“Time to pay the piper, sweetheart,” he said, and together, they disappeared.
Forty-one
“Something’s wrong,” Kyle said.
Zoe turned to him, her face filled with concern. Behind her, on the screen, thousands of Faeries, more than Kyle had imagined possible, crowded against the entrance of the casino.
The Fates were identifying some of them by name, calling them long-lost or tricksters in disguise.
“What do you mean, something’s wrong?” Zoe asked.
Kyle shook his head. His stomach wasn’t just queasy, it was rolling. He’d gotten a real sense of disgust, followed by a sense of panic, and then anger, and then complete overwhelmedness (if that was a word).
All this was coming from Aunt Megan. He knew it, even though there weren’t any words. He had expected words, but for some reason, she was just sending emotion.
“Aunt Megan, she’s overwhelmed.” His voice was shaking.
“Of course she is, Kyle. Look at that building.” Zoe’s lips were set in a straight line. “I’m not sure how much of that I could take, and I’m not new to my powers.”
“She’s not either,” Kyle said, feeling the need to defend his aunt. “She’s just new to identifying them.”
Zoe nodded, but a frown still creased her forehead. “Should we go get her?”
Kyle tried to send a message to her, but he didn’t get a response. Not that he could have. He had no idea if she could just send back at will. They hadn’t tested that part.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Are you still getting her emotions?” Zoe asked.
The Fates had turned in their chairs too. They had their hands folded in identical ways, and were staring at him. His cheeks grew warm.
“No,” he whispered.
“Then maybe it was a momentary thing?” Zoe asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“If we break this up too soon, we put the men in danger,” Zoe said.
“I know,” Kyle said.
“So, you’ll have to tell me—”
“I’m eleven,” he snapped. “I’m eleven, you’re the grown-up, my aunt is overwhelmed, and I’m scared. You decide.”
Zoe stepped back as if he had hit her.
“He has a point,” Clotho said.
“You should never put children in charge of things,” Lachesis said.
“It’s not fair,” Atropos said.
“Besides, it makes for very messy business,” Clotho said.
“As the Interim Fates have shown,” Lachesis said.
“Enough!” Zoe snapped. “You were supposed to be quiet.”
She put her hands to her head and looked at that mess still surrounding the casino. Kyle closed his eyes, feeling for Aunt Meg with his brain, but he couldn’t find her.
That was okay. Everybody said that might happen. This was a scary thing, and the Faerie casino might make a sending inside impossible. Besides, he might call too much attention to her if he wasn’t careful.
His eyes filled with tears.
“We give it just a few more minutes,” Zoe said. “If you get another feeling or if you hear from her, you tell me. Otherwise, we go after her at my mark. Okay?”
He blinked his eyes open. The tears stuck to his lashes. He felt like a dork, a really scared dork.
“Okay,” he said.
“Do you think that’s too much?” Zoe asked.
“You’re asking the child again,” Atropos said.
“He has to tell me if he has another sense of Megan,” Zoe said.
Kyle shook his head. He had no sense of her at all, and that really bugged him.
It was almost like she was gone.
Forty-one
“Something’s wrong,” Kyle said.
Zoe turned to him, her face filled with concern. Behind her, on the screen, thousands of Faeries, more than Kyle had imagined possible, crowded against the entrance of the casino.
The Fates were identifying some of them by name, calling them long-lost or tricksters in disguise.
“What do you mean, something’s wrong?” Zoe asked.
Kyle shook his head. His stomach wasn’t just queasy, it was rolling. He’d gotten a real sense of disgust, followed by a sense of panic, and then anger, and then complete overwhelmedness (if that was a word).
All this was coming from Aunt Megan. He knew it, even though there weren’t any words. He had expected words, but for some reason, she was just sending emotion.
“Aunt Megan, she’s overwhelmed.” His voice was shaking.
“Of course she is, Kyle. Look at that building.” Zoe’s lips were set in a straight line. “I’m not sure how much of that I could take, and I’m not new to my powers.”
“She’s not either,” Kyle said, feeling the need to defend his aunt. “She’s just new to identifying them.”
Zoe nodded, but a frown still creased her forehead. “Should we go get her?”
Kyle tried to send a message to her, but he didn’t get a response. Not that he could have. He had no idea if she could just send back at will. They hadn’t tested that part.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Are you still getting her emotions?” Zoe asked.
The Fates had turned in their chairs too. They had their hands folded in identical ways, and were staring at him. His cheeks grew warm.
“No,” he whispered.
“Then maybe it was a momentary thing?” Zoe asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“If we break this up too soon, we put the men in danger,” Zoe said.
“I know,” Kyle said.
“So, you’ll have to tell me—”
“I’m eleven,” he snapped. “I’m eleven, you’re the grown-up, my aunt is overwhelmed, and I’m scared. You decide.”
Zoe stepped back as if he had hit her.
“He has a point,” Clotho said.
“You should never put children in charge of things,” Lachesis said.
“It’s not fair,” Atropos said.
“Besides, it makes for very messy business,” Clotho said.
“As the Interim Fates have shown,” Lachesis said.
“Enough!” Zoe snapped. “You were supposed to be quiet.”
She put her hands to her head and looked at that mess still surrounding the casino. Kyle closed his eyes, feeling for Aunt Meg with his brain, but he couldn’t find her.
That was okay. Everybody said that might happen. This was a scary thing, and the Faerie casino might make a sending inside impossible. Besides, he might call too much attention to her if he wasn’t careful.
His eyes filled with tears.
“We give it just a few more minutes,” Zoe said. “If you get another feeling or if you hear from her, you tell me. Otherwise, we go after her at my mark. Okay?”
He blinked his eyes open. The tears stuck to his lashes. He felt like a dork, a really scared dork.
“Okay,” he said.
“Do you think that’s too much?” Zoe asked.
“You’re asking the child again,” Atropos said.
“He has to tell me if he has another sense of Megan,” Zoe said.
Kyle shook his head. He had no sense of her at all, and that really bugged him.
It was almost like she was gone.
Forty-two
They weren’t supposed to be here.
The all-powerful Faerie Kings should have been heading toward that casino on Boulder Highway, if they were even in Vegas, off to see the empath, like the rest of their tribe.
Instead, they were sitting on thrones, looking every bit as regal as kings should.
And those thrones ringed the spinning wheel. There was no way Rob could just lift it loose, and these guys out-magicked him a thousand to one.
There was no way he and John and Travers could take on the Faerie Kings and win.
But this was like the old days. They didn’t have to take on the kings and win.
They just had to dive
rt the kings, steal their attention for a moment, so that someone could grab that wheel.
“You know me,” Rob said. He had to come up with a plan and he had to do it fast.
The third Faerie King smiled at him. “We’ve been waiting for you, Sir Robin of Hood. We’ve heard that you are our destiny.”
Great. He didn’t want to hear his prophecy, but he got to hear theirs.
“So we’ve been following your career,” said the first Faerie King. “Quite stellar.”
“Thanks,” Rob said. “I think.”
Travers was shooting him a panicked look. Rob couldn’t do much with Travers, but he and John had been fighting side by side for centuries.
Rob flashed John a look. John raised his weird eyebrows—code for whatever you want to do, boss.
“How are the Fates, anyway?” the second Faerie King asked.
“Just fine,” Rob said, wondering why they asked.
“Because they’re supposed to be here too,” said the third Faerie King.
“Really?” Rob asked, moving forward just a little. “Says who?”
“We don’t have an oracle,” the first Faerie King said.
“But we do have access to this lovely wheel,” the second Faerie King said—and he spun it as he said that, sending lights everywhere in the Faerie circle.
Which was just the diversion that Rob wanted. He conjured three swords, one for him, one for John, and one for Travers, and tossed the other two men theirs.
Then he leapt, Errol Flynn style, onto the platform holding the wheel, grabbed the first Faerie King, and yanked him out of the throne, placing the sword at his neck.
He doubted he could kill a Faerie, but he sure as heck was going to try.
Forty-two
They weren’t supposed to be here.
The all-powerful Faerie Kings should have been heading toward that casino on Boulder Highway, if they were even in Vegas, off to see the empath, like the rest of their tribe.
Instead, they were sitting on thrones, looking every bit as regal as kings should.
And those thrones ringed the spinning wheel. There was no way Rob could just lift it loose, and these guys out-magicked him a thousand to one.
There was no way he and John and Travers could take on the Faerie Kings and win.
But this was like the old days. They didn’t have to take on the kings and win.
They just had to divert the kings, steal their attention for a moment, so that someone could grab that wheel.
“You know me,” Rob said. He had to come up with a plan and he had to do it fast.
The third Faerie King smiled at him. “We’ve been waiting for you, Sir Robin of Hood. We’ve heard that you are our destiny.”
Great. He didn’t want to hear his prophecy, but he got to hear theirs.
“So we’ve been following your career,” said the first Faerie King. “Quite stellar.”
“Thanks,” Rob said. “I think.”
Travers was shooting him a panicked look. Rob couldn’t do much with Travers, but he and John had been fighting side by side for centuries.
Rob flashed John a look. John raised his weird eyebrows—code for whatever you want to do, boss.
“How are the Fates, anyway?” the second Faerie King asked.
“Just fine,” Rob said, wondering why they asked.
“Because they’re supposed to be here too,” said the third Faerie King.
“Really?” Rob asked, moving forward just a little. “Says who?”
“We don’t have an oracle,” the first Faerie King said.
“But we do have access to this lovely wheel,” the second Faerie King said—and he spun it as he said that, sending lights everywhere in the Faerie circle.
Which was just the diversion that Rob wanted. He conjured three swords, one for him, one for John, and one for Travers, and tossed the other two men theirs.
Then he leapt, Errol Flynn style, onto the platform holding the wheel, grabbed the first Faerie King, and yanked him out of the throne, placing the sword at his neck.
He doubted he could kill a Faerie, but he sure as heck was going to try.
Forty-three
To Megan’s surprise, she wasn’t frightened of the most powerful man in the magical world. He had her in some kind of spell and had moved her from the casino (for which she felt a little too much relief, considering how much danger it probably put Rob in) to somewhere else.
It felt like they were suspended in time. And then they landed. They didn’t end up in some giant Greek coliseum or even in the smelly library, but in her office. It was after hours, and the place had a dry, unused smell, even though she’d only been gone for a day or two.
Lights were on that should have been off, and the door to her therapy room was open. Zeus strode across the carpeted floor like he owned the place.
She certainly didn’t want him in that room—it was a safe room, a place where her clients felt comfortable to say anything they wanted, and even though she was closing it down, she didn’t want him violating it.
“Daddy, jeez!”
“Oh, man!”
“This just blows.”
Megan felt stunned. She recognized those voices. The Interim Fates. Why were they here and not in their library, attempting to govern the world?
She peered in the doorway. There they were, all three girls, sitting on her extra-long couch. Brittany clutched a Raggedy Anne doll that Megan used for the younger patients. Crystal was examining a naked Barbie. And Tiffany had both hands clenched into fists. She was glaring—at Megan.
“It’s about time,” Brittany said.
“We’ve been waiting, like, forever,” Crystal said.
“You promised you could help us,” Tiffany snapped, “and then you bring him.”
Well, this situation was out of control. These girls were furious and terrified, and Zeus wasn’t exactly calm. He stood just inside the door, his hands at his sides, watching his daughters as if he’d never seen them before.
Megan stepped inside the room. They all had more magic than she did—that was the risk—but this was her place, the place where she confronted people who always had more something than she did—whether it was real power or real money or real chutzpah.
Actually, she usually had the most of that, and she was going to use it now.
“I didn’t bring him,” Megan said. “He brought me.”
“Grrrr-ate,” Brittany said.
“You’re right,” Crystal said to Tiffany. “This blows.”
“You were supposed to be here,” Tiffany said, ignoring the others.
“Well, no,” Megan said. “I’m supposed to be baby-sitting my nephew.”
“In a casino?” Even Zeus sounded shocked, although why should he? This was a man who had more love affairs than anyone else in any mythology, a man who carelessly abandoned children, after, of course, fathering more of them than any other so-called god she could think of. Why would he care if a child was in a casino?
She didn’t answer him. She wasn’t going to let him distract her from the girls, who had come to her for help.
(Not that she was really in a position to give it, given that she had just been kidnapped herself. But no matter, Zeus had brought her here for a reason, and she would figure out what that reason was.)
“I was in Las Vegas,” Megan said to the girls.
“Isn’t this Las Vegas?” Brittany said.
“It’s Las something-or-other,” Crystal said.
“It’s Los Angeles,” Megan said gently.
“You guys screwed up again!” Tiffany snapped. “You said you could handle this one. You said it was a simple spell. I trusted you.”
The infighting was coming from the fear and the stress. The levels in the room had risen to unbearable. Megan walked in farther and went to her chair. She realized now that she had protected it, made it slightly walled so that she could feel emotions when she sat in it but they didn’t become part of her.
Sitting
in the chair felt like coming home.
“What spell did you cast?” she asked the first two Interim Fates gently.
“I did it.” Brittany’s voice was filled with tears.
“She said to come to you so you could help us,” Crystal said.
And this was where Megan helped people. So that made sense. These poor girls. They were so out of their element.
“And it didn’t work!” Tiffany snapped.
“Actually, it did,” Megan said, keeping her voice level. It was Zeus that made her nervous, still standing by the door. “I’m here now.”
“And you’re going to help me,” Zeus said. “These girls have to get back to work. It took me forever to find them.”
Megan raised her head and looked at him. She couldn’t think of him as the head of the Powers That Be. She couldn’t think of him as the man with the power to destroy true love forever.
She had to think of him as an abusive, out-of-control father, who had no idea what he was doing to his daughters.
“Thank you for bringing me to them,” she said. “You can wait outside.”
Zeus drew himself to his full height—or maybe more than his full height—and yelled, “I DO NOT WAIT OUTSIDE. WE SHALL RESOLVE THIS HERE.”
That wasn’t really a yell. It was more like a decree from on high. The girls cowered on the couch. But Megan didn’t move. She could feel the impotent anger behind Zeus’ shout.
“‘We’ won’t do anything if you raise your voice at me again. Either speak to me civilly,” Megan said, “or leave.”
The girls gaped at her. Zeus stared at her, clearly stunned.
“I could blind you,” he said in a civil tone.
“Yet, if you do, I’ll continue right along, doing what I do.” Megan hoped her own bravado didn’t show. She told herself that her calm counselor demeanor had gotten her through worse, although she wasn’t sure if that was true.
“Then I’ll turn you into a wolf,” he said.
Megan rolled her eyes. “Are you so old and out of ideas that you’re repeating yourself? First you act as if I’m Lycurgus, and then you treat me like Lycaon. For the record, I would never serve you human flesh for dinner.”
Fates 06 - Totally Spellbound Page 50
