by Karen L Mead
So you know something of your birth.
“It wasn’t MY birth,” Cassie shot back, treading water easily. She had always been a decent swimmer. “There was a girl who looked like me, I think, but she wasn’t me…she was my great-great-great-, insert about fifty more “greats” here, grandmother, but she wasn’t me. All she wanted to do was play in the water all the time, like a dumb fish…she wasn’t me.”
You are the same.
“I am not the same! All she ever did was sun herself on the rocks and eat seaweed, it was pathetic! Even if I had lived back then, I would never have been like that. I would have found something better to do…something….”
You are the same.
“Shut up!
Still, thou hast not flowered.
Cassie just looked at them, shivering slightly. “Flowered?”
Thou hast not flowered.
“Do you mean, gotten my period? I’ve had that since I was twelve, thanks,” she pointed out.
Not your moon’s blood, but the finest of all sparkling crowns. The jewel of jewels. Time is running out. We pray for you to flower.
Cassie had to snort at that. “Praying, huh? Maybe you should have tried that before you betrayed God, or whoever it is up there, and got stuck in this eternal prison. I don’t think he’s listening to you now.”
There was silence for a moment, then a dull hum. The figures flickered in and out of being, and for a moment Cassie tensed with the fear that they would attack her. Then she realized that they were communicating with each other, talking in ways she lacked the senses to hear or interpret.
Of what use praying to the Godhead, he who creates and abandons? We wish for you to change, so it is to you that we pray.
“You’re praying...to me?” Cassie said, uncomprehending.
Listen to our prayers, Little Daughter.
“That’s stupid, you can’t pray to me! I can’t answer anyone’s prayers!”
You are but a prayer.
“I can’t deal with you whack jobs anymore,” Cassie exclaimed, dunking back underwater. She expected to have to surface within a minute, but the ache in her lungs never manifested, and she realized that, here at least, she could stay under water indefinitely. But the sound of their strange, crooning speech never halted. It carried in the water as well as through the air.
Are you listening?
Are you listening?
You who are made only to listen?
Are you listening?
She swam, deeper and deeper below the surface, until their cries finally faded. The ocean was featureless and devoid of life. When she surfaced once again, the chlorine smell was overpowering, and everything was much too bright.
Chapter Six
David Alderton was nervous when he entered the obstetrician’s office, but one benefit of being forced to attend Court events since he was a little boy was that he was used to feeling uncomfortable and out of place; he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He approached the receptionist’s desk, where two women were busy making reservations. When the woman closest to him hung up the phone, he cleared his throat.
“Hello, I’m here to see Doctor Cordley. Is he in?”
The dark-haired woman gave him an indulgent smile, the kind of smile he was used to getting from adult women. He knew how he must look to her: gangly, pimply-faced, and buck-toothed, his school uniform hanging limply off his thin frame. He had a sneaking suspicion that women who smiled at him were usually thinking something like Poor dear, he’s so awkward, bet he’d kill for a girlfriend.
Which, to be fair, he might, but that was beside the point.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
“Are you here regarding a pregnancy?”
“No.”
“Then I’m afraid you’ll have to come back some other time. Or I could take a message for you. What is this in regard to?”
David leaned over the counter, which made the receptionist’s smile falter a little bit. “Tell him it’s David Alderton, son of Alastair Alderton, and I want to see him about something that can’t wait.”
He wasn’t sure whether the receptionist recognized the name or responded to the urgency of his tone, but she nodded and got up, stone-faced. She disappeared through a door off to the side of the room. Less than a minute later, she opened the door leading to the examination rooms. “The doctor will see you now.”
He followed the woman down the carpeted hallway, past several examination rooms filled with slightly sinister-looking equipment, and came to a stately wooden door.
“He’s in his office right now,” she said, then backed away like she wasn’t quite sure how to end the conversation. She gave him one more wary look over her shoulder as she retreated back down the hall.
When David opened the door, Cordley was sitting at a fine wooden desk in the center of the room, writing something in a notebook. He had a laptop open next to him that seemed to be displaying some kind of medical charts. The walls were covered with bookshelves, some photos of babies, and typical office bric-a-brac, but considering how posh the building was, David found it kind of spartan. Other than the desk itself, nothing in the room looked particularly expensive.
Cordley looked up at David, then back down at his writing. “Good morning, David. I trust your father is well?”
“Yes, very well, thank you.”
Cordley clicked his pen. “I don’t suppose you’re here regarding a pregnancy?”
“Ah, no sir.”
Cordley sighed, put down his pen, and closed his notebook.
“That’s a shame. Did your father send you?”
“No. He doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Are you sure of that?” said the doctor, quietly. He steepled his fingers in front of him and used them to support his head, peering at David suspiciously.
“I’m sure. Trust me, no one cares about me enough to put a tracking spell on me.”
The doctor managed a thin smile.
“I’m more worried about your phone. They can’t track you?”
“No, my dad just uses his phone to make calls, and my mom doesn’t even have one. Even if they wanted to use GPS to find me, they wouldn’t know how. They wouldn’t bother, anyway.”
Cordley’s expression still showed concern; clearly, he didn’t think it was safe to be talking like this.
“Is it alright if I check you for charms?”
“That’s fine,” David said, straightening up and putting his arms out. The doctor checked all his pockets for amulets or other spelled items, then checked all the places where people were known to smuggle amulets secretly. Normally it would be weird to have someone touch him so intimately, but Cordley was a very experienced doctor, and it felt more to David like he was getting a physical than being patted down for malicious magic.
Finally Cordley was satisfied that David had nothing on his person other than his phone, his wallet, and some orange gum, and he took a seat in his desk chair, motioning for David to sit across from him.
“Alright. You seem clean. Why are you here? I’ve been racking my brains, but I can’t think of a reason why Alderton’s son would have business with me.”
Despite mentally preparing for this meeting for days beforehand, David wasn’t quite sure how to start. So instead, he asked the first question that popped into his head.
“Did you really try to kidnap the Virgin Witch?”
Cordley exhaled and tapped a finger on his desk. “I did, although she didn’t have that grand title yet. I find it obnoxious, myself. Whether or not she’s a virgin is no one’s business but her own...well, and her doctor’s, of course.”
“Is it true what they say?”
There was a pause.
“You mean, that the attempt was a miserable failure, and I was nearly killed? Yes, that’s all true. Would you like me to enumerate the countless ways that I failed?”
The doctor was starting to get angry; David shook his head quickly.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, is it true that ever since then, you’ve been spying for the Westerners?”
Cordley’s eyebrows jumped up, completely changing the lighting on his dark-skinned face.
“Who says th—never mind, I can imagine. You’re asking me flat out whether or not I’m a spy? If I was, do you think I’d admit to it?”
“Look, I’m really hoping you are, because I need to get some information over to them, and I don’t know how else to do it,” David said. He felt breathless, but also a little relieved to have finally said it. “If somebody doesn’t do something, I think a lot of people are going to die. It’s going to be World War III, only with spells instead of nukes.”
Cordley looked off to the side as David spoke; David couldn’t imagine what the doctor might have been thinking, and the sound of his own heartbeat seemed uncomfortably loud. After a pause, Cordley met David’s eyes again, his expression less guarded. He looked worried, and the haunted look in his eyes made him look older than his fifty-something years.
“Tell me everything you know about what those ungodly stupid idiots are doing.”
David told the doctor all about the secret trip to the British Museum, and the missing Rod of Moses. He also related all the rumors he’d been hearing about the inevitable war with the West, which his father’s colleagues never seemed to stop talking about.
After David had finished relating his information, Cordley closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. “I do want to thank you for taking the risk to come and tell me this, but honestly, you’ve confirmed all my worst fears. At this rate, the Battle of the Bulge is going to look like a tea party.”
“I don’t know exactly what their plan is, but it seems like they can’t do it without the Rod of Moses, for some reason. So we have until they find it to try to stop them, I think.”
Cordley grinned at that. “Oh, I doubt they’ll find it.”
“Do you know where it is?” David whispered, then wondered why he was whispering.
In one smooth motion, Cordley opened his desk drawer, took out a small staff of gray, nearly petrified wood and twirled it, then put it back and closed the drawer. David could only stare, open-mouthed.
“You stole it?”
“Not me personally, no, but I arranged for it to be stolen.”
“Jesus, is it safe to keep that thing here? It’s the bloody Rod of Moses!” David said, finding he was physically incapable of raising his voice above a whisper.
Cordley shrugged. “I have some safeguards, but no, it’s not perfectly safe. Under the circumstances, it’s a risk I have to take.”
David realized he was standing up, even though he had no memory of getting of his chair. “Wait, so…if you have it, is the war off? They can’t use their big spell without that thing, whatever it is.”
Cordley also stood, straightening his white coat. “Unfortunately, no. I’ve made it more difficult, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
“Oh,” said David, disappointed. For a moment, it had seemed like everything was solved.
Cordley looked at David for a few moments, and David could tell he was weighing something in his head. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. He took a deep breath, and addressed David in a firm tone.
“Listen, I have a plan to get this thing to the Western Court. Not because I’m spying for them, which isn’t true, but because at the moment, their leadership is saner. Donatello Arrigio is many things, but he’s not a warmonger.”
David nodded, feeling like he was being let in to some secret covenant.
“Now, this plan is dangerous, as you can imagine. You can’t just bring something like this into an airport, they scan for spelled items—probably even more thoroughly, now that they know the Rod has been stolen. This plan is so dangerous, so reckless, really, that I can’t in good conscience let a young man like you have any part in it.”
David started in indignation. Hadn’t he proven himself? Hadn’t he proven that he was worthy of being treated like an adult, more so than the pompous windbags who’d been talking down to him his whole life? But before he could protest, Cordley cut him off.
“You will have absolutely nothing to do with Plan A. What you can do, if you’re up to it, is become my Plan B.”
Chapter Seven
Before first period had even started on Thursday, Cassie was already sick of her new notoriety. People she’d never met kept trying to high-five her in the hallway, and she’d already heard “Is that the girl from the video?” or some variation thereof, at least thirty times. Most of the attention was at least friendly, but Miri was getting twitchy; the vampire did not like it when lots of new people were suddenly paying attention to her charge.
Sitting at her desk in Mr. Golding’s class before the bell, she tried to put it all out of her mind and focus on her plans. If all went well, Sam would be back from his trip on time, and then her parents were going to find out what was really going on in her life. Whether they accepted it or not, she was going to start getting ready to move out, because it wasn’t fair to Hunter that her status as a witch was wrecking his childhood. She had to start packing up all her clothes.
One day soon, I’m going to have to sit down and look at those apartment listings seriously….
“Hey ,Tremblay, I hear an elephant ran over to you because he recognized you from his Ginormous Fatass Club.”
There were snickers from the back of the room. Not long ago, that kind of an insult would have made her cheeks flush with anger and embarrassment, but now it only registered as a mild annoyance; she’d been through too much in the past year for quips about her weight to have quite the same zing.
“Classy, Brett. Real classy,” she said without turning around.
“Nah, man, he recognized you from your I Still Drink My Momma’s Breast Milk Club,” Mike said casually, not even looking up from his tablet. “Does your Mommy still pack you a tuna fish sandwich and cookies for lunch every day, like you’re in first grade?”
Miri whistled appreciatively at Mike’s put-down, but the rest of the room was silent; Mike didn’t usually talk to Brett at all. The two of them fighting was exciting, by Silver Crown Academy standards. No one wanted to miss what happened next.
Cassie couldn’t help turning around, and saw that Brett was embarrassed that Mike had brought up his overbearing mother. He recovered quickly though, and directed the attention back to Cassie.
“What, are you her knight in shining armor now, Trepkowski? If you wanna defend her, you should take a look at some of the comments on her video. Why don’t I read some aloud for the class?” he said, reaching into his bag for his phone.
After he had turned it on, but before he started reading, Miri grabbed the device.
“Hey! Give it back!”
Miri waved her hand at him dismissively and scrolled through the comments. “Let’s see, how about this one: ‘Damn, that girl is a hottie. Teddy has the right idea LOL.’ Hmmph. Looks like random internet trolls are smarter than you,” she said, throwing his phone back at him. He fumbled it and it dropped to the floor.
“Okay, some of the commenters are horny and saying they’d like to do her, because duh, it’s the internet, but a lot of them are--”
“Oh God, shut up,” Mike said, this time looking up from his tablet.
The bell rang, as though punctuating Mike’s annoyance; Mr. Golding wasn’t up in front by the blackboard, so the talk continued unabated.
“What’s your problem, Trepkowski?” Brett asked, sounding menacing. “And what is up with the Cassie Tremblay Defense Force over here? Is she putting out or something?”
Mike’s eyes narrowed, and he looked like he was about to take Brett’s head off with a snappy comeback, only Cassie cut him off before he could.
“Why are you so obsessed with me, Brett? Want me to do you?”
Taken aback, Brett was left without many options. “No!” he yelled.
“Too bad, that was a one-time offer. Now you�
��ll just have to die a virgin.”
Cassie turned back around before she could see Brett’s reaction, but she could tell from his friends’ laughter that her comment had the desired effect.
“Who wants you, you fat bitch!” Brett yelled, but it was too late; the momentum had shifted.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. If you’re really desperate, I’ll do you, but only with Madison’s vagina,” said Miri sweetly.
“Hey! What’d I do?” said Madison through a mouthful of gum.
The conversation in the back of the room shifted away from Cassie, and she exhaled. After a moment, Mike tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey. You know he’s just an idiot, right?”
“Yeah, he’s not even what’s bothering me. I haven’t been sleeping well…having dreams every night lately.”
Mike straightened up at that. “Like, regular dreams? Or those dreams?”
She hadn’t told Mike and Jay everything about the Watchers—in fact, she wasn’t sure she could explain if she wanted to—but she’d given them both the gist of it.
“Those dreams,” she said softly looking down.
Cassie nearly gasped when she heard Mr. Golding’s deep voice emanate from right behind her.
“Everyone, read sections four and five of the packet and write a two-paragraph response. When I come back, we’ll share our responses.”
How long has he been in this room? Was he here the whole time, and no one even noticed?
Golding moved forward so Cassie could see his back, then glanced at her over her shoulder. “If I could speak to you outside for just a moment, Miss Tremblay?”
She crossed her arms and sank down into her chair. “No.”
There was a pause. Several of the kids laughed nervously.
“Umm, Mr. Golding? Which packet? We have, like, three packets.”
“Just pick one, Miss Clarke!” Golding growled, then grabbed Cassie’s arm and began pulling her out of the room. As soon as they were outside the classroom, he let Cassie pull her arm back.