Fortune's Favors

by Marlene Perez

  “Nyx, I hear you play a mean game of tarot poker,” Johnny continued. “We should play sometime, both of us having the eye on the prize and all.”

  He was talking about the leadership of the House of Hades, but I feigned ignorance. “What prize?”

  He smiled and his teeth gleamed white against his tan skin. “All of them.”

  We were getting sideways glances from several people at the party. I didn’t feel like giving them anything else to talk about, so I just said, “Excuse me, Johnny, we need to speak to my cousins about something.”

  Talbot extricated Naomi from the sweaty wizard while I went to say hello to my family.

  I kissed Nona’s cheek. “How are you?”

  “Sad,” she answered honestly. “And I’d like another drink.” Nona hadn’t recovered from Sawyer’s death very well. Her words were slurred.

  “How about a glass of lemonade?” I offered.

  “As long as there’s vodka in it,” she replied.

  “I know a little bit about trying to drink away the sadness,” I told her softly. “It doesn’t work.”

  “I know,” she said. “But I want vodka anyway.”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t going to try to babysit a Fate. I got her the vodka and lemonade, but asked the bartender to water it down. Nona would be humiliated if she got publicly shit-faced, and she was well on her way. Since I was already at the bar, I got myself another drink as well.

  When I returned, Talbot and Naomi had disappeared. Probably making out in Trey’s broom closet or something. Or maybe he just wanted to avoid Johnny.

  I handed her drink to Nona. Morta glared at me. I glared back. Nona was seconds away from crying. “You’ll feel better if you eat something,” I told her. “I’ll be right back.”

  I went up to Luke. “Can I get a couple of hamburgers?”

  “Anything for our conquering hero,” he replied.

  I was beginning to hate the sound of that word. “I’m not a hero. I had a lot of help. Talbot, Ambrose, my father.” The last part slipped out, and I regretted it when Luke’s eyes blazed with curiosity.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” Luke said.

  “Ask away,” I said, but my tone said the opposite of my words.

  Luke studied my face for a moment and decided to, at least on the surface, change the subject. “Are you an ambitious man, Nyx?”

  I took a long sip of my cocktail. “Do I seem ambitious to you?”

  “You seem driven. Haunted, even.”

  “Not the same thing,” I replied.

  My answer seemed to please him, because he hummed a little tune as he flipped my burger. “No desire to follow your father? Take over where he left off?”

  “I have no desire to rule the underworld,” I said. “Or the House of Hades.”

  “There are others who don’t feel the same way,” he said. “You need to be careful who you trust.” His gaze went to Johnny Asari, who was trying to charm my sister.

  “Johnny’s welcome to it. I have enough on my plate.”

  “Speaking of which,” Luke said, “here are your burgers.” He slid expertly cooked patties onto plates and beamed. “It’s been a pleasure speaking to you. One last question, though. Is Hades really your father?”

  Fitch and his date arrived as I was trying to think of a way to diplomatically tell Luke that my paternity was none of his business. “Excuse me,” I said. “I see someone I want to say hello to.”

  I delivered the burgers to Nona and then made my way over to Fitch. I felt Luke watching me.

  “Fitch, you made it,” I said. We shook hands and then he introduced me to his date, the same woman I’d seen Seren dancing with.

  “Wouldn’t miss your celebration for anything,” he said. “Would we, Ruth?”

  “Nyx Fortuna,” I said.

  “Where are my manners?” Fitch said. “Nyx, this is my dear friend, Ruth Delaney.”

  “Once Fitch told me he knew you, I wouldn’t stop pestering him until he made the introduction.”

  As we talked, Fitch’s attention was on Luke Seren at the grill.

  “Think I’ll grab Ruth and me some grub,” he said. “You two stay here and get acquainted.”

  He ambled over to Luke and slapped him on the back. The other man flinched, but gave Fitch a smile.

  They had an animated conversation. To the casual viewer, they appeared to be having an amiable conversation, but Fitch’s jaw was tense, even when he smiled.

  “They look like two old friends,” I commented to Ruth.

  She looked startled. “They are. They should be. They’re brothers.”

  “They don’t look anything alike,” I said.

  “Different fathers,” she explained.

  “I thought they hated each other,” I said, despite the evidence in front of my eyes. Fitch and Seren were still laughing. Something about the way Fitch smiled at Luke bothered me, but I couldn’t explain why.

  The smile in Ruth’s eyes faded. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive. You should know that.” Her gaze went to the table where my aunts sat. Morta’s eyes gleamed with pleasure as she accepted the credit for toppling Hecate, but Nona looked like she wanted to be anywhere besides the party.

  I couldn’t argue with that. I realized I hadn’t asked Ruth anything about herself. “Which House are you with, Ruth?”

  “House of Fates,” she said. “Although I’m not one of the more popular members.”

  Which meant she wasn’t one of the group currently sucking up to the aunties. “Why not?”

  “I’m a fortune-teller,” she said. “There aren’t many of us left. Not real ones anyway.”

  Anything that reminded my aunts of my mother had been stamped out. Her status as the fourth Fate had been erased by my aunts and time.

  There was more to Ruth than I’d previously thought. Fortune-tellers had been loyal to Fortuna. She’d had to be a fighter to survive.

  “Give me your hand,” Ruth said. I held out my left hand, palm up. She took it in both hands and stared down at the lines there. She touched the fleshy part near my thumb.

  “A very overdeveloped Mound of Venus,” she said.

  Even I knew that meant I loved sex, food, and drink. “That’s not exactly a secret,” I said. I winked at her.

  Her smile was adorable. “No, not a secret, but true nonetheless.”

  I watched her as she studied my hand. I could see why Fitch was so infatuated with her.

  “You seem to have gained a life line recently,” she said.

  I nodded. “Very recently.”

  She bit her lower lip as she concentrated on the reading. She traced the fate line with her forefinger.

  “The past leaves its mark,” she said. “But the future is still about possibilities.”

  Her hands trembled in mine and her face paled. “You ran straight toward your fate,” she said. “Your blood still boils with the need for revenge.”

  “ ‘I will seize Fate by the throat,’ ” I quoted softly. She wasn’t telling me anything that a hack couldn’t figure out after listening to rumors and a few minutes in the same room with my aunts and me.

  “The Fates will fall as foretold,” she continued. “But you shall fall with them. She will bring you to your knees.”

  “She?”

  Something black flew into my face. It was a tiny bat, not much bigger than a moth. I swatted it away, but several more followed. A stream of bats rushed me and then flew into the night sky.

  “Where did they come from?”

  Ruth dropped my hand.

  The party went silent. Nona made an urgent gesture to join her. I excused myself from Ruth and went to see my aunt.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked in a low voice.

  “It’s a bad omen,” Nona said. “All those bats.”

  As superstitions went, it was one I’d never heard of, but an icy finger touched the back of my neck. I shuddered.

  “Don’t tell me you’re superstitious,” Tal
bot said.

  “You of all people should know how whimsical the hand of Fate is,” she said. “Some things even the Fates cannot prevent.”

  “What does it mean?” I asked.

  “Death. Destruction,” Claire said in a low voice. “And Rebecca saw it in the tea leaves, too.”

  That explained my sister’s habit of staring at teacups.

  The party was in danger of fizzling, but Luke had other ideas. He dropped his barbecue tongs to take center stage.

  “I’m sure we’ve all dealt with superstitions before,” Luke said loudly. “So we know there are many ways of interpreting this.”

  Did he just dis my aunts? From Morta’s expression, she thought that Luke had offered her a grave insult.

  “Trey, I think it’s time for another round of champagne,” Luke continued blithely.

  I found a quiet spot to think. There was a bench in an arbor not far from the main terrace. As I watched the magical Who’s Who laugh and drink, a sense of dread lingered. For me, Nona’s vision had cast a pall over the party.

  Despite Hecate’s imprisonment, unanswered questions weighed on my mind. What was the key for? I’d tried the locks on several doors at Parsi, but I hadn’t been to my aunts’ menagerie. What better place to hide a weapon against Hecate?

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Talbot said.

  I lifted a glass of champagne. “Here I am.”

  “You’re not letting that omen thing get to you, are you?”

  “It’s not that,” I said.

  “Then what is it?”

  “I can’t stop thinking that it’s not over.”

  He clinked his glass with mine. “You know what they say. It’s not over until it’s over.”

  I drained my glass. “Will it ever be over?”

  He didn’t have an answer.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Two in the morning and the party was still going strong. Despite the omen, my friends and family were having a good time. My enemies, too. Too bad I couldn’t always tell the difference.

  Talbot and Naomi talked to his dad, the aunts were occupied terrorizing the heads of Houses, and Claire argued with Carlos about something. He gave her a smile and I could practically hear her tell him not to try that Mesmer shit with her. My sister and Johnny were the two who held my attention. The music slowed and Johnny grabbed Rebecca’s hand and coaxed her to dance. After a few minutes, she put her head on his shoulder and he whispered something in her ear.

  Despite my earlier interlude with Willow, there was a hollow aching inside me. I wanted to be dancing with her in front of everyone. I wanted to hold her hand and smile at her the way Talbot smiled at Naomi.

  I snuck out of the party and drove around aimlessly. The Caddy and I traveled the streets together, the purr of its engine a comforting sound.

  I ended up at Parsi Enterprises. On impulse, I broke into the building. I could have asked my aunts to show me the creatures they held in the lower levels, but I wasn’t sure they’d agree. I brought the key I’d found at Deci’s house with me. I had a feeling it opened the cage to something or someone the aunts preferred to keep hidden.

  I wasn’t worried about the security guard, but I wasn’t sure I could get past the wards without being detected. I went through the loading-dock entrance and slipped in without a problem. There was a keypad in the elevator, but I’d watched Morta punch in the code. It took two tries, but I got the numbers right and the elevator carried me into the depths of the building.

  The only light came from dim bulbs along the hallway, but the cages were dark. The aunts had decided to keep Hecate at Parsi, instead of returning her to the underworld, where she could gather power.

  I checked on Hecate. Her room was colder than the others and for a brief moment, I thought I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye.

  I gripped my athame and waited, but nothing happened. It was just a shadow, I told myself, or the air-conditioning kicking in. I waited, but she was unmoving, wrapped tightly in the black crystal strands we’d used to imprison her.

  I left her there, certain that she was immobilized. My breathing sounded loud as I walked along. There was a presence awake somewhere in the bowels of Parsi Enterprises.

  The sound of whispering turned to a plaintive song I followed the sound to a part of the menagerie I hadn’t visited previously. There was someone standing motionless behind a locked door. I managed to take the wards off.

  I slid the mysterious key into the lock. It fit. The handle turned and I stepped in. The room was a simple one, no window with the only light coming from a bulb dangling from a chain, a cot in the corner of the room. It looked like a nun’s cell. Or a prison cell.

  A woman stood in the center of the room and stared raptly into whatever was on the wall opposite the door.

  She was tall, elegantly thin, and pale. Snakes coiled in her blond hair, but at my entrance, they slithered out. She had thickly lashed eyes and lips round as an apple that made me want to take a bite out of them.

  Medusa. The snakes in her hair hissed, but she didn’t turn her head.

  “Son of Fortuna,” she said. “What brings you here?”

  “Curiosity,” I said.

  “Which killed the cat,” she replied. Her attention didn’t stray from the wall. I wanted to see what had held her so transfixed. On the wall opposite her bed, there was a small obsidian mirror mounted to the wall. The silver frame was engraved, but I didn’t want to chance looking at it. Legend had it that whoever looked into Medusa’s mirror would see their true selves, which often led to madness. The alternate story was that Medusa’s gaze would turn you to stone. I didn’t chance it, so I kept my eyes away from hers.

  “What does the mirror do?” I asked her.

  “Many things,” Medusa replied.

  “You are powerful enough to tear down this entire building,” I said. “Yet you allow my aunts to hold you captive.”

  “I have all I need here,” she replied.

  “You’re here willingly?” A goddess, kept in a basement like a pet? It didn’t make sense.

  “Nyx Fortuna, tread lightly,” she said. “You ask too many questions. The mirror’s spell holds me here.”

  “You are a powerful goddess,” I pointed out. “Why don’t you break the mirror’s spell?”

  “If I could break its spell, I would,” she said. “Instead I am trapped here, staring in a mirror.”

  “At least the view is good,” I said. Legend went that Medusa was hideous, but in reality, she was breathtakingly gorgeous. Hecate had probably spread that rumor.

  “You assume that I like what I see.”

  “What do you see?”

  “The truth,” she said. “It is not always palatable.”

  I couldn’t imagine seeing my screw-ups every day in the mirror, replaying over and over.

  “If I ever am free of the mirror,” she said, “I will come looking for those who imprisoned me with the mirror.”

  “My aunts?” I guessed.

  She shook her head and the snakes hissed. “They have given me shelter,” she said. “And because of that kindness, I will not kill you tonight.”

  Medusa’s mirror was one of Hecate’s items of power, but I’d have to kill Medusa to get to the mirror, which would be even more of a daunting task than taking on Hecate had been. Besides, the mirror was safe where it was. Medusa and her snakes would guard it and I wouldn’t have to worry.

  “Good night, Medusa,” I finally said. I’d found the one person in Minneapolis who was lonelier than me.

  “Good night, son of Fortuna,” she said. “And please remember, I may not be so merciful the next time you visit.”

  I shut the door softly on my way out. I was barely out of the room before the plaintive singing started again. I let out a wry laugh. I’d never have guessed that my aunts’ kindness to a deadly goddess would eventually save my life.

  Chapter Twenty

  I hadn’t seen much of Willow since the night
of the party. She had gone into hiding. Or she was avoiding me. Or both.

  I searched every lake, river, and stream in Minnesota, starting with her lake. I finally found her on my second trip back to her home. She was sunning herself on some rocks by the river, just outside the cave where she sometimes slept. And sometimes did other things. My treacherous memory supplied me with images of what those things had been. Seeing her wasn’t helping my head. Anyone, any male at least, got a little light-headed around a naiad.

  She skinned a fish, a walleye, I think. Her expression didn’t change when she saw me, but she gripped the knife a little tighter. There was no guarantee that Willow wouldn’t kill me when she heard what I had to say.

  “Leave me in peace, Nyx Fortuna,” she said. “I have things to do.”

  “I just want to help you.” Who was I kidding? I wanted her.

  “Help?” she repeated. “It does not help me to see you right now.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “I thought we were friends.”

  “I would be your friend,” she said. “I only need some time.”

  “I will wait for you,” I said. I didn’t want to be her friend, but I’d take what I could get. I wasn’t sure I could stand not touching her.

  “Don’t.” The single word popped the tiny bubble of hope in my chest. Lucky in cards, unlucky in love. “I’ve been thinking of moving on, anyway.”

  “You mean leave Minneapolis?” Willow had made it clear we didn’t have a future together, but there was a hint of sadness in her voice.

  “Hecate has been taken care of.” Strangely, after my years of roaming the world, I was starting to think of Minneapolis as home. I wasn’t sure I liked the sensation.

  I stared at Willow. There was something different about her. I’d been so consumed by lust the night of the party that I hadn’t been paying close attention.

  Naiads had the ability to drive men mad with lust, but they’d seduce them and then kill them without thinking twice. A necklace of men’s teeth signified social status in a naiad colony.