Simply Irresistible Part 6

"Do you know a way out of here that doesn't require stepping onto the street from the front entrance?" Clotho asked.

"The parking garage," Vivian said.

"Well, then, that's it," Lachesis said.

"What's it?" Vivian asked at the same time Atropos did.

Then all three women looked alarmed.

"We didn't have the same thought," Atropos said.

"Do you think everything is breaking down?" Clotho asked.

"I thought that we'd simply be without magic when we volunteered to go without magic. I didn't think that we'd lose ourselves," Lachesis said.

"Maybe it was a glitch," Atropos said. "Now I know what you thought."

"Well, I don't," Vivian said with irritation. Her headache was getting worse.

"Henri Barou," Clotho said.

"Yes," Lachesis said. "You must get Henri Barou."

Atropos shook her head. "He won't help us. Not after what we told him."

"We'll untell him," Clotho said.

"I don't know any Henri Barou," Vivian said.

"He lives here in Porttown," Lachesis said.

"Portland," Vivian corrected her absently as she got up. She picked up her new phone book and started to thumb through it.

"Now is not the time to read, girl," Atropos said.

"Haven't you ever heard of a phone book?" Vivian asked, finally finding the 'bs'.

"Oh, dear," Clotho said. "There are so many details to learn."

"And I thought we were prepared," Lachesis said.

"We should have paid more attention to the films we watched," Atropos said.

"Or not gotten so involved in the stories--"

"Excuse me," Vivian snapped. "How do you spell his last name?"

Her headache was getting worse. She didn't know what she had done to deserve these women, this morning, this life here in Porttown, as they were calling it. Maybe she had stepped into her Aunt Eugenia's life without realizing it.

The women spelled the name, and Vivian looked for it. She looked in Portland, in Lake Oswego, in Beaverton, Tigard, and Tualatin. She looked at every 'b' and every possible spelling of Barou.

She found nothing.

"I guess you're out of luck there," she said. "If he's here, he's not listed."

"Oh, he probably didn't use that name," Lachesis said.

Vivian rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, stifling the angry comment that she had been about to make.

"What name would he have used?" she asked.

"How should we know?" Atropos said.

"These mages make up new names w.i.l.l.y-nilly," Clotho said.

"Sometimes they're variations on the real name," Lachesis said, "but every now and then they pick something completely different."

"We would have plucked the name from the air," Atropos said, "but, alas, we have lost that talent."

"Then we can't find him," Vivian said, "because I can't pull names from the air."

"Yet," Clotho said.

Vivian ignored that.

"There are no other mages here," Lachesis said.

"At least, ones that know how to use their powers," Atropos said.

"Or have come into them," Clotho said.

Vivian wiped a tear of pain from her left eye. She stumbled toward the bathroom and pushed the door open. It banged against the built-in linen closet, which made her headache worse.

She stepped inside, nearly slipping on the rug in front of the shower, and opened the medicine cabinet. Even though she knew she had Excedrin Migraine, it took her a moment to find it. It was behind some cough medicine she should have thrown out in Los Angeles.

Vivian opened the Excedrin bottle, poured out two pills, and swallowed them dry. Maybe she would have to call the police. She was getting ill, and there was no way she could continue to guard these women, even if she were well.

She wasn't even sure what she was guarding them against.

She peered into the mirror. There were deep shadows under her eyes, and her skin, which was usually the color of milky coffee, seemed to have more milk than coffee.

"Vivian!" one of the women called from the front room.

If only she had some friends here. If only Travers hadn't left. Or Kyle. Kyle would have some ideas.

"Vivian!"

"Just a minute," she said, and splashed cold water on her skin. It didn't help. Nothing seemed to.

The building shook, and she felt as if she were the one under a.s.sault.

"Vivian!"

They weren't going to leave her alone. She would have to get help; that was all there was to it. Maybe when Quixotic opened- "Vivian." This time her name wasn't shouted. All three women were peering into the bathroom.

"It's rather small, isn't it?" Clotho said.

"I thought they were always larger than this," Lachesis said.

Atropos nodded. "In 'Pretty Woman', the tub was the size of--"

"It's customary to give someone privacy in the bathroom," Vivian said, without the force she would have used half an hour earlier.

"You're not well." Clotho came to her side and touched her forehead with a cool hand.

"He's trying a defeat spell," Lachesis said.

"Only he doesn't know where to aim it yet," Atropos said.

"We have even less time than we thought." Clotho put her arm around Vivian's back and led her into the living room. Clotho's support felt good. She was a surprisingly solid woman, considering how delicate she looked.

"Who is this he?" Vivian asked.

"We're not sure it is a he," Lachesis said.

"We're only basing it on Clotho's sighting," Atropos said.

"We were all looking at him," Clotho said. "He had a shaved head, and tattoos--"

"Just like everyone else in that park," Lachesis said.

"I didn't see anyone at all," Atropos said, and the Fates looked at each other in panic.

Clotho eased Vivian onto the couch. All the conversation did was make her headache worse.

"We remembered how to find Henri," Lachesis said.

"He has a shop," Atropos said.

"Oh, good," Vivian mumbled. "There aren't many of those in Portland."

"We believe it specializes in creatures," Clotho said.

" Like eye of newt and wing of bat?" Vivian closed her eyes. That only made her focus on the headache, so she opened them again. She didn't like the opaque light. She also didn't like the three worried faces surrounding hers.

"Like cats and dogs," Lachesis said.

"And fish," Atropos said. "He seemed to prefer fish, last time he spoke to us."

"Oh, yes!" Clotho said. "I remember. That's where we put Munin."

"Munin?" Vivian was following even less than she had earlier. "What's a munin?"

"A familiar," Lachesis said. "It was for Darius."

"Where was that?" Atropos picked up the phone book. "Is there a way to make this thing answer questions?"

"Not verbally," Vivian said. The Excedrin Migraine was beginning to work. Now it felt as if her eyes had shrunken and her thought processes were slowed, but the pain was receding.

"It seems to me that the store was in Beaverville," Clotho said.

"Beaverton, "Vivian mumbled.

"In a strip joint," Lachesis said.

"A strip mall?" Vivian asked.

"Near Kinky's," Atropos said.

"I hope that's Kinko's," Vivian said.

"And George Was.h.i.+ngton Square," Clotho said.

"Was.h.i.+ngton Square Mall," Vivian murmured, then sat up. "I know where that is. I've even seen the store."

"You know?" Lachesis said.

"Yes, but a pet store won't be open at this time of day."

"It just might," Atropos said. "Henri always worked early, even in the days when he was--"

"Shush," Clotho said.

Atropos closed her mouth and looked humble.

Vivian stood. "Let's go. I think I feel well enough to drive."

All she knew was that she wasn't going to let any of these women--whoever they really were-- behind the wheel of her precious VW Bug.

"We can't leave, dear," Lachesis said.

"What?" Vivian asked.

"You'll have to go alone," Atropos said.

"And leave you in my apartment?" Vivian didn't have a lot to steal, but she still had a few precious things. She had no idea what these women would do if she left them alone with her stuff.

"The effort of keeping this place hidden is already paining you," Clotho said.