Patterns. Reminded me of what Peter had said.
“And?”
“Think. Why? What does your grandmother gain? What motivates her? She should know what comes of dealing with dark powers as well as anyone in this town does. The permanent damage done. To let a demon free and give it the freedom to act? All but the smallest and most elusive have been bound, now. Some escape their confines, but they are soon bound again. Were it not for your kind, we would be in little danger.”
I glanced at Alister’s relative. Ainsley.
She looked tense.
“Your kind, diabolist. Your bloodline and family. The first diabolists did away with demons, bound and chronicled them, and they thought long and hard before exercising the power they had bound. Yet the promise of power corrupted all. Your grandmother knew all of this, and yet she made use of that power to make you. Why?”
I saw the young crone smile just a little.
“Just tell me,” I told her.
“You know the answer. Any who understand the practice do. What is the practice, at it’s core? The previous generations hold to their ways of managing it, but when you strip away the bark, the veneer, the skin-”
“This again?” I asked.
“When you strip away the surface elements, child, what is it? The most fundamental rule.”
“Everything has a price,” Ainsley said.
“Yes. It is a currency. Your family saves it, Ainsley Behaim. The Duchamps whore themselves out for it. The Thorburns commit crimes for it. The goblins make others bleed for it. The Faerie recognize the way we give it a value it shouldn’t have, altering our own perceptions of it, and they take that a step further, extending it into all things. I work for it. Till the land for it. I have endured for it, and have let it accrue over time, until there is no place to store it but all around me. I spend less than I accrue, and I extend my existence.”
“At the cost of others,” I said.
“Cost?” the young crone asked. “By seeking to end my existence, you have deprived this world of more than you have given it. What cost, for all the knowledge I harbor? For the stability I bring? If all lived as I did, the world would never stop turning.”
I almost laughed.
“What cost? Everything,” I said. “You want to talk about the practice as currency? What value is it, if it’s never spent? You lock it away here, when a child brings possibility. Potential.”
Mara smiled, a cruel, mocking expression.
I almost showed her the fire right then.
“You have no life, Crone Mara,” I said. “You’re nothing, and you’re throwing away lives for nothing.”
“And who are you to throw stones?”
I shook my head, turning away.
“Currency, monster. What was your grandmother doing? What did she trade in? What does she gain by taking an asset and throwing it away? Going against everything she stands for to create you?”
“I don’t know. You’re wasting my time.”
“No.”
The ground rumbled. All around us, snow resettled. A branch on a nearby tree dropped to the ground.
“I thought I was only skirting a lie,” she said. “Not something I have experience with. Hm. Yes, I am wasting your time, Blake Thorburn, but there are answers to be found in what I am saying.”
I glanced at Ainsley Behaim. Ainsley shook her head. “I didn’t know your grandmother. I couldn’t guess.”
“Neither did I,” I said. “There were her diaries, but Rose discouraged me from reading them.”
Sarah turned, gun raised, and I followed her line of sight.
Green Eyes, Evan, Peter and Roxanne.
“Hey!” Green Eyes smiled. “We did it!”
I smiled back.
Can’t tell her.
Can’t let her know that I’ve agreed to let Rose destroy me, forfeiting the deal.
Green Eyes practically tackled me. She crawled on me until she’d found a perch, her chin resting on top of my head.
“My previous argument isn’t hitting home, let me try another path,” the crone said. “Tell me, what do you want?”
“Peace,” I said. “Freedom. Change for a broken system.”
“What does she want? Your counterpart?”
“Security, answers, solutions.”
“And, going back full circle to our earlier discussion, your grandmother? What did she want?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “A legacy? Continuing the family line?”
“She didn’t train her own children, did she?”
I shook my head.
“Hardly the actions of one who wants a legacy, to be so neglectful. She threw you to the wolves. She placed you in a specific order, why? What was to be gained or lost?”
“I don’t know,” I said, again.
Peter and Roxanne finally caught up with the rest of us. Sarah started recapping what had happened, off to one side, while Evan joined me, landing on my shoulder.
“Do you think your other knows your grandmother’s plan?” Crone Mara asked. “These diaries you mentioned?”
I bristled. “You’re trying to set us against each other.”
Evan roughed up his own feathers, sticking them up, as if to join me. It would have been a nice touch, had he not been so adorable.
Mara shook her head. “You’re not listening. You’re against each other by nature. Do you think it’s just a simple curse? A compulsion to dislike one another? I’m only informing you of what is already fact.”
“I can put feelings aside,” I said. “I can’t believe that Rose is going to become the worst sort of diabolist. She’s not going to summon demons. She’s not a bad person at heart.”
“Does she have to be a bad person for her to do the antithesis of what you desire, deep down inside?” the crone asked.
She began working her way to her feet. I tensed. Sarah aimed a gun at Mara. Green Eyes hopped down to the ground, tense, ready to pounce.
But Mara was only standing, wobbling a little with her ankles bound.
“Careful,” I said.
“I’ll take no physical action against you. I can no longer practice. All I have is knowledge and words.”
“Knowledge and words can be dangerous,” I said.
“Yes. The point I was working to lead you to,” Mara said. “The power of words. They have a currency. When we use the practice, practitioner or other, we use words and language to communicate to other parties, to barter and exchange that power. You reached an accord with your other using words. I watched it, and I sensed it, I saw the power that decision held. Now, where do you imagine the danger lies, now? Do you imagine a great melee? Johannes and his gatekeeper against your companions? Bringing their allies to bear?”
“That would be awesome,” Evan said. “Bad with people getting hurt, but awesome.”
“No,” Ainsley said. “Going by what you were saying, Mara… the danger lies in Johannes’ words? Not a fight?”
“Picture it,” Mara said. “The monster’s other half gets the security and answers she desires. Johannes gets power. The High Priest gets his lover, without her family or duty as part of the bargain. The lesser members of the Thorburn cabal get to leave, to put this all behind them. The junior council can start anew with Alister at the helm, without the burdens of the generations that came before, and even your grandmother may get what she sought. A victory for all involved.”