Chapter 12: Devil’s Advocate

“I — you — what?” Georgie sputtered.  “You can’t expect to turn me right now!”

“If not you, I’ve gotta turn someone else,” I said, swallowing.  “You were right.  I might get killed soon.  It could happen today.  We can’t afford to leave the world with no way to get any more griffon vultures.”

“You could just not go!” Georgie cried.  “Call the police!”

“I’d love to!” I snapped.  “But the last time I did that, Rodrigo had a way of spying on them!  He went to all the trouble of sending the police on a wild goose chase with the first map, so he clearly doesn’t want them there.  I don’t want the hostages to die!”

“You don’t even know if there are hostages!  He could be lying!”

He had a good point, but I’d already thought of that.  I shook my head rapidly.  “It doesn’t matter if he’s lying.  If it’s not true now, and I ignore this message, it will be.  Whoever’s working with Rodrigo will go out and get hostages.”

“Hostages can’t be that easy to get,” Georgie argued.

“Oh, please!” I shot back.  “Aswangs can look like anybody they drink blood from.  All they have to do is grab a school bus driver and take his place, and they could drive off with a whole bus of little kids!”

Georgie’s pale face turned even paler.

I clenched my fists.  No, I couldn’t avoid this.  I wanted to, but I couldn’t avoid it.  I’d kind of suspected something like this would happen, although I’d managed to forget about the whole thing yesterday.

I shuddered as I thought about how mad Kegan was going to be.  I’d have to tell her, of course.  Her parents, too.  Her parents would have to drive me there.

I sure hoped they’d understand.

“Look,” Georgie said with rather wild eyes, looking like he was trying to be logical about this, “you can’t turn me right now.  You don’t even have your turning stone here.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Yes, you — what?”

“It’s in Kegan’s family’s car,” I said in a duh voice.  “I have a nosy little sister at home who would have tried to turn herself if I’d left it behind.  She’s such a pill.”

Now Georgie was hyperventilating.  “I — I — I — I can’t!  Not today!  Not ever!  I have to be a turkey vulture!”

Oddly, his panic was making me feel a whole lot more calm and logical.

“Well, think it through, Georgie,” I said.  “The chances are high that it’s a turkey werevulture stone.  If the turning goes wrong, you’ll turn into a turkey vulture, which you want to be anyway.”

He breathed in deeply, looking slightly less panicked.

I went on, “I’ll leave my turning stone with you.  Of course you won’t be going with me into danger.  If I die, you’ll keep my turning stone, and you can use it for whatever you want, including starting a second turkey vulture clan.  If your turning goes wrong and I’m dead, it’d be useless to turn griffon vultures, so you might as well.  If your turning goes wrong and I don’t die, I’ll come back for my turning stone, but you’ll still be a turkey vulture six months early.  You win, either way.”

“What if the turning fails?” he demanded.  “Or what if it’s not a turkey vulture stone, and I become something else instead?”

“Then we’re both screwed,” I said succinctly.

He looked shocked, then thoughtful.  He stared at me silently.

I waited for him to make up his mind, my heart hammering.  He just kept standing there, so I eventually got antsy and texted Kegan.  How long till you’re here?

Almost there now! she texted, and added a smilie face.

“’Kay, I’m leaving as soon as I can convince my friend’s parents they have to drive me there,” I said.  “They should be here any minute.  I’ll be waiting outside.  Come out with me if you want to be turned.  Don’t if you don’t.”

I turned and walked down the stairs.  No footsteps followed me.  My heart pounded, but I told myself that it was fine if he decided not to.  It was fine.  You couldn’t expect anybody to make up their mind about something so huge that quickly.

I said goodbye to Georgie’s mother, who was in the kitchen chatting with another woman who had been at the clan meeting, and she waved and smiled back.  “Goodbye, Lisa!  It was nice to meet you!”

You wouldn’t think so if you knew what I asked Georgie to do, I thought.

“It was nice to meet you, too,” I said politely.  I waved to both women and headed out the front door.

As I stood there, waiting for Kegan’s family to drive up, I felt a wave of intense regret.

If Georgie says no, I might get killed, and then there will never be any other griffon vultures.  If Georgie says yes, his grandfather will make sure I am never welcome back here.

Either way, I lose.

Georgie still hadn’t come outside by the time Kegan and her family drove up.  Kegan didn’t even wait for the car to stop before she unbuckled her seat belt and burst insubstantially through the side of the car.  She started babbling the instant she went substantial again as she ran towards me.

“Lisette!  I have to tell you about the full moon!  The banshee clan’s huge!  We met this guy who turned out to be Mom’s second cousin, and the pizza we ordered in was awesome, and Dominic’s not the only boyfriendable guy there, although I didn’t tell him that I thought those other guys were hot, too —”

“How many times have I told you to keep your seat belt buckled until the car’s stopped?” Kegan’s father called grumpily, having stepped out through the passenger side door.

Kegan was too busy babbling excitedly to pay any attention to this.  “Oh, and Dominic has a friend at school who’s a wereowl, so if you want to do another double date before we leave, I think we could get you someone with wings!”

That was a really exciting idea, so it was a shame I couldn’t take her up on it right now.  “Kegan —”

“He’s a snowy owl,” Kegan said excitedly.  “And guess what?  He has wings in half-form, just like you do!  Okay, Dominic says he’s entirely a bird from the neck down, but —”

“Kegan, we’re going to be busy!” I hollered.

“Busy with what?” she asked.

I pulled out my phone and turned on the screen.  I showed her the first text, and then the second.

Her expression turned ugly.  “Oh, no, you don’t.  You have got to be kidding me.”

“What is it?” Kegan’s dad asked, walking over.

I handed over the phone silently.

He read the first text, then the second.  He did a slight double-take and checked his watch.

Without asking, he then walked back to the car with my phone, and passed it through the closed door to his wife, who was still sitting in the driver’s side.  A few seconds later, she got out, her eyes blazing.

“Well, what are you two doing standing around?” she demanded.  “Let’s go!”

Kegan gaped at her mother.  “Are you kidding me?  We’re not putting Lisette in danger!”

“No, of course not; we’re protecting her from the danger she’s clearly already in,” her mother said sharply.  “Get in the car.  We’re either driving back home right now or we’re driving to that blasted place, and we need to decide which as quickly as possible.”

Kegan and I ran to the car.  She hopped through the door, and I had to wait for Kegan’s mother to unlock it so that I could get in.

“Okay, devil’s advocate,” Kegan’s dad said, as soon as he had slid through the locked door on his side.  Now we were all in the car.  “What if we go there?”

“Then we’d probably be breaking our promise to Lisette’s parents to keep her out of trouble,” Kegan’s mom said.

“True,” he nodded.  “But let’s start out arguing the other side.  Kegan, what’s your devil’s advocate argument?”

“You must be kidding,” Kegan shot back.

“Everybody has to argue all sides.”

She groaned and rolled her eyes.  “Okay, fine.  Lisette’s been kidnapped twice already.  If we don’t go with her into that obvious trap, she’ll probably wind up forced to go there sometime without anybody else beside her who might help her get out of it.  Happy?”

“Delighted,” Kegan’s dad said.  “Kayleigh?”

“Mmm, for devil’s advocate, I think it’s pretty obvious we don’t want any hostages dying.”

“Right,” Kegan’s dad nodded.  “Lisette?”

“I want to go,” I said.

“We’re not arguing for what we want or don’t want,” he said sharply.  “We’re all arguing one side and then the other.  Now: give me one argument why it would make sense to go.”

“Okaaaaaaaaay . . .” I said slowly.  This was a really weird way to argue.  “Um, if we don’t go, Rodrigo will find a way to get me there anyway.  Maybe he’ll kidnap Kegan.  She’s the most important person in the world to me, after all.”

Kegan looked pleased to hear this.

“Devil’s advocate from me,” Kegan’s dad said.  “We could reasonably get there in time, which might not necessarily be the case if something like this happens again, and if things escalate next time, which seems likely to happen.”

Kegan’s mom nodded.  “Now angel’s advocate.  Lisette.”

“Am I supposed to argue the other side?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t like that you called my side the devil side.”

“Tough cookies.  What’s your argument?”

“Umm . . .”  I thought about it.  “I don’t want to die anyway, but if I died now, it would be really bad because it would mean there’d be no way to turn new griffon vultures, which would be really bad for everybody.”

“My turn!  My turn!” Kegan said.

“Not yet,” her mom answered.  “Alan.”

“I think I’ll stick with your point that we’d be breaking our promise to Lisette’s parents,” Kegan’s dad said.  “Unless you’d rather that be your argument.”

“Nope, I’ve got another one,” Kegan’s mom said.  “Kegan.”

“Lisette could DIE!” she shouted.

“And my angel’s advocate argument is that this could be nothing but a trick, and it is eminently avoidable,” Kegan’s mom said.

“Yeah, but then Rodrigo will just —” I began.

“We’re not on devil’s advocate now, and you’ve already had your turn,” Kegan’s mom cut me off.  “Now for the other option: What if we go straight back home instead?  Kegan.  Devil’s advocate.”

“If we go back home, Lisette’ll be safe.  Duh.”

“No I won’t, because —!”

“Not your turn,” Kegan’s mother said shortly.  “And rebuttals happen when we move to the other side.  Alan.”

“I’ve already finished the meeting I came here for, and the full moon’s over, so there’s no reason to stay any longer.”

“Lisette.”

“I guess my parents would prefer it if I take the safe road for myself even if people die because of it,” I grumbled.

“And my argument is that if something else dangerous happens to Lisette later because of ignoring this, it’s more likely she’ll be safer in familiar territory that she knows well.”  Kegan’s mom paused.  “Last arguments, this time against going home.  Angel’s advocate.  Kegan.”

“I don’t want to argue against it.  It’s what I want to do!”

“Do it anyway.  You know the rules.”

Kegan let out a loud, exasperated sigh.  “Fine.  If we go back home now, and something else dangerous happens, Lisette might not have all of us with her.”

“That’s the same as your argument for going to the hostage place,” I protested.

“That’s allowed,” Kegan’s mom said.  “The rule is that you bring your best argument, not that it has to be different from one you’ve already made.  Alan.”

“I think there’s a reasonably good chance there might be a trap waiting for us on the journey back home if we try to do that,” he said.  “There’s no guarantee, of course, but it seems prudent to assume there may be.”

My blood ran chill.  That idea hadn’t even occurred to me.

“Lisette.”

I swallowed.  Then I swallowed again.  This was the last argument I could make in favor of saving the hostages.  It had to be a good one.

I tried to think of something ultra-persuasive, but there was only one thing that kept coming to mind.

“If people die because I didn’t go and save them, I could never live with myself,” I said quietly.  “I’d rather die than have that happen.”

I couldn’t allow myself to die before I’d turned somebody.  That was the massive hole in this argument.  Still, if these words persuaded them, I’d tell them that part later.

“And my argument is that I feel the same way,” Kegan’s mom said simply.  “Now let’s vote.  Having considered all arguments, who’s in favor of going home?”

Kegan’s hand raised.

“Who’s in favor of trying to save the hostages?”

My hand raised, and so did both of Kegan’s parents’ hands.

“Majority,” Kegan’s mom said.  “No tie, so no tiebreakers.  Let’s go.”

She put the key in the ignition and started the car.

And Georgie burst out of the front door of his house and bolted towards us.