Cybermancy

by Kelly McCullough

  “This is where it gets mushy,” said Melchior. “I’ll pass. Shara, you want to help me explore this dump?”

  She nodded, and they wandered off together. I smiled after them. Despite Melchior’s harsh words, I knew he was trying to give us some privacy. I appreciated it.

  I took a seat and a sip of my drink, then looked at Cerice. “The floor is yours.”

  “Right. Where to start . . .” She sipped her drink as well then looked me in the eyes. “How about with this, I love you. I love your reckless abandon. I love that you don’t plot out your hacks and cracks, you just do them. I love the sloppy way you put together spells. I love your courage and the way you never take danger seriously.” She laughed and took another drink. “I guess I love all the things about you that drive me absolutely crazy, and I haven’t the foggiest idea how a House of Fate produced someone like you.”

  “You’re not alone there, just ask Lachesis. Perhaps I’m a genetic throwback to the Titans.”

  “Whatever the reason, I appreciate it. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’m a little bit on the anal-retentive side.” She said this with a self-knowing smile and held up her hands a few millimeters apart. “Or maybe a lot.” She spread her arms into a gesture like someone talking about the one that got away. “I plan everything.” She looked at her feet. “Did you know that there’s a spreadsheet tucked away in Shara’s memory entitled ‘Life Plan’ and that the subsheet ‘College’ has a list of what schools I wanted to go to and when?”

  “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

  “I wrote it when I was thirteen. It included a four-year break between high school and freshman year of college.”

  “I’d never have guessed that part. You actually put free time into the list?”

  She blushed. “Not free time. I laid out a travel agenda involving visits to all the major mythological sites, when I was going, and for how long, as well as an extended tour of the prime minus one DecLocus with stops in all the big capitals and visits to fifty colleges with great comp-sci departments, just in case I changed my mind about under-grading at a version of MIT.”

  “You didn’t change your mind,” I said. I remembered visiting her there the year I was first looking for schools.

  “Of course not.” She looked at her feet again. “In fact, when I was fifteen, I added a tentative course schedule to my file. The only reason I changed anything when I finally started taking classes was because some of the things I’d picked out were no longer offered. I always knew exactly what I wanted to do and be.”

  “That’s what makes you a great programmer, Cerice. You can hold a thousand lines of code in your head and see whether it’ll do what you want it to.”

  “But it didn’t really prepare me for the messiness that is real life. When I discovered that Shara was really an independent being, it completely threw me for a loop. It changed all of my plans and assumptions. I couldn’t just fit smoothly into Clotho’s IT machine anymore. I loved Shara, and I had to do something for her, for her and for all the other webgoblins and trolls with the same problems. So, you know what I did?”

  “I can guess. You revised your ‘College Plan’ sheet.”

  Cerice laughed. “I did indeed. I changed my Ph.D. thesis subject and went looking for a new advisor, though I stayed with the same school. My proximate plans changed, but my methods stayed exactly the same. I changed the plan, but I still had one. Everything was going to be fine.”

  “Then I came along.”

  She nodded. “And then you came along. I’d always liked you when we met at joint court events, or when you visited me at MIT, but you were too wild to consider as even practice boyfriend material. I had other plans on the romance front.”

  “But?” I asked before finishing my drink.

  “But I kept finding things wrong with the guys on the good-boy demi-immortals list. Either they didn’t really turn my crank, or they treated their familiars like shit, or they had inherited their brains from wherever Zeus got his. All along I kept thinking back to you. Then came the day I overheard Atropos and Clotho vote to send Moric and his brothers to kill you. It was another break point. I had to warn you, but that meant some major spontaneous hacking and straight-up defiance of Clotho. I felt sooo guilty. But I couldn’t let them do it.”

  I was about to say something, but a subtle cough made me turn my head to find that Haemun had returned. “I’ve put together dinner and set up a table. It’s out on the terrace, where you can watch the sun go down.” He gestured with one hand, collecting our empty glasses with the other. “I’ll just refill these, shall I?”

  “Please,” said Cerice, rising and offering me her hand.

  Together, we walked out to find a small round table with two place settings side by side facing west. A small bamboo basket had its lid cracked to expose steaming rice, and a warming dish held two grilled ahi steaks beside it, but it hardly registered. The sun had sunk quite low, dipping toward the water while we’d talked on the porch. It was a beautiful evening, with just enough cloud cover to provide the sun a canvas on which to splash a gorgeous abstract painting in blood and fire.

  We sat down and, by a sort of mutual unspoken agreement, said nothing as the sun slid the rest of the way into the ocean. It was a half disc just sticking out of the water when Haemun arrived with our drinks. He delivered them so quietly and so smoothly that I barely noticed their arrival or his departure.

  I absently reached for mine but stopped midway. The sun had reached the point where it seems to drop precipitously before vanishing. For just an instant after the disc disappeared, the light shone back brightly through the water in a brilliant green flash like some giant solar wink. It took my breath away.

  “Gorgeous,” said Cerice. “I’ve read about the green flash, but I’ve never seen it.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before. It’s wonderful.” I finished my earlier gesture and collected my drink. “I’m glad that I saw it with you.”

  “So am I,” said Cerice.

  Then she reached for the serving dishes. It had been a long time since our last meal, and we paid more attention to the food than conversation for a little while. When we slowed down, Cerice caught my eye.

  “Where was I?”

  “Moric and company had just been dispatched to kill me.”

  “Right, and I’d defied Clotho. As awful as that made me feel, I couldn’t convince myself that I’d been wrong, or stop thinking about you. I had to find you and talk to you.”

  “And you did, with a little help from Ahllan.”

  “I did. Then one thing led to another, and we ended up in bed and I panicked. I wanted you so badly, but you just didn’t fit into the plan. I tried to shut you out at first, but you kept coming back, and pretty soon it killed me every time you left. So guess what I did?”

  “Revised the plan?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Uh-huh, now it included a sheet under ‘Ravirn, reforming of.’ Then it turned out Atropos and the other Fates were trying to kill free will, and I got caught up in the fight because I couldn’t let them kill you in the process, and then somehow you won. But you became Raven doing it. Everything was totally messed up and the plan was shot and I panicked again.”

  “And shit flows downhill.” It came out harsher than I’d intended, but I had to say it.

  “It does,” said Cerice. “It flowed all over you, and I’m so sorry about that. If I’ve lost you, I don’t know what I’ll do about that. But I do know I’m done with plans. The best things in my life are you and Shara and the things I’ve done and learned in helping you oppose Fate. If I’d followed the plan, I’d never have experienced any of it.”

  “Cerice, I . . .” Again, I didn’t know what to say, but I felt I had to say something. I did love her. No matter what happened between us, that much was true.

  “Please,” she said, “don’t answer me yet. We’ve reached one of the bad places in the story again. Soon, too soon, we’ll leave here and try
to fix the Persephone mess. That’s going to be dangerous. You could die. Melchior could die. Shara could die. I could die. No matter what, everything’s going to be different afterward. Answer me then. For now, I just want to make love to you and let tomorrow worry about tomorrow. Is that all right?”

  “Yes, and more than all right.” I rose and helped Cerice from her chair. “Shall we find out if this barn has a master suite somewhere?”

  “Let’s.”

  It did indeed, a huge room on the level above. Instead of marble, the bedroom was carpeted with living moss. Likewise the room’s twin balconies, one of which overlooked the bay, while the other faced the mountains. It was full dark now, and there was not a light to be seen anywhere on the slopes or beach. For all we could tell, there wasn’t another living intelligence anywhere beyond the bounds of Raven House. Stars sprinkled the sky like salt spilled on black velvet, and the Milky Way made a great pale stripe from horizon to horizon.

  “This is gorgeous,” said Cerice, from the edge of the bay-side balcony.

  I put an arm around her waist. “So are you.”

  She laughed lightly and kissed the side of my neck. “That’s very sweet, my dear. But I’m a complete mess at the moment. I saw what looked like a world-class bath through the door over there.” She pointed with her chin. “Want to clean up before we get dirty again? I could really use someone to scrub my back.”

  “If you insist.”

  I needed a good scrubbing, too. It had been a long time between baths, and I’d been scared silly, shot at, and dropped in a spirea bush since the last one. Cerice led the way into what turned out to be a truly magnificent bathroom. Apparently my subconscious, or whatever part of my psyche had led us to this place, liked its comforts.

  A marble tub almost big enough to swim laps in was partially sunk into the floor in the corner, and someone or something had filled it to the brim with steaming water. Three wide steps led up to its edge, and there was another inside to allow you to ease into the depths. A couple of sinks occupied a countertop opposite. A big glass booth in the corner held a half dozen showerheads. The toilet sat in its own smaller room beyond, out of sight of the bathing amenities.

  Cerice dipped a hand in the tub. “Perfect!” She started to strip off her clothes.

  When she caught me watching, she grinned and started moving slower on the buttons of her red silk blouse, making a show of it. I felt myself hardening in response. Once she had her shirt fully open, she coyly turned away from me and let it fall to the floor, exposing the white skin of her back. Cerice is as tall as I am and very slender, with a runner’s lines, and her back is a work of art. So was her chest, clearly visible in several of the mirrors. Her breasts are small and high, with pale nipples and clearly visible veins running through them, and you can count her ribs from fifteen feet.

  Cerice found my eyes in the mirror and grinned. “You like what you see?”

  “I always have.”

  “I’m glad.”

  With one smooth move she slipped her tights and the panties underneath over her hips and down to the floor, then stepped clear. Her long legs are hard with muscle, her buttocks likewise, an athlete’s figure despite the hours spent sitting in front of a computer. She turned to face me again, crossing the distance between us in a few quick steps.

  “Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, her lips inches from mine.

  “Of course.” I put my hands on her hips and pulled her closer still.

  “Well then.” For a moment she pressed her whole body against mine, catching my lower lip ever so gently in her teeth. “Why don’t you get a move on?” She pulled away and skipped up the steps to the tub, dipping a foot in. “Still perfect.” She gently lowered herself into the water, then flipped over so that her chin was resting on the lip and gave me a flatly appraising look. “Your turn.”

  I was very conscious of her eyes as I pulled my T-shirt over my head and took off my boots, actually blushing as I unzipped the fly of my leathers. Being watched felt even sexier than watching Cerice had.

  As I stepped up onto the edge of the bath, Cerice rolled onto her back, looking up the length of my body from a point almost between my feet.

  “Also perfect,” she said, with a wink. “Or close enough for my tastes at any rate.”

  As I slid in beside her, Cerice ran a hand from my ankle to my shoulder. Then she turned her back and handed the soap over her shoulder.

  I washed her slowly and thoroughly. Then she washed me in like manner. We just sat for a little while after that, letting the hot water soothe away our aches and completing the process of bringing my knee back to as good as it was ever likely to be again. Then we made gentle love on the edge of the bath, getting water and soap everywhere. Once we’d cleaned up again, we headed out onto the bay-side balcony, where clouds had eaten most of the stars. There was no one else around, and the night air was still warm, so we hadn’t bothered to dress.

  “I wish this could last forever,” said Cerice, leaning forward against the railing.

  “Me too.” I stood behind her, my arms around her waist, my chin resting on her shoulder. “But it can’t.”

  “No, it can’t.”

  Something about her tone made me reach up and run a finger along her cheek. It came away wet.

  “You’re crying.”

  “I’m happy. And sad. And frightened. I don’t want to let this moment go, because I don’t know what will happen next. But I know I have to.”

  “I have to find Persephone and try to save the mweb and Shara,” I said, wanting to make it better somehow.

  Cerice sighed. “Better make that, we have to find Persephone. After all, Shara’s my familiar.”

  I smiled and squeezed her tighter. “All right, we have to find Persephone.”

  “Better. But we don’t have to do it right this instant, do we? It can wait till morning?” She pressed her hips back against me.

  “It can wait till morning,” I agreed.

  “Good.” She reached back between us, guiding me.

  As I entered her, it began to rain gently. The storm matched its tempo to ours, rising slowly to a wild pitch and ripping the darkness with lightning as we orgasmed. The air had cooled, but we had not, and we took our pleasure a third time there on the moss that carpeted the balcony in the pounding rain. Finally, exhausted, we toweled off and fell into bed.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  If my illusions about a benevolent Fate hadn’t been erased long ago, they would have crashed to ruin with my awakening. Instead of the Haemun-served breakfast in bed I’d been hoping for, the first thing to meet my bleary eyes was Melchior’s sour expression. He was sitting cross-legged on the blankets between me and Cerice.

  “About damn time,” he said, grumpily. Then he hopped to his feet and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Shara, they’re up!”

  “No, we’re not,” said Cerice, from somewhere under the pillows. “Go away. We don’t want any.”

  “Cerice says they’re not hungry! Tell Haemun don’t hold breakfast!” He glared at me. “The faun was going to bring it to you here in bed, but I knew you’d never get up if that happened.”

  He looked smug, so I yanked on the blankets, pulling them out from under him and sending him ass-over-end.

  “Cancel that!” I yelled to Shara. “Tell him we’ll be down in five.”

  “Damn goblins,” said Cerice. But she sat up, too. “Don’t know enough to respect their betters.”

  “Betters!” squawked Melchior, getting back onto his feet. “I like that. You two couldn’t figure out how to code an if-then set without the help of the true better half of your cyberpartnerships.”

  I held a hand up to measure Melchior’s height. “Half? More like ten percent, and I wouldn’t be so quick to declare which end of the partnership carries most of the load if I were you.”

  “Short jokes is it? From the man who designed me this size? Ha, ha. I’ll get you for that,” he said. “You know that, right?�
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  “We do,” said Cerice, “but not before I get you for waking me up.” She yanked the covers again to tip Melchior. Before he could right himself, she flipped them over him and rolled him up into a little blanket burrito. Then in the sweetest tone imaginable she whispered, “See you at breakfast.”

  Haemun, or some as-yet-unseen functionary of Raven House, had carried off our clothes and left behind a pair of very nice kimono-style silk robes. Mine was green with a black raven on the back. Cerice’s was red with a golden phoenix. After slipping into them, we headed downstairs.

  Breakfast was laid out on the same table where we’d eaten dinner the previous night. The house shaded us from the rising sun, and the view over the bay was even more gorgeous than it had been then. The long, rolling waves practically cried out for surfing, and I wished very much that we could have given it a shot.