“Thank you all for coming,” said Dame Belinda once I’d found my seat. “Now that the imminent danger of Arcadia’s physical destruction has passed, our most urgent priority is dealing with the aftermath of yesterday’s—exposure.”
“Apologies for interrupting,” I said, “but who is this?” I gestured to the shackled man.
“Ah,” said Dame Belinda. “That is an unlinked facade, in temporary use by the wraith who slew Tamika Durand.”
“Qualm,” said Alvin, low and icy, his eyes on the facade. “That’s what it’s calling itself.”
“As a wraith cannot be executed,” said Belinda, “Qualm’s cooperation or lack thereof during this meeting will help determine the precise nature of its punishment. May I continue?”
“Of course, I’m sorry.”
“Yesterday, there were far too many witnesses to the appearance of Queen Shiverlash in her true form. We are lucky in that any would-be journalists were too . . . indisposed to make use of cameras. However, there are innumerable eyewitnesses in the city.”
“Yeah,” said Alvin grimly. “I think the jig is up.”
“Containment failure is not an option, as you know,” said Belinda.
“May I be permitted to respectfully disagree, ma’am?” said Alvin. “Shiverlash won’t be making a return appearance, at least not in that form, and eventually it will just become another urban legend.”
“People will investigate,” said Dame Belinda. “Combined with other smaller containment failures, it could potentially form a pattern that outsiders could begin to piece together.”
“May I weigh in?” I asked.
Dame Belinda turned to me, her piercing eyes scanning me for a moment. “I have mixed feelings about allowing your opinions into consideration,” she said. “But you have proven yourself intelligent, if unreliable. Speak, if you will, briefly.”
“I just wanted to say, maybe this whole secrecy thing could be more harmful than helpful, now that things are so unstable. I don’t exactly trust Shiverlash to meekly submit to the Third Accord for another millennium. Doesn’t it seem fair that if there’s a potential threat to our world’s safety, people ought to know about it?”
“Absolutely not,” said Dame Belinda. “You speak beyond your understanding and experience.”
Alvin spoke up with an air of reluctance. “Proper containment may not be possible anyhow,” he said. “As you said already, we have no way of even knowing who all saw Queen Shiverlash without her facade.”
“I have been giving this matter a great deal of thought,” said Belinda. “I believe that there is a solution. If a significant reward is offered to anyone who can give eyewitness accounts of the incident, we can process those who come forward.”
“Process them how?”
“Evaluate them for invitation to the Arcadia Project.”
“And if they don’t pass muster?”
“Then we alter the problematic portions of their memory.”
I couldn’t stop myself from protesting, and Tjuan and Caryl spluttered objections as well, but it was Alvin who wrestled himself to the center of attention.
“Absolutely not!” he said. “You have to realize this is going too far. There could be thousands of eyewitnesses. Given the chance of side effects from that kind of tampering—most of these people probably have jobs, families who depend on them.”
“It is tragic,” said Dame Belinda, “but necessary, if we are to keep order.”
“No,” said Alvin. “I’m sorry, but no. My job is to keep the citizens of this country safe, not willingly mess with their minds to keep my secrets from getting out. What if Millie’s right? What if the people are safer if they know? What if this is a sign that secrecy isn’t going to work in the Internet age, and that we need to find a new way of keeping people safe?”
“The safety of the people is important,” said Dame Belinda, “but you may need to take into consideration that sometimes the safety of an informed minority—of the only people capable of making the necessary policy—takes priority.”
“We’re only an informed minority because we’ve barred information from everyone else!” said Alvin, rising from his chair. “For their sake, supposedly. Or so I thought.”
“Your concerns have been noted, Mr. Lamb, and will be entered into the record,” said Dame Belinda. “Please sit down.”
“No, I won’t. Not until you promise me that there will be no brain wiping of thousands of American citizens.”
“You have lost control, Mr. Lamb. Please be seated, or leave the meeting. Your input is appreciated, but not necessary.”
Slowly Alvin sat down, his jaw working.
“Let us know when you have regained control,” said Dame Belinda, “and I shall proceed to our next point of order.”
“Go ahead,” said Alvin.
“After a great deal of deliberation, I have decided to grant Caryl Vallo a new position as liaison to the Unseelie Court. King Winterglass has arranged for her to be elevated to the rank of duchess and granted a small estate near the palace.”
“You’re exiling her?” I blurted.
Belinda turned to face me, looking as though the effort to twist her neck in that direction was particularly stiff and painful. “This is not a punitive measure,” she said. “Ms. Vallo has distinguished herself and has received a promotion.”
“Have you asked her if she wants this promotion?”
“Millie,” said Caryl quietly. “Don’t.”
“Mr. Lamb,” Belinda continued, “will take over for her here as regional manager, provided he can settle himself about the question of containment.”
“And if I can’t?” said Alvin, sounding suddenly weary.
“Then you will be dismissed from the Project, and I shall send someone from London to take the post.”
42
“I would prefer,” said Dame Belinda, “to disrupt existing working relationships as little as possible. You have served the Arcadia Project long and well, Mr. Lamb. Please do not let the unpleasant necessities of war sour your outlook on the importance of what you have accomplished. Caryl, your task will be to help keep order in the Unseelie Court and assist in the binding of the Third Accord.”
“I do have an idea about that,” said Caryl. “I believe the most effective way to ensure security would be to reestablish the Project’s presence in Saint Petersburg.”
“Let me worry about Saint Petersburg,” said Belinda. “Your duties will require you to remain at Court.”
“Ah,” said Caryl, her face going blank. “So it is an exile.”
“You have always known, Ms. Vallo, that your time here would one day come to an end. Do not consider me blind to the injustice, and do not consider it a punishment, any more than the citizens of Los Angeles are being punished for seeing a siren limping up Lincoln Boulevard. Our work requires sacrifices, and sometimes it requires the sacrifice of the innocent. In the long run, all that matters is the continued existence of peace and progress. Magic cannot be allowed to go unregulated on this side of the border, and the truth is—has always been—that we have no means of regulating yours.”
“I understand,” said Caryl.
My fists clenched under the table. I wanted her to fight. I wanted to fight for her, but I knew she wouldn’t let me. So I guess I was just supposed to sit there and watch everyone I cared about piss off to Arcadia.
“I think I’m going to head home,” I said. “Caryl asked me to come for her sentencing, but it’s clear I have nothing else to offer to this meeting.”
“On the contrary,” said Dame Belinda. “I was just about to allow the wraith to speak, and your insights here could be most valuable. Qualm, consider your mandate of silence lifted.”
The shackled man at the end of the table looked up at us through his hair and smiled a slow, hungry smile. “Oh,” he said quietly. “This should be fun.”
“You will confine your remarks to what is pertinent to the proceedings,” said Dame Belinda. “You w
ill not torment Mr. Lamb unnecessarily; he has suffered enough.”
“What would you have me say, oh Queen of Earth?” said Qualm mockingly. “I can’t decide if letting me speak here, in front of so many witnesses, is a sign of courage, or of ignorance. I can’t wait to find out.”
“Tell us, if you will, why you slew Tamika Durand. Was it on your own initiative? Or were you following the orders of another?”
“Oh, generally we work as a team, but that was mostly my idea, I assure you,” said Qualm. Again I was struck by the way all the wraiths’ speech carried echoes of Vivian’s cadence. It made more sense now, but it still unsettled me.
“And to what purpose did you commit this senseless act of violence upon an innocent?”
“It had nothing to do with her, at all,” said the wraith. “That shackled spirit of Caryl’s posed a danger to our plans, so we had to get her out of the way. Surely that’s something you understand, Dame Belinda? In your heart of hearts, don’t you want Caryl out of the way too?”
“Rubbish,” said Dame Belinda. But her voice lacked its usual force.
“It must be such a relief,” Qualm persisted, “to know she’ll be tucked safely away at the Unseelie Court now. How terrible it must have been to have her resurface at seven years old, like a drowned body rising when you were so sure you’d tied it down.”
The room went quiet as a graveyard. Everyone turned to look at Caryl.
For a moment Caryl was still, the only movement the slow widening of her eyes. Then she began to shake visibly, her ungloved hands curling slowly into fists.
“What is that creature talking about?” she said in a voice like salted ice.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” said Belinda sharply. “And I think we’ve heard enough.”
“No, not at all,” I said.
“I’m with Roper,” said Tjuan. “I think I’d like to hear a little more.”
“She has no idea,” Qualm said to us in a faux-conspiratorial whisper. “She still doesn’t know what wraiths are. How could a woman her age understand that Vivian uploaded everything she was to the cloud, that it will never die?” Qualm turned to Dame Belinda then, eyes bright with malice. “Tell us, Queen of Earth, to what purpose did you commit this senseless act of violence upon an innocent?”
“Stop!” cried Belinda, losing her composure for the first time since I had seen her.
“She abducted me?” said Caryl to the wraith, bewildered and wet-eyed.
“Of course she didn’t,” said Qualm. “She would never get her hands dirty. But she was so afraid of losing her broken king, and she knew people who would dirty their hands for her, oh yes.”
“Is this true, Belinda?” said Alvin, his voice barely audible even in the heavy silence. “No, don’t answer that. Of course it’s true; we’re talking to a goddamned fey.”
“Someone has to make the difficult decisions,” said Dame Belinda, her face taking on unhealthy blotches of red. “You have seen what the Unseelie become when they are not bound to the laws of the Accord.”
“You had Vivian’s ex-lover steal a baby?” said Alvin. His eyes were still full of denial, as though he hoped she would say, any minute, that somehow fey had learned to lie.
“One child!” she said. “One child’s suffering to save all of us! Would you rather the vultures had circled, taken the scepter from the king’s slack hands, and plunged the Unseelie Court into chaos? Hundreds of Unseelie had already been initiated into our world’s secrets, and they were held in check only by the will of King Winterglass to uphold the Accord. If he fell, any or all of them could have led armies of their brethren through dozens of Gates in the most civilized places of the world!”
“Civilized,” said Alvin in a strange tone.
“Can you honestly tell me,” she persisted, “that it was not worth the suffering of one child, to keep civilization from falling to pieces?”
“Perhaps,” said Caryl with deadly calm, “that question would be best addressed to the child.”
Belinda placed her hands palm down on the table as though she intended to stand. She did not, though; she merely took a deep, slow breath.
“It is no wonder,” said Caryl, “that you can hardly bear the sight of me. How many years have you carried that guilt, all alone?”
“All alone, she thought,” said the wraith tauntingly. “She had Vivian dispose of everyone who knew, including the last poor soul in charge in this city.”
Suddenly Caryl was nine years old again. She spoke in a hoarse whisper. “Martin knew?”
“And then, just when it seemed your dame would never get Vivian completely under her control, Ironbones tied off that unfortunate loose end. No wonder the dame’s so terribly fond of Millie’s plucky spirit.”
“Silence!” Belinda hissed. And the wraith, either because of some prearranged arcane rules, or because it had already done what it came for, obeyed.
Alvin looked at Belinda for a long moment, and I saw the same steel in his eyes that I’d seen when he’d first put Caryl in the basement. I chewed my lower lip, feeling the air in the room tighten like a pulled rubber band.
Reaching into his pocket, Alvin kept his eyes on Belinda and pulled out his phone. He lowered his gaze to it just long enough to find and touch the right number, then put the phone to his ear.
“This is Alvin Lamb,” he said when someone answered. “I need to speak with Adam Park.”
“Who is Adam Park?” Belinda asked him in the ensuing silence, rigid in her chair.
“My contact at the DHS,” Alvin said.
Somehow Belinda forced another half inch of height out of her spine but said nothing, watching Alvin with her wrinkled lips pressed tightly together.
“Adam,” said Alvin coolly into the phone. “It’s Alvin Lamb with the Arcadia Project. We’ll be initiating the Philadelphia Protocol.”
Belinda’s face blanched. I had never heard of the Philadelphia Protocol, but I had a theory, and my palms went clammy.
“Three Alpha nine Tango seven one,” said Alvin. “This is not a drill. I’ll send over the paperwork in the morning.” With that, he ended the call.
Dame Belinda’s voice came out in a pressurized hiss, as though she were in the midst of a painful asthma attack. “Have you completely—taken leave of your senses?”
Alvin remained frosty calm. “As of this moment, the United States Arcadia Project no longer recognizes London’s authority. This is not intended as an act of war, but if you fight us, we will fight back. I strongly suggest that you see to protecting your nation and leave us to protecting ours.”
Belinda stood with such force that her chair stuttered backward over the soundstage floor. “You’ve destroyed the Arcadia Project,” she said. “Whatever happens now is on your head.”
“That’s a difference of opinion, ma’am,” said Alvin, back to his usual easy manner of speech. This time, though, it rang hollow. “As far as I’m concerned, it was on yours the moment you forgot that your job was to keep people safe, even if that meant giving up control.”
“I shall call myself a car before you further incriminate yourself,” said Belinda. “Our conversation is finished.” With that, she swept from the meeting and out the soundstage door with the alacrity of a woman half her age.
As soon as the sharp report of the door stopped echoing through the cavernous room, Alvin seemed to collapse in on himself, leaning his eyes on the heels of his hands.
I answered his unspoken question, approaching him to rest my fingertips on his arm. “You made the right call,” I said.
He shook his head gently without taking it out of his hands. “Part of me can’t process it. That she’d reach her gnarly little fingers all the way across the pond to steal one of our children. But when she said the word ‘civilized’ . . . somehow that was it. I was an idiot not to see what she was before now.”
I wrapped my hand around his arm. “You’re no idiot, Alvin. But neither is she. She’s had everyone dancing to her tune as su
rely as that siren. You’re just the first one to fight back.”
“Unfortunately, I spoke for everyone else in the country,” he said, finally looking up. His eyes were blank and frightened as he looked around the room at its shell-shocked inhabitants. “I can only hope that the people under me trust me enough to fall in line. Otherwise we’re fucked.”
“At the very least, I’m with you.”
“As am I,” said Caryl.
“Fuck London,” said Tjuan.
The wraith sat silently at the end of the table, the expression on its borrowed face impossible to read.
“Caryl,” said Alvin, “you’re back in command here in Los Angeles. Tjuan, I’m promoting you to senior agent; you’re free to move into your own residence and work without a partner.”
“I’m fine how I am,” he said.
Alvin looked at Tjuan as though he might be possessed again.
“Let me be clear,” said Tjuan. “I’m not turning down the promotion or the apartment. But I’m fine with the partner I’ve got.”
I wanted to slide under the table. “I’m fine with it too,” I managed.
On an impulse, I leaned forward and slammed my hand down on the table’s surface. It was a cheesy move, but somehow it worked; Caryl was up out of her chair even before Alvin put his hand on top of mine, and soon we’d all joined the pile, united in purpose like some kind of goddamned superheroes.
It was a good moment, the kind I’d learned enough from Dr. Davis to frame and hold on to with all my heart, especially when I knew things were going to get weird soon enough.
• • •
The seasons don’t turn in Los Angeles the way they do in other places, but there’s something about autumn even here, a kind of transparency in the air that’s like a tunnel all back through your past. Every fresh year of school, every holiday with your family, crisp as a new apple. I talked about it to Dr. Davis on Tuesday. I talked about Professor Scott, about what I’d say to my dad if I could, about how heavily guilt always weighed on me this time of year.
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