“Me too,” Green Eyes said. “And the bird.”
“The bird?” Rose asked.
“Here,” Evan said. He climbed up and settled at my shoulder.
“He got a small blood transfusion earlier,” I said. “Back when the High Priest had us under siege.”
“Trying to rest. Want to fly again as soon as possible,” Evan commented.
“Mm,” she said. She pursed her lips.
Alister tilted his head to one side, then held up a hand, as if warning me or warding me off, even as he stepped closer. I didn’t move as he approached.
“May I?” Alister asked. He held up the ring.
Before I could voice my thoughts, Rose spoke up. “Go ahead.”
Evan shied away from Alister’s hand. Green Eyes moved one arm, half-cupping Evan, to shield him.
“You’re not going going to ask me my permission?” Evan asked.
“Do you want to fly again?” Alister asked.
“Yes.”
“This is me being nice. Offering valuable power to give you flight. Pure goodwill,” Alister said. “Believe it or not, manipulating spirits is a talent of mine. I can patch you up and stall the problem of you running out of energy. I promise.”
Evan looked up at me, obviously unsure.
“Up to you,” I said. “But it’d be good to have you flying again.”
“And it would be good to keep the Abyss from getting too much of a grip on him,” Rose said. “The element of time should fit with his spiritual makeup, and that’s a void that the Abyss isn’t filling.”
“Okay,” Evan said. He shifted position and hopped up.
The wound had healed in the interim, while Evan lurked within me, but not by much.
His ring just around the end of the finger, at the base of the fingernail, Alister ran the loop of metal along the length of the wound.
Putting feathers back in order, wound closed. Evan stretched, testing, and his feathers stood on end in the process. When he settled down, he looked more like a proper sparrow than he had since before I’d left for the Drains.
“Heck yeah!” Evan said, checking out his wings. “Could do with more blood and fire for decoration, but-”
As if he couldn’t wait long enough to finish his sentence, he took to the air. A faint trail moved in his wake as he disturbed snowflakes that were no longer falling.
“See? I’m not hostile,” Alister said, backing away from me, showing me his hands, ring included. “We’re not your enemies.”
“I know,” I said. Even as I said it, I was thinking strategically. Warily.
Twice now, he’d used the ring and a favor to pacify me.
With the third, what advantage could he glean?
I spoke up, “Believe me, that thing Rose is worried about, the hostility between severed halves? It’s a double-edged sword. Her paranoia over it is one edge. Seeing me as more of a monster than I am. She’s already tainted your thinking.”
Rose narrowed her eyes.
“You’re an Other that is racking up a notable body count overnight,” Alister commented, eminently calm. “Can you name everything you’ve killed tonight? Others included? I’m betting you can’t.”
“If I could,” I retorted, “I think that would be a point against me. Counting kills would be a little obsessive, a perfect recall almost more monstrous.”
“Okay, okay,” Alister said, raising his hands. “Right. That came out as being more combative than I meant it to. I’m just saying-”
“I protected those people in there when Rose was taken away. Are you going to fault me for the Others I killed while I did that? It’s a war, Alister, and I’ve been fighting the only way the smaller force can fight. I’ve been trying to do it in a way that leaves the right people alive. So I’m pruning for future growth, rather than simply destroying.”
“Is that why you destroyed the-” Rose started.
Alister stepped between me and her, a hand raised in front of each one of us.
Green Eyes bared her teeth. Because it was easier, I shifted position, turning back so one shoulder and the mermaid head that was resting on it were both further from Alister’s hand and ungloved fingers.
“Back to what we were saying before,” Alister said. “The abyss, and our mysterious player. We all thought the wraith of Molly Walker was a little too strong for what she was. She’s only a vehicle for larger events. A gateway between here and the Abyss.”
“And me?” I asked. “Are you implying that I’m a vehicle? Did I enable this?”
I extended an arm, as if to encompass Jacob’s Bell.
“No,” Rose said. “Believe me, I wish I could pin it on you. It would make things far, far easier, if I could simply point to you as the source of the problem. Put the karmic weight for recent events on your shoulders, then get others to remove you.”
“You’re merely a player,” Alister said. “You simply happened to be a well-positioned player. The Abyss wants one thing. You gave it what it wanted, at a time and in a place where the abyss maintains a great deal of sway. In exchange, you got more of what you wanted. Fuel to keep going. Momentum. You should recognize and take advantage of that, if you’re going to keep up the same string of successes, tonight. What’s happening with the Abyss isn’t a good thing, but you gain little by rejecting it wholesale.”
“I gain more than you’re implying,” I said. “Earlier, I told myself that I’d be me, in the midst of all this. Not trying to be human, not trying to be bogeyman. I’ve got to make that call when the situation calls for it.”
“Damn shame,” Rose said.
I shot her a look.
“You’d be easier to predict if you stuck to one course,” Rose said.
I tensed a little. Green Eyes did too.
“I think what Rose means,” Alister said, interjecting himself again, “Is that you’re an ally. Our goals are the same. We want to stop people we care about from getting hurt, yes?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Yes,” Rose said.
“That means we want to find whoever is behind this chaos and stop them.”
“Yeah,” I said. Rose was nodding.
“It’s easier for us to work in concert with you if we can predict you. But you’re inherently unpredictable,” Alister said.
“Basically,” Rose said.
“You’re unwilling to take on the seal of Solomon,” Alister said.
“Yes,” I said.
“Which would make you easier to keep track of and form deals with. It would nail you down in shape, form and demeanor, stop the Abyss from getting as much traction with you, and quite possibly slow down the rate at which the rift between yourself and Rose widens,” Alister said. “If you want to maintain the balance of your Other and your human selves, this is a damn good way to do it.”
“Didn’t know all that. The answer is still no,” I said.
“Why?” he asked, with uncharacteristic emotion in his voice.
“Because of who and what I am. I’d be giving up an integral part of myself. Maybe I’d seal myself into one shape or one mindset, but I’m pretty sure I’d be insane, or I’d lose it fast. I’d be closing a door.”