I’d gambled horribly in my attempt to play the collective will of the Council against the Merlin. I shouldn’t have done it that way. The Merlin was a politician. If I’d been willing to eat a little crow, he probably would have come to some sort of compromise with me. A humiliating and disadvantageous compromise, from my perspective, but he might have worked something out.
Instead, I’d gained the moral support of the Council present there tonight, and I’d wielded it against him like a sword, chopping off his options and maneuvering him into bending to my will. I had exercised power over him in a way that no one had yet dared. I had struck a blow against his authority, declared myself an enemy of his administration. There was no way he could ignore that kind of challenge from a morally suspect young punk like me. He would have to bring me down. If I wanted to avoid that, I’d have to keep my eyes open, my wits sharp, and I’d have to continue to do whatever I could to secure myself against him.
In short: I’d become a politician.
But instead of moaning about it, I found myself laughing. Given all that had happened, matters could have been much, much worse. Molly was coming home safe. The murderous fetches had been dispatched. The vampires had been handed their first significant defeat since the cold war combusted.
After the events of the day, tomorrow surely held nothing for me to fear, and I trusted that it would take care of itself until I could rest, eat, and put an end to the last details of the business at hand.
Molly and Michael had waited with me: When Michael covered Luccio’s retreat through the nearer regions of the Nevernever, he had gotten back to Chicago without paying for the gas, but his truck was still back in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. He’d need to have it shipped back, or else make a long drive with a partner. He needed a ride home, and I was it.
The Beetle’s floorboards settled almost all the way to the ground by the time everyone was on board, and I drove carefully away from the warehouse. Molly chattered on about a confusing blur of things for maybe two minutes and then went abruptly silent.
Michael checked over his shoulder. “Asleep,” he reported quietly.
“She’s had a busy day,” I said.
He sighed. “Tell me what happened?”
I told him everything. Except the parts with Lasciel in them. And I didn’t mention Charity’s neglected talent for magic. I thought for a second that I could hear a ghostly, amused laugh from somewhere nearby. Optimistically, I wrote it off to my fatigued imagination.
Michael shook his head. “How did you know that I would return as I did?”
“Oh, I didn’t,” I said. “I just figured that you must have been sent off to do something to help your kid, so I asked Forthill to get word to you that you needed to be back here pronto, and that if you were with any Council members they should come with you. You got the message?”
He nodded. “It found me at Luccio’s camp in Colorado. We’d beaten off a vampire attack and were preparing to move. If I hadn’t gotten the message, I wouldn’t have followed them on their path through the Nevernever.”
“What happened?”
“Demons,” Michael said. “Quite a few of them, actually.”
“What kind?”
“Oh. Fangs. Tentacles. You know, the usual.”
I snorted. “No. I mean, were they Outsiders?”
“Ebenezar said something about Outsiders, yes, now that you mention it. Apparently his magic had difficulty dealing with them.”
I shook my head. “I’m glad you were with them.”
“Under the circumstances, so am I.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “You assumed I had been sent to help the White Council so that they would show mercy to my daughter.”
I shrugged. “It was either that or else I was the one meant to look out for her, which would mean that it was possible for me to do so. So I decided to lean on the Merlin.”
Michael blinked and stared at me. “If I do not mistake your meaning, you just told me that you took a leap of faith.”
“No. I took your leap of faith, by proxy.” I shook my head. “Look, Michael. I try to stay out of God’s way as much as I possibly can. I don’t expect Him to send a rescue party for me if I’m in trouble.”
“Harry, I know you aren’t a churchgoing man, but God does help people who aren’t perfect.”
“Sure,” I said, and I couldn’t keep all the sneer out of my voice. “That’s why the world is such a happy, orderly place.”
Michael sighed. “Harry, God does protect us from harm-it’s part of what I and my brothers in arms are tasked to do. But he’s a great deal less involved in protecting us from the consequences of our choices.”
“I know the theory,” I said. “That God mostly only steps in when there’s supernatural evil afoot, yeah?”
“That’s an oversimplification, really, and-”
“Spare me,” I said. “Hell, Michael, I had one of those bastard Denarians here last year. Quintus Cassius. You remember him? While I was lying there watching him slice his way into my guts, I thought maybe it would be a good time for someone like you to show up. You know. One of those Denarian Knights. I thought to myself, hey, it would be a great time for one of the Knights of the Cross to show up, eh?” I shook my head. “It didn’t work out that way.”
“What is your point?” he asked quietly.
“Heaven ain’t safeguarding me, Michael. But you’re different than me. I figured God was going to look out for you and yours, out of professional courtesy if nothing else. And I’ve seen how He’s arranged things for you in the past. So what I did wasn’t about faith. It was just a matter of deducing probabilities.”
He shook his head, not agreeing with me, but not pressing it, either. “Charity?”
“She’s fine,” I assured him. “Kids too. Should be back home by now.”
“She and Molly?”
“Reconciled. Well. On polite speaking terms and hugging again, at least.”
His eyebrows shot up, and then his mouth curved into a wide grin. “Glory to God, I wasn’t sure it would ever happen.”
I buffed my nails on my shirt. “Sometimes I amaze even myself.”
Michael smiled at me, then looked over his shoulder again and frowned. “My Molly. Magic. Isn’t that sort of thing passed through bloodlines?”
“Usually,” I said. “But it doesn’t have to be. Some people are just born with it. We don’t really understand the how and why.”
He shook his head. “But how could I not have realized what was happening to her?”
“I dunno. But if you find out, make sure to tell Charity. She asked me the same question.”
“I suppose we’re all blind to what is closest to us,” he said.
“Human nature,” I agreed.
“Is Molly in danger?” he asked me, his tone frank.
I frowned and thought about it. “Some. She’s got real power. And she’s abused it a little. She’s going to be real tempted to use it again when she starts running into problems that look unsolvable. Not only that, but learning to harness the kind of strength she’s got can be pretty tricky all by itself. But she’s smart and she’s got all kinds of guts. If her teacher keeps from making any stupid mistakes, I think she’ll be all right.”
“But if she isn’t,” Michael said. “If she abuses her power again…”
“Then clemency is revoked. They execute her.”
“And you,” Michael said softly.
I shrugged. “Isn’t like I haven’t lived with that over my head before. As far as the Council is concerned, I’m responsible for her now, until she either makes full wizard or sets her talents aside.”