A Wild Conversion

by Katherine Gilbert

  “What is my grandmother’s full name?”

  The answer was immediate, didn’t seem to be his own. “I don’t know.” Frederick could nearly see the mental block there.

  Emma’s tone was gentle but firm. “Yes, you do. You’ve always known it.”

  The man shook his head, even with his gaze transfixed.

  “I will protect you and all of us, as you say it.”

  As they waited, Frederick began to wonder whether whatever spell caught Benjamin could be overthrown.

  Still, the whisper which came at last was almost inaudible. “Gloria Philbert."

  A full-body shudder came over him, and Emma caught a small lume-noir which rose from a single tear. Wrapping it in powerful protection magic and handing it to Frederick, her instructions were clear. Send it to Brandon. He’ll know how to keep us safe.

  That she was asking this of a man who, only this morning, had had no idea of this world seemed ludicrous, but Frederick was starting to suspect his own powers.

  Following his instincts, then, he clasped the evil spell softly in both hands, closing his eyes. He didn’t know the right words or the right motions or the right thoughts, but working on what felt right, he sent that small bit of dangerous magic back, floating past reality on reality. Finally, he knew he stood in spirit form, outlined in green clair-lumes, before the centaur and held out the deadly magic to him.

  The centaur nodded, comprehending completely. When he handed it over, Brandon smiled. Apparently, he was getting something right.

  Unaware of the physical world for what seemed a very long time, he returned to see Emma’s grandfather bent over, looking to be in pain. Moving to him, helping him stand, he wished he could do something more but knew the torment was nothing a simple doctor could heal.

  Once again, there had been some sort of plan his family had involved itself in. But was it to help out Philbert blood or to distance the man from Everly? Frederick didn’t know. It was only one of a thousand questions they had to answer now.

  Fortunately, the older man responded to his care, standing cautiously, pulling himself together, and Frederick wished, not for the first time, that he could understand what his family’s—and the Philberts’—intentions were. That they were dangerous went without saying. But what was their true end?

  At last, Benjamin rose completely, staring sadly at his granddaughter’s guest—but his look soon turned to one of alarm.

  “Emma!” he grabbed her, pulling her over, still staring at the time traveler.

  Frederick himself was calm, uncertain what was causing their commotion.

  Emma’s amazement was obvious, Natalie’s eyes wide behind her.

  As Emma made a motion with her hand, a small mirror appearing there, he just stared. She held it up to him.

  There, he saw the cause of their shock. His irises and pupils were sparking just like Emma’s. He, too, had started his conversion.

  Chapter 11

  Emma

  Holy Hecate! Emma felt her heart racing. Her grandmother was a Philbert? Their blood was hidden in her veins? And now her beloved Frederick . . .

  She couldn’t finish the thought before Natalie began babbling in terror inside her mind. Em, no! An untrained sorcerer converting! What if he . . .?

  The thought trailed off, Natalie obviously too horrified to continue, and Emma knew exactly what she meant.

  There were so many legends about it—and they never had happy endings. After all, the schooling, the training—even the temptation, in its more natural way—were all there to teach you, to show you the havoc you could wreak on the world, if you didn’t learn control. Even with it, there were still those like Everly Distaff and Philbert Spear, those who would do whatever it took to control not themselves but everyone around them.

  Gaze wide, she watched the light show shimmering in his eyes—spikes of rainbow-colored magic sparkling through the deep green. It was terrifying. And also unutterably beautiful.

  The way he looked at her let her know that he thought exactly the same of her. Oddly, he didn’t seem afraid or confused, just utterly calm and knowing, as he had from the first moment they had arrived at Brandon’s together.

  Seeing that, she tried to push away the fear, which was already much less than Natalie’s, and did her best to believe that his attitude toward his change was not simply due to an ignorance of the perils he faced.

  “He’s a seer,” she answered aloud, knowing Frederick would hear them, either way.

  Benjamin stared in shock, as she took her beloved’s hands.

  “I’m certain he’ll be fine.”

  She had never seen anyone as calm as Frederick before, especially under what should have been ridiculously trying circumstances—and that said nothing of the far greater plot which several of the town’s most-established families were trying to catch them all in. He looked like he was logically processing a new, and potentially deadly, diagnosis. “I assume there are dangers?”

  Nodding, she heard Natalie laughing in maniacal fear inside her head. Reaching out to the woman for a moment, she touched her arm gently to calm her, before returning to her partner. Without a full, classical magical education, he could never know the true breadth of her answer.

  “Yes. Many, I’m afraid.”

  Clearly, he didn’t want her to lie, seemed to like dealing with facts, which made sense for a physician.

  “Tell them to me.” His voice was quiet but firm, and he appeared quite prepared to hear the worst.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t prepared to give it, not in detail. There were a few epics and thousand-page novels about such things, but they really didn’t have the time.

  She cut to the quick, instead, hoping she wasn’t doing the same to him. “Most of them boil down to madness and death, for you or for others.”

  Despite these truths, he nodded calmly. “Becoming something like Hester, then.”

  Looking at him lovingly, she sighed. “But with less control, which can be even more dangerous.”

  When she saw his sadness, her heart ached. She tried to smile, but it was a thin, weak thing.

  “I’m sorry. I had no idea it would be so soon.”

  She was holding his hands so tightly that she was probably hurting them, but he didn’t pull away.

  “I should have trained you the second we met.”

  Of course, especially given all they had been going through, this hadn’t exactly been likely.

  He just smiled at her, the lights in his eyes dancing. “You had no way of knowing.”

  And, certainly, neither had he.

  Ashamed, she wanted to look away, but his hand cupped her cheek, as he moved his questions on.

  “When you claimed me to protect, you claimed the right to stop me, should I become like my family?”

  Nodding, she was uncertain how he had understood so fully—but also knew he had to, or the spell couldn’t have taken.

  He merely smiled at her. “Good.”

  But his acceptance didn’t make her feel any better.

  More than a little terrified, she didn’t know which way to look for help. When she had claimed him, she had never for an instant considered that she might need to ever damage him, had only done it to protect.

  Now, she almost wished she hadn’t.

  If his conversion went awry—and, with a wild conversion, Hecate only knew what might happen—she would have to step in, would even have to kill him, if there were no other way to protect the innocent from him, and him from himself.

  Dear sainted Hestia. What would become of her if . . .?

  The tears and the terror in her eyes, she realized she was trembling.

  Frederick stepped in, drawing her into his arms, clearly knowing her every thought. “Then, I promise never to make you fulfill that vow.”

  Hoping he could keep that wish, she put her head on his shoulder, as he delicately stroked her hair. She wanted both of them to survive all that was happening for so many reasons—only one of whic
h was so they could explore all the tenderness which existed between them already.

  They didn’t have time for such joys now, however, as Frederick clearly understood as well as she did, moving her back and turning to the others.

  “We need to contact my aunt. I’m certain Pen knows things we should learn.” When he looked back to Emma, his gaze was trusting. “I assume there’s some way to accomplish this?”

  Constantly amazed by him, she nodded. Ever since he had started to awaken, he seemed to just know what was true in their world.

  “Mirror magic,” she confirmed and saw him frown.

  He was right, too. It had its dangers, but right now was no time to be choosy.

  “We can keep it safe, if we work together.”

  Frederick nodded cautiously, as they turned to go back to the room which Benjamin had set up for him. Praying that the seer powers which let him understand her world would see him through what no untrained witch should ever have to face, she at least knew he would not be enduring it alone. Whatever it took—and wherever it led—she was going to be with him to the end.

  Thankfully, Frederick’s arm around her did much to raise her spirits.

  Still, as they walked away, Natalie didn’t follow, and, when they turned back, Emma’s heart broke at the terror in her best friend’s eyes.

  It will be all right, Nat, she promised silently—even though they both knew Frederick could hear. We’re all going to get through this.

  She could see that the woman didn’t entirely believe—and, in many ways, she couldn’t blame her. After all, this one day might seem to have lasted for lifetimes, but it had been only a very few hours since all of this had begun. Without Emma’s own, deeper feelings for Frederick, he would seem an outsider, an intruder—and an Everly to boot. His family didn’t exactly have a brilliant track record for sanity.

  Still, she held out her hand to her friend, eyes promising. Wherever this led, she was going to look after them all.

  This wasn’t an entirely encouraging concept, but Emma knew that Natalie trusted her, at least.

  The woman took her hand, and they moved toward their current goal. She saw her grandfather stop for a moment to place a quick spell on the chamber where Jenny was still sleeping so that he could know if she needed him and then joined the three of them in Frederick’s room. It was finally time to get some answers.

  Benjamin had brought in the same mirror she had earlier summoned to hold up to Frederick and placed it in the middle of the coffee table in front of where Emma sat with her beloved. Still staring at the two of them nervously, Natalie had taken up a chair beside her.

  But, before Emma could start any spells, Frederick held up his hand, returning to an earlier subject. “Can you tell me what my aunt was accused of, before we begin?”

  She could understand his curiosity. There was much about his family he hadn’t known, and they had rather gotten distracted from this path before. Untrained sorcerers suddenly converting could do that.

  Sighing, Benjamin leaned back in a chair across from them. “It was . . .” He seemed lost in thought. “It’s difficult to remember now. It was probably more of Hester’s dark magic, now that I think about it. Even the stories we were told were kind of fuzzy, may have been different each time, but . . .”

  Glowering, it took a second for him to go on.

  “Hester’s always been good with compulsion spells.”

  Sadly, that was all too obvious.

  Staring into them, Benjamin leaned forward. “What I can remember was something about Penelope killing her best friend, Ariel. I don’t know that I was ever told why. I think it was just presented as, ‘she’s crazy, but she’s gone, so don’t worry about it.’”

  For a moment, he stared distantly at the floor.

  “It’s hard to believe that I didn’t.”

  All of them joining in his sadness, Frederick answered for them. “I’m afraid Hester is much too good at making one forget.”

  Benjamin glanced up at him mournfully, and Emma saw the power flashing in Frederick’s eyes.

  “Look at what she did to me with my own sister.”

  This truth silenced all of them in horror for a moment, only Frederick eventually breaking it. “You mentioned Ariel.”

  Benjamin looked back to him.

  “Do you remember much about her?”

  There was a sigh from her grandfather, his gaze somewhere on the past. “Not much. She was a few years younger, I think, was always hanging around when I went to see Pen, but it was always like . . .” He trailed off, shrugging. “It was always like she was just out of sight.”

  Emma watched the two men, her beloved making a small, “hmm” noise, taking her hand. She wasn’t certain whether he needed the support or just enjoyed the closeness, but she did nothing to discourage him.

  “Aunt Pen sometimes mentioned an Ariel. I could hear her talking to her.” Sighing, he glanced down. “It’s one of the reasons I was starting to worry for her reason.”

  Emma watched, her heart full of love, knowing he cared for the woman, whatever her state of mind. Still, it made sense that he had approached her from a professional viewpoint, worrying for her health.

  “The way she spoke of her, Ariel was like her . . .” Frederick’s face wrinkled in confusion, as he gazed back to them. “Pet ghost. She sometimes whispered to me that everyone needed an ethereal friend, although she wouldn’t let me talk about it in front of Hester.”

  Such a revelation brought about a million other questions, which seemed to be the nature of their lives, lately.

  Emma looked into him tenderly. “Could her friend have been killed by Hester and followed her in spirit form?” Pondering it, she refocused on the rest of them. “But then why would Hester follow her into the past—and why bring her family?”

  It was this question they really needed to contact the woman to have answered, but Frederick interrupted again. “You said before that there are Three Cardinal Rules of magic. I can guess, but I’d rather know them for a fact.”

  Although it was a delay, that was still a good idea. If anything, he had too little training as it was.

  Emma began at the beginning, then. “The first rule is possibly the most obvious. Do no murder.” Watching his uncertainty, she explained further. “It’s common enough in many societies, as much as it’s often ignored. The only time it can be, for us, is if there is absolutely no other way to stop someone from causing dreadful harm, no other way to imprison or interrupt them, although the general rule is still that it’s better to incapacitate than to kill.”

  He looked as though he had a million questions for this, and she couldn’t blame him. For all that practically every world religion supposedly believed it, they were usually much too happy to break it—and that said nothing of the fact that they ate meat and even vegetation, which had a life of its own, too. Still, they didn’t really have the time for such deeper philosophical discussions now.

  As she usually did, Natalie seemed to understand, moving them on. “The second rule is this: Never interfere with someone’s true will.”

  Frederick looked a bit puzzled, and she continued.

  “You have the right to stop someone from being harmed or to stop an evil plan, but you don’t have the right to strip the will from anyone, even if it’s a will to do evil. They have the right to wish anything they want—even if you sometimes have a duty to stop it.”

  Emma wondered whether this were enough for now, staring at the mirror, but her grandfather filled in the rest—which was probably just as well.

  “The third rule is the most potent, and it really takes precedent over the other two, as it would prevent them, anyway. Each soul is free to do as it wishes, so long as it causes no harm.” He shrugged. “Broad, but pretty effective.” A moment later, he grimaced. “If only Hester, Philbert, and their lot would pay attention to it.”

  At the moment, this was really the heart of their problem, Frederick filling in the rest. “So a compuls
ion spell is something like a sacrilege?”

  They each looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. It was a good way to put it, if you thought of magic as a religion, which it wasn’t. Still, the Everlys and their co-conspirators were definitely dealing with something very dark.

  For a moment, Emma could feel the magic flashing in her eyes. Now, they just had to find a way to stop them.

  Chapter 12

  Frederick

  This explanation of the Cardinal Rules had a calming effect on Frederick. It was good to know that he was unlikely to want to break any of them.

  Staring into Emma, he couldn’t help noticing that her eyes were even more lovely now, her natural magic infusing her further by the moment. She was almost too beautiful to bear.

  Despite his fears, his heart felt full, and he was aching from the distance of not holding her close. It seemed that, the more his own magic infused him, the more desperate he felt to have her near. Yet there was nothing to do but survive and wait to see whether she would wish to return his vows.

  Turning back to the other two, he knew there were more pressing issues now. “How do we get in touch with my aunt?”

  Looking to her mirror, Emma seemed to take this as her cue. When she took his hand, he felt the thrill through his whole body. “Concentrate on her, Frederick. You’ll be doing the seeking, your bond with her our connection. I’ll be looking after the protection.”

  He didn’t argue but needed to know. “And Natalie and Benjamin?”

  He felt her squeeze his hand, knew that she was trying to hide some of the more dangerous aspects of their current quest, but he felt them, nonetheless.

  After a moment, she confirmed a little. “They’re here to pull us out, should we get lost.”

  But it wasn’t enough. In every part of him, he understood that the danger was greater than this, didn’t trust the mirror. When her magic started rising, he put his free hand over it. “No.”

  Staring at him in shock, she pulled back.