BE BOLD, BE BOLD
(but not too bold)
chapter 16: means to the end
ALTWORDS: 5.2k
CHARACTERS: Sasha James, Jane Prentiss, Basira Hussain, Tim Stoker, Melanie King, Cassandra “Cass” Paxton, Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood, Jurgen Leitner, Georgie Barker, Julia Montauk, Trevor Herbert
ADDITIONAL TAGS: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Season 3 AU, Character Death Fix, Coping With Eldritch Horrors (With Varying Degrees of Success), Beholding Avatar Sasha James, The World’s Worst Road Trip Is a Work Trip To Save the World
SUMMARY:
The notion that this had been Gertrude’s game all along is equally unspeakable. But though Sasha is hard-pressed to posit a different reason for Gertrude bringing the skin book on her and Keay’s travels, the fact that the book had been left behind complicated matters. Maybe she hadn’t succeeded in binding Keay as she’d hoped. Maybe she decided to cut her losses instead of taking the risk of trying again.
Sasha’s startled, and more than a little sickened, at how cold she sounds, even in her head. But maybe she’s just getting better at thinking like Gertrude. Maybe she’s just becoming that much more aligned with their common patron.
That thought is equally unsettling.
Mercifully, Jane seems to recognize her silence as spiraling. “So. What now?”
Regarding less-than-perfect solutions to lingering, and looming, problems.
