Nature or Nurture Ch. 40-42

Chapter 40

Adison is very proud to show their practice to Melissa. It is actually a rather simple room, but it works exactly as they had imagined, and Melissa is impressed by its functionality. As Adison looks at it now, she realizes hot water would be a great thing to have here, too, but she has no doubt that subject will be discussed a lot the coming days.

After taking in the entire room, Melissa says, 'Thank you for showing me, it looks very professional, it must make things a lot easier for you.'

'It does, we used to spend hours walking around in the city, and especially in the dark that wasn't always safe. Which is why we learned how to defend ourselves.'

Melissa nods, and suggests they check on the boiler, it may be finished, and when they enter the bathroom, Adison sees Paul light up as he does something inside the boiler, and she asks, 'Is he doing it? Are you using magic right now?'

That last sentence straight at Paul himself, who looks caught and confesses, 'I am, it is so much faster than using tinder and matches. So you've discovered sight, that is good. I guess Melissa has told you not to touch the ley-lines, the green lines? They're dangerous, you need guidance to do that. Will you get the rest? I'm going to explain how to work this baby.'

So now she knows she really can see when someone uses magic, even if they don't announce their intent. It seems something that just needs wakening, not conscious effort.

She calls for Victor and Mina, and they gather around the boiler as Paul explains how to stoke it, how it can be filled with water and how to check the pressure.

'It will take an hour to heat up, but it can stay lighted day and night, even in summer, on the same amount of coal you'd use to stoke that beast once a week.'

Adison can hardly believe that, that means they can have a hot shower whenever they want. Vincent will be so pleased.

They move to the kitchen, where Victor pays Paul and the men battle it out over the old boiler. Paul says the price Victor asks for it is too low, and Victor doesn't seem to care, he just wants to be rid of the beast.

In the end they agree that Victor will have it delivered on Paul's cost, and if they want the extension, Paul will do the kitchen for free, and they will pay for the practice. With a last advice to contact him if anything doesn't function as it should, Paul and his friends leave, and Adison and Victor walk them to the door.

Outside, they both witness another one of Paul's creations, as all three of them unlock a two-wheeled contraption made of iron, ornamented with bronze. They climb on a narrow saddle on top, grab the handle bars and put one foot on a protrusion that seems made for that purpose. The bag with tools hangs from Paul's handle bar.

With a last wave, they put their other foot on a mirror image of the protrusion on the other side, and they move their legs around quickly, setting the thing in motion, staying upright on just two wheels.

Adison is stunned, this is the best invention ever, they go very fast, but that thing doesn't poop, or eat, or shy, or die.

It just does its work, making the three of them totally independent of horses or cabs, and going much faster than their own two legs can carry them. Though they do need a good road, but the roads in the city are improving all the time, and even her father has good roads on his estate these days.

As they disappear from sight, Adison looks at Victor and sees undisguised jealousy in his face.

He looks at Adison and says, 'That guy has the job I still dream of having. The job I would have had if I hadn't become obsessed by life and death. I bet he made those bicycles himself. This is the first time I'm really jealous of someone, Adison. Well, except maybe Vincent when the two of you first fell in love.'

That is so sweet.

And Adison has no problem at all imagining Victor jealous of Paul's career, the apparatus with which he brought Vincent back to life looked just like that, and he did make a functioning boiler before he found out that someone else was much better at it.

'Thanks, Victor. You know I've always had special feelings for you, too. And I understand your envy of Paul, too. I'm not jealous of his job, I've never wanted to be anything but a doctor, but I am very, very jealous of those, bicycles you call them? I want one, Victor.'

'I want one, too, it'll be horribly expensive, but I don't care.'

Victor still looks a bit envious, until his expression changes and becomes rather soft again.

'Will you be all right, Adison? That was quite a lot of information to process. Imagine you being a mage!'

Sometimes Victor surprises her, he seems a bit removed from the true world, but now and then he shows that he does feel like the rest of them do.

'In a way it is a relief to know those powers come from inside me,' she replies, 'I feel more comfortable in a world where things follow the laws of physics, even if I have to extend them to include magic energy.

You know I can see them now, the lines they mentioned. I won't touch them, but if they are filled with power, imagine what I can do once I've learned to control them. I could have blasted that gytrash out of this world.'

That sure makes an impression on Victor, Adison sounding almost aggressive, but Adison is not done talking.

'But some things are just too profound to believe they come from just me. Like freeing Mina and Miss Yves from possession. Do you really think I did that, nothing more than just me? I used those Chinese words, were they a spell? Or an incantation?'

Victor puts an arm around her.

'We will find out, don't worry. If they cannot help you discover your power, they will most likely know someone who can. They seemed pretty nice to me, and if you two bring them that huge chunk of bronze, those guys will be very pleased. Imagine that smaller guy just telling you about Catherine having talent for magic. It could have gotten him put away for being mad, he must be very brave, or very foolhardy.'

'I think he is very empathic, remember, he is supposed to be a healer. With magic. I didn't know that was possible.'

Suddenly, Victor looks at her in amazement and blurts out, 'What if you have done that before, too, instinctively? Remember Mr Chandler's girl, with the consumption? That night he called us over, she was dying, she was. I've seen it before, there was no life left in her. And you did something with her and she improved a lot.

And Mrs Gould, the case that gave our practice the reputation for bringing back the dead? What if you cured them both with magic?'

'Brona isn't cured, she's still dying, but maybe consumption is too deadly to cure. She has lived a lot longer already than that night suggested she would. And Melissa said I had a lot of personal power, maybe that is something that needs building up, like muscle, or skill.

I do need to know more, and next time we have a bad case, I'll be curious to see whether that special way of seeing things works to help find a cure. Melissa could look right into Vincent, and Mina, without knowing anything about them.

Let's try to get it activated in Catherine as well, she'll be able to recognize someone out to do her harm or seduce her. Though if they try to seduce her by hurting her again, they might as well give her a scorpion as a pet.'

In all the consternation they have not had time to have dinner yet, so Adison wakes Catherine and they have dinner without Vincent for once. It feels strange, Adison always misses her large man when he is not around, but she will see him soon enough, and he is among friends as much as she herself is.

He will miss his colleagues when he moves on, she can only hope that he will be welcomed in his new group as much as he was here. He must be an upstart to them, rising above himself. But despite his doubts about his appearance a few days ago, Vincent can take care of himself, and he does have something about him that makes people like him instantly.

Also, his love of poetry and anything written will make him fit right in with the crowd at St James, people there will be more elite, and probably very well-read, but Vincent's proud stance combined with him being soft-spoken makes him seem anything but lower-class.

Catherine wants to know everything Adison found out from their guests, she wasn't there when they discussed magic and Adison sees no reason not to tell her about it. It is as it was with all of them, she is stunned to hear that magic truly exists, but she immediately sees the truth in it, and she observes, 'So that is why someone wants me, I'm a nice little power plant to them.'

She's clearly thinking of everything that life has thrown at her so far.

'But if I have so much talent for magic, why isn't dad a mage? And he never told me anything about Cathy being a mage. Where did I get it then?'

They tell her about Paul's observations, that Vincent has a large mage-talent, but that it is bound to his physical form.

'So he can see mages, too,' she concludes, and, 'I must be able to see them as well, I want to learn how as quickly as possible, I don't feel afraid now, but I'll feel much safer if I can see an enemy coming. And what about that cute guy, I really liked him, I want to know what he is. He promised to tell me, but of course I was asleep. Oh, and I promised not to tell anyone about him, so please forget I said that.'

Somehow, things don't work that way, telling people to forget something generally makes them want to know more, and so it is in this case.

'Oh well, they know about me, and dad, and Mina being special, so you can know that the smaller guy, Lukas, is not human. But don't tell him you know, if you ever meet him again. I really want to see him again, he's so sweet.'

Can a two year old girl have a crush already? Adison doesn't know, but it certainly seems that way. 'What did you like so much about him, then?'

'He was nice to me, and he talked to me like an adult, and he just looked cute, with those big brown eyes.'

Adison remarks, 'I didn't notice him much, he didn't say anything, well, besides warning us that you needed protection. So you'd like to see him again?'

'Yes, I would. Though it wouldn't be much fun if I had to be a toddler all the time.'

'If he is really not human and he tells you whatever he is instead, you can talk to him as much as you please, my dear Catherine,' Victor states.

The girl smiles from ear to ear and climbs on his lap, then hugs him warmly. She doesn't say anything, which can be counted a miracle, but of course Victor is puzzled by her sudden affection.

'You want to talk to him that much?'

He gets another hug, and she deigns to explain, 'No, you called me dear. I like that.'

'I love you, too.'

Victor takes the little girl in his arms and hugs her tightly, if she wants to be hugged a lot, he doesn't mind. She's cute, and as smart as most adults he knows. Not at all how he thought a child would be.

By now it is time to go to the theatre, and Mina is taking them over again, returning to Victor straight away. Adison wonders if it is weird of them, to go to the show every evening, but Catherine still enjoys it, and she feels glad herself to be close to Vincent, even if she has to share him with an entire audience.

And it's only for another two weeks, after that Vincent will play a lot further from home, making it much harder to visit, so she plans to make the most of the time they still have like this.

But tonight she is planning to see whether she can use her newly found talent for seeing magic to spy out people with the same talent. Maybe Dorian Grey will be there, and she can see what is going on with him. And if she does see someone light up, she can point it out to Catherine, hopefully awakening her ability to see those things as well.

Seeing Catherine enjoy the show again, Adison is glad they came. Tomorrow will be a special day, and they will celebrate their marriage here, a place they have come to love. Scanning the crowd, she does not spot the cronies at first, but during the break she hears Catherine gasp and then she sees them, too.

They both seem to contain a light, and it is a disconcerting thought to Adison that both herself and Catherine, and Vincent as well, glow up like that for anyone with the ability to see. But this proves that everything they have been through somehow has to do with magic, and she asks Catherine quietly, 'When you look at those ladies, do you see something special about them?'

'They look just like last time,' Catherine answers, 'mean and cold.'

'I wish I could do some magic to show you the light inside them,' Adison says, 'it would be so much easier if you could see that for yourself.'

'You mean you never saw that before?'

The little girl seems put out.

'I thought everybody saw that. Yours is very bright, and dad's, too. Is that how you can see if someone has magic? I thought it was like hair colour, just something someone has. Why didn't those people today have them, then? They must have magic or they wouldn't tell you about it.'

'I saw such a light in them, when they used magic. Not in the one you like, the others. And not when they were not doing it, like those ladies, or you. And dad and me apparently. I'm not yet used to it, I have to make a slight effort to see it. But you say you see it all the time?'

Catherine nods.

'Yes, always have. And those green lines and large blobs on the ends, are those magic, too?'

'They are, and Melissa says not to touch them without a mage present. They're dangerous.

When you look at dad, or Mina, do you see something different in them?'

'Mina doesn't have the light, nor does Victor. Dad does, very bright. But he cannot do magic, so are you sure it is magic that gives the light? Bruce has a small one, too.'

'So you don't see anything special in dad or Mina?'

Catherine shrugs, a very weird thing to do for such a tiny girl.

'No, nothing special.'

That must be because her magic is not active, yet.

Soon, the play starts again, and when it is finished, Adison can see the two ladies move in on Vincent. She decides not to worry too much, they will try to reach him until they have succeeded, and he knows they're bad news, so better let the act begin.

Mr Grey is not there, and neither is Vanessa. Adison sees Vincent talking to two middle aged men that he seems to know, and his demeanour shows he is immensely pleased to see them. One is tall, heavily built and dressed like a dandy. The other is of average height and build, but very handsome, and dressed expensively but not gaudily. That description reminds her of something she has heard.

From Vincent of course! It must be the playwright and the director of the St James! Small wonder Vincent seems impressed.

It's just incredible to see such important, educated people here, and they both seem to have enjoyed the show. Adison decides to close in to hear what they have to say.

On her way, she can see the two ladies talking to Bruce, who has not been warned against them, yet. Better do that soon, though he will be difficult to enchant, since his family will certainly notice and take steps.

Vincent has spotted her, and he introduces her, and Catherine, to the two gentlemen, with pride in his voice. They are both very gallant, and Catherine is at her most ravishing, doll-like and pretty rather than cute and toddlerish, as if she instinctively understands that these men have no experience with children and no appreciation for cuteness.

And Adison notices her daughter is keeping a sharp eye on the ladies, she does not let important visitors keep her from guarding her back.

The men are very free with compliments for Vincent, the playwright praising his proud and dignified bearing, is he by any chance a swordsman?

Vincent is pleased to be found out, and he admits to being an avid practitioner of the sport. The self-confident dandy is very pleased to hear that and tells them that a certain gentleman of his acquaintance is considered a very good fighter, and is always on the lookout for new opponents, and he hopes they may find the opportunity to cross blades when Vincent starts the rehearsals.

Of course, Vincent is always happy to hone his skills, and to test them against someone who undoubtedly has had the best masters will be a great pleasure, so he says, 'I'll be honoured to test my skills against a proficient gentleman.'

Adison of course thinks of their guest this afternoon, and his search for a market for his products. If Vincent likes his blades and takes one to spar with a gentleman, doors may open.

The other man confesses to be very impressed by Vincent's melancholy hero. He had not expected to find such depth in a penny dreadful character like the one he portrays, and he clearly looks forward to playing with him.

'It is so hard to find good actors for the minor roles, when they can have such an impact on a play. Your part is very important to the whole piece, and I'm looking forward very much to directing you, Vincent.'

With superb graciousness he also compliments Adison.

'Miss Adison, I hear you will be a Missus tomorrow? My congratulations on marrying a great talent. But I'm surprised and pleased to hear you have an important career of your own, we entertainers always have the greatest respect for those who sacrifice themselves for the good of others, and Dr Frankenstein's practice has a most exalted reputation.'

That guy is certainly fond of words! Adison accepts his compliments with a bow, and a gentle 'Thank you, I'm very glad to hear we are well known.'

Both gentlemen can appreciate that little play with words, they do not seem to look at women as a different and slightly dumb species like so many other gentlemen, and they even notice Catherine by speaking to her like a human being. Of course they have no clue that a normal toddler would not understand a word of what they are saying, they have no experience at all with children.

'Do you enjoy seeing your father play?' the handsome man asks, and Catherine answers with iron self-discipline, 'Yes, daddy's great!'

'My play has rather difficult humour, I hope you will understand it,' says the playwright.

'I like watching daddy,' is Catherine's reply.

'So you'll come to see it?' he asks, and Catherine replies, 'Yes, I want to.'

'Maybe he'll bring you to the rehearsals sometimes,' Mr Alexander offers, 'that will be great fun to watch.'

'May I?' she asks innocently, 'I like you.'

And her sweetest smile wraps them around her little finger quite neatly.

The two gentlemen take their leave, and now the two ladies approach the little group. Vincent has that blank look for a fraction of a second, and Adison knows he has seen it, too.

They do nothing extraordinary, they praise Vincent's acting and pretend to be avid fans. He accepts their praise graciously, and converses with them politely.

Catherine watches them unobtrusively, easier for a child to do since people expect children to look at their surroundings a lot.

Vincent seems totally relaxed, Catherine on his arm, Adison by his side, and soon the ladies move on. They're a bit more subtle than their older partner.

After the meeting Adison and Catherine accompany him to the dressing room, where Catherine warns Bruce about the two ladies he spoke to, and the two men remove their make-up and change clothes, and they walk home as a little group, Bruce and Maud walking along with them as well.

For some time now, it has seemed as if Maud and Bruce are becoming an item.

They are together very often, since the time Maud moved in with Bruce's parents after she had to leave the apartment she shared with Simon, when the man who was then lead player of the company was thrown out for trying to have Vincent beaten up to get him out of the show. Bruce always accompanied her to the theatre, even when there was no longer a danger in her going alone because Simon had died in an attempt on Victor's life.