“If you didn’t contact him, why is he giving you a ride home?” Clotho asks.
“He’s
not
,” I say.
Megan puts up a hand, stopping me from talking. “I’m sorry,” she says to the Fates. “There’s a misunderstanding.”
“Several,” I say.
But Megan pushes her palm toward me as if I hadn’t seen it the first time. I had, but jeez. This is getting out of hand, no pun intended.
“Brittany was using a cellular telephone—mortal technology—to call someone to give her a ride back to the Johnson Family house,” Megan says.
“We know what a telephone is,” Lachesis says in a haughty tone.
“If you had only said that,” Atropos says, “we would have understood you.”
I start, “We
did—”
but Megan talks over me.
“We’re very sorry for the lack of clarity,” she says in a reasonable tone. “What happened, apparently, is this: Brittany was using her telephone when Zeus appeared and took it from her, destroying it.”
All three Fates swiveled their heads to look at him.
“Why would you do that?” Clotho asks.
Somehow he manages to look contrite and smug at the same time. “I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s technology,” Megan says, as if she’s trying to smooth things over. I have no idea why she would want to smooth things over. We’re in some kind of mess here, and it’s Daddy’s fault, and she shouldn’t take his side. “Technology and magic—”
“Do not get along,” Lachesis says.
“We remember this from our time in the Greater World,” Atropos says.
“We, of course, did not have this problem,” Clotho says as she glares at Daddy.
“Because,” Lachesis says, “someone—”
“Took away our magic,” Atropos says.
All three of them spoke with great anger. They’re still furious at Daddy. (Yay!)
“It was most inconvenient,” Clotho says.
“Especially since all of our enemies were trying to kill us,” Lachesis says.
“But,” Atropos says with fake cheerfulness, “at least we didn’t have to deal with—what did you say? Exploding?—technology.”
Daddy’s smug expression fades as they talk. Now he’s backing away from them. His feet get caught on the thin rug they have near one of the shelves, and he stops.
“Look,” he says, “you girls need to let bygones be bygones.”
“
Girls
?” Clotho says.
“Did he just call us
girls
?” Lachesis asks.
“Did he intend disrespect?” Atropos asks.
“Or was that just the effect?” Clotho asks.
“Hmmm,” they all say together, as if they’re really contemplating that thought.
I can tell them the answer. He intended disrespect.
I’m about to say something when Megan warns me off with a look.
“We’re all here now.” Megan says with surprising calm. “Let’s just find out what crisis Zeus perceives, and perhaps we can resolve it to all of our satisfaction.”
“I would be most satisfied if we turn him into a toad,” Lachesis says.
“Very unimaginative,” Atropos says. “How about a rock?”
“Or a speck of dirt,” Clotho says.
Daddy has actually gone pale. I didn’t think his skin could change color like that.
“I really…I didn’t mean to insult you gir—ladies. You ladies,” he says. “I didn’t mean to insult you ladies.”
“He does not understand any of this, does he?” Lachesis asks her sisters.
“He never has,” Atropos says.
“I just wanted to tell you about Brittany’s problems,” Daddy says.
“I don’t have any problems,” I snap. “Except you.”
The words just came out. I didn’t force them. I didn’t even plan them.
My heart is pounding. I really haven’t stood up to Daddy before. Not alone. Tiffany and Crystal did, and then I piled on, but I have never ever spoken to him like that before.
Everyone is staring at me.
Daddy’s mouth has become a thin line, and lightning sparks in his hair. In a minute, there’s going to be thunder, and I have no idea what happens if he rains lightning down on this library.
“Yes, you do,” he says very carefully. “You have serious problems.”
“No, I don’t,” I say.
“Perhaps you don’t understand what they’re doing to you,” he says. Those brown eyes of his are filled with concern.
Part of me is honored that he actually notices me, that he feels concern for me. And another part of me is totally pissed at him. (Yes,
pissed
, Mom. I’m really, really, really mad.)
“They’re harming you, Brittany,” he says, and despite my best efforts, my heart lifts when he says my name. “It has to stop. It has to stop now.”
“No one’s—”
“What are they doing?” Megan interrupts me. She is frowning at Daddy, but I can’t tell if she believes him.
She wouldn’t ask him a question like that if she didn’t believe him, right? She’s an empath. She knows what he’s feeling.
I look at him. Does he actually believe I’m under some kind of threat? Who’s threatening me? And how?
Daddy nods at Megan. It’s as if he realizes she’s his ally all of a sudden.
“They’re trying to destroy my daughter,” he says. “And I, for one, am not going to let them.”
ELEVEN
THE LIBRARY HAS gotten cold. I spent forever here with my sisters, or at least, it seemed that way. We let it get run down. Now the shelves sparkle and the books glisten with magic, as if they are inviting me to read them.
I don’t want to read any of them. I don’t want to be here.
And now, Daddy has shaken me to my very core. What does he mean
they
are trying to destroy me? I agree with Lachesis. Who the heck are
they
? And why is he my protector all of the sudden? He didn’t even know me before.
I’m shaking. I don’t want to be destroyed. Especially by an unseen, unknown foe.
“Who is after me?” I ask.
“I didn’t say anyone is after you, child,” he says. He barely looks at me. “I said they’re trying to destroy you.”
“I think the question is a good one,” Clotho says. “Who is trying to hurt this child?”
I’m getting tired of being called a child. I’m not a child. I’ve been through more than most people
ever
go through in an entire lifetime, and I’m really, really, really tired of being thought of as less than I am.
But I do care about the answer to Clotho’s question.
“Everyone,” Daddy says.
The Fates and Megan all make sounds of disgust. Their gazes meet, and Megan shakes her head just a little.
The lightning is starting to dance around Daddy’s hair again. “Everyone who lives in that horrible place you’ve stashed her,” he says, speaking louder than before, as if louder makes him right or something. “You don’t know what they’re doing.”
“They’re making her work a job,” Megan says. “Mortal children—even mage children, before they get magic—work regular jobs.”
“That’s not a regular job,” Daddy snaps.
“Did you not once tell us that someone must shovel the horse manure?” Lachesis asks Daddy.
“Not my daughter,” he says. “Not any of my children.”
“You object to Brittany’s day job?” Megan asks.
“Yes,” Daddy says.
Atropos sighs. “So you have wasted our time again.”
She looks at me as she says that. I hold out my hands in supplication. “I didn’t ask to come here,” I say. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“
He
brought you?” Clotho asks.
“
Yes,
” I say. “Against my will. I did not call on him, I did not ask him to talk to me, and I certainly did not ask him to bring me here.”
All four women look at Daddy. He straightens his very broad shoulders. That lightning in his hair has faded again.
“I was going to take her home,” Daddy says. “But I knew I had to speak to you all first. And you’ll want to listen to what I have to say.”
“I would have gotten home if you hadn’t blown up my phone,” I say.
“You can call home with a simple technology device?” he asks.
“The Johnson Family Manse,” I say. “I wanted to go to the Johnson Family Manse.”
“The what?” Lachesis asks at the same time Daddy does, and with the same inflection.
They look at each other, startled, and then both back up a step, as if shocked that they could have the same thought at the same time.
“The Johnson Family Manse,” Megan says, “is what Brittany’s family calls their home. I think it’s rather cute, myself.”
Cute? It’s not cute. It’s a place. And, as this conversation goes on, I’m beginning to realize that it is home to me.
A home where something is wrong. Or at least, Daddy thinks something is wrong, which is both weird and worse, because I have no idea why he cares and I also have no idea if I should trust him.
“I’m Brittany’s family,” Daddy says to Megan.
My breath catches. He’s
what?
He’s never said anything like that before.
“You’re
part
of Brittany’s family.” Megan raises her chin. Her tone is crisp. “And, I would chance to say, a relatively small part at that.”
Daddy’s hair sparks. “I
fathered
her.”
Like that’s an achievement. Daddy has fathered people with a single thought—witness Athena.
I cross my arms. I don’t like this conversation at all. I wish I still had my phone. I wish I was in the parking lot. I wish I could call someone at the Johnson Family Manse to get me out of here.
“You
fathered
her.” Megan’s voice drips with contempt. “That’s all you did, until you decided to use her in your little personal coup,”
Megan says. She doesn’t have any real magic power yet, and even if she did, she probably wouldn’t be as powerful as anyone else in the room, yet she’s fearless.
I love that about her. She can face down anyone, and not worry about the consequences.
I can barely talk to anyone and I’m scared all the time. Megan, on the other hand, pulls no punches.
I can’t believe she just said that to Daddy.
The Fates have conjured some popcorn in a white and red striped bucket. They’re passing it back and forth, and watching, as if this was some kind of movie.
“I’ve reformed,” Daddy says to Megan. “I’m paying attention to my daughters now.”
Atropos’s hand stops halfway between the popcorn bucket and her mouth. “All of your daughters?” she asks in a voice I’ve never heard her use.
Megan tenses beside me, and I suddenly remember something that Dionysius said one day after he’d had too much to drink. (Okay, he’s always had too much to drink, but that day was particularly bad.)
He said that there were rumors that Daddy was the father of the Fates. No one knows, except maybe Daddy and the Fates themselves.
Not that it matters, because Daddy is subject to the Fates’ decrees just like the rest of the magical. That’s what he was trying to change when he put us in charge and that’s why he got suspended from the Powers That Be, and that’s why he lost big time when he got caught at his own game.
Daddy frowns at Atropos. Tiny lightning bolts sizzle from one strand of his hair to another. He’s getting really mad.
“I am paying attention to my youngest three,” he says, with emphasis.
Clotho takes the popcorn bucket from Atropos and puts it on the ground.
“If you believe that Brittany, Crystal, and Tiffany are your youngest daughters,” Clotho says slowly, “you are mistaken.”
“You have nearly three dozen children younger than Brittany.” Lachesis’s mouth curls in distaste.
“And, just like the statistics predict,” Atropos adds, “a little over half are girls.”
“You’d think that you would be able to keep track,” Clotho says. “After all, you took them from their mothers, just like you took Brittany, Tiffany, and Crystal.”
My lower lip trembles and tears prick my eyes. I take a deep breath. I am not going to be a drama queen here, I am not. I am
not.
I clench my fists.
Then Megan reaches over and puts her fingers around my wrist. “It’s all right,” she says softly to me. “We’ll figure this all out.”
“We have a lot to figure,” says Daddy, who clearly overheard her. “Because my child is in hell.”
“Right now, I am,” I say, and for that, all three Fates and Daddy glare at me.
“She’s speaking metaphorically,” Megan says.
“No, I’m not,” I say. “I’m in this stupid library, where I was imprisoned for I don’t know how long, doing what
you
wanted.” I whirl on Daddy. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t like it here.”