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Conrad stepped out from behind our pew and addressed The Board. I noticed he schooled his accent slightly.
“Honorable members of Di Board.” He addressed the audience, his voice echoed off of the stone walls of the courtroom.
“I was sent on a mission, this past May, by di people in dis very room, to collect and protect, di Origin’s Dawta.” He paused, as the audience absorbed his words.
“When mi sent on dis mission, mi expect to find a daemon, who might be as evil as di rest of dem. We have heard tales of di demons, our whole lives. We have been told dey are cruel, evil creatures, who wish to hurt us, and disturbe di peace.” He paused again, looking back at me and meeting my gaze, before turning back to face The Board.
“What mi found, was not a cruel, evil being, plotting to disrupt di balance.” He gestured to me. “What mi found, was a friend. A friend who come to care for me, and mi for her. A friend who was scared, and lonely. A friend whose family was destroyed, by Ash Nevra, Queen of di Court of Lust.
“Since den, mi have travelled across Di Veil.” The audience erupted into nervous chatter. Magick folk volleyed questions and shouts of disbelief rolled through the crowd. The wave of noise grew to a clamor before the Sorcerer General brought her gavel down, calling out ‘Order, Order!’
The audience settled, and Conrad waited a beat before he continued.
“Mi have travelled across Di Veil.” He repeated, more quietly now. “And mi have met more daemons. Daemons who are kind and just, daemons, who are just like us.”
The crowd murmured again, but quieted before the Sorcerer General could bring down her gavel a second time. Conrad walked up to the pew that Amon and I sat at and he gestured to the Prince of Pride, who sat quietly, accepting what may come.
“Mi met Prince Amon, of di Court of Pride. One of di most feared daemons of dem all. And do you know what mi find?” The audience was silent, waiting on the edges of their seats, for Conrad to continue. Amon arched an elegant brow, and I realized he too, was interested in what Conrad had to say.
“Mi find a decent male. A male who come tuh save us, when our own kind had turned against us. Mi find a male who have given up everything, to protect his people, and free di ones he loves from slavery.
“Mi find a male, who has helped mi friend through di death of her mother, Clairafine Fisher. The Clairafine Fisher, who’s murder was brought on by di hands of Kieran of di Nightshades. A wizard who sat there, in dis very room, di day I was sent to find Rayven!” He dramatically pointed to the empty seat in the room, where a small white and red flag of England sat, abandoned.
The audience exploded again into chatter. Witches and wizards from different countries pressed their heads together, deliberating. I could make nothing out of the chatter and the noise. Finally, the Sorcerer General brought down her gavel once more, ordering silence.
“Der are dark tings going on, beyond Di Veil.” Conrad continued, when silence fell across the court room. “If Ash Nevra has been able to enslave beings as powerful as the daemon Prince who sits before yuh, do yuh tink she will stop der?
“Do yuh think that Ash Nevra and di Nightshades will be happy with just the Dominion of Sin? Or do you tink dey will turn their sights on us too?” He paused, but this time there was no eruption of chatter, no exclamations. Just silence, as Conrad’s words echoed around us.
“Honorable Members of Di Board, we ask you today, to allow us permission to take Di Lens with us across di Veil. We have consulted a power known as Di Eye, and it has shown us di way. With Di Lens, we might be able tuh awaken Di Origin, and bring balance back to this world, and the world beyond Di Veil.
“Di Board’s mission is to keep di balance. Der is no balance, when der are people who live in slavery. Please. Grant us dis small favor, so dat we might ensure yuh children nuh meet di same fate dat Prince Amon’s people have.”
The silence that followed was deafening. I glanced at Amon, who was watching Conrad intently, as if he had never seen the Obeah Man before. I held my breath, and then finally, the Sorcerer General spoke.
“All those in favor of granting the daemons request of borrowing The Lens for this mission, say aye.” Time slowed, I felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room. This was it. This was the moment. It was now or never.
Finally, one witch with a Swedish flag before her raised her hand. “Aye.”
I tried to school my face, but couldn’t help the thrill of excitement that shot through me. Next, a German wizard raised his hand.
“Aye,” he said. Then Brazil, followed by Kenya, India, and Japan.
Conrad glanced back at us, a smile spreading across his face, as more and more hands went up behind him. A series or ‘Ayes’ rolled like a symphony around us, crashing against the stone walls.
My breath caught in my throat, and I looked at Amon, unable to keep the excitement off of my face.
“He did it.” I breathed. Amon was watching Conrad, a considering look on his face.
“He did,” he agreed. As the Sorcerer General slammed her gavel down for the last time.
“The honored members of The Board have spoken. The vote is passed.”
26
After the meeting, each of the members conceded to a forgetting spell on their way out. It felt a shame that none of them would remember Conrad’s speech.
But we would. Sofia asked us to join her in her chambers after she had dismissed the rest of the Board, and we filed behind her. Conrad levitated Patricia’s chair up the stone steps as we settled into the handsome room that sat behind the door Sofia had entered from.
