The House (47 page)

The girl
didn’t say anything; she just looked hurriedly around the room. She
was dressed in a plain pair of jeans and a cotton top. They also
looked far too new for her to have worn them on the streets. At
least Talon had clothed her. The bastard had some courtesy it
seemed.

“We aren’t
going to hurt you,” I said. Nobody else said anything so I assumed
that it was up to me. I wondered who had brought her back. I
slipped, ever so carefully, into Marlow’s mind. To my surprise he
was actually ready for me. “Stripes got her to come back but she’s
not in a state to look after her,” he thought very carefully. I
nodded to him and mouthed “thank you”.

I got out of
his head as quickly as possible. I was using my telepathy far too
easily. I had to be more careful. I flashed back momentarily to the
memory of Talon’s mind and had to forcibly push it from my
thoughts. It was something to think about later when we had worked
through our more immediate problems. When I had time to fall
apart.

“My name is
Trix,” I told her as I stood up. I didn’t want to scare her and us
all sitting down around the table must have been at least slightly
intimidating. We were all staring at her too. It certainly would
have freaked me out. I was aware that I was greeting her in my
dressing gown and nothing else, but she was in the way of the
stairs so I couldn’t go and get changed.

She looked up at me and there was something close to terror
in her eyes. I wondered if she had seen Talon being torn apart. I
trusted that Marlow’s description was accurate; I doubted there
would have been enough left to recognise him. It is an old
tradition amongst us to destroy rogues so that they can’t be
recognised. Burning is also popular. I remembered the feel of
flames and how it felt to shove the feeling into Talon’s mind. I
was glad; for a moment he had felt the terror of burning alive. I
was also, for a second, displeased that I hadn’t had more time to
treat him to a few
other
sensations.

“I’m Hannah,”
she said, bringing my wandering mind firmly back into the present.
She had backed herself into a corner and I stopped moving forwards
so that I didn’t trap her. I really didn’t want to spook her. It
was one thing going after adult shifters but teenagers are
notoriously unpredictable. I couldn’t afford to risk it.

“Hello,
Hannah. How about I go and get dressed then we can talk?” I asked
her. I had a feeling that the others had left it to me to do the
real explaining. That was what we had done with Marie. It would be
my job now. I would be responsible for all of the new arrivals. I
had to push it from my mind to concentrate; I seemed to be doing
that a lot.

I rushed up
the stairs to my room to change. I didn’t want to talk to the new
girl in my dressing gown. Marie would never have done it so I
wouldn’t either. Eddie was still in my bed and I ignored him. The
new girl had given me a great excuse to put aside some of my own
problems. I had to deal with all of it eventually, and a part of me
knew that, but someone else’s problems are always so much easier to
sort out than your own.

I dressed
quickly. I would have liked to take my time and make sure that I
looked presentable, at least old enough to help her. I thought
about what Marie often wore. She always looked put together and
adult and I felt anything but. I settled on jeans and a blouse and
I walked down the stairs in my bare feet. We never wore shoes in
the House, even if right then it felt too informal.

I tried to
remember how Marie had looked when I first met her but I just
couldn’t remember her clothes. Hannah was older than I had been
though, old enough to remember this first meeting with clarity,
which gave me pause to compose myself properly.

Hannah was sat
at the silent table but she didn’t have any food in front of her.
It felt like the House itself was mourning our loss. I put a smile
on my face and made it as real as I possibly could. I felt it
stretch my face unnaturally as I approached her. My mind was blank;
I had no idea how to even start talking to her let alone how to
look after her long term.

“I’m Trix,” I
said, holding out my hand for her to shake but she just stared at
it.

“You said that
already,” she replied. A part of me sank; I was doing badly, I knew
it. Another part of me kept saying that she was just acting like a
normal teenager, reassuring me. I was fairly sure that both voices
were my own but my control wasn’t what I had worked for before we
went on our rescue mission. I was letting other voices trickle in
occasionally by accident.

“Yes, well...”
I started. “How are you finding the House so far? Has anybody
explained anything to you yet?” I tried for inquisitive but I
couldn’t quite get my face there. It was close though and I was
hoping that someone who didn’t know me wouldn’t notice the
difference.

“No. We came
here and the small woman put me to bed and told me everything would
be explained in the morning.” There was such stubbornness in her
voice that I was taken aback. She was definitely a teenager.
Apparently her time on the streets hadn’t cowed her. The only real
experience I had on that front was with Stripes. She had been so
scared and unsure when she came to us, I was starting to realise
that Hannah would be an entirely different kettle of fish.

“Ok, well, why
don’t we get some food and go discuss things a bit?” I was hoping
that mentioning food would distract her, that and I was starting to
feel the effects of it being afternoon and not having eaten since
the previous day. Not to mention all of the injuries I’d
healed.

“But Talon
said not to eat anything,” she said incredulously. I hoped against
hope that she didn’t see Talon as some kind of saviour or mentor. I
was going to have a hard enough time explaining what had happened
without that kind of attachment.

“That’s for
before your change. If you don’t start to eat now you’ll get weak
and you’ll feel ill,” I said blandly. In truth, she should be
ravenous; I’d never met anyone who didn’t come out of the change
starving. Of course, she hadn’t actually shifted as far as I knew,
so how changed she was was anyone’s guess. She just nodded and I
glanced to the guys.

Hercules took
out some cereal, bowls and milk and put them on a little wheeled
trolley that we normally used to serve cake and tea when Marie
invited the neighbours around. I looked at it for a moment before
focusing my attention back onto Hannah. I would have plenty of time
to decide how to keep up Marie’s traditions later when I had
finished mourning her.

I gestured
Hannah to follow me and started towards the TV room. I figured that
she would be more comfortable there than in the formal living room.
I’d have to make sure that we got her room fully sorted soon as
well, maybe one near to mine. I just didn’t want to invade what I
hoped would become her own personal space to do basic
introductions. I would save that for later if she needed more help.
When she trusted me.

“How are you
doing?” I asked as we sat down. I could tell that she wasn’t
exactly comfortable but I couldn’t abandon my attempt moments after
starting it. I didn’t slip into her mind to find out exactly how
she was dealing. I’d had enough time in other people’s minds the
day before. I couldn’t let Hannah see me be so weak. I would be
strong for her, I decided. It was a great idea in theory.

“I’m ok,” was
all she gave me in reply. I had to remind myself that she was a
teenager, and a runaway at that. She would be naturally cautious
and mistrusting. I wondered briefly how Marie had had the patience
to deal with me all those years but I pushed the thought away. I
couldn’t afford to focus on that.

“I know it
must be a big change to come here. I want you to know that you can
tell me anything and it won’t go any further than me. We really are
here to help you, but you have to trust us.” She nodded. “The next
few months are going to be difficult. Have you shifted yet?” It was
a very important question, a lot of the deaths from changing
someone occur during the first time they try to shift.

“No. You all
burst in halfway though my ceremony so I never got to finish it.”
She sounded angry and it didn’t bode well. I had to know what Talon
had told these kids; if Hannah was attached to him this could all
go very badly. I didn’t even want to consider what he had told them
about shifting and the dangers of the change.

“Well, it’s
going to be hard but we will get through it...” I started. She just
stared at me.

“Hard? Oh come
on
, it’s only a little magic. Talon shifted all the time and it
never did him any harm.” She looked at me incredulously and I
realised that Talon had told them that it was no big deal. I
wondered how he explained the ones that didn’t make it. I hoped
that Hannah didn’t know about them. She seemed very blasé about it
all, but there was a tension to her that said that at least part of
her nonchalant personality was an act.

“Hannah...” I leaned towards her and found that she mirrored
me. I wanted to stress the importance of what I had to tell her
without seeming too morbid or scary. “Hannah, the change
is
difficult.” She kept
staring at me. “People can die during the change, especially the
young and especially women.”

“Women are
just as good as men,” she parroted at me. It was a general slogan
that a lot of women had; they were equal in everything in law. In
practice, life just didn’t work that way.

“Hannah,
female shifters are rare. And they are rare because to survive the
change needs incredible strength both emotionally and physically.
Most women just aren’t strong enough physically to survive. That
you have made it this far at your age is a testament to your
strength of mind, but the hardest part is still to come.” I gave
her as much eye contact as I could. I could see her heart sinking
as I watched. I wished for a moment that I had been more sensitive.
She didn’t have to change for a week and the news could have
waited. I mentally slapped myself. Yet she had to know, and the
information wouldn’t have been any less of a blow a week down the
line.

“You managed,”
she said. There was an edge of desperation to her voice now. I
didn’t want to scare her off and I could feel her about to run. I
had forgotten that she was already a runaway, it was what she knew.
There was no way that we could allow a new shifter out onto the
streets, alone, with no knowledge of our world. People had been
hunted down for less.

“I’m
different. I’m a true-born shifter. I was born with the ability.”
She actually looked up at that.

“Wow, that’s
really cool.”

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” I replied cautiously. Maybe if I
could get her talking about my shifting we could move on to hers.
“There
is
hope
for you. We have access to some of the best medicine and healers
around. We will help you through this. You should know that it
isn’t our way to change someone who hasn’t consented. We don’t ever
work like that. Talon was the exception.”

“But I
did
consent. I know you’ll all say that I can’t consent without
being eighteen or whatever, but I did. I
chose
this. Talon was the only
person to ever give me a choice. He saved me.”

“And he may
yet have killed you. We don’t change young people, not just because
they aren’t mature enough to make such a permanent, life-altering
decision in most cases, but because they are less able to cope with
the change. Your body isn’t done growing yet. At the very least the
change will likely stop your progression through puberty,” I
explained, as gently as I could, but the words weren’t gentle and
there was no way to phrase them as such. She had to know the truth,
even if it was too late to back out. She deserved to know what she
had gotten herself into.

The first
thing she did was look down at her chest. It was a predicable
response. Tell a teenage girl that she has stopped developing and
the first thing she thinks of is that the chest she thought she’d
grow as she got older won’t ever appear. I was going to have to
introduce her to the bigger impacts of her choice.

One of the
main reasons that changing people under the age of eighteen was
taboo, despite the mortality rate, was that they just aren’t old
enough to appreciate some things. Like the fact that they have
given up the chance to have any children of their own. I thought
that that fact could wait for Hannah though. She would know
everything eventually but I would give it to her as slowly as I
could. She wouldn’t even be thinking about children for some years
yet.

“Do you have
any questions so far?” I asked her. She shook her head and went
back to staring at her feet like they were the most interesting
things in the world. I knew denial when I saw it; I just didn’t
know how to get through to her. Time and patience were likely to be
the only cure. I just hoped that I had enough of both.

“Ok, well,
there are a couple more really important things to tell you then we
can move on to the fun stuff.” I tried to smile but I feared it
came out more as a grimace. Not that it mattered, Hannah never
looked up anyway.

“So, the first
thing you need to know, if you don’t already, is that you can
never, ever, tell anyone about shifters, or witches or vampyre or
anything to do with the supernatural world.” She looked up at that,
as I had feared she would.

“What do you
mean I can’t tell anyone?” Her face was the picture of innocence,
her mouth open in question. It was her eyes that really got me.
They were the most perfect blue that I had ever seen. She looked
far too sweet to have been thrust so wholeheartedly into our world.
It wasn’t a kind place to young people, as I had learnt myself
growing up.