The remains of the pizza were scattered around them. Dex was on his third Sprite. Vivian had switched to coffee an hour earlier, even though her stomach wasn"t happy about it. Or maybe her stomach was responding to what she was reading.
A stack of notebooks sat before her. The mythology books were off to the side. Dex had looked through them and decided they weren"t useful-- at least not at the moment.
All of the legal pads were filled with letters, written to Vivian, from Eugenia. A stack that Dex had put back in one of the boxes explained the magic system that Vivian had learned about earlier that day. Eugenia had started writing the letters when Vivian was a little girl, apparently planning to use them to explain the system to her once her training began.
But the training had never happened. In the later notebooks, Eugenia was quite apologetic about that. She had a sense that time was running out. She had conveyed that sense in her e-mails to Vivian and in several phone calls, but Vivian had pooh-poohed them, apparently thinking Aunt Eugenia would live forever.
At the top of one of the boxes, Dex found a sheet of fax paper, with an airline reservation on it. Aunt Eugenia had planned to spend this very week in Los Angeles. With Vivian.
Apparently, Eugenia felt that since she couldn"t bring the mage-in-training to the Pacific North-west, she would bring a bit of the Northwest to the mage-in-training. Or something like that.
As Vivian delved into her aunt"s things, her good mood disappeared. Dex didn"t say anything about her mood change, but one of the cats--a white and gold calico--crawled on her lap about fifteen minutes ago.
"Cat therapy," Dex had said with a smile. "Cats believe if you pet them, you"ll feel better."
"The added benefit being that they"ll feel better too," Vivian said, not looking up.
"Exactly."
She did pet the cat and she did feel better, but the mood didn"t last. Because the doc.u.ments she and Dex were going through now bothered her the most.
They were about Eris, who was, in fact, Erika O"Connell. Eris had had a number of names over the. years. One of them had been Esme Pompedeau, a piano teacher who lived in the same women"s boardinghouse as Eugenia at the turn of the century. They had become good friends--not because Eugenia had sought Eris out, but because Eris had sought her.
Eugenia thought they had a shared secret and friendship based on dedication to the same principles. It wasn"t until Eugenia caught Eris going through her things that she realized something was wrong.
"I think I found it," Dex said.
Vivian looked up from the notebook she"d been reading. Her eyes were muzzy. She"d been looking at blue ink on yellow paper for hours. "Found what?"
"The reason Eris killed your aunt."
Vivian"s breath caught. She put her hand on the calico"s back, and the cat started to purr. It didn"t bring Vivian the advertised comfort. "What?"
"Eris thought that your aunt was the Fates" defender."
Defender of the Fates. Vivian frowned. Where had she heard that before? Then the hair on the back of her neck rose. That had been the t.i.tle of Kyle"s comic book. And the superhero in it, the man, had looked just like Dex.
That had to be more than coincidence. Obviously, Kyle had the family curse. He had powers too. She had just thought he had a lot of good hunches. But that comic book had been eerily accurate.
Dex set the notebook down. "Eris thought that if anyone wanted to take out the Fates, they had to go through Eugenia first."
"Why would she think Eugenia was the defender of the Fates?" Vivian asked. She couldn"t think about Kyle, not now. She would worry about him later. Right now she had to focus on herself, Dex, and the Fates.
"Because of the prophecies." Dex folded his hands over the notebook. "Has anyone told you about the prophecies?"
Vivian shook her head. "Not really. They were mentioned, but no one really explained them."
He brushed a strand of hair from his forehead. He really was a handsome man. She wished- "Focus, Viv," he said with a grin. "Prophecies."
She had been broadcasting. She flushed. His grin widened. "Prophecies," she repeated.
"One of the duties of the Fates--of our Fates-- is to give each mage a prophecy. These prophecies are always about love."
"What does love have to do with Eris?" Vivian couldn"t think of two more disparate concepts.
"Nothing," Dex said. "It"s what your family has to do with the Fates."
"My family?" Vivian reached for the notebook. Dex didn"t move his hands. He wasn"t allowing her to take it. Apparently, he wanted to give her the information.
"Your Aunt Eugenia shared your prophecy and hers with you. She knew others as well, but she didn"t write them down. She says the whole family is tied into the Fates."
"But I"m the only one with powers," Vivian said, and then bit her lower lip. That obviously wasn"t true. Kyle had them.
Dex shrugged. "You and your aunt, and maybe someone else. She didn"t say."
He slid the notebook to Vivian. "Hers is first."
Vivian studied her aunt"s flowing handwriting. The prophecies were the only things on the page. Her aunt"s was: "Your defense of the Fates will lead to a great love."
And Vivian"s was: "You shall have a great love should you survive Fate"s darkest day."
"She had it wrong," Vivian said, then she looked up at Dex. "It"s not Fate"s darkest day. It"s Fates"-- as in all three Fates--darkest day."
Dex nodded. "I think Eris had the same understanding that she did. I think everyone thought Eugenia would be the Fates" defender. I think your aunt thought she was your defender too. If your prophecy is misread, like you say, then your future would be bright if Eugenia managed to save the Fates."
Vivian stared at the words, shaking her head and feeling very sad.
"That"s why the Fates were so shocked she was dead," Dex said. "And Eris thought she had a victory when she killed Eugenia."
"How did Eris know the prophecies?"
"They"re written down," Dex said. "Anyone can find them if they look hard enough."
Vivian sighed. "So the prophecies are wrong sometimes?"
"Never." Dex sounded shocked.
"But Aunt Eugenia"s was." Vivian frowned. "She never had a great love."
Dex reached out and took Vivian"s hand. "Interpreting prophecies is very difficult. Even the Fates get the interpretations wrong sometimes."
"I thought they came up with the prophecies."
"They do," Dex said, "but the prophecies come from some force outside themselves. Some people say the force is the Powers That Be, but others don"t agree."
"Don"t the Fates know?"
"No one knows for sure," Dex said.
"I guess it really doesn"t matter," Vivian said. "Aunt Eugenia"s prophecy was still wrong."
"Read it again, Viv," Dex said softly.
"It says, "Your defense of the Fates will lead to a great love." " Vivian shrugged. "So?"
"It didn"t say "her great" love." Dex"s hand tightened on hers. "Now read yours."
Vivian did. "You shall have a great love should you survive Fate"s darkest day".
She felt cold. "You think Aunt Eugenia"s prophecy refers to us?"
"Yes," Dex said.
Vivian tightened her hold on his hand. A great love. It felt like a great love. And he believed the prophecy pointed to it.
She looked at him, feeling warm and loved and upset all at the same time. His gaze met hers, and it was full of compa.s.sion.
"That"s so sad," she said. "It means her whole life was pointing toward mine."
"I doubt she looked at it that way," Dex said. "Maybe she spent all that time waiting for her great love."
"Until the end". Vivian got his thought as clearly as if he had spoken. "She knew in the end".
"Because she sent me all the materials," Vivian said.
Dex started. He must have thought she hadn"t heard that thought. "Yes."
"That makes sense," she said. "But if the Fates knew they were going to face trouble, why did they come here? Why did they let their magic go?"
"There"s no figuring those women," Dex said.
"You don"t even have an idea?"
He gave her a wry grin. "They do believe in fate."
Vivian rolled her eyes. "I still don"t get it. Even if the Fates are determined to believe in the prophecy, why would anyone else? I mean, if the Fates are the all-powerful judges, jury, and executioners, where would Eris get enough magic to fight them?"
"I don"t know," Dex said. "And why wouldn"t Eris have taken Eugenia out when they first met?"
Vivian shivered. Her life would have been so different if she hadn"t had her Aunt Eugenia to rely on. So different that she really didn"t want to think about it.
The hair rose on the back of Vivian"s neck. "Is there a draft in here?"
Dex shook his head, obviously not expecting the question. "From where? We"re really deep underground."
"Maybe the heating system?"
"I can get you another sweater, Viv," he said.
She wrapped her arms around the one she was wearing. It was too big and smelled of Dex. "This one"s fine. It just felt like a goose had walked on my grave."
Dex"s expression turned sharp. "Are you sensing something?"
Vivian wasn"t sure. She concentrated for a moment, tried to judge the sensation she had just had. Had it come from all her reading--which was disturbing her? Or the conversation? Or the fact that she had been cold since she arrived in this hideaway?
Or was it something more?
"Did it feel like that spell Vari took out of you?" Dex asked.
Vivian shook her head. "That was a lot more powerful. This was just--a draft."
She didn"t want to tell him that sometimes she couldn"t tell a premonition from a sneeze, particularly if the response was mild. She had been concentrating on her reading, not on her various psychic abilities.
"I thought you said a spell can"t get us down here," she said.
"I said we"re defended against all types of magic I know about."
"There are types you don"t know?" Vivian asked.
"By our people"s standards, Viv, I"m a baby. I"m always astonished by how much I don"t know."
That didn"t rea.s.sure her. Of course, it wasn"t meant to. But she had been feeling safe until that moment. She thought of the other part of the prophecy.
"The Fates" darkest day," she said to him. "Is this the Fates" darkest day?"
He shrugged. "I"d like to hope so, because we saved them this morning. But I doubt it. I think their darkest day is ahead."
"So we have this ..." She paused, not sure she wanted to say it before he did.
"This great love," he said.
"And we might lose it?"
"Might," he said. "Only might. We might get to enjoy it as well."
Vivian bit her lower lip. "But there are no guarantees."
"No."
Then she frowned. "What"s your prophecy?"
He blushed and blocked his thoughts.
"Dex, please."
He shook his head, but the block lifted. Still, Vivian couldn"t read much more than embarra.s.sment.
"My prophecy," he said, "is "Only through foolish heroics will you find a great love." "