We agreed on a time for our next appointment, and Sydney walked with me back down the hall to Green 1. “Call if anything happens you feel can’t wait for next time,” she said.
I said goodbye and hurried past the circular desk, not wanting to be drawn into conversation, though the Wardens manning the desk (not the same Wardens as before) didn’t look inclined to start one. I felt emptied out, as if my crying had tapped some inner reservoir of pain and drained it. I hoped my face didn’t look too ruined. Good thing I hadn’t worn makeup.
I found a tech to return me to the node’s entrance and walked to my car, which the sun had warmed to a painful degree. I started the engine and rolled down the windows to let out the heated air. Unlike the stifling air, the seat, radiating warmth, actually felt good against my body, as if I’d been sitting in a refrigerator for an hour instead of the comfortable temperature-controlled Gunther Node. After a minute, I put the car in gear and backed down the low incline to the road. I had so much to talk to Malcolm about tonight.
I’d left the node just in time to hit rush hour traffic, which delayed me enough that Malcolm was home when I pulled into the garage. The smell of hot oil and crisp vegetables met my nose as I entered the house. I found Malcolm in the kitchen preparing sweet and sour pork stir fry. “Oh, delicious,” I said. Xerxes padded past me, twining around my legs, and I recognized the ploy of a cat who’d already tried to cadge meat from one Campbell and was trying his luck with another.
Malcolm put down his knife and hugged me tightly. “How did it go?”
“Well, I think. It was uncomfortable, but in a good way.” I popped a pea pod into my mouth and closed my eyes in pleasure at how the fresh, green flavor exploded on my tongue.
“I understand,” Malcolm said. “But you should probably sit down.”
He sounded so serious my peaceful mood evaporated. I drew up one of the kitchen stools and sat opposite him at the center island. “Is something wrong? More attacks?”
“No, not that.” He picked up the knife again, but didn’t resume chopping. “I’m afraid I have to leave in about two hours.”
I’d been reaching for another pea pod, but his too-casual tone of voice stopped me mid-motion. “You’re going on the hunt?” I felt irrationally abandoned, despite all my earlier talk about not being fragile. Surely there was no reason Malcolm had to hunt tonight, when I needed him?
Malcolm shook his head. “I’m ward-stepping to Australia,” he said. “Ms. Suzuhara released her report on Berryton earlier today. The Wardens have worked out where the invaders will strike next, and we’re going to stop them.”
7
I sucked in an astonished breath. “But—that’s good, isn’t it? You don’t sound like you think it’s good.”
“It is extremely dangerous,” Malcolm said. He went back to chopping vegetables in a slow, measured way like he was using them as a focus for his emotions. “We have no idea how they’re managing to drain entire towns, or even if they intend to do the same with their next target. Kalgoorlie is much larger than Berryton or that village near Barga. It seems impossible that the invaders have grown strong enough to destroy over thirty thousand people. So we have to expect the unexpected, which is virtually impossible.”
“How do they know this city—what’s it called?”
“Kalgoorlie. In Western Australia.”
“How do they know that’s where the invaders will attack?”
Malcolm turned away briefly to dump vegetables into the wok with a hiss and a puff of steam. “Do you remember the Pattern? At the Gunther Node?”
“I remember.” I’d seen it back when the Mercy was intent on conquering South America—a tunnel like a duct in a military base, with its walls covered with two-inch glass tiles in a mosaic of color that constantly shifted and changed as magi moved the tiles around. I’d been awestruck despite the fear that had consumed me at the time. “Shouldn’t that have predicted all the other attacks? I thought it was magic to analyze the invaders’ presence and identify where they are about to break through.”
“That’s true,” Malcolm said, “but these new attacks have been different enough that the Pattern didn’t identify them as part of the, well, pattern it identifies. Once Ms. Suzuhara’s investigation turned up enough information, it was clear the Pattern was needed. Magi around the world have worked ceaselessly since the Berryton disaster to alter the Pattern to take account of these new tactics. And about three hours ago, their work paid off.”
“And you’re going to Kalgoorlie.”
“I have to, love. They need the best fighters because they don’t know what to expect.”
“I’m sorry. That was whiny. I know you have to go. But I don’t have to like it, right?”
Malcolm cast a glance over his shoulder as he stirred vegetables briskly. “No. One of the things I love about you is your determination to do what’s right, even when it’s something you hate.”
“I wonder if that didn’t get me into trouble, though. Sydney—the therapist—she says it sounds like I’ve been telling myself that because I’ve gotten through all these bad things and done what’s right, I shouldn’t let them affect me. Like I’ve been suppressing my pain and fear all this time.” I laughed. “She wants me to write a list of everything awful that’s happened since I became Abernathy’s custodian. I was thinking about it on the drive home and it’s already stunning to realize how much I’ve gone through.”
“I remember telling you once you seem to attract trouble. Maybe it wasn’t as much a joke as I thought.” Malcolm added thin strips of marinated pork to the wok and continued to stir. The most heavenly aroma filled the air, and I breathed it in contentedly.
“Well, I only rarely go out of my way to encounter trouble. Mitch Hallstrom, for one, and I sort of walked into the Mercy’s trap in their second oracle.” I hopped down and opened cabinets to remove plates and glasses. “I assume you have time to eat, or you wouldn’t be cooking.”
“Believe it or not, Mother is coming here in a couple of hours to ward-step me directly to Kalgoorlie.”
I paused in the act of setting plates on the table. “She is not. Seriously?”
“Lucia asked her to come out of retirement for this. I wasn’t kidding when I said we didn’t know what to expect. Mother’s a powerful telekinetic, and who knows if that won’t turn the tide in our favor?” Malcolm carried the wok to the table and set it down on the trivet with a flourish. “Let’s eat, and worry about the future later. I want to hear more about your session today.”
We ate, and talked, and I was almost able to push my fears for Malcolm to one side. But time passed far too quickly, and when the doorbell rang, it sent a shock of fear through me. Malcolm was upstairs getting changed, so I answered the door and got another shock: Madeleine was wearing white fatigues, and her normally elaborately styled black hair was braided and pinned tightly at the back of her head. “Come in,” I invited. “You look so different.”
“This is a time for being serious about the fight,” Madeleine said. She surveyed my small formal front room with a curious air, and I remembered this had been her house once. The thought made me uncomfortable, like I had some duty to live up to her memories. But she said nothing, not even a comment on the décor, and I realized further that she’d never been here since we moved in. I felt a pang of shame over having excluded Madeleine from our lives so thoroughly. Then I reminded myself of all the things she’d done to harass me, including offering me one and a half million dollars to break up with her son, and the shame disappeared.