Neophyte / Adept (29 page)

She nodded her head. “Do you know?” she said. “I feel
dangerous. I mean really, really, powerfully dangerous.”

“We are,” I said. “We just don’t know it yet.” I flexed my
fingertips. “But I think we’re beginning to find that out.”

“I can’t wait until I Burn,” she said, and showed me her
Wiccan Mark. It was still nebulous. Under-formed. “I think you are her. If such
a creature exists. The One,” said Lia. “Not even Vittoria––I’m sure
of it––even she wouldn’t have a Mark like that.
A flower.
They’re really rare. I mean,
from what I could see of her fingertips. I don’t think even any of the
Mistresses had a Mark like that. And they’re from one of the Three.
Heads.
You must be super powerful.”

“But what good is Grace or Goodwill?” I said. And I didn’t
say it, but Vittoria’s Mark––it was a poisonous
flower––
deadly nightshade
.
What good was my Mark against so much enmity in the world?

Chapter 25
– The Last Pendderwenn

Not having names, I realized, was a great way to mask
allegiances. Who was Selwyn working for? What was his Mark? What was his House?
And Marek? Was he with the Lenoir? They had a death warrant out on him. So
Marek had told me. How did
that
work?
Lia continued to talk about the Pack and her place within it.

“Lia, you’re safe. You’re one of them. It’s me.
I’m
not,” I said. “I’m off. Haven’t you
noticed how brainwashed everyone is? If you aren’t from someone’s House, that’s
it. You aren’t one of them. And if you are, you better toe the line, or it’s a
threat, and an
or else
. I’m really
scared about the state of Wicca,” I said. “But I definitely feel you. And I
smell you, too. P-U. Is that you? It smells like
wet dog
in here.”

The snuffling was coming closer. I peeked up at Lia. She was
snoring.

The snuffling was now at the slats in my door. Lia made a
noise like
Mrgnagh
. And the handle
turned.

Selwyn was standing there. Except he wasn’t a cat any
longer. He was a man. And he seemed to be deathly afraid of being found out. I
understood why.

The black hairs.
Selwyn-cat had stood over Julius Pendderwenn’s dead body.

Of the two of them, one thing could be said for Pendderwenn,
which could not be said for Selwyn. At least, with Pendderwenn, you knew where
he stood. His allegiance had been to Pendderwenn House. So who was Selwyn’s
allegiance to?

He held his fingertips up to his lips, bidding me to be
quiet, but I was not some doormat, he could not step on me whenever he chose?

“Why are you here,” I said, “and what do you want? You come
and you go, Selwyn, but who are you, anyway?” I was whispering so Lia wouldn’t
wake up. Something told me if I had to use my Wiccan W it might just jerry-rig
something up to ward off a sneaking cat. Selwyn must’ve needed every bit of his
silent cat paws to get through the swarm of snuffling werewolves who were
outside. “I know it was you,” I said. “They found cat hairs, Selwyn. Black bits
of
you
. You killed Julius
Pendderwenn. You slashed him up.”

He held his hands up. “I’m innocent,” he said. There was no
blood on them.

“You could have washed them off. Or licked them off,” I
said. “Your claws retract, don’t they, when you put back on your people suit?”

“I didn’t do it,” he said. “I was trying to save him.
I––I swear. I’m trying to save you.”

“From what?”

“Halsey Rookmaaker...” he gasped. “You already know the
answer to that.”

“Tell me, then,” I said. “And stop calling me Halsey
Rookmaaker.” I didn’t like his voice. Like he knew what I wanted to know. Which
was
secrets
. Selwyn looked like he
was in a panic.

“I can’t do that,” he said.

“What, tell me, or stop calling me Halsey Rookmaaker?”

“Both,” he said. “Besides... People can’t just be told...
They have to be shown.... And whatever this is... you need to see it...”

“What do you mean?” I said and realized that Lia had been
right about that. It was the refrain of somebody who didn’t have a clue. Me.

I thought about waking her up, but Selwyn said, “There is no
need to involve your friend in anything dangerous tonight. I certainly would
not. You will be safe with me. Perhaps together we can find out what neither of
us knows. Come, Halsey Rookmaaker. I wish to show you everything,” he said.

He held out his hand to mine. I glared up at him, but I put
my hood up, and took his paw. He saw the flash of my Wiccan Mark, whereupon his
eyes marveled.

“What is it?” I said, but he shook his head.

“Take your excellent motorbike,” he said. “We have a trip to
make.”

“How far is it?” I said, but before Selwyn could answer he
started to shake. His teeth chattered. Even his skull shook. It started doing
funny things, like it was alive.
Moving.

“I––really––
hate
––this part––” he said.

He transformed before my very eyes into the spectacular
eight-foot-long, shining black cat; his fur was like velvet; his eyes, two gemstones
sitting on jewelry cushions. In theory, there is always doubt, reasonable or
otherwise, but look into somebody’s eyes, you see the truth, and his were
saying:
“Trust me.”

We disappeared into the night together. Selwyn padded
through the cold stone corridors with me at his heels. We encountered no one.
He seemed to have a preternatural sense. An intuition that was not unlike
Ballard’s, who frequently got funny feelings around people. Selwyn’s was the
ability to disappear.

In no time at all, I found myself standing before my
Gambalunga. It spit and started. Selwyn bounded ahead. It took everything I had
to keep up with him.

Soon, we had left the Gatheringplace far behind, and were
out in countryside. I felt free. Like I could do anything. I opened the throttle
and followed after Selwyn who disappeared over the hilltops like a flash in the
night. I would have to give him a nickname in my diary. He ran like a bolt of
lightning. Thunderpaws, I decided.

He was taking us towards Rome... The direction gave me
pause. But not really. I wasn’t a werewolf yet.

I drew even with him and let the Gambalunga
backfire––the citadel, shining in the distance, stopped. Selwyn
cantered and then came to a standstill. He licked his snout and caught his
breath. His blue eyes shined at me.

“You’re not a
were
,”
I said, “weres are something else.” I blew into my hands. It was bitterly cold
out. The seasons had passed while I was underground. “You’re a wizardpanther,”
I said. “You did this by magic.
The
Maleficarum.
Of course. Witches can turn into cats. And a wizard is a
witch, if he knows witchcraft. I’m just talking to myself, trying to figure
things out,” I said. “It’s like the whole King-Cat-Dog thing. But why, if you
can do it, can’t Lia? Be magical
and
a shapeshifter. Because you’re not a shapeshifter. Or a natural shapeshifter,
anyway. She’s a
were
wolf. Born with
it. But you were not. You’re a wizard who learned to shift. Now I’m aware. We
can continue now,” I said.

He paused and then did a double take. Selwyn-cat ran on and
the wind through my Wiccan hoodie was like the hiss of being Marked. I watched
him leap through the countryside. Pretty soon we were on the outskirts of Rome.
To a place that I knew all too well. The late-night drivers didn’t see us, as
we maneuvered through heavy traffic. First Ballard had shown me. Now Selwyn. I
wanted to know why.

He caught his breath and then transformed back into a human
being. The black panther disappeared behind an old newspaper stand, and Selwyn
reappeared. I parked my Gambalunga and the motor cut out. “I’ve been here
before,” I said, looking at the abandoned movie theater across the street. The
letters, drooping from the marquee, spelled out disaster. Volt and Pouch had
been hurt, I remembered, from standing guard duty here. I looked at Selwyn.

“The Dioscuri are inside of there,” he said.

“But why have you brought me here?” I said.

“Because I knew your parents. Kinsey and Maximilian
Rookmaaker. They would want their daughter to know what happened to them.
I
want to know,” said Selwyn. “That is
why we are here. Max was my mentor, you see.” He looked at me. “He initiated
me. He initiated you too,” said Selwyn.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Come on, Halsey. Haven’t you been paying attention? How
else did they know about you? The Lenoir? The Three? The Dioscuri? They have
big plans for you.”

“I’ve been looking for Magic,” I said––and I
didn’t like hearing that last bit again. It’s what Veruschka had said to me.

“You’ve been expected,” he said. He shook his black hair out
of his face. Selwyn was sweating slightly. I realized it must’ve been from the
run. I was glad I had my thick Initiate’s robe on. The stars of a cold winter
Roman night were out and about. The wind was whipping through my hair. Not a
headlight could be seen down the dark and empty street.

He turned to look with me at the movie theater. “I don’t
know what happened to you seventeen years ago....” he said. “I was just a kid
myself. I’m only twenty-six. Max, your father, said it was for your own
protection. They sent you off. He was extremely powerful,
Max––perhaps he knew something. He was in Pendderwenn House, you
see. Back when it was a House.” Selwyn sighed. His breath gusted out in cold
fog.

“The Rota...,” I said.

“Pardon?”

“I got stuffed down it. It’s what unwed mothers used to
throw their babies into,” I said, “like a box at a kennel. Who knew I would one
day be an animal, too? Maybe they were right to get rid of me. But then I got
sent off to St. Martley’s, and they got killed, my parents did...”

“Which is the part I don’t understand,” said Selwyn. “But
maybe
they
do.” He nodded his head at
the movie theater. “They remember everything. I think they would remember this
too. After all, the Dioscuri were there.”

“Pardon?”

Selwyn reached into his pocket. When he withdrew his hand,
he was holding on to a large red Wiccan marker, with a six written on it.

“You had a marker,” I said, excited and then
sad––it was the sixth pick, the one that had chosen me.

“Yes,” he said. “I held this marker, but I didn’t get a
chance to use it. I wasn’t afforded an opportunity, really, to select you.”

“Me?” I said. I couldn’t breathe. If only he had gotten to
me sooner. Veruschka Ravenseal wouldn’t have her hooks in me now.

“She’s waiting for me, Selwyn.
Veruschka.
And she’s in with the Master House. I can feel it.
I’m... a Ravenseal now,” I said.

At the mentioning of the Master House, his teeth had
flashed. He had to bite back some acid. They were inordinately large, his
panther teeth. “You’re not,” he said. “...A Ravenseal––” when I
didn’t look like I understood. I think he could see it, because he said,
“Halsey, you don’t seem to understand what I’m doing here. I came here to
select you. This marker
is
––”

“But it’s too late,” I said. “And I don’t even know which
House you are with, Selwyn.”

He laughed. “Don’t you?” he said. “For being so clever, you
really don’t have a clue, do you?”

“Wait––you’re not like my brother or something,
are you?” I said. “Because that would really suck.”

He blew a strand of hair out of his face and shook his head.
“No,” he said. He seemed to be sad about something though.

“Then what?” I said.

Selwyn paced. He was trying to reveal things to me slowly.
He didn’t just realize I could be told
everything
.
Finally, he stopped, and he said, “May I see your Wiccan Mark, please?”

I showed him. After all, he had shown me his
transformation––that was something not even Ballard had ever done.

“As I suspected,” he said. “You have your mother’s Mark.”

“I do?” I said. Standing there, I realized it was true. I
had seen it before. She, Kinsey Rookmaaker, had drawn it in her copy of the
Magus Codex
, which was now
my
copy. I had not put the two together
until now. I was still so flushed with having my Mark, that I hadn’t realized
my mother had had the identical same one. It was like my eyes were opened for
the very first time... to my destiny, if I had one... I had
her
Mark. And I also had her Book. It
felt special...

“Hers was a flower also. An orchid, if I recall,” said
Selwyn. “It was very beautiful.”

I nodded. But he did not go on. Instead we stood like that
for some time. Finally, he said, “I notice that
you
notice that I call you sometimes by your full Wiccan Name,
which is Halsey Rookmaaker.”

“Yeah, and it’s annoying,” I said. “You’re not the only one,
either. Lots of people do it. I wish they would stop.”

Why did I get the sense that he was leading me somewhere?
That Selwyn was trying to show me something?

“Halsey, the reason you have a last name, and others do
not,” he said, “is because you were born into a Wiccan Household, and we
remember that. We honor it. It gives you status. Whether fair or otherwise.”

“It’s totally unfair,” I said. I didn’t need to motion for
him to continue. Selwyn went on anyway.

“If I may,” I said. He took the red marker. “The reason you
weren’t selected first––or fifth or even third or
second––or fourth,” he winked at me, “was in honor of your
parents.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

“Surely they must have gasped when your name was
called––the people up in the stands, all of the witches and
wizards?” Selwyn asked.

I nodded. “Vittoria was really upset,” I said. “She thought
Veruschka was going to pick her. In fact, do you know if Ravenseal had the
first pick, because it seemed to really surprise Vittoria? She had intimated,
by look, and so forth, and by being mean, that she was destined for their
House, and to be the first pick. Instead, she’s off. No one picked her. And
with you not there, I just realized, Pendderwenn would have had a pick.... He
needn’t have left...”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Selwyn. “But this
marker is still valid. I’m sure of it. There can be no denying it. After all...
––Maybe
that
is what got
him killed.”

But my mind was working on something else. Some other idea.

“Your Virtue isn’t Malleability, is it?” I said.

Selwyn looked surprised. “How did you know that?” he said.
He pulled his sleeve back and showed me. It was faint, but it was there. Like
it could be anything. Which I supposed helped him change. To be malleable.

“Lucky guess, I suppose. People don’t know you can turn into
a cat, do they?” I said. I crossed my fingers behind my back, looking at him.