“Come here often?” he askedZoe .
“I would have, if Id known youd be here, handsome.”
“You guys are just a riot,” Dana muttered, then eased past a frowning Brad to the wine bottle. What the hell, she wasnt driving.
“Now, if everybodys all comfy and cozy?” She paused, sipped her wine. “My key deals-with knowledge, or truth. Im not sure the words are interchangeable, but both, either, or a combination of them applies to my quest. Theres also a connection to the past, the now, the future. Im taking this, after some fiddling around and dead-ending, to be personal, as applies to me.”
“I think youre right about that,” Malory put in. “Rowena stresses that were the keys. The three of us. And mine was personal. If were going to consider a pattern, thats part of it.”
“Agreed. The male-type people in this room are part of my past, and of my now. Odds are, Im probably going to be stuck with them one way or the other, so theyre part of my future as well. We know, too, there are connections among all six of us. My connection to each of you, and yours to me, to each other. There are the paintings fromMals part of it that added a link.”
She, as did the others, glanced at the portrait Brad had hung over the mantel. Another of Rowenas works, it showed the Daughters of Glass, after the spell that had taken their souls. Each lay pale and still in their crystal coffin.
“Brad bought that at auction, without knowing what was going to happen here, just as Jordan bought one of Rowenas paintings, the young Arthur on the point of drawing the sword from the stone, at the gallery where Malory used to work. Also years before we knew what we know now. So… this, in turn, connects all of us with Rowena andPitte and the goddesses.”
“And Kane,”Zoe added. “I dont think its smart to leave him out.”
“Youre right,” Dana agreed. “And Kane. Hes messed with most of us already, and its pretty clear hell mess with us again. We know hes bad. We know hes powerful. But those powers arent without limits.”
“Or someone or something limits him. He took a slice out of me,” Jordan continued. “Then Rowena sends a little potion home with Dana. You guys saw this yesterday.” He opened his shirt. The cuts were now only fading welts. “They started healing minutes after we slapped the stuff on them. The point is, whatever he did couldnt hold up against Rowena. And whatever she did to counter it couldnt erase it completely.”
“To which we conclude,” Dana finished for him, “that theyre pretty evenly matched.”
“He has weaknesses.” Absently Jordanrebuttoned his shirt. “Ego, pride, temper.”
“Who said those were weaknesses?” Dana wandered over, sat on the arm of the chair Brad had taken. “Anyway, its more. He doesnt really get us—the whole human or mortal thing. He doesnt get us as individuals. He skims the surface, picks up on our little fantasies or fears, but he doesnt really get to the core—or hasnt. Thats how Malory beat him.”
“Yes, but when he has hold of you, its hard to see clearly, hard to know.” Malory shook her head. “We cant underestimate him.”
“Im not. But up to now, I think, he has underestimated us.” Thoughtfully, Dana studied the portrait. “He wants them to suffer, simply because part of them is mortal. Rowena talked of opposing forces: beauty and ugliness, knowledge and ignorance, courage and cowardice. How without one the other loses its punch. So hes the dark, and you cant have light without dark. I figure hes essential to the whole deal, not just an annoyance.”
She hesitated, then took a drink. “Its no secret that Jordan and I were intimate. I dont think its any secret that were… intimate now.”
Jordan waited a beat. “Ive never known you to get flustered talking about sex, Stretch.”
“I just want to make it clear to… people. To you, that Im not sleeping with yo
u as a way to find the key. Even if that has something to do with it,” she continued quickly, “because as somebody told me recently, sex is powerful magic—”
“If you do it right,” Jordan interrupted.
“So lets see what we know,” Brad said, trying to get back on track. “None of this would have happened—past— without Kane.” Brad tapped his index fingers together, “His presence and manipulations influence the search for the key. Present.” He held up a second finger, “And theres no finish to the spell without him.” And a third. “Hes a necessary factor. Theres no reward without work, no victory without effort, no battle won without risk.”
“Its another traditional element of a quest,” Jordan added. “An evil to be overcome.”
“I understand all this,”Zoe said. “And its important. But how does it help Dana find the key?”
“Know your enemy,” Brad told her.
“Thatnutshelled it,” Dana agreed.
“But theres more,” Flynn noted. “Blood has been shed. Another traditional quest element. I can read, too,” he said. “Why was it Jordans blood? Theres a reason for it.”
“Might be because Jordan pissed him off, which hes really good at doing,” Dana said. “But more likely its because I need Jordan to find the key.”
“Stretch, you need me for so many things.”
“Lets ignore the ego burst and stay focused.” Dana gestured with her glass. “The keys knowledge. Something I know, or have to learn. A truth that has to be sifted out from lies. Kane mixes his truth and lies. What is it hes said or done thats truth? Thats one of the angles Im playing. Then theres the last bit of the clue. Where one goddess walks another waits. Thats a stumper so far. Malorys goddess was singing, and she re-created that moment, and the key, by painting it. Following that, my goddess,Niniane , should be walking. But where, why, when? And which goddess waits? Would that beZoes ?”