Midnight

"But with Shinichi dead – Well, do we real y have to find his star bal or the biggest star bal or whatever is hidden in this awful place?"Bonnie asked. Once, she would have whined, Elena thought. Now, despite whatever pain she felt, she was running.

"We do have to find it, I’m afraid,"Stefan said. "Because from what he said, Shinichi wasn’t at the top of the ladder after al .

He and his sister were working for someone, someone female. And whoever She is, She may be attacking Fel ‘s Church right now."

"The odds have just shifted,"Elena said. "We have an unknown enemy."

"But Still – "

"Al bets,"Elena said, "are off."

Chapter 36

Matt broke a lot of traffic rules on the way to the Saitous’street. Meredith leaned on the console between the two front seats so that she could see the digital clock ticking down to midnight, and so that she could watch the transformation of Mrs. Flowers. At last her recently sane, sensible mind forced words out of her mouth. "Mrs. Flowers – you’re changing."

"Yes, Meredith, dear. Some of it is due to the little present that Sage left for me. Some of it is my own wil  – to return to the days when I was in my prime. I believe that this wil be my last fight, so I don’t mind using al my energy in it. Fel ‘s Church must be saved."

"But – Mrs. Flowers – the people here – Well, they haven’t always been – exactly nice – "Matt stammered his way to a stop.

"The people here are like people everywhere,"Mrs. Flowers said calmly. "Treat them as you’d like to be treated, and things wil be fine. It was only when I’d let myself become a bitter, lonely old woman, always resentful of the fact that I had had to turn my home into a boardinghouse just to make ends meet, that people began to treat me – Well, at best as a loony old hag."

"Oh, Mrs. Flowers – and we’ve been such a bother to you!"Meredith found the words coming without her volition.

"You’ve been the saving of me, child. Dear Stefan was the start, but as you can imagine, he didn’t want to explain al his little differences to me, and I was suspicious of him. But he was always cordial and respectful and Elena was like sunlight, and Bonnie like laughter. Eventual y, when I dropped my hidebound barriers, so did you young ones. I won’t say more about those who are present so as not to embarrass you, but you’ve done me a world of good."

Matt ran another stop sign and cleared his throat. Then, the steering wheel wavering slightly, he cleared his throat again.

Meredith took over. "I think what Matt and I both want to say is…Well, it’s that you’ve become very special to us, and we don’t want to see you get hurt. This battle – "

"Is a battle for al I hold dear. For al my memories. Back when I was a child and the boardinghouse was built – it was just a home, then, and I was very happy. As a young woman, I was very happy. And now that I have lived long enough to be an old woman – Well, besides you children, I Stillhave friends like Sophia Alpert and Orime Saitou. They are both healing women, and very good at it. We Stilltalk about different uses for my herbs."

Matt snapped his fingers. "That’s another reason I was confused,"he said. "Because Dr. Alpert said that you and Mrs. Saitou were such good people. I thought she meant the old Mrs. Saitou – "

"Who is not a ‘Mrs. Saitou’at all,"Mrs. Flowers said, almost sharply. "I have no idea what her name real y is – perhaps she is real y Inari, a deity gone bad. Ten years ago, I didn’t know what made Orime Saitou suddenly so diffident and quiet. Now I realize that it began just around the time her

‘mother’moved in with her. I was quite fond of young Isobel, but she suddenly became – aloof – in an unchildlike way.

Now I understand. And I am determined to fight for her – and for you – and for a town that is worth saving. Human lives are very, very precious. And now – here we are."

Matt had just turned onto the Saitous’block. Meredith took a moment to openly stare at the figure in the front passenger seat. "Mrs. Flowers!"she exclaimed.

This made Matt turn to stare in his turn and what he saw made him clip a Volkswagen Jetta parked by the sidewalk.

"Mrs…. Flowers?"

"Please park now, Matt. You needn’t cal me Mrs. Flowers if you don’t want to. I have returned to the time when I was Theophilia – when my friends cal ed me Theo."

"But – how – why – ?"Matt stuttered.

"I told you. I felt that it was time. Sage left me a gift that helped me change. An enemy beyond your powers to fight has arisen. I felt this back at the boardinghouse. This is the time that I have been waiting for. The last battle with the true enemy of Fel ‘s Church."

Meredith’s heart actual y seemed ready to fly out of her chest. She had to be calm – calm and logical. She had seen magic many times. She knew the look of it, the feel of it. But frequently she had been too busy comforting Bonnie, or too worried about aiding Bonnie to take in what she was facing.

Now, it was just her and Matt – and Matt had a stricken, stupefied look, as if he hadn’t seen enough magic before. As if he might crack.

"Matt,"she said loudly, and then even louder, "Matt!" He turned, then, to look at her, with his blue eyes wild and dark.

"They’l kill her, Meredith!"he said. "Shinichi and Misao – you don’t know what it feels like…"

"Come on,"Meredith said. "We have to make sure that it doesn’t kil her."

The dazed look passed from Matt’s eyes. "We have to do this,"he agreed simply.

"Right,"said Meredith, final y releasing him. Together they got out of the car to stand by Mrs. Flowers – no, by Theo.

Theo had hair that hung almost to her waist; so fair that it looked silver in the moonlight. Her face was – electrifying. It was young; young and proud, with classic features and a look of quiet determination.