Chapter 5: Charms and Proselytes

Knock-Knock

"Leave me alone!"

"Come on Kerry, let me in."

I didn't need eyes to appreciate how attractive Kerry's mother was. It's strange that as I watched humans land on the moon, I had no concept of physical attractiveness. Now, 9 years later, I was back to where I started, not even a presence, just an observer. I was surprised at just how much of my humanity I took with me.

I divided my attention between Kerry and her father. Hey father sat in what appeared to be a study, talking with another gentleman. The other gentleman looked familiar enough that I assumed he was one of the three who had arrived with Kerry's father. I took note of the fact that the car was gone and since I could not pinpoint the other two gentlemen anywhere on the property, I assumed they had both left.

Sheepishly, Kerry ventured to her door and opened it.

"What?" she asked her mother, tears in her eyes.

Now that the door was open her mother hustled inside Kerry's room. She turned around and noticed a necklace that Kerry was holding. Seeing it seemed to amaze her for some reason.

"Have? Are you? Did you make a choice, dear?" her mother asked. If she was anxious before, it was nothing compared with how anxious she looked now.

"No," said Kerry, though she seemed depressed about it.

"Good. Good. When you're upset is no time to make a choice like this," she informed her daughter.

What choice? What is Kerry upset about? The only clue I had was that Kerry's mother wore a similar necklace. The necklace pattern was intricate. The design was most complex at the latch on the back of her neck and then simplified until, at the front, four strings held a small gem. The gem seemed to shift uneasily between translucent and opaque, giving it a slight blue shimmer.

Her mother sat on the edge of the bed.

"We don't talk anymore Kerry. I feel like it's been a year! Come. Please sit down and just talk with me." she pleaded.

"I don't want to talk about it," answered Kerry.

"Fine, that's fine. We can talk about anything you want. How's school?"

Kerry sighed and sat next to her mom. She began talking about her classes.

Even when I'm in my human body, I have little trouble listening to two conversations at a time. A conversation is, after all, much less taxing mentally than keeping a human body made of fake matter together. Without the distraction and forced localization of my human body, I have no troubles listening to two conversations that are happening in two separate rooms.

The house currently had three people I could only assume were paid servants. Two looked to be cleaning, while a third was in the kitchen. Since it was now past 10:00pm, I could only assume she was cleaning up as well, although she did look like she was preparing something. It might be breakfast-related, I reasoned. It was then that I noticed that I recognised the chef. Something was familiar about her. She had a bracelet on. It, too, carried similar (though different) intricate patterns and held a green gemstone. Where would I know her from?

I considered materializing so that I could see her with human eyes. With proper eyes and my memory, I knew I could instantly place her. The risk, however, didn't seem worth it. I let it go.

"You didn't say a single word to poor Kyle, sweetie. He came this far north just to see you."

"Mom, he's, like 10 years older than me." Said Kerry.

"Your father is 9 years older than me, it doesn't matter," countered her mother.

"You weren't 16 when they married you off to him."

"They didn't," said her mom, sounding cross.

"Same difference," Kerry retorted, "If I'm Charmed, my heritage means the Elders will feel they have the right to bind me to whomever they think best."

"Sometimes," said her mother, "That's what it means to serve the Assembly, to put it before yourself. You would be glad for it Kerry!"

"Oh really?" asked Kerry, frowning, "You think?"

She grabbed her necklace in a weird grip, both thumbs were placed up the gem. Her gem looked like it was made of glass. The gem was so clear that until she pressed her thumbs against it, I had not noticed it was there.

"No, no, no!" said her mother, reaching for the necklace. She almost touched it before pulling her hand away. She put both her hands behind her back, as though trying to remove some temptation.

The pain in her voice was real, "Not yet, Kerry. You can't choose that path yet!"

"Why not mom!?" yelled Kerry, though she released her grip on the necklace, old tears still adorned her face, "Two more years and this thing will kill me if I don't do this. Why wait? You think I'm going to change my mind? Think I'm going to let the Elders choose my fate? I don't want to be part of your fancy club, mom." Then, under her breath so that her mom couldn't quite hear, I heard her murmur, "What I want, is Simon."

That startled me. It had only been a few days since we first talked. What path could she be choosing? How was this necklace a threat to her? What was her heritage? Who are these elders? What assembly were they serving? None of it made any sense.

Morally, I should have left right then. I had already stayed longer than just checking to make sure she was okay. Still, I was now curious.

"What happened?" asked her mother, seemingly speaking to herself, "How did this happen? You were so sure before, so ready to wear your birthright. Nobody doubted how you would choose. Most of us born to this know when we're 10 or 11. You were so sure, Kerry. What happened?"

Kerry stared at her mom for a while, I think she surprised her with an honest answer, "I met Kyle."

Her mother looked startled, "That's it? Kyle?"

Kerry shrugged, "Kinda."

Her mother grabbed Kerry's hands, "Sweetheart. Say the word and I will make sure both the Elders and the Council agree to never let that man near you so long as you live. If he's all that stands between you and ... and..."

Kerry shook her head and whispered as though she was afraid to say it, "It's all of them mom. I don't want any of them."

A silence sat between the two of them for a time. The tension in the room built. Her mother looked around the room and I recognised the stare in her eyes. She was lost. Lost and trying to find hope where she knew there was none.

"How ... how could you know?" she asked gently, she tried to sound strong, "there are so few of us in Canada, so how could you know?"

Silence.

Kerry fiddled with her necklace. Its presence seemed to calm both of them.

After a time, Kerry took a deep breath, "There's a boy," she said.

Her mother looked at her and smiled, "A boy?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"A boy? This is all for a boy?" her mother seemed relieved. Kerry and I were both confused. "I thought. I thought maybe Kyle had done something to you. I thought, I dunno." Then she took one giant sob, "you've changed so much since you met Kyle, I didn't know what to think!"

"God no, mom!" Kerry exclaimed pushing her mom's shoulder, "he didn't do anything ... Just, when I was little, I had a crush on every single Pros I met."

"I was the same way," smiled her mother.

"But then I didn't meet any for so long and when dad finally showed up with Kyle in tow ... that's when I knew. That's when I knew I'd lost whatever it was that made me like that."

Her mother looked thoughtful for a bit, "I've never heard of that happening." she said speculatively, "Once you've made the necklace and decided. I've never heard of a Charm changing their mind."

Kerry looked at her mother, "I'm not exactly a normal case, mom."

"There have been thousands of bloodline Charms before you and there will be thousands after, Kerry. Special, yes, but not so rare that we don't know what to expect."

The two of them looked at each other for a time and then her mother's eyes narrowed, "Simon can not be the reason for all this."

Kerry smiled, "you know his name! Are you spying on me?"

She didn't really seem upset at the idea, which was strange to me. Most teenage kids definitely do not want to be spied on.

"Of course I am sweetie!" said her Mother, "but this one I heard from your dad."

"Oh, he was such a jerk!" exclaimed Kerry.

"He's just protective."

"He tried to break Simon's hand!"

"Okay, so he's overprotective."

"That's an understatement!" said Kerry.

They both looked at each other and then started to giggle.

Suddenly Kerry's mom leaned over and hugged her, "I love you so much!" she said.

"I know," replied Kerry.

"I know it must feel like I'm pressuring you, sweetie. I just want you to be happy. In the end that's all that matters to me. You don't need this," she said, pointing at the necklace, "if you don't want it. Just, just know that you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," said Kerry.

"I love you," said her mother, letting go of the hug.

"I love you too" replied Kerry.

"Garrick, the Council is pushing to place you back into the States or move you to Germany."

"I'm not an idiot, Pete" answered Garrick. He was pacing back and forth.

Pete didn't respond, he just sat on the couch in the study, watching Kerry's Dad march back and forth.

"They're putting their foot down at 4 years. If you haven't got anything in 6 months; they're going to reassign you."

Garrick waved his hand as though swatting an annoying fly, "4 years, 10 years, what does it matter? I'm the best they've got. Their memories are short, Pete, far too short."

Garrick drove his fist at the wall and I was genuinely surprised that there was no damage. Pete didn't flinch.

"I want you to look up what you can about this Simon."

Pete raised an eyebrow, "your daughter's boyfriend? Is that really y-"

"I don't need your diatribe," interrupted Garrick.

Pete almost looked offended, but then quickly pulled a laptop out of a bag on the floor. It was only a few moments of typing before Pete looked up.

"There are two Simons at her school."

"Grades?"

"9 and 10."

"He's not younger than her, pull up what you can on the older one."

"Oh," said Pete softly. Where nothing had surprised him before, he seemed genuinely surprised now.

"What?" asked Garrick impatiently.

"We have a file on him."

"We what? Is he a candidate? I would have heard, he lives far too close. I would have been informed about a new candidate," said Garrick.

Pete shook his head, "The Charms have a file on him."

"He's not gifted," stated Garrick, "why do they have a file on him?"

"They think he might be," answered Pete, "but this file is older than that. Looks like one of the Munteanu picked him as their lineage exam. He is still unsolved."

"How?" asked Garrick.

"He was found on the side of the road. They guessed him to be around age six. Real name unknown. Given name, Simon Blackburn. There was a search for his family, but he remained unclaimed. I imagine that's when a Munteanu thought she'd solve the mystery for a little extra credit. Bit off more than she could chew."

"Anna?" asked Garrick.

Pete nodded.

"Anything else of interest? Training?" asked Garrick.

"Uhm. Let's see. Well, Latona Darraday has been assigned to him."

"Hasn't she retired? What's her interest in him?"

"She's been pulled out of retirement by the Elders. Apparently your daughter's boyfriend is a genius. In grade 7, he suggested an approach to solving the Goldbach Conjecture. It hasn't panned out to anything yet. We may not even have noticed, but his teacher was a PhD dropout who recognised the insight for what it was." said Pete.

There was a lot being talked about here that I couldn't understand, but the fact that they had a file on me was terrifying. The whole mix up about the Goldbach Conjecture had been my fault. It was so clearly true to me, that I didn't fathom it would still be an unsolved problem. That a teacher at my highschool had been assigned to watch me was truly terrifying. Who are these people and what sort of organisation are they?