Water is Thicker than Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

so as to not
alarm you all.”
     
    * * *
     
    “ Master Dunwich,” ask Archmage Hex as Joseph opened the
door. He walked pass Joseph without waiting to be invited
in.
    “ Archmage! To what do I owe the honor of you visiting our home? Might you
want something to drink?”
    “ Is your mother here?”
    “ No, no she is not. She went with Ms. Rue across the way to
the market.”
    Hex folded his arms in front of him. “I am told that we
have you to...thank...for the breakthrough with the
generator.”
    “ Well, I don’t believe I deserve too much credit. They done
did the heavy lifting. I just was able to offer that final little
push is all.”
    “ Little push? Hm. You and I have different views on the
matter. It would have taken months, possibly years, to channel that
much arcane energy into the structure. It was an impressive feat of
magic for one so young in the craft.”
    “ Well, you flatter me, Archmage.”
    “ It’s not flattery.”
    “ Archmage, I don’t believe I understand—”
    “ Don’t. Just don’t. There is only one way a piss ant wannabe con artist like
you could have managed a feat like that.”
    “ Sir, it is impolite to insult a man in his own
home.”
    “ It isn’t an insult when it is true. Human sacrifice is
prohibited by the Circle!” Joseph made a gesture as if to deny the
charge. “Don’t play me for a fool, Dunwich. I’m not some
simple-minded commoner easily confused by your charming ways. You
think you are the first power-hungry punk to take short cuts? Think
you are in control of whatever power you called to? It takes years
to master even the simplest of talismans to invoke the netherworld
safely. Who did you summon? Astaroth? Vapula? Barbas?” Joseph
looked down at his feet and shuffled involuntarily in place. “Did
you even stop to consider the repricussions of your
actions?”
    “ You mean helping save people’s lives by giving them clean
water?”
    “ I mean the long-term repricussions of your actions. The
potential dangers of starting up the generator before the full
wards and protections were in place. We could have experienced an
arcane backlash that blew up the Circle! It could have imploded
under its out output. Did you think of the danger of people now
knowing that we can create these kind of generators? I have a meeting with
Samedi today about this. What should I tell him if he wants
generators for every district?”
    “ The Baron ain’t above a few people dying for the betterment
of Nola. Tell him the truth.”
    “ Tell him the truth? You are completely mad.”
    “ Why not tell him the truth? He’s a man himself of occult-leanings.
He’d surely understand the neccessity of a single sacrifice for the
good of hundreds of people. Or maybe I’ll tell him myself if you
disinclined to do it.”
    Hex took two quick steps toward Joseph and leaned into him
until there was only a hair’s breath between them. “I can’t do
anything to you formally right now, because doing so would threaten
the Circle with infighting that we can ill afford right now. You
managed to convince the right people on the council that this was a
good idea. Good show. I underestimated how conniving you really
were. But know this. If you so much as sneeze in Samedi’s direction without my
permission, Lady Rae may be alerted to the presence of a bokor in
Bywater. And then you can show off to the Voodoo Queen just how
much power you think you have.”
    Joseph swallowed reflexively and stepped away from Hex. “Ain’t
nothing bad can happen from this.”
    “ I’m sure Madame Curie thought the same thing when she
carried those glowing tubes in her pocket.”
    “ Who?”
    “ Marie Curie.” Joseph shrugged. “The mother of
radioactivity? We have a library at the Circle. Have you never bothered to use
it?”
    Joseph rolled his eyes.
    “ This is the point, Joshua! You have no sense of history. It
never occured to Madame Curie that her research would one day lead
to nuclear weapons that