Chapter 19 One Step Ahead
Chapter nineteen
One Step Ahead.
Percy Flores
“I, I don’t know what to think,” Ana said.
“You don’t believe me?” I questioned, somehow hurt that she would think I was lying, even though I wasn’t even sure if we were really friends anyway.
“No, no, it’s not that,” she tried to reassure. “I believe you, it’s just, it’s so against everything that we’re meant to be building that it doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes sense. You know what my novel ability can do. It’s eerily similar to the stories of inter-coven magic, and we agreed, every witching community and coven, so long ago we don’t even have written records, only stories, that inter-coven magic was too powerful, too dangerous, that it had to be outlawed.
Flores, for as long as anyone knew, had always prohibited marriage and relationships with other covens.
We have no land, we’ve always been few in number, strictly pacifist, until now.
There was obviously a reason for that, Ana.
Flores' magic has the ability to merge, to form new and powerful novel abilities. My mother was a dual user, and now I have this death within me. Selene was concerned for me, that I’d be used as a weapon or killed to stop me.
And she was right, The New Foundation wasn’t interested in me before my novel ability appeared.
I’m just me. A half-witch. Imagine what damage a whole classroom of kids with novel abilities, indoctrinated into a military, could do to the kingdom, to the world,” I told her.
“It would be absolute power,” Ana whispered.
“No one will be able to stand against The New Foundation. Every power needs to be held accountable. The House system isn’t perfect; there are problems, maybe it can’t be reformed, and the only way forward is to dismantle it.
But what replaces it? It can’t be a military dictatorship that no one could ever hope to challenge. ”
“How are they hiding this from everyone?” she asked.
“The kids are kept within the Witching Command mansion. In the basement of all places. They never leave. Not every Flores witch knows that they are there. They think they’re orphans, the children of single mothers who need to be protected.
I don’t think many in the Witching Command know that they are powerful.
They’re young, only just coming into their magic.
All they know is The New Foundation. They’re just kids,” I said.
“How did you learn all this?” she questioned.
“Lady Flores trusts me, at least she does now,” I told her.
“When I first awoke here, I spoke with Arvid Halvorsen. He’s playing both sides, and he doesn’t trust Lady Flores.
He made me an offer. If I find out whatever it is Lady Flores was keeping from him, he would help me escape and return to Selene.
” I took hold of Ana’s hand. “Ana, if we’re still friends, if you were my friend in the first place, if you care at all about any of this, you’ve got to believe me.
Come with me, I’m going to Arvid now to tell him everything.
We can leave here together,” I pleaded with her.
She squeezed my hand and smiled sadly.
“I am your friend. I…” She released my hand and ran both her hands over her head and through her short hair.
“This is so much to take in. You don’t understand how much I’ve given up.
I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid. I thought…
I thought I was doing the right thing,” she said and looked at me.
Her face was such sadness. “What does all this mean?” she asked.
“It means that Lady Flores has her own agenda and she’s convinced her coven and every member of The New Foundation that all she wants is a just and peaceful society.
And I think she wants that, but she also wants revenge and power.
We can’t allow her to take power like this. Are you with me, Ana?” I asked.
“I want to be, but I can’t just sit back and do nothing.
What are you even suggesting? That we just go back to how things are, because they’re not that bad for you with Selene?
It’s pretty bad for almost everyone else.
And you can’t just tell Arvid Halvorsen about a bunch of children with that type of power. He’ll kill them,” she warned.
“I —” I went to respond but stopped. Ana was right, I had no plan, and I couldn’t tell Arvid about the children in Witching Command, either, not if I really cared about them. I was selfish. All this time, I just wanted to get back to Selene.
“I want us to be on the same side. But I don’t think that will ever happen, not with your ties to Selene,” she said solemnly and turned to walk away.
“Wait,” I said and took hold of her hand. “You think Selene is a monster that wants nothing more than power and domination, right?” I asked.
“But that’s not true, Ana. It’s not! She wants change. She wants the Houses to be like Viridis. That’s why she took over House Ardens,” I told her desperately, remembering my conversation with Selene on the bench on the hilltop overlooking Ardens Estate.
“What?” Ana asked, turning back to me.
“It’s true, Ana. She said she wanted the Houses to be like Viridis of all places, and she hates them,” I told her.
Ana eyed me suspiciously and flinched as a loud group of younger recruits walked by nearer the tree line. We both turned to see if they had noticed us.
“Why?” she asked, in a whisper, after we had watched them pass us, apparently unaware that we were there.
“For me,” I admitted, worried that Ana would turn away again.
“She wants to be able to be with me. Marry me. Have a family with me. Without the constraints of the current laws and customs. She used House Viridis as an example of what could be. She took House Ardens for herself as a backup if she couldn’t change everything, somewhere for us to be.
I know it’s not for the right reasons, but does it matter the motives if it works out for the greater good? ”
Ana looked perplexed, like she didn’t know how to respond.
“She wants to marry you?” she asked.
I pulled the necklace Selene gave me on my birthday from under my shirt.
“It was her grandmother’s ring. She gave it to me as a promise that one day I’d wear it on my hand,” I told her.
Ana stepped closer and looked at the ring. She’d never given it much attention before, and I kept it hidden under my shirt.
“She wants to marry you?” she asked again.
“And she wants me to have kids. I’m not ready for that, and she seemed disappointed, started talking about wards and preparing for all possibilities.
..” I trailed off, remembering the point of this conversation.
“She isn’t the monster everyone here thinks she is,” I said quietly and put the necklace back beneath my top.
“She plans to give up her royal titles, the crown, leave the capital and live in obscurity with you, in Ardens?” Ana asked in astonishment.
“Only if she can’t change the House system. But can’t you see that there’s at least the possibility of another way? If Selene can change, couldn’t others?” I asked.
Ana looked away for a long moment.
“I trust you, Percy. But I don’t know if I’ll ever trust Selene. She forced something unforgivable upon me,” she replied, and I looked away in guilt, knowing she was speaking of the blood oath Selene forced her to take in the summer, “but you’re my best friend, and I’m with you.”
“You’ll leave with me?” I asked.
“Yes, but I can’t come with you to Arvid. I have a meeting, more like an interrogation within Witching Command. I don’t think they fully trust me yet,” she revealed.
“What kind of meeting?”
“They keep calling me in to question me about Syngeneia… and you,” she explained.
“What kind of questions are they asking?” I asked, curiously. Maybe Persephone didn’t trust me as much as I thought she did.
“Things like how close we are, if I’ve had any access to Selene, if she trusts me.
About my coven, where I am in the hierarchy, who I have access to, and my brother and his role.
It’s the same questions each time; this is the third time they’ve called me in.
I think they’re trying to decide if I’m more useful than I seem and if they can use me for anything. ”
“You think they want you to spy for them?” I asked.
Ana shrugged, “I get that impression.”
“How will I speak to you again to tell you how Arvid plans to get me, us, out?” I asked.
“The mess hall. Go during the first hour, that’s when most people eat, and I haven’t seen you there, so you must be coming to the second hour. I thought they were trying to keep us apart. I guess I was right. You told me what was going on immediately,” she smiled.
“We trust each other,” I said.
“We do,” she agreed and enveloped me in a tight hug, “I’ve missed you. And I’m sorry. I think I was so angry about what happened in the summer, and I let myself get tangled up in all of this. I should have spoken with you.”
“It’s okay, we’re still friends?” I asked, squeezing her back.
“Best friends,” she said and released me. “I can’t be late, they’ll ask questions, they're suspicious of everyone,” she told me, “The mess hall, first hour,” she reminded, before she left.
“I’ll see you there,” I promised and watched her leave for a moment before I turned around, trying to leave the treeline without being seen. I was close to the accommodation where I knew Arvid was staying, but I had no idea if he would be there.
Getting into the building was easy; the door wasn’t locked, and I remembered my way, climbing the stairs two at a time.
I tried to look inconspicuous, my heart beating so loudly and fast in my ears after running up the stairs as quickly as I could, like I belonged there as I walked past other recruits.
I realised that I looked the part, we were all wearing the same uniform, and there were so many recruits from all over the kingdom, I was just another face.