Totally Spellbound (39 page)

Rob landed on the table in
front of her, startling several Faeries, one of whom shoved him,
and told him it wasn’t his turn. That was when he remembered that
he still looked like them. He was tempted to undo Zoe’s spell, but
he didn’t have time.

He had to find Megan. He
frowned at the mannequin in front of him.

The likeness wasn’t very good. The
face was waxy and the eyes were empty. They blinked much too
slowly, which was the only sign of life, such as it were. Her
breasts were too big (what a Zeusian touch!), her shoulders too
narrow, and her spine too straight. Megan hadn’t sat up straight
since Rob had met her.

And even he could sense
the emotion coming off this thing. It wasn’t one type of emotion
either. The thing was broadcasting emotions like some kind of
signal, probably to draw Faeries.

He used a magic he hadn’t
tried in ages. He touched the thing’s shoulder, startled that it
was as hard as steel. The skin was cold, too, although the Faeries
weren’t noticing.

Under his breath, he recited a spell
that would take him to the creature’s maker, and only as he was
hurtling down a magical line, did he realize that he might have
used the wrong spell.

If Zeus hadn’t created this thing,
just borrowed it or “improved” it, then Rob was going the wrong
way.

And wasting even more time.

Of course, he wasn’t sure what he’d do
when he found Megan.

How did one simple mage take on the
greatest of the Powers That Be?

“…
.and
you know, like, he kept saying how smart I am, how I’m, like, the
most brilliant daughter he’s ever had, which isn’t true because I
met Athena, like, more than once, and she doesn’t even have a
mother, you know? She sprang from his mind, although she says
forehead because, you know, coming from
his
mind is really
icky…”

Tiffany stood in the middle of the
floor, tugging on her cornrows as she spoke. She looked at Megan,
but every now and then her dark gaze would flick to her father’s
face.

Zeus still leaned against the door,
his arms crossed and eyes hooded. He hadn’t moved since the girls
started their tirades, and at one point, Megan worried that he had
left a fake body there, and checked out.

But he hadn’t. She sensed his anger
and confusion and complete shock whenever she searched for his
emotion.

No one had ever confronted
the old man like this — particularly not his daughters— not any
daughter, from the ones Megan had heard of, like Artemis and the
Muses to ones she hadn’t heard of (at least before today), like the
Interim Fates.

Zeus was handling this rebellion
better than Megan had hoped. And his daughters—all three of them
present here—were being as open as any client she’d ever had,
letting him know his successes and his failures, although Tiffany
was mostly reporting on the failures.

Tiffany was the angriest of the
Interim Fates, mostly because she was the responsible one who had
done most of the work.

“…
so he says it’s not
gonna be hard, you just gotta do what I say, little girl, and then
he won’t say—”

A large flash of light interrupted her
and made her step backward. Megan’s heart slammed against her
chest, but she wouldn’t let herself move.

Had Zeus attacked?

Then the light faded, and
Rob stood where it had been. His left arm was bleeding (but it was
just a scratch), his hair was mussed up, and he still looked like
one of the Faeries, only sexier.

“Oh, Megan,” he said with obvious
relief and headed toward her.

And because she was a professional,
she had to hold out her hand and stop him.

“You can’t be here,” she
said.

“What?” He looked around, saw Zeus
leaning against the wall, the girls—two on the sofa, and Tiffany
standing just behind him—and Megan in her chair. “Look, we’ll do
what it takes to get you out of here—”

“You can’t stay, Rob.”

The girls looked stunned. Zeus raised
his head, his eyes narrowing. He was going to unleash that pent-up
anger on Rob.

“What?” Rob said again.

“I’m conducting a therapy session.
This is private. You have to leave.”

“But I came to rescue you,” he
said.

“And I’m just fine.” She hated her own
tone, but she had to use it. She had to get him out of here before
he ruined the progress everyone was making. “Can you wait outside
until the session is over?”

“Outside?” He looked
around.

“In the waiting room?”

“Wait?” He repeated.

Megan nodded. “Only family members can
be here right now.”

He frowned. “You don’t need
rescuing?”

“This is my office,” she said. “I
never need rescuing here.”

“Oh.” He ran a hand through his
magically darkened hair, then looked at Zeus, who elaborately
stepped away from the door. “You’re sure?”

That last was addressed to
Megan.

“I’m sure,” she said.

Rob nodded, then walked like a man
who’d been banished from his own house. He opened the door and
stepped into the waiting room, closing the door quietly behind
him.

Tiffany looked at Megan. “Can I go on
now?”

“Is everyone all right?” Megan
asked.

The girls nodded. Zeus sighed, but to
his credit, didn’t speak. He nodded too.

“All right then,” Megan said.
“Continue.”

Tiffany did.

Megan tried to concentrate, but all
she could think about was how strong Rob seemed, ready to take on
even the Powers That Be to save her. She allowed herself one small,
private little smile, before forcing herself to listen to
Tiffany.

“…
and he never, ever says
anything nice to my mother. He’s like a big bully who doesn’t care
who he hurts…”

It was going to be a long
night.

Rob closed the door behind him. The
waiting room was empty but comfortable with two sofas, soft
lighting, and shaded windows. Comfortable, and
confusing.

He stopped, rubbed his hand through
his hair (which didn’t feel like his hair) and then
frowned.

He’d come to rescue a damsel in
distress, only to discover that she wasn’t in distress, and she
wanted him to leave.

To leave?

What did she think, that therapy could
make Zeus change his ways?

And what was Zeus doing? Playing
along?

Rob was. He didn’t want to
argue with her—she certainly seemed like she had everything under
control—but he wasn’t sure how she had done that.

He shook his head, and looked at the
couches, not wanting to sit down. At any moment, she would scream
for help and he would have to go running.

Or not.

Then a thunderclap sounded
beside him, and John appeared. John still looked too thin and too
tall, his features pulled into a replica of Faerie
features.

“Where is she?” he demanded. “Is she
all right?”

“She’s in there.” Rob pointed at the
door.

“Do you need help breaking it down? Is
it magicked?” John asked.

Rob shook his head. “She’s conducting
a family therapy session in there.”

John frowned just like Rob had, then
blinked, and stared at the door as if it held the answers.
“Huh?”

“She has Zeus in there and his
daughters, and she’s making them talk to each other.”

John’s mouth opened, and then he let
out a loud, shocked laugh. “That woman has balls!”

“That’s one way to put it,” Rob
said.

“So why aren’t you there?”

“She kicked me out,” he said. “Said I
don’t belong.”

John’s grin widened. “I told you she
was special.”

“Yeah,” Rob said, still feeling
shocked. “I guess that’s one way to put it.”

“Listen,” John said. “Travers and Zoe
are staying with Kyle, but the others are coming, and you’ll never
believe—”

More flashes of light, and
the Fates appeared. They were wearing armor designed in the Trojan
style, with the metal skirts, the high-lace boots, and the
breastplates that accented the breasts. Their hair was pulled back,
and they seemed more alive than they had since the day
began.

Rob was about to tell them what was
going on, when even more lights flashed and the Faerie Kings
appeared behind them.

Rob grabbed John and moved him out of
the way.

“What are you doing here?” Rob snapped
at the Faerie Kings.

“We brought them,” Clotho
said.

“We’ve just finalized an alliance,”
Lachesis said.

“If that’s what you want to call it,”
Atropos said, and all three Fates took the hands of the Faerie
Kings.

“If you’d’ve let me finish,” John
said, “I’d’ve told you that the whole wheel thing was some kind of
stupid courting ritual.”

“It was destiny,” Clotho
said.

“‘
The wheel shall bind the
Circles of Faerie with the Fates of the world,’” Lachesis
said.

“Only these guys expected us to come
after it,” Atropos said and grinned at the third king.

“And then when we got it back, we
expected them to come,” Clotho said, smiling at the first
king.

“And it wasn’t until young Kyle said
we were all being stupid that we realized he was right,” Lachesis
said, already smiling at her king. “So we went to Faerie, finished
our alliance, and here we are, to rescue Megan.”

“She doesn’t want to be rescued,” Rob
said.

“Nonsense,” Clotho said. “Every woman
wants to be rescued.” And this time, the first Faerie King grinned
at her.

“Not in today’s world,” Rob
said.

“You still have a few
modern things to learn,” John added, then ducked when he apparently
remembered that they had their powers now.

But the Fates seemed pretty happy, and
so did the Faerie Kings. Which explained why none of them had
fought Rob very hard, and why it had been relatively simple to get
that dang wheel.

“What we need to figure out,” Lachesis
said, “is if we should go through a formal ceremony.”

“We like the Heart of Elvis Chapel,”
Atropos said.

“It’s not owned by Faerie, which makes
it independent,” Clotho said.

“But we’re not sure any of us qualify
for marriage licenses,” Lachesis said.

“Or if we even need one,
considering,” Atropos added.

The Faerie Kings wrapped their arms
around the Fates, and murmured something. Rob shot a confused look
at John.

“I thought you said alliance,” Rob
said.

“Well, they are uniting our world and
Faerie,” John said.

“But Faeries don’t feel
emotion,” Rob said.

“Technically not true,” said the first
Faerie King. He had a deep voice that shook the room.

“We feel many things, but
our people just don’t accept those feelings as real,” said the
second king, whose voice was even deeper.

“So we believe that we must lead by
example,” said the third king—and then all three kissed the
Fates.

“Yech,” Robin said and turned away.
“That’s like watching your parents make out.”

John had turned away too. “This has
been one strange day. And now you’re saying that in there Megan’s
taking on Zeus?”

Rob’s stomach clenched. And he had
left her alone in there. Zeus hadn’t magicked her, had
he?

At that moment, the door opened and
Zeus strode out, followed by the Interim Fates, whose faces were
tear-streaked. Zeus didn’t look much better.

He saw the Fates kissing the Faerie
Kings and let out a gusty sigh.

“You failed,” Clotho said.

“You should never fight Fate,”
Lachesis said.

“Because you’ll always lose,” Atropos
added.

“You don’t have to gloat,” Zeus said.
“I’ve had a hard day.”

“What’s going on, Dad?” Brittany
whispered, tugging his sleeve.

“Not only have my daughters rebelled—”
And he sounded a little proud about that—“but my prophecy has just
come true. The ascendancy of the Powers That Be has declined
because of True Love.”

He spat on the carpet.

“We’ll treat you fairly,” Clotho
said.

“Which is more than we can say for
you,” Lachesis said.

Zeus glared at them. “I’ve got more
important things to worry about,” he said, and
disappeared.

Rob let out a breath he hadn’t even
realized he was holding.

“Where’d he go?” John asked the
girls.