A Lesson In Eugenics
FREYA STEPPED OUT of the car, pulled her coat off and threw it on to the car seat. At last the summer had shown a bit of promise with cloudless skies and warm days. Freya ducked her head back in to the car to see Langdon folding a map and putting it in his bag of many pockets. “You sure this is the right one? I don’t want to look like an idiot.” He looked over his glasses at her and pulled a piece of paper from the bag.
“72 Milton Way,” he read from the paper. “this is the one.”
The car was parked on a residential estate, every house a picture of suburban perfection. Rich green, even lawns. Flower beds and rock gardens. Number 72 had a wonderful garden like the rest, perhaps even more perfect than the rest. Bright flowers were arranged in a circle of beautiful shapes and colours. Freya admired them as she passed. She strode up to the front door and knocked. Langdon followed behind, adjusting his shirt.
A man opened the door and before he had a chance to realise who was stood on his porch, Freya wrapped her arms around him in a hug. “Hi, you okay?” she moved out of the hug and held on to the man’s shoulders, grinning madly. The man was blinking in disbelief. Freya took one hand away and reached out to Langdon. “Roger, this is Joe.” The two men shook hands and Freya strode past confidently to go inside.
With the front door shut, the act was dropped. Roger pushed up his sleeves and looked at the other two. “I’m the doctor,” informed Langdon, “this is my friend Freya, she’s here to help me.” The man and his house both looked as if they belonged in an advert for cleaning spray. The carpet was a clean cream colour and the walls were white, adorned with photographs and one large gold framed mirror. Everything was neat and perfect. Roger led them in to the living room, equally bright and white as the hallway.
A young, pretty woman stood up, out of the sofa, offered a hand to Langdon and shook it. “Hi, I’m Anna. Sit, please,” offered the woman. Her voice was muted and clumsy but it was no surprise to Freya. Langdon had told her about Anna’s deafness before they arrived. Her hearing however, wasn’t the reason they were there. Freya and Langdon sat themselves down, Langdon sat between the two women at an angle so he could face Anna. Roger stood with his arms folded. Langdon put his bag on the floor then slapped both his hands on his knees and looked between the couple.
“Now,” he began, “your husband tells me you’re trying for a baby.”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Anna, staring intently at Langdon, reading his lips. Her short hair flopped in front of her face and she pushed it neatly behind her ear.
“How long have you been trying for?”
“I think,” she looked to her husband and made a couple of hand gestures. Roger nodded and signed back to her, “yes, almost a year.”
“Have either of you suffered any long term illnesses? Like the Flu or even a cold that never seemed to go away?” Anna simply shook her head.
“This is why we’re confused more than anything,” said Roger, “the worst we’ve had is a cold, nothing major. We just don’t get it.”
“All right then. Well I best start with a medical examination, who’s going first?”
They decided that Anna would be the first to be examined. Langdon and Freya gave up their seats to allow her to lie down across the sofa. Langdon perched on the coffee table next to her whilst Freya knelt on the floor and Roger sat on a chair brought in from the kitchen.
First Langdon brought a needle from his bag and took a small amount of blood from Anna. He then took out the pestle and mortar and syringed Anna’s blood in to the bowl. To this he added a small container of murky brown potion. He mixed the two then began to rub the mixture on his hands. Anna was asked to pull her top up enough to bare her abdomen.
Before arriving, Langdon had told Freya the idea of the overall spell. The blood created a connection between the patient’s body and Langdon. The connection allowed him to gather information about the patient and “see” in to their body. As he worked Freya talked with Roger.
“It’s a long time to wait, a year,” said Freya.
“A whole year of waiting to see what’ll happen, only to discover nothing’s come of it. It was always our dream to have a kid.” Roger watched his wife as Langdon worked.
“Your house could do with a little mess maker, it’s too pristine in here.” Freya joked. She watched Roger drift in to a daydream, a dream that involved a family of three, a happy family.
“God I hope nothing’s wrong,” said Roger. He covered his face in his hands. The room was quiet until a loud knock at the door disturbed them. Roger looked up, “I’ll tell them to come back later.” He stood up and left the room, shutting the door behind him. The only evidence that Langdon had heard the knock was him opening his eyes for the briefest of moments before shutting them again. It was an odd sight to see him with bloodied hands, hovering over the woman’s stomach.
After another minute Roger could still be heard talking at the front door. Suddenly a gasp from Langdon joined the sound. He jerked his hands away and opened his eyes. “Impossible,” he said.
“What?” asked both Freya and Anna.
“You’ve,” he struggled to find the words, “someone’s given you a hysterectomy, well... not quite... I.” Freya grabbed his arm and shook it, staring at him in mild anger.
“Be clearer Joe.” Freya let go and Langdon stopped talking for a few seconds to gather himself.
“Your fallopian tubes are cut and not just them, there are other areas affected.” Anna looked confused, her eyes darting between Freya and Langdon in panic. “You’re sterile” Freya moved to kneel down beside Langdon and leaned over to gently touch the woman’s face so that they were looking at one another. She reached out to Anna’s mind, creating a connection.
“He says you’re sterile.” A voice came back to her.
“But how?” Anna’s voice was clear.
“I don’t know,” said Freya. She then spoke aloud again. “Talk to her, I can translate. She wants to know how.” At this Langdon stared at her in disbelief. She knew why. Looking in to another person’s mind was a talent not usually associated with humans and Langdon knew it. Thankfully he didn’t raise the subject.
Langdon began to clean his hands with antiseptic wipes and shook his head. Roger appeared, walking slowly back in to the room, not interrupting but listening intently to what was being said. “I don’t know,” said Langdon, “this isn’t just damage through illness. This was done by someone, with magic. It seems the only way it’s possible.” Freya re-laid the information to Anna. Langdon, with hands clean again, placed one on Anna’s shoulder. “I’m so so sorry.” Roger folded his arms, and used one hand to cover his mouth as he began to silently cry.
“Does this mean,” Freya heard, “I can’t have a baby?” Freya nodded. “But who would do this, why?” Tears ran down the woman’s face and on to Freya’s fingers, leaving a cool trail.
“She asks who and why,” said Freya. She took her hand away, neither of them knew what to say. Langdon moved away and started to pack away his things as Anna and Roger cried silently. A sense of deep sadness and pity came across Langdon and Freya, beginning to feel like intruders on the couple’s news.
LANGDON, FREYA, MATT and Liz were all gathered in the library. Langdon was determined to find out what had happened. He had promised the couple he would do his best to find a way to reverse the operation if that is what it could be called. He knew magic had played a part, there was no signs of scarring anywhere on the woman. It was also the only way it could have happened without her knowledge.
“Why would anyone do this?” asked Liz, “It’s horrible.”
“It’s just plain weird, like a horror story,” said Matt. “Maybe demons did it,” he joked.
“No, Matt,” said Liz. Matt suddenly looked guilty.
“No, I don’t think it was a demon,” said Langdon. He had been thinking about it all day. “In the late 1800’s Alexander Graham Bell carefully suggested that deaf men should not marry deaf women. He had learnt that such pairings were more likely to produce a deaf child than if one were not deaf. It’s called eugenics, a means of improving the human race by encouraging the bearing of children among the more intellectual or physically superior members of society and sterilising the undesirable members.” Langdon walked across the room and leant his hands on the windowsill to look outside. He let his snippet of knowledge sink in.
“Well that’s a mouthful,” said Matt.
“You think someone did this on purpose?” asked Liz, “Because she’s deaf?”
“Why not?” said Langdon, “That’s what the Solution is. The only difference between the Darwin Solution and past practices in eugenics is that the public isn’t put in to groups of those with good DNA and bad DNA. The nature of the Solution does it for us. Survival of the fittest and by allowing us to heal ourselves, it’s survival of the smartest too.”
“Maybe it wasn’t enough then,” said Matt, “maybe now they feel the need to step in even more.”
Langdon’s brain kept on working. Had they stumbled upon a government secret? Was this what Cresswell wanted him to know?
The day after Langdon found himself at Anna’s workplace, a rather ordinary office block. Rows of computer desks and numbered rooms went by as Langdon walked to his destination. He was looking for something that Anna came in contact with everyday, something she either used or ate. A potion of some description seemed the most likely cause for Anna’s problem, a potion that over time would affect her.
He took a detour to inspect the computer she used, gaining funny looks from the girls working either side of it. He smiled at them and quickly brushed the keyboard with a powder he pulled from his pocket. After no reaction he moved.
Langdon walked past women gathered together to gossip about a colleague and men using any opportunity to show off their new mobile phones. Langdon’s destination was a small kitchen filled with empty tea cups which were gradually being placed in to a dishwasher by a short, over worked brunette.
Langdon bent over to try and catch the woman’s eye. She looked up, not very impressed. “Want a hand?” he asked.
“Are you new?” asked the woman, “because if you weren’t you’d know that I’m the only one who ever bothers to do this.”
“I don’t work here,” said Langdon, “so perhaps you’ll let me do that in exchange for answering some very simple questions.” The office worker was sceptical and stood watching Langdon, refusing to answer until the entire kitchen was spotless. As Langdon switched the dishwasher on the woman finally smiled and asked him to go ahead.
“A woman named Anna works here,” the woman nodded in recognition, “I just wanted to know if there was an item of food or drink she had every day, like a drink or yoghurt?” the woman looked quizzically at him, obviously finding the question to be different to what she had expected.
“Only her tea, like most of us,” said the woman. Langdon looked back at her. No, it had to be an item specific to her. It was unlikely that whoever did this would want to affect the whole work team.
“I was thinking more along the lines of something only she had,” said Langdon. The woman shook her head slowly then stopped as a thought hit her.
“She did use sweeteners in her tea. The bosses brought them in for her. Although there is someone else who uses them.” This had to be it. A consumable brought in for her by someone else. It was highly possible the sweeteners could have been tampered with before their arrival in the kitchen. However if they were the cause, someone else could have been affected by them too.
“Where are they?” he asked. The brunette pulled them out of the cupboard for him. They were in a fairly large container for objects so small. If full it could easily contain enough sweeteners to last a person for months.
“Look,” said the brunette, “what is this about exactly? Who are you?” Langdon looked up at her, trying to think of a story. “Is this about people taking stuff home from the office, I mean, I know Anna, she doesn’t take anything. But I am more than happy to point some fingers.” The woman crossed her arms in defiance against her work colleagues, clearly at the end of her tether. Langdon smiled the most charming smile he could muster.
“It’s something like that, just a general check up of things. The kitchen tends to get forgotten in places like this. I was also asked to see what sort of brands people used” The brunette then spent the next few minutes going through each and every brand of tea, coffee and sugar that everyone bought. Langdon nodded and listened politely before finally thanking her and leaving, taking the tub of sweeteners with him. The brunette followed behind him, her work done in the kitchen.
Langdon suddenly stopped mid-step and turned around to face the woman. “I’m sorry there was something I forgot,” said Langdon “what was the name of the other person who used these?”
“Gillian Carthy,” said the brunette, “she’s right over there.” Langdon’s heart dropped as she pointed to a young girl, barely out of her teens. She was handing out papers to people in the office, wearing a large smile. “She’s fairly new,” continued the woman, “Only started a couple of months ago.” Was that enough time? For something like this to affect her in the same way it affected Anna?
Langdon thanked the woman once again for her co-operation and finally headed for the exit. It was first things first. He had to find out if the sweeteners did in fact contain anything unusual and magical. And if they did, next they had to find out who would have tampered with them.
Once outside the building, he pulled out his mobile phone and dialled a number. The ringing tone was interrupted as Freya answered the phone. “Hello Freya?” said Langdon, “Start looking for people she may have talked to in the work place, like her bosses or maybe people coming in from the outside for inspections.”
“Will do,” came the answer.
On the other end of the conversation, Freya was at Anna and Roger’s house. She wasn’t searching through records or data, but through Anna’s memories as she had done with Joy. She had spent hours watching past conversations, meetings and anything else that Anna’s mind had held on to. It had been a truly tedious process perhaps even more so for Anna whose mind felt the after effect of being searched through.
Hour after hour of searching went by. The hardest thing was that Freya wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for. People could appear kind and generous only to act a completely different way when no one was looking. Everyone was a potential suspect. Of course there was suspicion that the government was involved but as far as they were aware Anna had had no contact with any government officials.
The hardest part however of searching Anna’s memories, was that she experienced them how Anna did. If Anna didn’t hear a conversation, neither did Freya. An amazing thing happened though, whenever Anna looked at someone face on and began to lip read. Her mind filled in the blanks, even if they were in Anna’s own voice. It truly was a strange experience.
LANGDON CRUSHED UP a couple of the sweeteners with his pestle and mortar. He had housed himself in the upstairs lounge. It was a comfortably sized room, containing some basic furniture, the largest of which was a wooden table covered with test tubes and beakers. Lining the walls were lots of shelves that ran along 3 of the 4 walls. These shelves were not covered with books however, but samples of plants, powders and liquids. There were tiny wooden boxes, glass jars, vases of different flowers and locked metal cases. Langdon knew how to make a few potions of his own.
He reached in to a small bowl of fine blue powder and took out a pinch. He threw it in to the air in front of him. The powder flew up and rather than coming back down, it hung in the air, sparkling. Langdon then hovered his hand over the now powdered sweetener. He moved his hand upwards and the powder lifted in to the air. He kept bringing it upwards, his hand passing through the blue powder which popped and sparkled as a reaction to his own magic, then stopped as his hand passed through the other side of the cloud of powder. The sweetener followed and also passed in to the cloud of powder where it hung. It popped and lit up here and there, reacting to it. The popping got louder and became more frequent and at the climax, fell down on to the table. Langdon magically moved the now mixed powder from the table in to the bin.
With his suspicions confirmed he made his way to Liz’s computer room where Matt sat playing card games. Liz and Freya were both absent, still at Anna and Roger’s house. Matt turned to look at Langdon. “Well?” he asked.
“There is certainly a presence of magic in those tablets. However,” said Langdon, pausing briefly, “I still don’t know the nature of the magic. Until I know that I can’t be certain and that could take some time, especially since it’s a type of magic I haven’t seen before.”
“There is a quicker way,” said Matt, “to confirm it I mean. You said there was someone else who was taking them. Why not just see if the same has happened to her?”
It was easier said than done. It was too dangerous to approach her as a Doctor so the only way would be to inspect her in such a way that she forgot it had happened. Then he remembered something Freya had said, could she really make people forget things? But even if the girl forgot it was still an ordeal to put her through.
The only way that seemed to cause her the least stress and to keep his identity as a Doctor a secret was to do it while she was unconscious. Of course Langdon had to ponder the moral implications. Matt was right, though, morally right or wrong it would be a much quicker way to confirm it and it did have to be confirmed. He didn’t want to waste time barking up the completely wrong tree.
The next day Langdon and Freya found themselves following Miss Carthy. They walked along a residential street a good distance behind her, out of ear-shot. “So,” said Freya, “this isn’t odd at all.” Her voice was rife with sarcasm. “If she has been affected, are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know,” said Langdon, “she has a right to know but revealing myself to someone could be dangerous. I’m marked as a traitor to the country, so perhaps giving away my identity as a Doctor to tell someone they can’t have kids, may not be a smart move.” Freya pulled a grim expression, though she knew all too well the need for secrecy, she couldn’t help but feel that keeping the information from Miss Carthy was just wrong. Of course it was all speculation, first they had to find out the truth.
Freya and Langdon followed the girl to a small block of flats. It was a fairly plain building, nothing about it made it stand out. Carthy opened the door to the flats and went inside. Freya and Langdon hurried up, making sure they caught her up soon enough to see which flat she went in to. She went up two flights of stairs before pulling out her keys and going through a door on her right. The two watched her from the stairs.
“Right,” said Freya, “leave this to me.” From her back pocket she pulled out a small water pistol filled with sleeping potion. Langdon had done something to her usual powder mix to turn it to a liquid. Freya walked up the last of the stairs and went to the girl’s door. She knocked and Miss Carthy quickly answered.
“Hi,” said Freya, “I was walking behind you just now and I think you dropped this.” As if from nowhere, Freya materialised a small purse in her hand. The girl was clearly surprised but glad.
“Oh, thank you!” she said chirpily. Whilst she was briefly distracted by the return of her purse, Freya promptly sprayed her with the water pistol. A look of shock and horror quickly disappeared as she collapsed with sleep. Freya was quick to catch her and pulled her in to the flat. Langdon rushed in to the flat after her and shut the door.
“I didn’t know you had her purse,” said Langdon. Freya simply shrugged her shoulders and failed to answer. Between them they lifted Miss Carthy on to her small threadbare sofa. Like the exterior the interior was nothing special, just the basics with the odd pink girly touch.
As Langdon got to work, pricking the girls finger to get a few drops of blood, Freya got to work too. She quickly found the memory of what had just happened and erased it from the girl’s mind. With her work done, Freya stepped back and watched Langdon. Minutes later he was wiping his hands clean. “It’s the same, exactly how it was with Anna,” said Langdon. His face grew grim and Freya saw him silently curse at the situation. “This isn’t fair. Poor girl.”
The two quickly left, not wanting to stay longer than they had to. For both of them the situation left them in a strange state of melancholy.
“I THINK I found something,” said Freya. She stood behind Anna who was lying on the sofa. Anna slowly blinked her eyes open. Langdon and Roger stood together and both gave Freya their full attention.
The memory she had found was from about 10 months before. It was of a meeting Anna had had with some people visiting the office. It was part of a routine inspection that took place every 6 months. According to Anna, large offices employed outside companies to teach awareness of germs and disease, and to make sure no members of staff had an illness that could spread dangerously to others. Freya had seen other such inspections and each time the topic of Anna’s deafness came up. The majority of the meetings were run by the same people but 10 months before it was someone new.
“There’s something about this man, and the questions he asks,” said Freya, “They’re not quite like the questions asked by others.” She explained the scene to them.
The man in the memory was relatively ordinary. He was shorter than average, had long black, foppish hair and had a small scar on his cheek. “Well,” said the man, “I have to ask, your deafness, were you aware of the cause?” Anna smiled and nodded in an understanding way.
“Yes, I was born this way.”
“I see,” he said, “and does anyone else in your family suffer from the same condition?”
“My mother had it.”
There was something about the man. His questioning continued, going in to further detail than anyone else had ever done, but in such a way that at first glance didn’t seem too odd. Then as she replayed the moment over a few times her suspicions grew. Freya described the scene to the others and soon after described them to Liz when they reached the house. Without hesitation Liz took the information and began hunting down records on the companies employed by Anna’s workplace. At last they were getting close.
Matt, Freya and Langdon all sat in the library, looking at Liz who was stood in front of them all. In her hands she grasped a collection of printouts, containing all the relevant information she had found. She took a deep breath and blew it all out again, moving a section of hair from off of her face.
“Here we go,” she began, “it seems that companies like the one you described Freya, are extremely common. In the past couple of decades there has been a large growth in businesses aimed at teaching others about good hygiene and the prevention of disease. Members of parliament have argued whether or not this is against the idea of the Solution. But with no clear conclusion the industry has simply grown. The company that inspected Anna’s office ran in to some financial trouble and shut down. So a replacement was called for. Over a year ago Anna’s office signed a yearlong contract covering two visits. The business is called ‘Happy Health and Hygiene’. One of their speciality areas involves teaching at primary schools.”
“Why only the 1 year contract?” asked Matt.
“One visit to assess the members of staff and a second as a follow up,” said Liz, “after that they move on to another part of the country. They do however have a permanent base of operations. It’s where the team returns to, to give feedback to their boss. Their boss is a man named Andrew Cormack.” Liz handed over a piece of paper with an address on it to Langdon. It even had directions on it. Langdon and Freya both stared at the piece of paper. At last they had found the one responsible. A visit to go see him in person would definitely have to happen. Though one thought occurred to Langdon. If the boss was responsible, it was more likely a single man with a twisted idea, not a member of the government. There was no conspiracy. So what was it that Cresswell wanted him to know?
Freya and Langdon sat in the car, looking at the “Happy Health and Hygiene” head office. It was one of several warehouses situated on an industrial estate. Night had fallen and all the workers had long gone to their homes. Content that no one was around, the two got out of the car and started walking towards a door that sat at the top of a metal staircase.
The stairs clanged and shuddered under their feet. Langdon only hoped there really wasn’t anyone else around. Langdon reached the door first, his heart pounding, and Freya stopped a couple of steps below him. The door was locked and Langdon could sense magical protection as well, a simple shield spell to prevent the lock being picked. It was simple enough for him to break the shield and dispel the magic. With the shield gone, Langdon cupped his hand over the keyhole and whispered, “Unlock.” A satisfying click followed after a few seconds and Langdon let himself in, Freya following behind.
The door led in to a large office containing a table, chairs and a couple of metal filing cabinets. The walls were a plain white but were covered almost ceiling to floor in photos, papers, graphs, charts and calendars. There were articles on eugenics, maps of the United States of America with some states shaded in a different colour. In fact a large section of the wall seemed wholly dedicated to sterilisation laws used in America in the 1920s. Langdon was amazed at some of the things this man possessed. Some of the papers and photographs had clearly come from America but America was out of bounds for most people living under the laws of the Darwin Solution. The American government was one of the major groups against it. They had closed themselves off from a large number of countries, worried about people bringing over illness or gaining hospital treatment illegally.
A framed picture of a man wearing Victorian style clothing hung on one wall. A small plaque beneath it read “Sir Francis Galton.” Langdon knew the name. He was the very man who had invented the term “eugenics.” Freya was stood next to a map of the UK with pins in it. And next to it was a laminated piece of card, it read:
We shall strive to improve the human race. Through sterilisation we can rid future generations of epilepsy, blindness, deafness, feeblemindedness, criminality, insanity...
The list went on and on. Clearly the man thought eugenics could bring perfection to the human race. Clearly he didn’t care about the cost.
On the other side of the map was a list of names of the people that had been sterilised and the condition they suffered from. Langdon watched Freya form her hands in to fists as she read it. “This is wrong,” said Freya, “he has no right to do this. All these people, all these lives he’s ruined.” She shook with anger. Langdon almost found it hard to get angry, he was just saddened. In a world without Doctors people should be looking out for one another not doing something so harmful.
A light came on in the warehouse beyond the office. Langdon and Freya turned around to try and look out of the blind covered windows. Suddenly aware he might get spotted Langdon ducked down. Freya however, failed to move. She continued to look out the window with a look of fierce hatred. She walked to the door that led to the warehouse and flung it open.
The door opened to a balcony and another set of stairs. Below, in the warehouse, were hundreds of boxes. The labels informed the reader of their contents. There were boxes of sugar, tea, coffee, vitamins and soft drinks. Next to the boxes was a group of men, looking up at Freya in sheer annoyance at her presence. “I will give you one minute to explain yourself, Andrew Cormack,” said Freya in a loud and clear voice. Langdon could only watch her in awe. They had planned to confront him, yes but not when he was surrounded as he was. 3 other men stood next to him, all intimidating figures. And they were certainly not confronting him without a plan.
Cormack looked up at Freya and smirked. “What I’m doing makes sense,” he said, “it’s not my fault you can’t see it.”
“All those families, all those lives you’ve ruined!” she shouted down to them.
“Those children’s lives would have been ruined anyway. Is it fair to allow a child to be born blind or sick or deaf?” The word “deaf” sent a sudden pang to Langdon’s stomach, his thoughts going back to Anna and Roger, unable to have the child they wanted.
“Don’t be so naive...” Before Cormack could finish Freya had thrown her fist in to his stomach, sending him flying. Langdon blinked, unable to believe what he had seen. Or more like what he hadn’t seen. One second Freya was stood on top of the balcony and before the next second, she was inches from Cormack, landing a punch. Her speed was incredible.
The 3 lackeys stared in horror, clearly not expecting the girl to have acted in such a way. Once they came to their senses a fight began. 2 of the men were mages, the other was not. Freya darted back and to between them, her fists flying through the air and sending kicks in to the men’s ribs. The none-mage was quickly dealt with and quickly ran out of the building. The mages flung spells at her, lighting up the air. Spells to harm and spells to knock her off her feet were avoided by her quick movements.
Langdon quickly came to his senses and ran from his hiding place to join the fight. Cormack and his men were surprised to see another person join the fray. Freya used the short lived distraction to get in some more hits. One of the men fell to the ground unconscious, blood pouring from a wound under his hair. Freya began to gather a ball of red magic between her hands, spinning it and letting it grow before throwing it down at a pile of boxes. The boxes lit up in flames. She stared at the last of the lackeys and said, “You might want to get your pal out of here before he burns.” Her voice was cold and unemotional. Langdon had never seen her like that.
The lackey, who had been about to throw a spell at Langdon, let the spell die and followed Freya’s advice. He ran past Langdon and grabbed his friend’s arms. He began to drag him out of the warehouse as quickly as he could.
Cormack was the only one left. Freya moved before the other two had a chance to notice. Cormack made a choking sound as Freya wrapped her arm around his neck. She stood behind him, her mouth inches from his ear. Langdon even thought she looked taller too. “If I hear ‘Happy Health and Hygiene’ has started up business again I will burn down your base of operation and this time,” she said, “I will not let you escape.” Freya removed her arm and Cormack ran for his life.
Langdon stood looking at Freya for a few seconds. He was almost surprised to see her let him live. For a small moment he had feared that worst, that perhaps she wouldn’t let him go.
“Come on,” said Langdon, “we better go.” The two ran out of the fire filled building and rushed back to the car.
Minutes later and they were driving back home. Langdon occasionally made sideways glances at Freya. A long silence hung between them until Langdon spoke. “Who are you Freya?” asked Langdon. “You can do these incredible things, like moving quicker than I can see and coming back from the dead. You have the gifted of accessing another’s mind and that’s just...”Langdon struggled to find the words, “not normal.”
“Go on,” said Freya.
“You pull these expressions that I can’t figure out.” Langdon stopped trying to look at Freya and focused on the road. “These knowing smiles like you know something more than I do but you won’t say. And half the time when we talk I feel you’re holding something back from me. If you really want to stay with us and help us with finding Cresswell’s documents I think I ought to be able to trust you better.”
Freya folded her arms and her expression was grim. She was worried.
“And back on the boat you knew my name didn’t you? You knew I was a Langdon.” Freya’s lips tugged downwards at the corners, her eyes closed and she pressed two fingers to her forehead.
“I could see the family resemblance,” she said at last. “I knew another Langdon, a long time ago.”
“Which?”
“He was very dear to me,” said Freya, ignoring the question. Both went quiet for the moment, the wind outside made the only sounds.
“I’m sorry,” said Freya, “I can’t answer your questions.” Unexpectedly the rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Was she crying? “Yes I knew another Langdon but the truth is he probably died before you would have had a chance to meet him.”
“So you knew him when you were little?” Freya smiled at this.
“I loved the man,” Freya continued, “and from what I’ve seen you’re just as kind and wonderful as he was.” Langdon felt himself blush. “I have some things to explain but not yet. Not now. If that bothers you I can leave, I can do things alone.”
Langdon sighed heavily. The conversation hadn’t exactly gone as he had wanted. I didn’t like the idea of spending so much time with someone he barely knew, though he guessed it was her choice what she shared or didn’t. She had saved their lives back at the prison and been indispensible in finding who was to blame for what had happened to Anna.
“So what did you do before we met?” asked Langdon, giving one last attempt at getting to know the woman.
“I used to fight demon beasts,” said Freya “before someone advised me to stop.”
“You’ve actually seen demons?”
“And killed them. These days I do what I can for those who can’t protect themselves whilst under the laws of the Solution. More recently I’ve been following cases of people infected with demon magic, like you have. Which reminds me, what did you use to cure Joy? Nothing I’ve tried before has ever worked.”
Langdon tapped his coat pocket. “You have your secrets I have mine.” Freya laughed.
“I guess that’s fair.”
*
Gillian Carthy made her way to the living room, unable to sleep. Her bedroom had been getting far too hot for her liking. She opened the door, not turning on any lights and jumped to see a figure stood by her sofa. “Please don’t fear Miss Carthy,” said the figure. Gillian noticed the figure was that of a woman, however something didn’t seem right. There was something hanging from her shoulders that Gillian couldn’t make out in the dark. “I came here to give you some sad news. I think you have the right to know.”
“72 Milton Way,” he read from the paper. “this is the one.”
The car was parked on a residential estate, every house a picture of suburban perfection. Rich green, even lawns. Flower beds and rock gardens. Number 72 had a wonderful garden like the rest, perhaps even more perfect than the rest. Bright flowers were arranged in a circle of beautiful shapes and colours. Freya admired them as she passed. She strode up to the front door and knocked. Langdon followed behind, adjusting his shirt.
A man opened the door and before he had a chance to realise who was stood on his porch, Freya wrapped her arms around him in a hug. “Hi, you okay?” she moved out of the hug and held on to the man’s shoulders, grinning madly. The man was blinking in disbelief. Freya took one hand away and reached out to Langdon. “Roger, this is Joe.” The two men shook hands and Freya strode past confidently to go inside.
With the front door shut, the act was dropped. Roger pushed up his sleeves and looked at the other two. “I’m the doctor,” informed Langdon, “this is my friend Freya, she’s here to help me.” The man and his house both looked as if they belonged in an advert for cleaning spray. The carpet was a clean cream colour and the walls were white, adorned with photographs and one large gold framed mirror. Everything was neat and perfect. Roger led them in to the living room, equally bright and white as the hallway.
A young, pretty woman stood up, out of the sofa, offered a hand to Langdon and shook it. “Hi, I’m Anna. Sit, please,” offered the woman. Her voice was muted and clumsy but it was no surprise to Freya. Langdon had told her about Anna’s deafness before they arrived. Her hearing however, wasn’t the reason they were there. Freya and Langdon sat themselves down, Langdon sat between the two women at an angle so he could face Anna. Roger stood with his arms folded. Langdon put his bag on the floor then slapped both his hands on his knees and looked between the couple.
“Now,” he began, “your husband tells me you’re trying for a baby.”
“Yes, that’s right,” said Anna, staring intently at Langdon, reading his lips. Her short hair flopped in front of her face and she pushed it neatly behind her ear.
“How long have you been trying for?”
“I think,” she looked to her husband and made a couple of hand gestures. Roger nodded and signed back to her, “yes, almost a year.”
“Have either of you suffered any long term illnesses? Like the Flu or even a cold that never seemed to go away?” Anna simply shook her head.
“This is why we’re confused more than anything,” said Roger, “the worst we’ve had is a cold, nothing major. We just don’t get it.”
“All right then. Well I best start with a medical examination, who’s going first?”
They decided that Anna would be the first to be examined. Langdon and Freya gave up their seats to allow her to lie down across the sofa. Langdon perched on the coffee table next to her whilst Freya knelt on the floor and Roger sat on a chair brought in from the kitchen.
First Langdon brought a needle from his bag and took a small amount of blood from Anna. He then took out the pestle and mortar and syringed Anna’s blood in to the bowl. To this he added a small container of murky brown potion. He mixed the two then began to rub the mixture on his hands. Anna was asked to pull her top up enough to bare her abdomen.
Before arriving, Langdon had told Freya the idea of the overall spell. The blood created a connection between the patient’s body and Langdon. The connection allowed him to gather information about the patient and “see” in to their body. As he worked Freya talked with Roger.
“It’s a long time to wait, a year,” said Freya.
“A whole year of waiting to see what’ll happen, only to discover nothing’s come of it. It was always our dream to have a kid.” Roger watched his wife as Langdon worked.
“Your house could do with a little mess maker, it’s too pristine in here.” Freya joked. She watched Roger drift in to a daydream, a dream that involved a family of three, a happy family.
“God I hope nothing’s wrong,” said Roger. He covered his face in his hands. The room was quiet until a loud knock at the door disturbed them. Roger looked up, “I’ll tell them to come back later.” He stood up and left the room, shutting the door behind him. The only evidence that Langdon had heard the knock was him opening his eyes for the briefest of moments before shutting them again. It was an odd sight to see him with bloodied hands, hovering over the woman’s stomach.
After another minute Roger could still be heard talking at the front door. Suddenly a gasp from Langdon joined the sound. He jerked his hands away and opened his eyes. “Impossible,” he said.
“What?” asked both Freya and Anna.
“You’ve,” he struggled to find the words, “someone’s given you a hysterectomy, well... not quite... I.” Freya grabbed his arm and shook it, staring at him in mild anger.
“Be clearer Joe.” Freya let go and Langdon stopped talking for a few seconds to gather himself.
“Your fallopian tubes are cut and not just them, there are other areas affected.” Anna looked confused, her eyes darting between Freya and Langdon in panic. “You’re sterile” Freya moved to kneel down beside Langdon and leaned over to gently touch the woman’s face so that they were looking at one another. She reached out to Anna’s mind, creating a connection.
“He says you’re sterile.” A voice came back to her.
“But how?” Anna’s voice was clear.
“I don’t know,” said Freya. She then spoke aloud again. “Talk to her, I can translate. She wants to know how.” At this Langdon stared at her in disbelief. She knew why. Looking in to another person’s mind was a talent not usually associated with humans and Langdon knew it. Thankfully he didn’t raise the subject.
Langdon began to clean his hands with antiseptic wipes and shook his head. Roger appeared, walking slowly back in to the room, not interrupting but listening intently to what was being said. “I don’t know,” said Langdon, “this isn’t just damage through illness. This was done by someone, with magic. It seems the only way it’s possible.” Freya re-laid the information to Anna. Langdon, with hands clean again, placed one on Anna’s shoulder. “I’m so so sorry.” Roger folded his arms, and used one hand to cover his mouth as he began to silently cry.
“Does this mean,” Freya heard, “I can’t have a baby?” Freya nodded. “But who would do this, why?” Tears ran down the woman’s face and on to Freya’s fingers, leaving a cool trail.
“She asks who and why,” said Freya. She took her hand away, neither of them knew what to say. Langdon moved away and started to pack away his things as Anna and Roger cried silently. A sense of deep sadness and pity came across Langdon and Freya, beginning to feel like intruders on the couple’s news.
LANGDON, FREYA, MATT and Liz were all gathered in the library. Langdon was determined to find out what had happened. He had promised the couple he would do his best to find a way to reverse the operation if that is what it could be called. He knew magic had played a part, there was no signs of scarring anywhere on the woman. It was also the only way it could have happened without her knowledge.
“Why would anyone do this?” asked Liz, “It’s horrible.”
“It’s just plain weird, like a horror story,” said Matt. “Maybe demons did it,” he joked.
“No, Matt,” said Liz. Matt suddenly looked guilty.
“No, I don’t think it was a demon,” said Langdon. He had been thinking about it all day. “In the late 1800’s Alexander Graham Bell carefully suggested that deaf men should not marry deaf women. He had learnt that such pairings were more likely to produce a deaf child than if one were not deaf. It’s called eugenics, a means of improving the human race by encouraging the bearing of children among the more intellectual or physically superior members of society and sterilising the undesirable members.” Langdon walked across the room and leant his hands on the windowsill to look outside. He let his snippet of knowledge sink in.
“Well that’s a mouthful,” said Matt.
“You think someone did this on purpose?” asked Liz, “Because she’s deaf?”
“Why not?” said Langdon, “That’s what the Solution is. The only difference between the Darwin Solution and past practices in eugenics is that the public isn’t put in to groups of those with good DNA and bad DNA. The nature of the Solution does it for us. Survival of the fittest and by allowing us to heal ourselves, it’s survival of the smartest too.”
“Maybe it wasn’t enough then,” said Matt, “maybe now they feel the need to step in even more.”
Langdon’s brain kept on working. Had they stumbled upon a government secret? Was this what Cresswell wanted him to know?
The day after Langdon found himself at Anna’s workplace, a rather ordinary office block. Rows of computer desks and numbered rooms went by as Langdon walked to his destination. He was looking for something that Anna came in contact with everyday, something she either used or ate. A potion of some description seemed the most likely cause for Anna’s problem, a potion that over time would affect her.
He took a detour to inspect the computer she used, gaining funny looks from the girls working either side of it. He smiled at them and quickly brushed the keyboard with a powder he pulled from his pocket. After no reaction he moved.
Langdon walked past women gathered together to gossip about a colleague and men using any opportunity to show off their new mobile phones. Langdon’s destination was a small kitchen filled with empty tea cups which were gradually being placed in to a dishwasher by a short, over worked brunette.
Langdon bent over to try and catch the woman’s eye. She looked up, not very impressed. “Want a hand?” he asked.
“Are you new?” asked the woman, “because if you weren’t you’d know that I’m the only one who ever bothers to do this.”
“I don’t work here,” said Langdon, “so perhaps you’ll let me do that in exchange for answering some very simple questions.” The office worker was sceptical and stood watching Langdon, refusing to answer until the entire kitchen was spotless. As Langdon switched the dishwasher on the woman finally smiled and asked him to go ahead.
“A woman named Anna works here,” the woman nodded in recognition, “I just wanted to know if there was an item of food or drink she had every day, like a drink or yoghurt?” the woman looked quizzically at him, obviously finding the question to be different to what she had expected.
“Only her tea, like most of us,” said the woman. Langdon looked back at her. No, it had to be an item specific to her. It was unlikely that whoever did this would want to affect the whole work team.
“I was thinking more along the lines of something only she had,” said Langdon. The woman shook her head slowly then stopped as a thought hit her.
“She did use sweeteners in her tea. The bosses brought them in for her. Although there is someone else who uses them.” This had to be it. A consumable brought in for her by someone else. It was highly possible the sweeteners could have been tampered with before their arrival in the kitchen. However if they were the cause, someone else could have been affected by them too.
“Where are they?” he asked. The brunette pulled them out of the cupboard for him. They were in a fairly large container for objects so small. If full it could easily contain enough sweeteners to last a person for months.
“Look,” said the brunette, “what is this about exactly? Who are you?” Langdon looked up at her, trying to think of a story. “Is this about people taking stuff home from the office, I mean, I know Anna, she doesn’t take anything. But I am more than happy to point some fingers.” The woman crossed her arms in defiance against her work colleagues, clearly at the end of her tether. Langdon smiled the most charming smile he could muster.
“It’s something like that, just a general check up of things. The kitchen tends to get forgotten in places like this. I was also asked to see what sort of brands people used” The brunette then spent the next few minutes going through each and every brand of tea, coffee and sugar that everyone bought. Langdon nodded and listened politely before finally thanking her and leaving, taking the tub of sweeteners with him. The brunette followed behind him, her work done in the kitchen.
Langdon suddenly stopped mid-step and turned around to face the woman. “I’m sorry there was something I forgot,” said Langdon “what was the name of the other person who used these?”
“Gillian Carthy,” said the brunette, “she’s right over there.” Langdon’s heart dropped as she pointed to a young girl, barely out of her teens. She was handing out papers to people in the office, wearing a large smile. “She’s fairly new,” continued the woman, “Only started a couple of months ago.” Was that enough time? For something like this to affect her in the same way it affected Anna?
Langdon thanked the woman once again for her co-operation and finally headed for the exit. It was first things first. He had to find out if the sweeteners did in fact contain anything unusual and magical. And if they did, next they had to find out who would have tampered with them.
Once outside the building, he pulled out his mobile phone and dialled a number. The ringing tone was interrupted as Freya answered the phone. “Hello Freya?” said Langdon, “Start looking for people she may have talked to in the work place, like her bosses or maybe people coming in from the outside for inspections.”
“Will do,” came the answer.
On the other end of the conversation, Freya was at Anna and Roger’s house. She wasn’t searching through records or data, but through Anna’s memories as she had done with Joy. She had spent hours watching past conversations, meetings and anything else that Anna’s mind had held on to. It had been a truly tedious process perhaps even more so for Anna whose mind felt the after effect of being searched through.
Hour after hour of searching went by. The hardest thing was that Freya wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for. People could appear kind and generous only to act a completely different way when no one was looking. Everyone was a potential suspect. Of course there was suspicion that the government was involved but as far as they were aware Anna had had no contact with any government officials.
The hardest part however of searching Anna’s memories, was that she experienced them how Anna did. If Anna didn’t hear a conversation, neither did Freya. An amazing thing happened though, whenever Anna looked at someone face on and began to lip read. Her mind filled in the blanks, even if they were in Anna’s own voice. It truly was a strange experience.
LANGDON CRUSHED UP a couple of the sweeteners with his pestle and mortar. He had housed himself in the upstairs lounge. It was a comfortably sized room, containing some basic furniture, the largest of which was a wooden table covered with test tubes and beakers. Lining the walls were lots of shelves that ran along 3 of the 4 walls. These shelves were not covered with books however, but samples of plants, powders and liquids. There were tiny wooden boxes, glass jars, vases of different flowers and locked metal cases. Langdon knew how to make a few potions of his own.
He reached in to a small bowl of fine blue powder and took out a pinch. He threw it in to the air in front of him. The powder flew up and rather than coming back down, it hung in the air, sparkling. Langdon then hovered his hand over the now powdered sweetener. He moved his hand upwards and the powder lifted in to the air. He kept bringing it upwards, his hand passing through the blue powder which popped and sparkled as a reaction to his own magic, then stopped as his hand passed through the other side of the cloud of powder. The sweetener followed and also passed in to the cloud of powder where it hung. It popped and lit up here and there, reacting to it. The popping got louder and became more frequent and at the climax, fell down on to the table. Langdon magically moved the now mixed powder from the table in to the bin.
With his suspicions confirmed he made his way to Liz’s computer room where Matt sat playing card games. Liz and Freya were both absent, still at Anna and Roger’s house. Matt turned to look at Langdon. “Well?” he asked.
“There is certainly a presence of magic in those tablets. However,” said Langdon, pausing briefly, “I still don’t know the nature of the magic. Until I know that I can’t be certain and that could take some time, especially since it’s a type of magic I haven’t seen before.”
“There is a quicker way,” said Matt, “to confirm it I mean. You said there was someone else who was taking them. Why not just see if the same has happened to her?”
It was easier said than done. It was too dangerous to approach her as a Doctor so the only way would be to inspect her in such a way that she forgot it had happened. Then he remembered something Freya had said, could she really make people forget things? But even if the girl forgot it was still an ordeal to put her through.
The only way that seemed to cause her the least stress and to keep his identity as a Doctor a secret was to do it while she was unconscious. Of course Langdon had to ponder the moral implications. Matt was right, though, morally right or wrong it would be a much quicker way to confirm it and it did have to be confirmed. He didn’t want to waste time barking up the completely wrong tree.
The next day Langdon and Freya found themselves following Miss Carthy. They walked along a residential street a good distance behind her, out of ear-shot. “So,” said Freya, “this isn’t odd at all.” Her voice was rife with sarcasm. “If she has been affected, are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know,” said Langdon, “she has a right to know but revealing myself to someone could be dangerous. I’m marked as a traitor to the country, so perhaps giving away my identity as a Doctor to tell someone they can’t have kids, may not be a smart move.” Freya pulled a grim expression, though she knew all too well the need for secrecy, she couldn’t help but feel that keeping the information from Miss Carthy was just wrong. Of course it was all speculation, first they had to find out the truth.
Freya and Langdon followed the girl to a small block of flats. It was a fairly plain building, nothing about it made it stand out. Carthy opened the door to the flats and went inside. Freya and Langdon hurried up, making sure they caught her up soon enough to see which flat she went in to. She went up two flights of stairs before pulling out her keys and going through a door on her right. The two watched her from the stairs.
“Right,” said Freya, “leave this to me.” From her back pocket she pulled out a small water pistol filled with sleeping potion. Langdon had done something to her usual powder mix to turn it to a liquid. Freya walked up the last of the stairs and went to the girl’s door. She knocked and Miss Carthy quickly answered.
“Hi,” said Freya, “I was walking behind you just now and I think you dropped this.” As if from nowhere, Freya materialised a small purse in her hand. The girl was clearly surprised but glad.
“Oh, thank you!” she said chirpily. Whilst she was briefly distracted by the return of her purse, Freya promptly sprayed her with the water pistol. A look of shock and horror quickly disappeared as she collapsed with sleep. Freya was quick to catch her and pulled her in to the flat. Langdon rushed in to the flat after her and shut the door.
“I didn’t know you had her purse,” said Langdon. Freya simply shrugged her shoulders and failed to answer. Between them they lifted Miss Carthy on to her small threadbare sofa. Like the exterior the interior was nothing special, just the basics with the odd pink girly touch.
As Langdon got to work, pricking the girls finger to get a few drops of blood, Freya got to work too. She quickly found the memory of what had just happened and erased it from the girl’s mind. With her work done, Freya stepped back and watched Langdon. Minutes later he was wiping his hands clean. “It’s the same, exactly how it was with Anna,” said Langdon. His face grew grim and Freya saw him silently curse at the situation. “This isn’t fair. Poor girl.”
The two quickly left, not wanting to stay longer than they had to. For both of them the situation left them in a strange state of melancholy.
“I THINK I found something,” said Freya. She stood behind Anna who was lying on the sofa. Anna slowly blinked her eyes open. Langdon and Roger stood together and both gave Freya their full attention.
The memory she had found was from about 10 months before. It was of a meeting Anna had had with some people visiting the office. It was part of a routine inspection that took place every 6 months. According to Anna, large offices employed outside companies to teach awareness of germs and disease, and to make sure no members of staff had an illness that could spread dangerously to others. Freya had seen other such inspections and each time the topic of Anna’s deafness came up. The majority of the meetings were run by the same people but 10 months before it was someone new.
“There’s something about this man, and the questions he asks,” said Freya, “They’re not quite like the questions asked by others.” She explained the scene to them.
The man in the memory was relatively ordinary. He was shorter than average, had long black, foppish hair and had a small scar on his cheek. “Well,” said the man, “I have to ask, your deafness, were you aware of the cause?” Anna smiled and nodded in an understanding way.
“Yes, I was born this way.”
“I see,” he said, “and does anyone else in your family suffer from the same condition?”
“My mother had it.”
There was something about the man. His questioning continued, going in to further detail than anyone else had ever done, but in such a way that at first glance didn’t seem too odd. Then as she replayed the moment over a few times her suspicions grew. Freya described the scene to the others and soon after described them to Liz when they reached the house. Without hesitation Liz took the information and began hunting down records on the companies employed by Anna’s workplace. At last they were getting close.
Matt, Freya and Langdon all sat in the library, looking at Liz who was stood in front of them all. In her hands she grasped a collection of printouts, containing all the relevant information she had found. She took a deep breath and blew it all out again, moving a section of hair from off of her face.
“Here we go,” she began, “it seems that companies like the one you described Freya, are extremely common. In the past couple of decades there has been a large growth in businesses aimed at teaching others about good hygiene and the prevention of disease. Members of parliament have argued whether or not this is against the idea of the Solution. But with no clear conclusion the industry has simply grown. The company that inspected Anna’s office ran in to some financial trouble and shut down. So a replacement was called for. Over a year ago Anna’s office signed a yearlong contract covering two visits. The business is called ‘Happy Health and Hygiene’. One of their speciality areas involves teaching at primary schools.”
“Why only the 1 year contract?” asked Matt.
“One visit to assess the members of staff and a second as a follow up,” said Liz, “after that they move on to another part of the country. They do however have a permanent base of operations. It’s where the team returns to, to give feedback to their boss. Their boss is a man named Andrew Cormack.” Liz handed over a piece of paper with an address on it to Langdon. It even had directions on it. Langdon and Freya both stared at the piece of paper. At last they had found the one responsible. A visit to go see him in person would definitely have to happen. Though one thought occurred to Langdon. If the boss was responsible, it was more likely a single man with a twisted idea, not a member of the government. There was no conspiracy. So what was it that Cresswell wanted him to know?
Freya and Langdon sat in the car, looking at the “Happy Health and Hygiene” head office. It was one of several warehouses situated on an industrial estate. Night had fallen and all the workers had long gone to their homes. Content that no one was around, the two got out of the car and started walking towards a door that sat at the top of a metal staircase.
The stairs clanged and shuddered under their feet. Langdon only hoped there really wasn’t anyone else around. Langdon reached the door first, his heart pounding, and Freya stopped a couple of steps below him. The door was locked and Langdon could sense magical protection as well, a simple shield spell to prevent the lock being picked. It was simple enough for him to break the shield and dispel the magic. With the shield gone, Langdon cupped his hand over the keyhole and whispered, “Unlock.” A satisfying click followed after a few seconds and Langdon let himself in, Freya following behind.
The door led in to a large office containing a table, chairs and a couple of metal filing cabinets. The walls were a plain white but were covered almost ceiling to floor in photos, papers, graphs, charts and calendars. There were articles on eugenics, maps of the United States of America with some states shaded in a different colour. In fact a large section of the wall seemed wholly dedicated to sterilisation laws used in America in the 1920s. Langdon was amazed at some of the things this man possessed. Some of the papers and photographs had clearly come from America but America was out of bounds for most people living under the laws of the Darwin Solution. The American government was one of the major groups against it. They had closed themselves off from a large number of countries, worried about people bringing over illness or gaining hospital treatment illegally.
A framed picture of a man wearing Victorian style clothing hung on one wall. A small plaque beneath it read “Sir Francis Galton.” Langdon knew the name. He was the very man who had invented the term “eugenics.” Freya was stood next to a map of the UK with pins in it. And next to it was a laminated piece of card, it read:
We shall strive to improve the human race. Through sterilisation we can rid future generations of epilepsy, blindness, deafness, feeblemindedness, criminality, insanity...
The list went on and on. Clearly the man thought eugenics could bring perfection to the human race. Clearly he didn’t care about the cost.
On the other side of the map was a list of names of the people that had been sterilised and the condition they suffered from. Langdon watched Freya form her hands in to fists as she read it. “This is wrong,” said Freya, “he has no right to do this. All these people, all these lives he’s ruined.” She shook with anger. Langdon almost found it hard to get angry, he was just saddened. In a world without Doctors people should be looking out for one another not doing something so harmful.
A light came on in the warehouse beyond the office. Langdon and Freya turned around to try and look out of the blind covered windows. Suddenly aware he might get spotted Langdon ducked down. Freya however, failed to move. She continued to look out the window with a look of fierce hatred. She walked to the door that led to the warehouse and flung it open.
The door opened to a balcony and another set of stairs. Below, in the warehouse, were hundreds of boxes. The labels informed the reader of their contents. There were boxes of sugar, tea, coffee, vitamins and soft drinks. Next to the boxes was a group of men, looking up at Freya in sheer annoyance at her presence. “I will give you one minute to explain yourself, Andrew Cormack,” said Freya in a loud and clear voice. Langdon could only watch her in awe. They had planned to confront him, yes but not when he was surrounded as he was. 3 other men stood next to him, all intimidating figures. And they were certainly not confronting him without a plan.
Cormack looked up at Freya and smirked. “What I’m doing makes sense,” he said, “it’s not my fault you can’t see it.”
“All those families, all those lives you’ve ruined!” she shouted down to them.
“Those children’s lives would have been ruined anyway. Is it fair to allow a child to be born blind or sick or deaf?” The word “deaf” sent a sudden pang to Langdon’s stomach, his thoughts going back to Anna and Roger, unable to have the child they wanted.
“Don’t be so naive...” Before Cormack could finish Freya had thrown her fist in to his stomach, sending him flying. Langdon blinked, unable to believe what he had seen. Or more like what he hadn’t seen. One second Freya was stood on top of the balcony and before the next second, she was inches from Cormack, landing a punch. Her speed was incredible.
The 3 lackeys stared in horror, clearly not expecting the girl to have acted in such a way. Once they came to their senses a fight began. 2 of the men were mages, the other was not. Freya darted back and to between them, her fists flying through the air and sending kicks in to the men’s ribs. The none-mage was quickly dealt with and quickly ran out of the building. The mages flung spells at her, lighting up the air. Spells to harm and spells to knock her off her feet were avoided by her quick movements.
Langdon quickly came to his senses and ran from his hiding place to join the fight. Cormack and his men were surprised to see another person join the fray. Freya used the short lived distraction to get in some more hits. One of the men fell to the ground unconscious, blood pouring from a wound under his hair. Freya began to gather a ball of red magic between her hands, spinning it and letting it grow before throwing it down at a pile of boxes. The boxes lit up in flames. She stared at the last of the lackeys and said, “You might want to get your pal out of here before he burns.” Her voice was cold and unemotional. Langdon had never seen her like that.
The lackey, who had been about to throw a spell at Langdon, let the spell die and followed Freya’s advice. He ran past Langdon and grabbed his friend’s arms. He began to drag him out of the warehouse as quickly as he could.
Cormack was the only one left. Freya moved before the other two had a chance to notice. Cormack made a choking sound as Freya wrapped her arm around his neck. She stood behind him, her mouth inches from his ear. Langdon even thought she looked taller too. “If I hear ‘Happy Health and Hygiene’ has started up business again I will burn down your base of operation and this time,” she said, “I will not let you escape.” Freya removed her arm and Cormack ran for his life.
Langdon stood looking at Freya for a few seconds. He was almost surprised to see her let him live. For a small moment he had feared that worst, that perhaps she wouldn’t let him go.
“Come on,” said Langdon, “we better go.” The two ran out of the fire filled building and rushed back to the car.
Minutes later and they were driving back home. Langdon occasionally made sideways glances at Freya. A long silence hung between them until Langdon spoke. “Who are you Freya?” asked Langdon. “You can do these incredible things, like moving quicker than I can see and coming back from the dead. You have the gifted of accessing another’s mind and that’s just...”Langdon struggled to find the words, “not normal.”
“Go on,” said Freya.
“You pull these expressions that I can’t figure out.” Langdon stopped trying to look at Freya and focused on the road. “These knowing smiles like you know something more than I do but you won’t say. And half the time when we talk I feel you’re holding something back from me. If you really want to stay with us and help us with finding Cresswell’s documents I think I ought to be able to trust you better.”
Freya folded her arms and her expression was grim. She was worried.
“And back on the boat you knew my name didn’t you? You knew I was a Langdon.” Freya’s lips tugged downwards at the corners, her eyes closed and she pressed two fingers to her forehead.
“I could see the family resemblance,” she said at last. “I knew another Langdon, a long time ago.”
“Which?”
“He was very dear to me,” said Freya, ignoring the question. Both went quiet for the moment, the wind outside made the only sounds.
“I’m sorry,” said Freya, “I can’t answer your questions.” Unexpectedly the rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Was she crying? “Yes I knew another Langdon but the truth is he probably died before you would have had a chance to meet him.”
“So you knew him when you were little?” Freya smiled at this.
“I loved the man,” Freya continued, “and from what I’ve seen you’re just as kind and wonderful as he was.” Langdon felt himself blush. “I have some things to explain but not yet. Not now. If that bothers you I can leave, I can do things alone.”
Langdon sighed heavily. The conversation hadn’t exactly gone as he had wanted. I didn’t like the idea of spending so much time with someone he barely knew, though he guessed it was her choice what she shared or didn’t. She had saved their lives back at the prison and been indispensible in finding who was to blame for what had happened to Anna.
“So what did you do before we met?” asked Langdon, giving one last attempt at getting to know the woman.
“I used to fight demon beasts,” said Freya “before someone advised me to stop.”
“You’ve actually seen demons?”
“And killed them. These days I do what I can for those who can’t protect themselves whilst under the laws of the Solution. More recently I’ve been following cases of people infected with demon magic, like you have. Which reminds me, what did you use to cure Joy? Nothing I’ve tried before has ever worked.”
Langdon tapped his coat pocket. “You have your secrets I have mine.” Freya laughed.
“I guess that’s fair.”
*
Gillian Carthy made her way to the living room, unable to sleep. Her bedroom had been getting far too hot for her liking. She opened the door, not turning on any lights and jumped to see a figure stood by her sofa. “Please don’t fear Miss Carthy,” said the figure. Gillian noticed the figure was that of a woman, however something didn’t seem right. There was something hanging from her shoulders that Gillian couldn’t make out in the dark. “I came here to give you some sad news. I think you have the right to know.”
