Laufeson was a man with magical power over people’s thoughts, as I knew from personal experience. He was an Obscurati, but how did he fit in with the riots? Why had he sent rioters to retrieve me? How had the Obscurati managed to affect so many people, and why only the Enhanced? What was their ultimate goal? Were they after simple chaos and death, or was there another agenda?
I frowned. I had no way of knowing what the Obscurati planned. For what, then, did the Obscurati want me? I wondered. Hypatia had said they wanted me because I was ‘consecrated and an heir’, which meant nothing to me. My repair to Sophie’s arm had been minor, and certainly nothing like the sorts of things trained Enhanced physicians did in England or anywhere else. My mechanicals used no magic so far as I knew, and my accuracy with darts was handy but hardly worth the effort his kidnapping attempts had required. The attempts also seemed oddly half-hearted, which also confused me. Telling stories – my most recent odd ability—also seemed a passive skill, ill-suited to Obscurati plots. What would they have me do—tell the entire country a really good story as the foundation of a violent coup d’ etat?
Then I reconsidered the ancient masculine presence Andrew had called to occupy my body on the road. Whatever that presence had been, it had protected us that night. I needed to know who that being was, why I was his chosen heir, and what difference my being ‘consecrated’ meant in the scheme of things. I knew churches were consecrated… but was it possible to consecrate people?
The thing twitched in my wrist again. I clutched my legs closer while I focused on my breathing and waded through the horror I felt. I had to think. If the Facti fought against Laufeson and the Obscurati, I needed to throw my lot in with them if I wished to stay safe and in control of my own actions and destiny. How to do that while on my way to Scotland with my mother and Lady Sato, of all people, was the next problem I had to solve. I had no idea how I’d even begin to explain any of this to them or how I’d keep them safe. If Lady Sato was a Facti—
Someone knocked on my hotel room door. I froze. Hugo looked at the door, alert and still.
Oh, God, I thought. They’d found me. Luckily, I’d locked the door. Would it be enough of a deterrent? Panic flared and I turned it to anger. I wouldn’t go without a fight.
Not sure what else to do, I slid off the bed as quietly as I could and I reached down with my right hand to pull the knife from my right boot. Then I stood. Unbidden, I felt the calm when I threw darts suffuse me, but rather than my mind slipping into a dream, my senses sharpened. My consciousness didn’t detach from my surroundings and I became hyper-aware of everything.
I stopped. That was new. What’s happening? I wondered. The knock came again.“Who is it?” I called, listening carefully for the response.
“I’ve brought your dinner, miss,” was the feminine response from the hallway.
That was odd. Mother had told me the food was in her room, and I doubted Lady Sato would have given my room number for room service. I listened closely. There was no sound of dishes clinking on a tray on the other side of the door, and I hadn’t heard a cart approach the door. The calm grew into a presence in my mind, devoid of emotion, calculating options and possible responses like a military general. It had the mental feel of the magical being from the road, but I still didn’t know who or what it was. If it’s keen to assist me in this, all the better, I thought. I moved to stand away from the bed as my left hand pulled the other knife from my left boot.
“You’re mistaken,” I said, knives in both hands, ready to be thrown. “I didn’t order dinner to be brought up.”
“Please, miss,” the voice pleaded. “I’ll lose my position if the cook finds out I didn’t deliver this as ordered.”
“I didn’t order it,” I said. “Be on your way.”
A key turned in the lock. The door opened wide, kicked inward by a black boot with enough force to leave the door wide open, but not so much that the door made any appreciable noise.
So much for the efficacy of the lock, I noted. Damn and blast!
A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway, her wide-brimmed black hat and dark glasses obscuring her face. She wore a black dress, a black scarf around her neck and long black gloves covering her hands and arms, looking for all the world like a recent widow in her weeds. She held no tray of food though that was hardly a surprise. Then she ruined the illusion of bereavement when she removed her hat and pulled off her dark glasses, throwing both to the floor.
Grim-visaged, she was Enhanced and not inclined to be friendly. Her face was leathery and wrinkled from years of work out of doors. Her brown hair hung limp around her head and shoulders, and her intent steel eyes regarded me. I noted the delicately thin silver filaments that curved from the outsides of her eyes, ran along the sides of her head, and entered her skull at her temples. That was different from what I’d seen in the news and on my prior attackers.
She took a step forward and planted her feet on the carpet of my room, looking around to see if I was alone. Unfortunately, I was. Hugo had disappeared. I hoped he’d gone for help.
“Hello, sweetie,” she growled, once her gaze settled on me. “You’re a hard one to find, you are. Molly’s been searching all night to find you here.”
How had she found me? I wondered. I held up the knife in my right hand.
“Get out,” I warned.
The woman laughed, a harsh, gritty sound that came from deep in her throat. Smiling in a sickly mad way, she peeled the scarf off to reveal silver Enhanced tracery that ran in graceful curves around her neck and down into her chest.
What the Hell? The woman was more metal than flesh, I realized. How is that possible? If the simple silver-eyed men were ‘fiends’, what does that make this creature?
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” she said, shaking her head. She held out her hands toward me as if pleading for me to take them. “Just let my pets get a bite of you, and you’ll see it’s better just to come along quietly. Molly will take good care of you.”
I scanned the room looking for her ‘pets’, but saw nothing. Oddly, I heard the sound of ripping cloth, and as I watched silver worm-like tendrils shot from her hands through the fabric of her gloves. Metallic and segmented, they writhed in her hands like living things.
“Who are you?” I asked, fascinated and repulsed by the undulating of the ‘pets’ she held.
“I’m Molly Silver. I’ve come to take you to your new friends,” the woman spat. “You’re overdue for a visit, and we’ve got a great deal to share with you. The All-Father wants you for himself, but we’ll make sure you ally with us so the old man won’t claim you anymore.”
All-Father? I wondered, wracking my brain. Old man? Was that the being who currently floated at the edge of my mind?
Taking advantage of my distraction, Molly growled and leapt with inhuman strength and speed, her arms and hands reaching for my throat. The tendrils in her hands stretched forward, their ends opening to reveal tiny metal mouths like hungry snakes, clicking against each other in their frenzy. I didn’t want them anywhere near me.
I tensed, and in the space of a heartbeat the presence – the All-Father—had mapped the trajectories of my knives like an elegant math equation. Before my heart could sound another beat, the knives left my hands in a double throw at an impossible speed. One knife buried itself in the woman’s neck, spurting red blood across the carpet and the bottom of my skirt in a fan of droplets, while the other knife sank to the hilt into the woman’s left eye socket.
Her body hit the floor in front of me with a sickening thud, her lifeless hands and their spasming tendrils brushing the bottom of my skirt. A pool of dark red blood bloomed from underneath her head and neck while the snakes continued to snap and writhe, seeking to bite me even though their fleshly host was dead.
The presence left me and the spell I was under shattered like glass. Emotion returned, replacing cold calculation. Horrified by what I’d done, I took a step back, turned to the right, and retched what little I had
in my stomach onto the brown carpet. Once my heaving stopped, I stumbled to the bed and sat down, body shaking in shock and fear, looking down in disbelief at the dead Enhanced woman at my feet.
I’d just killed a woman without hesitation… and it had been far, far easier than throwing darts. The presence that had worked with me this time had felt nothing as it calculated my responses, and I’d gone along without complaint. What, in the name of all that is holy is going on? Is the magic I possess only good for killing people? How will that serve the Facti or do any good? Oh God. What am I going to do?
I had to get out of the room. I got up from the bed, moved around the corpse and ran into the hallway, gritting my teeth against the scream trying to force its way out of my throat. Once out of the room I nearly collapsed, but refused to let my knees buckle. Tears pooled in my eyes and ran down my cheeks, but I didn’t care. I put my hands on my knees and drew in great gasps of breath, trying to ride the wave of fear and alarm without losing consciousness.
One or two heads peeked out of doors, took in my shocked, terrified features as I stood doubled over in the corridor and ducked back into their rooms. I heard locks turning and muffled voices behind the closed doors, probably calling the front desk about the wild-eyed young lady in the corridor who’d just killed someone in her room and left the corpse on the floor in a pool of blood. No doubt the police would be on their way. What will I tell them? Oh God—what will I tell Mother?
A sob escaped my throat. I didn’t know what to do or where to go, but—
“Miss Trevelyan?”
Before I could respond, the presence took control. It had me reach for the bracelet on my wrist and toggle the switch to transform it into the spinning blade. I turned, blade in hand and ready for another attack, my mind an island of icy calm.
Thankfully, I saw Lady Sato in the hallway with Hugo on her shoulder. She ran toward me with a fluid grace and speed despite her skirts. Hugo flapped his wings on her shoulder to maintain his balance.
The presence drained away from my mind, recognizing the Japanese woman as a friend. I stumbled to the left and put an arm out to catch myself against the wall. Another sob escaped me, this one louder and more desperate. I dropped my weapon to the floor and it popped back into a bracelet shape with a snap. Lady Sato’s arms encompassed me, surprisingly strong and wiry.
“Hugo said someone attacked you,” she said in a rush, “and you killed the woman with your knives. Is that true?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but bent over and retched instead, though I had nothing in me to bring up. I leaned my body against the wall and started to shake again.
“Hugo, stay with her,” Sato ordered. He hopped down and ran over to lean against me, a gentle pressure on my leg. Lady Sato looked up and down the corridor to see if we were alone, then ran the few steps down the hall and into my hotel room.
She was back almost immediately. “We must leave, and now,” she said, hauling me to my feet. “We’ll have the trunks sent after us, and go by airship to Brentwood Close.”
“But my mother—what if they go after her? “I stammered, “—and I killed that—“
“I’m with your mother right now. She’s safe and will remain so.”
I gaped in confusion. “You’re not with her,” I said, my voice high with growing hysteria, “you’re here with me. If the Enhanced –“
She cut me off. “I’m with her there now and I’m here with you now.”
I didn’t understand what she meant. How could she be in two places at once? “But—“
“Let me handle this. Now—right now—you will go down to my room, number 225. The door is open—go. I will see all of us safely and discreetly away.”
“But your room is next to mine,” I stammered, not understanding.
“I have two rooms,” she explained tersely.
“The police will want to speak to me,” I babbled. “I killed—“
“In self-defense, child!” she said, “and I have no intention of allowing the police anywhere near you.” She pushed me down the corridor gently but firmly. “Go!” she urged, “Now!”
I stumbled my way toward Lady Sato’s other room, Hugo at my heels, fumbled at the knob for room 225, and nearly fell in as the door swung open. Hugo hopped in behind me. The room was identical to mine, but it had one bed rather than two. I shut the door and moved like a drunk to sit on the bed, my movements stilted and wobbly. Hugo hopped up on the bed to sit beside me, leaning against my arm. I wiped the tears from my cheeks.
The door opened and Lady Sato rushed in, startling me so I jumped. She wore an old-fashioned dark green gown and her hair hung in ringlets around her face. She looked younger than she had when I’d seen her in the hallway seconds before, and then she’d worn a gold dress and her hair up rather than down.
“Ariana—come with me,” she said.
I stood up in shocked astonishment. “But your dress – “I yammered, “you look—“
“Not one of my best frocks, I know,” she said, grabbing me by the arm. She handed me my bracelet from the hallway and I quickly put it on my left wrist. “We can discuss my haberdashery later. You need to leave this hotel.”
With that, she pulled me out of her hotel room, ran me down the stairs and led me out of the lobby, then propelled me into the street in front of the hotel in a blur of silent speed, Hugo flying behind us. We moved so quickly, or perhaps everyone around us moved so slowly, they didn’t notice our hasty departure. No one turned their heads as we passed them, and as we dashed through the lobby, it was as silent as a tomb despite its being full of people.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Once out on the street, our speed seemed to return to normal, but the air around us rang with silence. It was still night, but I couldn’t tell what time it was. I scanned the people standing around the hotel entrance, worried we’d be attacked yet again. I found to my great surprise that not only were there no threats in evidence, the people around us stood still as statues. Even the smoke from one man’s pipe hung unmoving and static above the pipe’s bowl. Hugo, very much mobile, flapped up behind us to land on Lady Sato’s shoulder, trilling in alarm.
“Yes, Hugo,” Sato acknowledged, “there has been a great deal of running about. It can’t be helped.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” I said, bewildered. “Why are we the only ones moving?”
“We’re standing between two seconds,” was Lady Sato’s response. “I’m holding them,” she indicated the people standing around us, “trapped in the moment, and allowing us,” she indicated herself, me and Hugo, “to move about as we need in this infinite… pause,” she finished.
I pounced on her explanation, my mind racing and grateful for the distraction from what I’d done in the hotel room. “You’re saying we’re existing outside the time they’re living in,” I said. “How is that possible? Are you making use of some new device or invention? Are these people in danger somehow?”
“Surely you recall from your study of mathematics that between two places on a line there are an infinite number of points.”
I nodded slowly, taking that in. “So, you’re saying that between two places in time there’s an infinite amount of time?”
“It’s the most basic of explanations, but essentially, yes. As to our immobile companions here in front of the Royal York,” she gestured at them, “they’re in no danger. To them, nothing is happening. Once I allow time to resume its usual pace, they’ll not even know we were here.”
“But how – “
“I have a special relationship with time,” she said. “Best if we leave it there, however. Explaining how I do this,” she waved a hand, “requires verb tenses that don’t actually exist in English.”
“You’re like Hypatia,” I said. I brought my hand to my face, closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose. “My God. You’re another one.”
“Well done, Ariana,” Lady Sato said, clearly pleased. “I am the Heir of Mammetun, the Sumerian godde
ss of Fate and Time.”
I wasn’t certain who the Sumerians were or how it was possible to be an heir with power over something like time. “Oh,” I said eloquently. “Where is Sumeria, exactly?”
“Focus, Ariana,” she said with some impatience. “Escape now, geography later.”
“Right. Ah… speaking of escaping, I think there’s something in my wrist,” I said, clutching it protectively. “Could it be that’s how the—I choked, seeing Molly Silver die all over again in my mind, “— found me here?”
Lady Sato nodded, urging me forward and away from the hotel entrance. “We thought as much.” She scanned the area. “It was the one thing we couldn’t fix when we found you thirteen years ago.”
“Found me?”
“The man you know as Laufeson kidnapped you from the back garden of your home in Kent when you were four. Took us three days to find you.” She chewed her lower lip. “Clearly his claim on you is greater than we’d thought. I’d hoped leaving Hugo with you would throw him off the scent.”
“Three days? I don’t remember being missing for three days, Lady Sato,” I said, “Or being found, for that matter.”
She nodded. “At the time, we thought blocking your recollections was the best course of action. I’m beginning to think it was a mistake.”
It took me a moment to absorb that. “Have you people been mucking about in my head for years, then?”
Lady Sato stopped, took my hand in hers and squeezed it. “We had to protect you as you grew up. Blocking your access to what happened was the best way to do that. If you ever thought to ask about it, we referred to it as an ‘accident’.”
“Aunt Miranda – she told me I’d had an accident and that I’d lived with her for a year after,” I muttered. “Bloody Hell. She’s a Facti.”
The Odin Inheritance (The Pessarine Chronicles Book 1) Page 24
