“I guess, I don’t know.”
Baz squeezes his fists tight, and his voice comes out of him in a tight roar. “Who.The fuck.Is Nicodemus.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I thoughtyou’dknow.”
He gets off the bed and starts prowling about the room. “My mother came back. She came back to see me. And you talked to her instead. Unbelievable.”
“Well, wherewereyou? Why couldn’t she find you?”
“I was indisposed! It’s none of your business!”
“Well, I hope your secret trip was worth it!” I shout. “Because your mother came for you! She came and she came and she came—and you were off planning your hopeless rebellion!”
He stops pacing, then charges towards me, his hands reaching for my neck. And I’m more scared for him than I am for myself, even though I know he wants to kill me. Because if he touches me, he’ll be cast out. The Anathema.
I jump to my feet and catch his wrists. They’re cold. “Baz, you don’t want to hurt me. Do you.” He strains against my grip. He’s panting with rage. “You don’t want tohurtme,” I say, trying to push him back. “Isn’t that right? I’m sorry. Look at me,I’m sorry.”
His grey eyes focus, and he steps back, snatching his arms away. We both glance around the room, waiting for the Anathema to kick in.
There’s a knock at the door, and we both jump.
“Simon?” I hear Penny say.
Baz arches an eyebrow, and I can practically hear him thinking,Interesting.I shove past him and open the door. “Penny, what’re you—?”
She’s been crying. She starts again—“Simon”—and rushes into my arms. I slowly put my arms around her and look up at Baz, waiting for him to raise the alarm.
He shakes his head, like it’s all too much for him. “I’ll leave you alone,” he says, sliding past us out the door. I hate to think of how he’ll use this against Penelope, or me—but right now I’ve got Penny sobbing into my shirt.
“Hey,” I say, patting her back. I’m not good at hugging, she knows that, but she must not care right now. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She pulls back and wipes her face on her sleeve. She’s still wearing her coat. “My mum…” Her face is all crumpled. She wipes it on her sleeve again.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s not hurt—nobody’s hurt. But she told me that Premal came yesterday.” Penny’s talking too fast, and still crying. “He came for the Mage with two more of his Men, and they wanted to search our house.”
“What? Why?”
“The Mage sent them. Premal said it was a routine search for banned magic, but Mum said there’s no such thing as a routine search, and she’d be damned to Slough before she let the Mage treat her like she was an enemy of the state. And then Premal said it wasn’ta request.And Mum said they could come back with an order from the Coven”—Penny’s shaking in my arms—“and Prem said that we’re at war, and that the Mage isthe Mage,and what did Mum have to hide, anyway? And Mum said thatwasn’t the point.The point was civil liberties, and freedom, and not having your 20-year-old son showing up at your house like Rolf inThe Sound of Music.And I’m sure Premal was humiliated and not acting like himself—or maybe just actingmorelike his tosser self than usual—because he said he’d be back, and that Mum had better change her mind. And Mum said he could come back as a Nazi and a fascist, but not as her son.” Penny’s voice breaks again, and she covers her face in her arms, elbowing me in the chin.
I pull my head back and hold on to her shoulders. “Hey,” I say, “I’m sure this is just something that got out of hand. We’ll talk to the Mage.”
She jerks away from me. “Simon—no. You can’t talk to him about this.”
“Pen. It’s the Mage. He’s not going to hurt your family. He knows you’re good.”
She shakes her head. “My mum made me promise not to tell you, Simon.”
“No secrets,” I say, suddenly defensive. “We have a pact.”
“I know! That’s why I’m here, but you cannot tell the Mage. My mother’s scared, and my mother doesn’tgetscared.”
“Why didn’t she just let them search the house?”
“Whyshouldshe?”
“Because,” I say, “if the Mage is doing this, he has a reason. He doesn’t just hassle people. He doesn’t have time for that.”
