A Wild Conversion

by Katherine Gilbert

  The Indian woman shrugged, sighing. “A woman can dream.”

  Emma was thoroughly confused now, looked back over to Natalie’s rueful smile.

  “They’re with the Magical Council, apparently,” Natalie told her. “There seems to be a lot we haven’t been told.”

  Apparently, this was all too true, both her companions squeezing Emma’s hands, as the woman in front of her smiled. She was wearing a very modern dress, but something about her attitude seemed to say that she was not in pants only because of her pregnancy.

  “Everyone?” she called, although most of the room was already watching. She twitched her fingers just vaguely, and several dozen seats of various sorts appeared around the room. Emma suspected the finger twitch was entirely unnecessary, just a warning that something was about to happen. The woman seemed to have a lot of power under her control.

  As everyone settled, Emma hoped that some explanations were coming. She was still a little amazed that they had managed to beat Hester.

  Waiting, her gaze focused in evaluatingly on the newcomer in charge. Hester was one thing. For all of this woman’s obvious kindness and humor, she would not have gone up against her with an army.

  A moment later, the details of their victory came back to her, her eyes widening, as she remembered what her pain and dizziness had temporarily erased. Staring at her partner, Emma didn’t even notice the people bustling around her. “Frederick, you’ve been wounded!”

  This was a very delayed reaction, but it had been a strange day.

  Letting go of Natalie’s hand for a moment, she felt immensely worse. Thankfully, Frederick’s hand touched her cheek softly, as her friend found her fingers again, and that inner illness was soothed.

  “They’re just scratches, love.”

  She stared at him, and he shook his head, showing his neck and side to her to prove his point. The gashes seemed painful but, she had to admit, not serious.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He nodded her attention back to the various people around them. The woman who seemed to be in charge was being helped into her chair as though she were a breakable doll by a tall, attractive, light-haired man. She batted at his hand, but it was affectionate. “Oh, stop fussing, Errol. I am perfectly capable of sitting down on my own.” She did accept his kiss with a smile, before he sat beside her.

  The group finally took their places, then. Emma looked to either of her companions, wondering if they had learned more while she was unconscious.

  As though he were waiting for her to be filled in, Frederick smiled, and Natalie shrugged, but it almost seemed apologetic.

  Emma looked back to the woman in charge.

  Once everyone was settled, the woman began, addressing Emma. “First of all, Wetherby Distaff is correct. We are from the Magical Council.”

  Emma checked to see whether Natalie were still in her mind. Wetherby Distaff?

  She nearly felt the woman’s blush. Well, since I seem to be the only member of my family left, I guess it’s basically true. There was a pause. First time I’ve heard it, though.

  Emma suspected the woman probably knew some form of what they said but ignored it. “I’m Patel Distaff, although my friends call me Tillie.” Her smile said clearly that anyone with sense wanted to go for friend, not enemy—although the look was also kind. She gestured beside her. “This is my partner and solace, Errol.”

  Emma had heard of solaces, of course, but she had never really met a sorcerer—and this woman was quite clearly no mere witch—who actually proclaimed to have found one. She had started to wonder whether they were just a theory but could see that this woman had far greater knowledge than she could ever hope for.

  “So solaces are real?” Emma wondered.

  Tillie looked as though Emma had just sprouted a second head. Actually, she might have seen that as more reasonable.

  “You need to ask? You’ve got one yourself.”

  Emma knew her confusion showed. She and Natalie both looked over to Frederick. Still, she hadn’t expected that something so major could happen over a single day.

  Even if she didn’t see Tillie rolling her eyes, she somehow felt the reaction.

  “No, dear. He’s clearly your partner, and you’re his solace, but you must know he’s not yours.”

  They all stared back to her, as she looked to Philbert again.

  “It’s really this bad?”

  He shrugged. “I told you.”

  Both of them confused, Emma stared at Natalie.

  Frederick answered her unasked question aloud, but she wasn’t certain whether that were because he couldn’t answer in her mind or he thought the rest of the room should know. “It’s Natalie.”

  They both stared at him.

  “You had a deep connection to her long before you ever met me. It’s why you couldn’t shut her out of your mind when you tried. She’s essential there.”

  Tillie’s voice drew her attention back. “It’s also why I suspect you won’t be getting rid of Everly Spear’s voice anytime soon.”

  Eyes wide, Emma let out a breath. She hadn’t taken it in before, but she supposed the title must be true. Frederick had far more power than his grandfather, and Olivia was still a baby.

  The woman’s smile was amused. “It must be quite a party in there.”

  She has noooo idea, Natalie put in, but she squeezed Emma’s hand.

  All of this was a bit of a shock, but Emma supposed it made sense. Natalie had been her companion and comfort for most of her life. She had listened to her many complaints, defended her from petty attacks, counseled her on which way she should turn, joined in her games, consoled her in her sorrows. There was nothing so bad that she couldn’t make it better, no difficulty she could face which wasn’t made surmountable by her presence.

  Smiling at her, she was exceedingly grateful. The Magical Council was definitely right. Without her, she would have run mad many years ago.

  “She and Errol aren’t the only two solaces here. Jenny has become William’s solace.”

  They looked back to Tillie, surprised.

  “Although I suppose you know him better as Philbert Spear.”

  It was this point Emma needed to clear up. The fact that Frederick hadn’t objected, just sat looking thoughtful and slightly worried, confirmed some of her guesses, but she still had quite a few misgivings.

  “Just a minute. Philbert has apparently been part of this from the start.”

  It worried her to think the Council might have been part of starting this, but even that wasn’t the whole of her fears.

  “He married the poor girl under Hester’s orders.”

  Looking over, she couldn’t help thinking of them as the too-young girl and the much-older man—not to mention their baby. By magical standards, Jenny was way below partnerable age, even if she were not a minor by modern mundane standards—and certainly not out of line as a wife in the time she’d been born in. But there was still a part of Emma which sort of wanted to see Philbert in a cell.

  Of course, if the Magical Council wasn’t doing anything about him . . .

  Sighing, Tillie held up her hand at this wrath. “I’m sorry he’s misled you, but he had to. We’ve known that something was going wrong in Salem for 75 years or more. If we didn’t send someone in to take a look, it could turn very nasty before we could stop it.”

  She nodded toward Philbert, before Emma could break in.

  “He’s an akukar.”

  This time, it was Frederick who seemed confused, asking in her mind, A what?

  She sighed. An akuma karyuudo. A demon hunter.

  She felt his continuing blankness.

  There’s magic all over the world. Our terms come from whichever country pins down that sort of magic or philosophy first.

  Apparently, the Japanese had started that particular crusade.

  Although she still couldn’t entirely warm to Philbert, too many years of experience with his unlikable persona coming back to her, she turn
ed back to Tillie. “But Hester just called up the demon.”

  Wondering, she looked back to the man.

  “Had she been planning it that long?”

  Obviously picking up that their animosity was not going to end soon, Tillie sighed. “She had been planning it since she was a teenager.” Her look grew grim. “She and Randolph both killed their parents to take over their roles in their families. Hester even put a compulsion on the rest of hers to make them think she was their mother.”

  Emma saw the rest of the Everlys pale.

  “It was probably easier to step into the place their parents had in their minds rather than just eliminate both of their parents’ memories outright.”

  This was a grim fact, but most of those about Hester were.

  Tillie went on. “That got the demon’s attention, but she didn’t have any bloodline powerful enough to tempt him to give her what she wanted. Her soul alone certainly wasn’t enough to interest him.”

  Probably knew he was getting it anyway, Natalie put in.

  Although Emma didn’t think the woman could hear it, Tillie’s smile said that she agreed.

  Emma put the thoughts together, then. “That’s why she was so determined to . . .”

  How had Jane described it?

  “. . . breed power? She needed a sacrifice strong enough to get the demon to deal with her?”

  Tillie nodded, and Emma shuddered, knowing that it was what she had been bred for, as well.

  She didn’t want to get into this, didn’t ever want to think about it again, but this was the moment for truth. “Why did it take her so long, though? I have a certain amount of power. Frederick certainly does.”

  This was an understatement on both their parts, and Tillie’s smile showed it. “Yes, but both of you have magic which runs toward protection or healing.”

  It was true—Emma had never heard of an evil seer.

  As she went on, Tillie’s look soured. “Unfortunately for your mother, she had a kind of magic which Hester found useful. She’s not a powerful witch, but she has a kind of compassion magic which is easy to twist and bind to others’ ends, if the witch isn’t strong enough to control it herself.” Tillie shuddered slightly. “As she was given to Randolph from birth to raise to be his partner, she had no chance to develop it herself.”

  This definitely raised Emma’s ire, glaring back to Philbert. “You let her give a baby away like that?”

  The man sighed deeply—and, despite herself, she could see the sadness in his eyes. “I hadn’t been here long when that happened. Unfortunately, I hadn’t ingratiated myself quite enough to know about the plan before it was completed.”

  Closing his eyes, his torment was clear, Jenny putting her hand on his arm.

  “Once the compulsions were in place—and they were placed deeply—there was very little I could do to help.”

  Emma was not fond of his explanation, knew she would have moved heaven and earth to reverse it, but she also realized that she would probably not make a very good akukar. That required stealth, and she was much too straightforward.

  Tillie drew back her attention. “Lily was unfortunately useful to Hester and Randolph, but she wasn’t the end result they were looking for. Hester needed someone who would have a huge amount of raw power which didn’t move to protect her immediately.”

  She looked over to Philbert.

  “That left her with Livy.”

  They all looked over to the poor little witch Hester had fortunately never succeeded in enslaving. She was being held on a small sofa by her mother, but her father’s arm was around them both protectively.

  Emma still half-wanted to attack the man for all he had allowed to happen, whatever the ends he worked for.

  “She doesn’t have any protective magic?”

  To her surprise, Philbert laughed. The most she had known of him before was a highly-dismissive chuckle. “Oh, she has about two tons of it, but I made certain Hester didn’t realize.”

  He drew his thumb over his daughter’s face lovingly, as she giggled. A second later, there were rainbow bubbles all around for her to play with, but Emma wasn’t certain whether they were from father or child.

  “How do you think she made it for this long in the woman’s house without being tainted?”

  Emma still wanted to explode at the man—too much unexplained and unforgiven. Still, she felt her partner squeeze her hand, drew in a deep breath to calm herself—although she did confront him. “You put a compulsion on Jenny. You wouldn’t even let her remember.”

  There was a part of her which understood why this would have to be, but she didn’t like it.

  Jenny stared at her partner adoringly, making Emma want to throw something at him.

  Philbert . . . or William or whatever . . . looked at her. “I didn’t want to do that, and I only did so with her permission and to keep her safe. She couldn’t have gone back to Hester’s house with the knowledge I’d given her. Hester would never have let her live.”

  It was just this point which Emma was about to address, rather irately. Whatever his motives, the way he had used his partner as a pawn grated deeply.

  To her surprise, Jenny broke in, looking to her. “William told me everything soon after we married.”

  She jigged Livy a little, to her laughter.

  “He never made me do anything. He took me into another magical place away from Hester, told me he’d help me escape and start over somewhere, even somewhen, different, if I wanted.”

  Her gaze fell, looking embarrassed.

  “But I didn’t want to leave William.”

  After a second, the look moved over to Frederick.

  “And I didn’t want the news that I was supposedly dead to hurt you.”

  Her brother’s eyes were gentle and loving. It kind of made Emma want to climb him.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to reel in her emotions. Sadly, she still felt dreadfully off-balance from her conversion.

  Frederick’s voice was soothing. “I know. You’ve never done anything to hurt me.”

  Jenny smiled at him so adoringly, and Emma realized, yet again, that he had always been more a father to her than a brother.

  Blushing slightly, the girl went on. “Having Livy was just . . . natural.”

  The blush deepened.

  “I agreed to go back to Hester’s. I wanted William to be able to bring all this to a close, so we can really be together, and I knew this was the only way to do it. Besides, Hester had to be stopped.”

  Looking down at her daughter adoringly, Jenny’s voice took on “baby talk” tones.

  “I knew you could handle anything she threw at you, yes, I did.” She was jiggling Olivia, to her giggles. “You’re a smart girl, aren’t you?”

  She stopped this round of silly maternal admiration, when William touched her shoulder, but his look was tender. Smiling at him adoringly, she was silent.

  The girl really didn’t seem to be under a compulsion anymore, and the information did make more sense of some of the man’s actions recently. Still . . .

  “You’ve been here for sixty years, putting down everyone just to get this chance?”

  Looking up to her, William sighed. “Seventy, actually.” Before she could ask, he smiled a little. “The little brat you fought with so often when you were young was actually my cousin’s child. He was driving her mad, and I needed more of a cover.” He shrugged. “It was easy enough to pretend that I’d killed the mother and kept the child, since it was what Hester generally saw as natural.”

  Although she shuddered, William went on.

  “It also kept me from having to partner with any innocents for a while. I sent him back to his mother when he turned twenty and told Hester I’d had to dispose of him as a null.” Sighing, he stared off into the distance. “I hope he’s straightened up by now.”

  To her surprise, Emma realized that she hadn’t noticed he was missing. She’d just been happy to have him gone.

  This made s
ense of quite a lot of things, actually. Once Hester and Randolph had first contacted the demon, she could see why the council had had to wait till they could finally take it down to act, which had probably taken far longer than expected. Her look narrowed in. But it was probably going to take another fifty years before she could really resign herself to William as a person.

  Turning back to Tillie, she wondered, “What about the girl Frederick saved on the train?” The poor little luck witch had to have come from somewhere.

  “Ah.”

  The woman seemed sad, staring over to Trudy, who held the sleeping girl while her partner held their own child.

  “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see an end to this in time to save her mother. I’m afraid Randolph killed her earlier today. He took her from William almost as soon as he had retrieved her.”

  Emma wasn’t appeased, looking to the man. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

  William just sighed, but his distress was evident. “I couldn’t. If I interfered, he would have known that I wasn’t on his side, and we were so close to ending this.” Clearly torn, he looked at the floor. “I had a cover to maintain.”

  And maintain it he had.

  Her eyes went to where the cauldron had been. It certainly explained—all too terribly—where the blood had come from.

  She was about to break in, when William went on. “I tried to look out for the little girl, instead. Brandon got to her ahead of me.”

  He nodded at Brandon, who returned it calmly. Being both a seer and a centaur, it was impossible to say whether he had known about this all along.

  “I was worried when Gentry ended up with her,” William continued. “I tried to make certain she was all right, but I couldn’t see through your spells—and I certainly couldn’t explain to you why I was looking.”

  This, again, explained too much.

  Tillie continued. “The girl is Randolph’s daughter.” She looked back to Emma. “Your younger half-sister.”

  Oh holy Hecate. She was never going to get used to Randolph having been her father.

  Both her companions squeezed her hands, and she decided she might as well pursue the horrible rest of this. “And . . . my mother?”