obvious bargaining tool.

  “I’m making sure you get home, and then I am going to talk to your wife about making

  you miserable enough to go get checked out,” said Josie. “Or I am going to just take you

  to the hospital whether you like it, or not, and tell the adventurers I hired to protect it

  to rough you up so you need the services for something other than being sick.”

  “Adding on a few more years of living just prolongs the inevitable unless you have a

  way to make people immortal,” said Duncan.

  “I’m sure the Society would love for me to unleash Jack on that,” said Josie. The tone

  of her voice conveyed how much she thought they would love it. “Giving you a few

  more years may not change things in the grand scheme of life, but it will make you feel

  better, and it will make me feel better. And getting your wife checked will make sure

  you have those years together.”

  “You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?,” said Duncan.

  “I will take it after I talk to your wife about what she wants,” said Josie. “Then maybe

  I will relent if she says no.”

  “I can see why your Society picked you to be their agent,” said Duncan. “I’m not so sure

  about Jack.”

  “Luck,” said Josie. She smiled. “Pure bad luck.”

  “I can see that,” said Duncan.

  Josie matched her step with his as they walked down the street to the old man’s house.

  He opened the door for them. He gestured for her to follow him inside so they could get

  the talk over with and they could both go about the rest of their days.

  “Gwyneth!,” called the old man. “I’m home with the fruit you like so much.”

  A stout woman in a plain dress came from the back of the house. She had her sleeves

  rolled up to keep them out of the way while she worked. She wasn’t as gray as her

  husband, but she was getting there.

  She paused when she saw Josie standing there with the bag of fruit. She frowned at the

  knowledge the neighborhood witch was in her house with her fruit.

  “I’m Josie Fox,” said Josie. She held out the fruit. “My partner and I took over the place

  in the wall across the street. Your husband is sick. He won’t go get checked out. He

  seems scared at the notion. So I thought I could get you to talk to him.”

  “I’m not scared,” protested Duncan.

  “He’s sick?,” asked Gwyneth.

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Josie. “I don’t give him long to live. Maybe the hospital could give

  him a few more years. It’s a slim chance, but better than nothing.”

  Gwyneth took the bag of fruit, checking it to see if her husband had brought back the

  right ingredients. She put it down on a nearby table holding up an unlit lamp.

  “What would we have to do?,” she asked. “We don’t have a lot we can offer.”

  “You don’t have to do anything,” said Josie. “I can arrange for a ride there, you have

  one of the nurses look you over, and then see if they have something they can use

  to help you. If they don’t, I’ll ask Jack to look you both over and come up with

  something.”

  “The Jack who beat up the insurance people?,” said Gwyneth.

  “The Jack who shot the lightning from his sailing ship in the sky,” confirmed Duncan.

  “He seems like a good person over all.”

  “What kind of story is that?,” asked his wife.

  “A true one,” said Duncan. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

  “Before you two start fighting,” said Josie. “I will show you something that you can

  talk about for the rest of your lives, even if no one believes you.”

  “Really?,” said Gwyneth.

  “When you see this, you will see I am serious about the two of you needing to get

  checked out,” said Josie. “Ready?”

  “Yes, Madam Fox,” said Duncan. “I doubt I am going to change my mind about that.”

  “Enterprise,” said Josie.

  “Acknowledged,” said the machine.

  “I’m going to walk the hull with two visitors,” said Josie. “It will only be for a few

  seconds.”

  “Acknowledged,” said the machine.

  Josie pulled on Zatanna, checking her watch. She had enough time for a short walk. She

  wrapped her guests in protection and an air supply. She did the same for herself. Then

  she used a bird to pull everyone up to the hull of the Enterprise, to the edge of the

  deflector array.

  “Just look around,” said Josie. “I don’t know how high we are, but you can see the

  whole city from here.”

  “This is too high,” said Gwyneth. “What happens if we fall from here?”

  “If I, or the Enterprise, didn’t catch you,” said Josie. “You would be a smear when you

  hit the ground. Have you seen enough?”

  “I think so,” said Duncan. “The world looks so small from up here.”

  “It’s still worth fighting for,” said Josie. “It’s still worth making better.”

  She hurled a bird to the hospital below and sent the three of them to the hospital. When

  they landed, their protective suits went back to being air.

  “Let’s go in and talk to whomever is on duty,” said Josie. She went to the door and held

  it for them.

  “I thought you were going to let us talk it over,” said Duncan. He crossed his arms.

  “I thought about it and decided I didn’t have time to wait,” said Josie. “I still have

  Society business I have to handle.”

  “That’s very high handed, Madam Fox,” said Gwyneth.

  “I suppose I get that from my mother,” said Josie. “Shall we?”

  “What if I say no?,” said Duncan.

  “Then I will have some adventurers beat you up so you have to go in and get checked

  out as well as get your other injuries fixed,” said Josie. “Don’t be afraid. I will be right

  here. Nothing will happen to you.”

  “All right,” said Duncan. He threw up his hands. “Let’s do this so you will quit

  bothering us.”

  “It will be fine, dear,” said Gwyneth. “I will be right here to take you home.”

  “Come on,” said Josie. She ushered them through the doors. She walked them around

  to the Emergency area. One of the attendants used a scanner on both of them. She

  printed out papers for them both.

  She consulted a nearby code book. She cleared Gwyneth of anything major from living

  in Hawk Ridge all of her life. Duncan had tumors dotting his torso. The first course was

  an elixir that should break the tumors down.

  If that didn’t work, they would have to think of something else. Most of the hospital

  people couldn’t do more than basic cutting yet. Just scraping his insides out might not

  work.

  Josie told the nurse that she could get Jack to look at it when they had a moment to

  breathe.

  “All right,” said Josie. “I have to get back to work. Stay here. I will fix this for you when

  I get done. I have time to get it done.”

  “What do I do until then?,” asked Duncan.

  “I am going to send you home,” said Josie. “I want you to be careful until I can work

  on this.”

  “I will be careful,” said Duncan. “I don’t think you can do anything about this.”

  “I can fix it even if I have to rip out your spine and get you a new one from somewhere,”

  said Josie. “That’s one of my specialities.”

  “I assume setting people on fire is another,” said Duncan.

  “No,” said Josie. “But I have been known to put curses on people who annoy me.”

  “Curses?,” said Duncan.

  “Yes,” said Josie. “I can cause a lot of problems with the right set of words. Don’t forget

  it.”