Cold Days (The Dresden Files 14)

"Raise your standards. There's almost always time for an insult or two."

He smiled, though it was a bit pained. He waggled the fingers of his right hand experimentally. "Are you done?"

I exhaled slowly, and didn't answer.

"How much of what you told her is true?" he asked.

"What did you hear?" I asked him.

"Pretty much everything after you took the knife out of me."

"Nail," I corrected him, and held it up so he could see. It still had his blood on it.

He looked a little pained. "Harry, would you mind?"

"No," I said, and wiped the blood into the earth, scrubbing it off the nail.

"Thanks," he said. He squinted at the wall and then at me. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Trade secrets," I said. "How did you guys get here? I know you didn't take a boat."

"Flew in," Fix said. "Shape-shifters. I dropped from a hang glider over the lake and parachuted in."

"Damn. You got extreme."

"I'm getting there," he said.

"So you landed here and put the circle up?"

"Trade secrets," he said cautiously. "You realize we still aren't sitting in the same dugout, right? I can do the frenemies thing. It's kind of traditional. But we are not on the same side."

"No. You're on the wrong side," I said. "Maybe more than one."

"That's what every conflict sounds like," he said. "Not everyone can be equally right, Harry."

"But believe you me, everyone can be equally wrong," I said. "Fix, this is about more than Winter and Summer."

He frowned at that.

"Tell me this," I said. "I'm not asking for anything specific, anything that I might be able to use against you later." As if Maeve would let me have a later. "Just tell me: Has Maeve ever asked you to take something at her word. And just told you something was true? Straight up?"

Fix's frown deepened.

"And you thought to yourself, 'Hey, that's odd. She never just tells anyone anything straight up.'"

His lips parted slightly, and his eyes fixed on Maeve.

"And you thought that if anyone but one of the Ladies had said it, you would wonder if she was lying. But she didn't leave any wiggle room, so it had to be the truth."

"So?" he asked, very quietly.

"So let me ask you this," I said. "If you assume that she can lie, even if it was just that once-how does it change the picture?"

Fix might have had some foolish idealism going, but he'd never been anywhere close to stupid. "Oh," he breathed. "Um."

"Remember when Lily opened the door to Arctis Tor for us, back when?"

"Sure."

"When we got inside, the Leanansidhe was popsicled in Mab's garden," I said. "Because something had invaded her and influenced her actions. Mab was in the middle of some kind of exorcism based on the model of an ice age."

"And?"

"And what if this invader got into the water before Mab caught it?" I asked. "What if it got into Maeve?"

"That's crazy," he said. "Mab's the one who's gone mental."

"Is she?" I asked him. "Is it so crazy? Remember that meeting at Mac's? Remember how we found out that Mab had cracked a gasket?"

"Maeve told . . ." He stopped speaking suddenly.

"Yeah," I said. "A minute ago, you told Lily to ignore the words and look at the actions. You know as well as I do which speaks louder. You know who I am and what I've done. So I'm going to ask one more question," I said. "Whose idea was it to be here tonight? Lily's? Or Maeve's?"

The blood drained from his face. "Oh. Fuck."

I bowed my head. Then I said, "Fix, I saved you because you're a decent guy, and I don't care if we're on different teams. I don't want you dead."

"Yeah," he said quietly. "It . . . speaks pretty loud. But maybe you knew I'd think that. Maybe you did it so that you could play me."

"Maybe you're giving me way more credit for cunning than I'm due. You know how I work. How often do I get to a neat, elegant solution that ties everything up? Can you look at me right now and honestly say to yourself, 'Dresden, that wily genius! This must be a part of his master plan'?"

I spread my hands and looked up at him expectantly.

Fix looked at me, dirty, naked, shivering, burned, bruised, covered in soot and ash.

"Fuck," he said again, and looked back at the Ladies.

"I don't think Maeve did anything to Lily's head," I said. "I don't think she needed to. I think Lily was insecure and lonely enough that all Maeve needed to do was act sort of like a person. Give Lily someone who she felt understood what she was going through. Someone she thought would have her back."

"A friend," Fix said.

"Yes."

"Everyone wants to have a friend," he said quietly. "Is that so bad?"

"Thelma and Louise were friends," I said. I pointed at the triangle. "Canyon."

The muscles along his jaw jumped several times. "Even if . . . even if you're being honest, and you're right-and I'm not copping to either-so what? Those coteries with them are their inner circles. They'll obey without question. You've got nothing left to fight with. And I sure as hell can't take them all on alone."

I didn't want to say it, to give away anything to a potential enemy. Nemesis could have taken Fix, for all I knew. It could be there inside him right then, smirking at the rapport it was establishing with me. That was the ugly fact.

But sometimes you have to ignore the math, and . . .

And follow the wisdom of your heart.

My heart told me that Fix was a decent guy.

"Fix, I know about this island. It's kind of my stomping grounds. That's how I got through. And I know that if Maeve has her way, this island is going Mount Saint Helens, and taking Chicago with it."

He stared at me, frowning, pensive.

"My daughter is in town," I said in a whisper. "She'll die."

He blinked. "You have a . . . ?" Then he rocked back a little, as he realized what I'd entrusted him with. "Oh. Christ, Dresden."

I took a deep breath and pressed on. "The Hunt is out there taking it to the Outsiders right now," I said. "And they're winning. And my crew is here, outside the circle. Murphy, Molly, Thomas, Mouse. If I can take the circle down, we aren't alone."

"When did 'we' happen?" he asked in a flat, hard tone.