The Serpent's Shadow

'Oh Gawd.' Norrey did not break out into tears, as Maya had half feared she would. She only seemed resigned. Evidently she had already come to that conclusion on her own. 'Wot's t'do, then? Nothin', I s'pose.'

Maya hesitated. She had come to know Norrey over the past few months; she was better than her surroundings, and had a rude sense of honor. She had certainly been better than her word with Maya. Not only had she made it known on the street that anyone touching Maya, her servants or her house and office would be courting more trouble than any petty thief could withstand, she had brought Maya more than one little street waif for treatment who would otherwise not have come on his or her own.

'What would you do for a cure?' Maya asked cautiously. 'Would you be willing to let me try something?'

Norrey looked at her with disbelief mixed with a little—just a little-—hope. 'Wotcha mean?' she asked. 'There ain't no cure.'

'What if there were?' Maya replied: 'What would you do?'

Norrey laughed, bitterly. 'Well, if there wuz t'be be some kinder mir'cle, an' if summun wuz t'give th' loiks'a'me a mir'cle, well, reckon I'd let y' do whatever.'

'Remember that,' Maya said, 'because this may hurt a lot.' And before Norrey could move, Maya caught up both her hands in an unbreakable grip.

This would be the first time she had ever tried to heal a disease. She had strengthened people who were failing, she had even encouraged surgical incisions to close faster, but she had never tried to drive out a disease before.

If I don't try, I'll never know if I can.

This was the safest possible place to try. There were no observers, no doctors to wonder at what had happened if she succeeded or what she was doing while she tried, and she was behind strong shields.

Norrey tried to pull her hands away, her eyes widening. Maya stared into Norrey's eyes and willed her to be still.

The girl froze, then relaxed, and stopped resisting; her mouth relaxed, and her eyelids drooped, although her eyes did not quite close. In fact, she seemed to have been hypnotized, though how could that be?

Never mind. If she could strike that cad Parkening down with her mind, perhaps she could hypnotize as well.

I feel like Svengali ...if, when I am finished, she begins singing 'Sweet Alice,' I think I may scream.

She reached deeply into the earth beneath her for that magic which was hers alone in all of London, so far as she knew; the action was second nature to her now. The power flowed into her, sweet and golden as honey, stronger now than it had ever been before— as if the power itself wanted her to heal this child.

Very well, then; if that's the case, I am much obliged, I'm sure.

She poured out the power into Norrey, flooding the darkness in the girl's lungs with light. The disease was like a pernicious growth, a dark and creeping vine that choked out everything it encountered, stealing the breath and life for itself.

The darkness resisted, but she sensed its roots were not deep, and she pushed harder against it with the golden light, not burning it out, but uprooting and withering it before it could take root again. Little by little, it gave ground, retreating, shrinking in on itself. Relentlessly, she pursued it, and as it retreated, leaving raw and damaged flesh in its wake, she laid down a honey-glow balm that healed the lungs before they could scar.

Now it tried a different tactic: to wall itself off inside a stony cocoon, making her think she had defeated it. If she left now, it would emerge again later, the next time that conditions were favorable—and given the risky life that Norrey lived, conditions were almost always favorable. Maya knew this trick of old. This dormant state was the condition that sanitariums attempted to induce, since they could not cure—

But it always came back again.

Not this time. Ruthlessly she followed it into its hiding place, breaking the walls apart and continuing to uproot and wither. This was hurting Norrey. The girl gasped; her hands clenched tightly on Maya's, and tears streamed down her smudged cheeks. But it couldn't be helped. Better this than the slow and agonizing death by suffocation that awaited her.

Done!