Joanna Lake was well aware that she was an absolutely terrible politician, and she was proud of it. She had no ability to compromise with anyone. She fought tooth and nail for what she thought the American people needed – not what they wanted, what they needed – and refused to sacrifice her morality for any cause, no matter how small. While most politicians were liars, saying anything to get reelected and gain campaign donations, Lake was an honest woman. She was very honest about the fact that it was the American people who were responsible for their current predicament, how millions of them had their heads stuck too far up their asses to realize that, if they played their cards right, the partnership between the Human and Demon Realms could lead to the closest thing to a utopia for both.
Lake believed in speaking her mind at every opportunity. The American people said they wanted honest politicians, but that was itself a lie. What they wanted was politicians who would agree with them, who would validate their small and closeminded beliefs. They would not get that with Lake. They would never get that with her. And if it meant that her approval rating would crater, that the Secret Service had stopped extremely credible threats to her life in the double digits in the last month, then so be it. Lake was a leader, not a politician, and she was a damn good one, in her humble opinion.
But her insistence in telling it like it was, in telling the American people the harsh truth that they needed to suck it up and embrace the fact that humanity wasn't alone anymore, had strengthened her opponents' resolve. It was a sad fact that in times of political instability, people gravitated to authoritarianism, demagoguery, and tyranny. And it was an even sadder fact that they had a ready made option for just that in the next election in the form of Lake's own vice president.
It was frankly bewildering that she'd gotten Thompson so wrong. There was nothing about the man that rang any alarm bells during his exceptionally thorough vetting. His legislative record was respectable. There was no trace of extremism in Thompson at all. But then, as if a switch had been flipped, Thompson had gone ballistic the instant the Demon Realm's existence had been revealed. Lake's best guess was that he had turned towards religion to cope with the instability of the time, but that didn't explain all of it. Perhaps he had been hiding his true nature the whole time…or perhaps it had been forced upon him.
That was definitely conspiratorial thinking of the kind Lake disapproved of. Yet she could not help but wonder if there was a correlation between the fact that Odalia Blight's specialty was mind control magic and the fact that Thompson had gone off the deep end. In the end, however, it was irrelevant. She did not have the resources necessary to deprogram him if that was the case, and she had no idea how she would ever acquire them. In any case, mind controlled or not, Thompson was a potent threat to democracy itself. Thompson's rhetoric was eerily reminiscent of that of the Nazis in their early days, and Lake had a bad feeling he could make Hitler look like a playground bully if given the full opportunity.
What was worse was that there didn't appear to be anything Lake could do to stop him. She had sworn a solemn oath not to run for a second term, and even if she was inclined to break it, she wasn't capable of winning one at this point, so it was a moot point. She'd spoken repeatedly out against him just as he had for her, but it seemed to be falling on deaf ears. Perhaps if she hadn't antagonized Congress so much…but no. They deserved it; everyone knew that.
But all of this was a later problem, even if it was a tremendously massive later problem. For now, Lake had to focus on the task in front of her. She was going to have a state dinner with the visitors from the Demon Realm. Of course, this was hardly Lake's first rodeo entertaining people in the White House. She'd entertained dozens of rulers, many of whom were not exactly champions of peace and human rights. But they'd been known quantities. She didn't like many of them, but she knew their nature and could plan accordingly.
The Demon Realm, on the other hand, was a closed book. Very little was known about its customs, and what little they did know was cribbed together from unreliable online secondhand accounts of the visitors and Agent Johnston's reports on the Blight girl. No, wait, she was Amity Bright now. She had to remember that; it would be absolutely disastrous if she forgot. The point was, Lake could dreadfully offend her visitors entirely by accident. An innocuous human phrase could be a deadly insult. A normal gesture could be seen as vulgar. Lake wouldn't have gone into politics if she got nervous easily, but this night appeared to be a huge exception.
"What if I screw up?" Lake whispered, gazing into the mirror of the attached bathroom to the Lincoln Bedroom.
"You won't," her husband said beside her, and kissed her on the cheek. Chester was a rock of strength. Without him, Lake would have gone mad eons ago. He'd gladly supported her ambitions throughout her career and had even given up his position of a professor of geology at Penn State in order to be a stay at home father while Lake was in the White House. He'd gotten scorn and contempt for that, but he'd just laughed it off. "And if you make a mistake, they'll understand. Heck, maybe they're just as worried as you, did you ever think about that?"
Lake hadn't thought about that. Clawthorne had seemed ridiculously confident…but then again, so did Lake when she was on the other side of a negotiating table. Perhaps Clawthorne was just as scared as she was. The thought brought her comfort, even though she knew it shouldn't have.
"What if my curse rears its head again?" Lake said, hardly daring to say the words aloud.
Her "curse," as she melodramatically put it, was the persistent intrusive thoughts she'd had since childhood. She'd had violent fantasies for nearly as long as she could remember; exceptionally vivid ones that, at worst, she sometimes struggled to differentiate from reality. She had thought about doing things to her loved ones, total strangers, Chester, her children, that made her worry sometimes that she was irredeemably evil. And those worries had only intensified since she'd become president and occasionally fantasized about launching nukes.
She'd never, ever acted on any of her fantasies. She was strong enough to never do that. If she didn't have absolute faith in her strength of will, she never would have pursued the presidency in the first place, since the presidency granted her the power to end humanity at her leisure. She did meditation, she took medication, she knew how to distract herself when the time came. Sometimes, she could go months without a single intrusive thought, and she hadn't had any since the Demon Realm's existence was revealed. But…it was still a persistent fear of hers that one day her strength would waver. And this night would not be a good time for that, to say the least.
"You are not a bad person, Joanna," Chester reminded her, as he did on a regular basis. "You are a good person with bad thoughts and good actions." He'd said this dozens, maybe even hundreds of times before. It felt just as reassuring to hear him say it after all those times as it did for the first time. Other than her doctor, he was the only person in the entire world who knew her secret.
Lake took a few deep breaths. "You're right. Of course you're right." She smiled. "Tonight's gonna be awesome! I'm gonna hang out with witches and demons and my parents are going to be spinning in their graves." Chester gave her a thumbs up. "Try to tell me that fantasy books are a waste of my time. Hah! The shoe's on the other foot!"
"That's right, sweetheart," Chester said. "Just relax and enjoy yourself. They like you already, and if you make a mistake, they'll understand."
"And if I think about smashing Prime Minister Clawthorne's face in with a hammer until it's an unrecognizable mess of viscera?" Lake said, trying for a joking tone, but actually ending up with a very vulnerable one.
Chester kissed her on the forehead. "Then you won't do it, like always, and no matter what happens, I'll still love and support you."
"I have the best husband in the entire universe," Lake said, her voice proud and somewhat disbelieving still even after all these years. "No…multiverse now." She rubbed her hands together. "All right. Showtime."
It was definitely an eclectic bunch that was awaiting President Lake in the entrance hall. Her guests were clustered in groups. One group was Princess Luz and her family. It was strange how normal Luz looked. She was, perhaps, the most important woman to have ever lived in history, in the grand scheme of things, and yet she looked like a nervous teenager. She was wearing an elegant white dress that she looked uncomfortable in. She was a girl who liked to be comfortable and casual.
Then there was Prime Minister Clawthorne and her two partners. The concept of rulers taking multiple spouses wasn't an entirely unfamiliar one, even before the Demon Realm was revealed. Lake had entertained the king of Eswatini and several of his wives just before that incident, as a matter of fact. But it was still unusual to Lake and, frankly, she wasn't sure how comfortable she was with it. Certainly she couldn't imagine being in love with anyone other than Chester.
Prime Minister Clawthorne was dressed in a snazzy and sparkly dress that made her look damn good, actually. Lake was entirely straight, but she could still recognize a woman's beauty in an aesthetic capacity. Mrs. Noceda, on the other hand, wore a much more subdued dress, as if she was afraid of outshining her girlfriend. And Consul General Whispers wore a tuxedo and a long skirt. It was a strange outfit, but they somehow made it work. Lake felt a perverse satisfaction in the fact that all three of them were trying to hide their nervousness just as much as Lake was.
Deputy Prime Minister Clawthorne wore a very striking black ensemble that frankly made her look like a woman in mourning, although Lake was sure that wasn't the actual reason for it, since Demon Realm customs doubtlessly diverged from human ones in that capacity. Her face was unreadable, but Lake would be surprised if the deputy prime minister felt an iota of nervousness. How Lake envied her.
And then, of course, there was the King of Demons. And if there was one word Lake could apply to describe Princess Luz's adoptive brother, it would be adorable. It was jarring, actually. She'd heard so much propaganda from her enemies about how he was the source of all evil and propaganda from the Demon Realm about how he crushed hordes beneath his paws, but…this was just a child who stood before her. Developmentally speaking, he was probably just the same as Daniel and Mikayla, Lake's own children. It was taking all of Lake's copious willpower to not just pick him up and cuddle him. That, she knew, would be unfathomably rude; how would she react if someone had done that to her?
The other groups were less jarring. Vee the basilisk and xyr two girlfriends were standing alongside the MacKinnon parents. All of them looked perfectly normal. Well, as normal as one could get. Vee was in a female witch form, much to Lake's disappointment. But she was pretty sure her children could persuade Vee to switch to xyr original form; they'd both thought xe looked absolutely amazing when they saw the video of the homecoming proposal, like a creature out of the Good Witch Azura novels.
Amity was standing with the Johnstons and their daughter, as well as her brother and his boyfriend. She was dressed in a very elaborate looking dress and looked a bit overwhelmed by everything. She looked over at Princess Luz repeatedly, as if aching to join her, but she must have figured that protocol demanded that Princess Luz be introduced to the president before non family members could stand with her.
And, finally, there was the illusionist Gus, Princess Luz's two best friends, and Avery's father Steve Harrington. Harrington looked almost panicked to be there; Lake presumed that his love of paranormal matters had gotten him hooked on conspiracy theories that vilified the government. Lake had found that most, if not all, of said conspiracy theories were blatantly false; the government was just not competent enough for them to be true.
All of these people weren't the least bit evil, not even the self-proclaimed tyrant King. They were perfectly regular individuals, no different than anyone Lake would meet on the street. Lake felt a great sense of vindication. She'd been telling everyone there was nothing to fear from the Demon Realm. And she was right.
"I'm President Lake," she said, barely managing to keep the enormous grin off her face. "Welcome to the White House."
Enough was enough. Havik had been sneaking around, plotting from the shadows for far too long, and he was getting sick of it. He was a man who was used to action. He certainly did not deny the importance of covert operations in addition to overt operations – after all, all warfare was based on deception. But he'd spent too much time being passive, reacting instead of acting. It was time to change that. It was time to show the world just what horror the Demon Realm was capable of.
It was, of course, all the fault of that damn Odalia. He never should have aligned himself with her. She was insane and unpredictable. Havik had shielded himself with dozens of wards to prevent himself from being affected by her magic and he was reasonably certain he had been successful. Well, as certain as one could be in such a situation. He could be under a compulsion to think he was successful, but that required a subtlety he was reasonably certain Odalia did not possess. For now, he was going to operate under the assumption that his mind was his own until proven otherwise.
It still wasn't the right moment to kill her, though. No, he needed to keep her alive just in case his present plan failed. Operation Eschaton was…dramatic, to say the least, but, in theory, it would work, in the same way using a nuclear bomb to kill a housefly would work. Havik would much prefer his plans to succeed without so much grandiosity and the utilization of magic that even Odalia admitted was only theoretical and thus far untested. And, honestly, it was costing him a boatload of money. Rothstein had it easy when he threw the World Series in 1919; Havik had been having to spend an absolute fortune to get the Mariners into the playoffs alone, let alone across the finish line.
The other problem with Operation Eschaton was that he was becoming less confident it would work with Lake in office. He'd vastly underestimated the woman – or, perhaps, overestimated her, depending on one's perspective. Lake was hellbent on bridging the gaps between the Demon and Human Realms; it was becoming a personal mission for her, and an obsession. Even Operation Eschaton, with its likely hundreds of thousands of deaths, including that of countless children, may not have been enough to persuade her to go to war. In that event, a coup would be necessary, and there was no telling at all whether or not such a coup would be successful or even possible.
No, it was best for him if Lake ceased to complicate. Forever. By which he meant she should die. Of course, assassinating a president was easier said than done, and that was nothing compared to the challenge of assassinating her in a way that didn't make her a martyr. Thompson would become president, of course, in that case, and he'd give the war Havik craved more than air. But if Lake became a martyr, that war might fizzle out, especially if it was engendered by Thompson's obvious insanity. (Havik had no clue whether or not Thompson was under Odalia's control and didn't care either. He certainly had no intentions of asking her.)
But there was a way to kill her and not make her a martyr. Or, more precisely, make her a martyr to Havik's cause. If she died at the hand of creatures and mercenaries from the Demon Realm, she'd become known as the Chamberlain of her era, the idiot who thought it was best to make pacts with dark creatures and paid the price. An attack on the White House itself was the perfect way to show the American people who the true enemy was. The place hadn't been attacked for two centuries. It was incomprehensible that the American people wouldn't all stand against an enemy who attacked such a vaunted building.
Havik hadn't just been sitting around and twiddling his thumbs while Luz was turning humanity against the idea of war with the Demon Realm with her idiocy. He had been marshalling his strength, making plans. He'd returned to the Demon Realm several times, gathering new glyphs and new allies. Of course, he'd been cautious about who he'd made deals with. He was not his father, stupidly signing his life away to THE DARK MAGISTER of THE REALMS FROM BEYOND THE SHADOWS or some fae queen. But he'd made friends, slayed a few dragons, and robbed a few vaults.
And now he had an army.
He looked upon the sea of skeletal warriors before him – hundreds in all –which he'd just led out of the portal in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa. Their eyes were glowing a malevolent green color, they were all armed with swords and spears, and damn it, they looked evil. They looked precisely and exactly like one would expect an invading army from a demon realm to look. In fact, Havik worried a little that they were a bit on the nose. But still, the legends had to come from somewhere, didn't they?
In any event, it didn't matter. There'd be objections, but it didn't matter. The Demon Realm was as good as invaded once these bad boys got their hands on the president.
And just in case, he also had a second group of creatures who looked like a cross between an armadillo and a triceratops, except designed by someone who was on several different types of acid. They'd smash their way through the White House walls and kill everyone inside if, somehow, the skeleton warriors failed. It would be glorious. Every last one of Havik's enemies, dead in one fell swoop, including that wretched Noceda girl. It was possible, of course, that the president might escape, but he'd deal with that later. Killing Clawthorne and Noceda was enough profit for one operation, in any event.
You have been brought before me by the Unspeakable One, was what Havik tried to say, only to find out that the Unspeakable One's name was, in fact, quite literal and the words simply wouldn't escape his lips. Damn and blast. He cleared his throat, thankful that the skeletons didn't seem to have noticed his little hiccup.
"You know why you are here," he settled for instead. "Your master," okay, good, indirectly referring to the Unspeakable One worked, "owes me a debt." The Unspeakable One had a terrible poker face; he bluffed on a pair of sevens. "And I am collecting it now by sending you against my enemies. I am going to be sending you to a palace. You will kill everyone in the building and destroy the entire building after you are certain everyone inside is dead." He held up a photograph of Lake. "It is especially important to kill her."
The skeletal warriors remained very still and quiet. Havik wasn't sure they were capable of speaking, and no desire to find out. "Give some indication you heard me!" he shouted, and then every single skeletal warrior gave an identical salute. Havik nodded in satisfaction. Everything was slotting into place.
His scientists had discovered teleportation glyphs, but it would take some time to activate them. It was easy to teleport one person a long distance or a lot of people a short distance, but transporting many people thousands of miles would take quite a lot of effort. No matter. He was confident he could get his army to the White House before the state dinner was over. Swaard had informed him it would be a rather long evening.
At least Swaard had been a bastion of competence in an increasingly incompetent world, even if he was also running Odalia's errands as well. Swaard told him about Odalia's plan to end Lake's presidency her way, and it was a good thing too, because it had to be stopped at all costs. Thankfully, Havik's own plan would make Odalia's plan quite moot when executed. He'd been tempted to order Swaard to kill Odalia, but ultimately he decided not to. It was better to have Odalia trust him so he could report on her plans. He could kill her later at his leisure.
"Today is a very important day in the history of the multiverse," Havik said to his skeleton army who at least could understand him, even if they didn't really seem to care about what he was saying. "Today, everything becomes reordered into a glorious new –"
Hang on. Was he monologuing? Oh, dear Lord, he was. That was what happened when he spent too much time with Odalia. Next thing he knew, he'd be telling the heroes the entire plan and then somehow be surprised when they used that intelligence to thwart him. Well, that certainly wouldn't be happening anytime soon. Havik was smarter than that.
"Just…stand there until the portal is ready," he said finally. "Does anyone know where I put that bottle of cognac I had earlier?" The skeleton army all pointed in the direction of the makeshift office he'd set up in a trailer. "You're a fine lot," he said with a firm nod, and walked away.
It was utterly surreal, in Camila's opinion, to be just chattering away with the president and the First Gentleman as if they were old friends. So much of her life had been surreal lately, but she'd gotten used to the whole fantasy world thing, for the most part. But now that she was in the White House, it threw everything in sharp relief. Camila had never considered herself anything more than ordinary, and that did not change even when she became Queen Mother of the Boiling Isles. She just happened to be acquainted with extraordinary people, her daughter first and foremost among them, that was all.
If Camila was going to be honest, she did not like President Lake. She found her to be abrasive and far too blunt. She asked a lot of probing questions about magic and the Isles and even though Camila knew she was just trying to satisfy her curiosity (and gather intelligence), Camila found it annoying. She was extremely grateful to Lake for wholeheartedly supporting the friendship between the United States and the Demon Realm, of course. Without her, she knew things could have escalated to a cataclysmic level. But that didn't mean she was obliged to like her.
Chester Lake, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. The two of them instantly bonded over being the significant others of powerful women reviled by a significant portion of the populace. Chester was a sweet man who seemed just as uncomfortable with being thrust into the spotlight as Camila was. Why, if she didn't know better, she might think Lake was jealous of how well Camila and her husband were getting along. Not that she had anything to worry about on that score; even the thought of trying to seduce the First Gentleman made her want to laugh with the ridiculousness of it.
The group was about to go into the Red Room, one of the White House's three state parlors on the second floor, when the door opened and an ice cold gust of wind found its way into the building. By the looks of it, no one had been expecting additional visitors; certainly everyone in the entourage was already present. And certainly, everyone looked shocked when Vice President Thompson walked into the White House, bold as brass.
"Abel," Lake said, her voice tight and fear dancing in her eyes, even if she was doing a good job of keeping it off her face. The odious vice president was accompanied by several Secret Service agents and the Secret Service agents accompanying Lake moved their hands closer to their shoulder holsters, as if anticipating a gunfight. Camila took a few steps towards the door herself, just in case.
"Hello, Joanna," Thompson said with a friendly wave. He looked a lot more like the man everyone had seen him as during the campaign than the hatemonger he'd shown himself to be. "Nice of you to invite me."
Camila turned her head sharply towards Lake, who was frowning. Clearly, she was torn between telling off Thompson – whom she manifestly did not invite – and showing a potential weakness in front of Eda. Perhaps it was time to throw her a lifeline. "I don't think I'm comfortable with you being here, Mr. Vice President," Camila said, her voice hard as iron. "And neither is my daughter."
Thompson gave a charming smile. Doubtlessly, it had fooled many people in Wisconsin when they elected him senator. But Camila was smarter than they were. "Aw, come on. Just give me a chance. I know I've said some…incendiary things, but you gotta understand, that stuff is just for the cameras. I've got a reputation to maintain. It's all theater – a little razzle dazzle." He made jazz hands. It was honestly very cringe, as the kids said these days. "You gonna kick me out, Joanna?"
Lake took a few deep breaths, a flash of murderous anger on her face. And…that didn't appear to be metaphor. Camila could tell she was visibly restraining herself from actually using violence against Thompson. Chester put a calming hand on her shoulder and Lake relaxed. "So long as you show proper respect to our visitors, I suppose you can stay. But I will not tolerate anything that will disrupt this evening's events."
"Of course, of course," Thompson said with a wink and a grin. Camila honestly thought he preferred him when he was spewing hatred and vitriol to this. He proceeded to go over to Agent Johnston and start talking to him in private. The two of them continued talking as the others were led into the Red Room. Camila just hoped Agent Johnston could distract Thompson for as long as possible.
The Red Room was certainly aptly named, what with the red walls and red furniture. Camila noted that while the human visitors were in awe of their surroundings, the visitors from the Demon Realm weren't impressed one iota. They'd all been in the Royal Palace, which was even fancier than this, Camila realized, except for Vee, who only had eyes for xyr girlfriends and was completely ignoring xyr surroundings otherwise.
Drinks were served to the various guests, champagne for the adults and Sprite for the minors. Mostly, everyone seemed to continue talking in the groups they were in before. Gus tried to pump Lake for information on cool gadgets the CIA currently used, only for Steve to thankfully pull him away. The last thing they wanted was for Lake to think Gus was a spy himself, instead of a kid who just liked espionage lore. Chester made conversation with Vee, and asked a lot of questions about xyr shapeshifting powers, which he seemed fascinated by. At some point in the conversation, Vee shapeshifted into him, which Lake found very disconcerting.
"My condolences on the death of your parents, Mrs. Noceda," Lake told her.
"Thank you, Madam President," Camila said politely. Losing her parents had hurt a lot more than she'd anticipated, and yet she felt guilty, because they'd done so much to hurt Luz in their last weeks, and the fact that they'd seen the error of their ways hadn't been enough to have Camila forgive them before they died. "I'd like to see their killer punished."
"As would I," Lake said, "but I'm afraid, as before, my hands are tied. The Senate refuses to sign the extradition treaty."
"Perhaps if you wouldn't insist on antagonizing them on every turn," Camila said, her voice harsher than she'd thought it would be.
Lake scoffed. "I am only telling the truth, Mrs. Noceda. Everyone says they want an honest politician until she starts telling the truth. I was elected to defend this nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Anyone who stands in the way of peace, anyone who favors a path of inaction over bold, strong decisive action is an enemy." Camila raised an eyebrow. "We are literally at the most important moment in all history. We have an opportunity our ancestors couldn't even envision. Imagine what the Demon Realm could do for us, and vice versa. I will not squander it."
And yet, Camila had a feeling Lake was doing just that with her refusal to compromise in any way. Wasn't it better to make some progress imperfectly than no progress perfectly? Still, she was pretty sure no one else would be doing a better job than Lake in this situation. She herself certainly wouldn't. Perhaps she was being unfair. In any event, Lake was certainly better at handling it than her opponents for the presidency would have been, including the incumbent president Lake had defeated.
Camila's thoughts were abruptly disrupted by the door slamming open. Camila stiffened, worried that Thompson had arrived, but it turned out to be two children who could only be Daniel and Mikayla Lake, the president's children. They were very excited to see the otherworldly visitors; they reminded Camila of Luz at that age.
The two of them quickly made a beeline for Luz, practically pouncing on the couch where she was sitting. "Hi, Princess Luz!" Mikayla said. "I'm Mikayla! I'm nine years old and I'm your biggest fan! That's Daniel," she added, pointing at her brother. "He's seven, and he's your fan too, but I'm your biggest fan!"
Luz gave a genuine grin. "It's nice to meet you! But just call me Luz, okay?"
"Can you show us magic?" Mikayla asked, her words lightning quick. "Do you know Azura? Are you Azura? How do you do magic? Can we do magic? Magic is awesome!"
"It sure is awesome," Luz said with a dreamy smile. "Man, I wish I knew Azura. I don't think she's real, though. Then again, I didn't think magic was real too until recently, so what do I know? And, sure, I'd love to show you magic, so long as your mom is okay with it." She looked over at Lake, who nodded. Luz pulled out a sheet of paper and sketched a light glyph on it. It was basic magic, but it was her first spell, so she had a fondness for it. She activated it, and a ball of light rose into the air.
"Whoa…" Daniel said, his voice awed. "That's so cool. No wonder Mom thinks you guys are so awesome. Wanna play hide and seek?" Lake shook her head firmly. Probably wise. They didn't want strangers stumbling upon secret rooms or something like that. Luz gave an apologetic grin.
Daniel and Mikayla continued to besiege Luz with questions, and, to her credit, Luz was completely on the ball with answering them the whole time. Not all that surprising, considering how hyperactive she herself was. Lake watched them with utter fondness in her eyes. "Having children is a blessing like no other, Mrs. Noceda," she said, and then with absolutely no transition whatsoever, she added. "Am I right in assuming that a special quality of the Boiling Isles is what allows the princess to wield her glyph magic?"
"Uh…" Camila could only say. She was not expecting Lake to just come out and ask that question. She was not good at lying under pressure. "You must understand that I can neither confirm nor deny such a statement."
Lake saw through her hesitancy instantly. "Aha. I knew I was right. It was the only correlation between the various wielders of glyphs. Havik, the human cultural exchange students in the Demon Realm, your daughter – the only commonality they have is the Demon Realm itself. Which means that anyone who enters the Demon Realm will gain the ability to kill people with a sheet of paper and a pencil."
Camila hadn't thought about it that way, but of course, Lake was right. She gulped. No wonder Lake was concerned; glyph magic could be, in the right contexts, one of the deadliest weapons available to civilians out there. "Madam President, I don't press you on the United States' secrets," she said, gathering as much of her dignity as possible. "I would kindly ask you to extend the same courtesy to the Boiling Kingdom."
Lake blinked several times. "Of course, Your Highness," she said with a bow of her head. "I apologize for overstepping my bounds. But you could understand my concern if, hypothetically, my theory was correct."
"I suppose in the event of such a hypothetical scenario, I could," Camila conceded. "But such is the case of all weapons. This is what things called laws are for. You have a legislative branch to make them, and if I were you, I'd stop trying to antagonize them and build some bridges."
An awkward silence fell upon the room as everyone turned to look at their rapidly escalating argument. Lake coughed. "Mrs. Noceda, would you mind if I showed the princess the Oval Office alone? I can sense she might be a bit…overwhelmed by my children's enthusiasm."
"Can I, mami?" Luz asked eagerly. "Everyone at school will be so jealous!" Camila didn't seem to see the harm in it. "Sure. Why not?"
There was a nagging feeling in Amity's brain that she was forgetting to do something important, but every time she tried to focus on it, it scurried away from her. Well, if it was truly important, she'd probably remember at some point, right? Amity had a mind like a steel trap, as the humans said. (Why, precisely, the humans needed to trap steel was still a mystery to her. Or maybe the trap was made of steel? And either way, what did that have to do with having a well organized mind? Humans were an everlasting mystery.)
For now, Amity was trying not to let her discomfort with the vice president show, but she couldn't help it when Thompson looked at her with that insanely creepy grin of his. Amity had no clue what he wanted; if he wanted to play both sides by making friends with them, it was an exercise in futility. He had to know that his statements had burned every single bridge he could have ever made with them. He'd had the audacity to refer to Luz as a traitor to her species publicly. Amity yearned to punch him in the face for that, especially when he started speculating what their "half-breed" children might look like.
But, of course, that was no doubt what he wanted. He was just trying to provoke her. It wouldn't work. Perhaps if the two of them were alone, it might, but Amity was not alone. She had Camila and her brother with her, to say nothing of Luz when she returned from the Oval Office. For now, she just had to distract herself so Thompson's taunts and veiled threats wouldn't get to her. Fortunately, there were a lot of different ways to distract herself, what with the many people in the room. Thompson was one man, and the whole room was against him.
Daniel and Mikayla were perfect angels, adorable children the likes of which Amity would have loved to read to during her job at the library. And they were also huge Good Witch Azura fans. The fact that Amity had met Phalanx seemed to impress them almost as much as her being a witch did.
"Can you show us some magic, Miss Amity?" Daniel asked eagerly.
"I'm afraid not," Amity said with genuine regret. Did they know how Amity's bile sac got injured? It was common knowledge, but the Lakes may not have informed their young children. Best to be vague. "I got hurt, and now I can't do magic. But I'm sure Consul General Whispers would be happy to show you some magic if you ask them politely."
The two of them practically leaped over to where Raine was standing and started pestering them to show the children bard magic. Raine showed them a basic bard spell which artificially improved the mood of everyone in a given space. It wouldn't do much to change a person's emotions, but it was impressive to the president's children nonetheless. Amity felt a profound sense of anger upon seeing that bard spell cast, anger that the magic that was her gift from the Titan was stolen from her by a contemptible slug in human form.
The door opened and one of the president's bodyguards walked over to Amity, looking perturbed. "Miss Bright, could you please come with me? Princess Luz and the president appear to be having an…altercation, and I was hoping you could convince her to calm down."
Amity tilted her head. "Luz or the president?"
"Both, ideally," the bodyguard said. "I'm honestly not even sure what they're talking about; what they're saying doesn't make much sense to me. I've never seen Lake worked up like this. Not even the vice president makes her so angry." He coughed nervously, no doubt worried he'd overstepped his bounds by mentioning the animosity between Lake and her deputy.
"I'd be happy to help," Amity assured him. The bodyguard gave a sigh of relief.
The Oval Office was located in a separate building on the west side of the complex, accessed through a connecting colonnade. On the way there, Amity learned that the bodyguard was named Brian Stevens, and he'd also been present when Eda had first visited the White House. He didn't seem very perturbed by the presence of otherworldly creatures in the White House. As he put it, he'd encountered people who were a lot more dangerous and impolite than they were in the course of his time guarding not just Lake, but two of her predecessors. At least Amity and her friends didn't have people poisoned with polonium. Amity had no clue what that was, but it sounded very unpleasant.
When she got into the well furnished office that was, apparently, world famous, Amity couldn't help but burst out laughing, because Luz and Lake, despite shouting at the top of their lungs, were arguing about something very familiar, and very not serious at all.
"HEZURA IS CANON!" Luz screamed at the president. "CANON! Malinzura is not! Hecate and Azura are meant to be together, and that's the end of it!"
Lake did not look remotely convinced. "There's loads of sexual tension between Malingale and Azura! Not to mention, Hecate is a dark witch; they're fundamentally incompatible for each other at a basic level. And Malingale is kindhearted. It's not just a façade!"
Luz's eyes twitched. "You cannot seriously subscribe to the theory that Hecate is going to stab Azura in the back in the next book and reveal that her love confession was a lie!"
"It's fitting with her previous actions," Lake argued and Amity could see Luz visibly restrain herself from strangling the president.
"Ah," Amity said sagely. "Shipping."
Stevens blinked a couple of times. "They're arguing about the navy?"
"No," Amity said, a smile on her face. "They're arguing about the relationships of characters in the Good Witch Azura novels. You were right to get me. I'll handle this." She stepped forward. "Ladies, ladies, why all this fighting? Has no one considered that there doesn't have to be a love triangle? Perhaps Malingale, Azura, and Hecate will all end up in a polyamorous relationship."
Luz looked very intrigued by the idea. Lake arched an eyebrow, much more skeptical. "You really think Phalanx's editors would let it go that way?"
"She's got a contract," Amity pointed out. "How could they stop her? Both of you are right. Azura needs Malingale to ground her when she's going too far and Hecate to push her when she's not going far enough." She paused. "I need to go to the bathroom. Could someone direct me to one?"
"Yes, Agent Stevens, please direct Miss Bright to the ladies' room," Lake said, sounding distracted. Amity felt a burst of pride from having her new name said out loud by such an important personage as Lake. It made it feel real, and made her feel more disconnected from Odalia than ever. "Princess Luz and I need to puzzle this one out."
Stevens led Amity down the hall to the restrooms. Amity stepped inside the small, one person bathroom and locked the door behind her. She opened her mouth, rolled up her sleeve, and slashed away at her arm with her fangs until she started bleeding. She grabbed several rolls of toilet paper and put them together so that they were adjacent to one another, then used the blood coming out of her arm to create an elaborate glyph that Amity had never seen before in her life.
She pressed her finger on the glyph and it started pulsating, emitting a series of colors that Amity couldn't possibly describe if she tried. After it was done flashing, Amity threw the toilet paper in the trash can, then grabbed some more, put them together, and drew a healing glyph with her blood. The wound in her arm closed, she rolled down her sleeve, and she threw the toilet paper with the healing glyph in the trash.
Amity flushed the toilet and then emerged from the bathroom with a huge smile on her face. "Nothing like a nice relaxing bowel movement, eh, Agent Stevens?"
"Uh, quite," Stevens said. "You think they're going to be fine?"
Amity waved a hand dismissively. "Of course they will. Luz may get a little passionate about this stuff, but that's her way. It doesn't mean anything."
The three of them started walking back to the main part of the mansion. "You really think the three of them will all end up together?"
"Over my dead body!" Amity snarled, and Stevens cracked a smile.
Kill her
Smash that lamp into her head
KILL HER! KILL THE WHORE!
kill her kill her kill her kill her KILL HER
Lake couldn't help but flinch at the thoughts that were suddenly circulating around in her head. Her curse was back. Spectacular. And it couldn't have come at a worse time. Lake should have known it was a bad time to she's against you; they're all against you get into an argument with Luz that got her anger so up, even if it had really been done for fun. She'd purposefully gotten herself enraged just for the hell of it and now she'll bleed so prettily she was reaping the consequences.
She's an enemy. She's a piece of filth, a useless slut who
Hang on. None of this sounded right. Lake wasn't the type of person who JUST SMASH THAT LAMP INTO HER GIRAFFING FACE thought of women like that, especially this young girl. This was not typical of her intrusive thoughts. And what the hell was that Demon Realm swear doing in her thoughts?
Unless…they weren't her thoughts at all.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry to cut this discussion short, but I have some work to do before dinner starts," Lake said, trying to keep her voice as level as possible.
Luz blinked, but didn't look suspicious. "Okay…I'm sorry if I offended you, Madam President. I know…I can get a bit too into this stuff."
Oh, Lake just did not have time for this teenage angst, not with a total breakdown of her mental faculties possibly nearing. "It's…fine. Just please leave me now. I have very important work to do."
"Well…"
"GET OUT!" Lake screamed, and it took all of her strength to not go to the desk, take the letter opener and slice open the thief's eye so that all of her vitreous liquid falls onto the carpet and then lick it like it was a delicious glass of single malt whiskey. "EVERYONE OUT!"
Her Secret Service agents quickly escorted Princess Luz out of her office, leaving her alone. She hoped they wouldn't go far, but she desperately needed to be alone right now. There was no telling who she could trust since everyone is against you. EVERYONE. Your husband, your children, they've been waiting patiently for the chance to assassinate you. You have to kill them before
NO! No, these weren't her thoughts. She'd fantasized about killing them before – much to her everlasting shame – but there was no reasoning behind it before in her fantasies, no matter how flimsy; merely the act. So. Fact one: She was being mentally influenced. Fact two: Occam's razor suggested that Odalia was responsible, and the gargantuan spike of pain that appeared in Lake's head when she thought that only backed that theory up. How she was doing it was unknown. She could be doing it from a distance; she could have ensorcelled or otherwise coerced her children into accomplishing it.
Everyone is a suspect, everyone is an enemy "SHUT UP!" Lake said, and then groaned. This was not going well for her, but on the bright side, now that she was alone, the thoughts seemed to be fading, since they had no specific target. So what was Odalia's goal, then? Killing Luz seemed to be a particular goal, given the sheer vitriol her implanted thoughts had for her. Odalia seemed to think Luz stole Amity from her, perhaps seduced her into being a lesbian, if Odalia's homophobia was any guide. But that was just a secondary goal. If Odalia wanted Luz dead, there were a billion ways to kill her that were more convoluted than brainwashing the president into committing murder.
On the other hand…Luz was the princess of the Boiling Isles. If Lake had smashed that lamp into her face, there wouldn't possibly be any covering it up. Clawthorne was interested in peace, true, but Luz was her daughter. Lake knew that if the president of Russia had smashed Mikayla's face in, she'd have sent every damn missile the US had at Moscow. It would have been the perfect way to create war between the Demon and Human Realms, a grievous insult that could never be taken back.
Of course, while she was on the subject of nukes, killing with normal weapons wasn't the only tool in Lake's arsenal. As president, she could launch nuclear weapons at any time, and no one could stop her. Short of invoking the 25th Amendment, there was no real way to preempt a nuclear order, and her cabinet members were mostly not on Thompson's side at all…though that may change. Perhaps that was the endgame – to engineer an incident that would force her to hand power to Thompson or otherwise have Thompson take power by means of the 25th Amendment or impeachment.
So knowing that, what were her options? Unfortunately, she had to remain president and no one could know she was mentally compromised. She had no clue whether or not the mental assault on her would fade with time or distance or anything. Nor did she have any clue how to free herself. At least she had figured out that she was mentally compromised. She was extraordinarily lucky in that regard; had she not decades of experience battling enemy thoughts, she probably wouldn't even have noticed. Certainly, Odalia could not have planned for that, given that it was a complete secret. Not even her children knew.
For the moment, the only option appeared to be pressing on. A part of her wondered if she should notify Prime Minister Clawthorne, so that she could find an expert to exorcise her, if that was indeed the appropriate expression, but she dismissed that. She'd gone through an entire inauguration while battling the impulse to grab the gun from a Secret Service agent and fire indiscriminately into the crowd. Why would this be any harder?
With that in mind, she did her breathing exercises, and plastering a confident expression on her face, left the Oval Office and returned to the Red Room. First, she had damage control to do. She walked over to Princess Luz, who was chattering away with the Park girl and gave a slightly lower than normal bow. "Your Highness, my deepest apologies for my…brusque dismissal of you. It's been…a trying evening. I hope you can forgive me."
Princess Luz gave her a dazzling smile. "Yeah, no worries!" Lake breathed a sigh of relief, and then made a beeline for Chester. He'd know what to do.
"They're back, they're horrible, and I think Blight is augmenting them somehow," Lake whispered to Chester without preamble. He knew exactly what she was talking about, the magnificent man that he was. "I don't know what to do!"
"I can fake sickness during dinner," Chester suggested. "Wait, what do you mean, she's augmenting them? Like, with her mind magic?" Lake nodded. "Joanna, this is going too far. She's a threat to national security – you have to do something about her!"
Lake pursed her lips. "I don't think you want to send my brain further down that path than it's going already, Chester, no matter how much I agree with you." She took a few deep breaths. God, the thoughts were getting worse and worse; it was like she had a sea of static in her head. "Yes, fine, fake being sick during dinner, and I'll kick everyone out. I don't see a better option. Do you?"
Chester sighed. "I suppose not. Well, don't worry. Everyone's going to understand. These people are big on family – you'll probably score points for avoiding politics in favor of helping your husband, anyway." He had a point there. He put a hand on Lake's cheek and she had a sudden urge to just bite it off, which was definitely not her own thought, because it wasn't even physically possible. "We'll figure this out. We'll cure you. It'll be okay."
Some people thought that being the president was the best part of Lake's life, but they were all wrong. It was Chester who was the best part of her life. And her children, of course. Everything else paled in comparison to them. She'd be just as happy to be a hobo if she had her family by her side.
Lake decided to have them serve dinner as soon as possible. The kitchen staff would not be amused, but whatever. The fate of the free world – no, the free multiverse – depended on getting things done as swiftly as possible. She would not wait a second longer than necessary. It took the better part of an hour, unfortunately, time that she had to spend standing awkwardly in a corner along with Deputy Prime Minister Clawthorne, who looked to be just as uncomfortable with small talk as she was, though hopefully for radically different reasons. She was very grateful that Deputy Prime Minister Clawthorne did not engage her in conversation, because she wasn't honestly certain she could have handled it.
The State Dining Room was one of the more ostentatious rooms in the White House. Lake really didn't like all the finery, but that was one of the few opinions that she kept to herself. Contrary to popular belief, she did occasionally know how to fight her battles, and fighting ones over mere aesthetics was just a waste of her time. Nonetheless, her otherworldly guests seemed to be properly impressed, or at least pretending to be impressed.
"Finally!" King said, rubbing his hands together as everyone was shown to their seats. "A dinner worthy of a king!" He was quite right; the kitchen staff had gone all out creating a variety of dishes from a wide variety of countries, to highlight the multicultural nature of the United States, as well as Earth itself.
"Madam President, are you all right?" Mrs. Noceda said, looking very concerned. Right, she had been a nurse and she was a mother. Of course she had good observational skills. "You're looking rather pale…"
Lake shrugged. "I guess I'm just tired. It's a rather exhausting job being president, you know. You can never do anything good enough for everyone…or, some days, it would seem, anyone." Smash her head open! LET HER BLEED OUT! She sighed. It was going to be a long evening.
"Hey, you know, I know how you're feeling," Luz said softly to Lake, whom she had been seated next to. It was about two hours into the dinner, and she'd been noticing Lake get more and more agitated as time went on. "You don't have to hide it from me. I know what it's like."
Lake stared at her. It was difficult to read people's expression for her, but she thought she detected traces of fear and disgust and pity in her face. "Respectfully, Your Highness, there is no way in either of our universes that you know what I'm feeling right now," she said equally quietly.
Luz gave a sympathetic smile. "I know what a sensory overload looks like when I see it, Madam President," she said in as gentle a voice she could make. "I've had more than my fair share of those in my time. Right now, you just wanna run away as far as possible, don't you? Everything's too bright, too loud, too everything. I get it. Like I said, I've been there. There's no reason to be ashamed."
Lake was silent for a few moments. "Thank you, Luz. Let's just keep this to ourselves, shall we?" Luz nodded without hesitation. She hadn't known that Lake was neuroatypical, but then again, it wasn't as if she'd have been the first president to hide a disability from the public. She'd have been a real horrible person if she stabbed her fellow neuroatypical in the back like that.
"I'm sorry if I upset you earlier," Luz said, keeping her voice quiet so she didn't overload Lake's ears. "I get a little defensive about Hezura, because it means so much to me personally. Amity and I had some very important bonding moments over it."
"It's fine," Lake said, matching Luz's tone. Luz felt satisfied that she'd totally gotten Lake's problem right. One day, she'd shed the label of Oblivious Luz, and this was a definite step in that direction.
"Hey, is it true that you can borrow any book you can from the Library of Congress?" Luz wondered. "Because when I was a kid, I always thought that was the coolest thing ever. I told myself when I got older, I'd be president and I'd be able to check out as many books as I like! I mean, this was when I was like five, so…"
Lake burst out laughing. "Luz, I think if people ran for president with that goal in mind, this world would be a much better place!"
Chester suddenly stood up from the table. "Joanna, I think something's not agreeing with me here. I'm gonna have to leave the rest of you to finish your meal."
Was it Luz's imagination or did Lake look relieved at this? Either way, Lake turned to face Eda, and with an apologetic smile…one that even Luz could tell was fake, said, "I hope you don't mind if I cut the evening short, Madam Prime Minister…my husband needs me."
"Yeah, no problem!" Eda assured her. "I know I'd do the same if Raine or Cammy was sick." Or just for fun or because she was bored, but Luz wisely did not mention that part. "It's been a truly wonderful evening, Madam President."
Luz opened her mouth to say something polite, and then loud alarms started blaring throughout the building. Oh, God! Were they being nuked?! Were those the nuke alarms? She was going to die! She was way too young to get nuked in the prime of her life! For God's sake, she'd fought a fairy queen, and now she was going to get nuked?!
"We need to get out of here now, Madam President," Agent Stevens said urgently, and then another agent drew his pistol and shot Agent Stevens in the face. His blood splattered all over the table. Vee transformed into something big and ferocious with lots of talons, and several Secret Service agents pumped a spray of gunfire into xyr. Blood sprayed into the air, and xe fell unconscious to the ground. Luz really hoped xe wasn't dead. Probably not; that creature, whatever it was, looked insanely tough.
The Secret Service agents started shooting at each other while everyone hid under the table. There were more of them on Lake's side, but the ones on…presumably Thompson's side, given the way he was smirking under the table with them. The sound of very heavy gunfire from outside the building rang out in a continuous, seemingly never ending burst. Luz wasn't sure who was shooting at whom – or what.
"Mommy, are we going to die?" Mikayla whispered.
"Don't be stupid!" Daniel said. "The witches won't let us die. They're heroes!" A tear rolled down Luz's cheek. If only it had been that simple.
Thompson emerged from the table and grabbed a gun from a dead Secret Service agent on Lake's side. His side seemed to have won. He gestured for everyone to leave their hiding spot, and they had no choice but to obey. The traitorous Secret Service agents also aimed their guns at them.
"You really think you're just going to get away with murdering us all?" Lake asked incredulously, and Thompson just smirked.
"I kinda do," he said calmly, and then pointed the gun at Mikayla's head. "Still think the witches are gonna save you, girlie? They're not here to save anyone. They're here to bring war and death and chaos to this land." A manic look appeared in his eyes. "'And I looked and behold a pale horse: and the name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.'" In Luz's opinion, it was always a bad sign when bad guys started quoting the Book of Revelation.
There was a thudding sound and a skeleton warrior slammed against the window of the dining room. Luz blinked, because it was just such a complete non-sequitur. But, no, that was indeed a skeleton warrior, an animated skeleton holding a sword and an axe. There were…quite a lot of them, actually, now that she was looking through the windows. They were accompanied by creatures that reminded her of behemoths from the video game Age of Mythology. Under ordinary circumstances, they'd look cool. Not so much now that they were potentially their doom. Soldiers and Secret Service agents were opening fire on the creatures with assault rifles, but for each one they took out, another seemed to take its place. Luckily, the windows, no doubt made of the strongest material on Earth, weren't going to give out anytime soon.
"I'm not going to let you harm my daughter," Chester said, putting himself between Thompson and Mikayla and then Thompson shot him in the heart. Lake let out a scream that nearly blew out Luz's eardrums in the sheer pain of it. The First Gentleman was dead, Luz knew in that moment.
He walked over to Amity and grabbed her by the chin possessively. It made Luz want to throw up. "You've been promised to me, you know," he said conversationally. "She promised me you." There was a disgusting grin on his face. "She can make you beg for it…she'll make you want it."
"I'll kill myself first," Amity promised.
Thompson's hand moved down to Amity's throat, and then lower, and Luz was running towards Thompson with her hands bunched into fists. Thompson spun around and his gun spat fire and it was like Luz was being punched with something that was setting her insides aflame. Every movement hurt. She continued to walk forward and then everything tilted and she fell to the ground and just stared at the bullet holes in her chest.
Is this really it? Luz wondered, her thoughts slow and lethargic. Is this the end of Luz Noceda? Does my story end here? The gunfire was slowing, but Luz couldn't tell if it was her imagination or not, because everything was slowing down. It wasn't fair. She'd done so much. She'd fallen in love, she'd saved the world, she'd learned magic, she was fifteen years old, and she was going to die. If only…wait. Magic. She had magic! She had glyphs!
Thompson was monologuing about something, but Luz couldn't hear a single word of it. She reached into her own chest and her fingers came out covered in blood. Thompson was too distracted by his own megalomania to notice it when Luz drew a healing glyph using her own blood. With a flash of blue light, the glyph activated and Luz felt better than she had in years. The bullet holes closed and she was fit as a fiddle.
Luz tackled Thompson, and the sheer unexpectedness of the movement more than anything else caused him to be knocked to the ground. The gun went off repeatedly as Luz tried to wrestle it out of his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Luz saw that Daniel was hit in the arm by a stray bullet, but she couldn't allow herself to get distracted. The traitorous agents aimed their guns in Luz's direction, but with Thompson in the line of fire, they wouldn't dare fire. Finally, Luz managed to wrest the gun from Thompson's hands and tossed it onto the other side of the room.
Luz put Thompson in front of her as a human shield. "Don't shoot!" Thompson screeched, his voice high pitched with fear. It just went to show, the evil were all cowards when all was said and done. "Don't shoot me!"
The door was suddenly kicked open and several soldiers in full body armor ran in. Judging by the continued ceasing of gunfire, they must have won the battle against the creatures. The traitorous agents all dropped their weapons and were dragged out of the room. Two soldiers each grabbed Thompson's arms and started dragging him out. "Wait," Lake called out, her voice ice cold and strong.
"There something you want to say, Joanna?" Thompson said with a twisted grin. "Huh? You think you won today, but you haven't. Your paranoia is just going to get bigger and bigger, and you'll destroy this world. Either way, we win. So tell me, what exactly do you have to say to that?"
Lake gave a humorless smile. "You clearly don't know me very well at all, Abel, if you thought I'd prefer words to actions, especially after you killed my husband."
And then without another word the president took Thompson's gun, which she'd acquired in the confusion of the soldiers' arrival, out from behind her back and shot the vice president between the eyes.