“I saw your little family,” Alice cooed, her smile frozen and grotesque. “Those were some nice little girls you had there. It’s too bad that they had to shit themselves before they died. It’s too bad it had to be like that. Now I’m not that nice of a person myself, right Xia? But everybody has limits, even in this business. Everybody has stuff that gets to them. No helping it.”
She knotted her fingers in Evelyn’s hair and pulled mercilessly, forcing her head back so that she could run her black fingernails delicately across her jugular vein. Evelyn’s breath came in ragged gasps, and she moaned involuntarily.
“It looked like they hurt,” Alice said softly. “They must’ve cried, because it took them a long time to die. And you ate it up, didn’t you, bitch? That thing you threw at me, that was some of it, their pain, wasn’t it? Did they beg you for help? Did they call you mommy?”
Evelyn didn’t see any point in denying or confirming it. Alice sighed and tossed her to the floor, leaving her sprawled out next to the twitching body of her burned sister. Alice sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, and rested her chin in her hands, looking glum.
“Enough of this.” Alice shook her head and then smiled again. “I can see that amulet you’ve got in your hand, creature. Is it a combat working? Go ahead, try it out.”
Evelyn drew her legs up underneath her, but didn’t stand up, frozen by the smiling Auditor’s stare. She was so frightened that she almost didn’t notice when Yolanda’s consciousness disintegrated, choking on her own burned lungs. It was horrible — the presence that had been in her mind since she was born, her sister and companion for decades, snuffed out like a candle. Evelyn let out another low moan, and her hand tightened around the amulet.
“You don’t stand a chance, you pathetic shit.” Alice laughed. “I’ve killed more Witches than you’ve met in your whole life, honey. I know all your moves, all the workings, all your little tricks. I could eat you up and spit you out, if I wanted to. You could use up every ounce of power you’ve got, you and your sister, and you wouldn’t even touch me.”
“Why not do it now, and be finished with us?” Evelyn demanded, seeing a glimmer of hope, her voice firming. “If you could have, wouldn’t you already have done it?”
Alice shrugged happily.
“Obviously, you can’t,” Evelyn said triumphantly, smiling up through her tears at the Auditors. “You need us for something, right? You need to know something?”
“Nah,” Alice chuckled, turning to the masked man and exchanging a knowing glance. “We’re just sending a message. Don’t get delusions of grandeur because we’re here. You aren’t anything special. Any Witch will do, as long as your corpses are ugly enough to make the rest of you think twice after they see them.”
Evelyn gaped at the Auditor in dismay.
“Why, then? Why bother keeping us alive?”
“Because it’s good practice for the kids in the science labs at Central to have a real live Witch to tear apart, so they know how to do it when we catch one that knows something worthwhile.” Alice’s smile was crooked, and her eyes fixed on Nadia. “And because of those little girls, Witch. That’s a score I want to even.”
Evelyn’s let the idol tumble from her hands on to the carpet next to her.
“Enough with the bullshit. I’m getting bored, and we don’t need two, anyway. Burn the little one, Xia,” Alice said, nodding at Nadia. “Make it hurt. We’ve got time.”
Behind his mask, Xia gave Alice a short nod, and then his eyes narrowed, and he stared at Nadia, hard.
It took a long time before Nadia stopped screaming, her face reduced to charcoal and cinders. And then, when Nadia finally went, Evelyn felt that too, like balloon popping inside her, and then the tears came, when she realized that she was alone inside her head, for the first time in her life.
She felt bad for herself. She’d liked having sisters.
“Fucking hell, but that stinks. Well, it’s a start,” Alice said, leaning forward and crooking a finger at Evelyn. “Now crawl on over here, bitch. All fours.”
Evelyn did as she was told, tears dropping from her cheeks to the scorched carpet. The room reeked of burnt plastic and cooked skin, and she felt sick.
“Okay, now strip,” Alice said smugly, crossing her legs. “Clothes in a pile, along with anything else you might have on you.”
Evelyn numbly began to unbutton her dress. Her head ached horribly, where her sisters had always been.
“Xia, you are watching this shit, right?” Alice asked, bright-eyed and cheerful. “Don’t say I never did you any favors…”
Sixteen
“Do you want to talk about what happened this afternoon?”
Rebecca was perched on the front of Michael’s desk, a cigarette dangling from her left hand. She was wearing a pale yellow sweater and a loose cotton skirt, her hair tied casually back, and she didn’t seem mad at Alex at all.
“Not really. I mean, you already know what happened, right?”
Alex shifted uncomfortably on the crushed-down cushions of the aging couch in Michael’s office. It was so eerily similar to the one he had destroyed in Rebecca’s office that he half-wondered if it had been moved here instead.
“Sure.”
Rebecca smiled at him benevolently, drawing on her cigarette.
“I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t. But I’m interested in what you think about what happened. Don’t get me wrong, Steve’s a piece of work — if the kid didn’t have such combat potential, we probably would have bounced him out a while ago — but your reaction seems a little…”
“Disproportionate?” Alex smiled ruefully. “You’re probably right. I’m not totally sure what got into me. But when I hit people, I try to make it so they don’t get right back up again, you know?”
“You learn that in Juvenile Hall?”
He wasn’t surprised she knew. Honestly, he was surprised how many people couldn’t tell.
“Sure,” Alex responded earnestly. “Look, I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of psycho who goes around beating people up for no reason. I’d prefer not to fight with anybody. This was, you know,” Alex paused, searching for the words, “preemptive. I would’ve had trouble with Steve, eventually. That’s really all there is to it.”
“And Eerie?” Rebecca’s eyebrows arched. “What about her?”
“It’s true that I don’t like watching that kind of thing,” Alex admitted. “But, this was all about taking care of myself.”
Rebecca looked at him for a long time, and then laughed.
“You’re the kind of kid who keeps psychologists in business, you know?” She ground out her cigarette in the ash tray, and then hopped off the desk. “I can’t fault you completely, either. Steve did provoke you, and he was tormenting that poor Changeling girl. Not the first time he’s done that, either.”
“Changeling? Is she like those werewolves? What does she change into?”
Alex looked confused.
“No, that’s just an old name for the children that the Fey leave behind,” Rebecca said, as if that explained anything, sitting down next to him on the couch. “Eerie’s had a tough time. There isn’t much of a place for her, here or with the Fey.”
“I don’t get it,” Alex said miserably. “I’m really trying, Rebecca, but I don’t understand what is going on here.”
“I do want to help you, Alex…”
Rebecca looked at the clock and sighed. She was clearly not making her afternoon appointments today.
“You say that, and I think it’s probably true,” Alex responded, running one hand through his uncombed hair. “But I’m not stupid, Rebecca. You’re helping me because you want something from me. Everyone here wants something from me.”
“Does that bother you, Alex? That we want something from you?”
“Actually,” Alex said, smiling shyly, “I’m fine with it. It’s nice to be wanted — that’s all there is to it.”
Rebecca put a hand on his shoulder, and sighed again.