Ian cut him off. “We’re scared of what the answer is going to be if we poke too deep. Japan, Russia, and a dozen other nations have used every excuse in the book to enslave their Actives. You think America is different?”
George’s expression barely changed, but a little bit of anger crept in. “My father was born a slave. You really want to get all preachy at me?”
“Are you nostalgic for the institution then?” Ian furiously pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “Because mark my words, Actives will be property if we don’t fight back now. We have to assert our place before we’re trampled into history.”
“So, you’re one of those,” George grumbled. “Thinking that Actives are better than Normals, not equals. I should have known.”
“I’m no Active supremacist. Don’t you dare put words in my mouth, Bolander!”
“ That’s why you spoke up for Harkeness and Rawls,” Faye said quietly.
“I’m sorry for what they did to General Pershing and your friends,” Ian said quickly. “But those two men struck the greatest blow against tyranny that any of our people have ever accomplished. Through killing the Chairman, how many millions of lives did they spare?”
Faye’s voice was deadly. “That’s easy to say when it wasn’t your grandpa getting shot down like a dog.”
“I didn’t mean…” Ian’s face turned red. “Fine. You know what? I’m one of the best Summoners the Society has ever seen. I should be using my Power to hunt our real enemies, not the imaginary ones.” He stormed out in a huff.
“Can I kill him now?” Faye asked. “Pretty please?”
The look on George’s face indicated that he couldn’t tell if she was serious or not. Just in case, he said, “No.”
Whisper had not spoken during the argument. She waited for a door to slam upstairs. “Ian and I have worked together for a long time. Please do not judge him too harshly. He has had to face some difficult things recently.”
Faye had just burned down the horrible shack that she’d been raised in. She had a pretty high standard for what she considered difficult. “Whisper, I-”
“Ian’s wife was taken by the Imperium.”
“Oh… I didn’t know that.”
“I was very fond of her. Everyone was.” Whisper stirred her stew absently. “Despite Ian’s family’s disapproval, they wed young. She was one of us, Grimnoir. In fact, that is how the two of them met. His family is rather wealthy, aristocrats even, and they saw her as unworthy, their love, scandalous. He was gladly disowned to be with her.”
“How come?” Faye asked.
“She was a quadroon.”
Faye didn’t know what that meant, but George nodded in understanding. “She had a black grandparent, Faye. That can cause some
… legal issues most places.”
“Among other things. It did not matter. She was truly the light of Ian’s life. Her name was Beatrice and they were everything to each other. Such love… it was like a story.”
The French had a way of making things sound extra romantic. For the briefest second, Faye thought that sounded a bit like how she secretly hoped Francis felt about her, but then she decided she was just being silly. “What happened?”
“Several years ago… was it four, five now? How time flies when you’re battling evil… She was pregnant with their first child, residing at home while Ian was away. We do not know how the Iron Guard found her, but they did, and they took her. Oh, how we chased them, but they eluded us. The trail was cold, but Ian would never give up. He went all the way to China, following even the vaguest hints from the spirits he could Summon, but he was too late.. Beatrice had been given to Unit 731.”
Just saying the name of the Imperium’s experimentation unit made Faye’s stomach turn.
“The bastards,” George hissed. “I’ve seen their work.”
“They did horrible, awful things to her. Ian could not save her, so instead he used his Summoned to end her life, to spare her any more indignities at the hands of the Chairman’s Cogs.”
“That’s awful,” Faye said quietly. That would sour anyone. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course not. He never talks about it, but I know it changed him. He used to have the soul of an artist, even his Summoned were beautiful, graceful, heavenly things, yet now they are misshapen, cumbersome beasts. The form of a Summoned is a window into the soul of the man that commands them. He would certainly be upset to know I had told you of this”-Whisper leaned in conspiratorially- “but there is another thing you must know. I believe you have also met some of Beatrice’s family.”
“Really?” Faye hadn’t met that many Grimnoir, and those that she knew well had confided to her about their losses. “Who?”
“It would have been brief. Just long enough to wring the secrets from you. I’m speaking of Isaiah Rawls…” Whisper seemed to enjoy the look of surprise that appeared on Faye’s face. “Oh, close your mouth before you catch a bug. Do you think that those villainous conspirators came to trouble you on a whim? No? I believe Isaiah’s granddaughter’s death was what pushed him to such drastic measures to destroy the Imperium. Yet, by betraying the Society, he dishonored the name of all those who had followed him as well. As General Pershing was your leader here, Isaiah was ours.”
“He was a traitor,” Faye insisted.
“To some, and to others, a hero.”
“And to you?” Faye liked Whisper, so dreaded the answer.
“There is no doubt to me that Isaiah was a traitor, but sometimes a trust must be betrayed to serve the greater good. Such distinctions can be difficult. However, it was no accident that Ian volunteered to join the American knights. Maybe he is seeking to atone for deeds done on his behalf… I do not know.”
George was leaning back in his chair, appearing deep in thought. “And why did you volunteer?”
“Me?” Whisper’s smile was mischievous. “I go where the excitement is.”
Chapter 10
I don’t believe I ever saw an Oklahoman who wouldn’t fight at the drop of a hat-and frequently drop the hat himself.
Ada, Oklahoma
The wind was just as brutal as she remembered. The old house shook and rattled with every gust. The window panes flexed so much that the glass creaked like it was threatening to pop. The windows had been caulked shut to keep the dust out, and there were towels stuffed in the bottoms of the doors. The view out the window was a brown mass of blowing dust, interspaced with occasional soft blurs from a handful of lights, but around nine o’clock at night the power had gone out. After that, the dust provided its own sort of shadowed light, almost like it was infused with visible energy. Before he’d gone to bed, George had pointed out that there was static electricity in the dust, and had said that there was lots of it.
Power outages were a common enough occurrence, so the old lady that ran the boardinghouse had appeared and left them several candles and some matches so they could find their way to their room when they decided to retire for the evening. Whisper waited for her to leave, then simply lit the candles by thinking about it.
The winds continued to grow in intensity as Faye and Whisper sat in the dining room and watched the fury unfold.
“How can anyone live like this?” Whisper had finally asked.
“Most can’t. The ones that are still here…” Faye thought of the teacher and those kids playing stickball. “Just tough I guess. Like human cactuses. Only more windproof. So, what’s the word? Francis uses it for his fast blimps. Aerodynamic… So they’re like aerodynamic cactuses.”
“You have a strange way of looking at things, Faye.”
“Thanks.”
Whisper gathered up one of the candles. “I am going to bed. I do not know if I will be able to sleep, since the way this place is shaking, I’m worried it will fall down at any moment.”
“Naw. This house is sturdy. All the flimsy places fell down a long time ago. You can get used to anything if you’re tough enough.”