I raised my eyebrows. “You’re blaming me?”
“You and her.” Dark Anne leant forward. “When I get out of here, she’s first on the list. You? You’re number two.”
“Yeah, with an attitude like that, I can’t think why she’d want you locked up,” I said. “You played the poor-little-me act last year too. Remind me, what was the first thing you did when you got free?”
Dark Anne shrugged as best she could. “So I cut loose a little.”
“Do you even understand how much damage you did in those few hours?” I asked her. “It’s been a year and we are still trying to deal with the consequences. And when I say trying, there’s a really good chance it’s not going to work. The instant they find out who was really responsible for those murders, what do you think’s going to happen?”
“Stop whining.”
I stared at Dark Anne. “You know how many people died because of what you did in San Vittore?”
Dark Anne didn’t answer.
“Eighteen. It would have been more but for the response team.”
“Not like I did anything to them.”
“Oh, don’t even start,” I said in disgust. “You were the one who summoned those jinn. Not Morden, not Richard. You. If you’re seriously going to say that’s not your responsibility, then I’m done talking.”
“That one was the jinn’s idea, actually. I guess all those lesser ones used to be his servants or something.”
“Which means they did what you told them.”
“Yeah, and the men there all worked for the Council, and they did what they told them. I’d given them the chance, they’d have shot me just as fast.”
“They’re still human beings. You know the Council has an entire department for coming up with stories to tell the families of the men that die in their service? I went down there after the attack. Copies and copies of letters to relatives. I don’t even know what kind of explanation they had to come up with for that many deaths at the same time.”
“They knew the risks, didn’t they?” Dark Anne said. “They were prison guards. Not exactly a goody-two-shoes kind of job.”
“I don’t understand you,” I said. “Anne will work for hours with her healing magic to save the life of someone she doesn’t even know. Meanwhile, you’re personally responsible for nearly twenty deaths in as many minutes, and you just shrug it off. I know she’s the empathic one, but don’t you have any of it?”
“So what about you?” Dark Anne said. “Because the way I remember it, you’ve killed way more people than that. What about the Nightstalkers? Or that raid you did on that Light mage in Scotland, Belthas or whatever his name was? We weren’t there but Luna told us the story. What was the body count on that again?”
“There’s a difference between fighting because you have to and fighting because you want to. Both of those times you’re talking about, I was pushed to my limits. Last year in San Vittore, you weren’t. You could easily have neutralised them without having to—”
Dark Anne gave a loud sigh and rolled her eyes.
I broke off. “I’m sorry. Am I not holding your attention?”
“Bored.”
“You have something better to be doing?”
“No, which should just emphasise how boring this is.” Anne leant forward slightly, the chains clinking as she shifted. “Why do you do this?”
“What, talk to you?”
“No, turn conversations into some kind of ethics lecture. I mean, I actually like you, and when you start on this I still want to beat my head against a wall because it hurts less. Blah blah right and wrong blah responsibility blah. Okay, Alex, harsh truth time, you listening? You’ve never changed anyone’s mind with this stuff. Ever.”
“I’ve—”
“No, not even then. Either it’s someone like Luna, and she’s already going to do what you tell her, or it’s everyone else, and they don’t care what you say. Think about it. When have you managed to argue someone into thinking you’re right and they’re wrong?”
“It’s not like I keep records.”
“You haven’t! Because no one cares! Yes, people listen to you, but they listen because they think you’re scary and competent. The times you’ve made some Dark mage or adept punk back down, you think it was because you convinced them? They back off because they think you’re dangerous. And that’s the only reason anyone ever pays attention to the words coming out of your mouth.”
I looked back at her. “Well,” I said after a moment, “you’re making me realise one thing. Anne is right to keep you locked up down here.”
Dark Anne narrowed her eyes. “For now.”
“For now?” I asked. “I hate to break this to you, but Anne’s stronger than you are. The reason you were able to overpower her back then was because you had the jinn backing you up. One-on-one, for all your tough-girl talk? You can’t match her.”
“Like I said,” Dark Anne said. “For now. Someday she’ll need me.”
“Seems to me she’s doing pretty well on her own.”
“Please. You only think that because you’ve forgotten what I can do. If I’d been in that research facility, I’d have taken them all down solo. “
“Which isn’t going to happen, because of how badly you screwed up last year,” I said. “Anne is not giving you control again. Ever. Long term, you want to get out of here, you have exactly one way to do it.”
“Which is?”
“Merge with her,” I said. “Become one person again. Seriously, do you realise how insane you sound? You can’t keep this up forever. Sooner or later the two of you are going to have to work something out that doesn’t come down to locking the other in a dungeon.”
“I don’t know. Sticking her in here and seeing how she likes it seems pretty good to me.”
“Which you can’t do without the jinn,” I said. “Which you can’t call back.”
“She can.”
“Right, Anne’s going to go to the super-powerful eldritch entity that’s already possessed her three times and invite it back for another try. Are you really that stupid?”
“Maybe not now,” Dark Anne said. “But like she was saying, we’ve got a lot of enemies, haven’t we? Sagash and Crystal, Morden and Richard, all those Light Guardians and Crusaders. Not to mention all of your new best friends on the Council. Someday things will get bad enough and she’ll be desperate enough. Maybe not this month, maybe not this year, but it’ll happen. You think Anne’s so pure and innocent, but you don’t know her like I do. When things really go to hell, she’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Until then? I can wait.”
I gave Dark Anne a look, then turned and walked away.
“I’m not going anywhere, Alex,” Dark Anne called after me. “Someday we’ll be face-to-face again. And I won’t be so nice next time.”
There was more, but the closing door cut off her voice. I started the long climb up the spiral staircase, alone with my thoughts.
chapter 5
My talk with the two Annes left me feeling uneasy. For the next few days I turned it over in the back of my mind, trying to come up with something I could do.
Nine days passed. I lived in the Hollow, travelling to the War Rooms each day with Anne. There was plenty to do: the war was still on a slow burn, and there was no sign of anyone on the Council plotting a move, but there were the usual problems that needed to be managed, and they kept me busy. Arachne stayed at home in her lair, and I visited her twice more. Luna kept working in the Arcana Emporium, and Variam was busy with his work as a Keeper.