Over his shoulder Amenemhab met my eyes, my anger and grief, briefly. When he spoke, his words were soft and aimed at the ground. “Sometimes justice cannot be served. Sometimes only forgiveness will do.”
I left the visualization and woke to pruny fingers and lukewarm bathwater.
Quickly washing up and shampooing, I worked up a little preamble to tell Johnny about my mother’s visit, and about her owning the building where Arcane Ink Emporium was housed.
When I entered the bedroom, however, I found him sound asleep. The notepad teetered on the edge of the bed. I placed it on the nightstand; half a page was scrawled with lyrics. I stepped on the pen that had fallen from his grip.
I sighed, turned out the light, and crawled in beside him.
When my satellite phone rang at six-thirty, I grabbed it and shot out of bed. It was Menessos.
“Did I wake you?”
“Of course,” I whispered back. I grabbed my robe and headed across the hall and into the bathroom so I wouldn’t disturb Johnny.
“I apologize.”
“Don’t. My alarm would go off shortly anyway.”
“I was calling to invite you to the haven tonight.”
“I can’t.”
“A date?”
“We might be out of town.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” I started to tell him that we were going to Pittsburgh, but I remembered that he had said Heldridge was seen in Pittsburgh. “Any news on Heldridge?”
“Baltimore. We have some surprises waiting for him.”
So long as he keeps putting distance between us, I’m glad. “That’s good.”
“Any chance you’ll reconsider your getaway? I’m having a party tonight, officially accepting his people into my fold.”
“All of them?”
“Those who preferred to be somewhere else have relocated.” He sighed. “I am very selective about who I want around me. We have interviewed them all now. I admit, some were forcibly relocated, but in truth, few required such action. I’m keeping almost half of them.” He covered the phone partially and spoke to someone else about a caterer for the Beholders and Offerlings. I heard, “Eva, dear, I am certain your chocolates must be divine, but keep them out of my haven.” His tone was firm. “I feed upon these people. I find the caffeine in it … distasteful.” He stopped there, but this time when he continued his voice was deep and angry. “I don’t care what Heldridge thought. Get out.” To me he said, “Pardon my rudeness.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I will fret if you’re not here. Taking them on was your idea; the building of your barns was a large part of their test.”
It was unlikely we would get back from Pittsburgh in time to make his soiree in Cleveland, but then again we might not even find Eris and be turning around and coming right back. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? What if I promise to provide you with a sensible outfit for the evening?”
Every event he hosted had a dress code. “There’s a lot going on today. I’ll let you know, okay? That’s the best I can do.”
Johnny came out of the bedroom, stretching and yawning.
“An Erus Veneficus cannot deny her master,” Menessos said.
Johnny looked askance at me. With his wære hearing he’d probably caught that last bit.
“But the Regional Lord can say she has been set on an important task.” I both rebutted Menessos’s point and answered Johnny’s look with that statement. “Especially if his real master tells him he should.” Seeing Johnny had grabbed a towel from the linen closet, I twirled the shower handle and the water rained out.
“We will begin at eight o’clock. If your important task is completed in time.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you. I can hear the shower running and now I am imagining you all wet and lathering yourself.” His laugh was the last thing I heard before he ended the call. I didn’t get to tell him it was actually Johnny’s shower running.
By dawn, a little after seven, I had packed an overnight bag for our trip to Pittsburgh. I could hope we didn’t have to stay more than the day, but realistically, Johnny had a lot of tattoos. If we did find this Arcanum and he cooperated, I had no idea whether one spell would suffice to unlock them all at once or not. Regardless, we had to be back by noon tomorrow. That was when Beverley’s second party would start.
After silently counting out ten thousand dollars from the duffel bag I kept under my bed, I stuffed the hundred Benjamins into an envelope. The urge to write on it “Money to Bribe Arcanum” tempted me for a moment, but I resisted and shoved it into the overnight bag.
A door slammed downstairs. Nana’s up.
I’m telling her. Right now.
Amenemhab had told me a truth I didn’t want to accept. Forgiveness just wasn’t the emotion my heart was anxious to grant my mother, and I was certain Nana would agree with me. So I took my bag downstairs prepared to fess up about what I’d been keeping from her. It would mean taking some of her wrath, but I’d end up with her support. I hoped.
She’d made coffee. Bless her.
“Is Beverley up?” she asked.
“Her alarm won’t go off for another ten minutes or so. Ready to move into the new room?”
“Smells like paint.”
“Open the windows today.”
“I opened them when I came downstairs. That’s why the door’s shut.”
That explains the grouchy slam she’d given it. “You want some air freshener?”
She clamped her jaw and glared out the window, fingers tapping impatiently on the tabletop. I poured two cups of coffee and joined her at the dinette. “I have a confession to make,” I said.
“I’m no priest.”
She was in a serious snit. Maybe telling her was a bad idea. “What’s wrong?”
“Last night, Beverley brought me my money back.” Nana had given the girl four ten-dollar bills as her present.
“Did she say why?”
“She said she’d rather have a different present.”
That sounded rude, and not at all like Beverley. “What did she say she wanted?”
“She wanted me to buy myself those Nicorette patches they advertise on TV. She asked me to quit smoking.”
Now the reason for her snit and for her asking whether Beverley was up yet became clear. She hadn’t yet had a cigarette. “Good for you.”
Her attention snapped to me. “What?”
“You’re obviously trying.”
She snorted and glared at something in the field.
“Though it’s a double-edged sword, I suppose.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the toughest lady I know. If you set your mind to something you’ll do it or die.”
“I passed on that quality, you know.”
I smiled. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She lifted her coffee cup and drank.
“But I also know that someone telling you that you can’t do something is as good as daring you to do it. And you never back down from a dare.”
She put the cup down. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if you want to quit smoking, you’ll only have to defeat the tough lady who raised me. Are you tough enough to defeat yourself?”
She snorted again. “We’ll see. Where’s your favorite mug?” She pointed at the plain black mug I was using. “I was going to set it out for you.”
“Broke it.”
She tsk-tsked. “Well, what’s your confession, my child?”
Her sarcasm is not something I’ll ever get accustomed to. “This past Tuesday, while you were at the store. I had a visitor.”
“Who?”
I hesitated so I could take a deep breath and steel my nerves for this.
“Wasn’t that old boyfriend of yours, was it?”
“No.”
“Not the boy you went to the prom with?”
“No.”
As Nana stared down into the dark fluid, she wrapped both hands around the base of her mug, clinging to it like a life raft. I was willing to bet she’d initially try to pacify her nicotine addiction with additional caffeine.