Chapter Twelve – All In

“Is that everything?” her dad asked as he easily hauled up a duffle bag and chucked it into the back of his SUV. That same bag was almost too heavy for Emily to lift, and yet he’d grabbed it with one hand and lifted it like it was nothing.

She’d rarely told him so, but she genuinely appreciated how strong her dad was. It made him someone she could always rely on. “That’s the last of them,” she said. “Thanks, dad.”

Her dad smiled right back. “No problem,” he said before looking past her. “Do you need a minute with your friends?”

“Yeah, just a minute or two,” Emily confirmed. “Can you distract the girls for a bit?”

“Easily!” he said, then with a chuckle, he turned towards where Teddy and Athena were arguing while Maple watched and sauntered over. “Hey girls, want to see a trick? Pull on my finger!”

Emily rolled her eyes. It was very stupid, but it was also exactly the kind of thing that would make the girls laugh. They were currently gathered in a quiet parking lot not too far from the college. It had one of the few exits from the underground metro line nearby, so they were able to sneak their things out without catching too much attention.

Sam’s van was parked nearby, idling with the radio on, and Sam herself wasn’t too far from it, back leaning against the car and arms crossed while she talked with Alea Acta. The young man was being rather sheepish, but he’d come along to help. He hadn’t actually been all that helpful, but Emily was glad to have another powered person around.

Trinity, all three of her, was standing not too far away, staring up at the two adults as they talked about… sports? Emily picked up on the conversation as she walked closer.

“Yeah, but our team’s always been kind of butt,” Sam said. “They have the lowest score in the region.”

“We weren’t always,” he rebutted. “We had a great team like, three, four years ago.”

“Sure, when we had that one guy who went to the major leagues as captain. The moment he left the team fell apart, and then no one wanted to fund a losing team,” Sam said.

“What teams are we talking about?” Emily asked as she stopped close enough that she could place a hand on Trinity’s head. She ruffled her hair a bit, then started to fix it up. Trinity’s hair was surprisingly rough. It was also a darker grey, with a few streaks of white and black in it.

“We’re talking hockey,” Alea said. He rubbed at his nose, then shrugged. “The school team is kind of bad this year. We didn’t have high hopes, and even then, they kinda sucked.”

“The women’s team did better,” Sam said. “Placed somewhere in the middle. Didn’t make it to the finals, but reached the quarters, which is more than we can say about the men’s league.”

“Oh, okay,” Emily said. She nodded as if she had any idea what they were talking about. Sports was… her dad’s thing. She’d sometimes watch, and she knew enough to tell when one team was winning, but she’d never invested too much time into it.

“How many people are on a team?” Trinity asked. She looked up at Emily and blinked from her left and right. The Trinity whose hair Emily was playing with didn’t move at all.

Emily tried to recall, but Alea was faster. “Six per team on the ice, but you’ll usually have about twenty players a team, total. But that’s for substitutions and such. For a pick-up game, you’d want five to six players per team.”

“Oh!” Trinity said with a gasp. “We could be a team! Teddy can be the goaler, since hitting her would be funny, and I can be half the team, and then you, and Athena, and Aurora can be the other half!”

“What about Maple?” Emily asked. She was mostly humouring the idea. She didn’t plan on going and playing.

“Weapon’s maker.”

“Uh, no weapons in hockey,” Alea said.

“Ice rockets?”

“Very cool, but also probably against the rules,” he replied.

“Zamboni driver?”

Alea paused, then shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”

Emily smiled, then ran a finger over Trinity’s little racoon ear. It twitched. She found herself idly flicking it back and forth as she talked. “Will you be okay watching over Trinity?” she asked Sam.

“Just one third of her,” Sam replied. “That sounds easy enough to me.”

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“I’m low maintenance!” Trinity cheered.

“Sure you are,” Emily lied. “Don’t give her too much sugar or caffeine. Make sure she doesn’t get in your trash, and don’t just feed her leftovers.”

Sam snorted. “Sounds like my aunt’s instructions for keeping her dog.”

“Hey!” Trinity said. “I’m a racoon, not a dog! We’re way better.”

“Mhm,” Emily agreed while rubbing Trinity’s ear between forefinger and thumb. “She’s well-behaved most of the time, surprisingly. Ah, and she’ll be able to keep communications between us going. If anything happens in Eauclaire, let me know right away. Or let Trinity know and she’ll pass it along.”

“Got it,” Sam said. “And if you need little things, Trinity here will ‘port them over to you?”

“That’s the plan,” Emily said. A lot of this plan hinged on Trinity’s ability to transfer things between pockets. It was kind of a ridiculously powerful little ability, at least for utility.

Trinity gave her six-thumb’s up. “I can do that!”

“I know you can,” Emily said. She let go of her sister’s ears and just patted her atop the head instead. “Are you ready to go, then?”

“Yeah!” Trinity said. Two of her ran off to join her sisters where they were laughing at something her dad had said. The last stayed right where she was.

“I’ll manage it, don’t worry,” Sam said. “But do keep in touch. I want to learn as much as I can about End Games.”

“Kind of curious too,” Alea said. “I mean, not curious enough to test my luck and head over to one myself. There’s being lucky and there’s jumping into a fire and hoping for the best, you know, but uh… yeah, I’m sure you’ll do fine, Boss.”

Emily was happy to see that there were other people in the world with the ability to stick their foot in their own mouth. “I’m sure,” Emily agreed. “Ah, but I think it’s about time we head out. So… bye.”

“See ya, Ems,” Sam said with a wink.

Trinity got a parting hug (even though she’d still be with Emily, this one particular part of her wouldn’t, and that warranted a hug) and then Emily waved goodbye to her… friends, and headed out to join her sisters.

She found her dad playing junglegym for the girls. “Ah, you ready to go, sweetie?” he asked as he pulled Teddy off his face.

“Yes,” Emily said. “Everyone, in the car. No, I get to sit in front, Athena. Aurora, can you sit in the middle? Don’t let Maple take anything apart please. Teddy, no transforming into a bear.”

They didn’t have car seats, but she thought that most of her sisters were close to big enough that it wouldn’t matter… probably.

“Does anyone need to use the washroom?” Emily asked. She received a chorus of ‘nos’ then turned to her dad. “Let’s stop at the first fast-food place we see. They’re going to need the washroom.”

Her dad chuckled. “Ah, you’ve grown up so much,” he said. “Makes me proud, you know? Your mom and I had given up on ever having grandkids.”

“Dad,” Emily said.

“But now, look at this! A gaggle of brats!”

“We’re not brats!” Teddy said, brattishly.

“Yeah!” Trinity replied.

“Grandboss said that we’re little angels,” Maple added helpfully from the backseat. She was already fiddling with the car’s seatbelt mechanism in a way that made Emily inwardly groan.

Emily slid into the front passenger seat and buckled herself in, then she turned to face the back. She was pretty sure this wasn’t the last time she’d be contorting herself to handle her sisters. “Behave,” she said. “Dad is being very nice and driving us most of the way to the big scary End Game. If you don’t behave, he might drop us off halfway, and then we’ll have to walk all the way home.”

“I bet I can walk back the fastest,” Teddy said.

“Not the point she was trying to make,” Aurora replied.

With a resigned sigh, Emily turned back and gave her dad a nod. He started the SUV, and the engine rumbled to life. The girls were still half-chattering, half-arguing, each claiming a seat and fighting over elbow space and window control buttons.

She wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable fight over the radio once her dad started playing the kind of music he liked.

It was going to be a long drive.

***

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