As she walked towards the waiting group of people, she found she recognised a few of them, including Kai, the Japanese woman she had met before, Victoria from the Liberties Children Coven and Harry Fleming from the Arcanum. Knowing there were friends there helped with her nerves as she approached the group of Magi and the almost sizzling amount of Magic gathered in one place.
Also stood beside the table she could see Forrest Ward from the Magi Legion looking at her with a very stony expression. She thought she could guess what his opinion would be.
She knew that there would be a wide variety of opinions about her and the Prophecy here today, and she would need to stand her ground under their questioning, which felt odd to think about as she still felt very much on the fence over this whole link she was supposed to have with the Prophecy. Outside of this meeting, choosing a side for her personal feelings on the matter would be difficult. But with Forrest there who would likely try and discredit her, and then Trevelyan who seemed to have an unwavering belief in her, she knew she would side with Trevelyan almost by default.
She felt very alone and vulnerable as she made her final approach to the table, and wished she had someone with her like Maria, but she had not seen her for a few days now and despite a few messages and attempts to contact her, she had heard nothing. She wasn’t worried about her, she did occasionally drop off the map a bit after all. Instead, she found she just craved her company even more, she just wanted a little moral support from Maria given how close they had become.
Ahead of her Trevelyan walked up the steps towards the table and Amanda followed suit, following his directions to stand in a gap in the arrangement of people as he made his way around the table to his seat.
Amanda could see there were twelve people who all now moved to sit in the twelve ornate seats around the circular table, while maybe another fifteen or more stood around behind the seats.
Most of them looked at her, a few of them greeting her and smiling, others keeping their expressions neutral and unmoved.
Trevelyan himself sat opposite her and once he had settled himself down, smiled at her and then called the meeting to order.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Council Members and our special guest Amanda, thank you for coming today, it’s a pleasure to see so many people at this meeting. We’re here to discuss the rumours that have been spread throughout the Magi community about our guest here and her apparent link to the Prophecy of Helene. You all have a copy of that text before you that you can reference during this meeting if you need to. So, down to business,’ he said and glanced at Amanda.
Amanda nodded to him. As she stood there, her nerves about the whole situation were settling somewhat and she could feel her heart rate falling as she calmed down.
‘As you have no doubt heard, a rumour has been spreading through the Magi community saying that our friend here, Amanda-Jane Page, is the one that the Prophecy of Helene speaks of and that she bears the marks spoken of in that text. For those of you unaware, the Prophecy was recorded about two thousand years ago, spoken by Helene, wife of Simon Gita at the Roman Magi Senate. Helene was a well-known Prophet and her ability to foretell events was unprecedented, even for a Magus. She could foretell events from parts of the future timeline that were otherwise inaccessible to other Magi, and of events too far in the future to be possible to see. The senate tested her for days before they would take this prophecy seriously. As we know, Simon, her husband, was killed by the schemes of the Disciple Simeon Cephas with whom he had had a long-running feud. This led to Helene going into hiding while Simeon tried to discredit her. Although she disappeared, this, her most well-known Prophecy lived on and is one of the most widely known parts of our history to this day. Of course, this means that when someone is said to be the one spoken of in this Prophecy, there is a great deal of interest in it.’
‘And how do we know that she is this chosen one?’ said a swarthy-skinned man to Amanda’s right. He looked at Trevelyan while pointing roughly in her direction.
‘Of course, you are right Abra-Melin, and that is why we are gathered here today. We wish to try and discover the truth of this.’ Trevelyan turned to Amanda then and addressed her directly, which led to the rest of the table turning to look at her as well. ‘Amanda, thank you for coming today,’
Amanda nodded. ‘Of course, my pleasure,’ she said, aiming to keep things professional.
‘You must, of course, be aware that there are some rumours that have been spread about you. They say that you have been marked as the one spoken of in the Prophecy of Helene, correct?’
‘That is correct yes,’ she said, waiting to be given permission before elaborating further.
‘The rumours say that you have the Aura colours spoken of, that you bear a physical mark and that you can pass into the Abyss. So firstly I think we need to confirm that this is all true. Can we do that?’
‘Of course,’ Amanda said. ‘I’m sure you can all see the Gold and purple within my Aura,’ she said to the crowd. ‘I am not generating this myself, in fact, you can see that I have no Magic cast upon me at all.’
The waves of Magic that washed over her as she stood there while the assembled crowd of Magi scrutinised her soul felt nearly overwhelming, almost like it might knock her off her feet. But as the Magic appeared to fade, she reopened her eyes that she had closed for a moment.
‘I have also been marked,’ she said as she turned and removed her blouse briefly for them all to see the tattoo on her back and arms. The small vest top she wore under her shirt hid little of the tattoo, but she pulled out some photos that Gentle Water had taken of the tattoo and sent them around the table for all to look at while she put her blouse back on.
‘I think you need to elaborate on how this came to pass,’ said Stephen Bathory. ‘I mean, when you say you were “marked”, what do you mean by that?’
Amanda nodded. ‘Of course. We were trying to stop the plans of an Initiated mortal called Mr Black who was planning to use some stolen Nuclear Warheads to try and destroy the Archons. We foiled his plan on an Island in the Pacific, the details of which I can elaborate on later if anyone likes. Anyway, one of yeh bombs became triggered and after the blast, which we managed to shield ourselves from, a bolt of strange energy from the sky hit me and burnt this mark into my back. Once I had recovered from this, I had the colours in my Aura and the ability to cross into the abyss, in addition to the tattoo. My friends and Coven mates who were there said that the bolt of energy defied examination and even appeared to blow their Magic away, much like a gust of wind would put out a candle.’
‘So you can pass into the Abyss?’ Roxana Bishop, the Scion representative on the Council asked.
‘I can,’ Amanda nodded.
‘May we see?’ said another Magi with an Irish accent.
‘Of course, that’s no bother at all,’ she said. With a simple act of concentration and a few pulls on the Magical energy in the room, Amanda opened up a Portal above the table that looked like some kind of mini black hole, like a rip in the fabric of time and space. To a Magi the nature of the Portal and the Magic in question were not in any doubt, they knew where that Portal went without question.
The Aura and the tattoo had been of interest, but the reveal of her ability to apparently not only cross into the Abyss but take others there too, created a rush of hushed conversation around the table along with a surge of telepathic talk to go along with it.
Amanda cancelled the Magic and the Portal faded away to nothing as the conversations intensified.
‘How do we know this is not some elaborate rouse? Some trick to fool us?’ Forest said from the left side of the table.
‘You think this looks like a trick?’ said Count Saint-Germain opposite him.
‘I mean, obviously, I can see with my own eyes the truth of the Magic, but we know there’s talk of a few Nomads making the Great Crossing.’
‘The Magnus Transitus. You think she’s a Nomad?’ Stephen said, indicating Amanda.
‘I didn’t say that, but what we do know is that these rumours about her have been spread by a Nomad who Amanda has had dealings with before,’ Forest elaborated.
This captured Amanda’s attention. She had no idea who had been talking about her and spreading these rumours, and to hear that it was a Nomad caused her to feel a little concerned. She had invited a Nomad to her home recently. Was it Yasmin who had been doing this?
‘May I ask who?’ Amanda said almost on auto pilot, suddenly intensely curious who had been talking about her.
Forrest turned to look at her, a look of surprise and offence at been spoken to by her. He didn’t answer, he just looked at her, seemingly unsure how to respond.
‘The Nomad who seems to be the cause of all this is Angel Alergeri, who I think you know about,’ said Trevelyan.
Amanda nodded and looked into the middle distance as she took that in. Angel had shown up a couple of times now during her time as a Magus. The first time had been on that train in France when she had been after the Golden Book. But more recently it had become clear that she had been involved with Mr Black somehow, working for him like the other Magi and Scions she had discovered during her recent confrontations.
It did seem though that Angel had turned on Mr Black at the last moment on the island before disappearing off at the same time as Yasmin. Was there a connection there between Yasmin and Angel? She didn’t know and might never know, and anyway, she had other concerns for the moment.
‘I had no idea,’ Amanda said.
‘Of course, you didn’t,’ Forrest said, disbelief in his voice.
Amanda wanted to retaliate but held her tongue instead, feeling that taking the high road would be the better option.
‘That all very nice, but what does this all mean?’ said an Italian sounding man with a Mediterranean complexion.
‘It means the Archons are returning,’ said a woman with wild ginger hair and a Russian accent.
‘Nonsense,’ said Abra-Melin. ‘How do you know that?’
‘If she can pass into the Abyss, how do we know they now can’t come back into the Material world?’ said the Russian woman.
‘We don’t,’ said Kai. ‘But we must trust that they still cannot and that this effect is localised to Amanda only.’
‘Working with the Nomads or not, surely you can see that she is a danger now? If she were to fall into the wrong hands or if she had cause to work against us?’ Forrest said.
‘What are you suggesting?’ Stephen Bathory asked him.
‘I’m not suggesting anything, I’m merely asking the question,’ Forrest answered, apparently affronted by the accusation.
‘A question that insinuates that we take pre-emptive action, to condemn her before anything has happened,’ Stephen continued.
‘Those are your words, not mine,’ Forrest said, crossing his arms.
‘Then she should be protected,’ Victoria said. ‘If she’s a target now, then she’s going to need our help.’
‘I would be happy to assign you some bodyguards,’ suggested Kai.
Amanda shook her head. ‘Thank you, but that won’t be necessary, I can look after myself.’
Kai nodded. ‘Of course Amanda-san.’
‘People will still want to kill you,’ Trevelyan said.
‘People have been wanting to kill me ever since I became a Magus it seems, so it’s nothing new.’
‘That may be so, but there’s no shame in asking for some help,’ Trevelyan said.
‘Thank you, I appreciate it, and… I will bare it in mind,’ Amanda said. ‘But please, I want people to try not to make too much of a fuss. That Prophecy is very vague and maybe it means something, or maybe it doesn’t. If I am some kind of chosen one, if I am meant to do something, I’d like to find my own path ideally, and while that might be dangerous, that would always be my preference.’
The table seemed to relax a bit and many of them sat back and talked in hushed tones with the people next to them, or looked at Amanda with a range of expressions from respect to suspicion.
After a moment, with a brief look around the table, Trevelyan spoke once more. ‘I know this will come up as a topic of discussion again, but if we’re done for the moment, then might I suggest we bring this part of the meeting to an end?’
With no objections, Trevelyan ended the meeting, and people stood up from their chairs and started to talk amongst themselves. Amanda found herself stood alone in a room full of people, most of them talking about her but not talking to her, and felt suddenly very ill at ease. She backed away from the table a couple of steps and looked about her, catching most of the people here stealing glances at her and clearly talking about her. She wanted to just walk out of here, but the huge distance from the table to the door at the edge of the room looked incredibly daunting and she didn’t like the feeling that they would all be watching her go.
‘Thinking of leaving so quickly?’ said a voice right next to her.
She turned towards the voice and came face to face with Forrest of the Magi Legion. Amanda gave him a look and wasn’t sure what to say.
‘Apologies, I think we got off on the wrong foot,’ he said and offered his hand. ‘I’m Forrest, it’s a pleasure to meet you.’
Amanda looked at his hand for a moment, in two minds as to whether she should be polite to someone who has caused her problems from the first time she came to America. In the end, her better self won out and she shook his hand, doing her best to give him as firm a handshake as she could muster.
She didn’t want to appear weak.
‘Hi,’ Amanda said, not wanting to sound too friendly. It certainly wasn’t a pleasure for her to meet him.
‘I just want to apologise for the way some of my Coven have acted towards you. I know some of them have been outright rude to you, and for that, I can only apologise. I will try to keep them in line in future.’
Amanda felt pleasantly surprised at this, she certainly wasn’t expecting that from him. ‘Oh, okay, well that’s kind of you to say so, but not needed really. I can handle myself.’
‘Of course, you don’t need any help in that regard, I can see that.’
‘Speaking of help,’ she said, feeling brave and indignant, ‘how come you didn’t do anything to help find the killers of the Coven of Angels in Los Angeles?’
Forrest looked a little surprised by this line of questioning, but after a moment's pause recovered quickly.
‘I would deny that we did nothing,’ he said.
‘Well I didn’t see you in L.A. when I was there sorting the mess out,’ Amanda said, sensing weakness.
Forrest cocked his head to one side but remained calm. ‘And that’s the problem. You see, there’s a proper procedure to these things, which we were in the midst of following when you charged in there without any thought as to what you were doing.’
‘And while you were discussing what to do, people were dying.’
‘From what I hear, an entire L.A Coven that was used as bait, and a whole team of highly trained Initiated men and women from D.C. died during your ill-conceived attack. Oh no, sorry, one survived, my mistake.’
‘At least we stopped them, which is more than your meetings would have done.’
‘You have no idea what our meetings would have accomplished. We could have coordinated an appropriate response remotely from Washington or Texas without putting more lives at risk by sending more targets into the city itself. But your rash actions meant that all our planning was for nothing.’
Amanda opened her mouth, wanting to reply with a clever argument, but found she no longer had an answer for Forrest. Her actions to take revenge on the Nomads who had killed the Covens in Los Angles now felt foolish and not the calm and measured response that maybe they should have been. At the time it didn’t feel like she had rushed in, it didn’t feel like she had made a mistake. Had she been wrong?
‘In response to your actions, I did lodge a formal complaint against you with the Council, expressing my grievances with
you and your actions and how you needlessly put more lives on the line for some petty revenge.’
Amanda felt the bottom fall out of her stomach as he spoke those words, and suddenly she felt about one inch tall.
‘However, my earlier apology was sincere, and I do want to build some bridges with you, so I will be withdrawing the complaint today as a show of forgiveness. I may disagree with your actions in California last year, but, I can see they were done with the best of intentions and you clearly have enough on your plate at the moment with the Prophecy.’
‘Oh, thank you, I appreciate that,’ she said, feeling confused but grateful.
‘My pleasure. You clearly are the subject of this Prophecy and you will have to forgive me, I felt the need to play the part of devil’s advocate during that meeting so that the right questions were asked.’
‘Of course, I understand,’ Amanda said as Forrest wished her good day and moved on around the table. Amanda stood there and watched him go, feeling more confused by that conversation than she thought possible. One moment he’s arguing against her and accusing her of gross negligence and with putting the lives of others in danger, and then he’s forgiving her and saying he basically believes in her, despite what he had said during the meeting mere moments ago. She had met Forrest a couple of times during her time in New York as a Magus. The first time they had crossed paths had been in the office of Victoria when she had been asking for help against Lucian, something that Forrest and the Legion had successfully blocked, forcing her to take on Lucian alone. Ever since then she had felt that he and his Coven all had the same dislike for her. The fact that a foreigner had effectively taken over New York for themselves, which was how they no doubt looked on things, seemed to annoy them.
She hated the constant politics that seemed to stall the American Council and keep them from doing anything. She did her best to keep out of it so that if something needed immediate action then she could just do it and avoid the plodding slowness of dealing with them.
She found that she just didn’t know what to think of Forrest and knew that she could not just take him at his word. Pinning him down and putting a label on him was proving difficult. Was he a xenophobe who hated her, or was he a stickler for procedure and doing things the right way? Could he just be a devout politician who hated the violence he saw her do, or maybe he was just playing devil’s advocate as he mentioned to make others question their actions while secretly supporting them in private? The answer could be any, some or none of those things, and only really time would tell she supposed.
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