I wanted to find out who they were, but Selwyn refused. It was like he just wanted to let me know about them. He forbade me going forward. But the speakers, whoever they were, had already disappeared. Instead I was overwhelmed by a nauseous feeling. They were plotting something. Somebody was in danger. There were dangerous things at the Gathering. "I want to go," I said. "Come on."
He looked back at me.
"Come on, Selwyn. We shouldn"t be here," I said.
Blinking, he turned to follow me.
Day two of the selection ceremony dawned with Lia, all smiles, and I, enjoying our breakfast together. She already knew that I had been chosen by Ravenseal. "I can"t believe it. Right? You must be really excited. Are you excited?" she said. "Because I would be. Ravenseal. They"re supposed to be the best."
I knew she was only being kind. I decided not to vent to her about anything. There was no need to ruin her afterglow. But just when I was settling in for a peaceful day, Ballard happened.
Lia and I were going to see who else would be selected, but I had to confront Ballard first. Or, I didn"t know, slap him or something. So that"s what I did.
"Check your six, Bal."
"Bal, is it?" I said.
I had just interrupted him and Paolo talking to some other werewolves about something called lungotevere embankments or something. "They prevent the Tiber from flooding the city, you see. Just like we do, eh? What is it? What do you want?" said Ballard to me.
It was the first time he had spoken to me in weeks.
"You"re a real s.h.i.t, you know that, Ballard?" I said. I couldn"t help it, I stomped my foot. The tears had started to well.
He shrugged and left me there. "Come on, guys," he said.
Some of the other Houses had chosen their Initiates. Coven got Badgley, which, go and figure. There was only polite clapping. A lot of talk, up in the stands where Lia and I were at, involved the Rookmaaker Choosing, as I heard it referred to. I put my hood up.
"Is it true her parents used to be in Pendderwenn? Where is Pendderwenn, anyway?"
"Probably off sulking. He lost his pick, you see. Oh, you mean the House? I don"t know. Somewhere."
I didn"t want to hear anymore. I held Lia"s hand. Now that I was finally leaving Rome, we were closer than ever.
"Don"t listen to them, Halsey," she said to me.
"It"s hard not to," I said.
Veruschka continued her Selection duties. I wondered if the Lenoir had a pick. "With the tenth pick," she said...
Nora Blackknight had just been selected.
I found it funny that some of the Initiates with namesthat is to say, acknowledged Wiccan surnameswere being chosen after those without them. Nora Blackknight went after Astra, Shaharizan, and some of the others, who didn"t have last names, or pedigree, or provenance.
"Just because you"re in doesn"t make you in," said Lia, referring to this Wiccan pedigree or provenance that I didn"t fully understand yet. "They take into account talent. Look at Vittoria... What happened to her, anyway?"
I told Lia.
"We"ll see her again," said Lia. And then, changing tack: "Guess what I heard?"
"What?" I said, listening hard. I didn"t want to hear the rest of the voices anymore.
"You know that hiving business, you know why they do it?" said Lia.
"Why?" I said.
"It"s so that no one Wiccan House will get too big. No, listen to this. Gaven told me. Apparently that was what he was talking to those two Wiccans about, the day we camewhat were their names, Stavros and Gisela? It"s called having a Storm of Covens, and it"s absolutely forbidden."
I listened on, intrigued.
"It"s what the Lenoir were so scared abouta hundred and twenty-five years ago," said Lia, "at the whatchamacallit, the meeting. It"s all in your book. I looked it up. "If a House,"" she said, quoting from the Magus Codex, ""elects a leaderand that leader creates a Storm of Covens" you know, a bunch of Wiccan Houses all beholden to itthen that Household is said to be in breach and one of two things will happen. Either it must hivewhich means number threes going to the Houses and them emanc.i.p.ating themselves fully and completely from their parent covenor the Lenoir will be sent, to destroy it. The coven and its satellites. Anyway the Lenoir get to go kill that House and all of its offspring."
"A Storm of Covens," I said.
Lia was wide-eyed. "I forget what else exactly," she said. "You"ll have to look it up. Anyway. That"s what Maria and all of them" She waved her hand at all of the invisible vampires. "That"s what they were afraid of, when they signed the doc.u.ments, agreeing to the peace treaty, in 1887. A single powerful Wiccan leader who could somehow unite the Houses, and, I don"t know, march against the vampires. That"s why there"re only twelve spots allowed in each House, and why choosing is so important. You don"t want to make the wrong choice."
"And the Houses?" I said.
"Independent from each other. For the most part. Here"s the thing, though. Gaven says some of the Houses don"t play fair. They cheat."
"What d"you mean?" I said.
She looked around at all of them. "Some of the Houses" she said, "Ravenseal, for instance"
"Yeah," I said.
"Gaven and some of the other delegates think they"re trying to, and these were his words, grow their power. You know, handing over Houses to number twos, weak Adepts whom they can control. Pendderwenn, for instance. They get to elect who they want, you see?"
I nodded my head for her to continue. I knew this.
"Anyway," said Lia. "It"s only a matter of time before one House gets too strongandblammo. The other Wiccans fear that it will march against them. A so-called War of Wiccans. Wiccan attrition or something. I don"t know. But it"s happened before. That"s what the First War was all about. And the vampires and other supernaturalsyou know, us," she said, referring to The Sons and Daughters of Romulus, "we got drawn into it, too. The War of the Houses. So I read, anyway."
"What about the Lenoir?" I said.
"The Lenoir are powerful. They hide their numbers," said Lia. She shrugged.
I looked around at the Gathering. Maria was still at the judges" table, along with the twins.
"I"ll bet that"s why she"s here," I said. "Maria. She wants us to, I don"t know, fight among ourselvesall of the Wiccansor something. I mean, that makes sense. Magic was broken up at the 1887 Thing. She wants to keep breaking it up. To keep us in-fighting." I looked at Maria and knew that it was true.
Lia said, "Look at this place. Look at the hierarchy. Some Houses are better than others. Just as some Wiccans, Halsey, are better than other Wiccans. We are picked in order of our significance," she said. "Just something to think about."
I clapped along with the rest of them. Larissa Nightbloom had just been selected. Apparently, that was it. Except for Vittoria, the Initiates had all been chosen.
"But what if a single House," I said, "were to elect a leader who controlled all of the other Houses..."
The last Initiate was awarded by default. The Gathering was over. "It would be either join with them or die..." I said.
Lia shrugged.
We made our way back to our dormitories. I couldn"t help thinking about Vittoria and where she was right now. Good to her word, she had said goodbye to n.o.body and just left. I mean, apart from her epic goodbye. I decided I would flip through my codex and try and find out what her Wiccan Mark was, based on her W I had seen. It was a long shot but maybe it was in there.
Locke called to me. Lia went on without me. She was in no mood to speak with any of the werewolves, she said, apart from Gaven. Locke was one of the Team Leaders. An alpha. I realized that could be seen as a stepping stone to being elected Head Wolf.
"You have a note," he said, handing me a slip of thick cream-colored parchment. It had been written on with a nib. I thanked Locke, who looked at me with his secretive eyes, but he wasn"t a Wiccan, so I didn"t have to worry about thatand broke the seal, opened the note.
"Dear Halsey," it began. I went away to a corner to read it.
"You have until New Yearsand then I will expect you at my home. RememberI"m watching you. And keep a lookout for my man. He will come to get you.
VR"
Veruschka Ravenseal. The seal was an ornate waxen R. Veruschka said she was leaving after the finish of the ceremony. So I guessed this was it. She must be packing to leave.
I folded the note and put it in my pocket. Back at our dormitory, the werewolves were also getting ready to leave the Gathering. I saw Ballard, but he didn"t look at me.
Instead I laid down on my bed and pulled out my parents" copy of the Magus Codex. I put my map of the Gatheringplace and the note from VR inside of it, when I was interrupted by a knock at my door. "I just wanted to say goodbye," said Lux.
"You"re leaving?" I said. I got up out of my bed toshake his hand. Our dormitories were like prison cells.
He saw me holding the book, with the papers sticking out of it.
"I see you"re modifying your codex. That"s good," he said. "They"re "all different, accordingly."" He smiled at me.
I didn"t know what to say to Lux. I think we had been intensely interested in each other, if however briefly, and then we sort of came to our better senses.
"You were a really great teacher," I said, as if that cut through all of that stuff that was between us.
"You know, I envy you," he said to me.
"Why?"
"A brand-new WiccanChosen at the Gathering, no less! There aren"t many who can say that."
I supposed.
"Wellyou take care," he said.
"Wait. Don"t go," I said.
He turned back around.
"Yes, Halsey?" said Professor Lux, expectantly.
I didn"t have anything to say. I wanted to ask him about his Mark. I wanted to tell him that he was a world-cla.s.s Crafter and that he didn"t have to run away from his magic anymorejust because of whatever had happened. Instead, I just shook my head and said, "Nothing. I"llI"ll see you later. Okay?"
"I have no doubt of it," he said, and bid me farewell. It was foolish of me to think that life could stand still. That we could always have potential without ever having to do anything.
Lux"s awesome Wiccan arm waved goodbye at the door and he was gone. I stood there with the book in my hands. I didn"t know what to do. Flipping through it, I turned to the section on Marks. Distinguishing Marks and their features. I studied them all. Some of them were so beautiful-looking I could hardly stand it. I definitely had Mark envy. Belladonna. Deadly nightshade. Vittoria"s Mark was a flower.
Chapter 24 Birthright.
Wiccans more interested in the politics and ramifications of Hiving, would do well to consider the following. A House is a Hive, with one queen bee. She"s in charge.
I put my book down. No wonder Veruschka Ravenseal was so nastyshe could afford to be. She was Mistress of Ravenseal, one of the Three, elite. It was just as Lux had said.
Somewhere I found myself reading about Hiving. I wanted to see what Lia had been talking about earlier today. It was getting pretty late at night, and we had a big day tomorrow. Everyone was leaving. I looked down the page, to find an interesting paragraph.
If a House of thirteen or greater does not Hive, that House is in contravention of the Rules. One of two things will happen. Either its parent coven will come to its rescue, and the Houses, combined*, will make one Super House, in which case we have war. Or the vampires taking it upon themselvesas stipulated by the 1887 Conventionwill come to rout out that House.
There was a footnote: *If a House elects a leader, and that leader creates multiple affiliate covens, then a Storm of Covens is said to exist, and all such Houses shall be forfeit.
Which I guessed meant the Lenoir would come and kill them. I was beginning to understand it all, now. Ravenseal had satellites. Affiliate covens.
Pendderwenn, for instance.
But, to the outside world, it appeared House Pendderwenn was independent.
It wasn"t. If a war broke out If it ever broke outRavenseal would contract. Lux was right about that. He had told me that once before. Ravenseal was bigger than it looked because it controlled House Pendderwenn. But secretly.
How many Houses were beholden to Ravenseal, anyway? And was that Veruschka"s endgame? To control the Wiccan world? Whatever it was, it sounded like the Lenoir were sanctioned by the Houses to police the supernatural world. A concession no doubt to their size. I wondered how many vampires there were.
I was beginning to see the secret side of Wicca and I didn"t like it. It freaked me out. I snapped shut the book. The dust flew into my nose, making me sneeze. Lia turned above me, then went back to sleep.
I sat up in my bed and took one of the candles. Asher had never shown up. Wherever he was, it must be important, because he had never let me down before. Then, reconsidering, I blew the candle out and went to sleep. I had learned my lesson about wandering. You always meet people, I told myself. Asher was rightand Selwynand Gavenand everyone. It was unsafe to walk around the Gathering at night. I was also beginning to suspect, with so many factions, that the world itself was a dangerous place. Rome, more than ever, felt like a bastion against all that.
I believed in the werewolves. In Ballard and Lia and us. In Gaven and all them. I suddenly understood why it was so important they did what they did. Rome was a foothold. A place of safety. A fire in the Night. It was Rome. And we were safe by it. It was worth fighting for.
I zonked out. Epic me had said her piece. But as I slept I had this uneasy feeling, like I wasn"t safe. Like none of us were.
I was on my Gambalunga again. Ballard and I were going somewhere. I knew because my mind did the thing where the moon became my headlight again. So the moon was Ballard and the headlight was my Gambalunga. Which meant that we were going somewhere. I mean obviously we had someplace to be. But the weird thing was, we weren"t moving. It was like we were standing still. It was one of those kinds of dreams. And since when did Ballard ever want to do anything with me, anyway? We were practically strangers. What was I doing to myself?
When this light snapped on.
It wasn"t a lightbulb going off in my head or anything like that, but I definitely saw stars. "Murgh," said Lia. "Mrngargh. Nargh!" she said.
I woke up. The lights were on in our dormitories and our doorLia"s and minewas open. Asher was standing there. "I thought you stood me up," I said, groggily, and then sat up in my bed.