Neophyte / Adept (23 page)

“That is ended. Be gone from my sight! And stop attacking my
people! Otherwise you won’t live to see anything!”

* * *

Asher and I were standing there panting. It was not long before
we were returned to the Gathering. And our bodies.

Chapter 21
– In the Dark

I was neglecting the lesson, my mind full of what Asher and
I had seen the previous night. He warned me about sharing what I had seen.
“Scrying is illegal,” he said. “I could get into trouble. So could you.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” I said. “I promise. I want to see
more.”

Lux said, “Halsey? Are you still with us here? Hello? Halsey
Rookmaaker?”

“Sorry,” I said, coming out of it, looking around. I heard
Vittoria making a tisking sound.

“I was saying about sharing magical discoveries that secrecy
fosters an attitude of
them versus us
,
which can be fatal when it comes to the stability of the Houses,” said Lux.

“Absolutely. We must present a united front. Yes sir,” I
said.

“But something tells me you weren’t paying attention,” he
said.

I had sand in my toes. “Sorry Professor, it’s just...”

“What is it, Halsey?”

“I was just wondering if you could tell us––I
mean, the thing is, what exactly do you know, Professor, about––the
Dioscuri?” I said.

Lux’s eyebrows went up.

“It’s just Gaven––he’s the Head of the Sons and
Daughters of Romulus––and he said, well he seemed to think, rather,
that they, the Dioscuri, mattered, and I was just wondering...”

“...What they are?” said Lux.

I nodded. The other Initiates looked around at each other.
Shaharizan had her hand up.

“Shaharizan?” said Lux.

“Well, I was at the Ball, too, and I couldn’t help
overhearing something about them also. It’s a strange name. And I kind of never
forgot it,” she said.

“Yeah,” said someone else.

“And now that I think about it,” I said. But I shut up.
“Never mind.” I had just remembered that my landlady had spoken about them, the
Dioscuri.
They are here with us
, she
had said, or something.

Lia looked at me. “Are you all right, Halsey?” she whispered
to me.

“Later,” I whispered back. She nodded.

“Very well. Dioscuri––that is plural,” said Lux,
“are these––”

“Things,”
I said.

He nodded. “Have any of you ever seen one?”

They shook their heads no. We all did.

“Good,” said Lux. “They are vile creatures, Dioscuri, which
is why they keep themselves hidden. You only meet a Dioscurus sometimes. And
then, only when you have no choice. They are Seers, and it is amazing how many
Wiccans and other Supernaturals put stock in their
put-ons
. We’re so interested in prophecy and mumbo-jumbo. But that
is like saying sharks make wonderful soup. They are foremost sharks. The same
for the Dioscuri. Wizards and vampires keep them around for their visions, but
the Dioscuri have minds of their own. Yes, Halsey?”

“Is there a connection between the Dioscuri and the dark
aether?” I asked.

It looked for a moment as if I had gone too far. Lux looked
at me as if sizing me up.

Rather than asking me to explain myself, he said, “That is a
theory I have been working on, as well, yes.”

Vittoria looked between us.

“But how did she...?” she said.

“It’s a pity my House has only one opening, Miss
Rookmaaker,” said Lux. “You would make a fine addition to House Ravenseal.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be in Ravenseal,” I said.

“No?”

“No. You guys can have Vittoria. No offense,” I said to
Vittoria. “Is it true that they’ve predicted the coming of a second war?” I
said to Lux, before she could respond.

“I don’t know who told you that,” said Lux, “but yes.” The
other Initiates, Lia among them, looked at me, as if wondering where I got my
information. “She knows things before they happen,” they said. “Maybe she
is
her. The One.”

“The Dioscuri are incorporeal; it means they’re not real,”
said Lux. “But we certainly feel them.”

“If they’re not real then why do they matter?” said Badgley.

“That is an important question. A Dioscurus cannot be
touched. Not being flesh, the only reality is the malice of its mind. They
truly are things, the Dioscuri. As for their bodies, some of us––”
And he inclined his head to me “––believe they are manifestations
of something else. I can only assume that’s what your
Magus Codex
said? The dark aether perhaps?”

It certainly had been like the dark aether, the Dioscurus. I
couldn’t see it. Just feel it and perceive of an entity
through
the cloud of Asher’s mind. Maybe scrying made Dioscuri
invisible.

“Are they at all perceivable visually?” I asked.

Lux adjusted the rings on his Wiccan W. “Yes. And there are
lots of them. The Dioscuri have a hive mind. I don’t mean Wiccan Hiving,” he
said. “I mean, One mind thinking for all, all minds thinking for one...”

It sounded like some kind of nightmare version of
The Three Musketeers
.

“I have heard that they have a dark tower somewhere, although
where it is is beyond me,” said Lux. “They come from it, now and then. Do not
ask me more. I do not know. Oh, and, since this Gathering encompasses fight
training, I will say this.” He flexed the muscles of his Wiccan Mark. “When you
attack one of them, you attack them all. They all know. Hive minds, remember?
In that sense, they are immortal. Can you figure out why?”

“Because... because...”

“Because,”
said
Vittoria, who wished to prove that she––of all of
us––deserved to be in Ravenseal, “the Hive never forgets.”

“Even new Dioscuri know the oldest things,” said Lux. “It is
the source of their power. Which is why witches and wizards come to them. To
remember...”

He left us there, thinking about what he had said.

* * *

That night Lennox and Marek had a tremendous argument
outside of a speakeasy in New York City.

“You really believe this? You really believe
they
have our best interests at heart?
Maria wants power, Lennox, more than she’s got. She killed Glamorgan, the
Vampire King, or did you not put that together in that thick head of yours?”

“Don’t you see, Marek, that that is
why
I need to go back,” said Lennox. “They’ve offered me Rome. Did
she tell you that?”

“Maria says the same thing two different ways and backwards.
Believe none of it.”

“You have been my mentor. Almost a father,” said Lennox. “I
would be dead without you. But it is time we went our separate ways. Just
think, you won’t have to look out for me anymore!”

He laughed.

“Actually, that’s exactly what I’ll have to do,” said Marek.
“If you go back to them, how could I ever trust you again? You know things that
could get us both killed.”

“Only because you told me,” said Lennox. “Besides, I’m sure
they wouldn’t object. Come with me.”

“Two vampires in Rome?”

“Absolutely.”

“It is 1929,” said Marek, looking at his wristwatch.
“Besides, these flappers taste good. I couldn’t give that up. You go and be
their lapdog and watch for these
mongrels
.
I say no thank you. You go Lennox. I’ve taught you well enough. Maybe you will
survive. In which case I’ll see you next century. Or the next. If you make it.”

“Don’t be like that, Marek.”

Marek made his way down the street. “Die young, my
friend
. Live forever. Et cetera, et
cetera. Blah blah blah. Whatever. I don’t care.

“Marek!”

But Marek didn’t turn around; he didn’t look back. Lennox
watched Marek disappear. Something in his eyes sparkled.

* * *

Asher massaged his temple with his huge lion-like paw. “I
will have to go,” he said. “But I can come back, in a day or so, if you wish to
scry some more.”

“Is anything wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing for you to worry about,” he
said.

I didn’t inquire further.

“But, remember, Halsey, keep practicing,” he said. My robes
hid my Mark. “The best defense is the threat of retaliation.”

... Because there wasn’t anything to hide.

“Okay, Asher,” I said, promising him, “and... thank you...”

He nodded. “See you soon,” he said.

We left each other at the opening to the Columbarium. It was
quite a trek back to my room. Asher slipped off. He didn’t want anyone knowing
he had been showing me stuff. I remembered all of the fuss that had been made
about ailuranthropes––because some of them when mated with certain
wizards and witches produced extraordinary children; children with powers that
could be abused.

What would have happened, if we had been caught? Was there
some kind of council that ruled on magical infractions? I figured there must’ve
been. Whoever they were, I didn’t want to get caught up in their politics.

No wonder scrying was illegal. It was dangerous. I had seen
Lennox as even perhaps he did not want me seeing him.

Asher had taken the torch with him. And cats were usually so
good about seeing in the dark. I trailed my hand along the rough stone wall. My
book and my map were both back in my dormitory. I seemed to remember swearing
to myself that I would never leave either of them behind again. Some idea was
rattling around in my head––

Either my roommate or my diary would get the full brunt of
it, if I ever got back.

Asher had created fire as if by speaking it. “Fire!”

I tried the same. My Wiccan Mark was really letting me down.
Nothing happened. Instead, I walked along, on my short, non-Gambalunga legs,
and then somebody said my name.

“Halsey?”

I turned around.

“Psst! Over here!”

I went back to see what this was all about, but a little
part of my brain was like What. Are. You. Doing?

Someone was trying to kill me, weren’t they?

It was impossible to see who it was.

I continued to creep towards them. And then
he
appeared.

Pendderwenn.

He looked anxious. His eyes were bugging out. When he put
his hands on me, I nearly panicked. For some
reason––tonight––right now––Pendderwenn was
scaring me.

“Mr. Pendderwenn,” I said, in a voice of feigned
astonishment. He had both his hands on my arms and shook me a little bit. If
Veruschka Ravenseal was grabby––that was mind grabby; Pendderwenn
was the real thing.

“You’re hurting me,” I said.

He apologized profusely. But he still didn’t let me go.

“I have been wondering if, whether or not, you have given
any consideration to joining my House,” he said.

“It’s the middle of the night, Mr. Pendderwenn,” I said.
“Please, let me go.”

He seemed to come back to his senses. “Yes, you’re right,
but,
still
, we could use you.
Pendderwenn House would be right up your alley.” He smiled at me. His fake
rub-on tan made him look like he was plastic.

He looked into my eyes to make sure I got the point and then
let me go.

Halsey Pendderwenn.

It didn’t sound that bad. In my head.

“Heads are Houses,” said Pendderwenn, very wisely, “and as I
am the Head of House Pendderwenn, I know. Your joining us would be like a
coup d`état
.” Pendderwenn beamed. “So
what d’you say?”

“Thank you. I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Nobody else is recruiting you, are they?” he said, as if he
thought it was a long shot.

“Well...” Better to let him make of that what he would. I
said good night.

“We would be twelve again. I mean, you could help me with
the recruiting. A full House, eh?” said Pendderwenn. “Eh, Miss Rookmaaker?”

“You mean you don’t even have a––partial House?”
I said.

He broke down entirely. “I’m losing it. Oh, I don’t mean
it’s being taken away from me. It’s just... dying,” he said. He wept right
there. “You can imagine what they think.”

“Honestly... ,” I shook my head. “I can’t.”

He took a great gulp of air, becoming even more bug-eyed.

“Paris, with all of their vichyssoise, they of course are
happy,” he said, angrily. “They have always feared what the House of Rome could
be! Then you have the other covens.”

“They don’t like you either?”

His shoulders shook.

“What a great bore you must think me,” he said.

“I think you could just use a vacation,” I said.

A tear leaked from his eye.

“I knew you were a good one,” he said. “I said, Pendderwenn,
I said, if there was ever an Initiate who could bring us back to the status we
had so briefly––and it was ever so brief––it would be
that Miss Rookmaaker. After all, her parents were
watchtowers
. Powerful Wiccans were Kinsey and Maximilian
Rookmaaker, powerful, powerful....” He trailed off.

I stood dumbfounded.

“You really knew them?” I said.

But Pendderwenn was still in a huff. “Knew them? Huh. Not as
well as
some
people. Let us just say,
I shook their hands once. Word gets around, Miss Rookmaaker. It does indeed.”

“Yes, but, it’s just––”

“Oh! My word! I forgot. You never knew them, did you?” he
said.

My lip trembled somewhat; I nodded my head.

“What’s a Watchtower?” I asked, recovering myself, but
Pendderwenn just shrugged.

“I’m only a number two, remember, Miss Rookmaaker; I’m not
to know about, well, anything,” he said.

He bade me goodnight.

“But wait!” I said. “Can’t you tell me
anything
?”

Pendderwenn searched and searched in his head.

“I really wouldn’t know where to begin,” he said. “Being
Adept sucks.”

He turned and left me.

* * *

I raced back to my room. “Lia? Lia? Wake up...”

“M’argh.”

“Oh, never mind. Go back to bed.”

“Murgh...” she sighed and went back to sleep. I was left
wondering what I should do. I pulled my diary out from underneath my pillow and
decided to write in it some.

But then,
it
happened.

When I went to light a taper, something happened. Something
had
never
happened before; but here
it was, and it was happening.