Absolutely Captivated (39 page)

Travers had no idea how lucky he was.
He had a chance to live a normal life, have a family, raise a
child—and he had the opportunity to live magically for
centuries.

Zoe had never really thought about how
good the system that the Fates and the Powers That Be (under the
leadership of Aphrodite) had created was. It gave mages a taste of
the normal mortal life if they chose to try it, and they also had
the chance to live creatively with their powers.

Her fingers slid through
Kyle’s hair, catching the burned scalp there, too, feeling the
raised blisters. If she hadn’t been here, Travers would have had to
take Kyle to the hospital, and there would have been a week of
treatment or more.

She was glad she was here. She was
glad she could make Kyle feel better.

“Wow,” he whispered. “It doesn’t hurt
anymore.”

Travers was still standing beside her.
“It looks better,” he said, not willing to say that it was
better.

Zoe nodded, then
slid her hands out of Kyle’s hair. “It
is
better. I think I reversed all
the damage. If not, I’ll catch the rest when we see it. But he
needs something to drink—not a milkshake. Something like Gatorade,
and he needs to sleep.”

“We’ll get the Gatorade,” Clotho
said.

“No,” Zoe said. “I think the three of
you need to stay indoors.”

“I’ll call for it,” Travers said. “The
hotel can get it for us.”

“Dad?” Kyle’s eyes
fluttered open. They looked clear, less pain-filled, but very
exhausted.

“What is it, kiddo?” Travers’ voice
was gentle.

“Aunt Megan called. She’s going to
call back. She’s trying to rearrange her schedule.”

Zoe shook her head slightly. What a
great kid. He was nearly dead with exhaustion and he still
remembered to give his father a message.

“Okay,” Travers said. “I’ll call
her.”

“And Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“All day, there’s been these three
guys, following the Fates.” Kyle’s eyelids slid closed. The last
word almost didn’t come out of his mouth. He fell asleep while he
was talking.

“Three guys?” Travers
asked.

“He’s asleep,” Zoe said. “Let’s get
the Gatorade.”

“What about these three guys?” Travers
asked.

“Let’s talk to the Fates.”
Zoe set the Spider-Man bottle next to the bed. “After we get the
Gatorade.”

Travers picked up the phone and put in
a call to the desk. Then he shut off the light, and headed out of
the room.

Bartholomew looked at the bed, then at
the door, then at the bed again. He whined.

“It’s okay,” Travers said softly.
“I’ll wager that Kyle would love to have you stay.”

The dog’s tail wagged and he jumped on
the bed, careful to stay away from Kyle’s skin. Even though Kyle
felt better, it was clear that Bartholomew knew what the problem
was.

Travers headed for the door. The Fates
scurried for the main room as if they saw a tidal wave approaching
and were trying to get out of its way.

Zoe took her time leaving Kyle. She
had a hunch she needed to go into the living area to moderate the
conversation, but she wasn’t going to enjoy the role.

“Those men are nothing to be concerned
about,” Lachesis said. She was standing behind the couch, her hands
resting on it as if it were a shield.

Atropos stood beside her, and Clotho
stood on her other side. None of them were sunburned, even though
they all seemed to have tanned at some point during the
day.

Travers forced himself to relax his
clenched fists. “I’m not concerned about the men.”

“Good,” Atropos said.
“Kyle was worried about them, but really, they’re not
important.”

Zoe closed the bedroom door. She
walked into the room, and leaned against the armchair near Travers.
He was grateful to her, more grateful than he wanted to admit. When
she had eased his sunburn, he felt like she had given him a gift,
but now, she had done something truly miraculous.

She had made Kyle better. Whenever
Kyle was sick, Travers felt completely helpless. Zoe made that
helpless feeling go away, and she made Kyle’s skin better. The
doctors wouldn’t have been able to do that. They would have eased
his pain, but not reversed the sun damage.

“The men,” Travers said, “are welcome
to you. I’ve had enough.”

The Fates lowered their
heads.

“What does it take to monitor an
eleven-year-old boy? He didn’t need any sun and he certainly didn’t
need that much food. Didn’t you realize he was getting sick?”
Travers tried to keep his voice down, but the panic he had felt
earlier was in every word.

“We have never cared for children
before,” Clotho said.

“At least, not without magic,”
Lachesis said.

“He never did say that he was feeling
ill,” Atropos said.

“He was turning the color
of a strawberry. Didn’t anyone think that was a problem?” Travers
was shaking, he was so angry.

“No,” Clotho said. “We used to turn
ourselves all sorts of colors.”

“Clotho’s favorite was purple,”
Lachesis said. “It made her hair look like the sun.”

Travers closed his eyes, biting back
the irritation. These women wouldn’t understand. They couldn’t
understand. They had no comprehension of real life and real
problems. Their entire world revolved around spinning wheels and
magical power struggles, not the health of a little boy.

“Well,” Travers said, opening his
eyes. “We can’t leave him alone with you anymore. I thought the
only risk would be some kind of magical attack. I had no idea that
you failed to understand the most basic rules of child care. I
mean, it didn’t bother you that he drank three milkshakes in the
space of an hour?”

“He wanted to have fun,” Atropos
said.

“In your movies, food is always a way
to have fun,” Clotho said.

Travers let out a small hiss of
breath. He whirled away from them, afraid of what he would do if
the conversation continued.

“Please, Travers,” Lachesis said. “We
like Kyle. We meant him no harm.”

“Let us continue to take care of him,”
Atropos said. “We’ll do better.”

“Our care of Henri’s kittens improved,
over time,” Clotho said, referring to the kittens that they’d had
at the wedding. “Of course, Henri had left us books on cat
care.”

“Books!” Travers exclaimed. “Books are
no substitute for common sense. Don’t you realize that the sunburn
alone could have caused Kyle problems for life? I almost had to
take him to the hospital. I would have, if it weren’t for
Zoe.”

Lachesis gave Zoe an imploring look,
but Zoe didn’t move. She watched the entire proceeding as if it
didn’t concern her.

Perhaps it didn’t. After
all, she never had to worry about a child and her magic. Travers
had no idea what he would do now. He and Kyle straddled two worlds
and neither of those worlds was safe.

A knock echoed in the room. At the
same time, the phone rang.

“I’ll get the door,” Zoe said. “You
get the phone.”

Travers reached for the phone as Zoe
hurried across the room. The Fates kept their distance from
Travers. The couch remained a barrier between him and
them.

Good. At least they understood how
angry he was.

“Hello,” Travers said, trying hard to
be polite.

“What is it with you two?”
The voice on the other end of the line was Megan’s. “You and Kyle
sound so somber. I thought Vegas was Sin City. I thought it was
supposed to be fun.”

“We’ve—um—oh, hell, Meg. I’ve got some
problems here.” Travers felt relieved to hear his sister’s voice.
He sank into the armchair that Zoe had been in not moments ago. The
cushions were still warm.

“Sounds serious,” Megan
said.

“Serious and confusing,” Travers said.
“I almost wish Great-Aunt Eugenia were alive.”

“That
is
serious,” Megan said.
“You always thought she was a flake.”

Travers winced. He had had
that judgment of everyone who believed in magic. Served him right,
he supposed, for his entire life to go topsy-turvy.

“Can you come out here?” he asked. “I
have to stay a few days, and I really need someone to watch
Kyle.”

“I rearranged my schedule,” Megan
said. “You’re lucky you caught me. If this had been two weeks ago,
there would’ve been no way. But I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to
take a vacation after Viv’s wedding, so I booked light this
week.”

Vivian’s wedding seemed so
long ago. Travers rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and
forefinger. He wasn’t sure how he’d manage Megan, the magic, and
the Fates, but he’d find a way. Maybe Zoe could help him figure it
out.

“When can you get here?” Travers
asked.

“Late tonight if you book me a room,”
Megan said. “I prefer to drive after dark anyway. I avoid the
traffic and the heat.”

“That would be marvelous,” Travers
said. It would take the pressure off the next day. Maybe with those
things that Zoe had bought at that weird shop, they could settle
the Fates’ spinning wheel problem, Travers could get some minor
training, and he could leave Vegas.

The thought didn’t make him as happy
as he expected it to.

Zoe was coming back into the main
living area now, carrying a bottle of Gatorade and some soda
crackers. She nodded toward Kyle’s bedroom, apparently wondering if
she should give him some Gatorade now. Travers held up a single
finger. He wanted the boy to sleep a few minutes longer.

He and Megan finished their plans as
Zoe listened. Travers told Megan where he was staying, and promised
to book her a room. He also gave her directions to get here. She
said she’d meet him for breakfast in his room, and he told her that
he’d hold her to that.

Then he hung up, called the front
desk, and reserved the room next to his for Megan. He would also
get an extra key to his room for her, but he could do that
later.

“How will she handle the Fates?” Zoe
asked when Travers hung up with the front desk.

Travers looked at the Fates. They were
still standing behind the couch, looking very subdued.

“She won’t,” Travers said. “Her job is
to watch Kyle, take him out on the town, and have a good
time.”

“Don’t you think someone should keep
an eye on them?” Zoe asked softly.

Travers shook his head. “They’re
adults. They say there’s nothing to worry about. Maybe we should
take them at their word.”

Zoe turned so that she could look at
them. She clutched the Gatorade and crackers to her chest. “Who are
those three men?”

“We’re not sure,” Lachesis
said.

“They look like people we used to
know,” Atropos said, “but that was centuries ago.”

“So they could be anyone,” Zoe
said.

The Fates shrugged in unison. Travers
suppressed a sigh. He did feel responsible for these women. His
anger was dissipating; the mistake had been his, ultimately, not
theirs. They had warned him that they knew nothing of this world,
of the places without magic.

“We’re sure they’re from the Faerie
Kings,” Clotho said quietly.

“Why would the Faerie Kings follow
you?” Travers asked.

“We’re not sure it’s them,” Lachesis
said.

“We think the Kings sent them,”
Atropos said.

“They’re too young to be the Kings,”
Clotho said.

“You still look young,” Zoe
said.

“We haven’t wasted as much magic as
they have,” Lachesis said, and she didn’t sound judgmental. It
simply sounded like she was speaking fact.

“So we believe they’re bodyguards or
something,” Atropos said.

“Which still begs the question,”
Travers said. “Why would they follow you?”

“We don’t know for sure,” Clotho said,
“but we think that they want to know if the rumors about us are
true.”

“Rumors?” Travers asked.

“About the Fates not having powers.”
This time, Zoe spoke up. “It’s all over Vegas now.”

“You see,” Lachesis said, “if we do
have powers, then we’re a threat.”

“We’re on their turf,” Atropos
said.

“But if we don’t, well,
we’re no different from all the other mortals who come to this city
to get lucky,” said Clotho.

They were different from all the other
mortals. Very different. And Travers had to keep reminding himself
of that. If he had thought of that from the beginning, then Kyle
wouldn’t have had such a difficult day.

“What if they
are
a threat?” Travers
asked.

“Neither you nor Zoe could combat
them,” Lachesis said. “We would be on our own in any
case.”