Blood of the Sorceress. Maggie Shayne

awoke, so she could break the news. Then they would go down to Lena’s place together and tell everyone else. It wasn’t going to go down easily. They loved her so much.

      As it turned out, however, she didn’t need to tell them. When she came down, showered and dressed, her long hair hanging in a braid over one shoulder, wearing a white sundress and a turquoise cardigan, she didn’t see Indy and Tomas pouring coffee as she’d expected.

      There were only her two sisters waiting for her, and she knew by the dampness on their cheeks that they already realized she would have to leave them today.

      Lena hugged her hard, sniffling. Indy went next, saying, “I don’t know why you won’t let us go with you. You’re stubborn as hell.”

      Lilia gnawed her lip, tempted. “He’s far away. I don’t even know where. But when I get there, I’ll let you know.” She held up the cell phone Lena had bought her. She’d been added to their family plan and would forever be grateful. “And if I need you, I’ll phone you.”

      “Be on guard, Lilia,” Indy said. “We still don’t know where Father Dom is, and if he’s recovered his health, he could be dangerous. Trust me on this. Bastard almost killed me.”

      “I know. I’ll be careful.”

      Lena took her by the hand and led her to the kitchen table, where a large map of the United States was spread out. From her pocket she took a black velvet drawstring pouch, then pulled a long length of chain from it. At the end of the chain hung a cone-shaped amethyst pendulum.

      “Show me Demetrius,” she said, and then she held the chain over the northeastern section of the map. The amethyst was still at first, but slowly it began to swing from side to side, its momentum making it sweep wider each time.

      Snapping it up into her palm, Lena moved to the southeastern part of the country and repeated the procedure with the same results. Ditto to the Midwest, the center of the country, the Northwest, and the West Coast. It was only when she suspended the pendulum over the Southwest that it began to move in a different way. Not back and forth this time, but in ever widening circles.

      “He’s in the Southwest,” Lena said.

      Lilia nodded, her eyes on the map as Lena stopped the pendulum and glanced at Indy, who brought her a pair of scissors. She cut the map into pieces, cutting out Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and Colorado, then spreading the states out on the table. Then Lena repeated the process, holding the pendulum over each one. She got a positive result over Arizona and lifted her head, looking at her sisters.

      “It’s a start,” Indy said.

      “Thank you. It’ll save a lot of time. And once I get there, I’ll know which direction to go. I’ll feel him.”

      “I’ll cut the state up into sections and call you when I get more details,” Magdalena said. “Just in case you need to narrow it down.”

      “Thank you,” Lilia said softly.

      Indy was typing on her laptop computer by then, and nodded. “There’s a flight to Phoenix leaving in three hours.”

      “Then I should be on it.” Lilia brushed away tears she couldn’t help shedding. By the Goddess, she hoped she would see her sisters, her family, again. But she knew too well that if this didn’t go well, she might not. Not in this lifetime, at least.

      This might be goodbye.

      So she held them a long time when she hugged them, then held them again after the huge breakfast Selma insisted on making for her. Saying goodbye to the woman she accepted as her mother in every way that mattered was painful. Seeing Selma’s tears was almost too much to take.

      And then her sisters drove her to the airport and walked her to the security checkpoint, which was as far as they could go.

      Magdalena kissed her cheek. “Come back to us, okay? You have to come back to us.”

      “If it looks like he’s gonna refuse,” Indy said, “call while there’s still time, so I can come try to … persuade his sorry ass.”

      “I will.”

      “You’d better.”

      “I … love you both so much,” Lilia said. “You kept your vow to me, to him, even when it nearly cost you everything. I’m so grateful to you for that. And for taking me in now, so many lifetimes later. For everything you’ve done for me. Teaching me how to live in this time, the quirks of the language, how to dress, buying me clothes, the phone, lending me money. So much money.”

      “Hey, Lena married a billionaire,” Indy said. “Ryan can afford it.”

      “Still …” Lilia looked at the clock. “I have to go.”

      “Say the word and we’ll be there,” Magdalena said. “Goddess, Lil, I don’t want you to go.”

      “We haven’t come this far to fail now, brave sisters. Trust me, we will be together again. And soon.”

      As she turned to make her way through the security check, Lilia wished she felt as sure of that as she had sounded.

      Demetrius looked out from his balcony over the property and remembered Father Dom’s arrival three days ago. The old priest had waved a hand expressively to indicate the beautiful grounds spread out below the small patio table where the two of them had been sitting over coffee. “This place is like a fantasy come true,” he’d said with a nod. “Obviously you’ve figured out how to use your … powers already.”

      Demetrius, who’d been sitting across the table from the old man, had tried to read his face. He didn’t know Father Dom, hadn’t trusted him, and he’d had no intention of giving anything away. But he’d very definitely wanted to know what the old cleric knew, or thought he knew, about him.

      “I wished for this. Visualized it in great detail. And it came to me. Is that what you mean by my … powers?”

      “You have the chalice and the blade,” the old man said. “Using the two together can bring desires and ideas, anything from the astral plane, into physical form. Did you use them before you acquired all this?”

      “I was messing around with them.” Demetrius shrugged, unwilling to reveal that he’d performed a rite according to a voice in his head, a female voice, and that he had apparently brought her into physical form from the astral plane, as well. And yes, all of this, too. But first, her.

      “Have you noticed any other powers attached to those tools of yours?”

      “The chalice and the blade?”

      “And the amulet, of course.” The priest nodded at the piece Demetrius wore around his neck.

      So he knew about that, as well. “They have other powers?”

      “That’s what I was asking you. Do they?”

      “Not that I’m aware of.” It was a blatant lie. “Are they supposed to?”

      “Not that I’m aware of,” the priest lied back.

      And it was a lie. The old man knew. Demetrius was sure of it. That priest knew the blade could blast energy like a laser, could set things on fire and even blow them up. And he must know what the amulet did, as well. He was dying to ask.

      All in good time, though. I have to be careful. Men would kill to possess tools like these.

      “You said you knew about me, about where I come from,” Demetrius said, choosing his words with care.

      The priest nodded slowly. “Everything that has brought you to where you now find yourself springs from another lifetime, Demetrius. A lifetime in the distant past. You have been human before, you know.”

      “Have I?” He had to hold himself still in his seat, will himself not to lean forward and gaze at the old priest in rapt interest. He tried to keep a cool demeanor, to relax and not look too eager.