77

"Believe whatever you like of me. It really doesn't matter now," Meredith says to Alvis, shrugging. "Because, as it happens, that wasn't what I came to tell you."

Alvis is standing now. "If you aren't a demon, then deny it. Tell us that you're not. You can't, can you? Because demons can't lie."

Meredith is beginning to look exasperated. Then she pauses, as if realizing something. "You're right. I couldn't deny it. But Cadafel could, although I don't imagine he would."

"Your Cadafel was a demon who could lie? You're just making up stories to distract us now," Alvis says, rolling his eyes.

"No, of course not. No demon can lie. What Cadafel could do was speak the truth into existence. If he had enough people believing in a lie, he could make it come true when he spoke it. Life, death, the world around him. Rewritten to his desires. Ilias wasn't wrong to stop him." She sighs. "I suppose he was so frightened the rest of us would develop Cadafel's powers that he wanted us all shut away. Or perhaps he meant to betray us from the start." She's stopped talking in circles around being a demon, you notice.

"Not dead. Sealed," Meredith says. "Ilias couldn't have killed him if he tried, and he knew it."

"So now Cadafel's sealed in there with the rest of you, and you want to set your people free of him," Alvis says, crossing his arms. "Is that it?"

There's silence in the clearing for a moment, and then Meredith bursts out laughing. It's a wild sound, almost alarming. You think again of the demon's ear-splitting shrieks. "No, no," she says. "You misunderstand. He's not on our side of the portal, he's on yours."

"A reality-warping demon is in our world," Alvis repeats. "Somehow I've never noticed him."

Meredith is still chuckling, the sound turning more bitter. "Ilias didn't have the time to force all the demons in your world back through the portal before he sealed it. So he sealed them here, into objects. Magical artifacts, with a bit of the original demon's power inside. Toys for your mages to use. And he took three of them for himself, back to your castle and your academy. One of those precious trinkets was a book."

"The only book at the Academy that's magic in itself is the Book of Prophecy," Alvis says, frowning. "Are you saying that's him? Is that why you—" He stops suddenly. He's going pale again.

Meredith makes a sound that's half a sigh and half the wild laughter from before. "You took a false prophecy and convinced the world it was true. And then you wrote it into a magical book containing the soul of a demon who turns lies into truth by the power of belief. Do you understand what's happening now? Do you understand what you've done?"

"To be absolutely fair," Alvis says in a perfectly ordinary voice, "we weren't the ones who wrote it in the Book." Then he sinks back down to the ground.

Next

"If it was just the portal reopening, that would be fine," Meredith says, starting to pace. "But Cadafel is still alive in that Book, and aware. Not only can he make the prophecy come true, but he can fit it to his exact specifications. He'll free himself again, I'm sure of it, unless we can—"

She pauses and looks over at you. Alvis doesn't look like he can hear her anymore. Even Min is staring wide-eyed. You gather they don't teach all of this even in Sienha.

Perhaps you need some time to think it over," Meredith says. "I've had enough of that already, myself, but I can wait a little longer. We should talk again tomorrow." She turns to leave the clearing.

After a moment, Min stands up, too. "Well, my things are still at the Gilded Gate," they say, and for the first time, it sounds like the lightness in their voice takes effort. "But I wouldn't mind speaking to you tomorrow as well."

Alvis still hasn't said a word.

Meredith shows no sign she knows you're following her, but when you're almost at her side, she says, "Was there something else? I meant it when I said you could take some time."