They spoke for a few minutes, then Orpheus pointed their way and the female looked over. Long snow-white hair curled around her shoulders. Her wrinkled brow said she wasn’t thrilled by their arrival.
As they approached, the witch zeroed in on Callia. “The king’s daughters I know. This one is a mystery.”
“I—”
“She’s the king’s healer,” Isadora said.
“More than a healer.” The witch took a step toward Callia. “Why do you seek passage into the human realm? Danger lurks there. You know that to be true. You’ve experienced it. Do you seek something of value? Is personal gain your goal? Power? Is that why the three of you have come here today?” Her gaze swung over them. “Do you expect me to help you with that goal in mind? That which you do not understand cannot be made to—”
Frustration bubbled through Isadora. “She doesn’t want—”
“I can speak for myself.” Callia shot a warning look Isadora’s way, then refocused on the witch. “Yeah, I am looking for something of value. My son. He was taken from me and I need to get to the human realm to find him. These two”—she nodded toward Isadora and Casey—“offered to help me. But if that’s not a noble enough cause for you, then so be it.” She glanced at Orpheus. “You said there are several secret portals, right?”
“Um.” Orpheus looked down at the witch. “Yeah.”
“Fine. Take me to the next one.”
Orpheus hesitated, then spoke to the witch in a language Isadora didn’t understand, a language that definitely wasn’t ancient Argolean.
The witch searched each of their faces while she listened, and something in her expression shifted. She said something back to Orpheus, but before any of them could ask what was happening, the witch stepped forward and held up her hands, palms out.
“I bind thee, the Hours, from doing harm unto yourselves or others.” Then she closed her eyes and chanted. “Goddess divine, now bring me power that grows with every passing hour. Bring control back unto me. As I will, so mote it be.” She opened her eyes, dropped her hands. “You may pass.” She called over her shoulder, “Isis!”
A female with red spiked hair, wearing leggings, a military jacket and hiking boots ducked her head out of a purple tent behind the witch. “Yeah?”
“These three are to receive safe passage through the portal. Take them there.”
Isis hustled out of the tent and looked them each over. “Seriously?”
“Isis—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Isis said with a scowl, motioning them on. “Well, hurry it up. These things wait for no female, and I don’t have all day, you know.”
Casey and Callia exchanged bewildered glances but did as the second witch prodded. The first turned to follow. Before Orpheus could do the same, Isadora grabbed his arm. “What was that?”
“What, Isa? You don’t speak Medean?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t play games with me, Orpheus. She called us the Hours. I was right about the Horae, wasn’t I? And what was all that ‘binding’ crap?”
Orpheus glanced around to see if anyone was watching, then reached down and patted the outside of her leg where her mark was located. “I told you what you’ve got there is a powerful weapon,” he whispered.
She gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t pull away from his shockingly intimate and revolting caress. At some point she would have to pay him back. Thankfully, that wouldn’t be today. “And that scared her.”
“Yes. Because she knows what you could do with it if you wanted.”
“And what is that?”
A slow smile spread across his face. “Oh, Isa. Do you really think I’m going to lay all the cards on the table for you right now? Before you’ve given me what I want?”
She drew in a breath, tried to keep herself calm. With Orpheus, it was always a game. But at least he’d confirmed her speculations. Callia—her half-sister—was as linked to her and Casey as they were to each other. The question was, just what did it all mean?
“No, Orpheus. I don’t think you’d ever do anything for anyone but yourself.”
She turned to follow the others, but this time he caught her arm, spinning her around to face him. The humor was gone from his face when he said, “Be careful in the human realm, Isa. There are evils there you can’t begin to imagine. And where you’re concerned, they’re amplified. A thousand times.”
“Are you trying to scare me?”
“Yes. And you’d be smart to be scared. Even though I’ve been training you, your new powers will be unpredictable. Even more so with those two.” He nodded toward the tent Casey and Callia had already disappeared into. “Do not think this so-called weapon you have will protect any of you.”
“Careful, Orpheus. In a minute I’ll think you actually care.”
“I do. I have a vested interest in you, Isa.” His eyes sharpened. “And when someone strikes a deal with me, I always collect.”
He held her gaze until she wanted to scream. Held her arm until sweat pooled at the base of her spine and she fought the urge to struggle free. Her stomach churned with apprehension and doubt. And not for the first time, she questioned that vision she’d seen of him saving her. The last one she’d had before she’d lost her powers. That little voice in the back of her head screaming Devil! grew louder with each passing day.
Finally he let go, but he didn’t break eye contact. And the warning she saw flash in his dark eyes sent her nerves spinning all over again. “You’d better go, before the others start to wonder. But don’t worry, Isa mine. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”
They’d driven twenty-four hours straight, stopping only to gas up.
In Vancouver Jeb dropped the load he’d hauled down from Alaska and picked up a new one. He hadn’t asked Max a ton of questions, and he hadn’t cared when Max had stayed in the truck out of sight during the switch. At first it had seemed weird. What kind of guy didn’t wonder about a homeless ten-year-old? Then Max decided Jeb’s lack of interest was a good thing. He might just make it through this yet.
They’d taken off again, heading south. At the border Max crawled into a compartment behind the driver’s seat when they’d gone through customs. Not that he knew what the big deal was, but Jeb had told him it was either that or get tossed out in the cold, so he’d listened.
Jeb was quirky but, Max decided, harmless. Sometime after passing through Seattle, Max finally relaxed and drifted to sleep. He wasn’t sure how long he was out—a couple hours? more?—but when he came to, there was a jacket covering him and the truck wasn’t moving.
He pushed up, groggy and out of sorts. The jacket fell to his shoulders. Anxiety pricked his skin, sent sweat to his brow. It didn’t matter how far he’d come; as far as he was concerned he’d never be far enough. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced through the big rig’s windshield and realized they were at some kind of truck stop. Bright lights beat in from the outside, and Jeb was outside talking to a middle-aged woman with a cap covering most of her gray hair. She wore snow boots and a thick winter jacket zipped over her middle.
Jeb handed the woman something—money?—waved and headed toward the truck. The woman turned and went inside the small building.
The driver’s-side door groaned open and Jeb pulled himself up into the monster vehicle. He flicked one look at Max before pulling off his coat and shoving it into the compartment behind his seat. “Thought you’d done died, boy. You been out goin’ on seven hours.”
Seven hours? Max peered through the windshield to get a better view. Dusk was just settling in, but he could see the landscape here was different from the Seattle area. Thick pine and fir trees surrounded them, a thin layer of snow covered the ground and city lights were nowhere to be seen. “Where are we?”