by Pam Uphoff
"Oh yes." Teri looked around and nodded. "This could be rather a challenge, lots of windows for the breeze . . . "
"We need a big house. Dagger and your two need to spend a lot less time on ice, so we have a growing pyramid all our own. We should get Wavelength and Zodiac both back."
The Veronian witches stirred.
"Yes, of course your babies. That will be rather a lot of children, especially if we take some friends for Betelgeuse. It will keep us busy."
Teri sniffed. "I'll hire some nannies. I can ensure they won't talk out of place."
Jade chuckled. "Yes. Isn't it fun to control the ordinary people?"
Teri failed to suppress a smirk. "Oh yes."
***
The black sand and the old lava flows made a dramatic house. Teri smirked as she showed up the other witches. Sunset and Smokey had no formal magical training at all. And Jade didn't seem to have much of an affinity for shaping rock in large quantities.
I'm going to be the leader of this Pyramid, and Jade can kiss my . . . toes.
Unfortunately, her daughter Betelgeuse is almost ten years old. She'll grasp power well before Wavelength, who is only five. She'll advance to the Crescent Moon, and boost Jade to the Full Moon . . . Unless Wavelength was raised in a speed bubble. And for that to happen, I'll have to retrieve her from whoever has adopted her.
She turned to the other witches. "So . . . how about we raid Hell's Island tomorrow?"
Chapter Three
Spring 1397
Karista, Kingdom of the West
Heliotrope smiled at Asti across the table.
So completely different than anyone she'd ever known. Brilliant and inquisitive, delighted by anything new, diving into . . . anything.
"I think I've gotten the bugs—horrible expression—out of the conversion programs. It handled the tables correctly, but I still need to check some formats."
Asti grinned. "I like thinking about these programs having insect infestations. But being able to get the Earth computers to talk to the Oner computers will be handy. Everything on one machine beats the heck out of switching between them."
"Not to mention the poor clerks you hauled in to retype the Earth encyclopedia articles from the Earth computer onto the Oner machine." Heliotrope frowned. "I was impressed, though, at how well that 'learn to type' game worked. Their speed was incredible. I'm going to have to get the spies to buy more educational games like that."
"What I want is a Oner printing press." Asti's eyes lit. "Electronic input, instead of plates, or even movable type. It's going to be incredible."
Heliotrope giggled. "Asti! Have pity for your floors. If you print everything you want, your library will collapse into your basement. And I really don't think Lady Sashi will approve." Meeting Asti's parents had been terrifying. And then delightful. Marvelous people.
Lady Sashi had taken her aside to talk about marrying her son . . . and sniffed at Heliotrope's protestation of being a good witch.
And witches never marry.
Except my sister and a few other rebels.
But . . . how do I explain Tunguska to Lady Sashi and Lord Andre? I just casually made sure to say things like 'must get home to my daughter' when leaving the computer lab. So Asti's always known . . . some of the situation.
She gazed out the window at the city. Twilight dim, with the yellow glow of lamps spreading. Asti saw me moments after I'd escaped from Art. He knows I was raped. No one else will believe I'm anything but a witch with the usual lack of morals.
"I love watching the city come back to life after sundown." Asti reached across the table and laid his big warm hand on hers. "You've gone quiet and sad again. Tunguska or Xen?"
She shook her head. "Tunguska. It's so horrible to have a baby you don't love. Never wanted."
She was silent for a long moment. "Xen . . . never loved me. I joined the expedition, well, spy mission, to the One World because I thought I'd be close to him for six months, maybe a whole year. And wound up in college in a high tech world instead."
"And Xen wasn't interested?"
Heliotrope winced. "Actually he wasn't there, most of the time. Oh, he found me attractive, but . . . nothing he was interested in enough to let down his barriers."
"Err, magical barriers." He actually blushed. "I suppose magic could make sex . . . more interesting?"
"Emotional barriers. I expect that side of him is invisible to men. But he was taken advantage of when he was young, and never really trusted women, after that."
"But . . . his reputation . . . "
"Sex, not love. And he used it brutally, trying to derail the war push on the One World. The closest he came to love was with one of their president's guards. Even then I'm not sure it wasn't just the bond between the God of Spies and a government agent, even an enemy agent. I was horribly jealous that she'd gotten through to him, where I'd failed." She shrugged. "I . . . finally pushed him hard enough that he called me a useless society girl, with a head full of dresses and dancing."
Asti sat up indignantly. "Oh surely not! You're brilliant, and well educated. You are probably this world's expert on computers."
She felt her mouth pulling into a wry smile. "Now. I was so angry, I hunted down Q in your computer lab, to ask her how to attract him, and got put to work. At first just to prove him wrong . . . and then because it was interesting and I . . . liked thinking the problems through, liked the feeling of accomplishment. And somewhere along the line I stopped caring about Xen."
"Good . . . Because I'm planning on marrying you." He paused. "That is . . . Heliotrope, I love you. Will you marry me?"
Heliotrope swallowed. Marry . . . I can't . . . I'm a witch . . . I'm not a virgin . . . I'm a horrible mother . . . Answer will kill me . . . What will your parents say . . . what will mine say?
What will I say?
She licked dry lips. Swallowed. "Yes."
Chapter Four
Spring 1397
Karista, Kingdom of the West
Teri wafted her most powerful unnoticeable spells on all of them. Which made walking in town a bit difficult. But it made approaching the corridor to the Island much safer.
"The corridor to the Island is anchored in the ruins of the Temple of Ba'al."
"I know that. Must you chatter?" Jade was obviously on edge.
"Sorry. It's so empty around here it's spooky. It's like people are detouring around the whole neighborhood." Teri winced internally. I have to stop apologizing, I sound weak.
Smokey shivered. "I'd avoid it too, if it weren't for the children. The Aura's bad, and getting worse."
Sunset raised her chin. "I'm not afraid." But her shoulders were tight, her walk stiff.
Teri locked her teeth down over further nervous chatter and strode confidently through the open gateway. And grabbed a dimensional bubble that floated past. For the hell hounds.
The grounds were ill kept, overgrown. It looked like something grazed them, but irregularly and not often enough. The shadows were long in the sunset, the marble of the ruined church dyed orange. The wall where they attached the corridors . . .
"There's three of them. The Island, the Tavern, and Ash." Teri reached out with that little tick of power that unlocked the private corridors.
Sunset visibly braced herself and stepped through the one in the middle. Leaped back out. "Ash." She sounded half panicked.
With cause. Teri eyed the ground. The right corridor looked like it got the most use. She stepped through. Into a plaza in front of a large mansion. Broad steps up to a columned entry, fountains to either side, a bronze statue of leaping snarling hounds . . .
"Wow, someone reverse bubbled some hell hound puppies?" Teri skirted the dogs and headed for the front door.
Smokey eyed the statue. "I thought there were only four hounds. Puppies?"
Jade snorted. "Puppies of the original four, nearly full grown. Let's hurry. I'm getting a headache."
Smokey nodded. "What is that . . . despair."
> "The God of Just Deserts. Some of the witches said he'd calmed down. If this is calm, it's no wonder the witches all fled when he wasn't calm. So let's find some bubbles."
Teri touched the front door . . . no traps. No glows close enough to detect with her mental shields halfway up trying to block the miasma.
She opened the door. Large room, furniture, no people. Stairs up either side, leading to hallways leading further back. She trotted across the big room, glancing through side doors . . . closed her eyes and looked for bubbles. She pointed. "Lots of bubbles up there. Let's go."
Girly rooms full of dresses and makeup, in disarray, as if abandoned abruptly. Bubbles with stuff—apparently cleaning their rooms was just an exercise in getting things out of sight. Stupid rich girls, enough clothes for a small town. Each.
The time it was taking to look in each bubble was making her nerves crawl . . . "Finally! Here's a baby!"
Smokey and Sunset lunged to touch . . . nothing, no zing. Teri closed the bubble and reached for the next.
The next room had more babies, not theirs. The third room, set up for a couple of children, who weren't there. Fourth room, one baby. Not theirs.
"How many babies do theses women have?" Jade led the way around a corner. More doors, more women's bedrooms. More kid's bedrooms. Two more babies. No zing.
A slammed door, a complaining female voice getting closer. They all slid into a room and stood quietly, shields mostly up, tracking a very faint glow . . . that walked past them and into the next room. Teri inched the door open. Faint distant voices.
"We need to leave." She barely breathed. Looked at the stubborn yearning on the two Veronian witches' faces. "Right we skip the next room and whip through the others, fast. Jade, you and I will alternate rooms. If we find a baby we take it. Then we run for it. Smokey . . . oh, stop looking so stubborn. Stay with Jade and check. Jade, I'll go to the far end and grab babies, bring them along, how many more rooms can their be?"
Jade kept her snort quiet. "Including all the Sisters of the Moon? Eleven."
"Just four more, excellent."
Teri tiptoed down the hallway to the next corner. Couldn't sense any bubbles, so she turned back. Eight bubbles! These women! One held a baby girl, she plucked the bubble off and stuck it on her arm. Next room, decorated for children, not in any of the bubbles.
Next room . . . more voices, getting near. Jade ducked into the room reemerged with a half dozen bubbles. Teri grabbed Smokey and dragged her away, around the corner, away from the voices.
Jade shoved Sunset. "I grabbed all the bubbles, we're leaving now!"
A deep bark. They ran. Slowing barely when they got to the head of the stairs opposite the ones they'd come up. The room below was empty. They scuttled down the stairs, across to the door, ran for the corridor . . . They didn't stop until they were well away, hailed a cab and rode the rest of the way to the mansion. And out to the island.
Teri giggled with relief. "That was . . . not something I want to do again."
"What about the babies!" Sunset was in tears.
Teri pulled opened the bubble with the baby she'd found. No zing.
Jade looked through bubbles full of clothes and . . . "How many shoes does a woman need?"
Opened the last bubble . . . "Ah, twins! Or something."
Sunset touched, slumped. Smokey, the same.
Teri swallowed. "That means they're in Ash." She heard her voice go squeaky. "Or possibly Rip Crossing." Please, please, let it be Rip Crossing!
Smokey and Sunset swapped glances. Nodded. "Right. So . . . what is the best way to find out?"
Teri bit her lip. "I still have a few contacts in Rip World. I'll slide in and check. But right now, let's get set up with some servants. A nanny. We've got six babies or toddlers now. With your two, we'll probably need several nannies. But let's start with one . . . "
***
Teri had the easiest time imaginable finding help. The Church of Love was attempting to establish a chapter here in Karista, and their charities were attracting all sorts of undesirables. In a single day she found a chef with a flaming bad temper who'd made his master ill. Three maids with ruined reputations and a drunken nanny. A groom who liked to see things burn.
They had a good time fixing all the staffs' problems. Training them the way they ought to behave around a pyramid of witches.
"Excellent, Teri. You have a real talent for controlling people."
Teri tried to not need Jade's praise. To not appreciate it. Shrug it away.
"I'll keep a couple of them in the old house, to keep up appearances, in case I decide to keep the beauty shop. But I had an excellent thought about how to expand our pyramid more rapidly. I mean, here we are, experts in genetic manipulations, and we've got these women servants."
Sunset looked around. "All the soldiers that know Xen talk about his speed bubbles. He seals himself in, sleeps for as long as he want, then opens it and only a few minutes have gone by on the outside."
Teri brightened. "If I can do that . . . I could bubble a whole house, and the maids could sleep in there, and we could raise the babies in there . . . "
Smokey glowered.
"Don't worry, I have an idea about how to find your children."
Chapter Five
Late Spring 1397
Karista, Kingdom of the West
"I still don't believe I said yes." Heliotrope glanced at the download bar and tried to look serious instead of letting the grin escape again.
"And you told him about Tunguska?" Q was smiling as she booted the next computer.
"Ages ago. We talked about the problems, again. We decided that Tunguska would stay in her bubble for a couple of years, and then, sometime, she'll be a distant relative that needs a home, and I'll bring her out." Heliotrope winced. "I'm ashamed to say that it's nice to have an excuse to not bring her out."
Q shook her head. "Not an excuse, a reason. Tunguska is going to be raised in Karista's high society. She deserves to be treated like a normal child. Not a disgrace to be hidden away. You and Asti deserve to not have a child of rape flung in your faces all your lives. I think you have the right idea. 'My cousin's child, poor little orphan' beats all the alternatives that I can see."
"Yes. That's pretty much what Asti thought. I wondered if I should give her up . . . "
"Your choice, Helio. And with a bubble, no rush to make it."
"I . . . should never have chosen to have a baby by the God of Art. I just thought about advancing." Heliotrope looked away. "I didn't realized that I wouldn't love the baby."
Q eyed her. "And now you're racking up the guilt about it?"
Heliotrope closed her eyes briefly. "No. I . . . am angry that I made a bad choice, and angry because everyone keeps asking when I'm going to bring her out. I don't say never, but . . . even bringing her out as a distant relative, orphaned, is going to be difficult. I don't love her. I don't want her."
A long silence. Then Q cleared her throat. "So . . . when is the wedding?"
"Oh . . . four months. Lady Sashi says we can't possibly do it sooner. I think Asti and Lord Andre think we should just trot down to the registry office, but Sashi utterly refused to allow it."
Q grinned. "You look a bit wishful yourself. What does your mother say?"
"Oh, she's so relieved that Xen's got Daddy straightened out that nothing can flummox her. 'We'll have a big garden party' she says, waving around at the wilderness. At least they've un-statued all the dogs. Or maybe I ought to wish they'd left them bubbled. I've . . . well, I'm still staying in Ash. Tunguska's as safe on the Island as anywhere else."
"Heliotrope, don't bring her out until you can love her. She deserves that much."
Heliotrope turned back to the computer. Stared blankly at the screen. Even Q. Cold-blooded, logical, so smart it hurts, thinks I should love the child of a rapist god.
And I know she's right. When I decided . . . I just thought "Well, since I can't have Xen, any baby to advance me will do, and Art's
baby should be strong. But I was thinking that Xen would regret it . . . not me.
Chapter Six
Late Spring 1397
Black Island, Southwest Cific Ocean
"There weren't any outsider children there in Rip World." Teri shrugged. "But I did gossip with my adopted mother and her pals. In Ash, Obsidian has adopted Wavelength and three babies whose mother's are either in prison or wanted by the Guards."
Smokey leaned forward. "And where in Ash do we find this Obsidian?"
Teri looked between the two Veronian witches. "Actually, it occurred to me that the perfect time to snatch babies would be on the Summer Solstice, up on Mount Frost. They bubble half the kids, especially the young ones. We can watch from concealment, see where ours are, and just pick them up and be gone while those women are up higher warbling at the moon."
Two frowns. And a narrow-eyed look from Jade.
Smokey sighed. "That's a month from now, I guess I shouldn't rush, now, but . . . "
Jade scowled. "All the witches will be there. That's dangerous."
"Yes, but it's a hundred miles away from the gods, and any men. And if we drag a corridor from here, we'll be out of everyone's reach in minutes. Even if we're seen and recognized, the witches will be left up on that damned mountain."
Jade nodded slowly. "And they'll be where we can watch, slip in while they are all up on the peak. Yes. We'll do it."
Sunset sighed. "Yes. We'll just have to wait."
Teri shook her head. "No. We need to move immediately. We'll have to pull a corridor all the way up there, conceal it fairly close to the camping spot and leave. We'll pop in for the briefest possible time, so there's less likelihood that we'll be seen. Then we'll need to . . . "