Chapter 8

I sat down at the table with Augur. “If only those who are being rude call you that, what should I call you?”

She smiled. Now that I knew where I knew her from, I realized that she really didn’t look different. There were small changes, something like what I did to myself when I was running from my pursuers the day before. In her case, however, the changes made her look good. Not just good but ... really ... stunning. Maybe it was what she did to help find someone to help feed her power. She wasn’t going to find anyone here to help with that, but I could appreciate her looks nonetheless.

“Dana,” she said. “Call me Dana.”

I nodded and tried to get comfortable. I didn’t remember feeling this way the first time I met Dana, it was more like I was nervous. I wanted to impress her somehow, but that made no sense. Maybe it was because she was the one who put me on this path, to solve the Lockdown and find the missing women, and I hadn’t made any real headway on either front. I knew some things, but I wasn’t very close to solving anything. Yeah, that had to be it.

“You know,” she said, “I have to admit, I didn’t know if you could pull it off, but you are well on your way.”

I met her eyes. The light in the warehouse had taken on a soft, glow quality and her eyes danced in the light. I mentally shook myself, but I couldn’t break eye contact. My mouth, however, was perfectly capable of making me look like an idiot. “I haven’t pulled anything off. The Lockdown is still in effect and the girls are all still missing.”

She nodded. “True, but you’ve set yourself up to succeed. All you have to do is get out of your own way and use the tools you’ve forged. Then you’ll accomplish your goals.”

I was a little confused and that allowed me to look away from her. “Wait, what tools? Get out of my own way? What are you talking about? I’ve accepted the fact that I’m Magus. I’ve even taken the lead in the investigation. My overwhelming shortcoming is my lack of experience, and there’s no way to hurry that along.”

She smiled and her eyes glittered. “Seth, you’re a part of a world that deals with bending reality on a daily, if not hourly, basis.”

“I don’t bend reality,” I said.

“Sure you do,” she said. “What about changing your appearance to flee your pursuers? What about that support spell you’ve been working on for your Fonti? You bend reality every time you use your power. You simply lack the knowledge and skill to do more than you have.”

I nodded. “I lack experience.”

She leaned forward, which gave me the perfect view of her cleavage over the table. “What about your knowledge regarding medicine?”

I shook my head and fought to keep my eyes away from her. I couldn’t even look into her eyes without feeling like I was somehow making it a perverted gesture. “I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do,” she said softly. It sounded as if she had whispered it in my ear from only an inch away.

I looked up, but she hadn’t moved.

“You got into the hospital to see Sheriff Dalton. If you hadn’t known what the security badges looked like then that wouldn’t have happened.”

“What are you saying?”

“You know what I’m saying,” she said with a smile. “You’ve discussed it with Jordan and Dalton. You gained Emma’s experience with Magic, though that is primarily for healing. You also gained much of her knowledge and experience regarding her career. She uses the two hand-in-hand, so her understanding of it all passed to you.”

“How do you know this?” I asked. “I was told this kind of understanding was only known by House Leaders.”

She sat up and framed her breasts with her arms on the table. “I was once a House Lady myself. That was until a very ambitious Magus convinced everyone that my ability to see the future was bogus and he took my Stirpi from me.” There was a touch of anger in her voice and a flash of rage in her eyes.

“Who?” I asked.

She shook her head and all evidence of her fury was gone. “That’s ancient history, and of no importance here and now. The point is, I know the secret, and now so do you.”

“Okay, you know, but how does that help us resolve the Lockdown or find the missing girls?” I asked. “The only benefit so far has been keeping me from being wrongly arrested.”