Chapter 2 #3
While Mal didn’t say the word, he got the sense that Kosh understood.
“I’m not sure how much good can come from me knowing more about it.
” Mal was surprised at how honest he found himself being.
Maybe it was because he hoped Kosh would understand; maybe it was because Kosh might be the only person who could understand.
Someone else who knew what it was like to have this awful gift.
“You know our power isn’t bad or evil. Magic just … is. Only people can be evil, and even then, evil is all perspective. If you kill someone trying to kill you, are you evil?”
“I guess not.”
“You are to that person’s family …” Kosh said. “Have you ever harmed anyone with your powers?”
“No,” Mal said.
“Have you ever used your powers for selfish gain?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s more than can be said for most people here, so why is this magic evil?”
“Because it’s dead people. It’s violating and gross, isn’t it?” Mal could feel his world sway and his breath quicken just from talking about his powers.
“Would it be better to control the living? Take away their free will?” Kosh’s face grinned with a smile that said, I’ve got a point.
“I suppose.” Mal didn’t disagree, but it didn’t change his mind. It felt a bit like saying stealing is okay because murder is worse. At that moment, Walters appeared by the library doors.
“You two are missing the meeting,” he said, walking up to them. Mal was sure that wasn’t the first impression he should be giving. “I told them Kosh was giving you a tour, so you’re both covered.” Mal’s expression eased, which was clearly Walters’s intention.
“Any new news?” Kosh replied, seeming almost happy to be missing it.
“They’ve sent for a new transmutor to replace Murray, should take a couple of weeks.”
“Good, good,” Kosh said, shaking his head. “It was a shame about Murray. Anything else?”
“Just the usual. The kid’s been given his first assignment. Nothing too taxing. He just has to watch a vamp nest for a few nights and report back.”
A what? Mal thought to himself. Mal’s expression returned to panic as Walters handed him a file.
“Also, kid, Des has been harassing me about you, so I said she can bring you along on something tomorrow. Just head out with her and tell me if you get any deathly vibes. Use your death sense or whatever it is to sniff about.”
Kosh snorted at the request. Mal did have a death sense; he wasn’t sure he would call it a death sense, but the name was accurate.
Like a pig with truffles, Mal could sense if someone had died in a location or if a dead body was close by.
He discovered his “death sense” while attending his first funeral at the age of eleven.
The sense was so overwhelming it made him violently ill.
He’d since learned to temper it and suppress any vomiting it might induce; this tempering had been tested earlier during his visit to the mortuary.
“And it goes without saying,” Walters continued, “but don’t mention any of this. No necromancer talk, no Order talk, just pretend you want to be a cop or something and it’s work experience.”
Mal really didn’t want to be a cop, and he really didn’t want to be grilled for a day by the nosiest sergeant in the world. Let alone while hiding a secret society’s worth of secrets in his head, but as he’d now learned, he didn’t have a choice.
“We can have our first attempt at a lesson tomorrow after your outing if you’re up for it, Mal?” Kosh said, peering down at him.
Mal felt that same conflict, but before he could speak, Walters chimed in.
“He will be. We need you all trained up.”
“Looks like we’re on, then,” Mal said reluctantly.
“That’s what we like to hear,” Walters said, patting him on the back.
The trio talked for a bit longer until they all decided it was time for Mal to head home.
Mal was about to leave when Kosh offered to teleport him.
Mal agreed, mostly because he was tired and didn’t want to walk back up the stairs.
Kosh requested a hair from his head, to which Mal obliged.
All at once, his world swirled violently, and the ground around him disappeared.
Suddenly, he was up at the intersection between Copperfield and Bow Street.
It wasn’t an instant jump like he thought it would be, it took several moments for all of him to settle.
He was happy transportal doors didn’t make him this disorientated, otherwise he’d probably never use them.
Luckily, appearing out of thin air is quite a common sight in Dunwich, so no one was any the wiser as to where Mal had been.
He took a deep breath, and once his world returned to normal, he set off for the closest portal station.
He needed a good night’s sleep if he was going to handle both the nosy sergeant and the Order’s “busywork” tomorrow.
A good night’s sleep seemed unlikely what with everything that was on his mind; at least he’d gotten through today without any major fuck-ups.
He would have to make sure tomorrow went just as smoothly.
He got the sense the Order didn’t have much wiggle room for failure.