"That could be exactly what it does," Gabe said simply, answering for him. "Valkyrie, a being doesn't need magic in order to be dangerous. One of the defining characteristics of changelings is their psychosis. They lack souls--literally. They are representations of a person without a critical defining characteristic: their moral compass. No matter how warped it might be, every person with a soul has a moral compass of some kind. Changelings, and reflections, have none."
He dropped his hand, but maintained his gaze with the teen. "What you have, in actuality, is a being who looks like you and acts like you, and yet lacks any sense of right or wrong--or ability to know them at all. All it knows is your drives and motives, and unlike you, it won't be constrained by your conscience. It won't be constrained by its limited existence, because it has lived, constantly, by any definition a complete life, for the past three years. Nor will it be constrained by your presence, because you aren't there. It's been acting oddly, hasn't it?"
He almost didn't need to make it a question. He wasn't looking for it, but in the turn of her soul, her thoughts, he saw flashes of her interactions with it. He saw it in Skulduggery's too, almost clearer. What he meant by fooling sorcerers. What had happened when he murdered it. That might have been the trigger; there was no telling what could be, with these kinds of things. A death and 'rebirth' would almost certainly qualify.
"It's been acting more human. Because you think of it as a self-aware being each time you create it. Because you think of it as Stephanie, instead of yourself as Stephanie. Your parents don't know you. They know a version of you who cannot and does not love them, and yet cannot help but revolve its life around them. It is the one who sees them in the evenings. It is the one who asks for their help with homework. It is the one who helps your mother clean house, or your father at his office. It owns them, Valkryie, because it is Stephanie, daughter to Melissa and Desmond. You are Valkryie, Skulduggery's partner. You no longer own the life with your parents. You've given it away--to a version of you with no soul."
His last words, while gentle, had an air of finality.
no subject
He dropped his hand, but maintained his gaze with the teen. "What you have, in actuality, is a being who looks like you and acts like you, and yet lacks any sense of right or wrong--or ability to know them at all. All it knows is your drives and motives, and unlike you, it won't be constrained by your conscience. It won't be constrained by its limited existence, because it has lived, constantly, by any definition a complete life, for the past three years. Nor will it be constrained by your presence, because you aren't there. It's been acting oddly, hasn't it?"
He almost didn't need to make it a question. He wasn't looking for it, but in the turn of her soul, her thoughts, he saw flashes of her interactions with it. He saw it in Skulduggery's too, almost clearer. What he meant by fooling sorcerers. What had happened when he murdered it. That might have been the trigger; there was no telling what could be, with these kinds of things. A death and 'rebirth' would almost certainly qualify.
"It's been acting more human. Because you think of it as a self-aware being each time you create it. Because you think of it as Stephanie, instead of yourself as Stephanie. Your parents don't know you. They know a version of you who cannot and does not love them, and yet cannot help but revolve its life around them. It is the one who sees them in the evenings. It is the one who asks for their help with homework. It is the one who helps your mother clean house, or your father at his office. It owns them, Valkryie, because it is Stephanie, daughter to Melissa and Desmond. You are Valkryie, Skulduggery's partner. You no longer own the life with your parents. You've given it away--to a version of you with no soul."
His last words, while gentle, had an air of finality.