A Feather of Stone #3 (19 page)

That deflated me. I slumped against the floor, away from him, trying to figure things out. Richard was very still and quiet, his face the same cool mask as when I’d met him. I hadn’t realized how much emotion he’d been showing me, how much his guard had been down, until I saw him again like this.

I wriggled my hands tiredly. “Let me go.”

He did, releasing my wrists. I looked at them, the dark red marks, and knew I’d have bruises tomorrow. I rubbed my wrists with my hands, easing the ache, and just lay on the hard wooden floor, my back to him. Clio the Magnificent, as some guy had called me in tenth grade.
Look at me now,
I thought dully.
I’m a freaking waste of space. Like a crumpled pile of dirty clothes, lying here on the floor.

“Why did you do it?” I asked finally. “Why did you want to hurt me—us?” I hated how small and vulnerable I sounded.

“Didn’t Petra tell you?” he asked. His expression changed suddenly as something seemed to occur to him. “What did she tell you, exactly, about our conversation?”

I frowned. “She said that you went crazy or something, that you just wanted all this stuff to end, and it seemed like the way to make it stop was to get one of us out of the picture. But I still don’t get it; I don’t get how you could have done those things to us.”

Richard winced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Truly.” He paused. “Did Petra say—anything else? About . . . my connection to you and Thais?”

What was he getting at? “She said . . . once you knew us, you stopped.” I thought for a second. It seemed like there was something else, something he was rooting for in my mind, the way he stared at me so intently. “Nan said we looked like Cerise. I hadn’t realized that,” I remembered. The next question was obvious—
Was that why you wanted me?
—but I didn’t want to know the answer.

“You’re not anything like her,” Richard said.

“What?” I closed my eyes, feeling like I couldn’t get up. It was dark, and the rain and thunder and lightning were soothing, so much bigger than my pathetic life. I wanted to be in a cocoon of gray light and rain.

“Cerise. You’re not anything like her. You don’t remind me of her. You don’t even look like her, really. Just a superficial resemblance.”

“We look exactly like her,” I said in a monotone. “People gasp when they see us.”
And that’s the only reason you ever came after me.
I remembered Marcel’s reaction and realized why it had been so strong. Had Thais told me we looked like Cerise? I didn’t remember.

“They’re not seeing you. Cerise was . . . light, like honey. Like sunlight. Easy to hold but impossible to keep. Like a butterfly.”

“Not like me.” It seemed like one more damning thing against me.

“No.” Richard gave a short laugh. “You’re not a butterfly. You’re not light or easy.”

There was silence between us for some time.

“You’re not honey,” Richard finally went on. “You’re wine. You’re the deepest, darkest shadow under a tree on a blazing day. You’re strong and hard, coursing like a current at the bottom of a river.”

I started crying silently, my tears running across my face to drip to the floor.

“I don’t love anybody.” Richard’s voice was bleak. “I don’t love you. But I see the value of you, the incredible worth of you—I see more in you than in anyone I’ve ever known. I am so sorry for what I did, and I would
never
hurt you now that I know you.”

We were there like that for a while, with me weeping silently and Richard not touching me. I wished someone could hold me. Eventually I stopped crying. Finally, feeling like I was a thousand years old, much older than
him
, I sat up. I had the thought that if I felt like this now, immortality was going to be harder than I imagined.

“I have to go.” I got to my feet awkwardly. My wrists burned.

“Clio—believe that I’m so sorry about how I tried to hurt you and Thais. I can’t really explain it, except I just went crazy. But you have to know that I would
never
hurt you now. I wouldn’t let anyone else hurt you if I knew about it. When Petra told me about your car catching on fire, I was—”

I picked up my purse and my messenger bag and brushed dust off my clothes. Not looking at him, I headed to the front door, knowing I must look like I’d been dragged through a hedge backward. Whatever.

His warm hand touched my upper arm, holding it lightly, keeping me there. “Clio.”

“Don’t touch me.”

He let go at once, and I walked to the door. It was going to be a long, wet walk to Canal Street.

As I reached the front door, I realized that someone was talking loudly outside, and then the door flew open and Luc was there, right in my face.

“Where is he?” Luc said, his eyes cold and hard.

“Luc, come
on
,” said Thais, and I saw her right behind him.

“What’s going on?” I asked as Luc pushed past me.

“You bastard!” Luc shouted, lunging for Richard, who already looked beaten down and weary. Luc slammed his hands against Richard’s shoulders, shoving him into the wall—I heard Richard’s head crack against it, saw him wince.

But not fight back.

“What were you thinking?” Luc yelled. “What were you doing? Have you finally gone totally insane? Clio and Thais!” He pushed Richard hard again, and Richard staggered but stayed on his feet.

“Get in line, Thais,” Richard said over Luc’s shoulder. “First Petra, then Clio, then Luc, then you. And I guess Ouida and Sophie and whoever else gives a crap will show up soon.”

“How could you do it?” Luc shouted again. “How could you try to
kill
them? Are you a
murderer
? How could you possibly stand to hurt them?”

Richard frowned, straightening up. “I don’t know,” he said. “You tell me.”

Luc’s face flushed, his hands curled into fists.

“I mean, how could I
possibly
do something stupid and boneheaded that would hurt the twins when I don’t even know them?” Richard’s voice was mocking and sardonic.

“Shut up! I didn’t try to
kill
them.”

“No. But I wonder who hurt them more?”

They stood there glaring at each other, both tense, ready to spring.

I looked at Thais, the only person I was happy to see in this whole mess. I would worry about what she was doing with Luc later. Right now, she was my sister and the only person in the room I didn’t want to shred.

“I’m sick of both of them,” I told her. “Let’s split.”

“Oh God, yes,” Thais said, holding the door open.

Then we were out in the rain, walking toward Canal Street. The rain actually felt good, and I knew I couldn’t possibly look worse.

“So,” said Thais after a couple of blocks. “You gave Richard a hard time?”

“Yeah. It was pretty ugly.” I shifted my bag to my other shoulder. “What were you doing with Luc?”

“I went to Axelle’s to wring some answers out of her.” Thais sounded as fed up and tired as I felt. “Luc was there, and he followed me out of Axelle’s when I left, and then we almost got plantered to death.”

“What?”

She told me about how a huge, heavy planter had narrowly missed her. A long scratch on her arm looked red and painful.

“Was this another attack, or was it a coincidence?” I asked, knowing that there weren’t any coincidences.

“I don’t know,” Thais said. “It looked all rusty, like it might have happened anytime. Anyway, I was freaked, and I said something like, I guess it wasn’t Richard this time. And then Luc ran with it from there.”

“Well, maybe they’ll kill each other,” I said hopefully.

Thais looked at me, and a smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Suddenly it felt okay to smile myself, and we grinned at each other. Sisters.

Tonight

P
etra finally saw Clio and Thais on a streetcar, with rain running down the window next to them. They looked alive, if not well, and Petra couldn’t see or feel any sense of dark intent around them.

The crystal icicle she was scrying in was still spinning in the window when she realized that someone was knocking on the front door.

Daedalus.

Wonderful. This would be the crowning touch to an already tense, frustrating day.

Petra opened the door, and as soon as she saw his exultant face, she realized that the time she’d been dreading was at hand.

“We have everything,” he announced, stepping across her threshold as if walking onto a stage. “The final form of the rite is complete. We have a full Treize. And I have found the Circle of Ashes.”

With long practice Petra kept the dismay off her face. He’d found the Circle of Ashes? They should have cloaked it better.

“The time is now,” Daedalus said grandly.

“Now? You mean, before Monvoile?”

“I mean now, tonight,” Daedalus said.

“ Tonight!”

“Yes. Everything is aligned, as if it were all decreed by the heavens.” Daedalus smoothed his hair back with one hand.

What a load of . . . hot air,
Petra thought.

“Please get Clio and Thais and meet us at the circle at midnight tonight.” Daedalus handed her a printout of a map and directions. He didn’t know that she, Ouida, and Sophie had found the circle weeks ago. “The rite will begin at precisely twelve twenty-seven, when the moon is at its utmost fullness.”

“I don’t think we’re ready to do the rite,” Petra tried.

“You will be.” Daedalus looked down at her, and then his face softened. Unexpectedly, he took one of her hands in both of his. “Petra. We’ve had more than two hundred years to think about this, to dream about it. To prepare for it. On that terrible night so long ago, Melita gave us all a gift and a curse. This is our chance to heal past injuries, to enhance our gifts, correct our curse, and achieve that which is dearest to our hearts. You’re ready for it. You’ve been ready for it for a long, long time.”

She looked directly at him. “I don’t trust you.”

He laughed, putting his head back. Petra remembered that he had been handsome as a young man. But he hadn’t aged well. Instead of achieving distinction, he had acquired only superciliousness.

“The beauty is, you won’t need to, my dear,” he said. “Each of us brings to the rite our own strengths, our own powers. None of us is a Melita. Each of us may have different goals. We might not agree with or support each other’s goals—they’re inherently personal, relating only to ourselves. Take care of yourself, and everything will be well.”

He let go of her hand and walked to the front door. “At midnight, then.” His eyes were sparkling, his face animated and alive. Still smiling, he let himself out, not seeming to mind that Petra hadn’t promised to come.

She hadn’t expected things to happen this quickly. There were arrangements she still had to make. But at least the important plans were already in place, the key individuals ready to fulfill their roles. It was a shame, the price it would cost, but at least it was a cost another was already looking to pay.

 

The rain had stopped. Petra was in the newly replanted front garden when she felt the girls walking home from the streetcar stop. They had deliberately disobeyed her, completely flouted her authority, and, what’s more, hadn’t been stopped by the knowledge that she would be out of her mind with worry.

They paused at the front gate, seeing her kneeling on the damp brick walk next to the small bed of herbs.

“Nan,” Clio said.

Petra looked up. They both looked like drowned rats, almost as bad as when she’d pulled them out of the waterspout—oh goddess, had that been only
yesterday
? But looking more closely at Clio, Petra saw that she had been crying and looked shaken and upset. She’d gone to see Richard, Petra assumed immediately. But surely he hadn’t put those bruises on her wrists? Not unless he’d lost his mind for good this time.

“Um, hi, Petra,” said Thais.

“You’re both really wet. Go inside and change your clothes. I’ll put the kettle on to make tea. Then we need to talk.”

Thais

Half an hour later the three of us sat around the kitchen table, mugs of hot tea in front of us. “If you believe that Richard didn’t blow up Clio’s car, then who’s doing it?” I asked. “I mean, maybe the planter wasn’t an attack, but maybe it was. It has to be one of the Treize.”

“Yes, I think you’re right,” Petra said, frowning. “I truly don’t know who, though. However, I think it will all probably come to a head tonight.” Her clear blue-gray eyes met mine and then Clio’s across the table. “Daedalus stopped by. He wants to do the rite tonight, at midnight.”

My heart seemed to seize in my chest. We’d been dancing around this idea for weeks now, almost pretending it wasn’t real, wasn’t coming. Now Petra was saying that it was coming right at us, right now.

“Tonight?” Clio said, looking alarmed. “But I’m not ready. I mean, we’re not ready, none of us. Right?”

Petra sighed. “I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be. I’ve put certain plans in place for the rite. I know you two will be safe. I don’t know what else will happen.”

“That’s just it!” I exclaimed. “No one does. Everyone seems to think something different will happen. But I’ve got no idea what it will do to
me
. Plus, the last time we did a circle with Daedalus, he used our power without permission.”

“I’ve thought about that,” Petra said. “But Ouida, Sophie, and some others are all in agreement. I’m sure that neither of you will be harmed tonight. Nor can Daedalus take anyone’s power unless they give it to him.”

I took a sip of tea, my mind whirling. “This is all happening much too fast.” I thought about Clio and how she was studying Hermann Parfitte’s book.

“Couldn’t we wait a couple of weeks?” Clio asked, as if she had read my mind.

Petra looked at her. “Why? I don’t think it will make any difference to you two.”

Clio and I met eyes, and I knew she wanted more time to work on her spells. But she wouldn’t tell Petra that.