"How do I know that?"
Lucas smiled bleakly. "I guess you'll just have to have a little faith in an old friend of the family."
Shortly before five, Amaryllis left the offices of her last client for the day, a gem-talent who had needed her services in order to ascertain the quality of the stones in a recent shipment.
A long, white limousine with ink-dark windows waited at the curb. She glanced at it curiously as she turned to walk toward the bus stop.
The rear door of the big car opened. Gifford stepped out of the limo. He was dressed in his trademark silver gray suit and red bow tie. He gave Amaryllis a wry, diffident smile.
"You're certainly traveling in style these days, Gifford." Amaryllis came to a halt on the sidewalk.
"Amaryllis, I have to talk to you."
"I'm on my way back to the office."
"I'll give you a lift." Gifford took a step closer. "Please. This won't take long."
"I'd rather walk."
"Wait." Gifford put out a hand to catch hold of her arm. "I've got a problem. A big one. I need your help."
She saw the desperate, beseeching urgency in his eyes and knew intuitively that it was genuine. "What's wrong?"
"I'll explain everything in the car. Amaryllis, if I ever meant anything at all to you, please say you'll at least listen to me."
"I don't have much time." Amaryllis reluctantly allowed herself to be drawn toward the sleek limo. "If you promise this won't take long--"
"It won't. I swear it."
She didn't see the other occupant of the car until she got into the rear seat. By then it was too late.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Lark," Madison Sheffield said. "I can't tell you how much Osterley and I appreciate your willingness to help the cause."
Chapter 14
"What is going on here?" Amaryllis glowered furiously at Madison Sheffield. "I haven't volunteered for anything. Furthermore--"
She broke off as the limo door closed with a soft, solid kachunk. She whirled in the seat to confront Gifford. "Open that door this instant, do you hear me? I do not intend to go anywhere in this vehicle."
Gifford grimaced but said nothing as the car slithered into motion.
"Did you hear me, Gifford?"
"Please calm down, Ms. Lark." Madison's voice was soothing. Very soothing. He reclined on the opposite seat, a picture of sober, conservative elegance in his dark suit and discreet tie. "I am only asking for a few minutes of your time. I assure you it's in the interests of our beloved city-state."
"This is kidnapping, which happens to be illegal in our beloved city-state," Amaryllis snapped. "Stop this car and open that door at once or I'll notify the police."
"Take it easy, Amaryllis," Gifford pleaded. "Give Sheffield a chance to explain, will you?"
"Please, hear me out." Sheffield's eyes were eloquent with humble need. "I must have your help. Gifford here has done his best, but it has become obvious that he is out of his league."
"You burned out another one of his prisms last night, didn't you?" Amaryllis did not wait for a response. She turned back to Gifford. "Just what league are you playing in, Gifford Osterley?"
"I can't supply Sheffield with a prism strong enough to work with the upper ranges of his talent," Gifford muttered. "You're the only one I know who might be able to handle him. He's a class ten." Gifford gave Madison an uneasy glance. "Maybe higher."
"Considerably higher, I suspect," Amaryllis said. "Gifford, how could you get involved in this situation?"
"I haven't done anything wrong." Gifford tugged at his red bow tie as if it was too snug around his neck. "It's not a crime to provide focus services for a high-class talent."
Amaryllis did not bother to conceal her disgust. "You must know how Sheffield is using his talent."
"I am attempting to use my God-given talent for the good of my city-state, Ms. Lark." Madison appeared to be deeply hurt by her implied accusations. "I will admit that I have trouble controlling it at times, but that is hardly my fault. I'm sure you are well aware that there are few if any mentors for class-ten-plus talents."
"How would you know?" Amaryllis retorted. "You've never bothered to get yourself tested."
"I consider it an invasion of privacy," Madison said. "The founders would never have submitted to having perfectly natural, normal human abilities tested, certified, and ranked. But that is not the point."
"What is the point?"
"I need you, Ms. Lark." Madison's mellifluous voice reverberated in the confines of the big car.
"You want me to help you use your talent to raise campaign funds? Forget it. I do not consider that an ethical use of talent."
Gifford shot Madison a shuttered glance. "I told you this wasn't going to be easy."
"I would have been deeply disappointed if it had been." Madison's gaze warmed with admiration as he studied Amaryllis. "I have great respect for your reservations and ethical concerns, Ms. Lark. Gifford here tried to dissuade me from seeking your assistance, but the more I heard about you, the more I knew that you were the prism for me."
Amaryllis glared at Gifford. "Just what did you tell him?"
"That you were a prissy, straitlaced, self-righteous full-spectrum prism who seemed to think it was her job in life to act as a goddamned conscience for everyone else."
Amaryllis felt the heat rise in her face. "I see."
"A conscience is precisely what I want, Ms. Lark," Madison said gently.
Amaryllis blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"It's not that I lack one of my own." Madison chuckled ruefully. "I assure you my parents saw to it that I was raised to uphold the strictest set of principles. My family believed in the basic tenets of our founders' values before the term became part of our common parlance."
"How nice for you."
"But there are few guidelines for off-the-scale talents, as you well know, Ms. Lark."
"Such talents don't require special rules," Amaryllis said. "The nature of right and wrong does not alter as one rises higher on the psychic energy scale."
Gifford rolled his eyes and tugged at his bow tie again.
"You don't understand, Ms. Lark," Madison said gently. "I still fumble with my great talent from time to time. As I said, it is not always easy to control it, let alone to apply it appropriately."
Amaryllis tapped one finger on the plush car seat. "Is that right?"
"Yes. But I am determined to use my gifts for the betterment of our city-state. To accomplish my goals I require the focus services of a strong-minded, highly principled full-spectrum prism. Someone who can guide me when my talent surges to the fore. Someone who can control and focus my psychic gifts so that they may be used to help others."
It occurred to Amaryllis that the compelling power of Madison's voice had grown stronger during the past few minutes. She realized it was getting easier to believe that he meant every word he said.
Too easy.
She glanced suspiciously at Gifford. He did not look at her. He sat silently in his corner, gazing out the tinted windows.
"There are those who would consider a prism with your high moral standards as something of a nuisance, Ms. Lark." Madison leaned forward slightly. His eyes gleamed with an almost overpowering sincerity. "But I consider you to be a godsend. You are the prism for whom I have been searching all my life. I seek a helpmate and a soulmate, someone whose own psychic powers match my own and whose sense of values is in harmony with mine."
He had been looking for her all of his life. Unlike everyone else, he didn't consider her ethical standards to be irritating and naive. He valued her skills and her integrity. Madison Sheffield needed her to help him fight the good fight.