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June 9 - June 29, 2025
Always choose an alias with your own initials, their mentor has told them. At some point, you will be tired or distracted or simply human and you will start to write or say your real name instead of your alias. It is far easier to correct your mistake without arousing suspicions if you have at least begun with the proper letter. Also, it means never having to change your monogram. Remember, ladies, your lives are lies now, but the fewer you tell, the simpler it is to keep them straight.
“Nobody said anything about a dog,” Helen says faintly. “I’m not killing a dog.” Nat rears back from the window, eyes wide. “I can’t do it.”
Honestly same
Basically, everyone who wanted to go hunting Nazis and didn’t have a mandate from their government got together and decided to write their own.
We only kill people who are specifically targeted by the Museum for extermination and we don’t freelance, ever. We don’t murder on our days off any more than a thoracic surgeon will cut your rib cage open for kicks. We have standards.
“Here, Mary Alice. Drink this and I’ll see if I can find you a flashlight.” Mary Alice furrowed her brow. “Flashlight?” “To find the stick up your ass. Let me know if you need a hand getting it out,” Natalie said sweetly.
Lmao
“I’m going to miss the adrenaline,” Nat told us, her expression wistful. “I mean, how else am I going to find anything that makes me feel that alive?” “You could take up recreational drugs,” Mary Alice suggested.
There are no job fairs for assassins. Recruitment is a delicate business,
I represent an organization that is in need of talent—specifically young, new talent that can be shaped and molded in accordance with our purposes for a very special endeavor.” “Is it porn? It’s porn, isn’t it?”
The Baker Street Irregulars
She was the supervisor of an all-female tactical team that parachuted behind German lines in 1945. They were called the Furies.”
‘I am interested in justice, not the law. There is an unfortunate difference.’
Fiat justitia ruat caelum. Billie has just enough Latin to translate the motto and she smiles to herself. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
“Training to protect the same values for which every Allied soldier in the war gave his life,” he says quietly.
We don’t make killers. We simply find them and point them in the right direction. We know what you are.”
“What the hell kind of jewelry is this, Helen?” She shrugged. “It was made for the Helsinki job and I liked how it looked with this dress, so I kept it.” She pushed a bead aside to show me how it was strung. “Piano wire. I used it on the head of the Finnish national bank.”
“We’re either the marks or the Museum doesn’t care if we were collateral damage,” I said. “That’s hurtful,” Mary Alice put in.
Women are every bit as capable of killing as men. And you have advantages that men do not. You are all attractive young women, and your appearance means men underestimate you. You will use this to your advantage.”
“Some of your advantages are more apparent than others, but amongst the four of you, there is something to appeal to most tastes. You, for instance,” she says, pointing her walking stick at Helen, “you have an icy, Jacqueline Kennedy quality. Very refined. And you,” she says, gesturing to Natalie, “are gamine, like Audrey Hepburn.” Helen and Nat exchange quick smiles. Constance Halliday moves on to Mary Alice. “I think I need not enumerate your charms, my dear,” she says. “That sort of overripe body was very popular in the 1950s and there are still many men who prefer it to—” She motions
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“In Classical mythology, the Furies were the bringers of vengeance. They tortured people who had not paid for their crimes.”
“Homer said they lived in darkness and had no pity. He called them avengers, the daughters of the night. It was righteous anger that sustained them. It was a good name for my girls.”
“You are named for the Greek sphinx, a creature with the face and breasts of a beautiful woman, and the body of a lioness. She even has wings.”
“Safe for now,” Nat murmured. That had been another of the Shepherdess’ dicta. Whenever you were safe, even if it was for a short time, it was important to give yourself a chance to exhale, to take nourishment and rest and live to fight again.
Astraea was a goddess, the daughter of Dusk and Dawn, gifted by the gods with the tools of justice. She was the last immortal to live amongst mankind. But in the end, she despaired of our wickedness and she left, fleeing to the stars with her scales. She sits among the stars today as the constellation Virgo, the scales of Libra next to her. She waits, they say, for the day she will return.”
Most people grasp a weapon until their knuckles turn white, but that just tires out your hand. Like playing piano or giving a good hand job, it’s all in the wrist.
“I like the new look. Not everybody can pull off Shitty Tourist, but you really make it work.” “Thanks, I’m getting you one tomorrow.”
“It should come out fine, but if there are creases, just hang it in the bathroom when you shower. The wrinkles will drop right out.” “Gee, if only that worked for my face,”
l’appel du vide, the call of the void. It’s when you stand up high, staring into an abyss, and have a strong desire to throw yourself into it. It can take other forms. You might be driving and suddenly think about jerking the wheel, sending your car into oncoming traffic. Or you might be out for a hike and fantasize about hurling yourself off a cliff. It is not a suicidal impulse. In fact, it is the opposite. Psychologists say it’s actually about how much a person wants to live. They perceive a nearby threat to themselves and they think about that threat because they want so much to survive.
“I’m a woman. Guilt is our birthright. Guilt if we want to be mothers, guilt if we take the Pill instead or choose to abort. Guilt if we stay home with our kids or guilt if we work. Guilt if we sleep with a man, guilt if we say no. Guilt if we’re lucky enough to survive for no good reason. I’m so damned sick of it. I’ve never been so tired of anything in my life. I just . . . I just want to go to sleep forever.”
I cupped my hand over my ear. “Say that again. The part about me being right.” She nudged my shoulder with hers. “Bitch.” “Said with love?” “Always.”
age and grief are both blunt weapons
“You want to take care of the lock?” “Sure.” She picked up a stone from the driveway and tossed it through a window. “I meant pick it, but okay,” I told her.
“Monos Muertos. What does that mean?” “Dead Monkeys,” I answered, pushing my glass away. “We’ve been drinking dead monkey wine.” Natalie shrieked and dropped the bottle. “It’s not made from dead monkeys,” Mary Alice said. “It’s a marketing gimmick.”
“Jesus, what did you have for breakfast? A bowl of Honey Bunches of Bitch?” Natalie grumped.
“You can be constructive or I can staple your lips together. I don’t much care either way.”
Uncut,” she said, making a sad face and pulling her sleeve over her fist to demonstrate.
NATALIE lmao
“I will teach her duets,” Minka said, pulling up Frozen on her laptop. “She will be Anna. I am Elsa.”
“Play nice,” she murmured. “I wasn’t going to kill him,” I muttered back. “But a little light stabbing might teach him some manners.” “Focus on the job. I’ll trip him when we get inside,” she promised. “That’s real friendship,” I told her.
God, I love men, but they are disgusting.
“True leadership, Miss Webster, is not about trusting yourself. It is about trusting your team.”
Natalie was keeping busy with some knitting needles and a skein of yarn she’d found in the attic. I looked at the knotty shape she was making. “Scabbard?” I guessed. “Penis warmer,” she told me.
He didn’t say the words, but I was fluent in Taverner and I could hear the subtext. I loved you first and I will love you last.
“I always wondered if you were really that upset when I turned you down. I half expected you to chase after me and drag me to the altar against my will, but you never did.” “Oh, I thought about it,” he admitted with a smile. “But I knew if I pushed, you would wind up hating me for it, and I wasn’t about to take that chance. Besides, I always figured we’d find our way back to each other in the end.”
Awh :'/
(Most people don’t realize exactly how flammable nondairy creamer is. Consider this a PSA.)
“You speak Ukrainian?” Helen asked. Naomi shrugged. “I speak seventeen languages. Most for work. Ukrainian was just for fun.” “Your Duolingo score must be the absolute shit,” Natalie said.
