‘What?’ Variam said. ‘Who?’
‘He’s downstairs,’ Anne said. ‘Outside the shop.’ She looked at me, obviously waiting for my response.
I looked ahead through the futures, picking out the one in which I rose and left the room. I followed my future self downstairs and through the shop, watching as he opened the door and looked out into the street to see—
I snapped back to the present and watched the future vanish. I stared at Anne. ‘Him?’
‘He was there when I got the call,’ Anne said defensively.
And what the hell was he doing at your place? I didn’t ask. Luna looked at Anne. ‘Who are you guys talking about?
‘You know how things ended last time,’ I told Anne. ‘Why is he even here?’
‘Probably because of me,’ Anne said. She looked straight at me. ‘I know you two have had problems, but we need the help.’
I looked away. Variam looked between the two of us. ‘Okay, are you two going to spit out the name any time soon? Because this is getting old.’
‘Fine.’ I got to my feet and walked downstairs, following the path that my future self had taken a minute ago.
The shop floor was dark and I switched on the light, the glow bathing the room. Yellow-white light glimmered back at me, refracted through crystal balls and glinting off the steel of the knives and ritual daggers laid out on the far table. I unlocked the shop door and opened it. Cold air rushed in, dry and near-freezing and carrying the scent of winter.
The boy – young man, really – was standing out on the pavement, his breath making white puffs in the air. He wore a thick coat and his black hair was peeking out from under a woollen cap. No glasses this time; he’d apparently lost them since I’d last seen him. We looked at each other.
‘Sonder,’ I said.
‘Hi,’ Sonder said.
There was a pause. ‘It’s kind of cold,’ Sonder said. ‘Can I come in?’
I thought about it for just long enough to make it clear that I was thinking about it, then stepped aside. Sonder entered and I shut the door behind him. The sounds of the street faded and we were alone in the shop.
‘Okay,’ I said, turning to Sonder. ‘Why are you here?’
‘Anne—’
‘I know what Anne told you. Are you here to help Anne, or the rest of us?’
Sonder hesitated. I saw the futures shift between possible answers, then die away, and I knew I wasn’t going to get a reply. ‘The guy behind this is Levistus,’ I said. ‘You understand what you’re risking, getting involved with us?’
Sonder frowned slightly. ‘I’m not an idiot.’
I sighed slightly. ‘Come on up.’ No one else was coming. I just wished I knew whether adding Sonder would make things better or worse.
Variam and Luna didn’t react when I led Sonder into the living room – Anne had obviously broken the news to them while I’d been downstairs. Neither Luna nor Variam looked one hundred per cent enthusiastic – Variam had never liked Sonder all that much, and while Luna and Sonder had been sort-of-friends in the early months of Luna’s apprenticeship, they’d never been close. With hindsight, that friendship had probably been more on Sonder’s part than on Luna’s. Luna’s early contacts in magical society had been few and far between, and to begin with having a mage her age who actually treated her well had probably been a nice change, but as she’d started to get to know people on her own initiative she’d drifted away. Sonder had wanted to stay friends – actually, more than friends – and Luna had given him a fairly definite rejection. I still didn’t know how well Sonder had taken that.
Sonder was looking around the living room. ‘This brings back memories.’
‘Thanks for coming,’ Anne said.
‘Like I promised,’ Sonder said. ‘You guys still play Settlers?’
‘We’ve had a bit less time to spare for that stuff lately,’ I said.
‘You going to take a seat?’ Variam asked.
‘Oh, sure.’ Sonder took a step forward, taking a final glance around as he did, and paused. ‘Uh, what’s with the fox?’
Hermes was sitting by the doorpost to my bedroom, ears pricked up and tail curled around his forepaws. He’d sat watching as everyone else arrived, and now he returned Sonder’s gaze blandly. ‘Why don’t you ask him?’ I said.
Sonder gave me a puzzled look.
‘His name’s Hermes and he lives here,’ I said. ‘Look, we’re a little pushed for time. Is it okay if we save the recaps for later?’
‘Oh. Okay.’
A chime came from the desk. Luna twisted around. ‘Talisid?’
I nodded and went over to pick up the communicator focus. Sonder took a seat a little way away from the others as I walked back, set the disc down on the coffee table in the middle of everyone and activated it.
Blue light flickered, materialising into the figure of Talisid. He scanned left and right, looking at everyone’s faces, pausing very briefly at the sight of Sonder before turning back to the others. The only one he didn’t register was Hermes, outside the radius of the focus’s visual field. ‘You’re all here. Good.’
‘Can you talk freely?’ I asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Then,’ I said, ‘let’s hear it from the beginning.’
‘The Council met this afternoon,’ Talisid said. ‘It was a closed session of the Senior Council only. There were two items on the agenda, and the proposal for your execution was one of them. Levistus was the author. The vote was three to one.’
The Light Council is the decision-making body of the Light mages of Britain. It has thirteen members: six non-voting, known as the Junior Council, and seven voting, known as the Senior Council. Beneath them is a sprawling organisation and bureaucracy (of which Talisid’s a member) but it’s those seven members of the Senior Council who call the shots.
The knowledge that the Senior Council had authorised this sent a chill through me. Within Britain, the Senior Council have nearly absolute power. There are few laws that restrict them, and there’s no higher authority to appeal to. If they wanted me dead …
‘What charge?’ Sonder asked.
‘Conspiracy and sedition against the Light Council.’
‘What conspiracy?’ Luna said.
‘The resolution doesn’t specify.’
‘They have to show some kind of evidence,’ Variam said. ‘Don’t they?’
‘No, they don’t,’ I said. ‘Keepers do, because they answer to the Senior Council. The Senior Council doesn’t answer to anyone.’ I looked at Sonder to see if he’d disagree. He didn’t.
‘That’s all it takes?’ Luna said, incredulous. ‘Three votes?’
‘There were only four present.’
‘How is this even possible?’ I said. I managed to keep my voice steady, but it wasn’t easy. ‘It’s the middle of December. The Council’s supposed to be in recess.’
‘Which is undoubtedly the reason this is happening now,’ Talisid said. ‘Levistus called an emergency session at exactly the time at which those Senior Council members most likely to oppose him were out of the country. By contrast, his two closest supporters were both attending. Four is enough for a quorum.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘So if they’ve passed the resolution, why aren’t Keepers kicking my door down right now?’
‘They can’t,’ Sonder said.
Everyone turned to look at Sonder. ‘They didn’t have full attendance,’ Sonder explained. ‘The Council can pass resolutions with a quorum of four, but not emergency resolutions.’
‘Sonder’s correct,’ Talisid said. ‘Any resolution passed with less than full Senior Council attendance has a one-week delay before it goes into effect. It’s a safety measure designed to prevent quorum abuses.’
‘A safety measure?’ Luna said. ‘So what, we get a week to live instead?’