Part 32 (1/2)

”Foolish heroics,” Vivian repeated.

He nodded.

”Like rescuing animals?”

”Or people, when it's not approved.”

”Or the Fates when they might punish you for it.”

He nodded.

”Foolish heroics.” Vivian smiled. ”I like that.”

”I never have,” Dex said.

”But you've lived up to it.”

”I guess.”

Vivian took a deep breath. ”So there's no comfort in your prophecy either. You've found the love.”

”Yes,” he said.

”And mine says we might lose it.”

”That's one interpretation,” Dex said.

”It seemed to be Aunt Eugenia's,” Vivian said. And then Dex opened to her as all of his blocks left him. He was worried, and beneath that worry was a subtle fear. ”And yours.”

He took her hand. ”Vivian, you'll be all right.”

”It's not me I'm worried about,” she said.

”My foolish heroics only lead me to love,” he said.

The implication was that she might not survive, and he would. He must have heard the thought.

”I'll do everything in my power to keep any harm from coming to you,” he said.

She knew that. She trusted him beyond all measure, beyond all logic. But she also knew that his resources were limited, just like hers were.

And now that they'd found each other, they both had something precious to lose.

*Chapter Twenty-two*

Eris waited until the sun had set. Her magic was stronger in the dark. But this street wasn't entirely dark. Street lamps cast large pools of light on the road and the surrounding yards.

Eris pointed her right hand at the first streetlight and pinched her thumb and forefinger together. The light went out. She continued the process until all the other lights were out as well.

The change was silent. No big explosions, no cascade of sparks. The neighbors--the handful who lived on the block--probably hadn't even noticed.

Eris smiled and walked farther up Dexter Grant's driveway. While she had been waiting for the twilight to end, she had been sending out thin feelers, searching for magic. She made sure the feelers didn't touch the magic; if they did, they might alert Grant.

The feelers found a deep sense of magic all around the house. Grant had used standard protect spells and had updated them just that afternoon, probably when he arrived home with Kineally. Two bits of magic still floated in the air above the house--one a large relocation spell, bringing two people into the area (it took little work on her part to realize those people were Grant and Kineally) and the second a small relocation spell, which brought three boxes into one of the bedrooms.

The boxes carried the faint odor of Eugenia Kineally.

Eris had finally found where Eugenia's spell recipes had gone. They had gone to her niece Vivian, who in return gave them to her new sweetheart, Dexter Grant.

The recipes were a bonus. Eris could hold the Fates without them. But the recipes would show her the protection spells that surrounded the Fates, the way Eugenia Kineally had shown them how to protect themselves even though they had given up their magic.

Eugenia's spells had to have been very powerful, given the success the Fates had had so far. Eris was certain the spells had been designed to protect magical Fates. The fact that the spells protected nonmagical Fates showed just how powerful Eugenia Kineally had been.

The night had become pitch black. The moon wouldn't rise for another two hours, and then it would be a pitiful sliver--certainly not enough for some inept souls to pull magic from. Eris never pulled her powers from anywhere else. She stole magic from rivals--although she hadn't been able to get Eugenia Kineally's, dammit--and she absorbed glimmers from the marginally magical, but she never used an object outside of herself as a source for her power.

It simply wasn't practical. Other people, other 'things', couldn't be relied upon. One had to learn to rely upon oneself.

Eris extended a hand and cast a s.h.i.+mmering red light forward. The light was almost invisible to the untrained eye. She loved this spell; it detected hidden magic.

She sent the light toward that fence in the backyard, where she was certain Grant had built a second house, this one s.h.i.+elded and magical. The light floated around his ugly ranch, caught on the weak s.h.i.+elding, and s.h.i.+mmered for a moment.

Then it disappeared.

Eris followed it, careful to avoid the edges of the s.h.i.+eld. The light had not gathered in the backyard, as she had expected. Instead it was seeping into the earth.

She had never seen anything like it before, and she wasn't certain what it meant. The light didn't sit on top of the ground and s.h.i.+mmer; the ground had apparently absorbed it.

A spell she didn't recognize? A protection she wasn't certain of? She hadn't encountered one of those in more than four generations. She had to give Grant credit for resourcefulness. For such a young man, he had a wide repertoire.

She tried to call the light back to her, but it wouldn't come. It felt stuck, and now she recognized the spell. If she tugged on her own magic, urging it to return to her body, it would instead pull her into the trap, holding her there until someone--probably the mage who laid the trap--set her free.

Clever, clever Grant. Her respect for him grew even more. Too bad she had to rely on her careless son Strife when a talent like Grant was in the world. Too bad she couldn't bring him over to her side.

She put her hands on her hips and studied the aluminum windows of the horrible little ranch house. She couldn't sense any life in there at all--not even the animals Grant was famous for rescuing.

He had them hidden somewhere. Just like he had the Fates hidden. And he had them hidden very well.

But no one thought of everything--at least, no one as young as Grant. He would have made a mistake, left an access point somewhere, or allowed a weakness in one of his s.h.i.+eldings.

She just had to find it.

A klaxon sounded overhead.

Vivian jumped, her heart pounding. The calico cat scampered off her lap, leaving deep claw marks in Vivian's thighs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw other animals scurrying for cover.