“That’s not fair,” I said.
“I agree,” Rose said. “It isn’t fair. You got a familiar, you got your… circle thing.”
“Cabal,” Fell said.
“Yeah. Cabal. Adding more fuel to the fire. Inquisitors, even.”
“To be fair,” Ty said. “They say nobody expects the Inquisition.”
“We could forestall trouble by telling them that Alexis and Ty have sworn not to touch the diabolism stuff.”
“I’m just sort of wondering what we’re here for,” Alexis said.
“I know,” I said. “We’re going to hash that out. It means more to me than I can say, that I have you here. Really.”
“You could forestall trouble,” Rose said, “Or maybe they play it safe, you guys go to sleep one night, and you don’t wake up.”
“That seems sketchy,” I said.
“Because everything else here has really been on the up and up, hasn’t it?”
I leaned forward, leaning over the table. “If it’s a problem, I’m not going to assert any kind of control over them. Maybe that makes it less of a cabal and more of a circle that has a sort-of-a-diabolist guy as a member.”
“Two sort-of-diabolists, if you count me,” Rose said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Though you don’t really fit the definition. You haven’t done anything. You sat out for the imp thing.”
If I maybe made that a bit of a barb, the fact that she’d been so useless, it was because I felt a little bit cornered and a lot betrayed after the lengths I’d just gone to in order to free her. She was undermining me more than she was helping.
“I’m more of a Thorburn than you are,” Rose said.
I’d been poised to reply, to fight back. That caught me off guard that I mentally stumbled.
“Be careful you don’t lie,” I said.
It came across as a little wimpy.
“The diabolist of the Thorburn line is supposed to be a woman, or a girl,” Rose said. “Who got the voice? Who gets the respect, of the two of us? You want to talk more abstract points? I stuck with the family, for better or worse. I don’t even know how much was intentional, but in my recollection of the conversation with Grandmother, talking with her on her deathbed? She pretty heavily implied that she wanted us to fight tooth and nail. But you left.”
“You’re blaming him?” Alexis asked.
“No. I’m just saying, I’m the girl that’s stuck in the mirrors while Blake’s flesh and blood, but I’m pretty confident when I say that I’m more Thorburn than he is. He left the family, I remained a part of it. But that doesn’t mean, Evan, Alexis, that he didn’t take something away from it. He can apparently be as manipulative as any of them.”
“I don’t agree,” I said, “and maybe this is the sort of thing we should discuss in private. It’s not really relevant.”
“It’s very relevant,” Rose said.
“To this. To the fight against Conquest,” I said.
“Ah,” she said. “Can’t say for sure. I’m going to go get more books and tools, or I won’t be so useful as one of your champions. I only want the rest of you to think twice before you accept an offer like that. What was it he said? Actions matter more than words?”
“That wasn’t the context,” I said.
But she was already gone.
I leaned back, sitting a bit straighter, and sighed. “Fuck me.”
“She’s you if you were a girl, huh?” Alexis asked.
“Apparently.”
“Female you is kind of a bitch,” she said.
I didn’t have a response. I didn’t want to just slap a convenient label on Rose and demonize her. I’d had that done to me often enough, even in the past few days.
“Just what happened to her, in Conquest’s realm?” I asked.
“She already explained,” Fell said. “Conquest made her do what he wanted.”
“Which was?”
“Which was inconsequential, really. The part you should be focusing on is the fact that the Lord of Toronto made her act what he wished. He bent her will to his and took all volition from her.”
I felt ugly feelings stir at the idea, and pushed them away, along with the images that accompanied them.
“He’s done the same to you?” I asked.
“He’s done it to me, my family, my father’s family, my grandfather’s family. He’s done it to others, and when they broke, he tossed them away. If and when you lose this contest of yours, he’ll do it to you.”
“If I win, I’ll earn the wrath of every local.”
“Yes,” he said.
I nodded.
“There’s no tidy, neat way to do this,” I said. “So we’re going to do it in an untidy way. Alexis, you’ve asked a few times, you deserve more of an answer. You want to know why you’re here, and not one of the champions?”
“I think I kind of understand.”
“Having contact with you guys helps me. I don’t need you to be a champion to do that. I don’t want you, Ty or Tiff to be in the line of fire.”
“What do we do, then?”
“I don’t know how long this is going to take. It could be over in hours, it could take a few days-”
“Faster than shorter,” Fell said. He still stood by the window. I’d only managed to get one light working in the kitchen, and the light from the window was all we had. It was good, enough to make faces visible, but his presence by the window cast a shadow over everything. He added, “Conquest prefers short, one-sided fights over long, drawn-out ones.”
“Okay. Thanks, that’s useful. Changes it up, then,” I said. “I was going to say Alexis, Ty and Tiff could set up spaces for us to retreat to, places to sleep, acquire food. Novice or not, you guys can still draw defensive circles. But if this is going to be fast… think less about food and sleep, more about the defenses. The knights lent us a book.”
“I have it,” Ty said.
“Good,” I said. “We can’t fight them head on. It’s suicidal. What we’re going to do is split up. Rose can find and communicate with our different groups. We keep moving, we communicate, and we share our assets.”
There were nods around the table.
“Ty, Tiff, Alexis, I’m going to try to stay close to you. I can’t move very fast or very far, really. Fell? Can you do something about their ability to track us?”
“Hiding is hard. Costly. It’s a lot of people to protect, and there are a lot of forces arrayed against us. Each one needs different countermeasures, or we take one measure that covers all the bases.”
I nodded. “What if we don’t hide?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Distractions. Misdirection.”
“Yeah. I can work on something.”
I nodded. “Knights?”
“We’re sitting this one out,” Nick said.
No. I was short enough on allies as it was. “I’m not asking for you to fight. Only that you maybe help my circle get around. A ride here and there.”