He didn’t like it, and he gave me a tired, angry frown to show it. “Yes,” he finally said, but not as if he in any way agreed in the details. “I can’t believe it’s come to this, that all of a sudden we’re on the same side with her. God, Cass—”
I put my hand on his cheek. It felt rough and gritty; he’d been without bathing or shaving, and the dark stubble on his face grated my fingertips. Oddly, I found it soothing. “She’s in flesh,” I whispered. “In flesh, Luis. Always before, she’s stayed on the aetheric, made herself impossible to wound in any real way. But now…”
“Now she’s vulnerable,” he finished. Light sparked in his eyes, and he kissed the palm of my hand. “Why didn’t I see that?”
“You’re tired. We’re all tired. She had to take flesh at some point to channel the power given her by her acolytes, but she waited until she was certain it was necessary, and we were vulnerable ourselves.”
“She could shed that form, though. Anytime.”
“Not easily,” I said. “Not quickly. And if we can seal her inside it, cut her off from the sources of her power, then she’ll die along with the shell.”
“You mean cut her off from the children.”
I didn’t answer, because that was not what I meant at all. The children were her well-trained minions, yes, but that wasn’t where Pearl’s power was truly founded.… Like me, she had no direct connection to the aetheric, and therefore to stay alive had to draw power through others. I was joined to a Warden, whose connection was broad and deep, and not only sustained me but gave me access to considerable power.
Pearl was different in ways that I couldn’t, still, comprehend, but her power was aggregated not from one person, but from millions. Not Wardens, but regular, unmagical humans, whose life force connected only weakly to the aetheric… but the connection existed, and could be exploited. Had Pearl tried to source herself through one of them, she’d have killed him instantly; spreading that access across a million lives or more gave her a constant, vast draw of energy. Renewable energy. She could tap anyone she liked, anytime she liked.
No wonder Ashan had seen that the only solution was the death of the human race; nothing else could possibly destroy her.
And she had to be destroyed before she gained enough power, and killed enough Djinn, to attack the Mother at her most vulnerable.
“So what’s the plan?” Luis asked me. He looked past me to the corner where Pearl sat. I followed his gaze. My sister smiled at us and inclined her head. No doubt she knew we’d be scheming; she’d be a fool to assume otherwise. She also knew, no doubt, that we had few choices ahead of us, and none of them were good.
“Trust me,” I said, and walked across the room toward Pearl. Luis, after a few seconds, pushed away from the wall to follow. So did Isabel, although Esmeralda merely stirred uneasily, then settled back to stay where she was, arms folded.
Pearl’s children watched me with blank intensity as I approached. I could sense the vibration of power around them. Earth, Fire, Weather… and the boy sitting closest to Pearl, the one whose power was a negative energy that was the most like what I sensed in Pearl. He was a Void, the power of unmaking and consuming other energy. Of all of them, I calculated him the most dangerous, only because there were few effective counters for him in a fight.
“Sister,” Pearl said. “Come to join us?”
I sat down on the floor only a few feet from her children, comfortable and cross-legged. Luis hesitated, then joined me, although he didn’t look nearly as at ease at it as I did. But he hadn’t had all the thousands of years of deception to practice. “Of course,” I said. “Your logic is flawless. For humans to survive this conflict, they need a champion, one of power. You are the only one disposed to help them. What do you propose?”
“First, we gather all the Wardens together,” she said. “You know of the ones trapped in the mine?”
“I’ve been told.”
“I’ll send one of my children to help you. She’ll be the most useful—her name is Edie; she’s the strongest Weather power I’ve ever seen.” Pearl reached out to place her hand on the shoulder of the tall blond girl, who straightened with pride. “She can help you sweeten the air while you work toward them.”
“There may be Djinn,” I said. Pearl nodded.
“And I will also send Alvin,” she said, and now the Void boy stirred, turning his gaze toward her. “Alvin will deal with any Djinn very effectively.”
“But you said I’d stay with you!” he said, and reached out to put his fingertips on her knee. “Lady, I want to stay with you.…”
“You’ll go where you’re needed, Alvin. And I believe that you’re needed to protect my sister.” Her smile was faint, but malevolent for all that. “I’m among friends here. Or at least, I’m among those without the power to harm me in any significant way. I’m sure that your brother and sister can keep me safe until you return.”
She was keeping Earth and Fire with her—two powers that could be used destructively in the confines of this building, should it come to a pitched battle. I wasn’t surprised that she’d thought strategically, but she might have made an error with the boy; Alvin seemed mutinous about being sent away, as if this was a personal slight to be dismissed from her presence. The girl, by contrast, seemed proud to have a special mission from the hands of the Lady.
The boy would bear closer watching.
“When do you wish to leave?” Pearl asked me.
“Now,” I said. “If that’s convenient.”
“Of course.” She reached out and took the hand of the boy, and then that of the Weather girl. “Children, my sister will look after your safety. One thing I know about Cassiel, she does take her responsibilities seriously. She won’t allow any harm to come to you.”
The two looked at me with identical cool expressions of mistrust; Pearl had done an excellent job of poisoning them against anyone else. This wouldn’t be an easy partnership.
“I’ll take care of them,” I agreed. In my heart, I was thinking that I would take far better care of them than she ever had, but it didn’t bear speaking aloud. The children had been twisted to her point of view; they’d never understand how much she’d taken advantage of them. I’d seen the ones she’d used and abandoned, the damage and wreckage she’d left written in small bodies. They hadn’t, and couldn’t, understand. “It’ll take an hour to reach the mine. I’m not certain how long it’ll take to reach the Wardens. It depends on how deep they are, and whether the Djinn have left any surprises for us.”
“I’m sure they have,” Pearl said. “I would.”
I nodded and rose. The girl came to me immediately, held out her hand, and said, “I’m Edie.”
“Edie,” I said, and shook hands. “Cassiel. This is Luis, my partner.”
She nodded, every bit as professional as any Warden I had ever met. The boy rose, too, but he didn’t bother to introduce himself. Edie nudged him, frowning. “And this is Alvin,” she said. “He’s kind of an ass. Don’t mind him.”
Alvin sent her a dark, scorching look. Edie topped him by at least six inches, but it wasn’t that they were dissimilar in age; both seemed to be about nine years old, perhaps close to ten. Edie was developing faster, though Alvin had a stocky weight to him. They didn’t seem to particularly care for each other. It was their mutual devotion to Pearl that had forged them together.
“Where are your families?” I asked them. Both would have come from Warden parents; that was a common theme for the children that Pearl recruited.
Edie said calmly, “They’re dead. My mother died five years ago. A Djinn killed her. My dad committed suicide.” She sounded as if she were reciting something learned in class, not something that had affected her personally. “Alvin’s mom had cancer. His dad got killed fighting another Warden. The Lady’s our mother now. We don’t need any other family.”