Page 81 of Crown of Tides and Fury

I wentstraight to the study and tried to ignore the close proximity between that room and my own soft bed. And though the sofa beckoned me, I chose an office chair and leaned my arms on the table, closed my eyes, and told myself I wasn't sleeping.

I woke to an argument as Wickham led Felicity into the room and tried to introduce her to everyone.

"I don't care who they are. Take me home!"

"I cannae do that." Wickham closed his eyes as if to get a firmer grip on himself. He hated to lose control. "I must tell ye that we are not the only ones searching for ye. And the others...dinnae intend to leave ye alive."

She rolled her eyes. "You're saying someone wants me dead?"

"I'm sayin' someone wants yer power by any means, and no matter how many he must kill to get to ye."

"I don't believe you. Why today? Why now, out of the blue? I have so much on my schedule--"

"Hang yer schedule," Kitch snarled. "Hours ago, we found another lass just minutes too late.Minutes!Ye're lucky--"

"Aye, ye're lucky." Wickham cut him off, his tone overly patient. "Just as Rinky, here, is lucky."

The woman in question jumped to her feet, offered Felicity her hand. "Rinky Moore, happy captive. Did they feed you yet?"

Felicity sighed. "They did."

Rinky pointed to Alwyn as he came through the door, then introduced him. "Magic hands, baby. I can't wait for breakfast."

Alwyn actually blushed.

Everly took over and introduced the new witch to the rest of the room. Urban’s wife might not have any magical talents, but her power to be professional and command respect was nothing to sneeze at. Felicity found her manners, as did we all, and the hostility drained away.

I would bet money the two would have a lot in common, style-wise, had we caught the designer on an “office” day.

Ivy joined us. Meral and Reem peeked in the door, probably awakened by the arguing. After they were introduced, they took a seat on the floor below our half-dozen charts mounted on the wall. "Wickham saved us as well," Reem said. "All here have been saved by him, or by his niece, at some point.”

Felicity sat on the sofa and put her face in her hands. "I'm sorry. This has to be a nightmare. I'm going to wake up and I'll be home, in bed."

After Wickham assured her that our enemies couldn't find her at Hope House, that the entire estate was undetectable and unlocatable, he suggested we all go to bed. Since the two newbies were from later time zones, he volunteered to stay up with them and explain all he could to Felicity and fill in any gaps for Rinky.

I didn't argue. Tomorrow was bound to be an important day. We had three Naming Powers under our roof, and if we were going to have a fourth, we’d have to find a way to get Fallon away from Griffon…

31

Sorting Gods And Spies

Morning brought with it a giant orange yolk for a sun, the smell of back bacon in the air, and a heaping side of hope. If I were a teenager back in Wyoming, it would have been the perfect day to go to the lake, to freeze in the snow-fed water and warm myself and my dinner with a crackling fire of pine logs.

Summer wouldn’t last much longer, but there wouldn’t be time for cold swims or warm fires out in the wild. After all, once you found treasure, you didn’t flaunt it. You stayed home and locked the doors. So the best I could do was to turn my face to the sunshine, close my eyes, and pretend.

We were fed breakfast on the veranda and encouraged to stay outside so Felicity and Rinky could sleep undisturbed for a while. Flann pulled a small notebook from his breast pocket and began to write. "Orion 2, Wickham 3, Griffon 1. Thus far, I like our chances, sure I do."

Kitch sat down across from him at the white cast-iron table. "I don't like the fact that Orion has War in his pocket now."

"But Peace as well,” Flann countered cheerfully. “Perhaps the power of Peace will temper him."

Kitch scoffed. "He also has Youth. But I doubt he’ll be content to be peaceful and young when the alternative is to be a god."

Persi nudged him. “Cheer up. We're ahead. We have Fertility, Art, and Light. Maybe we'll defeat him with our positive attitudes."

Everyone but Kitch laughed, knowing positive attitudes had been slipping a lot lately.

“That tally is a bit premature,” he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the house. “Those two havenae agreed to give up their powers.” His gaze shot to Persi. “Not that it’s necessary. It’s just…Felicity doesnae seem interested in joinin’ us.”

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