“No.”
“Do you know where two are?”
“Maybe.”
Well, hell. “Do you know where one is?”
He nodded. “I think I know where one is.”
“All right. We’ll get them back to you as soon as we can,” I said. “You have my word.”
Card gave me a curious little look I couldn’t interpret before turning his attention back to the Fates.
“No,” Atropos said. “This isn’t something we want lost in the world only to be returned in hundreds of years. We want the coins now.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I said.
“He’s a wizard and a dryad,” the eldest Fate said. “He can find them with a snap of his magic.”
I wasn’t so sure of that.
“We need time to find the coins,” I calmly insisted. “We need time to retrieve the coins. We need time to bring you the coins. Unless you want to help us out with any of that?”
“These things are not ours to meddle in,” Atropos snipped.
“Well, wecouldmeddle a little,” Clotho said.
Both older Fates turned toward her.
“What has gotten into you?” Lachesis asked. “We talked about this.”
“We talked about a lot of things,” Clotho said.
“And we decided,” Atropos said.
“Well...” Clotho hedged.
“Clo, really?” Lachesis asked.
“Just... I had time to think, Lach. While we were driving over,” Clotho said.
“Why?” Atropos grouched. “Why do we let you spin? We should switch jobs.”
Lachesis opened her mouth, but Atropos rammed on. “No. I have a better idea. I should just takeallthe jobs. Spin, allot,andend. Things would get done a lot faster around here.”
“Faster?” Clotho said. “Nothingwould get done. You’d just...” she made scissor motion with her fingers, “...snip off everything. Plant a seed? No, that takes too long to grow. Snip. Watch the sunrise? No, takes too long. Snip. Finish one game of cribbage? Nooo, takes too long, Clo, even though I was finally going to beat you. It would be all: Snip. Done.”
“We each have our job,” Lachesis interrupted. “We will each do our job. This hasn’t ever been different,” she added with a glare at the eldest, “and it never will be. We know this.”
For a moment, their eyes spun with copper, silver, and gold, with the knowledge and power of a godhead they’d embodied for as long as time had existed.
Or maybe longer. I’d have to check my records.
“Fine.” Atropos crossed her arms over her thin chest. “We do our jobs.”
Clotho grinned. “Like I was saying, I’ve thought this over, and there’s interfering, and there’s just... you know...” she shrugged, “fate. What is now, will not be what is then, but what should have always been. This,” she said with a wink, “could be a beginning. The faster the coins are returned to us, the better from humanity’s point of view. Do we agree?”
Lachesis nodded. “I agree.”
