At that last statement, there was a tremor, a reaction from the environment at the lie.
Far milder than before.
A milder lie, or…
No.
“Mara, that was a lie, wasn’t it?”
“A victory for all involved,” Mara said, again.
Our environment reacted, but it was almost imperceptible. The same statement. It wasn’t that it was no longer a lie… she’d burned herself out.
Our ability to use the environment as a lie detector had failed us, just as she’d dropped the critical detail.
Where did the lie rest?
“Tell me,” I said.
“Bargain with me,” she hissed the words.
She was too calm, too collected.
I reached across the circle, and I grabbed Mara by the collar.
I saw the smallest glimmer of fear in her eyes at the contact.
She felt just a little bit more mortal than she had.
One arm extended in straight in front of me, still gripping the collar of her coat, I marched her away. Further from the trees.
I let her turn around.
Behind me, the smoke still rose from her ruined home.
I could see the facade crack. The genuine fear.
“No,” she said. “No, no!”
Her hands clutched at my wrist, trying to pull away, to move toward the fire. “What did you do!?”
“Arson!” Evan said. “The house, and all the little dolls, burning!”
He sounded so cheery. I suspected he was trying to feign a good mood after the earlier discussion. Faking it, so Green Eyes wouldn’t suspect anything.
“I need to-” Mara said.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Peter declared. “Something in your kitchen burned like lighter fluid once the fire got that far.”
“It’s been burning for a while,” I said. “If you want to go there, to try to salvage something, you’ll tell me. I imagine every second counts.”
The fear that seemed to cross over her features was almost inhuman, her eyes too wide, cords standing out at her throat, where it was visible just above the collar of her jacket.
I almost thought she’d die right there, from the shock.
“Mara,” I said. “If you want to salvage anything there, you’re going to need to give me fast answers.”
“No,” she said, and her voice was hollow. “There’s no salvaging this. My tie to it is broken, the land’s tie to me is broken. Without my claim, my power, there’s nothing to stop this place from joining your city in being claimed.”
“Except me,” I said.
She shot me a look. For a moment, I thought there was a gleam of hope. She saw a distant way out.
Then it faded. Dashed away.
She laughed. It sounded just a touch unhinged.
“Mara. Who loses? Who is this targeting? What’s the plan?”
If Rose can stall, or get control of things, if I can arrive with the right knowledge…
“Wrong questions,” Mara said, watching the smoke, breathing hard, halfway between a pant and a laugh. She met my eyes.
Her expression had changed. Seething hatred. No longer the cold, patient rage we’d been treated to before.
She spoke, “But I’ll answer the question, all the same. Everyone I mentioned gets their wish, except you. Everyone, I believe, will come to quickly regret it. Even the Sorcerer. They’ll only get a mockery of what they sought.”
Mockery.
Everyone. Rose included. My friends. No solutions or security for Rose. No escape for my friends, nor a chance for them to return to their lives. Johannes would lose power, and Alister’s junior council, what, would fail? Be subverted in purpose?
She continued, getting more agitated with each passing second. “You, monster, you won’t even get a mockery of a wish. Nothing in the outcome will resemble anything you desire! You want freedom? Change? I can’t see any way this unfolds where you have either. You’ll endure a monotonous, broken, endless existence, without a moment’s peace. You come on my land, you intrude on my life, and demand answers of me? Let this be your penalty, the suffering you are due! Pray for death! Pray for an untidy end, because nothing more awaits you than a bottomless well of misery!”
She was moving, and with her ankles bound, she fell into the snow.
I let her, and watched her laying there.
“How can she know all this?” Peter asked.
“She’s been around for a very, very long time,” Ainsley told him. “I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
“But,” I said, and it was very possible my words were informed by my hopes, that this was a manipulation, a trick. “Mara can lie. She might pay a consequence, but there’s no guarantee that we’d be able to tell. Any of this could be misleading, or an outright fib, to send us running down the wrong path.”
I looked down at Mara.
She’s different from the Faerie. They revel in social games, they revel in the ability to manipulate, the schemes, the distractions. Lying and social games are as natural to them as breathing.
But Mara… her immortality had been spent on routine, on doing the same thing over and over again, rarely interacting with people. Even the vision I’d had of her interaction with the little girl she’d replaced, it had been cold, distant.
Mara could technically lie, she could work around the practice. There would be bad karma involved, but she had the ability to spout lies.
But as a liar, well, it wasn’t one of her strengths.
“Shit,” I said. “Scratch that statement.”
She was telling the truth.
“Satyr, maenad, watch the crone,” I said, raising my voice. I was already turning to run. “Peter, Roxanne, Sarah, Ainsley, Green Eyes, move!”
“What?” Peter asked. “We just came all this way, and that’s after-”
“No time!” I said.
Just like his sister.
My wings extended straight behind me as I ran, taking the harder path. Over rocks, between trees, ignoring the clearings.
It was easier to go out than to come in.
I saw a rock, leaped up to it, then jumped. Evan carried me up.
The others were following, lagging behind. They didn’t move as quickly as I did.
The crone had said that Rose needed to follow her heart. This was the pivotal moment.
Johannes wasn’t going to Hillsglade House to fight. He was going to offer a deal.
Logically, rationally, everyone present could well find it an enticing deal. Everyone gained something. Those that didn’t stand to gain anything had been dealt with in various ways during the day.
Logically, rationally.
Rising above the trees with Evan’s help, I flew in a lazy circle, eyes on the ground, searching for Rose and her group.
They weren’t in any place the sunlight touched.
They were already inside.
What did it mean to be too late, when this was a battle fought with words?
The crone had told me that I needed to use my head to get through this. Rose needed to follow her heart. To put calculation aside and trust her instincts.
Rose’s end of things seemed to make sense. She had to put the compelling arguments aside.
Me?
I needed to figure this out. To think forward, to think backward. To exist beyond the now.