Sell you a Bridge chapter 247 (Patreon)

June 3rd 2016 The Doormouse's Door Repository, The Nightside 12:00 PM EDT

Tommy  had been absolutely fascinated by the points gain when the clock ticked  over to noon. I was up to one hundred twenty thousand, and he was  somehow able to sense the shift in my ability. After talking to him more  I started to realize Tommy could sense A LOT of things that most people  couldn't. When I expressed my surprise he just grinned at me."Oh, I've  always been very good at reading people. I won my gift in a poker game,  did you know that?"

I really wanted to hear that story,  but I was distracted from inquiring further when I stepped into the  Doormouse's shop. The place was, as one would expect, full of doors.  Big, small, bright, drab, round, square, if there was a type of door you  could imagine the doormouse had it. The impressive part wasn't the  variety of doors though, it was what they were hooked up to. Computers.  Tons of the things, lining the walls and attached to the doors with  cables and wires. The whole shope was a shining mess of chrome and  futuristic tech.

A delighted voice cried out. "Guests!  Wonderful! Welcome, welcome sirs and ladies! Please, do come in." Out  from behind a door came a six foot tall humanoid mouse, with dark  chocolate fur under a pristine lab coat, complete with pocket protector.  He had a long muzzle and twitching whiskers, but his kind eyes were  completely human, and they shone warmly as he chattered away in a  slightly high pitched voice. He spotted Taylor. "Oh, Mr. Taylor, how  lovely to see you again, I take it you're here for another door?"

Taylor,  who was as expected, unruffled by the six foot bipedal mouse he'd  brought us to see, gave him a smile. "Right you are, Mouse. We were  hoping you have a back entrance for us into the Prospero and Michael  Scott Library. Nothing shady, we don't need to bypass any security, but  the place might be under surveillance and we were hoping to slip in and  out to see some friends unnoticed. I'd like to put this one on my tab,  if at all possible. That is, assuming my favor is still good here?"

The  huge mouse's eyes widened. "Why, certainly! A door to an unsecured  location without bypassing any protections is easy enough, though I'm  afraid I don't have the library in stock at the moment. This will need  to be a custom job, and while I'm happy to waive the fee, I'm afraid the  time needed to arrange the door itself won't be as simple to do away  with. I trust you fine people don't mind a bit of a wait while I prepare  your means of conveyance? You can feel free to look around my current  selection, perhaps you'll see something you like?"

While  we were in a hurry, there was no reason to be dicks to the man, er,  mouse. We confirmed we didn't mind waiting and the lab coat clad shop  keep bustled off to a corner of the shop behind a stack of computers.  Taylor shot us all a reassuring smile. "No need to worry. Mouse is a  master of transport. Just look at where some of these doors lead, you'll  see that it's nearly impossible to stop him from getting you where you  need to go." He gestured at the doors, and I noticed that each door had a  neat, handwritten label proclaiming its destination.

Shadows  Fall, Hy-Brasil, Hyperborea, Carcosa. There were dozens of doors in the  show room, unsupported by frames and unconnected to anything except the  cables hooking them to the computers. Off to one side were a pair of  plain wooden doors with polished brass handles, one dark mahogany, and  one white oak. The labels on them read simply 'Heaven' and 'Hell'. I  turned to look at Taylor incredulously, and all the others were shooting  him the same looks.

The big detective just shrugged. "I  know what you're thinking, I asked the same thing. He doesn't know if  they work. Just says the maths are sound. Anyway, this will probably  take a bit of time. But it should save us even more, so the wait won't  cost us anything in the long run, and Junior, don't you bloody dare." He  turned and glared at John, who was inching towards the 'Heaven' door  subtly. He froze in place at his mentor's chiding, and turned to stalk  off to the other side of the room and sulk.

Artemis  decided since we were here and waiting she was going to find out more  about our newest companion. "So, Tommy, what exactly is the relationship  between your power and Morgans? We aren't even sure where his comes  from, but wherever it is it's mixed up with some pretty crazy forces.  You said you won yours in a poker game? That doesn't really seem like  the same scale at all." Her tone was suspicious, and I could tell she  didn't like the idea of trusting this random stranger.

It  occurred to me that someone with trust issues like Artemis must have  been dealing with a lot of discomfort over how much faith we'd been  putting in people we were just meeting. It wasn't in Artemis's nature to  put her faith in anyone aside from people she cared about. Me, her  mother, Jim, we'd proven we could be counted on. People like Julian,  Taylor, even John, they were all strangers. She was having to push out  of her comfort zone and put her trust in all these new faces because if  she didn't we would be doing this on our own, and she couldn't bear to  let that happen.

Wally, who had been having his own moral  crisis over the Nightside and its occupants, had clearly missed the same  thing, because when she said that I saw his eyes widen in realization.  He looked...sad. Like he was disappointed with himself for not noticing  how much trouble she was having, and he took his girlfriends hand and  looked over at Tommy. "Not to be rude or anything, but we don't really  know you. Maybe you could give us a better idea of who you are and how  we know we can trust you?"

Artemis shot him a grateful  smile and squeezed his hand before turning back to look at Tommy. Taylor  spoke up for him though. "Tommy is an insufferable arse at times, but  he's good people. I watched him drag himself twenty feet across a street  while gutshot to save my life and the lives of several of my friends.  He's one of the few people I know of in the Nightside that genuinely  believes in doing the right thing and trying to help people. I know you  don't know me well either, but if the help I've given has given my words  any weight with you, then let me use it right now. Tommy is ok."

Tommy  looked genuinely touched. "John. That was the most genuinely heartfelt  thing I've ever heard you say about me. Even after that time I kidnapped  your secretary and hid her in a mausoleum after coming back in time and  swearing I would kill you in front of everyone in the bar." We all  stared at him in bewilderment before turning to look at Taylor who just  sighed and gripped the bridge of his nose.

His voice was  dry as he said. "For someone so persuasive you can be awfully stupid  about people Tommy. Anyway, long story. Regardless, Tommy is a damn  decent person, and I assure you I absolutely wouldn't let Sindella's  daughter run around with someone dangerous without at least warning  her." He gave Zee a somber nod, and I felt a flash of curiosity and pain  through our connection at the mention of her mother.

I  decided to intervene. I shot Artemis a smile. "I appreciate your support  Arty. Really. But I can feel a connection between my abilities and  Tommys. I think he can help me. I'll stay on my toes, and I know I'll be  ok with you watching my back, but I don't want to miss a chance to  learn more about the way my powers function, especially not in such a  dangerous place. We may need them before things are done."

I  could see the uncertainty on her face. I was asking her to take a lot  on faith here. She was already well outside her comfort zone, and I  couldn't believe I had missed how much this was bothering her. While I  did use my aura sight plenty, I usually tried to give my loved ones  privacy outside combat situations. Still she also knew how much it  bothered me that my powers were such a mystery, and she knew she  couldn't keep me from trying to learn more.

She turned to  glare at Tommy. "Fine, if Taylor vouches for you I can give you the  benefit of the doubt. He's been helping us a ton with looking for Kit,  and we wouldn't be nearly as close without him leading us to Julian, who  says he's decent people too. Still I'm keeping my eye on you. If you  hurt my friend..." She held up her hand and an arc of purple lightning  danced between her fingers. "I won't keep quiet."

The  foppish detective didn't look scared, I suppose it was hard to take a  teenager seriously when you lived in the Nightside (even if that was a  mistake on his part) but he also didn't look dismissive. He gave her a  somber nod of respect. I'm not sure what he would have said to her  honestly, but we were interrupted before I could find out by the return  of the Doormouse. The big labvoat wearing came bustling over cheerfully,  obviously bearing good news, and lit up when he saw us.

He  clapped his hands together once. "Wonderful! You're still here. I've  finished the calibrations for your door. Nothing too difficult of  course, just a quick trip to a public library. I have you coming out in  the fiction section. Nothing too dangerous or important but easy to  reach and far out of the way of the prying eyes of anyone watching the  entrance. It will of course offer a round trip, so you'll be perfectly  able to return the same way to avoid detection once again!" It was hard  not to get swept up in his unbridled enthusiasm for...well everything.  The Doormouse was just a friendly guy as far as I could tell.

He  gestured for us to follow and led us off to a corner where a new door  was standing between two metallic posts, the closest thin to a frame any  of these had. The posts were lined with flashing lights and readouts  and as we drew clouse the Doormouse stepped behind a computer terminal  off to the side and motioned for us to hold on for a moment as he  seemingly double checked the coordinates for our destination just to be  sure. He made a few taps on his keyboard, fiddling with some settings.  "So sorry for the delay. Just anchoring the return coordinates to an  existing entryway. They tend to drift if you don't lock the connection.  This way you can return through the same door you enter from."

I  was mildly curious how we would have gotten back if he hadn't done  that, but nore and more I was getting the impressions that the Nightside  was the kind of place where it was better not to ask questions you  weren't sure you wanted to know the answer to. Taylor stepped up to the  thank the Doormouse, echoed by the rest of us, because a few minutes  really would be nothing compared to actually getting to and entering the  library from what I could tell, and every minute we got closer was a  minute we weren't leaving Kit helpless and at the mercy of enemies.  Finally we waved goodbye and I opened up the door and stepped through,  coming out in an entirely new building. I made a mental note to get a  power like this. It was super convenient.