Semper Fidelis
Chapter 15
I woke up from my chi exhaustion in my own bed, thankfully under the covers because I could tell no one had taken the time or effort to replace my lost fairy attire. I looked over at the clock hanging on the wall and tried to focus on what it was reading to know if I had time to sleep more before getting up to go relieve my mother at the hospital. Unfortunately with the heavy curtains drawn and only minimal light for my newly opened eyes that was not immediately possible. I also had vague sleep filled memories of other things I should be attending to but those were not clarifying as I laid there.
"Come on birdie, chirp and tell me what time it is." I spoke to the clock with my head resting on my pillows and my eyes closed trying to find the strength to move and check the clock.
"It's ten in the morning. You have been unconscious for three hours or so." Elaine said from somewhere off to the left side of my bed near my head making me a bit self conscious as I had not sensed her presence in the room. Having someone sitting over me while I sleep might be acceptable from my mother, or hell I might not even mind if it was Harry, but Elaine was not in that category of close acquaintances just yet.
"Um… so you just stayed sitting here in the darkness and watching over me?" I asked seeming a little taken aback by this awkward situation. For once I hoped this meant there was some sort of crisis she needed me to focus on and not that she suddenly sprouted an unusual sense of compassion for me. Having now faced death at least twice in the past twelve hours with Elaine by my side made me more accepting of her presence, but I was not ready to trust her. I had seen her set Harry up and knew what her inner fears could do at the wrong time or place.
"It was not just me." Elaine replied and I could tell she turned her head to look at someone by the way the sound of the words changed.
"I am here too Molly." Daniel's voice spoke from the same general patch of darkness in my room. My ability to read emotions was slowly coming back online and I could sense that he was feeling as off in the current situation as I was.
"Okay so there is a party happening in my bedroom and you both let me sleep right through it? What kind of friends are you?" Okay not my best response but hey I just woke up naked in my own room with two people I did not totally trust at the moment hanging over me. I remember dreams I had in high school that were just about this uncomfortable.
"I'm really serious about the whole taking on Harry's personality thing." Elaine said with only a little lightheartedness. "I might forgive the truly inappropriate sarcasm at the wrong time, but you nearly died with that little healing stunt of yours. Harry never understood caution and now you are every bit as reckless as he was…is."
The way she said that and her radiating emotions screamed that her anger with me was the result of something similar my master had done sometime in the past while in her presence. By her own acknowledgement Elaine was a survivor. She would help friends or those she worked for, but not to the point that her own life, or more importantly freedom, was placed in direct jeopardy. She followed the 'He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day' philosophy.
"Don't be so dramatic, I was only a bit exhausted by it." I replied trying to play down the seriousness of her comments both for Daniel's sake as well as my own. "No damage was done so let's get focused on something more important than another apprentice mistake okay?"
"No Molly." Elaine's tone was getting even more stern and disapproving. "It's one thing to risk your life because you are ignorant of the consequences. It's another to be purposely foolish and avoid the knowledge required to keep you alive in the future."
Well so much for my plan of downplaying what had happened. "Elaine I already was warned by Hisha about the dangers of using too much Chi." I admitted getting a little terse myself. "I saw no reason though in making a bigger thing out of it since it worked and we're all alive."
She ignored my response and instead suddenly projected a sense of satisfaction at making me irritated. But instead of being scolded by Elaine even more for my so called reckless behavior, and I really should point out to her how much she sounds Harry at these moments, I turned and saw her head turn away from me and look instead at Daniel. "Are you satisfied now that everything I told you about your sister was correct?" She asked him as he lowered his head to not look at either of us.
"Yes." Was all he said.
We all sat there in the dark and silence for a minute or so. I had nothing to say since I realized I was not really part of the story as much as the subject of some unknown conversation. Elaine seemed to be waiting for Daniel to say more, by reading her she was hopeful that he would take some big step. But Elaine was not a sensitive and could not tell from the emotions of confusion, embarrassment, and guilt he was pouring out of him that there was no way that was happening anytime soon. And with Elaine staring at him and adding even more pressure it was becoming even less likely to happen at all as he build up walls of defenses. Once more I guess that it fell to me to get us out of a bad situation.
"You know I don't want to interrupt anything truly important but we have a Faerie war to prevent still and from what I can tell we are back to square one. We need to find out who is supplying firearms to some in the Courts and what their plan is before the next ice age begins." I said starting to throw my covers back and then remembering my current state of undress. "Umm...but first… could one of you hand me some of my clothes?"
"No!" Elaine said. "You need a few more hours rest at least or you will be no good to any of us." She said standing up but staring down at me as if to challenge her authority. Had I not been naked I probably would have gotten up in her face but the fates of fashion were against me at the moment. "I will go check in with some Summer Court agents I know of and see if there have been any changes we need to be aware of. You have my number for emergencies but you really need to take it easy. We will meet back at Harry's place tonight and decide what we should do next."
Daniel began to stand up as if to show Elaine the way out, or more likely as an excuse to get away from me but Elaine stopped him. "I think I can find my own way out." She said sternly yet with an underlying compassion. "I think it's time for you to find your way out don't you?" Daniel merely looked at her for a moment and then nodded before he sat back down and cupped his head in his hands.
I did not say a word as I listened as Elaine tromped down the steps and out the door. Daniel also said nothing at first even as she started her car and drove away to go check on events in the Nevernever. I could sense Daniel's confusion, hell I could probably have done so even without being a sensitive wizard, but that did not mean I knew how to help him through it. And the last thing I wanted to do was the wrong thing and have him hate me any more than he did already.
Daniel was not the type to want me to wrap him in a hug and say everything was going to be alright; especially when I did not know what the 'everything' he was dealing with was in order to know it would indeed be alright. I was also still lacking any clothes beyond the bedding I was lying under and was not looking to ask him again for clothes to point this out or use the sheets as a makeshift toga to get closer to him since I could sense that the majority of the awkwardness he felt was related to me.
Seconds and minutes passed and still nothing was said, well aloud at least. On the inside I could feel Daniel at war with himself, comparing things he knew or thought he knew against others and not being able to reconcile the two. It was like trying to put together pieces from two separate jigsaw puzzles and hoping to end with a coherent final picture that did not look like it had been painted by Picasso.
The good side for me, good being a relative term, and relative being an appropriate pun, was that I did not have to look at Daniel to feel what he was going through. Elaine was right in some aspects that my body was still tired so after the first minute of silence I settled back onto the pillow staring up toward the ceiling and closed my eyes. I did not sleep, doubted I could with the turmoil I was sensing, and I made sure to alternate my breathing and make occasional subtle sounds to let Daniel know I was not asleep but merely waiting for him to speak or to leave whichever course he decided to take.
While the silence lasted longer than I would have expected or hoped for, telling me the depth of our trouble if the fight in the parking lot had not done so adequately enough, he was still my father's son and so not likely to turn away from a challenge thrust upon him. As I sensed the tension reaching this tipping point I slowed my breathing even more so as to not distract him or in any other way influence what was to come.
"Why did you do it Molly?" Daniel finally asked at a point near to both rage and tears. Leave it to the male of the species to prove less than effective at communicating when emotions were involved for anything other than a sports team. I hoped he would follow that up with further explanation if I did not immediately respond, but instead he just tensed up as if I were choosing to ignore the question.
"I want to answer you Daniel but you will have to be a little more specific." I said as calmly as I could manage hoping not to provoke him or worse still, cause him to withdraw. "I do not want to assume I know what you are looking for."
He flared in anger at hearing my voice but after that initial reaction he calmed and seemed to understand that I was confused and not merely being obstinate or trying to provoke him into another fight. "Why did you save my life Molly?" Daniel clarified for me. "Why did you put your own life at risk to save mine?"
The question itself seemed absolutely ludicrous within my mind. He was my brother so that seemed to be as much of an answer as was required. I would gladly sacrifice myself to protect him if I had to. I would do the same for any of my siblings or even my mom or dad. Okay mom might take a little more considering based upon how much she had recently nagged on me but I'm still fairly sure I'd do that for her too.
But then I realized that while his question seemed ludicrous in my mind, in Daniel's it seemed a completely valid inquiry and the key to his entire confusion. He obviously had established some sort of image of me in his mind, what I was like and what motivated me, but now this act had been completely out of character compared to what he expected of me. People surprise us with such things all the time, but most of them are small inconsistencies and they cause only minor adjustments in our outlooks. What I had done for Daniel was, to him, diametrically opposed to what he expected of me. He had just learned the world was not actually flat.
In most cases we all can shrug off even these gross inconsistencies as perhaps part of some motivation of this other person we are not aware of. That was what Daniel was looking for me to provide him. What motivation did I have to saving his life?
But when you nearly sacrifice your own life for another as Elaine had obviously explained to him while I was unconscious there really can be no 'secret agenda' you are running since such an action has the potential to end this agenda by your sacrifice. Such an act, if the danger is known by the one taking action, is either altruistic or suicidal, there really is no third way of looking at things. Elaine had tricked me into admitting that I knew there were life and death dangers in using my chi so Daniel could not accept that I was ignorant of my actions. And while I may have enjoyed the whole goth look, no one would ever say I was suicidal. I obviously loved life too much. Which left Daniel with a jigsaw puzzle piece that simple would not fit in his internal image of the world around him. In his mind I could not be that altruistic.
How do we ever truly find forgiveness for our sins? When I accidentally released the phages from the Nevernever and inadvertently hurt Daniel, I had sinned against my family and friends even though I never intended this to happen. Because of this I accepted the Doom of Damocles as a suitable punishment from the White Council to make amends for using magic to sin. I had moved back in with my family and went back to school just as Harry demanded of me as his apprentice because I knew he meant this as a means to make it up to my family for the harm and sins I had caused to them. Hel…I mean heck I had even of my own idea confessed all these sins I had committed through magic and the hurt I had caused to Father Forthill who had listened politely then ordered me to perform a penance before absolving me of these sins in the eyes of the Church. But here I was still paying for this same mistake after all this time and effort.
"Daniel, I never wanted to hurt you or anyone else." I said to him but the words sounded like a bad Hollywood cliché and left a taste like ashes on my tongue. I could sense that there really would never be any words that I could say that would let me convey all my feelings on the subject to him in a way he might be able to understand. Hell I realized in that moment that even though I had tried to absolve my sins of these events with others, I had never truly forgiven myself for those events. So I did not know how I could ask him to forgive me when I did not know what types of tortures he had suffered because of me.
Then the thought struck me. It was a dangerous and rash idea that had a thousand reasons why it was not a good idea, but somehow a small part of me that sounded a lot like Hisha or Shiro told me it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing, but I would only do so if he agreed to this course of action on his own.
Daniel was obviously also less than pleased by my own awkward response but when I raised a hand and laid it gently on him arm he did not immediately rage at me or toss me onto a convenient Mercedes. "Daniel wait…" I said trying to find the words to explain the idea that I had thought of. "There is one way I can explain it all to you…everything you want to know…but you will have to agree to this yourself." I said aloud in stutters as I mentally kicked myself for sounding so unsure.
"What is it now Molly?" He asked a little harsher than I would have liked but I took it as a good sign he had not pulled away from my touch or even walked off without being willing to hear me out.
"Wizards have an ability called a soulgaze." I explained as I tried to remember just what Harry had said to me the first time he had explained all of this to me. Ironically I realized these events also occurred for me right after Harry had defeated the phages and fetches so that he could determine if he should put his own life on the line for me. "Have you ever heard of it?" I found myself asking.
"Yeah." He admitted looking away from me. "I checked out the books of magic you had in your room after you became an apprentice and read up about wizards because…" His voice trailed off and I knew the unfinished remainder of that statement was something like 'because my sister is one and I am afraid of what she could do to me.' He paused embarrassed to continue and I really did not want to hear him confirming my own internal fears.
"They why is irrelevant." I said before he found the nerve to continue. "The important part is that you know what I am talking about and what it can show you?"
"The book said when a wizard looks into your eyes they can see things about who the individual really is." Daniel repeated the texts I had on the subject almost word for word. I guess he really had been studying. Hey it was not algebra so I should not be too surprised that he took it seriously. "Supposedly there is no way to lie in a soulgaze, but the individual can also see right into the wizard's soul as well. Is that correct?" He asked me waiting for my confirmation or denial.
"Yep that is pretty much right." I replied. "The one important thing that the book did not mention is that whatever you see will be with you forever. You will never be able to forget it. Anytime you think about that person some part of you will remember what you saw. And the same goes for whatever they saw within you."
"That sounds dangerous." He said and this provided me an overwhelming feeling a déjà vous making part of me inside laugh at the irony of the situation. Daniel's words now were almost the same as my words had been with Harry before he looked into my soul. As if it were fate Harry had done so after I had loosened the phages upon this world and inadvertently injured Daniel. Now here I was trying to make things right and the same situation was playing out again as if the dialogue had already been written for me.
"Can be." I confirmed with a nod hearing Harry's voice in my head speaking these words to me and being oddly comforted by this closeness. "Though probably not for the reasons you'd think. When you see someone like that, Mol… I mean Daniel, there's no hiding the truth about who you are. You see it all, good and bad. No specifics, usually…" In truth in the two times I have done it I have gotten specifics and I suspected that my sensitive magic talents were responsible for this deviation from the norm. "…but you get a damn good idea about what kind of person they are. And it's for keeps. Once you've seen it, it stays in your head, fresh, period. And when you look at them, they get the same look at you." I finished.
"Molly, why are you speaking all weird with a deep voice?" Daniel asked a little on edge.
I laughed. "Sorry I was remembering when Harry told me this same thing. I guess I was remembering too well." I said. God maybe Elaine was right and I was taking on too much of Harry's personality.
"Well sop it because it creeps me out!" He said but had a hint of a smile and his nervousness went back to just regularly terrified of me not supercharged as it had been for that one moment.
I said nothing for the next few seconds as the meaning of my explanation sank in. Daniel did not know what to believe about me and now I was giving him the chance to pull back the covers with me, obviously figuratively until I got some clothes on, and decide with this new source of information if his sister was really a monster or not. The potential cost would be the same for him but I guessed unless he was leading a double life that I was unlikely to see Mephistopheles standing before me.
I quickly weighed the odds and while it was certainly a gamble for me I figured it was one that I held the advantage. I did not have a clue what those who had looked upon me before in such a soulgaze had actually seen so I had no way of knowing if these images would confirm Daniel's opinion of me or dispel it. But I was willing to take this chance based upon what had happened the only two times I had tried this. Harry had been the first to soulgaze me and he had concluded that I was worth putting his own life on the line for. Ishmael Rothstein had done so as well and asked me to take up the mantle of protecting a rather powerful artifact of his religion, one that I was not a part of in fact. I figured if two such caring men found something to trust in me then the odds were my brother would perhaps as well.
Daniel had lived in fear created by the phages and me for over a year now. I sensed whatever they had done to him had been partially responsible for the problems between us. The fact that I had never talked to him about these events had left this fear untended to grow in the dark recesses of his mind until it had taken him over almost completely. Now I was here offering him a chance to face that fear. I provided no promise that what he would see would rescue him from drowning but it was the only lifeline he could find. Thankfully he grabbed on with two hands.
"Okay let's do this." He said walking over and opening the curtains in my room to allow the full light of day and banish the darkness. I noted that a ray of sunlight passing through the clouds entered my window and seemed to land directly upon the cross hung above my headboard. If that was not as comforting a sign that I was doing the right thing I do not know what was. I guess Hisha was right. I merely needed to have faith that things would work out as God desired them to.
"Any chance you will let me get dressed first?" I asked feeling suddenly very vulnerable wrapped only in sheets and a comforter physically and about to expose my soul even more. It's not like I thought anything wicked about my brother but clothing for a woman helps provide a sense of armor against the world. I knew I had no such protections for my soul. I just hoped that whatever images of me Daniel saw were properly attired.
He looked at me for a moment considering the request as I appeared even more awkward and blushing under the full light of day. "Sure." He replied after a moment and tossed a pair of my sweats that I had lying on the chair in the corner over to me. Strangely enough I found the Winter Court icicle token lying between them as well though I had never worn it with these clothes and as it had been fastened to my Faerie attire it should have merely fallen off when they faded with the dawn. I wondered if this was some inherent magic that made it impossible for an emissary to misplace the token or have it stolen. I chalked that up as one of my questions to ask Maeve the next time our paths crossed.
I pulled the sweats under the covers and wriggled into them suddenly feeling much more confident than I had been. Who would have though pink cotton would have made such a fine suit of chainmail?
"By the way I like what you did with your hair." Daniel said seemingly out of the blue and catching me completely off guard. I noted the approving way her looked at me when I finally pushed the covers back down and spun my knees off the bed so I was able to sit like a semi-normal person. "I hated your goth looks but for some reason this particular black color and style seems to suit you just fine."
"Thanks." I replied. "It's something my new hair dresser seemed to think was appropriate at the moment." Note to guys, all girls love these types of compliments, even if they do come from their younger brothers.
Daniel took a seat on the chair the sweats had just occupied and looked over in my direction but did not meet my eyes just yet. I shifted so that I was sitting across from him while also keeping three feet of personal space between us. "Okay so what do we do? Is there an incantation or something that you need to perform?" Daniel asked looking at me as if I were an expert. I guess to him I was.
I laughed a bit though in a kind manner. "Normal people call them spells not incantations." I explained with gentle humor. "Only the High Council and other similar aged dinosaurs use words like 'Incantation' or 'Incantus' because they think 'spell' is too New Age and commoner."
"Okay Morgana Le Fey is there a spell that we need to cast?" Daniel asked thankfully taking no offense or being annoyed by my correction.
"No you simply have to look into my eyes." I said taking a deep breath and preparing for what was to come. He did not even hesitate though and jumped in with both feet. His eyes looked directly into mine and the soulgaze between us began.
I realized it had started because instantly I was no longer standing in my room but was instead lying on the bed in Daniel's. I knew this because his walls are covered in posters of Chicago's finest; the Cubs, the Bulls, and 'da Bears.' I used to kid him that that with so many animals he was either living in a zoo which was perfect for an ape like him, or his room was a convenient place to remake the Wizard of Oz but with Cubs and Bulls and Bears oh my! Neither of these jokes endeared my brother any closer to me. I guess he is not much of a culture buff.
I was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling wearing my pajama pants and a t-shirt when I heard the door open downstairs. I knew Mom and the other kids were already in bed and dad had left on another of his God commanded missions so that meant Molly had come home which made me happy. Last month she and mom had fought so badly that Molly had left in a huff, only returning a day or two ago when that Harry Dresden, a friend of my dad's, had brought her home to stay once more. Of course I realized when I heard no voice to confirm my assumption, on the other hand if it was not Molly then there was an intruder and it fell to me to protect the home while my dad was away.
It was odd to relive events from Daniel's point of view. I also noted that when he had thought of me running away part of him was angry at me for hurting my family and especially scaring my mom, but part of him was also really afraid for me; and even for himself - that he would never see me again. That new reflection of these events made me now feel kind of guilty for not taking the rest of my family's feelings into account. It also made Daniel thankful to Harry for bringing me home, though I could feel that the powers Harry had available to him frightened Daniel, especially since our dad had been hurt while in his company more than once.
I grabbed the autographed baseball bat my dad had gotten signed for me last year because it was the most convenient weapon available to me and began to sneak down the stairs to surprise whoever had come in. The large wooded bat would make a fine deterrent. Thankfully by the middle of the stairs I heard Molly singing off key as she usually did and I relaxed and was happy to know she was safe at home with us even if she couldn't carry a tune if it had a handle.
Hey! Remind me to advise Daniel when this is all over that he needs to get his ears checked out. I do not sing as poorly as he remembers so it has to be a problem with his hearing or his memory. I bet getting hit so many times in his football helmet has cause some sort of hearing related damage.
"Hey Molly glad to see you are home again sis." I said as I put the bat down by the steps and walked into the living room to see her…or myself… in my current attire and tried not to laugh at the colors of her hair.
I forgot this was my yin and yang phase where I had dyed my hair partly bright bubblegum pink and the other half sky blue to symbolize the divine feminine and divine masculine. Okay don't ask. I had just seen the Da Vinci Code and this was sort of my tribute to the film and its concepts. Looking back now I guess I could have just bought the movie poster or something and saved the effort.
"Hey Daniel, what are you still doing awake?" I (Molly) asked and seemed to be surprised that I (Daniel) was awake at this hour even though it was really not all that late.
Yeah this was not going to be weird to remember one side of these events while I lived through the other.
"I was just going to sleep when I heard you come in and thought I'd come down and…" KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK someone tapped heavily upon our front door and we both turned to look at it with wonder of who could possibly be at our door at this odd hour.
Of course having lived all of this I knew exactly what was coming and I tried to will myself (Daniel) to tell me (Molly) not to go to the door. But I was trapped in the actual memory of the event and there was no way to change the past or what was about to happen.
"I got it bro." Molly said to me because she was now closer to the door and still dressed, by comparison to me only wearing my pajama bottoms and white, well mostly white, T-shirt. God did I ever hear of a shower or changing my shirt after football practice? I watched me walk to the door and open it only part way to look out at who was on out step. My (Molly's) body suddenly tensed and I could hear her raise her voice as if she was arguing.
What I remembered was I went to the door and opened it without looking and only saying "Who the heck knocks on our door this late at night?" I had expected it was one of mine or Daniel's friends. But then my eyes came around the edge of the heavy oak door to see the same three horror movie villains that had haunted Splattercon and killed or injured dozens of attendeesstanding there looking at me with malice in their eyes. They were Hammerhand, Scarecrow, and the Reaper all standing right outside my door and I felt cold in the pit of my stomach, and the subtle charge in the air that I knew came from a spell giving been cast.
"Trick or Treat little witch." Scarecrow had taunted me. "It's time to pay the Reaper for the harm you have caused!" The symbol of death incarnate standing behind the Scarecrow raised his wickedly curved blade and began to jab it toward me.
I screamed and slammed the door, my mind telling me that according to my studies these beings could not cross the threshold of our house because of the love and power our family had filled our home with. We would be safe behind the door from these creatures of nightmare as long as we did not invite them in. I ran back into the living room to tell Daniel not to open the door and that he should go upstairs and warn the others also but I never got the words out of my mouth.
I saw Molly scream and slam the door to our home holding it in place for a moment as if she expected whoever was outside to try breaking it down. But after a second or two when no such attempt was made she turned and ran into the living room where I was standing. Fear shown in her eyes but there was also a powerful determination there that I had never seen her wear before. She opened her mouth to speak but before she could behind her the door was not forced inward as we expected but rather it was ripped right from the hinges pulling the very frame with it from the walls around it. In Daniel's memories I even noted the three inch decking screws my father had used to secure the frame to the house were torn free and sticking wickedly out like some dangerous weapon. I did not worry about them for long though because Scarecrow took the door he had pulled free and tossed it into the yard behind them before stepping right into the hallway of our home. Behind him came Hammerhand and the Reaper.
NO! That is not possible! That is not possible! I kept thinking these words to myself. They can't cross a threshold without being invited. That was the rules for creatures of the Nevernever or they sacrificed their power and left it on the other side of the door. But I could sense that they had not left their power. They were filled with it still, along with their natural malice and evil intentions. That meant they had either been summoned here, which no one in this home would have done or known how to do, or they were sent here by someone else with a means to get them past the threshold that I had never heard of. Since only the latter made sense I had to assume they had come for me like they had gone after my friends. But as they turned into the room they stopped and all three looked up the stairs where my other younger brothers and sisters were sleeping. Torturing such innocence would be a feast to these types of beings as I had already observed.
"Daniel we have to distract them from going upstairs!" Molly yelled to me as she charged Hammerhand and Scarecrow who were already on the steps. I was a step behind her in reacting but I realized I had left my bat lying next to the steps and it was now out of reach. Instead I grabbed the black iron poker that hung next to the fireplace in the living room. I figured if some costumed jerks were going to break into our house I was going to show them what a mistake they had made.
My God Daniel had no idea what he was facing. He thought he could scare these beings with a determined show of force or a few hefty blows of the poker. He had no concept that these were creatures that lived off of fear, violence, and weakness and that what he was doing would actually feed them and make them even stronger. Of course I did not know that particular detail either at the moment either. I only remembered I had to yell a warning upstairs to my mom to get the other kids into the panic room dad had built for us if evil ever came to call.
Molly yelled to mom to get everyone into the panic room and that caused the three intruders to stop and look at her once more with evil intentions written fully in their eyes. My sister was a beautiful girl and I did not like the way they were looking at her as if she were a meal. Their delay to look at her though also provided me enough time to get into poker range and I swung my makeshift weapon with all my might clocking the Scarecrow, the one standing closest to Molly, in his straw covered head and knocking him to the ground. I felt pride in this surprise attack and turned to backhand Hammerhand with a blow to his raised arm that echoed like it cracked bone and made him nearly tumble down the steps as well.
I have to give it to Daniel, unlike me he did not panic and at least put up some kind of a fight that gave these creatures pause. Other than screaming a few warnings I had done nothing effective to keep these three away from my family or myself. I also knew Daniel could not understand what I knew now that by picking up the iron poker he had armed himself with one such weapon that could actually do harm to these creatures.
I was cocking my hand back to swing the next blow at the Reaper when the cloaked skull spun and slashed at me with that curved knife of his cutting across my arm and making me drop my makeshift club at my feet. I wanted to make a grab for it but he stepped forward toward me making me back away from his knife. When I prepared to flee he reached out and took hold of my T-shirt in his hand and lifted me from the ground and he brought his knife back up slowly to show me before he killed me. I saw my blood already staining the blade from my arm wound and knew I was about to die.
"Leave him alone!" I screaming having somehow in the confusion wrapped my hand around the baseball bat Daniel had brought downstairs and swung with all my might at the arm that held my brother. The wood made contact with the arm and something cracked loudly but since the bat was only wood rather than iron or steel it had no real effect on the Reaper shaped nightmare. Well that is not quite completely true. The blow had gotten the phage's attention and seeing me holding a weapon that we both realized in that instant was useless against it and therefore sensing my new fear and frustration he tossed Daniel aside as if my brother no longer mattered.
I closed my eyes as I waited for the blow, but instead of death I heard a crack and felt the arm that was holding me off the ground shudder in response. The next thing I felt was myself falling over the coffee table in the living room and crashing into the television, knocking it from the stand as I fell the other way. I felt my head hit the floor, quite hard in fact, and suddenly saw stars exploding in my behind my eyes. I tried to open my eyes and focus to see if any of the three intruders were coming after me but they were not. Scarecrow had regained his feet and grabbed my sister from behind. She fought him as best she could but then the Reaper grabbed hold of her as well. Together the two carried her screaming out the door leaving only Hammerhand behind who was staring right at me.
When Reaper tossed Daniel aside I had thought to make a lunge for the poker my brother had dropped but the way he twirled the knife to hold my attention and placed it between me and my treasure told me that if I made a move for the iron artifact he was going to slice me open. I hoped to distract him until I could make a grab for it. What I had not counted on was that what he was actually doing was trying to keep me distracted from other thing taking place as well.
"We have orders not to kill you little witch." The Reaper taunted me. "Someone very powerful wants their chance to take a part of you first. But our master said nothing about what to do with your family. They will make a very fine meal for us don't you think?" If you have never heard the Grim Reaper laugh then count yourself lucky. It's not a sound I ever care to hear again. Thankfully Daniel was too stunned by his knock on the head to have heard it for himself as he tried to get back into the fight.
I made a desperate lunge for the poker, figuring if the Reaper had orders not to kill me then he would not be able to actually stop me. Unfortunately I had not counted on Scarecrow having gotten back to his feet from Daniel's first blow and maneuvering behind me to grab me around the waist just as I began my dive thereby lifting me off my feet. Had I been studying with Murphy at the time I might have known to slam both my heels into his kneecaps and show him ways legs are not meant to be bent but instead I merely kicked and screamed in panic like a typical horror film female victim. Then the Reaper grabbed hold of my legs and the two pinned me in place between them where I could not struggle free of their hold.
"Kill the rest of her family!" Reaper said to Hammerhand as he and Scarecrow carried me off through the shattered doorway and into the night. I remembered screaming "NO!" at the top of my lungs, fearing that my family would pay a more horrible price than whatever the two intended for me.
I found my way to my feet as Hammerhand approached me raising his twin namesakes as if preparing to pound me flat. I tried to dodge around the room and keep furniture between us but he shattered or overturned each piece with a single blow from his hands as he came to them. Pretty soon I had nowhere left to run and hide so I charged directly at him instead.
One of the advantages of being the son of a Knight of the Cross is that dad had taught me how to fight. Not with a sword, but just the proper way to fight with my hands if such events were ever called for. He had explained to me that such times are incredibly rare and that I should always try and talk my way out of these potential conflicts first but I figured this was one of those rare exceptions to the rules where violence was okay.
I waded in and struck a few quick jabs to Hammerhand's face. I knew no one can ignore those types of shots and while they may not put your opponent down, each one certainly got his attention and made the nightmare before me a little more cautious. Unfortunately I had not counted on my opponent's skin feeling like course sandpaper every time I struck. After my fifth or sixth blow I felt the pain from the ripped skin on my knuckles as well as the warm trickle of blood on my fingers and his face. I paused to look at my hands quickly to assess the damage, a rather stupid thing to do I immediately realized when Hammerhand landed his first blow, thankfully only a glancing one, across my chest. The rough edge of his hammer sliced open my shirt and the skin beneath it making the resulting wound burn like fire.
I tried to cover up from his next attacks but he was too quick and the pain had stunned me. He rained a few light blows against my body and then my face that left me staggering. I knew any of them could have been killing blows had he wanted them to be but he was instead merely torturing me like a cat with a mouse. He also began to taunt me.
"How does it feel to know you failed little man?" Hammerhand's voice was just as sandpaper rough on the ears as his skin had been. "Maybe I will let you live to hear the screams of your brothers and sisters as I break each of their bones as I kill them slowly as well. Then when your father returns you can tell him how you failed when he left you in charge."
I ducked under the next blow and staggered for the front door while he followed right behind me. I figured this was good for as long as he followed me he could not hurt the others. And if he killed me then I would not have to explain to dad how I had failed him and failed Molly.
How could he think he had failed me? He had just battled these things with everything he had and still done nothing to actually harm them. They were beyond his ability to injure but still he thought he had somehow failed me. This now became the most difficult soulgaze I had ever experienced for I could see too much.
I somehow stayed on my feet and raced around to the back of our house where the tree house my dad had made for us sat up high in an oak tree. Some part of my mind quickly rationalized that a guy with hammers for hands could not possibly climb the ladder steps my father had nailed into the trunk so I would be safe. A larger part though thought of this place as my last sanctuary; a place I often retreated to in order to flee from the rest of the world. I only hoped it lived up to this dream.
I climbed up and hid in the darkest corner as far from the trap door as I could. Dad had never allowed us to put a lock on that door so I just sat in the corner staring at the opening and hoping I was safe. And then I saw the two hammers reach up through the doorway and pull the rest of Hammerhand up into the room with me.
"Your sister brought this down upon you and your family you know." He said mockingly while he loomed over me slapping his hammers together and making sparks in the darkness to keep my attention. "She went looking for magic and now all that power she desired is coming back to prey upon those closest to her. That was the price she was willing to pay to gain her power. How do you feel about that? She offered all of your lives and souls up to our master for a chance to cast spells." He laughed at me.
"That is not true!" I swore with conviction I did not know I had. I loved my sister and what this guy was saying had to be wrong.
"But it is true." He laughed some more. "Why do you think we did not kill her when we had the chance? Why has she lived unharmed through all the deaths at the convention when so many others around her, other friends of hers even, have not? They were still more of the price she was willing to pay for her magic."
I (Daniel) had heard our mother talking both to Harry Dresden and to the police about things that had happened at Splattercon. I had heard her mention the names of people I knew were friends of Molly's. But I did not want to believe this was true.
"Oh but it is." Hammerhand spoke reading my mind. "She got the Devil's attention by offering her body to him. He enjoyed that immensely to be sure but when that had not been enough for the bargain, because my lord has rather particular tastes in that area that your sister was not experienced enough to fulfill, she traded all your lives, friends and family, for the power she craved. We were sent here to fulfill the terms of the bargain but the Devil said I could leave one of you alive if I told you the truth of his deal. He thinks it will be fun to see if you kill your sister in revenge for your family, or she kills you because she can't afford to let you live with her secret."
I wanted to deny the story but the words sounded far too believable. Molly had never shown any skill at magic but over the last few months I had noted that she had began collecting and hiding books on the subject in her room. She had also always been intrigued by dad's friend Mr. Dresden. Had she somehow found a spell to make all this possible?
"I will leave you here now boy to serve as my witness as my lord commanded me to do." He taunted as he began to climb back down the ladder. "You will know the truth of my words when your sister returns home in one piece…unlike the rest of your family. Then perhaps we will see what kind of man you are as well." His laughter haunted my shaking and badly battered body alone in the dark.
My God no wonder Daniel had never looked at me the same after that night. My survival had merely been more evidence against me that what he had been told was correct. The fact that the rest of my family had survived was because God protected them in the panic room. But I had no such protections at my disposal. Therefore the only way I could have survived is if I had made some sort of deal to protect myself just as he had been told.
And when I did return I was suddenly Harry's apprentice. My mother's 'gift' was never discussed among the family only my own which I had demonstrated myself to Daniel at various times. Since this was not genetic, it must have come from some other source since Daniel did not have these powers either. And the fact that I had never spoken to him about these events, that I had avoided him to some extent in the next few weeks because of my guilt over his injuries, merely made the lies Hammerhand had told that much more believable in the end.
We stepped out of the soulgaze to look upon one another as brother and sister rather than enemies for the first real time since that night more than a year ago.
"Daniel.."
"Molly.."
"I'm so sorry." We said in unison and while the unintended harmony made us both smile we could not stop shedding tears for each other as well.
"I did not know Daniel." I said but felt it was a hollow excuse. "I never meant for you to be harmed."
"No Molly it was me who was wrong." Daniel said. "I doubted you when I should have known you better. I've seen all you have done for others and I can't believe that I could have believe what that creature said about you. Can you ever forgive me?"
"Of course little brother." I said. "As long as you try to forgive me as well." I bargained.
As the tears rolled out of both of our eyes Daniel wiped his away. "You need to know something else." He said trying to build up a tone of seriousness. "You were right."
"Of course I was. I'm your older sister." I said trying to provoke a laugh as he rolled his eyes at me. "But which little detail about you am I right about this time?" I asked for clarification.
"Not about me." He said. "Well not exactly about me though I am involved. You were right about Master Highpelt. He is building firearms for the Faerie Courts." He said setting me back on my heels figuratively since I was still sitting on my bed.
"No we looked around." I said. "The only weapons he was building were armor kits for the military. Otherwise he had you guys making horseshoes and pipe." I said.
"Yeah that is what it looked like to someone from the outside." Daniel agreed. "But the horseshoes all had to be lined on the top with thick rubber so no metal touched the skin of whatever they were going to be attached to. I called Jenny Mercer and asked her about this since she rides equestrian and she told me that they would never do that for a regular horse because it would make the shoe pop off." He explained.
"But if it were temporary for a Faerie creature like a centaur or some other hoofed creature then you would have a pretty dangerous short term weapon uniquely suited to battling other Fae." I reasoned.
"And the pipes you saw just all happen to me just the right diameter to hold a twelve gauge shotgun shell." Daniel explained further.
"He is making guns?" I asked. "Why not make revolvers or something less prone to malfunction?"
"Because he is not making guns, he is making bang sticks." Daniel replied with a look of concern.
"What the heck is a bang stick?" I said hoping he would not respond with 'a stick that goes bang' as that would hardly bring any further illumination to my confusion.
"It's what scuba divers use to kill sharks that get too close." Daniel explained. The shotgun shell sits in a piece of pipe with a slightly large gauge of piece around it that has a cap and a convenient pin aligned with the firing pin of the shell. If a shark comes too close to a diver they jab the animal and the smaller pipe slides into the larger causing the shell to strike the pin and firing the round into the animal at point blank. They are very basic to build and very lethal when used."
"So they are one shot weapons?" I asked now seeing how these would be a game changer in a Faerie war. The fact they had only one moving part made them unlikely to fail around magic as well.
"Not necessarily." Daniel replied. "Any size cartridge could have been used but Master Highpelt chose shotgun because the cases are made out of copper and plastic while the balls inside are made out of steel. They can be opened and reloaded in less than thirty seconds."
Oh this was bad…really, really bad. "Who is he making them for did he say?" I asked because this was the most vital piece of information I needed. It stood to reason whoever was making the purchase was planning to start the war and was therefore who Elaine and I needed to expose.
"I don't know." Daniel said.
"Well then I guess I'm going to call Karrin Murphy and give her a tip on where to find these weapons." I said hoping this would put an end to this scheme. If they were confiscated then there could be no war.
"You're too late." Daniel replied. "The shipment was due to go out this morning. I do not know where he takes them but that is partly why we had to go out the north gate."
Damn I really needed to know this and Daniel was the only one who I knew who could provide that answer. Except someone in the Summer Court had to have a pretty good idea since they had intercepted one of the shipments and its courier. That meant I had to get back in touch with Elaine right away since she was the Summer Court Emissary.
I got out of bed as Daniel watched me. "I have to go find Elaine. I need to get this information to the Faerie Queens in order to prevent a war. Thank you Daniel you may have just saved millions of lives."
"I'm going with you Molly." Daniel said with a look of determination as he stood up as well.
"That is out of the question." I replied. "I'm not sure I will make it back and I need you to tell Harry what happened and everything you know in case Elaine and I fail."
"Then you need to write him a note." He said with a new sense of righteous resolve. "Something from the Nevernever screwed with my head and made me doubt you. If I am ever going to get past my fears your friend Elaine said I had to face them and put them behind me. That means I need to face these things right at your side and show them, and myself, that I have faith in you sis."
Damn that word was back haunting me again. "Alright pack a bag and be ready for trouble." I said giving in to him.
***Author's note: In my first story Roc and Storm rightly pointed out that I overplayed the soulgaze compared to what Harry sees in the real books. I admit they are correct but offer up two excuses. 1) Molly is a sensitive wizard so magic works differently when it comes to feelings. 2) Author's license… soulgaze is just a really cool way to explain part of a story without a long conversation back and forth. I hope you accept this slight twist on canon.***