once that’s over, I’ll be back to being me.’
When I said those words, it was as if they fell onto the floor in front of me with an audible plop, like that of horseshit. I stared down at the bland, if luxurious, hotel carpet and wondered how I could have been so stupid.
When Daniel spoke again, his voice was gentle. ‘Jane, you have to realize this won’t end with your destruction of the Red and the White. If you do pull off that feat, you’ll be … God, how to even describe it? You’ll be the savior of your people. You’ll be the halfling that did what no Alfar could do. And they’re not going to be able to hide, not in today’s world.’
An involuntary shudder wracked my spine as a mini-explosion went off in my brain. My thoughts spiraled out in a hundred directions, trying to envision what it was Daniel was saying and to place myself in the center of this drama for which I’d never auditioned.
[No one can know what your future holds,] came the creature’s voice, pulling me back to reality. It’d been pretty quiet since it had apparated the Red out of Hong Kong, making me think that had taken more out of it than it wanted me to know.
I dunno, I thought. Daniel’s right. What if I can never go back to being just Jane again?
[You probably cannot go back, no,] the creature agreed, to my dismay. [But only inside of your heart. This process has changed you, but not entirely for the worse, don’t you agree?]
The creature was right, of course. I’d become so much stronger and more confident. I wouldn’t want to give that up.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to be forced into some political role.
[And you won’t be,] the creature said, reading my thoughts. [The great part about being powerful is that you can abdicate that power.]
Like Anyan, I thought, for the barghest had stolidly refused to become part of the Alfar political machine.
[And like me,] the creature added.
But you both get pulled in, I thought. You’re not really free.
[No. But we are pulled in because we care. And no matter what happens in life, you will have things you care about, that will force actions out of you. Either that, or life isn’t worth living.]
Filing away the creature’s wisdom to pick apart later, I raised my eyes to Daniel’s.
‘So what, exactly, are you offering?’
A flash of relief and triumph crossed over Daniel’s face until he schooled his expression.
‘Our material resources: manpower, firepower, etcetera. Also our archives and our specialists. I’ve gathered you have a lead on a possible way to extricate your friend from the White?’
Either the kind old monk had a loose tongue, which I doubted, or Daniel and his people were good.
‘Perhaps. We’ve scanned and e-mailed something that needs to be translated to our friend. He’s working on it now. Our plan is to kill the Red and the White, for real this time. Not just contain them.’
Daniel nodded. ‘We’re behind that plan one hundred percent.’
How nice of you, I thought cynically as I pondered Daniel’s offer.
Considering the resources we already had at our disposal, did I really need the help of this human agency?
Then I remembered the monks’ chanting, and their power, and I revised my assumptions. I’d fallen into the Alfar trap of taking humans for granted, but we were wrong to underestimate humanity. Then, on the heels of that thought, I imagined the face on Griffin, the Alfar leader’s second in command, when he heard that I’d teamed up with the United Kingdom’s human government.
‘Oh my, yes,’ I heard myself saying before I’d even really thought it through. Just the thought of how much Griffin would hate this alliance made it good enough for me.
‘So you’ll work with us?’ Daniel said eagerly.
‘I will accept your help, yes. But at the end of the day, my people and I are in charge. Not you. We do this our way, and if you’re not happy with that, we’ll have no problem extricating ourselves from this arrangement.’
Daniel nodded. ‘Agreed. We want to be a part of the world you’ll help build, Jane. Humans and supes, working together, finding harmony.’
I knew I was making a skeptical face, and I didn’t even try to hide it. Daniel tried to keep looking earnest, but eventually he cracked.
‘We want the Alfar out of power,’ he said, and this time I knew he was being honest. ‘They’re too intractable and they’ve had