Meredith froze. She’d started to back towards the door when the fighting had started, but had only made it two steps before it was over. “Now,” I said. “You owe me. I’m here to collect.”
“Owe you?” Meredith’s eyes flickered down to Mateo, lying unconscious, then from side to side. I knew she was sizing up escape routes. “What do you—?”
“Six years ago, you sold me and Luna out,” I said. “I haven’t come after you because quite frankly I’ve had better things to do. But right now, I’ve got a job that needs doing, and I need a charm mage. You’re it.”
“I don’t—I can’t do anything like that.”
“Oh yes, you can.”
“I can’t go back to Britain. The Council will kill me!”
“I’m a member of the Council, and I’ve seen their most-wanted list. You’re not on it.”
“They’ll still pull me in for questioning.”
“Right now, they’ve got bigger things to worry about. And even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter, because you don’t get a vote.”
Meredith looked at me nervously. Her attention was all on me: besides an initial glance when he fell, she hadn’t looked at Mateo at all. “This thing you want to do. It’s dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Depends on how well you can do your job.”
“How dangerous?”
“A lot less dangerous than turning me down.”
Meredith took a breath; the possibilities of her turning and fleeing flickered, then vanished as the futures bent towards a different path. “You have to understand,” she said. Her dark eyes rested on me, imploring. “What happened in the Tiger’s Palace . . . it changed things. Those people dying . . .” She took a shaky breath. “I ran away. I couldn’t go back, not after . . . It was too horrible.” There was open fear on her face, and I could feel her terror. “I can’t be a part of something like that. Not again.” Her words vibrated with emotion. I could sense she was on the verge of tears, and I felt a wave of sympathy. It would be too cruel to force her to—
The knife flew past Meredith’s hair to sink into the doorframe with a solid tchunk. Meredith screamed and the emotions rolling over me suddenly vanished. I was on her in two strides; Meredith flinched, shielding her head, and I slammed my hand into the doorframe behind her, leaning in so that our faces were close. “Rule number one,” I said clearly. “Use your magic on me again and I will make you regret it.”
“What do you even need me for?” Meredith cried. “What do you want?”
“I need you to make someone do something stupid and impulsive that goes against their self-interest. And that is something I know from personal experience that you are very good at.”
“Someone? Who?”
I told her. As I kept talking, Meredith’s face grew pale.
I told Meredith that I’d be back later that evening. Reluctantly, she promised to be there and not to try to run away.
As soon as I was out of sight, Meredith tried to run away. I intervened and gave her a reason not to do it again. Once we were done, I gated back to the Hollow.
I’d already checked in with Luna and my other contacts and come up dry. There were reports of skirmishes between Council forces and adepts, but neither the Council nor Richard had made their move. In the meantime, there was one more person I needed to talk to. I went back to my bed, lay down, and closed my eyes. It took me longer than it should have to fall asleep.
I walked through Elsewhere, landscapes shifting and changing around me. Once upon a time, just visiting this place would have been dangerous. Now it felt like a refuge before the battle ahead. My progress slowed as I drew closer to my destination, and when the city came to an end, the buildings falling away to be replaced with towering trees, I came to a halt. I stood between the pillars at the end of a colonnade, looking at the forest ahead. Dark green leaves rose up into an overcast sky, the wind hissing through the branches and making the tree trunks creak and sway. I couldn’t see the tower in the middle of the forest, but I knew it was there.
I was on the border between my Elsewhere and Anne’s. I could cross into her realm, but as soon as I did, she’d know I was there. And then she’d come to meet me, and that was something I didn’t want. Not yet.
Ever since taking up the fateweaver, I’d felt strong, powerful. I hadn’t been worried when facing Rachel or Meredith. Onyx and Pyre had been a threat, but one I’d approached coolly and calmly. Even when I’d been pressured during the battle, I’d never felt afraid.
But I was afraid of facing Anne. Deep down, I still wanted to plead with her, tell her how sorry I was in the hope that things could go back to how they once were . . . and I knew it was a terrible idea. All my instincts told me that Anne’s dark side would react to that very badly. I had to meet her from a position of strength.
I didn’t feel like I was in a position of strength. I felt horribly vulnerable.
I sensed movement, a presence. Dark Anne had detected me, and she was coming. I fought back the impulse to run away, took a deep breath, and stood with my arms folded.
Dark Anne came walking out from between the trees, the undergrowth rustling beneath her feet. She was dressed in grey this time, a drably coloured dress that matched the muted tones of the sky above. “Well, well,” she called out as she approached. “Look who’s back.”
She doesn’t sound angry. I felt a flash of hope, and squashed it; it was more than I could afford. I tried to sound confident. “Long time no see.”
Dark Anne stopped at the edge of the tree cover, the leaves at the tips of the branches just barely overhanging her head. I stayed where I was at the edge of the colonnade, yellow-grey stone darkened with age. Between us was the border between the two realms, cracked paving stones giving way to tufts of grass.
“I’m sorry about what happened.” I managed to keep my voice steady, but only just. “It wasn’t my choice.”
“Yeah, I know, it was Crystal,” Dark Anne said. “I figured it out as soon as she and Richard came through that door.”
“Would have been nice if you’d figured it out before killing my right hand.”
“So don’t get possessed next time.”
We stood looking at each other for a minute. “Let’s take a walk,” I suggested.
Dark Anne considered for a moment, then shrugged. “Why not?”
I began walking to the right, and Dark Anne paced me, the two of us following the border of the two realms. To my right were the buildings of my cityscape, to the left Anne’s forest. “Where’s your other half?” I asked.
“Somewhere safe,” Dark Anne said. “For me, that is. And no, before you ask, you don’t get to see her. I learned my lesson last time, thank you very much.”
“How is she?”
“No worse off than she treated me. Is she all you wanted to talk about?”
“No, right now I’m more interested in you. How’s Richard treating you?”
“I suppose it could be worse,” Dark Anne said. “At least I get a better room than I had with Sagash.”
“I meant more as in whether he’s having Crystal mind-control you.”
“Oh, that. No. I mean, she could—probably—but it wouldn’t be much good for combat. No, it’s that dreamstone. He can’t use it to control me, but apparently he can use it to control the jinn. Which really sucks, by the way. I spent so long working out an arrangement with that thing, and then Richard comes along and surprise! Turns out he’s been studying jinn for like, his entire life, and he knows literally everything there is to know about them. He’s figured out some way to use that dreamstone of his to shut down that jinn completely, at least when it comes to using its powers. So I can do what I want, except if I don’t do what Richard says, then he snaps his fingers and suddenly I have to deal with a pissed-off jinn and all of Richard’s gang as well. So yeah, I’m pretty much stuck.”