I figured he’d say yes. He liked the sound of his own voice, liked catching people in the clever twists and turns of negotiation.
If I were in his place, I wouldn’t allow anyone to speak for me, and certainly not someone with whom I had a dodgy history.
“No,” he said, surprising the heck out of me. “I’d rather you speak for me, Ricky. I trust you.”
The smile he threw my way wasn’t filled with his usual swagger. It was filled with hope. Maybe even desperation.
And even though he’d left me without a word all those years ago, and even though he’d showed up on my doorstep with nothing but trouble in his eyes, his tree didn’t deserve to die for his stupidity.
“All right. I’m speaking for Cardamom Oak. Tell me your story. What’s your grievance?”
The youngest, Clotho, smiled, pleased with this outcome, though I didn’t know why. The other two scowled.
“He stole from us,” the matron, Lachesis, said. “Three coins.”
“He only knew he was delivering an envelope to a woman who claimed it was hers.”
“He knew the coins were ours,” the eldest, Atropos, said.
“Even if he did, he wasn’t the one who wanted them taken.”
“That is a very fine line you’re drawing, Crossroads,” Lachesis said.
“He doesn’t have the coins anymore.”
“But he knows where they are,” Lachesis pressed.
“Maybe,” I shifted my stance, folding my hands together and activating layers upon layers of connections to the magic in this place. “You know where they are too. You’re Fate. They are your coins. You know whose hands they are in.”
Clotho stepped forward. “We don’t. Isn’t that a thing? We should, of course we should, but we have no idea. We didn’t even know they’d been stolen until very recently. Then we saw who had touched them and that he paid with two. We know two were spent, not gifted.”
“Then you can collect them from those two places,” I said.
Clotho winced. “No. He stepped into the threads of destiny and consequences. Depending on the actions he takes, or refuses to take, many...things will happen. Some good, some...bad.
“If we retrieve even one of the coins, there will be consequences no human in the world would want to pay.” She made an explosion sound and popped her fingers open like fireworks going off.
Well, that didn’t sound good.
“You want a deal?” Atropos stepped forward, leather creaking with the movement. “Then let’s make a deal. The threads of destiny are ours to influence too. What do you want, Crossroads, in exchange for Cardamom Oak?”
Whoa. She was going full exchange of life and free will. It was very old-school god shit. The whole sacrifice-his-life-on-an-altar-for-my-forgiveness song and dance.
Card didn’t say anything, but he was breathing deeply and slowly, as if readying himself for a dive to the bottom of the ocean.
I thought about making him sweat a little more, but I did not play games with gods.
“There is nothing you can give me that would make me trade his life. Really,” I said to Fate, and to Card, “You should know me better.”
Card’s breathing hitched, and a light sweat broke out across his forehead, one single bead dripping down his temple to his jaw.
“But,” I said, “the coins are lost and need to be found, and I don’t want...” I made the explosion sound and flashy fingers. “So let’s come to a reasonable agreement for finding them and returning them to you.”
“You really don’t have to—” Clotho said.
“Yes,” Lachesis interrupted. “Let’s make a deal with you, Crossroads. May we come in for tea?”
The house hummed in warning, and everything in me rang with alarm bells. “No, I think we can handle this out here. Card, do you know where all of the coins are?”
