Fort Morgan (42 page)

“
The real question is why
would this Katia take such a dislike to Sissy,” Mari
said.

Ivan pointed to himself.

“
Yes,” Mari said. “And no.
Did they ever meet?”

“
A few times,” Ivan said.
“When Katia lived with me in Denver.”

“
We should ask the Oracle,
but this seems like something from a past life,” Mari said. “Sissy
is an ancient soul, very powerful. Like Ivan. This Katia resents
her power. Sissy will have to deal with her.”

“
She’s a child!” Ivan
said.

“
She’s not a child any
longer,” Otis said. “Anyone can see that she’s a young woman now.
Beautiful.”

“
She is old enough to
marry here in New York,” Bruno said with a nod.

Ivan shook his head at their
encouragement.

“
And Nadia?” Otis asked.
“You cannot have the girl and Nadia at the same time.”

“
Nadia is family,” Ivan
said. “Sissy. . .”

Ivan touched his chest. Otis looked at Mari.
She gave an agreeing nod that Nadia was family to Ivan but that
Sissy held his heart.

“
Nadia says the same
thing,” Otis said with a shrug.

“
The question is how do we
protect Sissy from this Katia?” Bruno asked.

“
And get her the
rehabilitation she needs,” Ivan said. “She has always had an
extraordinary talent. She could have become a prima ballerina in
every sense of the word. But now? There’s no way to know how she
will recover. If her lungs don’t heal, she will not have the breath
for ballet. If her chest isn’t steady, her stance won’t be
accurate, and she won’t be strong enough. All of this assumes that
she doesn’t catch an infection or need more surgery.”

Ivan’s voice reflected his desperation and
grief. The men dared not look at each other. There was a knock at
the door. Ivan went to answer it. Seth O’Malley stood on the other
side.

“
What did I miss?” Seth
asked.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday morning — 11:05 a.m.

New York City, New York

“
Hello?” Delphie yelled
into her cell phone.

Sandy gave her a sour look. They were
getting lunch at the hospital cafeteria while Sissy’s doctor gave
her the once over. Sandy went to pay for their meals.

“
Delphie?” Jill
asked.

“
Jill!” Delphie
yelled.

Sandy hurried through the payment
transaction to eavesdrop on the cell phone call.

“
Delphie, you don’t have
to. . .” Jill started.

“
Oh, I know, dear,”
Delphie said with a chuckle. “It’s just kind of my
thing.”

Jill laughed.

“
What can I do for you,
dear?” Delphie asked in a normal tone.

Sandy waved Delphie over to a quiet table in
the corner.

“
I need some help,” Jill
said.

“
What’s going on?” Delphie
asked.

“
I went to pick up Katy
yesterday,” Jill said. Her sorrow welled up at the thought of what
had happened. Rather than cry, Jill cleared her throat.

“
That bad?”

“
She was. . .”
Jill said. Her voice dropped. “I know she’s just a normal little
girl. . .”

Delphie rolled her eyes and shook her head
at Jill’s pig-headed assertion that Katy was a normal child.

“
. . .but
something dark, really dark, got ahold of Katy,” Jill said. “She
was incapable of keeping it out. I had
to. . .”

Jill knew that another word would bring her
to tears. She cleared her throat again.

“
You got rid of it,
though,” Delphie said.

“
Yes,
but. . .”

“
It followed you?” Delphie
asked.

“
It looked like my
father,” Jill said. “Katy had a seizure, so I took her to the
hospital but. . . the thing. . . and came
here.”

“
To the Castle?” Delphie
asked.

“
Yes.”

“
But it didn’t get in,”
Delphie said.

“
Mike said it looked like
crows,” Jill said. “Honey, too.”

“
I see,” Delphie
said.

“
Mike got rid of it with
the hose,” Jill said.

“
In the house?” Delphie
asked.

“
No,” Jill said. “It
surrounded my new car. I climbed in the back with Katy. Mike fought
it with the hose. He said it looked like crows.”

“
Crows,” Delphie said.
“Black crows.”

“
It still looked like my
dad,” Jill said. “To me.”

“
Roper?” Delphie
asked.

“
Perses,” Jill
said.

“
Lord Perses,” Delphie
said in a quiet voice. She was quiet for a moment. “You’re
sure?”

“
Yes, why?”

“
It’s a powerful offense
to take the form of a Titan,” Delphie said. “Did you tell
him?”

“
Perses?” Jill asked. “Not
yet.”

“
Good,” Delphie said. Her
voice rose in cheer. “Well, we knew it would start at some
point.”

“
Start?” Jill asked. “What
would start?”

“
The battle for Katy,”
Delphie said with certainty.

“
What?” Sandy whispered to
Delphie. “What battle for Katy?”

Delphie waved her away.

“
What are you talking
about?” Jill asked. “Why would anyone battle for my Katy? She’s
just a little girl.”

“
Whether you want to admit
it or not, she’s. . .” Delphie started.

“
No,” Jill said. “She is a
little girl first.”

“
Well, yes,
but. . .”

“
As a little girl, she
needs our protection and care,” Jill said.

The power in Jill’s voice echoed over the
phone.

“
You don’t know what I
mean because you didn’t have a mommy,” Jill said. Delphie felt a
stab of sorrow. “So help me God, Delphie, if I could go back in
time, I would have protected you from horrible Levi. I would have
helped you fight for your own soul. But I cannot do
that.”

Delphie was so overwhelmed that she
sniffed.

“
I’ve tried,” Jill said.
“I cannot protect you, but I will do whatever is necessary to
protect my children. You should want to as well.”

“
I. . .” Delphie
started.

“
I need your help,” Jill
said.

“
I don’t know how,”
Delphie said. “As you know, I had to. . .”

Delphie closed her eyes to the flood of
horrible memories that appeared before her.

“
I know,” Jill said. “How
do we figure out how to do it?”

“
Well. . .”
Delphie sighed. Her eyes flicked to Sandy.

“
I’m calling a meeting,”
Jill said. “I’m asking everyone who might know something to come
here. Fairies, you, Heather’s out of the hospital, my
father. . .”

“
When?” Delphie
asked.

“
Saturday,” Jill
said.

“
Sissy is due to be
released on Friday,” Delphie said. “Seth is bringing us home Friday
night.”

“
So you can be there?”
Jill asked.

“
I wouldn’t miss it,”
Delphie said.

“
Can you ask Sandy?” Jill
asked.

“
Sandy — that’s a really
good idea,” Delphie said with a smile.

“
What?” Sandy
asked.

“
Jill’s having a little
get together on Saturday and wants you to come,” Delphie
said.

Having monitored the conversation so far,
Sandy knew Delphie was manipulating her. She gave Delphie a hard
look.

“
She needs your help,”
Delphie said.

“
I will always help Jill,”
Sandy said. “Any day. When is it?”

“
Saturday,” Delphie said
to Sandy. Into the phone, she asked, “Morning?”

“
Ten o’clock,” Jill said.
“We’ll figure out how to protect Katy and the boys, and, maybe in
the meantime, how to protect ourselves. I’m really sick of my life
and my children’s lives being captured by someone else’s
bullshit.”

“
Yes,” Delphie said. “My
bees miss me.”

“
I bet,” Jill said. “See
you Friday?”

“
Friday,” Delphie said and
hung up the phone.

Delphie stared off into space for a moment.
Sandy touched her arm.

“
What is it?” Sandy
asked.

“
Katy was captured by a
trickster,” Delphie said.

“
What?” Sandy
asked.

“
They are like the magpies
of souls,” Delphie said. “They collect bright, shiny, powerful
souls to use in trades.”

“
Oh, my God,” Sandy said.
“And Katy?”

“
Jill got rid of it,”
Delphie said with a nod. “She doesn’t know it, but Jill and her
family are one of two remedies for tricksters.”

“
And you?” Sandy
asked.

“
I was captured,”
Delphie’s eyes welled with tears. She fell quiet for a moment.
“I. . . And. . .”

Delphie nodded as a fat tear rolled down her
face.

“
The other remedy is a
pure human,” Delphie said. “Like you. Honey, too. You see them for
what they actually are. The rest of us. . . We see what
we want to see.”

“
How did
you. . .?” Sandy whispered.

“
Sam,” Delphie said with a
smile. “I’m not sure he even knows it. If he’s aware, he probably
thinks Celia did it. But his humanity saved me.”

Delphie looked at Sandy and smiled.

“
Human beings are more
powerful than you know,” Delphie said. She wiped her tears and
looked down at her tray. She scowled. “Mac and cheese
again?”

“
Let’s go out,” Sandy
said. “Celebrate.”

Delphie’s eyes scanned Sandy’s smiling
face.

“
Celebrate?” Delphie
asked.

“
Sissy is getting out
soon,” Sandy said. “Charlie will be home when we get there. Our
family is back together. Spring is coming. You are not captured by
the magpie.”

“
And we get to watch Ivan
and Sissy fall in love,” Delphie said with a smile.

“
I couldn’t have said it
better myself,” Sandy said.

Sandy stood up from their table.

“
We’ll let Seth pay,”
Sandy nodded toward the door where Seth was standing.

“
Good thinking,” Delphie
said.

Delphie got to her feet, and they walked to
the door of the cafeteria.

“
You’re buying lunch,”
Sandy said to Seth.

“
Here?” Seth asked. His
top lip lifted in disgust.

“
Some place swanky,” Sandy
said. “Where we can go dressed like this.”

Seth took in Delphie’s tear-stained face and
looked back at Sandy. Her smile told him all he needed to know.

“
I know just the place,”
Seth said. “Ladies?”

He linked elbows with Delphie and Sandy. He
kissed Delphie’s cheek and then Sandy’s.

“
Shall we?” Seth
asked.

They left the cafeteria.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday mid-day — 11:45 a.m.

New York City, New York

“
Thank you, Denis,” Bestat
said to her driver as he pulled up in front of the office
building.

“
Would you like me to
escort you, ma’am?” Denis asked.

“
Thank you,” Bestat
reached forward and squeezed his shoulder. “I need to do this
alone.”

“
I will park the car close
so I will be close,” Denis said.

Bestat smiled at him and started to leave
the back of the Towne Car.

“
Ma’am,” Denis said. He
held out what looked like a white cotton handkerchief. “You’re
smoking.”

“
I angrier than I
thought.” Bestat grinned at him.

He nodded toward a woman walking across the
sidewalk. She smiled at him and got out of the car. She walked with
what looked like casual ease and still managed to catch up with the
woman in front of her. She reached the elevator landing just in
time to get into the car with the woman.

“
Bestat!” the woman said
with false joy. “What a pleasure to see you.”

“
Katia,” Bestat
said.

Bestat endured the woman’s imitation of the
ritual of kissing both cheeks. Katia’s practiced behavior lacked
the warmth that went with the gesture. The elevator doors closed
behind her. The women were in the car alone. They stood in a line
facing the door.

“
Are you coming to our
little board meeting?” Katia asked.

“
Yes,” Bestat
said.

“
With all that’s going on
in your country — deposed dictator and military coup — I’m
surprised you can take the time to attend,” Katia said.

Bestat’s eyes flicked to Katia’s face while
her head stayed looking straight ahead.

“
I mean, really?” Katia
asked. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

“
Clearly not,” Bestat
said.

“
But we’re just
having. . .”

“
A hearing to determine
whether to censure the teacher for his relationship with Sissy
Delgado,” Bestat said.