I stayed where I was, and watched her silently as she stepped casually over the torn steel shutters, entered the computer room and looked around her. Even though I ached to go to her, I held myself still, because I had a duty to my family. I couldn’t afford to get caught, not with the safety of all Humanity riding on me, and yet . . . I had to be sure. I needed to be sure. Molly pulled up a chair and sat down before the computers, still open and running from where I’d left in a hurry. It occurred to me that I was still wearing the face and body of a teenage Immortal . . . So I stood up abruptly, and strode into the computer room. Molly glared at me, without getting up.
“What do you want?” she said. It was her voice, it was . . .
“Shouldn’t that be my line?” I said. “What are you doing here?”
She gave me a hard withering stare that would have worked on anyone else. “Stay out of this, and don’t get in my way. I have work to do. And I’m just in the mood to kick the crap out of any Immortal who gets in my way.”
I took a chance. “You’re not one of us,” I said. “You’re not an Immortal.”
“Damn right I’m not,” said Molly Metcalf, and my heart leapt in my chest. She looked me over, and sniffed loudly. “I wouldn’t be a teenager again for all the chocolate in the world. I’m here on my own business, and if you’re wise you won’t interfere. I’m looking for records of the deal I made with you people, all those years ago, when I was making all kinds of unwise agreements, in return for power. I’m here to destroy all the files with my name on them; my little way of saying I wash my hands of the whole pack of you. I’m a good girl now, and I can’t have any evidence to the contrary left in unfriendly hands.”
“You were never one of us?” I said. “Never worked for us? You knew nothing about the infiltration of the Droods?”
“Of course not! I wouldn’t work for scum like you; hell, I haven’t exchanged two words with any of you since we made our deal. I do have standards. And all the promises I had to make, in return for power, were all used up years ago. I don’t owe you scumbags anything, especially after you nearly killed me in the Hall. Oh yes, I know that was you. I should kill you all, for what you’ve done. But I don’t have the time, right now. So run away, little Immortal, before I turn you into something distressing.”
“If it’s all over,” I said, “what do you care about your files? You’re not here to destroy them; you’re here to destroy all the computer records, to strike back at the Immortals.”
“Oh hell,” said Molly. “A bright one. What were the odds? Too bad for you . . .”
She got up to face me, and she’d never looked more beautiful, or more dangerous.
“The Drood was here before you,” I said. “Edwin. Too stupid to get what he needed from our computers.”
“Don’t you talk about him,” she said. “Don’t you talk about my Eddie! He’s a better man than all of you put together!”
“I know,” I said. “But it’s good to hear you say it.” I used the Chameleon Codex to change my shape, and took on my own face and body again. I smiled at Molly. “Hi, sweetie. Miss me?”
“You bastard,” she said, and her gaze and her voice had never been colder. “You bloody bastard Immortal. How dare you take on my Eddie’s face? I’ll kill you for that!”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” I said, retreating rapidly as she advanced on me. “It’s me, Molly, it’s really me!”
Something in my face and voice stopped her. She looked at me for a long moment, with a cold, unwavering and quite deadly gaze.
“Prove it.”
“You’re convinced your left tit is smaller than your right one, even though I keep telling you they’re the same.”
“It is you! Eddie!” She stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face. “That’s for pretending to be someone else, to test me! Oh Eddie, my Eddie . . .”
I took her in my arms and we hugged each other tightly, clinging together like we’d never let each other go, like the whole world couldn’t pull us apart, now we’d found each other again. She buried her face in my shoulder, and I hid my face in her hair. We were both breathing hard, as though we’d run a long way to get here, to this moment. Our bodies pressed tight together, as though we wanted to touch every part of each other at once.
“I thought I’d lost you,” I said finally. “Oh God, Molly, I wanted to die. I didn’t want to go on living, without you.”
“I’m sorry,” said Molly. She pulled back a little, so she could look me in the eye. “I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t let you know I was still alive. I had to keep you in the dark, for your own protection.”
We let go of each other, but still stood close together, face-to-face. I could feel her breath on my mouth, and her gaze was like a caress.
“How?” I said finally. “How did you survive, Molly? I saw the blades . . . and the blood . . .”
She put her fingertips on my mouth to stop me talking. “I did tell you once, but you clearly weren’t paying attention. I’m a witch, Eddie. We all keep our hearts separate from our bodies, safely stored and hidden in a protected place. As long as they don’t actually cut my head off, I can survive anything. I always come back. Isabella got me out of the Hall, and then watched over me while I slowly healed myself.”
“But . . . why didn’t you come back to the Hall?” I said. “Why couldn’t you at least contact me, tell me you were still alive?”
“I had a lot of time to think, while my body was repairing itself,” said Molly. “Everything that had happened only made sense if the Droods had been infiltrated. And the only ones who could do that, were the Immortals. And that meant I couldn’t trust anyone, anymore. It was safer for both of us if our enemies thought I was dead. So I came here, to break into their computers and search out a list of everyone they’ve replaced inside your family.”
“Hold everything,” I said. “You knew about the Immortals? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“You never asked. I know all kinds of things, Eddie.”
“We will come back to that, at a later date,” I said. “For now, how did you get into the Castle?”
“I made a deal with these people, remember? And while I was here, I was allowed to come and go as I pleased; so I took the opportunity to set up my own little back door teleport. Just in case I needed to come back again, without their permission. It never even occurred to the smug little bastards that I might not be as completely taken in by them as they thought I was. How did you get in?”
I smiled. “The Armourer makes the very best toys.”
She grinned back at me. “I should have known you’d been here before me. Look at this mess. You never were the most subtle of secret agents.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said loftily. “I am a thing of mists and shadows.”
“How were you able to look like one of the Immortals?” she said abruptly. “That wasn’t an illusion; I would have Seen through that.”
I explained to her about the Chameleon Codex, and the Gemini Duplicator, and she grinned wickedly.
“So . . . you can make two of yourself, or even more? You can change to look like anyone at all . . . Including celebrities? Male and female? Oh, Eddie . . . we are so going to give these toys a workout in your bedroom when we get back!”
“How well we know each other,” I said.