Sela’s people had failed to secure a house for rent, which meant we’d picked up two short-lease three-bedroom apartments instead, more townhouses really since it had two floors, each with three bedrooms and a decent sized kitchen. Well, her people had, at any rate. Near as I could tell, Sela had a holding company and her buyers and people were authorized to acquire things under its name, so technically it was that company on the short-term leases, not us.

  The witches with power over earth had even connected them internally, taking down a wall and turning it into a large archway between the mirrored and back-to-back living rooms. So it felt and looked like a six bedroom house with a huge living room, two kitchens, and six baths. The wall of course would be fixed like new when it was time to go home. It also meant we wouldn’t be cut off from each other at all.

  Ironically, all of that made it far more spacious than the house we had in Chicago, save there was no large dining room table, we’d have to eat in the living room or something. We arrived late in the evening, and ordered pizza as we unpacked and settled in. Morning would come soon enough, and we’d be off to the capital building. Getting to the airport and the flight itself on the Lear had been uneventful.

  It was a furnished rental of course, with basic furniture and the decorations and artwork were a little too generic to make it look lived in and a warm home, but it would do as a place to live for the next few days, a week at most. The kind of place meant to be rented by the week or month, for people moving to D.C. and still looking to buy a home. Expensive, but not nearly as expensive as a hotel room suite for a similar period of time for a family. Also worth it, so we weren’t split up in a hotel.

  We were all in high spirits, we weren’t done yet, but our approach was obviously effective if Sela was seeing a shift in the time flow probabilities. It’d just take time, and we needed to make sure nothing happened to reverse the current course. I was a little curious as to what tomorrow would bring, but not all that worried.

  I was more worried about the covens in the area, and their response would be to us speaking to a congressional committee tomorrow. More specifically, after revealing we were in a new area.

  If you’ve ever seen a congressional committee questioning someone on television, you already have a good idea of what the room looked like. Lots of medium stained wood, a bunch of congressmen sitting on a raised dais behind a long-curved bench. There were secret service everywhere along the walls, as well as a few police and FBI.

  It was Astra, Rue, Sela, and me sitting at the table on the floor level, the rest of the coven was right behind us in the gallery along with a number of other witnesses. A lot of them I suspected worked in the pentagon most days, generals and admirals of two stars or higher. There was also a large number of reporters, though the session would be going out live on C-span from my understanding.

  The committee itself seemed to be compromised of a mixture of both main parties in a bipartisan effort, though I’ll admit I never really followed politics all that closely. I recognized a few names but save the two on television all the time I didn’t recognize most of the faces. Fortunately, they had big nameplates in front of them, including their party affiliation and state.

  Angela Dawson and Christopher Murphy were also present in the crowd, so it made me wonder if they’d been sent from Washington in the first place, which made me wonder why they hadn’t just dispatched a team from the Chicago office to speak to us. It probably meant our big reveal had been a major bug in the ass of someone important in the country’s capital.

  The setting was clearly meant to be intimidating, as the committee looked down on us, and we were surrounded by lots of security. But it really wasn’t. I won’t say humanity wasn’t a danger to witches, they probably could be with major ordinance if they could find us, but unless they let off a bomb powerful enough to level the building, we’d be walking away whenever we wanted to. I just didn’t see them blowing up the capital building, just to take down a single coven.

  Still, I stayed vigilant, if only because one of the reporters was a witch. A leggy and willowy blonde with brown eyes, who was clearly unhappy to see us there. That could’ve just been because she felt vulnerable away from her coven, but that wasn’t the impression I was getting.

  The chairperson of the committee in the slightly higher and more prominent center seat banged a gavel to get this started.

  He pontificated, “This hearing’s purpose is to explore the ramifications of finding three supernatural races hiding among us, and what it means for us as a country moving forward. Those are words I never imagined to string together in that particular order, if there ever was. Here with us to answer our questions is the head of the coven responsible for that revelation. Astra, along with her second in command, Rue. A pixie whose relationship to the coven needs to be clarified and who can answer questions about her race, Sela. Also, Glen franklin, a warlock and shifter.”

  The gray-haired man looked rather dubious as he paused, as if not quite sure this wasn’t all a bad joke. The senator was clearly going through the motions on this for now, and his statesmanship was suffering a bit as a result. Which was a bit amusing, but also boring.

  He turned, “The chair recognizes the senator from Virginia, who will be getting us started.”

  The senator was of advanced years, but still had bright red hair and her brown eyes were sharp.

  She said, “Thank you, Chairman. We have some clarifying questions we need answered. Based on the videos you posted, it’s clear your coven has clashed with others during your stay in Chicago. Is this typical, and why didn’t you call the police to report the incidents?”

  Astra replied, “Our race doesn’t do well in large numbers culturally. We tend to split up into covens of nine to thirteen individuals and hold territory, some of which are lucky enough to include a warlock, who are much rarer. Our birth ratio unlike humanity is over ten to one female to male. We believe magic has something to do with that, since genetically we are almost identical and extremely compatible with humans. Most of us have a human parent, in fact, but we are all witch or warlock. The genes are dominant.

  “The closest I can come in comparison is our race is still tribal. Other covens can be our allies, but it’s rare to find an ally that can be completely trusted, just as rare as it is to find an enemy that leads to violence, most covens merely steer clear of each other. In this particular case, some of my people are angry we’ve revealed our existence to humanity, and many would reject violently to Glen’s mixed heritage which was the stated reason for the attacks, but doubtfully the full story.

  “As to the second half of your question, the police wouldn’t be able to help us. We take care of our own.”

  She replied, “You mean you take the law into your own hands.”

  Astra shook her head, “Self-defense isn’t against the law, and we choose not to press charges. If it involved a human, we would call the police to handle that if we couldn’t deescalate the situation under the law.”

  The blonde witch’s lips twitched at the first part, not pressing charges.

  She said, “Perhaps, but self-defense is investigated to be sure it applies.”

  Astra shook her head, “If another coven invades my territory, they are not there for tea and crumpets. We are not human, we are covens of witches and warlocks. You can continue to try to put us in a human shaped box, but in the end, it’s not going to work, senator. I will not apologize for defending myself, nor will I apologize for not calling the police which would merely end in them getting hurt.”

  She jumped on that, “So you believe you’re above the law.”

  Astra said, “It’s not that simple. As a rule, all of my people follow the law of the countries they live in. But when it comes to defending ourselves against attack, or bringing a rogue witch or warlock to justice, we do what we must. You couldn’t handle it.”

  She asked, “What do you do with your lawbreakers?”

  Astra shrugged, “Our options are limited. As I said, we live in small covens. There is no central government or authority. Only tradition and custom. We have no jails, no guards. Our only infrastructure is humanity’s, and we do not use your justice system among us. Depending on the severity our options are to bind their power, or to stop them permanently.”

  She said, “To kill them.”

  Astra nodded, “It’s not a perfect solution, and is also why those covens attacked us. For breaking the tradition of silence and harboring a hybrid supernatural. Hybrids are killed as a matter of course in this day and age, merely because they exist.”

  She frowned, “Are hybrids dangerous?”

  Astra replied, “No more so than anyone else with power. The danger there is only to the purity of our and shifter bloodlines. Our racial purity. If that sounds racist, that’s because it is. Our dominant bloodlines remain pure when mixing with humans or a pixie, but not so with a shifter where a blending of genes and powers occur. Yes, that’s right, I just threw my whole race and the shifters under the bus for being racists, save the ones we took with us from the future, it’s almost a universal thing. They and my coven know better. I’m kind of hoping you can help us with that one as well, if only by being all judgmental about it. But obviously the priority here is keeping the world alive. Shifters are on that bandwagon as well, it’s amazing that Glen managed to survive his first twenty-four years in this time.”

  She looked at me, and I nodded in agreement.

  She said, “That’s interesting and worthy of discussion, but your race’s social ills are not the current topic, let’s get back on track. The United States Government needs to know how to integrate your people. You can’t live under your own rules and make your own justice.”

  I figure that’s where she’d been steering things the entire time.

  Astra tilted her head, “We are integrated into society, save defense against violence and justice, and in those strength rules, not reason, right, or wrong. I’m not sure those can be integrated, senator. You can’t forcibly recruit us into government service, by the constitution, and without us in law enforcement you can’t effectively police us or imprison us.

  “That’s not to say other covens might not be amenable to such service, and if you successfully recruit them perhaps something could be done? Shifters too. My coven will return to our home once the world’s future is secured, the world is violent enough without looking for more trouble, and we have our own lives to live. But if you manage it, I would adhere to the new situation without question. Especially since if that happened, they’d stop hunting my mate, since under human law it’s flat out murder in the first degree and a hate crime.”

  The senator asked, “You mentioned some covens or packs might work with law enforcement, but what about pixies?”

  Sela giggled, “I think I can say with absolute certainty that none of my race would be willing, and if they say they are I’d suggest you politely decline, because they’re up to something mischievous. That said, we are nonviolent and don’t even need to police our own. I mean social mischief, we tend to follow all the laws and rules of the society we’re in, even the little ones.”

  That was true, if only because there were no laws against enthralling humans or playing practical jokes, but it could be argued the whole race was rogue.

  Sela winked at me.

  The senator didn’t look amused, “Little ones?” as if saying all laws were equally important.

  She shrugged cutely, “You know. Speed limits, parking zones, noise ordinances.”

  I chuckled, and even a few of the senators had to cover their mouths and clear their throats to cover up a smile. What can I say, my pixie mate was charming, adorably hot, and I had no doubt could have the humans in the room eating out of her hands in short order.

  Sela tilted her head, “The only exception to that is hiding our true age, but now that you know about us, we won’t need to fiddle with those things anymore or even move every few years. There’d be no point. Witches and shifters too on that one.”

  Astra nodded in agreement.

  While Astra hadn’t lied, since she couldn’t speak for other covens, it seemed doubtful they’d have any success in that arena. We were basically humans with power, and I could admit that made us a little entitled. We were also insanely loyal to coven, which means it wouldn’t be likely we’d risk our lives, or the lives of our coven, in an enforcement capacity. It would be an unnecessary risk in the eyes of most witches and warlocks. For it to even have a chance of working, they’d have to hire the entire coven, and let them work as one unit.

  Otherwise, it would be pointless anyway. The more I thought about it, the more I thought it was just a bad idea. That the government would need to swallow its pride and let us continue to police ourselves. The one benefit Astra mentioned, me not being hunted, wouldn’t compensate for all the other problems and downsides.

  I supposed the senator was done making her point, or getting to where she wanted to get, because she yielded the floor.

  The chairperson cleared his throat, “The Senator from Nevada is next.”

  The middle-aged man cleared his throat, “Thank you. Sela just touched on this next concern. To be true citizens of this great country, you need to be known and recorded factually. Would you be willing to provide your true dates of birth and names to set the record straight, reveal all your alias’s and so forth.”

  Astra said, “Yes, but I can only speak for my own coven on that matter. We are a young coven, so have no aliases or alternate names, so our current licenses will serve I’d think. Especially since we’d have to be accounted as a special case, our birth dates are three hundred years in the future. So when we filled out the paperwork we just subtracted our real ages from the current year.”

  The senator blinked, “That’s… we could come up with a special accommodation for time travel. However, in most cases that won’t be an issue.”

  Sela sent, and I passed her words on to the coven, “They can’t fight us with violence, but they could audit us, seize assets, and try to control us economically if they can trace all of our assets. Maybe that’s paranoid, but I don’t think most covens will be willing to put themselves under a microscope. At some point, the government is going to resort to any means possible to assert control.”

  That… was probably just true, but there was no reason to mention it. Astra already said she could only speak for us, her coven and not anyone else’s.

  He said, “Moving on. You mentioned in your reasons for revealing yourselves, was to encourage the covens of this time to evolve their bond to prevent a single sick individual from gaining control of the coven and going on to enslave others. That magic in the world can grow unbalanced, effect the weather systems, and lead to a worldwide crisis. Can you explain how that’s all connected, and do current natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, have anything to do with your race?”

  Wow, that was a doozy.

  Astra shook her head, “Sela?”

  Sela said, “When it happened in the future that has already been averted, it was a surprise to all of us. It also wasn’t just magic that led to a biosphere that could hardly support life, a part of it was the humans going to war against us all when we were discovered, because the mega-covens were causing major weather problems and people were dying. Nuclear weapons were used which compounded the problem.

  “The short answer is no, we can’t explain it. I suspect it will be human scientists with the aid of us to run experiments that will discover how it all interrelates. I suspect magic is a fifth universal force, and that’s why the theory of everything has never been discovered, the human scientists until now have been missing a critical piece of the puzzle.

  “However, I can’t say that with any authority. We just know it does relate. The second half of your question also doesn’t seem likely, most covens live in cities. Hurricanes form in the oceans, and most tornados take place in rural areas. I also don’t know of any covens living in the shadow of a volcano. Nature is not kind sometimes, and that’s mostly about the world we live on.

  “Currently, magic is in balance, so it should be neutral as far as affecting current weather and geological disasters.”

  He followed up, “But you can’t be sure?”

  Sela shrugged, “I can’t be sure you’re wearing underwear, but I’d bet money on it.”

  The chairman banged his gavel.

  I sighed, and sent, “Spanking in your near future,” as the chairperson glared at Sela.

  Sela shot me a quick mental grin.

  The older man said, “You will comport yourselves with the respect due this body, I will not warn you again.”

  The Nevada senator cleared his throat, “Answer the question.”

  Sela said, “It’s complicated, and there’s much we don’t know, but no, I do not believe that’s possible. It would be like trying to redirect the Mississippi river by dropping a pebble into it. Consider a normal coven a pebble, and a mega-coven a boulder. Most of the imbalance came from two mega-covens fighting, on their own they didn’t use enough magic to disturb things, and the world was even recovering from the damage done.

  “So, again, no. I’m afraid you can’t blame us for natural disasters.”

  I won’t go over the rest of that day’s testimony in detail, I’m sure you get the idea. The senators continued to question us about everything already covered in these pages, as well as try to throw baseless accusations against us. It was boring, parts of it annoying, and I wasn’t sure what their motivations were. If they were just trying to define the risks and were a bit paranoid, or if they were trying to discredit us and paint us as a clear and present danger in order to free their hands to try and deal with us in a less than savory fashion.

  Their scents told me it was probably a bit of both.

  It was late afternoon before they dismissed us, and we headed back to the apartments.