I’d been slacking off at work, so I spent the morning dusting and stocking shelves. I even did a little side browsing. There were still a few of my mother’s charms still missing, and although my thread of fate had been located, I still wanted the missing ones.
I touched the silver chain that always hung around my neck. I’d found a black cat carved from Indian ebony, a little coral fish, an emerald frog, a diamond-studded key, and a horseshoe made of moonstones. There were two missing: the miniature book and an ivory wheel of fortune.
I was halfway into my shift when Luke Seren sent a message to Ambrose that he wanted to meet with me. I wasn’t sure why Luke hadn’t sent it to me directly, but I was relieved to get a response.
“What does that mean?” I asked Ambrose.
“He’s considering his options,” he said.
“What do you know about Luke?” I asked. Ambrose knew everyone in town worth knowing and a few people everyone wished they didn’t know.
“Political,” Ambrose replied. “There’s been a power play from occasional challengers to his position and he’s managed to come out on top.”
“Ruthless?”
“He meets the very definition,” Ambrose said. “But we desperately need allies and many in the Houses are scared of defying Hecate.”
“But he’s not?”
“Afraid? No. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t switch sides in the blink of an eye if it suited him.”
“So you don’t trust him?”
Ambrose shook his head. “I don’t. But we need him if we want the House of Zeus on our side.”
“Agreed,” I said. “But the slaughter at the wilderness center has Luke spooked. What can you tell me about the structure of the Houses?”
“I see you’re prepping for this meeting with Luke,” he replied.
“It certainly got me thinking,” I told him.
“That’s a nice change of pace,” Talbot said.
“Very funny,” I said.
Ambrose ignored us. “There’s a leader in each House,” he said. “The position is often hereditary, but not always.”
“How is a new leader chosen when one dies?”
“There’s a vote,” he said. “There was a vote called already, but the House of Hades is giving their candidates a month to campaign. It’s like a local election.”
“I read about all that,” I said. The books I had at the apartment told me a few things about the history of the Houses, but pretty much stopped in the fifties. The eighteen fifties. “What can you tell me about the contenders for the head of House of Hades?”
“There’s Danvers,” Ambrose said. “But his ill health is making the members nervous about backing him. There’s a young guy named Johnny Asari, who says he’s a direct descendant of Osiris.”
“The Egyptian god of the dead?” I asked skeptically.
“A lot of people are buying it,” Ambrose said.
“Johnny Asari is a dick,” Talbot said helpfully. “He was at college the same time as me, but he pledged a different frat.”
“Anybody else?”
Ambrose looked at me like he was deciding something. “There’s a rumor floating around that the son of Hades is in town.”
“The son of Hades has no interest in becoming a leader of a magical House,” I said evenly. “But maybe his half sister is up for the task.”
The conversation ended without us coming to any conclusions. I met Luke at the Bean Factory in St. Paul, which was the location he’d chosen. It was a little out of the way for me, which is probably why he’d chosen it.
Luke was already there when I arrived. I ordered a red-eye and then joined him.
“Thank you for meeting me,” I said.
“I hear you captured a chimera,” he said.
“You’re well informed,” I said.
He preened, taking my comment as a compliment, which wasn’t necessarily the way I’d intended it. I didn’t like people knowing my business.
“I am,” he said. “I have to be if I want to stay on top.”
I studied him as he sipped his tea. What would he do to stay on top? Luke Seren was drawn to power, but there were thousands of ambitious magicians in the Twin Cities.
He had a tiny scar near the open V of his shirt and another on the palm of his hand. On closer inspection, it looked like his missing finger had been removed with a knife.
He noticed my stare. “Hunting knife. Childhood game gone awry,” he said. His tone was light, but the expression on his face forbade further inquiries.
“I was hoping that you would lend your support,” I said. “Hecate has some running scared.”
Luke gave me an appraising look. “You are impetuous,” he said. “Many in the Houses believe your impetuous nature will get you killed.”
“I’ve been dead before,” I said.
“Impetuous and cocky,” he said. “Why would I want to support you? It’s common knowledge that you and your aunts don’t get along, you’ve managed to wreak a considerable amount of havoc in the short time you’ve been in Minneapolis, and you set free a vengeful goddess.”
Everything he said was true. “Yet you’re still here,” I said. Luke Seren was a hard man, despite his courtly air with the ladies.
He seemed to come to a decision. “You are also the son of Fortuna,” he said. “And I feel the need to have some luck on my side right now. I will help you.”
“What about the other Houses?”
“Trey Marin seems impressed with you,” he replied. “Which means you have the House of Poseidon and the House of Zeus on your side.” He kept his eyes on his teacup.
“I’ve never met the leader of the House of Hades,” I said.
He glanced up swiftly. “The House of Hades is currently without a leader,” he said.
“Why?”
“A sudden illness,” he replied. “Alzezar was very old. Most people had forgotten about him. There is a faction that wants to bring Danvers into power.”
“That psycho? He’s in no condition to lead anyone,” I said.
Luke Seren smiled. “Thanks to you.”
We shook hands. I was satisfied that Luke Seren would be our ally, but discomfited by the notion that my new friend had an ulterior motive.
Outside, I came face-to-face with my cousins and sister.
“Nyx, what are you doing here?” Naomi asked.
Had they been following me? I glanced at my sister, but she looked away. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“We,” Claire said gaily, “have been shopping.” She held up multiple bags as proof.
“Were you in the Bean Factory?” I asked.
“I told you he was suspicious,” Naomi said to Rebecca. The three of them giggled madly, like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
It wasn’t an answer.
“We were going to stop for coffee,” Rebecca said, after she finally stopped laughing. “Want to join us?”
“Really?”
“Really,” Naomi said. “You can fill us in on your meeting with Luke Seren.”
“Shopping, my ass,” I said.
They laughed again, but I held the door to the coffee shop open for them anyway.
They were Fates-in-training. They couldn’t help snooping.
We ordered coffees and pastries and grabbed a table.
“Before I forget,” I said to Naomi. I reached in my pocket and offered her the photo I’d found in Sawyer’s things.
“I found this in one of your dad’s books,” I said. “I know Sawyer would want you to have it.” He wouldn’t shut up about it, in fact.
I held it out, but she didn’t take it. Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
“I—I just assumed,” I stammered. Now was not the time to tell her that I was having daily chats with her dead father.
She accepted the photo and stared down at it. “Thank you.”
I thought the time might be right to put in a word for my best friend, who was pining for my cousin. “When are you going to forgive Talbot?” I asked Naomi.
“Eventually.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” I said. “Except having poor taste in friends. You shouldn’t punish him for my actions.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Isn’t it? You’re punishing him for being loyal, but that’s a good quality.”
“You’ve made your case,” Naomi said. “Now tell us what happened with Luke Seren.”
She obviously didn’t want to talk about Talbot, so I filled them on my meeting until the order arrived.
Claire and Rebecca went to get our food at the pickup window. I took the opportunity to grill Naomi.
“So what’s the real reason for the sudden thaw?” I asked.
She avoided my gaze. “No reason.”
“Naomi, tell me the truth.”
She looked up. “It turns out”—she gulped—“that you were right about Aunt Deci. The aunts found out she’d been in league with Danvers for years.”
Danvers and, by association, the Fates’ mortal enemy, Hecate.
“How’s Rebecca taking it?”
She shrugged. “Badly, but she promised to give you a chance.”
Rebecca and Claire came back with two trays piled with food.
“Elixir of the gods,” Claire said after she took a long sip of her iced coffee.
“Not exactly,” I said wryly.
Naomi frowned. “The aunts aren’t manufacturing that anymore.”
She made it sound like they’d had a choice. The recipe for the elixir was gone, and if I had anything to say about it, it would stay that way. But thinking about elixir had reminded me of something I’d read recently.
“Nyx, are you okay?”
“Just thinking about something.” I’d read about a necromancer who had used an elixir of some kind to reverse the possession. What if the Fates had done the same thing, only using the rare and powerful black asphodel?
I knew how the Fates did it. I knew how to save Willow. The hard part would be finding the elusive black asphodel. “You don’t happen to know where I can get a dozen black asphodel flowers, do you?” I asked.
“What?” Claire said, confused.
“Doesn’t exist anymore,” Naomi replied.
There was a flicker of something in Rebecca’s eyes, but when I stared at her, she looked away. Whatever she knew, my sister wasn’t going to share with me.
“I can ask Mom, if you want,” Naomi volunteered.
“That’s okay,” I said. Rebecca knew something and Sawyer had mentioned that Deci had come up with the solution. I needed to make a visit to Deci’s, but I didn’t want to advertise the fact.