Still slack-jawed, Dr. Marchesi began to scratch at his wrist, hard enough to draw blood.
Persephone signaled for Thea to follow her out of the men’s room while he was still out of it, and they left the building much as they’d entered it, with no fuss.
“So he’s just going to hurt himself?” Thea asked when they were back out on the street.
“Like I said, it usually takes the form of mortification of the flesh.”
“Like the days where they wore hair shirts and whipped themselves?”
“I’m impressed. You know your history.”
Thea recognized Persephone’s expression, and understood you know your history to actually mean you aren’t as stupid as you look.
“Yeah, well, my mother was into that sort of thing,” she said.
They went to a coffee shop so that Thea, with Persephone’s supervision, could submit the report of her first ever hex.
“Okay, since it was your first one, I’m supposed to stay with you, and we’re supposed to observe him for several hours,” Persephone said. “But as I mentioned earlier, my availability is limited today. I’m going to take you to the target’s house. Most likely he’ll leave the office before long. I’ll leave you with the car, in case he goes out. Then I’ll come back around seven and see how it’s gone.”
“You’re just going to leave me in his house? What if he catches me?”
Persephone laughed. “He’ll be too preoccupied for that. As long as you’re reasonably careful and don’t do anything stupid, he won’t know you’re there.”
The house turned out to be a condo. Thea sat in the hall closet with the door cracked, in an awkward position that hurt her leg but gave her a clear view of the living room. Thankfully it was still summer, and Dr. Marchesi didn’t have a coat to hang when he got home.
She heard him shuffling around the kitchen, maybe making something to eat. A few moans of pain told her he was up to other things in there, too, but she didn’t dare move around the house. Surely he’d be in the living room soon enough. Most people watched TV when they were alone, didn’t they?
Eventually he came into her line of sight. Thea saw that he had scratches everywhere now, and several bruises. He carried a long butane lighter, the kind you used instead of matches to light candles, and a kitchen knife. He sat down on the couch and put these items on the coffee table in front of him.
He didn’t turn on the TV.
For the next hour, Thea watched him alternately cut and burn himself. Eventually, she could smell both the blood and the burned skin. He was becoming unrecognizable. Throughout that time he mumbled and insulted himself. He confessed his sins to whatever higher power he believed in.
Surely this wasn’t justice? It wasn’t helping this man to rehabilitate, either. At this rate, he would kill himself before he learned any sort of lesson at all.
Thea looked at her watch. Not quite five o’clock. She had two more hours of this.
She made it through one.
When Marchesi fell into a fitful doze, Thea stepped out of the closet and walked over to the couch. She remembered her first day at Hexing House, when she’d brushed the hex of serenity from Nero like a cobweb. She knew now that the generic hexes they sometimes used for exercises in the lab were mild doses, much weaker than the hexes they used in the field. But still, it couldn’t be that much different.
She focused on Marchesi, sensed the humility. Then she breathed deeply, as if she could inhale it away. It took her nearly half an hour, but she managed in the end. The hex dissipated as if it really was a lingering odor. Thea fled the house before he could wake up, and waited down the street in the car for Persephone to come back.
It only took her fifteen minutes to regret it.
She’d seen the file. The guy wasn’t merely ridiculous. He made people miserable with his arrogance. He caused harm with his pride. He was so certain that he was superior and right that he regularly defied policies, orders, even laws, and did what he wanted. And if it didn’t work out, he blamed others. Including the assistant who’d ordered the hex. Or ex-assistant. She was a single mother, and he’d gotten her fired.
Yes, this was a harsh lesson, harsher than she’d have chosen. But this man wasn’t worth risking everything she’d been working toward.
As expected, Persephone was not pleased when she came back.
“Graves said you’d shown some aptitude for removal,” she said. “I knew this was a risk, so I brought another hex. No.” She held up her hand when Thea made a move to get out of the car. “I’ll go myself. You’ll wait here.”
Persephone came back a few minutes later and gestured for Thea to move out of the passenger seat. “You can drive back.”
It punished Thea’s already stiff leg to drive, but she wasn’t in a position to complain. Persephone sat with her arms crossed, looking out the window and not saying anything.
When she finally did speak, what she said was alarming. “I’d hoped this wouldn’t happen. I actually had high hopes for you. Probably my expectations were too high. You’re human, and you’ve only been training a few weeks.”
“It won’t happen again,” Thea said.
Persephone huffed, not quite a laugh. “Thea, that was your test.”
“What?” Thea clutched the wheel.
“We don’t tell you about the final test the way we do the others. We don’t want you to have either a chance to steel yourself, or to get nervous and unravel. We treat it like a normal assignment.”
“You tricked me.”
“We treated you like we treat every other recruit. This is the program. That’s how the test works, and you failed.”
“But it’s not fair.” Thea struggled, with limited success, to keep the whiny child out of her voice. “It was my first try.”
“I repeat: that’s how the test works. We didn’t modify it to make it harder on you.” Persephone leaned toward her. “This is what being a fury is. You can either handle it, or you can’t.”
“But my month isn’t up. I can retake it.”
“I doubt it. We don’t commonly let people retest. If they fail and never grow wings, they’re given low-paying, low-responsibility positions that don’t require flight. Of course in your case, you weren’t born to the colony. You’re under no obligation to stay.”
“I beg your pardon?” Thea was glad for the anger swelling inside her. It made her less afraid. “You guys have already turned me into half a monst—fury! I’m supposed to do what, go back to my old life? With purple skin and purple blood?”
Persephone shrugged with a fury’s trademark lack of compassion. “Take it up with Alecto. You’ve got a meeting with her at ten tomorrow morning.”
“You set this meeting up before you came back? You were assuming I would fail?”
“Oh please, would you stop being such a victim? You would have had the meeting either way. It would have been a bit more pleasant had you passed, though.” Persephone shifted uncomfortably in her seat, muttering under her breath about it making her back stiff. “And you know, you’re not the only one put out by this. Had you passed and gotten your wings, we wouldn’t have to be driving back right now.”
When she finally got back to her residence, Thea checked her bells, swallowed a fistful of painkillers to quiet her outraged leg, and went directly to bed. She didn’t wake up until half an hour before her meeting with Alecto, which was just as well. Less time to be afraid.
While she walked to the Administration building—slowly, still stiff from the day before—she thought about all the things Alecto had said to her, the immediate dislike she’d taken to her that seemed, to Thea, to be more personal than just a bias against humans. What had she said? She’d mentioned Baird, so most likely she thought Thea was a shallow idiot. She’d also said Thea was weak. Repeatedly.
So go in strong. It’s the only way.
When she was ushered into Alecto’s office by the ever-disdainful Vlad, Thea started talking before Alecto even offered her a seat.
“You said I had a month to pass.”
“Yes, and you failed,” said Alecto.
“No, you didn’t say anything about how many times I could take the test, or whether I could retake it if I didn’t pass the first time. We had an agreement. You shook my hand. And that agreement was that I complete my transformation within a month. Well, I’ve got two days left.”
Once again, Thea was surprised by how buoyant Alecto’s laugh was, how little it suited the rest of her. “I’ll give you points for effort, but I’m afraid that’s not how it works. This is just—”
“This is just the test, I know,” Thea interrupted. “Persephone said that about fifty times during the drive home.”
“Then you shouldn’t need it repeated. I don’t believe you’re as stupid as you seem.”
Thea let the insult go. “But you don’t know how the test should be for humans,” she pointed out. “We transform differently. I’ve been told so a dozen times by Stefan, and others as well. You guys haven’t recruited a human in a long time. Not while you’ve been head of the colony, right?”
“Right.” Alecto crossed her arms and regarded Thea with irritation, but also grudging curiosity.
“So, you have to expect to build a little flexibility into your normal process,” Thea said. “A lot of things about my training have been different. I had to find more virtues and vices than a fury-born in my tests for the first two stages. There’s no reason to expect you wouldn’t have to change this test a little, too. And no reason you can’t.”
“It has nothing to do with whether I can. I see no reason to. The final test isn’t about inflicting a hex. You can learn that. But you can’t learn a fury’s temperament. That has to be part of the change, like your blood. Either you’ve got it by this stage, or you don’t.” Alecto shrugged. “And you don’t.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Of course I can. You showed me last night. I said from the first I thought your heart was too soft for this work, and you proved me right. Did you know that target you took pity on drives drunk, because he’s so sure he can handle things other people can’t? What happens when he runs a minivan off the road and kills a family? Who will your soft heart have helped then?”
“I understand,” Thea said. “I made a mistake. Which is why I need to retake the test.”
“It’s not our policy to allow people to take the test when they’re aware they’re being tested. That gives you an opportunity to harden your heart. What you do when you think nobody’s watching is the real test of your mettle.”
Thea mimicked Alecto’s shrug. “Like I said, these are unusual circumstances. You should be flexible. I’m sure you’ll agree that I have.”
Alecto glared at her and then, when Thea (with a great effort) didn’t react, finally smiled. It almost looked genuine. “I’ll give you this much, it took more hardness to come in here and confront me like this than I’d have thought you had. Maybe you’re growing.”
“Maybe I’m about done growing. How about a chance to prove it?”
Alecto sat down and tapped her fingers on her desk. Thea remained standing, and stopped herself just before she wiped her sweaty palms on her pants.
Finally Alecto said, “I’m going to let you retake the test. Once. Tomorrow. It’s your last chance. Are we clear?”
“Clear,” agreed Thea.
“And since you can’t do it unawares, I’m going to put some pressure on you instead. You’ll be observed.”
“You and Megaira and Graves again?”
“No.” Alecto frowned, then waved away some internal distraction. “I’m going to have Persephone come along, since she’s the head of Infliction. Graves won’t be there. He’s been busy with other projects this week.”
What kind of projects?
Thea bit the question back. She’d pushed Alecto far enough for one day, and as far as she could tell, Alecto was still suspicious of her. One thing at a time. All she had to do was pass this test. Harden her heart and deliver one hex to one no-doubt deserving soul who would learn from it and emerge a better person. Then she’d be a member of the colony. An equal. Trusted. Her probation would be over, and she’d be able to come and go and do things as freely as everyone else.
Just one hex away.
That night, Thea was dimly aware of dreaming of the macabre circus again, but she was so exhausted, and so deeply asleep, that it barely registered. There was circus music, or was it a bell? If it was a bell, that was important. She knew that much. But even for that, she couldn’t manage to rouse herself.
Then there was a pinch, a hard one. Someone must be trying to wake her up. Maybe they wanted her to know the bell was ringing.
She opened her eyes, then recoiled. Luckily, the fury hovering over her was rummaging in some sort of bag, and didn’t notice. Something on the intruder’s wrist caught the moonlight. Thea steadied her breathing and waited for her eyes to adjust. It was a turquoise bracelet. Just like the one she’d seen Hester wearing.
Maybe the transformation was making her even harder and stronger than she realized, because Thea never would have thought she’d have the nerves required for what she did next, which was: nothing.
The best way to find out what Hester was up to wasn’t to fight. It was to let her carry on. So Thea stirred slightly, as though in her sleep, shifting so she could better see the arm that had been pinched.
She closed her eyes again when Hester set down the bag. A rustling sound, the feel of the bracelet skimming her forearm. Another pinch. Thea managed not to jump much, and whatever reaction she did have could have easily been chalked up to a disturbance in her sleep. She was sure Hester was fooled. How could it possibly occur to her that a person would just lay there, pretending to be asleep, while she was being assaulted?
Thea waited a few more seconds, feeling a familiar pain in her arm. Finally, slowly, she opened her eyes the tiniest of slits. Enough to make out a needle in her arm, and a vial in Hester’s hand.
The vial was filling, not emptying. Hester was drawing Thea’s blood.
That was even more sickening than being injected with something. Thea felt a nearly unbearable sense of invasion. Flashes of This Unfortunate Incident rolled through her head, and it was all she could do to stay still.
Then it was over. More rummaging, then a change in the air. Hester had gotten up to leave. Thea waited until she was out of the bedroom before sitting up herself and quietly going to the window, which to her good fortune, overlooked the building’s entrance.
She knew she had no hope of following a winged fury. The best she could do was watch which direction Hester flew away in, and hope that told her something.
Hester, as tall as Thea remembered her, came out of the building carrying a black shoulder bag. My blood is in there. Thea breathed through her nausea and panic, and watched as Hester soared westward, over the pond and beyond the Colony Center.
Thea kept an eye on her for as long as she could, until Hester disappeared into the jungle of trees on that side of the campus. Then, before she had a chance to talk herself out of it, Thea quickly dressed, and set off to follow her.
Thea didn’t know how long she’d been wandering the woods. Nor was she sure she could get back. The moonlight was enough to see by, but it didn’t do her a lot of good.
She’d expected a little margin of trees around the campus, after which she’d hit the fence. But the fence never came. Maybe she’d just gotten off course somehow, and was walking diagonally across the stretch of trees rather than straight. On the other hand, the campus was enchanted and full of illusions. For all she knew, this was a full-blown forest that went on for miles.
There was no sign of Hester, or any other living thing apart from the rasping calls of frogs and the occasional hoot of an owl or flicker of a firefly. Thea was getting both thirsty and sweaty. The dead of night offered no respite from the August heat and humidity.
Eventually she saw something besides trees: a bulky shape looming ahead o
f her, in what barely qualified as a clearing. The trees had opened up without warning, so she was caught unawares, and for an insane moment she thought it was some sort of gigantic beast.
It turned out to be a small cabin. The door was intact but crooked. It gave only grudgingly when Thea pushed it. In the dark she couldn’t tell much about the interior—there were few windows—but the smell told her it was dusty and probably moldy as well.
Thea hesitated in the doorway, not wanting to disturb any animals—or worse—that might be lurking around. But if she hadn’t come out here to investigate, why was she here? She told herself to get a grip, and stepped forward.
She immediately tripped over something at shin-height. She fell, bending her wrist and banging her chin against a wooden floor that was, thankfully under the circumstances, soft with rot. She rolled over to face her attacker, and found a small, rectangular shape in front of her. It didn’t move. Thea reached out to touch it. Plastic. Cold plastic. She felt along the top and found a handle, which she lifted experimentally. The container wasn’t heavy. She brought it outside so she could have a look at it in at least somewhat better light.
It was a cooler. There was a piece of paper stuffed into a sandwich bag, taped to an ice pack on the top. It was too dark to read what it said, so Thea put it in her pocket and pushed the rest of the ice packs aside.
She found three small vials of what she was pretty sure was the blood that Hester had just taken from her, unless there was more than one fury creeping around the campus, stealing blood from people in the middle of the night. There was something else at the bottom of the cooler, a square box. Without thinking, Thea opened it.
She immediately sensed sulfur and smoke, and realized her mistake. It was a hex, and by the feel of it, a powerful one. It shouldn’t have tried to attach itself to her, with nobody there to inflict it, but somehow it did.
This didn’t seem like a good place to see just how far her hex resistance went. She mentally pushed back hard, and snapped the lid of the box closed. For a second, she thought she’d done it in time.
Then her stomach lurched, and her eyes burned. Thea put her hands over her face, trying to block out the smell that seemed to have gotten stronger when she closed the box, rather than weaker. She crawled away, bumped into something, and opened her eyes again.
Rising Fury (Hexing House Book 1) Page 10