The others all laughed. “That is so,” Samudra said. “So, as Claude says, metaphorically the named Neutralities are guardians of what magery means to the Wardens. Guardians of their morale, perhaps.”
“I guess I have noticed that,” I said. “Is there any chance the oracle might have been speaking more literally? It’s really hard to understand it most of the time. It also talked about leaks, and there being one path, and sealing something. Any ideas?”
Amarion and Claude shook their heads. Samudra said, “None of that suggests anything to me yet. But we still know very little about the situation. More information may enlighten us.”
His words made me feel uneasy. I hadn’t told any of my fellow custodians what the oracle had said about its end because of Lucia’s warning, but with the destruction of the Fountain…suppose the oracle was next, and that was what it had foreseen? “There’s something else,” I said. “I haven’t told anyone but my husband and Lucia, but I think maybe you should know. About four months ago, the oracle told me it had seen its ending, and mine as well.”
Samudra’s eyes went wide. Amarion whistled in astonishment and said, “Helena, why didn’t you mention this before?”
“Because Lucia was convinced it would only create panic if people thought the oracle was going to die. But now that a named Neutrality has actually been destroyed, I think…I need help.” To my horror, my eyes grew wet, and I blinked away tears. I hadn’t realized I was so fragile. Maybe I needed that therapist, after all.
“Lucia was right then,” Samudra said, “and I do not blame you for keeping the secret. But you are right to tell us now. What, exactly, did the oracle say?”
I repeated the words that were seared into my memory. Such short sentences to spell my doom. “And it’s repeated itself several times a week since then,” I added. “Like I didn’t get it the first time.”
“Perhaps you did not,” Claude said. “It did not say ‘die.’ It said ‘end.’ There are many ways in which something might end. When one marries, for example, it is the end of their life as a single person. Perhaps the oracle means only that dramatic change is coming.”
Cool, wonderful relief flooded through me. “I never thought of that! That’s possible, right?”
“It is possible,” Samudra said. “But with the destruction of the Fountain, we should not ignore the possibility that the oracle spoke literally. I think we must prepare for the worst.”
And just like that, the relief was gone. “You’re right,” I said. “I wish I knew how to do that.”
“We will discuss with the stone magi, and give Ms. Pontarelli a chance to act,” Samudra said.
“You should ask Lucia what she learned from Ms. Suzuhara, too,” Amarion said. “We need to know how the Fountain was destroyed so we can keep it from happening to our charges. And—don’t worry, Helena. We’ve all seen the oracle’s predictions be thwarted.”
“I know. Thanks, Amarion.” I didn’t say that I’d never known the oracle to be wrong in what it told me directly. If it was a prediction of the future, it could be averted. I hoped.
“Let us plan to speak again at this time in three days,” Samudra said, “and text anything that cannot wait. Good night, Helena.”
“Good night,” I said, and disconnected. I stared at the blank screen for a few minutes before shutting my laptop and wearily trudging off to bed.
Xerxes followed me up the stairs until it became clear I was going to my bedroom, and then he trotted off in the direction of his cat bed in the spare room. His brother Cyrus, five pounds smaller than he and golden-furred, had early on colonized our bed as his territory, and while the brothers got along very well, Cyrus was an absolute tyrant when it came to his sleeping space. It amused me to watch them gradually make our house their home, how they had their own little quirks that translated into one or the other of them dominating certain parts of the house. I hoped their previous guardian, Jun, approved of our caretaking of her cats.
Malcolm was asleep with Cyrus puddled over his legs. The cat opened one eye and regarded me as I climbed into bed, but otherwise didn’t move. He liked me well enough, but Malcolm was definitely his person, which I thought was funny because Malcolm hadn’t been as enthusiastic as I was about adopting the boys. He’d pretended to be indifferent to them, but Cyrus had ignored Malcolm’s apparent standoffishness and behaved exactly as if the cats joining our family had been Malcolm’s idea. Malcolm’s (well-concealed) delight at being the object of a Persian cat’s affection had made me so happy.
I snuggled up next to Malcolm, who put his arm around me without opening his eyes. I loved cuddling with him; it made me feel secure and loved and successfully banished my demons for a few hours. Tiredness caught up to me, relaxing my body and making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open, but my mind wouldn’t let me sleep. Recently my sleeplessness was the result of fretting over the oracle’s cryptic warnings. Tonight, I couldn’t stop thinking about the oracle as mascot for all of magery. Did that extend to me, as Amarion had said? Should I behave more respectably? Not that I was disreputable now, but…these were questions with no answers, which meant they wouldn’t go away.
Finally, I made myself think about tackling Lucia in the morning, imagined what I would say, and let the planning carry me off to sleep. With luck, I wouldn’t dream.
4
“Lucia,” I said to her voice mail, “I’ve talked to the other custodians and we have some questions. And I have things to tell you. Call me back.” I disconnected and tucked my phone into my pocket, one not as deep as yesterday’s. Stupid girl pockets.
“Did you call Madeleine yet?” Judy asked. She forked up ravioli and ate with blissful gusto.
“It’s been a busy morning,” I said, feeling defensive. “And I might be putting it off because I don’t want to talk to her.”
“I know, but she’d understand better than we do about the possibility that the wards could be warped.”
I sighed and took a bite of my own ravioli. It was store-bought, not homemade, but one experiment along those lines had convinced me I would not add ravioli to my cooking repertoire. I compromised by buying the highest-quality fresh pasta I could find. “I know. I’ll call her after I eat. I don’t want to ruin my digestion.”
Distantly, the bells over the door jingled. I groaned and took another huge bite. Rare were the days when I got five minutes to eat my lunch in peace.
But the newcomer was a pleasant surprise. “Victor!” I exclaimed, hurrying forward to hug him. “It’s been a while.”
“I’ve been busy with training,” Victor said. That much was clear. Victor was a big young man who easily passed for much older than his eighteen years, but when we’d first met, he’d been on the heavy side, not quite fat, but not muscular. Now he’d slimmed down a little, replacing fat with muscle, and looked like Denzel Washington’s younger, fitter, and even more attractive brother.
“You want lunch? There’s lots of ravioli.”
“I’m good, thanks. Ate before I came.”
“Well, come on back anyway. Or—is this business?” Victor, a genetic sport like me, was a precognitive, and sometimes his talent guided him in my direction.
“I’m not sure. I got cleaned up after my workout, ate lunch, and then, instead of going back to work, I saw myself here.” He laughed. “It still feels weird that everyone at Campbell Security knows what I can do, and all I have to do is say I gotta go, and I’m gone.”
“That’s because they know you won’t abuse the privilege.” I took my seat at the break room table as Victor greeted Judy. “So—you saw yourself here? No idea why?”
“None. Hey, I heard about what happened in Georgia. Was the lady a friend of yours? I’m real sorry.”
“Thanks. She was.” A pang of sorrow shot through me, and once again I considered the possibility of talking to a therapist. But I was well-adjusted, so did I really need to? “Tell me what’s up with your team. Malcolm said you’ve been moving around a lot, getti
ng used to different fighting styles.”
Victor beamed. “They think I’m about ready to head my own team. Has to be with some experienced fighters, because I’m not great with knives yet, but…it’s an honor.”
“I’m so excited for you!”
“That’s fast,” Judy said. “You must be making better progress than you think.”
“It’s a little weird, not being a magus,” Victor said. “Some people expect things of me because I’m naturally immune to being drained, and they forget I can’t use magic. But it’s all good. Everyone’s been cool about it.”
My phone rang. “It’s Lucia,” I said. “Hang around for a bit, will you? I want to hear more about what you’ve been doing.” I excused myself and crossed the hall to the office before answering.
“What questions do you have?” Lucia said in her usual abrupt way.
“We want to know what Ms. Suzuhara discovered about the destruction of Berryton,” I said. “We had some ideas—”
“What ideas?”
I hesitated, considered the unlikelihood of Lucia letting me control the conversation, and said, “We thought it was possible the invaders had destroyed the Fountain indirectly, not by trying to overcome its wards. Like how the Well was corrupted by the body of its custodian. Maybe that would warp the wards enough to break their protection.”
Lucia let out a short sigh. “You’re all very smart,” she said. “That’s more or less what happened. They used the Mercy’s aegis-suppression field to render all the magi vulnerable. Then Lakin was killed in a way—I won’t give you the details—”
“Thanks.”
“But her death was used to corrupt the Fountain, which warped its protections and allowed the intelligent invaders to drain the node. Then, once the magic was gone, they broke the Fountain so it wouldn’t be able to regenerate its magic.”
I shuddered, picturing the intelligent invaders I’d met smashing the Fountain’s basin, which I’d never seen. In my imagination, it was a scallop-edged fountain with water shooting out of a fish’s mouth, and that was probably totally wrong. “So how do we defend against it?”
“I don’t know.” Lucia sounded more grim than usual. “We’re working on it. Until then, I’m posting bodyguards for you and suggesting the other named Neutralities do the same for their custodians.”
I hated the idea, but it made sense. “We don’t have to shut down, do we?”
“That’s the final resort. The stronger the wards, the harder it is to warp them, and an impenetrable ward is unbreakable by any force we know, including intelligent invaders. But if we have to shut down the named Neutralities, that’s the same as if the invaders destroy them, at least so far as us getting any use out of them goes. Hang on.” Her voice became muffled, as if she’d covered the receiver and was talking to someone else. When she came back, she said, “Any other questions?”
“I…don’t think so. No, wait. Do you know how many intelligent invaders came through in Montana? Because I was wondering if they hadn’t tried this before because there weren’t enough of them.”
There was a pause. “Don’t go spreading this around,” Lucia said, her voice almost too low to hear. “We don’t know how many of the intelligent ones made it through before the Wardens shut down the node in Montana, but it wasn’t a high number. They didn’t do this through brute force. Suzuhara says the pattern of the attack is anomalous. She’s still looking into it, but her preliminary assessment is that the invaders used new tactics—a strategy of attack unlike any we’ve seen before.”
I felt a chill pass through me, even though I didn’t understand the import of her words. “Why would they do that? Other than that it let them destroy a named Neutrality.”
“We have no idea. But whatever came through in Montana, it has a different plan in mind. And that can’t be good for the Wardens.”
“No. Is that why you want to keep it secret? You don’t want to spread panic?” Between Lucia and the Board, I felt crammed to the gills with secrets I couldn’t share.
“Got it in one, Davies. But it’s not a secret that will last. Suzuhara’s investigation will be finished in a day or so, and that’s when we’ll release our information, along with an assessment of how much danger we’re all in. Gives people something to focus on that isn’t hiding inside a warded fortress.”
“I can’t not tell—”
“I’m used to your insane need to share everything with Campbell. Makes me glad I’m not married.” Lucia chuckled to let me know it was a joke. “He’s more tight-lipped than I am, so no worries on that front. And…let the other custodians know. They’re almost certainly in the most danger, and they need to know what to watch out for. Like I said, another day, maybe two, and we’ll have a plan of attack.”
“All right.” I didn’t feel nearly so certain as Lucia sounded, but then her Neutrality wasn’t in danger, so far as we knew. “I was going to ask Madeleine about the wards on the store, whether there was anything we could do to protect them against being warped.”
“Just so you don’t tell her why you have that theory, you’re fine,” Lucia said. “I’ll call you if anything changes.” She hung up.
I put away my phone and returned to the break room, where Victor and Judy were chatting. “Well?” Judy said.
“She says it’s possible, and to have Madeleine check the wards. And some other stuff. The investigation is going well.” I was having trouble remembering who I’d told what to, and who was allowed to know what. “A couple more days until it’s over.”
“I heard it was intelligent invaders like the ones we fought in Montana,” Victor said. “Lots of them, and that’s how they overpowered the node.”
“Lucia didn’t say,” I lied. “I guess that’s possible, though. But I want to know what else you’ve been doing! Still gambling?”
“Not in this state. It’s no fun,” Victor said with a laugh. “Besides, I got better things to turn my talent to now. Like—”
His eyes went distant, and a funny, confused look crossed his face. Then he focused on me and Judy. “You need to call Malcolm,” he told me. “Right now.”
“Um…okay,” I said, pulling out my phone. “What do I tell him?”
“A car is going to plow into the front of the store in fifteen minutes. It will destroy the front door and wreck that thing that protects it from invaders in human suits. That’s how they’ll get in. If he gets a couple of teams moving now, it might not be too late.”
I gaped at him, then, with shaking fingers, called Malcolm. The phone rang far too many times before he answered. “Malcolm, Victor’s here and he’s had a vision,” I said, cutting off Malcolm’s warm greeting. “I need some teams at the store immediately. He says the invaders are trying an attack.”
“On my way,” Malcolm said, and the phone went dead.
“You two need to get out of here,” Victor said.
“I can’t leave,” I countered. “What if the car is a distraction, and the point is to get me out of the warded store? I have to stay here.”
Victor’s mouth set in a determined line. “Then I’ll stay with you.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t care if he was inexperienced. His presence comforted me.
“So what do we do?” Judy said. “Wait around for doom to fall on us? How in the hell is a car able to drive through the front door? The street’s not wide enough for it to get up any speed!”
“Sideswipe, maybe?” I realized my hands were clenched so hard the nails bit into the flesh of my palms and made myself relax. “I’m not going to hide in the back. If the teams don’t get here in time, and the invaders make it through the door, I want to know where they are. I’m going out front. Judy, you need to leave.”
“The hell I will! I’m staying here.”
“If they succeed in triggering the wards and it doesn’t destroy the oracle, there’ll need to be a custodian. There’s no third person—it’s just you and me. They can’t be allowed to kill both of us.”
&
nbsp; Judy’s face was red and furious. “If you think I’m going to run away—”
“It’s not running away. It’s sensible. Please, Judy.” I stared her down, willing her to be sensible.
Judy looked away and swore viciously. “Fine,” she said, gathering her purse. “But if they kill you, I’ll never forgive you.” She strode to the back door and slammed through it.
“Don’t think you can get rid of me that way,” Victor said. “Malcolm would kill me if I left you.”
“Is it bad that I didn’t even think about it? I don’t want to be alone.” I didn’t bother with inane questions like Are you sure? or Did you see me die? Victor’s visions always came true, but he tended to see events rather than people. My fate was still a mystery—unless the oracle was right, and this was what it had foretold. I unclenched my hands again and walked at a calm, measured pace to the front of the store.
I wasn’t totally foolhardy; I stopped as far from the front door as I could get and still see it. The sunlight was dim, suggesting an overcast sky, though the forecast hadn’t been for rain. It still made the street look warm and welcoming. Men and women dressed in shorts and lightweight dresses passed in both directions, laughing and smiling like the world was theirs for the taking. It made me feel sick, and I turned away so I wouldn’t have to see them.
“Helena, you’re shaking,” Victor said. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it?” I laughed, a weak, anemic sound. “I wish I could be sure.” Victor didn’t know about the oracle’s prophecy. I checked my phone’s display. Eleven more minutes. My hands really were shaking. I closed them tightly on my phone and willed myself to be still.
“I’m glad you came by,” I said. “Imagine if…”
“I’m glad I didn’t ignore that vision,” Victor said. “Used to be I’d tell myself it was my imagination when I saw something that didn’t make sense. Like me being at Abernathy’s mid-day when I ought to be at work. Now I go with it.”
The Book of Destiny Page 4