A Circle of Ashes (7 page)

“I won’t, my dear,” Nan said. “Come inside now and tell me everything.”

We went to the kitchen and I noticed she’d been home long enough to clean up. I watched her as she poured us cold drinks.

“You lied to me,” I said, and saw her wince. “I trusted you. You’ve been lying to me my whole life. You kept my father from me. I’ll never have a chance to know him.”

“I’m so sorry, Clio,” she said. “I was … afraid. I wanted to keep you safe, at almost any cost. I’m not sure if I did the right thing or not. But you have to believe that I never intended to hurt you.”

“That wasn’t even all, though,” I went on. “Even after all of that came out, and you barely explained it, then you go away and I hear about this whole Treize thing. It’s… unbelievable. And I heard about it from a bunch of strangers. They were telling the truth, right?”

“Pretty much,” Nan said quietly.

I let out a breath. Some part of me hadn’t fully accepted it as real until that moment, hearing her confirm it. “You’re not even my grandmother. We’re related so far back I can’t even figure it out!”

“Thirteen generations,” Nan said, her long, slim fingers curled around her glass. “But we are related—I still am your nearest relative, besides Thais. And I wanted to tell you so many times, but I truly didn’t know how. I just didn’t want the Treize to touch your life.”

“Too late,” I said.

“I know. And I know they’re putting their grand plan into action. You and I and Thais have to determine where we stand on that and on other things.”

“Yeah, like whether we want to live
forever,
” I said, and consternation crossed her face. I told her about Axelle and how we knew about the rite and had met everyone and had a circle.

“So you met Luc, did you?” Nan asked, as if picking up on something.

I shrugged. I’d never told Nan the details of my plunges into the dating pool, and now I felt even less close to her, trusted her less.

“Clio—did Luc hurt you? And Thais?”

There was no way I would admit how bad it had been to anyone. It was too embarrassing and made me feel like my heart, pumping and bleeding, was hung on the outside of my chest.

I shrugged again and met Nan’s eyes. “Not really.” I sighed. “But what a jerk. He dated both me and Thais. Luckily, we found out almost right away. We both screamed at him, and then when we saw that he was also part of the Treize, we froze him out.”

Nan looked at me, weighing my words. I wondered if she’d heard anything different, from someone else, and decided it didn’t matter. That was my story, and I was sticking to it.

“So it wasn’t any worse than that?”

“No. I mean, we’re still majorly pissed. But we’re dealing.”

“Um-hmm.”

I had to change the subject. “So where were you all this time? Why didn’t you call?”

“I was in Connecticut, fixing Michel Allard’s will.”

I frowned. “Thais’s dad?”I paused, feeling something weird in my stomach. “My dad?” I added, the words sounding funny. “Why? What do you mean, fix?”

“Somehow, right after Michel died, either Axelle or Daedalus changed Michel’s will so Axelle would get custody of Thais.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Yes. So this time I went up and changed his will myself.”

My head was spinning. “And they don’t have phones in Connecticut? I didn’t realize how backward they were.”

Nan looked at me wryly. “I was extremely busy the whole time, and I didn’t want to be in touch until everything was worked out. I knew you’d have so many questions…. The phone didn’t seem the right way to do this.”

“You changed the will back to how it was? Is Thais going back to Connecticut to be with that neighbor?”

“No. I changed his will so I would have custody,” Nan said, her eyes very clear and calm, looking into mine. “I’m Thais’s legal guardian now, and she’s going to come live with us.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. Another huge change in my life. I did feel a quick rush of gladness that she wasn’t going back north, yet—

“Do I have to share my room?”

Nan smiled at me, so familiar, and despite my anger, I was relieved she was back. “No,” she said, with an amused look. “I’ve thought about it, and I’m going to move myself to the little alcove room under the stairs. Thais will have my room. I don’t need much space anyway. It will be fine.”

Right now, the tiny little room under the stairs was our junk room.

“Well, if you think so. I’ll help you clear it out,” I said.

“Thank you.”

And then here’s the Clio part: it occurred to me that with Thais living here, I’d be much more involved with her life, know what she was doing. Like if she was seeing Luc, for example. I felt ashamed as soon as I thought that, but I knew it was true.

“Oh my God—there’s stuff I haven’t even told you,” I said, my heart beating faster. “Someone’s trying to kill me and Thais, and there’s something wrong with Thais’s magick.”

Nan’s eyes opened wide, and I went on to tell her all about our attacks, and the wasps, and how Melysa, one of my teachers, had saved us. I ran down our current theories and who we’d eliminated. Nan looked increasingly concerned as I went on, and her lips pressed together the way they did when she was mad at me.

Finally she nodded slowly, looking thoughtful. “Okay. I’m back, and I’ll get to the bottom of that. Now, what do you mean, there’s something wrong with Thais’s magick?”

So I told her about the spells we’d tried, and how they’d gone wonky, and then we’d done the joining spell, which had blown us across the room. Nan had nodded approvingly at the mention of the spell, but when I mentioned the hand-grenade effect, she looked astonished.

“What?” she said, as if she hadn’t heard right.

“We got blown right out of the circle, across the workroom,” I said again. I told her how I’d set the spell up, putting in every detail I could think of. “I felt like a rag doll. Then, just this morning, I thought we could try to do a
réléver la griffe
to see if we could find out who was trying to hurt us.”

Nan nodded; it was perfectly reasonable.

“We did it at Racey’s because I felt weird here. And I set it up carefully, four stones of protection, blah blah blah, and I was doing my song, and Racey joined in like a million times before, and then Thais joined in, singing, and she sounded good, you know? Like she knew what she was doing. Or at least, like what was coming out of her mouth was real.”

I realized I hadn’t asked Thais how she’d known what to sing. I’d ask her later.

“Then what happened?”

“We got blown across the room. All of us. We felt like crap, and Thais hit her face on the cabinet. She has a black eye.”

Nan looked at me like I’d announced I was joining the Peace Corps.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “Racey got thrown too?”

I nodded. “And Azura felt it, a big boom of magick, inside their house, and she came running. She said not to mess with it again unless you were with us.”

Nan shook her head. “You physically got moved, through a closed circle.”

“We got thrown across the room,” I repeated.

“Thais has a black eye? Where is she now?”

I shrugged. “She ran into some friends from school and was going to hang with them. Azura patched her up pretty good. It should be mostly gone by tomorrow. I mean, do you have any idea what could cause something like that?”

Nan didn’t answer.

T
he snake—a nonpoisonous boa constrictor—coiled around the fortune-teller’s neck. Claire watched it, amused. It might actually spook someone who didn’t know squat about snakes.

The tiny Thai woman, her face the color and texture of a dried tobacco leaf, peered down at Claire’s palm very solemnly. Claire shot a glance at her friend, who’d convinced her to come see Madame Chu, one of the most respected fortune-tellers in Phuket. Her friend gave her a “be patient” glance and bent her head to light a cigarette.

This market was like any number of markets Claire had seen, in any number of countries. Uneven rows of canvas stalls, beat-up coolers holding fish, squid, shrimp. People hawking gold jewelry next to a stand selling fried batter. Roasted animals hung from poles overhead, filling the air with their scent and steam.

“What, Granny, she has no fortune?” Claire’s friend joked at the ongoing silence.

Madame Chu looked up at Claire. “No, she has too much.” Her sharp black eyes, almost enclosed by folds of skin, examined Claire as if she’d just discovered an exotic new creature.

“Too much fortune?” Claire’s friend laughed, the stall’s single lantern casting shadows on her red cheongsam. “Lucky you.”

“No,” said Madame Chu. “Not lucky. Too much.”

Claire laughed also, feeling the old woman’s cool, dry hands holding her own.

Madame Chu bent low over Claire’s hand. “Your fortune goes on and on,” she said, speaking slowly. “Your time of death has come and gone. A dark one filled you with lightning, and now you live a walking death.”

Claire quit laughing. “What?”

“Granny,” said Claire’s friend, frowning. “You are the best fortune-teller, I told her. Don’t make me into a liar. Tell her the truth, and stop your nonsense.”

Claire swallowed hard and wished she had a drink. Right after this, they would go to Samasan’s bar. Absolutely. She’d paid up her tab and should be welcome again. Samasan never held a grudge.

Madame Chu’s black beetle eyes regarded Claire over their hands.

“What else do you see?” Claire said offhandedly, as if she didn’t care.

“I see a girl, marked—”The old woman touched her cheekbone. “Like a red lily flower.”

Claire sat very still, her heart starting to beat faster. “She’s dead,” she said lightly. All of them died, sooner or later. Daughter after daughter after daughter.

“No.” Madame Chu’s eyes burned like coals. “She will kill you at last. The marked girl brings you death.”

“Come on, Claire.” Her friend sighed. “She’s having an off night. We’ll come back some other time, okay?”

Claire pulled her hand back and stood up, looking hard at Madame Chu. “Yeah,” she said, throwing some money down. “It’s all nonsense.”

Madame Chu shook her head sadly, as if Claire were already dead.

B
ecause of a funeral, a lot of the streets in the Quarter were blocked. After several frustrating minutes of circling blocks, I asked Sylvie to just drop me off and I would walk the rest of the way.

“You sure?” Sylvie asked.

“Yeah—you’ll never get through. And I’m only four short blocks away from here.”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. Friday, yay.”

“Yeah, okay.” I opened my car door and started to get out. “Thanks a lot for bringing me along today. I had a great time.”

“I’m so glad we ran into you,” said Sylvie, and Claude nodded.

“I’ll look for you at school tomorrow,” said Kevin, and the look he gave me was more than a superficial, just-met-you glance.

“Um, okay,” I said, and got out.

I waved goodbye and walked up the street, through the traffic barriers and in and out of the crowds of mourners. I had no idea who had died, but it was someone who rated a full-blown jazz-band parade, complete with umbrella walkers. I felt like an extra in a movie.

It was dark—after the movie we’d gone to Camellia Grill, which I loved. I’d had pecan waffles. Now it was almost eight o’clock, and I reviewed whether or not I had homework due tomorrow. The idea that I still had to think about homework, after everything I’d been through in the past few days, seemed crazy. But education waits for no one.

Kevin LaTour. He’d been really nice. Plus he was on the honor roll and was funny too. He seemed so much younger than Luc. Well, yeah, I guess he
was
—but even if Luc were only nineteen or so, the way he looked, Kevin still seemed much younger, still a kid.

But a nice kid.

And Sylvie was great, and she was so cute with her boyfriend. I was so glad that I knew them—a tiny island of normal sanity in my stormy life.

Even after I was out of the funeral, the streets were busy and well lit. In less than five minutes I was letting myself through the side gate at Axelle’s. I hoped Luc wouldn’t be there again. I didn’t know how many more horrible, heartbreaking, dramatic scenes I could stand. None, actually.

Right before I put my key into the door lock, I heard raised voices from inside. I stood very still and listened, listened with all of me, not just my ears. I closed my eyes and pretended the words inside were little arrows, slipping right through the door….

“How dare you!” That was Daedalus.

“You should have checked with her.” Axelle. “You know she’s happy here. I can’t believe you would go behind my back like this!”

“It’s unsupportable!” Daedalus sounded pompous, as usual. “It’s a betrayal!”

“Oh, Daedalus, put a sock in it,” said another voice. Petra! It was Petra!

I unlocked the door and rushed in. “Petra! You’re back!”

Then she was hugging me, and I was hugging her back, my eyes closed, thinking of how incredibly glad I was, considering that really, I didn’t know her all that well. But I belonged to her because my sister did.