Totally Spellbound (19 page)

He was concerned for her. She could
feel it. He would have spoken up if someone else had suggested the
plan, but the emotion, the vehemence, was all because he worried
about her.

She felt oddly flattered, and knew
that she couldn’t let her own emotions rise too much to the
surface. She would lose her ability to help the girls.

“I’m willing to go to this Faerie
place,” Crystal said.

“Me, too,” Brittany said.

But Tiffany had grown pale. “The old
Fates need something in Faerie? Why?”

Megan shrugged. “They say it’ll help
them.”

“What’s wrong with Faerie?” Crystal
asked Tiffany.

“I’ve heard it’s kinda wicked cool,”
Brittany said.

“They’ve been at war with us for
centuries,” Tiffany said. “Didn’t you guys pay attention in Mrs.
Sawtooth’s History of the Magical Universe class?”

“Were we supposed to?” Crystal
asked.

“Girls,” Megan said. She put just a
little harshness into her voice. “We were talking about the
plan.”

“Yeah, but Tiff’s worried about it.”
Brittany spit out her gum and stuck it underneath her lawn
chair.

The movement made Megan
wince.

“The hottie’s right,”
Tiffany said. “We’d go in there, and they’d win. The Faeries would
take on Daddy and he’d have to come for us…”

Her voice trailed off. Megan read the
expression almost as the thought crossed Tiffany’s mind. Their
father might not come for them at all, and that would be even
worse.

It would prove that he really didn’t
care about them, that he had been using them all along.

Crystal and Brittany were staring at
Tiffany, waiting for her to finish the thought.

Rob came up behind Megan and pulled
her to her feet. “We’re going to leave now.”

“No,” she said. “I promised to help
these girls.”

“We will.” His voice was tight and
angry.

“We can’t go into Faerie,” Crystal
said. “Not if Tiff’s afraid of it.”

“Tiff’s really our brains,” Brittany
said. “We tease her because she, like, likes books even though she
says she doesn’t but we need her because we’d be really dumb
without her.”

Somehow, Megan managed not to wince at
that.

“We’ll help you,” Rob said, and there
was sincerity in his voice. His hand still clutched Megan’s arm,
his fingers a bit too tight against her skin. “If we bring Clotho,
Lachesis and Atropos back here, and they’ve already regained their
magic, will you three step down?”

“Daddy won’t like that.” Tiffany’s
entire body radiated fear.

Megan wanted to shake off Rob’s hand,
but she didn’t. She didn’t want to do anything that would alarm the
girls. Instead, she willed herself calm, and said:

“See, this is where you have to decide
if you want to live your life or the life your father chose for
you.”

The girls looked at each other.
Crystal and Brittany seemed hopeful, but it was clear they were
waiting for Tiffany to make the decision.

Poor girl. She had been in charge from
the moment their father dragged them here.

“What you have to make certain of,”
Megan said, as gently and nonjudgmentally as she could, “is that
what you want and what your father wants is in your own best
interest.”

“I can’t stand talking in order like
this,” Crystal said.

“And we never get to leave this
library,” Brittany said. “It sucks. That’s why Daddy brought the
pool.”

“He brought the pool to insult us,”
Tiffany said through clenched teeth. “He promised us a beach on the
Mediterranean if we did everything right. This is no
beach.”

He was manipulating them, using them,
and insulting them. Megan felt anger rise inside her. She tamped it
down. She had to remain neutral.

But Rob’s eyes had narrowed. The anger
fairly sparked off him.

“You girls have to make a decision,”
he said. Megan wanted to elbow him, but it was too late. He’d
already butted in. She couldn’t stop him from doing more. “The
thing is, you have to make it fast, because we’re
leaving.”

“We can’t, like, think about it and
summon you back?” Crystal asked.

“No,” Rob said.

Megan was actually glad he’d answered
that question because she still had no idea how most of the magic
rules worked. Her sympathy rose for the girls. They had no idea how
most of the magic rules worked, either, and yet they were
ostensibly in charge of it all.

“We can get you back if we want to,”
Brittany said defiantly. “Right, Tiff?”

Tiffany didn’t answer her. She was
watching Rob.

“If you girls won’t agree,” he said,
“we’ll come up with a new plan. And you will probably end up as the
Fates, if that’s truly what your father wants for you.”

Rob wasn’t shabby at
manipulation, either.

“What if we tell Daddy about you?”
Tiffany said, clutching her knees to her chest. She wasn’t wearing
bikini bottoms.

Megan wanted to chastise her for that,
but didn’t. Perhaps the girl had never learned modesty.

Rob shrugged. Apparently he didn’t
notice Tiffany’s lack of attire. “If you tell your father, I’m sure
he’ll have something to say to us. We’ll deal with it. I’ve handled
worse.”

That was bravado. Megan
heard it in his voice. She wondered if the girls did,
too.

“You know, that’s kinda mean, Tiff,”
Crystal said.

“Yeah,” Brittany said. “They offered
to help.”

“You think they’re doing it for us?”
Tiffany turned her head so that her cheek rested on her knee. Megan
could no longer see her face. “They’re doing it for those other
Fates. They don’t care about us.”

“Those Fates helped kill the love of
my life,” Rob said. “I have no desire to help them.”

“And I just met them,” Megan
said.

“We only came here at the request of a
friend, because she thought that things were out of control.” Rob
let go of Megan’s elbow, and slipped his arm around her back,
pulling her close. He was going to leave soon, whether those girls
wanted it or not. She could just tell.

“Things
are
out of control,”
Crystal mumbled.

“Daddy says they never were in
control,” Brittany said.

“But those other women, they could
stand up to Daddy.” Tiffany’s voice was muffled. She still wasn’t
looking at anyone. “We sure can’t.”

“It takes practice,” Megan
said.

Tiffany nodded but didn’t
move.

“We’ll step down,” Crystal said. “I
promise.”

Brittany looked at her, eyes wide.
Tiffany raised her head.

“You didn’t ask Tiff,” Brittany
said.

“Yeah, who put you in charge?” Tiffany
sounded offended.

“You weren’t making any decisions,”
Crystal said. “I know I can stand up to Daddy. Can you?”

Brittany’s eyes grew even wider. They
looked like they were going to pop out of her head. Rob’s arm grew
tight around Megan’s waist. She slipped her own arm around
his.

The entire room was full of
fear.

“I don’t know if I can,” Brittany
whispered.

“None of us can.” Tiffany lowered her
head.

“I
can,” Crystal said, “and it takes three of us to
be Fates, right, Mr. Hottie?”

“Right,” Rob said, and Megan
suppressed a smile. She bet he’d never been called Mr. Hottie
before in his life.

“So you’re quitting?” Brittany
asked.

Crystal nodded.

“Until Daddy shows up,” Tiffany
said.

“Even then.” Crystal squared her
shoulders and looked directly at Megan. “Can you guys hurry up
about this getting those other Fates their magic stuff back?
Because I don’t know how long these two can keep a
secret.”

This time, Megan did smile. The girls
did work as a team. They just didn’t recognize it yet.

“I think they’ll surprise you,” Megan
said.

“But yes, we’ll hurry up,” Rob said.
Then he snapped his fingers, and the library
disappeared.

Rob’s Las Vegas office had
never looked so welcome. He appeared on the two-toned rug, his arm
around Megan’s back and her arm around him. The trip had been so
quick that she hadn’t even had time to grab on tighter like she had
before.

She blinked in surprise. Apparently,
she hadn’t expected to come here.

But he wanted the magical
trail to end here, particularly if Zeus were pursuing them. The
entire interaction with the Interim Fates had terrified Rob—and he
couldn’t remember ever being terrified before.

“Is Kyle still here?” Megan was
getting used to interdimensional travel, but it still clearly
unnerved her.

“I told John to take him back to
wherever the dog was. I recall there was dog emergency.” That
conversation seemed like a long, long time ago.

So much had happened since then. So
many dangerous things.

Megan had had no idea what she was
playing with, advising the Interim Fates to defy their father. This
was nothing like advising some rich Hollywood brat to defy the head
of a major studio.

Zeus had real power, life-destroying
power, and no qualms about using it.

And, apparently, no Fates to get in
his way.

“Then what are we doing here?” Megan
slipped her arm from him, pushed her hair away from her face, and
sighed. She looked drained. Being calm for those children had taken
something out of her.

“Laying a false trail.” Rob went to
his desk. Since he was here, he might as well get his car keys. No
sense in using magic when he didn’t have to.

“A false trail. From those
children?”

“From their father.”

“Zeus.” Megan shook her head. “He
sounds like quite a piece of work.”

“He is that, all right.”
Rob wasn’t going to try to explain Zeus to her, at least no more
than he already had. If she didn’t have an inkling about Zeus from
her mythology and cultural history classes, then trying to teach
her in a few hours wouldn’t work.

Besides, she’d had enough shocks for
one day.

Rob’s keys were beneath a stack of
papers that a secretary must have put on his desk. He glanced at
them. Three more CEOs had pledged money to a fund they thought
would bring in more oil from the Middle East. Instead, the money
went to a corporation named for a major oil baron, a corporation
that helped children eat.

“Do you think John took my car?” Megan
asked. “Because if he didn’t, I’d like to go back to the
hotel.”

Rob looked up. She was studying his
face as if she wasn’t sure of him any longer.

He wasn’t sure of himself,
either. He always went to an intellectual position when faced with
danger. He would separate from his emotions, move to a tactical
place, and then live there until the danger passed.

Only there was no way to know when
this danger would pass.

“Are you all right?” she asked
gently.

“Fine,” he said, and the
word sounded curter than he wanted. He wanted to speak to her
tenderly, to ease that emotional roller coaster she’d been on. But
he felt very far away from his own emotions at the moment. He had
no idea how to reach hers.

“The car?” she prompted.

“I’m sure he didn’t take the car,” Rob
said.

“Good.” She headed toward the door,
then stopped when she put her hand on the knob. “It’s
been…unusual.”

She was going to leave. As quickly as
she had appeared, she was going to leave. As if there were nothing
between them.

Had he imagined that? Or was it all on
his side?

“I’m coming with you,” he
said.

“No,” she said. “That’s
fine.”

In the past, he would have let a woman
get away with that sentence. But this wasn’t the past, and she
wasn’t just any woman. He didn’t want her to leave.

Besides, they had unfinished
business.

“I told Zoe we’d meet her at your
hotel, remember?” Rob said.

He wanted to tell Megan that he wasn’t
going to let her out of his sight, that she was probably in danger
from Zeus, that she had probably offended all of the Powers That
Be, but he couldn’t. He would sound alarmist and somewhat crazy and
more than a little overprotective.

At this point, he had no idea what she
thought of him, but he hoped it was none of those
things.

“You can just snap yourself there,
right?” Megan asked. “Because I have to drive. I can’t afford to
stay in that parking garage overnight.”

Snap himself there. What a way to
describe it.