Michael sighed, and it was more a sigh of pity than of anger, but the expression on his face did not change.
“You made your choice.”
“I didn’t know....”
“You didn’t know? I told you there was a human here. I told you to choose: human or angel. You chose to save the angel.”
“It’s Mallory...”
“Quite. And you said it yourself: you would always have chosen him.”
“But you didn’t tell me...”
“You never thought to ask.”
Alice hung her head. “I can’t.”
“You can. And you will – unless you would leave Mallory here to die?”
“No!”
“Then step away.” At last, Michael’s voice softened. “You see, Alice, making the choice is easy. Living with it... that’s something altogether different.”
Michael turned away from her and towards Mallory, stepping past Vin (who had backed himself as far into the wall and away from Michael as he possibly could) and stooping to examine the chains. He rubbed them between his fingers and looked thoughtful. “Helliron. How quaint.” He ran a fingertip over the symbols set in the metal and laughed coldly. “I see Xaphan’s grammar hasn’t improved... still, this is new for him. Clever. We shall have to remember this.” With his other hand, he made a quick gesture, drawing something in the air – and the manacle flared red. It didn’t spring open, as Alice had hoped it would, but the writing on it flamed once, then vanished. Michael let the chain drop back to the floor with a clatter. “Still unpleasant, but now he should be able to get himself out of it. And if he can’t... well, frankly, he deserves to stay put.”
He knelt beside Mallory, and his fingers moved through the air; twisting and spinning and looping around and over themselves, drawing a complex shape which hung over the unconscious angel’s head, glowing... then vanished. Michael whispered something into Mallory’s ear. He stood, nodded at Castor, and gave Vin a strange look that Alice did not quite understand.
“I’ve wasted enough of my time. When he wakes, give him these and tell him to report. And bring her.” He handed Castor a familiar L-shaped bundle of cloth. “You hear me? Bring her.”
“‘By your choices, you muzzle yourself’?” Alice repeated his words back to him, and he nodded thoughtfully.
“Now you live with it. As we must.”
And just that like, he was gone.
Apparently on cue, Mallory sat bolt upright, squinting at Vin. “You hit me. You bastard! You hit me!”
“You deserved it.”
“I was... I was saying something, wasn’t I? It was important.”
“No idea, mate. I usually tune you out: you’re just a string of annoying sounds to me.”
“Now...” Mallory fell silent as he spotted Alice, and his face cracked into a smile. “You’re alright.”
“‘Alright’ is a relative term.”
“You’re alright enough.” He took in her face, how close she was to the chair; her hands still resting on the rope. “You know.”
“What – you were hoping I wouldn’t?”
“I’m sorry.”
Alice saw Mallory glance at Vin, who shook his head. Mallory’s shoulders sagged and his face clouded.
“Michael said to leave him, didn’t he?”
“He said it was you or him... but he didn’t say it was him, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Michael offered you a choice.”
“But I didn’t know!”
“We never do. We never know what our choices will do – either to us or to other people. That’s what makes them choices. If we knew what would happen, we’d always take the easy outcome: hardly choosing, is it?”
“If...”
“I’m sorry, Alice. That’s all I can say.” He stood, slowly; wincing as he straightened. Giving his wrist a shake, he peered at the manacle. “Michael couldn’t be bothered to actually unlock it, then?” he asked. Vin shrugged, and Mallory sighed. “Of course not. I’ve got to do that my bloody self, haven’t I?”
As he fiddled with the manacle, Castor cleared his throat.
“He said to give you these,” he said, holding out Mallory’s guns. Mallory brightened.
“Ah. I was wondering where they’d got to.” The manacle pinged open. “So much for that,” he said, rubbing his wrist. He took the guns from Castor, checking them over and pulling back the slider on one, then on the other. As he went over the second one, he glanced up at Castor.
“You need one?”
“I’m fine.”
“Here.” Mallory held it out to him. “It’s yours.”
“I said I’m fine.”
“You’re lying. You’re a long way off fine. I don’t know what’s happened, but it’s not good. Take the gun.” He waved it, grip-first, at Castor, who finally took it and nodded his thanks.
“Michael wants us?” Mallory asked Vin, tucking his gun into the back of his belt.
“He does.” Vin glanced from Mallory to Toby to Alice... and slipped out into the corridor with Castor.
“Well, then.” Mallory looked at Alice, still huddled close to Toby’s chair. “I’ll give you a minute – no longer. We can’t risk it. One minute and then you’re coming with us. Even if I have to carry you,” he said. He paused beside the door. “I was prepared to die for him, Alice. I want you to know that. Still am...”
“So how come you’re walking away?” Her voice was hard, bitter.
“You want the simple answer? Fine. It’s Michael. If he says the choice is made and you have to live with it, that’s it. So do we. Choice is made.”
“And that’s it, is it? You’re prepared to die for him, until Michael wags a finger at you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then tell me, Mallory. Tell me what the fuck it is like. Because I thought you were supposed to be an angel. If you won’t help him, what good are you?”
Mallory rubbed his face wearily with a filthy hand. “It’s not my choice, Alice. You made the choice. You. You chose.”
“But you didn’t. So help him!”
“I can’t. Because it was your choice, I don’t have the power to overturn it. Michael has seen to that. I cannot help him. I don’t have the free will. I have to follow my orders.”
“Hypocrite.” Alice bit back a tear. “You’re a hypocrite, you know that? You talk about choices. You talk about how they matter. About how every decision we make matters...”
“It does...”
“And then when it’s convenient, you stand there and you shrug and you say that, hey, it’s not up to you...”
“It’s not! It was up to you!” Mallory’s voice rose as he lost his temper and banged his hand against the door. “You stupid girl; you still don’t understand, do you? I’m not like you. I’m not human. I don’t follow the same rules as you, and sometimes freedom is a luxury I don’t have. This is one of those times. Right now, I can’t help him. You want to see what happens if I try? Fine.” He spat the last word at her, and strode towards Toby... and suddenly stopped, halfway there, as though he had hit a wall. His whole body jerked back, and there was the unmistakable smell of burning feathers as the tips of his wings started to smoulder. “Choose, Alice. Choose. We leave him, or you have me die trying to save him... and you lose us both.”
Alice stared at him, at the smoke coiling up from the edges of his wings, and she understood. Michael had given him an order – a real order – and he was powerless to disobey. Michael had made sure that it wasn’t only Alice shackled by her choice: he’d tied Mallory to it as well. Just to be doubly sure. The woman on the beach had been right: the angels were cruel. She shook her head, and – relieved – Mallory took a step back. He relaxed instantly, ruffling his wings as they healed. “Thank you.”