From the Ashes of Victory: The Complete Series, page 33
part #0 of From the Ashes of Victory Series
"The best thing you can do for everyone now is be the best witch you can be," Selene said. "And I have no doubt you will be a very good one indeed."
"That I will do," Victoria said. "You have my word on that."
"That's all I need. Colette would have been very proud of you. As I am. You've been through hell, Victoria, and while I am not happy that it happened, I am happy to see that you are all the stronger for it."
"'Swimming upstream makes you stronger,' my grandfather used to say. Though I'd settle for baths for now," Victoria said. The two sat in amicable silence, until Victoria asked something else she'd been needing to: "Was it all worth it?"
"Was what worth it?"
"ADAM. All that money, time and risk, and all you have to show for it is the three of us, two months after the war ended."
"Victoria, how do you know that you weren't the objective all along? We have three new witches, all of whom Manifested, and all within a week of one another. You were closely bonded before that, by friendship, love and tragedy, and even more so now. The first Coven of the twentieth century, and the strongest one I can recall in my lifetime? I would say it was well worth it."
Millie walked in on Elise sitting on her steamer trunk, the last item remaining in her bedroom. As it was the first thing she'd brought in, it seemed fitting.
She was staring at her fingers.
"You all right?" Millie asked.
"It still does not feel real."
The wood of the giant trunk squeaked in protest of Millie adding her weight to it, but registered no further complaint. "Manifesting?"
Loose, silvery locks bobbed in affirmation. Elise had been wearing her hair down since they'd gotten back from the hospital, and it still took Millie's breath away to see it like that, even if she had been made responsible for brushing it out every night. "It was like I was part of her. I could feel all the parts of her working, and I could see it. Her skull was fractured and there was blood everywhere inside. Then I told her body I wanted it better, and it was," Elise said, turning to Millie in disbelief at her own words. "I did that. I forced her body to mend itself."
"Well, the magic helped."
"Of course. But her body was ready to give up. I made her live." Elise's voice quavered with delight and confusion. "Do I have that right?"
"If you go ask Vickie, I'm sure she'll say that you do. You know why? Because she's alive to give that answer. Doctors often know better than their patients, you know."
Elise laughed. "I am not a doctor."
"No." Millie took Elise's hand. "You're not, you're something better: a healer, in the old-fashioned way. Your gift is to make people better. Well, except that bloke whose toe you broke," Millie teased. "In a way, I'm jealous."
"You are?"
"Mending takes far more energy and thought than breaking," Millie said into the back of Elise's hand before raising it to her lips. "And talent. Means you're smarter than me."
In all her life, Millie had never allowed herself the fantasy that anyone would ever look at her the way Elise did then.
"I love you, Millie Brown."
"And I you, Elise Cotillard. That's not a denial, by the by."
Whatever would have happened next didn't, as a sweat-soaked Irishwoman was suddenly in the doorway, carrying a rather heavy-looking box with 'Victoria' scrawled across the side.
"If you two are quite done," Niamh said, though she wasn't quite in time to catch the smile from forming on her face.
The platform was awash with steam from the waiting locomotive. An army of porters had poured from the station to help load the effects of six witches onto the train. Their new benefactors were waiting for them, and had bought out an entire first-class carriage to ensure that Hekabe could ride along.
It turned out that they'd also bought the hospital and buried any involvement anyone currently standing on the platform had had in what happened on New Year's night. They'd also vowed to turn it into what it should have been in the first place, and was already on its way to becoming the premiere women's mental health facility in Britain. Though Victoria had a head for numbers, that kind of wealth was difficult for her to wrap it around. They still hadn't been told who 'they' were, but it was a vanishingly short list of people who still had money in those amounts.
But further contemplation could wait for the journey to see them, as there were more pressing matters before her.
"I can never thank you enough for what you did for me," she said, clasping Gretchen's hands in her own. Though they were still faintly red, a single visit with Ivy meant they were weeks ahead of where they otherwise would have been.
"I can say the same to you," said Gretchen, her eyes as clear and sharp as ever.
"And remember what we said, Emma," Millie said as the young lady beamed up at her. While her mother had been attended to by Ivy, Selene had surreptitiously made the determination that she carried the Talent for witchcraft. It had been perhaps the single greatest moment of her young life, judging by the fact she had yet to stop smiling nearly a week after seeing her first witchlight. "When you're old enough, you come see us, all right? Aunt Vickie here will teach you everything you need to know."
"I won't be able to stop her," Gretchen said, though she clearly didn't seem to mind the idea of having a witch in the family.
Victoria let Millie fill Emma's head with more things that 'Aunt Vickie' was going to become responsible for while she turned her attention to the next person in the line of people she owed thanks to.
"Mr. Jones," she began, "Nor can I thank you enough for what you did. I would have died if you hadn't found me and kept me awake. You didn't have to do any of what you did."
Bertram smiled. "I think you'll find that I did. I was only too happy to."
"All the same, if you're ever in need of any help, let me know. I'll let you know where to find me when I find out myself," she said with an embarrassed chuckle. "It's the least I can do."
"I'm just glad we can part on good terms this time."
"The best," Victoria said. "Good-bye, Mr. Jones."
"Good-bye, Miss Ravenwood."
Mary's memories had rapidly returned once she was free of the constant damage Garland had been inflicting on her, and had understandably gone directly back to the home she should have reached over a year ago. Though she would never practice magic again, that she was able to see and recognize her family once more Victoria would have to accept as consolation.
But soon enough, they were out of time, and the train would not wait for them no matter how much of first class they bought up.
As the train trundled away from the station on its long journey north, Victoria waved her good-byes before finding her seat opposite Millie and Elise. The others were in the box on the other side of the isle, while Hekabe took up an entire one for herself behind them, even if she did only need the bit that got her closest to the window to stick her head out.
They had barely left civilisation when Elise fell fast asleep, her cheek resting on Millie's shoulder. Seeing them together like that filled Victoria with a kind of joy that she hadn't felt since she was a child: a pure, almost elemental happiness, brought on by something as simple as seeing two people in love.
As they sped past place after once-again familiar place for the last time, Victoria found herself ignoring them as they flashed by. She also ignored talk of Mallory's impending court martial, choosing instead to focus on what was in front of her. She finally got to hear the story of their first kiss, and that the apple pin in Elise's hair had been a Christmas present from Millie. It took a long time to get to the events that led to their reunion.
"Why didn't you tell me things were so bad?" Millie asked. "We were here to help you. Do you know how worried I was? Then it turns out I was absolutely right to have been. You could have been lying dead in that hole, yet you never said a word to anyone that that was your intention when you left us."
Victoria couldn't hold Millie's eyes. If they had been full of anger or confusion, she might have been able to, but the betrayal that they held was too much for her to bear seeing. It took a long while to find the words, as she had been avoiding thinking about them. "I don't think I knew until that day. Christmas Eve was always so special to me. My brother and I had always loved it more than the day itself. The anticipation, the secretly staying up late to listen for Father Christmas… but this time it truly sank in that that was never going to happen again. This year the distractions ran out. When I took Mallory's pistol, I don't know that I truly meant to do it. Maybe I thought I could scare myself out of it, I don't know. But when I saw that empty grave, I knew I wasn't the only one who felt as I did, and that it was my fault."
"I told you those tattoos were a bad idea," Millie said. "You were never going to be able to let go with them always staring up at you."
The world sped by, but Victoria was still. "They helped me remember."
"They drove you to the reason you forgot."
To that, Victoria had no answer, and they were each left to their own thoughts as the clacking of the tracks marked the time of the silence that stretched between them. Without a word, they agreed to take up the topic another time as the tea service came through.
"I never asked," Victoria asked after she had been served, now finally confident in the corporeality of a cup held in her hands, "what made you come get me?"
Millie had declined tea in favour of continuing to hold Elise's hand as she slept. She shrugged. "I thought every Victoria needed a loyal Brown."
A small smile pulled at Victoria's mouth. "And you were right. I did. And do." She took a sip of tea. "But are they always Scottish?"
"Aye, the best ones are."
Elise shifted in her sleep, and Millie placed a kiss on her brow. When she looked back at Victoria, she was smiling once again.
On wings of steam, they hurtled towards what awaited them.
Together.
Sitting in the back of a filthy lorry in the finest clothes she had ever owned, Victoria couldn't help but feel ridiculous.
Army surplus, the floor was dusty and smelled of old sweat and worse, and the noise was becoming intolerable as they bounced and jounced their way across Bedfordshire. Yet there she sat on a slab of wood worn smooth by a thousand soldiers, dressed in a grey cashmere trench coat with matching suit jacket and trousers. Her chest ballooned with a wine-red cravat complete with pearl pin, and her hands were sheathed in leather gloves of the same colour. She was even wearing a top hat.
However, she had been assured that appearances were going to be important once they were let out, so she just had to suffer the incongruity for the sake of surprise when they finally stopped.
"We're almost there!" cried a voice from the front, unidentifiable over the racket that jangled and squeaked in the back.
Reaching out with a richly-booted toe, she poked Millie in the shin a few times before she finally woke up. "We're almost there!"
"What's not fair?" Millie replied.
But Millie got the hint as they began to slow down and eventually stop. The sudden jerk flung Elise into Millie's shoulder, waking her up as well.
If Victoria looked out of place, Elise looked out of time. In her ice-blue dress, she should have been in a horse-drawn carriage on the arm of some continental princeling, or in the pages of a storybook. Her hair had been done up in ringlets, for God's sake!
Millie had insisted on a traditional Scottish tartan dress, though she had been persuaded to accept a few French accessories, most of which where hidden under her hair, which was just as untamed as ever.
They stayed motionless for some time, and there was the sound of documents being double-checked, though no-one ever came to see what was in the back. Then they set off again, throwing them back into their seats.
It was not long before they slowed down once more, and when they did, daylight bled away with their speed, the noise now being shouted back at them in a cavernous echo.
Eventually they stopped for good, and there was much jostling of feet and muffled voices outside.
Ivy's head popped in through the back canvas. "We're here," she said, and threw open the drab green fabric to reveal dimness and what felt like a lot of empty space beyond.
As Victoria was closest to the door, as well as the only one in boots and trousers, she was led down the single step to the ground first.
"Oh my God," she whispered.
There was indeed a lot of empty space, in every direction.
Cathedrals were big, Westminster was big. Vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses, the whole lot. Where she was standing now could have swallowed two cathedrals with space left over for a few churches.
"Is this an airship hangar?" she said, looking up with one hand on her hat to find the ceiling but failing to in the low light.
"Yes. They just happened to have a spare lying around, apparently," Ivy said.
"Who did?"
Ivy pointed the way they'd come with her chin before helping Millie down out of the lorry.
"Welcome to Longstown," said a voice that was immediately swallowed by the cavernous space.
When Victoria turned to see who had spoken, her jaw dropped, and she understood why she'd had to dress up. "You're… you're Eustacia Long!"
"Guilty," she said.
"I have your books! I— it's an honour to meet you!" Victoria thrust out her hand, overjoyed to look down and see the calluses and ink stains on Eustacia's when she took it.
"May I introduce my sister, Ophelia?"
As Victoria shook her hand, a thousand questions burst into her mind at once and they all tried to escape her mouth at the same time, fired out in a stream of esotericism made of airships and biplanes that was only cut off by a sharp elbow to her ribs.
"What is this place?" Millie asked, her head craned back.
"It's yours," Eustacia said. "All of yours'."
Niamh's face was alight, while Selene looked like she was still unsure how she felt about those words but was willing to see how things progressed.
"What do you mean, ours?" Elise asked. "I cannot even see the ceiling!"
Ophelia motioned to someone Victoria couldn't see, and the sound of rustling fabric came from above the door. Several yards wide, a banner of warm yellow was unrolled by its own weight until it jerked to a stop, fluttering in the giant, windless space.
On the banner was painted a stylised apple core with three small leaves sprouting from the stem at the top. Above it, 'EVE' was spelled out in giant blue capital letters, while below it were the words 'Ex Pomum Scientia,' in bold red script.
"'From the apple, knowledge,'" Victoria translated. "A bit cheeky, isn't it? Not that I disapprove."
"What is EVE?" Elise asked.
Selene, Ivy and Niamh stood before their three younger counterparts with expressions that ranged from grave to excited, but all of them with eyes that showed only pride. "You are," Selene said. "ADAM is dead. The three of you are the foundation of its successor. ADAM was started with the objective of winning the War to End All Wars. It failed to do so, but EVE is going to make sure that that name sticks.
"EVE will not win any wars. It will prevent them. Just like the great war that never happened because of the first Coven, the newest one will have the same purpose. The world has been turned upside down by the last few years, and that means its only going to get more dangerous, not less."
Millie crossed her arms. "What does that actually mean?"
"EVE is going to seek out and encourage more witches, and set them about the task of preventing wars before they start. ADAM found the three of you, and it was run by people who had no idea what they were doing. Think of what could be done by people who do. We witches have been silent for too long. EVE is our voice, now."
"Without the government?"
Ophelia stepped forward. "Yes. We are a private organisation, funded entirely by those who share our desire to see that recent mistakes go unrepeated."
"And you think us capable of that?" Elise asked.
"We wouldn't be here if we didn't. Besides, how would we feel if we didn't at least try? What else were you going to do with your magic?"
"You could have asked us first," Millie said, but it didn't sound like she needed much in the way of convincing.
"We didn't think we needed to. We've known since Selene first contacted us that you had every motivation to do something like this. Now we know you have the capability. We're just setting up the shop for you."
"Selene?" Victoria asked.
"In my defence, I didn't imagine something like this coming of it," she said with a slightly overwhelmed look up.
"So when I ran into you that day, you were already setting this up?" Millie asked.
"Oh, yes."
"And the evaluations that never happened?"
Eustacia smiled. "Somewhat obviated by your actions at the hospital, wouldn't you say? We saw all we needed to see, a day early."
This seemed to mollify Millie and Elise, but Victoria had never been under the shadow of any such thing. Her concerns were elsewhere. "You're going to help them, aren't you? The ones on the third floor?"
"Especially them. You have our word, Victoria," Ophelia said.
Victoria held the eyes of one of the few people she could say she looked up to and said, "I will hold you to that."
"We would expect nothing less."
The more they explored their new home, the bigger they felt. The vast space was empty now, but it was quickly filled with imagination and plans for what they could do with it, especially once they were able to grow their numbers.
Victoria looked from Millie to Elise, and knew that they were thinking the same things. She didn't believe in fate, and she didn't believe in destiny; she didn't even know if she believed the stories about the original three witches, but looking between those arrayed around her, she knew she believed in them, and they in her.
