by May Dawney
“You should find out. If it’s unusual, it could be dangerous.”
On didn’t sound worried by the possibility, but Claire was. She didn’t want to be anything but ordinary when it came to this hosting stuff. If she had to make her body available for hostile takeovers at any time of day, she should at least be safe while doing it. She glanced up at Alena.
“Don’t worry, we—”
“Could we please move on from the new girl and talk about things that apply to us all? Like a wild mage on the loose and the fact that a top Inquisitio member was able to come close enough to one of our own while they were on our home turf?”
Claire’s exclusion felt like a deliberate move on Ellen’s s part.
“That’s what the evening meeting is for, Ellen. Hold your peace until then.” Mr. Senna’s tone didn’t leave room for argument, although his voice remained level. “We’ll talk it all through then.”
Claire looked up just in time to watch Ellen send him a withering glare that Mr. Senna promptly ignored.
“I’ll do that then.”
Ellen fell silent again, but her last sneer had killed the easy comradery within the group.
Claire took a bite so she wouldn’t be expected to talk.
“All right, thank you for that addition, Ellen. In other news.” Roos stretched the final words out. “I think it’s important that we say thank you to Mei for another amazing meal.”
Cheers went up around the table.
Claire nodded and watched Mei wave off the compliments.
“It is nothing. Nothing. You help me and my son, I cook for you. Easy!” She shook her head. “Easy.”
“Well, my belly, for one, hates you for all the amazing meals, so maybe that helps offset all the cheer.” Nathan patted his stomach. “Boo!”
“Yes, good. Good belly.” Mei nodded vigorously and found her beaming smile again. The way her gaze lingered on Nathan just a bit too long gave Claire the sneaking suspicion that Mei’s smile had less to do with the compliment and more to do with Nathan himself.
Claire grinned and ate another bite. At least someone was building a life here.
CHAPTER NINE
The Veil can’t be entered. It’s either too thin or too elusive to hold on to. Once one has experienced the Otherworld, it is, however, quite possible to slip past the barrier. It’s porous in many places, and one who is attuned to it can sense the parts of it that are weakest without ever laying eyes on the phenomenon itself. The Veil is, I suppose, one of those things that is impossible to describe. It’s like a wall of wind; you can’t see it, but it would blow you away if you tried to enter it, unless you found a spot where its strength lulls. I am getting better at finding the lulls.
– Simon Magus, “The Fundamentals of Magic”
DINNER ENDED IN much the same mood as it had settled into after Ellen’s little outburst: amiable and homely. Their laughter and in-jokes had soothed the sting of displacement that still lingered in Claire’s chest. It was hard to be the new girl, and even harder to be “a dime a dozen” in a long string of girls just like her.
Would they miss her once she left?
Claire glanced aside.
Roos might miss her. She had already all but adopted Claire, after all, and it had only been a few hours—most of which Claire had been asleep for.
If she’d be allowed to remember, she would probably miss Roos as well, once she left. Her maternal attitude toward Claire had reminded her to visit her parents as soon as she could.
“Well.” Mr. Senna’s voice carried across the room easily and conversation quieted. “I suppose that concludes the meal. Claire, Alena, will you walk with me? Everyone else, give us a couple of minutes to talk, hm?”
Claire’s heart plummeted while her half-eaten meal came back up.
“Sure thing.” Nathan stretched out and draped his arm around the back of Mei’s chair. “Need help with dishes?”
Mei dipped her head, then shook it. “No, no. I can do that. You should relax. I want that.” She sneaked a glance at Nathan.
Alena got up. “Come on, Alice.” She winked. “My dad doesn’t bite, usually.”
Mr. Senna laughed. “Not usually, no. that’s Ndulu’s job.”
That had the man in question laugh. “Only on bad days, Gregorios. There is no need to bite anyone here.” He wiped his hands on his pants. “We will join you shortly.”
Claire pushed her chair back and got up. The gazes of everyone settled heavily on her—Ellen’s most of all. She dropped her head and hid behind her hair.
“Come on.” Alena’s hand pressed against the small of her back to urge her onward.
She complied, but the short walk from the kitchen to the meeting room felt like a death march. She dragged her feet along the worn carpet, hoping to delay the inevitable.
She hadn’t gotten enough sleep, she’d been possessed, poked, and exposed to a ton of new people and experiences. The energy boost food usually gave her hadn’t kicked in yet, and the need to sneak off for a nap was overwhelming.
If she told Alena, Alena would probably pat her on the back and say something like “What are you complaining about? You’re about to go to sleep for a few hours.”
Which wasn’t true. Every time a possession happened, Claire was dead tired after. She bit back a sigh and shuffled into the room Alena guided her toward.
It was a miniature version of the library. The same type of bookcases lined the walls and three or so stood in the center behind the chair Mr. Senna sat down in, at the head of an oval table.
He indicated a chair to his right-hand side that looked to be even more of an antique than the ones in the kitchen.
She sat down on the plush and was surprised at how uncomfortable it was. The springs, hidden under a thin layer of padding and velvet, poked into her butt cheeks.
“I’ve been talking with my daughter and it seems you had an unpleasant arrival in London. I’d like to apologize for that unfortunate encounter on behalf of the Society.”
“That’s okay.” Claire fought the urge to draw her legs up, but there was no use in fighting her blush. To keep herself from fidgeting, the stuffed her hands under her legs.
Alena sat down on a slightly less posh chair beside one of the many bookcases in the room, almost directly opposite Claire’s chair but not around the table. Knowing Alena would stay, and that she would stay in sight, was a great comfort.
“It’s not all right.” Mr. Senna folded his hands on the worn wood of the table’s surface.
Claire forced herself to look at him again. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was, in a way. London is my city. I guard it. I should have realized that if I sent my daughter, someone in the Inquisitio might find out and be so bold as to strike on home turf. Rest assured, the team that came after you two has been taken care of.”
“T-They’re dead?” Claire swallowed with difficulty. Of course it was terrible they’d almost been kidnapped but—
Mr. Senna chuckled, but it wasn’t a merry laugh. “No, nothing that…drastic.”
Alena dipped her head.
“We’re letting the law handle it…with some unofficial help from our end.” He gave her a smile that she supposed was meant to reassure but did no such thing.
Claire nodded. “Thank you.” She shifted back into the chair to get more comfortable, but she landed on another spring. “Um, can I…may I ask what, or who, the Inquisitio is? Are?” She looked at Alena for help.
Alena was smirking. She nodded toward her father.
“They’re a society of mage hunters. They’ve been around since twelfth century France, where they combatted religious dissidents. They were at the forefront of the witch trials of the late eighteenth century, and they hunt mages even to this day.” Mr. Senna’s voice had acquired a grim, dark edge.
“Oh.” Claire worked her lip. “Why?”
Alena chuckled dryly. “Yeah, good question.”
“Quiet, Alena.” It wasn’t an unfriendl
y reprimand, but it was a reprimand none the less.
Alena sent him a withering glare, but then looked away. She fell silent.
“Has Alena told you about the Veil?”
Claire racked her brain. She’d mentioned it, right? “A bit?”
Mr. Senna watched her, then hummed. “I’ll spare you the long explanation.” He stood and pulled a small, thin book off the nearest shelve. Then he stood the book on end on the table like a divider. “This is the Veil. Our world is on this side, the Otherworld on the other.” He put his fists on either side of the book. “For people without magical talents, the Veil will always be like this—solid.” He knocked on the cover of the hardback with the hand that represented their world. “Clear so far?”
She nodded.
“Good. For us mages, and for people like you, who are attuned to the Veil’s energy, the Veil is more like this.” He turned the book by roughly ninety degrees and stood it up on its length so the pages hung down. Then he placed his fists on either side again. “As you can see, there are passages—small channels through which energy from the Otherworld can travel to us. That energy is what we call magic.” Mr. Senna ran his finger along the spine, from the “Otherworld side” to the side that represented their world. “For you, specifically, the passages are only one-way; spirits from the Otherworld can travel to you, but you can’t take or use energy from the Otherworld yourself. We can pull energy to us, and send it back through as well.”
Claire nodded again. “All right…and the Inquisitio don’t want you to do that?”
“Indeed, they do not. They believe that if we grow too numerous, or if we use too much of that energy, we will drain the Otherworld of its life force. When that happens, our world will die with it because they are connected through the Veil.” Mr. Senna laid the book down and leaned back. “We believe magic does no such thing. It’s a closed system—we draw magic from beyond the Veil, use it, and it flows back to the Otherworld through the Veil.”
She checked with Alena, who met her gaze straight on. “Is there…such a thing as a closed system?” She ventured into the subject carefully, but if there was one thing being a science major had taught her, it was that entropy was virtually inevitable.
Mr. Senna chuckled and shook his head. “Smart. No, it is not entirely closed. There are always losses, but they are negligible. The Inquisitio are predicting our End of Days, we think it will be millennia before even a dip will be noticeable.”
“And then?” Claire pulled her legs up onto the chair.
Mr. Senna squinted at her knees.
Claire hurried to plant her feet on the ground again. “S-Sorry.”
“Then—” He drew his gaze back up to her face. “We believe magic will disappear. Without energy to fuel it, there is no way to create it. It wouldn’t harm our world, we would just harm ourselves. So, we have rules and regulations in place to minimize the impact our practices have, and we haven’t noticed a decline in energy yet. We monitor the Veil and the Otherworld closely.”
Claire pondered that. It seemed…dubious, but both Mr. Senna and Alena seemed convinced, so she just nodded. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Mr. Senna smiled and seemed to relax. “Glad that’s sorted.”
She nodded. At least she’d managed to placate him. “So, the Inquisitio thinks that you’re hurting the world, and because of that, they hunt you?” She glanced between the two.
Both nodded.
“They have a tribunal. Any mage brought before it is never seen again, which is why Alena insisted on not being brought in.” Mr. Senna smiled at his daughter.
“I wasn’t going to let that happen. Ever.”
Claire blushed and dipped her head. She was saved from answering by approaching footfalls and discussion.
Society members entered and took their seats. Nathan sat down beside her, Roos beside him. Ellen took her seat on Mr. Senna’s left-hand side and Ndulu closed the circle by sitting between Roos and Ellen. On wasn’t invited, it seemed, and obviously his mom wasn’t either. Was he never invited or was this a special occasion because of the subject matter?
“All right, all right, quiet down, please.” Mr. Senna scooted the book he’d taken out of the bookcase over to Claire.
She took the title in: “In Search of Heaven; Treaties of the Veil.” What was she supposed to do with that? Put it back? Read it? She looked up with a frown, but Mr. Senna wasn’t paying her any heed.
“I know you’re all eager to get underway. Petrovna will joins us in a minute or two. I want this to be a quick, smooth affair. We have some new developments to discuss—” He nodded toward Roos, who nodded.
The smile had drained from her features, making her look every one of her sixty-three years of age.
“…and we’ll need to come up with a plan to deal with them. Once we have that settled, I need to contact the wild mage’s handler before day’s end and order her to get to London. We can’t risk losing the wild mage to some old…connections.” There was clear disdain in the way he said the words.
Claire tried to catch Alena’s eyes in hopes of clarity, but Alena was looking at her father.
“Claire?”
She jerked her head in his direction. “Hm?”
“Our meeting is about to start.”
“Oh. Right.” Claire pushed up, then remembered that her body would be in that meeting, just not with her spirit in it. She dropped down again.
The springs creaked.
“What do I do?” She caught Alena’s gaze.
“Nothing. Just relax, she knows the time. I wanted you to prepare.”
Claire nodded.
A few seconds passed. Mr. Senna watched her intently. Alena gave her a smile, then checked her watch.
Everyone was watching her now, and Claire found herself longing for the take-over. At least she wouldn’t be the center of attention anymore.
A gentle force bushed against the inside of her skull, and she lost her equilibrium. Nausea settled in her gut and she groaned at the sudden discomfort. The feeling was familiar after a month of regular black-outs, but as the darkness sucked her in, she realized she’d never get used to it, and she never wanted to.
CHAPTER TEN
I am not a fearful man. In fact, I would consider myself one of the most fearless men I know. I possess strength, intellect, and confidence. Yet, it has taken me two weeks to even dare enter the room with the boy’s body again, and there are not enough words amongst the tribes and nations to describe the hellhole it has become. I must sort out this boy’s spirit soon because I cannot stand to be with his rotting corpse for much longer.
The boy won’t look upon his form anymore and I can’t blame him for that. He waits, just across the Veil, in the darkness, and at night, I hear his cries.
– Simon Magus, “In Search of Heaven; Treaties of the Veil”
“THERE YOU ARE.”
Alena’s voice wrapped around her like a blanket. She turned her head toward it and smiled despite the fuzziness that clung to her brain like spiderwebs.
“How are you feeling?”
Claire licked her dry lips and tasted only ash. She frowned. Her throat and lungs stung. “H-How long?”
“About an hour and a half. How are you?”
“Need to brush my teeth.” She opened an eye. When she realized the light wasn’t too bad on her aching brain, she opened the other as well. Although the world spun, only the edges of her vision blurred. She caught glimpses of downcast heads and averted gazes. Mr. Senna’s jaw was set, and he’d gone red and sweaty.
A large ashtray with two burned cigar buds sat in front of her. She pushed it further onto the table to get away from the stench.
Alena had crouched beside her chair and looked up at her. Her hand was on her leg and the skin below felt warm.
“D-Did I do something wrong?”
Alena shook her head and smiled. “No, just a long meeting. Come on, I’ll get you out of here so the grown-ups can talk.” She gave her a
grin and wink that were obviously meant to be playful, but both fell flat in the heavy atmosphere.
Only Roos gave her a small smile, but there was worry in the slight squint of her eyes and her drawn up shoulders. The others busied themselves with notetaking or quiet conversation.
“Can you stand yet?” Alena got up and inspected her.
Claire nodded, although she really wasn’t sure. She gripped the armrests to test her strength, then wiggled her feet to familiarize herself with them. When she tried to push up, she sagged back down almost right away.
Alena offered her hand. “I’ll help.”
Butterflies made their way through the dark ball of worry inside Claire’s gut and she took the offered hand. “Thanks.” She pulled herself up.
“All part of the job, Alice.” Alena wrapped her arm around her waist and pulled her against her side. “You can lean on me.”
Claire’s pounding heart rushed blood to her cheeks. She tensed, but only for a moment. Then, she leaned into Alena and let her support her far more than was technically necessary. Her strength was rapidly returning, but there was no need for Alena to know that if it meant she would be with the scent of leather and motor oil and the warmth of a strong arm around her waist.
She let Alena guide her into the hallway. “Did the um…did the meeting go well? Everyone seemed a little…tense.”
“Yeah, well enough. It’s just this whole…wild mage thing. It has everyone on edge.” Alena guided her back to the kitchen and helped her sit. She turned to the freezer and pulled it open to rummage through its content. “And shit got complicated.” Alena closed the freezer door with her hip and carried a carton of ice-cream to the counter.
Claire folded her arms across the table’s surface and rested her cheek in the crook of one as she watched Alena assemble dessert. “You um, you never really told me what’s happening.”
“Yeah…” Alena seemed to hesitate. “I guess I can tell you a bit. What do you want to know?”
