He raised a vicious knife. Even in the thick fog that blanketed the streets, enough light remained to glint off a silvery blade and deadly point. I tried to shrink further back into the door, but there was nowhere else to go. Daniel stabbed. The knife flashed down towards me. I twisted to the side, but I was not fast enough. The blade slashed into my shoulder and I screamed as unbearable pain lanced through me like white-hot lightning. My vision blurred, and my body shook, but I must not give up now.
I gripped my knife in my hand, letting the blade slice into my skin so that my blood mixed with Daniel's. Though the pain was almost too much, I slapped my hands together, rubbing the mixed blood into the last of the fur. I screamed again, pushing all of my anger and grief into the sound, until the scream took on its own life and became magic such as I had never cast before.
Abruptly, the London street vanished.
I stood on the Yorkshire moors once again. Daniel stared at someone beside me; when I turned, I saw that my mother had once again accompanied me to this place deep within my memory. Daniel moaned, a strange sound low in his throat, and threw himself down at my mother's feet. It did not seem as if he had even noticed me. She stared back at him for a long moment, then shook her head. Pity for Daniel stabbed my heart, but his own obsession and jealousy had brought him to this point.
Reaching for that tingling power that always burned within me, I called forth fire. Flames leapt along my hands, burning away the blood and the fur but leaving my skin smooth and unmarked. Daniel burst into flames, tongues of fire wrapping around his body faster than I'd expected.
"A fitting punishment for a man who killed both his mother and his sister," my mother said, her voice low and husky, as if from long disuse.
I tore my eyes away from the flames to look at her.
"Your mother isn't dead," I said. "I've met her."
My mother smiled. Her eyes were still sad. With one last glance at Daniel's burning figure, she faded away until I only saw the moorland behind her. She was gone.
I turned back to Daniel - and I could bear his pain no longer. In a panic, I yanked back the fire, ripping it away from him, desperately trying to heal him, to undo the damage. As I pulled, he fell to his knees with a piercing scream, and the last of his own magic ripped away along with mine. He collapsed onto the wet ground of the moorland as an ordinary man.
I fell back into my own body, tumbling into the pain-filled young woman who lay in a dirty London street. For a second, my eyes met Daniel's as he lay in the mud beside me. There was not a single spark of yellow left and I smiled even as he scrambled to his feet and ran away into the darkness. Then the pain in my shoulder flared again, so hot I thought I heard myself scream, and I let go of consciousness.
The Return Home
I slowly came around, vision returning to my tired eyes one inch at a time. I was lying on something hard, and it made my body ache all over. Or had I done something else to hurt myself?
I lay on a hard wooden floor, staring up at a dark ceiling. I blinked, trying to fill the final dark spots in my vision. My memories were trickling back. One hand went instinctively to my shoulder, groping for that terrible stab wound. Nothing. A dull ache still spread from my shoulder, but the sharp pain was gone, and I felt no blood. How long had I been unconscious for? I struggled to sit up.
"Best stay where you are," a familiar voice said. I twisted my head to one side and met the dark eyes of Gwyneth. She and Liliana sat beside me on the hard floor - the floor of the inn. I had not imagined it.
"What happened?" I demanded, forcing myself to sit up. "You need to explain everything! And where were you?"
They both laughed.
"It's up to you to understand," Gwyneth said. "That's not our role."
I looked at Liliana. My mother's strange words appeared in my memory.
"You lied," I said slowly. "You aren't really my grandmother. She's dead. Daniel killed her."
Liliana laughed even harder. "It's all true," she said. "But once again, it is not my role to help you understand."
The two of them vanished as abruptly as a snuffed-out candle flame. I stared at the empty space, and then darkness washed over me once again.
The next time I came around, I lay in the street again, embedded in the wet mud. An old woman crouched beside me, gently tapping my face. I recognised her as the woman who had laughed at me earlier when I asked about the inn. I blinked up at her and she pulled her hand away.
"Are you all right, girl?" she asked in a cracked, rough voice. "I thought I saw that man stab you, but there's no blood."
Once again, I pushed myself up into a seated position. Had I dreamed my time on the inn floor?
"I'm fine," I said faintly, reaching for my shoulder. It felt fine, if a little sore, but there was certainly a tear in my dress. Might there be dried blood on the fabric? I could not tell in this light.
"It must have been only a glancing blow," the old woman said. Her frown etched deep lines across her face in the darkness. "Do you need help getting home, girl? You clearly don't belong around here."
With her assistance, I staggered as far as the road, and hailed a cab. Miraculously, no one had stolen my purse while I lay unconscious. I gave the driver his fee along with Theo's address, and I even tossed the old woman a coin before I climbed into the cab.
As I sank into the (not especially soft) seats of the cab, I thought of my earlier vision of Theo's agonising death. Had I averted that fate? Daniel was no longer a wolf, nor a magic-user of any kind. There was no guarantee that all my visions must come true; perhaps we were finally safe.
I exited the cab onto the familiar street outside Theo's home and stumbled up the front steps. My wonderful, beautiful Theo opened the door just before I could knock. He looked at me with utter delight on his face and swept me into his arms. I sobbed into his shirt and realised the worst was over. We had survived.
Justice and Punishment
As I gazed around the table, I saw more sadness and sympathy in each face than I had expected. My return to the witch hunters' headquarters had surprised me in several ways, given the acrimonious cloud under which I had left. I could not imagine that I would ever be comfortable with these people, but I found myself forced to admire their willingness to extend compassion.
"I'm sorry," Delilah said, breaking the silence. "I should have supported your plan to defeat the wolf. You were right, Something radical was required to destroy an evil of that magnitude."
Marcus nodded.
"We tried to solve the problem as we always would," he said. "You saw a new way, and we should have supported that."
"I especially should have supported it," Delilah said, not quite meeting my eyes as she fiddled with the decorated table edge.
"I accept your apology," I said. Delilah looked as surprised as I felt. I had not intended for those words to slip out, but they seemed surprisingly appropriate, even at this moment when I could have gloated over Delilah's error of judgement. The two of us had finally moved past our petty rivalry. And I appreciated her support. But it was like paper plastered over a gaping wound. All the support and apologies in the world would not repair the hole gouged into my heart.
At the other end of the room, Jules, who had been restless since the meeting began, jumped to his feet.
"This still isn't over," he insisted, pacing. "Montague may have no more magic, but he's still a madman and a murderer. We can't let him go free. We must hunt him down and bring him to justice."
All my gratitude evaporated in an instant.
"How can you say that?" I exclaimed. "Were you not at school with him? Can you not remember him as he was?"
I had more reason than anyone else to want Daniel dead, but I still could not bear to even imagine it. I thought of Alexandra's gruesome, broken body lying on my bedroom floor, but my anger still did not rouse. My heart held only sadness.
"He was a good man, once," I said. "He deserves a second chance at life. Perhaps now, without the temptations of
magic, he can become a better person. Perhaps he can find a new life, away from all the greed and jealousy that tainted his goodness."
Jules shook his head, opening his mouth to answer, but I cut him off.
"Don't even think about hunting him," I said. "Drop all of this, right now. Stay well away from Daniel."
"Jules is right," Marcus said, although there was sadness in his voice. "Daniel cannot go free, not when we know what he has done. He must face punishment, and it is our duty to mete it out."
"It's none of your business!" I retorted, slapping my palm down on the table.
"It's very much our business," Delilah said. "We have dedicated our lives to stopping evil magic and destroying those who use magic for ill."
"Daniel has no more magic," I said. "I'm sure. Please, don't hurt him."
"Your personal relationship to the man is unfortunate," Jules said. "But it is ultimately irrelevant. We will do our duty."
"You can't do this!" I screamed. Or, at least, I tried to scream. I seemed to lack the energy for such a firm demonstration of emotion. My anger bubbled inside me, but I could not find the words to express it. Clenching my fists, I inhaled sharply.
Delilah jumped to her feet with a screech, stamping hard. Flames licked at the hem of her dress for a glorious second, until she stamped them out.
"How dare you do that," Delilah shouted. I should have felt something at her anger. Glee, perhaps. Or maybe sadness. But I was rapidly losing the energy even for that. Another fire sprang up beside Delilah, burning its way across the floor. One corner of the table caught alight, then another. And the fire was not the only strange force of nature in the room; tendrils of thick white fog drifted from my skirts, spiralling out around me.
"We need to get out of here," Marcus said, reaching for Delilah, but she shook him off and stared me down.
"Stop this, Lily," she said firmly. "Enough is enough. Stop acting like an unhappy child."
"An unhappy child?" I screeched. "You aren't taking away my favourite toy. You're discussing the cold-blooded murder of the man who's the closest I ever had to a parent!"
"Wrong. We're discussing the execution of the man who killed your parents," Delilah said. "That is, if we assume that he killed your father as well and covered up both murders with a tale of a sudden sickness."
My blood burst into life and red-hot rage burst through my veins. But I was still too tired. To my utter humiliation, even as the fog died down, my own dress caught fire. I stared down at the tiny flames on my skirts and wondered if I would soon feel the fire on my skin.
Then a rush of icy cold water splashed over me. I looked up to meet the eyes of Delilah, who held an empty bucket.
"I thought this might come in handy," she said.
I looked down at my skirts, singed and steaming. Too much. I shoved Delilah out of my way and ran for the door. Theo followed me, but I ignored him and let the door slam behind me in my rush to escape.
I did not quite move fast enough to avoid hearing Delilah's final words.
"Don't ask her about this any more," she said. "Lily's dealt with enough of this burden already. It's our job to handle Daniel from here."
Did she truly mean to lift some of the weight from my shoulders?
To my utter surprise, it felt as if that terrible weight had lightened. I still did not want Daniel dead - not now, not ever. But perhaps it was no longer my fight. Perhaps I could let go and allow the witch hunters to do their work. Daniel certainly deserved to face justice.
Grief
I had to acknowledge that Daniel was gone from my life. I could not move forward without letting go. And so, although the outside world must believe Daniel was on an extended Grand Tour of Europe, I resolved to act as if he had died. I would grieve him in my own way. I was almost certain he would not return to his old life in London, not with his power gone and the truth revealed. Perhaps I would never see him again.
Theo suggested that I take practical action to reinforce this state of mind. I resented the implication that I needed something to keep me busy, but I understood his intentions were the best.
It seemed practical to begin by clearing out some of Daniel's things from his house, as if he had indeed died. I was not yet sure how we would resolve the legal situation regarding ownership of the house, but we could at least sort through his belongings without attracting notice.
As we climbed the steps to his house, I reminded myself firmly that Daniel was gone, but that thought hurt me deeply. Whatever else he had done, Daniel was still the man who practically raised me, and I would never stop loving him for that. How could I help but grieve for the man who cared for me when I was small and called me his little blackbird? A small, dark part of me whispered that he had always been using me. That, when he introduced me to the life sciences and taught me to communicate through dreams, he planned to turn my magic to his advantage. But, somehow, it didn't really matter. I knew that my love for him had been true.
Theo and I started with the library, judging it the room most likely to contain some of Daniel's other secrets. Well, second to the workroom, but that was not a room I yet felt up to conquering.
It was a relief to have Theo with me, of course, but awkwardness still hovered between us. Whether on account of the magic, or because Theo did not know how to approach my grief, we were a little distant with each other. But I still found myself aware of his every movement and paying close attention to his subtle shifts in expression.
So, when Theo gasped on the other side of the library, I swung around to face him almost instantly. To my astonishment, he was staring through a door-sized hole in the wall. A false bookshelf?
"What have you found?" I asked, walking up behind him.
He angled his body to block my view.
"You don't want to see," he told me, his voice strained. Even viewed in profile, his face looked sick.
I already knew from the wafting stench that this was not a sight I wished to see, but I could not turn my back on even the darkest truths.
The door led to a tiny room, windowless and dark. It was piled full of bones, tattered fur and what, from the stench, I judged to be decomposing pieces of flesh.
"What is that?" I gasped.
"I think it's dogs," Theo said grimly, and slammed the door shut. We stared at each other in horror.
My mind could barely process what I had just experienced.
Then I remembered Jules's dead pets, and the blood left in the street on the night Gwyneth ran away. Had Daniel been killing animals to survive? Either for sustenance or for the sheer life force to maintain his wolf guise? I knew that shape-shifting was complex magic. Now that I thought, I had not seen Daniel eat much in recent weeks. Drinking, yes, but rarely eating. How long had that habit been developing?
"He was eating animals," I said slowly. Theo nodded, his brow creased in thought.
"Maybe he was far gone enough to live and eat like a wolf half the time, but human enough to still eat animals rather than humans," Theo suggested.
"Exactly!"
Theo could not have voiced my own thoughts better.
"See," I continued. "He was still trying to do the right thing, even as he lost touch with his humanity. He could have done far worse than kill animals."
"He did do worse, Lily," Theo said gently. "He killed Alexandra, and he tried to kill you. Even if he did fight long and hard for his humanity, he lost it in the end."
No. How could he say such things?
"You don't understand," I said, throwing a book blindly at Theo as tears blurred my vision.
"Lily, please don't," Theo said, gripping my wrist before I threw another book. I slapped him half-heartedly on the shoulder with the same book, then let it fall to the floor as sobs shook my body.
I had thought to grieve Daniel as dead, but the reality was so much worse.
"I can't handle all this," I told Theo between sobs. "Let's leave the house. All my sunny memories have turned to darkness."
Theo hel
d me tightly, scattering kisses over my hair and face.
"Let me suggest something," he said.
I hesitated for a second. If he encouraged me one more time to be practical and rational, I might scream. But when I looked up to meet his eyes, they were understanding.
"Let's leave all this behind," he said, stroking my cheek. "We can have a quiet wedding in the countryside. We could go to Beechwood."
Immediately, my mind filled with a dozen reasons to refuse. If I had to mourn Daniel, I absolutely could not get married yet. Could I marry at all, without the express agreement of my guardian? If he never returned, must I wait until my twenty-first birthday? It would be utterly scandalous to spend time alone on my estate before we were married, given that I had no female relative to chaperon me.
But to my surprise, none of these words slipped from my lips.
"Yes," I said. "Let's leave London."
Legal Business
Each wearing our most respectable-looking outfits (no scandalous evening gowns here), Theo and I sat rather anxiously on uncomfortable chairs as we faced my lawyer over his desk. Well, Daniel's lawyer, in truth. I managed many of my own business affairs, but I was still a minor in the eyes of the law. So I would remain until my twenty-first birthday - or my marriage.
"You must understand, Mr Hardcastle," I said, in my most demure voice. "My guardian has always been a little flighty. It's just unfortunate that he chose to vanish so unexpectedly at this particular moment in time."
Like everyone else, Mr Hardcastle had been told that Daniel was on a long tour of the Continent, return date unknown.
"He left me with none of the appropriate paperwork," I continued. "As such, I have no idea whether I will be legally entitled to marry without his permission. It is an increasing worry that he will not remember to return home in time for the wedding."
"Miss Gabriel," the lawyer said, reaching out to pat my hand with his own sweaty paw. "You absolutely should not be troubling yourself with such concerns. I would advise you not to make any decisions on a scale such as marriage - wait for your guardian's return. I'm sure he will end his tour in his own time. Not yours."
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