Natsuki headed to the kitchen to get something to eat, wrote the letter to Aquila, and then settled down on the couch to start reading the books that Ken had brought her.

    Ken and Harry were the first to return, late in the afternoon. As soon as he saw her on the couch, Ken sighed and said, “I’m sorry, Natsuki, but we couldn’t find them. The other side almost certainly has them by now.”

    Natsuki looked up from her book and frowned. “Thank you for trying, I guess.”

    “So, you don’t get to leave tomorrow,” Harry said. “Selena will be thrilled to have another chick around for a bit longer.”

    Ken winced. “Why...why would you say ‘chick’?”

    Harry shrugged. “You don’t like me using ‘dames’ and ‘broads’.”

    “‘Chicks’ isn’t better!” Ken declared. “Nobody has used ‘chicks’ in decades!”

    “Well, if you’re going to be that way, I’m going back to ‘dames’,” Harry said. “I’m starting to run out of words here.”

    Ken rubbed his temples. “‘Ladies’! That’s a word that is used today. ‘Ladies’ and ‘women’ – both of those words are used in this century.”

    Harry stared at Ken with an exaggerated look of shock. “Those words are just boring! They’ve got no texture. Spoken language should have texture.”

    “What on earth are you talking about?” Ken asked.

    “The poetry of language!” Harry replied. “The texture that gives it grit! That’s it – modern language doesn’t have enough texture. So, I’m going to bring it back. ‘Dames’, ‘broads’, and ‘chicks’, they’re all going to make a comeback!”

    “So, I remain in hell,” Ken stated. “How was your day, Natsuki?”

    “Quiet,” Natsuki said. “Lots of time to think.”

    Ken raised an eyebrow. “And?”

    Natsuki took a deep breath. “Thank you for not being the villains I was afraid you’d be.”

    Harry shook his head. “Don’t thank us. We’re still holding you hostage. I don’t think we get to call ourselves heroic right now.”

    Natsuki suppressed a smile. This was a good start.

    “Still,” she said, “I had every reason to believe that I would be locked in a dark room in the basement, if not just killed outright. So, I’m grateful that didn’t happen. And, thank you for trying to find my friends and let them know I’m okay.”

    “It’s nothing,” Ken said. “You deserve a lot better than this.”

    “It’s worse than that,” Natsuki mused.

    Ken and Harry looked at each other for a moment. “What do you mean?” Harry asked.

    “Well, the entire reason you’re keeping me here is so that you can use returning me as a negotiating tool to guarantee Aquila’s neutrality,” Natsuki explained. “But, the longer you keep me here, the more likely she is to just come and rescue me as soon as she finds out where I am. And she’s like Balthazar – none of you would stand a chance against her. She’d tear this house down to find me.”

    “That is worrying,” Ken said.

    Suppressing the smile got harder. Seed planted.

    Natsuki shrugged. “It’s not like I can do anything about it. I mean, the sooner you let me go, the sooner she leaves with all of us to get us out of danger. But, I’m just the hostage here. All I get to do is be grateful that you’re treating me well.”

    Ken pursed his lips in thought for a moment. Then he said, “Well, I’ve got to use the water closet – I’ll be right back,” and headed to the bathroom.

    Harry gave Natsuki a knowing smile and nod. “Nice work.”

    Natsuki swallowed. If Harry spotted it this quickly...

    “Don’t worry,” Harry said under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear it. “My lips are sealed.”

    Natsuki tried to conceal her sigh of relief. Harry was an ally, at least. Ken looked like he would be on board. That just left Selena and Darius, and neither looked like they’d need much of a push to bring them onto her side...assuming they weren’t already there.

    “So, that was a bust,” Selena declared as she opened the door and strode into the house, followed by Darius, who held a shopping bag. She stopped in front of Natsuki. “We looked everywhere. They must have cornered your friends. I’m so sorry.”

    “Well, thank you for being kind to me anyway,” Natsuki said. “If I had to be captured, at least it was by people like you.”

    Darius sighed. “Well, now I feel extra guilty about it all. We’ll figure something out, Natsuki. That said...” He pulled a book out of the shopping bag, a lock and lockpicks on the cover. “I wasn’t kidding about learning to pick locks, and tomorrow’s probably going to be quiet. I also got tools and a lock to practice on. Want to join me?”

    Natsuki chuckled. “Sure.”

    “And we’ll only practice on Harry’s lock if he doesn’t let me in to recharge the barrier on his window,” Darius stated loudly.

    Harry made a show of rolling his eyes. “Whatever you say, pal.”

    “Oh good, everybody’s here,” Ken said, returning from the bathroom. “My wife has a special dinner planned tonight, so I’m going to head off now. Give the boss my regards, and let him know I’ll be back tomorrow.”

    Selena nodded. “Will do. Speaking of which, does anybody know when he’s likely to be back?”

    “Whenever he finishes up with that ‘independent operator’ of his,” Harry said.

    “It’s my turn to cook dinner,” Darius said. “I’d better get into the kitchen.”

    “And if you’re going to learn how to open locks with Natsuki, I’d better show her that room downstairs,” Selena added. “We don’t want her going in there if she makes an escape attempt.”

    Natsuki raised an eyebrow.

    “Come with me,” Selena said, motioning for Natsuki to come with her down into the basement. Natsuki marked her place in the book and followed. Selena took out her keys and unlocked the door nearest to the stairs, opening the door. “Whatever you do, never go into this room.”

    Natsuki blinked as she looked into the room. It was empty and windowless, the floor nothing more than bare concrete.

    Natsuki glanced at Selena. “I don’t understand. It’s just a room.”

    “It was when we got here,” Selena said. “Now there’s no telling what it is. This is where we test things. New ideas for magic, technology, that sort of thing. In theory, residual effects shouldn’t last very long, but when you’re warping the fabric of reality, well...” She sighed. “We had a room like this in our last base. One day, a mouse got into it and disappeared – in front of us. We never saw it again. To this day, we don’t know what happened to it. Balthazar tells us that he scrubbed the room clean before we relocated, but...well, you never know. So, this room is not safe.”

    “I’ll leave this room alone,” Natsuki promised. “Can I ask you something?”

    Selena shut the door and locked it. “Sure. What is it?”

    “What did Balthazar tell you when he decided to keep me as a hostage?” Natsuki said.

    “That you’d be useful in helping us deal with Aquila,” Selena replied. “And that we were to treat you well. He didn’t need to tell us that last part.”

    “Do you think he’s right?” Natsuki asked. “About my being useful, I mean.”

    Selena paused and cocked her head. “I’m not sure. If it were one of us, it wouldn’t stop him. I mean, the boss cares a lot about us. If one of us were captured, he’d mount a rescue, and do whatever it took to get them back.”

    “Aquila’s the same way,” Natsuki said. “All she wanted to do was get us out of danger. If you hadn’t caught me, she would have found me and we would have left without you ever knowing we were here. If she knew where I was right now, she’d come to get me.”

    Selena gave her a kind smile. “Good on her.”

    Natsuki suppressed her own. One more seed planted.

    “Anyway, we should get back upstairs,” Selena said.

    “What’s in the other room?” Natsuki asked.

    “It’s just a meeting room,” Selena replied. “A table and folding chairs. Balthazar says we’re going to get better furniture in a few days, and if the other side finds out where we are, we’ll need to use it so that they can’t use a laser microphone to hear what we’re saying. But, they don’t know where we are yet, and the kitchen table is just nicer. Anyway, Darius’ cooking is a lot better than you’d think for a wizard from a bad fantasy story, and I’d like to help him. So, let’s get back upstairs.”

Natsuki spent most of the dinner silent, paying close attention to the conversation and waiting for the right opening. It came just as they were starting dessert.

    She took a deep breath. “Balthazar, you said that you were thinking of letting me go anyway. When do you plan to do that?”

    The conversation stopped, all eyes on Balthazar. Natsuki suppressed a smile. Seeds growing.

    “I don’t know,” Balthazar replied. “The fact that the other side probably has your friends requires a re-evaluation.”

    “Please set a date to let me go,” Natsuki said. “This would be so much easier to bear if I knew when it was going to end.”

    Balthazar shook his head. “It’s not that easy.”

    “Yes it is,” Natsuki retorted. “You wanted to keep me here for leverage, but what leverage can you possibly have? The longer I’m a captive in this house, the more Aquila has a reason to stay and search for me. And when she finds me, she will tear this house apart to save me. The only person who could even slow her down then is you, and you know that. So, the longer I’m here, the more you are going to have to stay in this house to guard me.”

    Natsuki leaned forward over her parfait. “You don’t understand Aquila. She doesn’t want to get involved in anybody’s war. She’s so ashamed of the blood on her hands that she swore to never take another life. If you let me go to her, the only thing that’s going to happen is that we’re going to leave for the world she and Kasumi call home...and that is months of travel away from here. By the time she has us to safety, your war will be long over.”

    “And can you guarantee that this is what Aquila will do?” Balthazar asked.

    Natsuki shook her head. “The only person who can tell Aquila what to do is Kasumi...and she does. But I know both of them very well. Aquila won’t stay here unless she needs to, and right now the only reason she needs to stay is to find me.”

    Out of the corner of her eye, Natsuki saw Harry glance around the table. “We’re all with Natsuki on this one, boss,” he said. “We signed up to help end the suffering in the story worlds, not take somebody hostage and make her miserable.”

    Selena nodded. “Look, it’s your decision, boss. I really like Natsuki, she’s great, and I would love it if she joined us. But, she’s not going to, and we all know that. And if by some miracle we don’t have to destroy the story worlds, she’s the sort of person I would love to call a friend after this. But...” She gave Natsuki a look full of shame and regret. “But, after what we’ve done to her, I don’t think that’s very likely. And that becomes less of a possibility every minute she’s here. If she’s not actually useful for leverage, then we should just be apologizing to her and letting her go, and hoping that one day she forgives us.”

    “I’ll save you having to ask,” Darius declared. “I’m with Natsuki too. I’ve been held captive before in my story world, and I know what it’s like. Natsuki doesn’t deserve this.”

    Natsuki suppressed a grin. Seeds blossoming.

    Balthazar sighed. “And I’m guessing if we asked Ken, he’d say the same.”

    “He’s got a daughter, boss,” Harry stated. “What do you think?”

    “Fine,” Balthazar said. “What day is it today?”

    “Wednesday,” Harry replied.

    “Then we’ll make it Saturday,” Balthazar declared. “If we haven’t been able to arrange for Aquila to talk to us by then, Natsuki will be free to go, with our apologies and enough money to get her to her friends at Camp Asaka. Then we’ll have to relocate again. I’ve already got a backup location for us.”

    Natsuki realized she had been holding her breath, and exhaled, keeping her expression impassive. Good, but it could be better.

    “You’ve confirmed they have them?” Darius asked.

    Balthazar nodded. “As much as is possible at this point. The ‘independent operator’ told me that he’ll probably need to speak to me tomorrow, which suggests something has changed on the other side. I have to meet with him anyway to hand over Natsuki’s letter.”

    Natsuki blinked. Balthazar was staring at her. “It’s ready, of course,” Natsuki said.

    “Good,” Balthazar said. “I’ll take a look tonight, and take it with me tomorrow.”