"Thanks for the pep talk. I wish I had known Gyorgy was at the hotel last night."
"Why?" Tiffany asked, escaping my hold and hurrying to catch up to Jim and Rene, blasting her happy smile to everyone within range.
"Because it's just another strange happening that doesn't seem to be connected to anything, and yet somehow I feel is," I said slowly, following her.
"Maybe it isn't connected," she answered, looking pleased with life. And why shouldn't she be? She was successful at her job, had men fawning at her feet, and had the whitest, brightest smile in human existence. "Maybe it just is."
Jim and Rene set off for the path that led to the area where I had found Gyorgy. Tiffany and I followed behind at a slightly slower pace, me so I could think and Tiffany so she could pause occasionally and do the smile-share thing. "A coincidence, you mean?" I shook my head. "No, the things that have happened are just too unlikely to be a coincidence."
"That is not what I meant. Perhaps the things that have happened are meant to make you think they are connected with each other, but in reality they aren't. Oh, look, baby ducks! I would so love to have a baby duck! Look, the one at the end is smiling at me!"
Tiffany hurried off to coo over a clutch of ducklings in the children's petting area while I stood thunderstruck as I considered what she had said.
"Aisling? Is something the matter?" Rene and Jim hoved into view as I thought fast and furious.
"Wrong? No. I don't think so. Maybe."
Jim rolled its eyes. "Well, I see you're in as fine a form as ever. Yes, no, maybe. Boy, this place gives me the hinkey. Any place that allows dogs in and keeps poisonous stuff at mouth level is too creepy for me. How far is it to this hermit dude?"
"You were supposed to be on leash." I glanced back. Jim had stopped at the head of the path, looking around nervously. My heart went out to the poor demon. I supposed if I'd almost died at a place, I'd feel a little weird about coming back to it, too. "Would you be happier if you and Rene waited here while I go find Gydrgy? There're benches over there, by the petting zoo."
Relief was clearly visible in the demon's eyes. "The car is better. The car is comfortable. The bench looks hard"
"Well, if you're sure—"
It was off before I could say anything else, racing back through the entrance toward Rene's cousin's taxi.
"Do you mind?" I asked Rene. "I don't think Jim needs supervising, but it would probably feel better to have you there."
"It is not a problem. We will wait for you at the car."
I gave him a little hug. "Thanks, Rene. You're a peach."
"Non, peaches give me the red splotches. I am an apple."
"A big shiny one. I'll be back as soon as I find my hermit. If I'm not back in twenty minutes or so, send Tiffany for me."
I needn't have bothered with the warning. I wasn't three hundred yards down the trail before a familiar man burst out of a stand of beech trees, heading straight for me.
"Guardian! Where is Tiffany? Where did you leave her? You didn't leave her at the entrance, where all the rangers are? They are iniquitous! She is too innocent, too pure for them!"
"Whoa, wait a sec!" I caught the edge of Gyorgy's shirt as he barreled around me. The path had curved enough that he couldn't see into the clearing at the main entrance, but he clearly was intent on not even stopping to pick up his amulet before he went hunting for Tiffany. That thought had me wrinkling my brow as his momentum caused me to spin around. "How did you know that Tiffany came with us?"
He froze for a second, then he grinned, his hand closing over mine, still clutching his shirt. "She is a friend of >ours, is she not? She told me last night what had happened to your dog. I am sorry it was sick, but it is better now, yes?"
"Yes, my dog is better," I said, biting the inside of my cheek. Something was raising the hairs on the back of my neck, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Gyorgy looked just the same as he had the day before—pleasant, clean, and innocuous, if a little anxious. It was obvious he'd just come from his morning ablutions and breakfast—his hair was partially wet, there was a smidge of drying soap or shaving cream behind his left ear, and the scent of bacon and campfire clung to his shirt. "And yes, Tiffany is my friend, and she's here, petting the ducklings."
He relaxed, actually sighing in relief. "There are only women at the small animal petting area."
"Yeah. Urn. You do know that Tiffany is celibate, right? She mentioned that?"
He made a dismissive head bobble. "She said many things last night. You are thinking that I am too old for her, that she is too pure a flower for me to pluck. But you are wrong! She is like no other. She is the rarest of all hothouse flowers, and only I will enjoy the beauty of her petals as she unfurls for me."
My jaw sagged. He wasn't talking about what I thought he was talking about, was he? I decided that Tiffany's unfurled petals were none of my business. The amulet was. I pulled it over my head and held it up. "I'm sorry I had to run out on you yesterday without giving you the amulet, but as Tiffany told you, it was a bit of an emergency. I wondered if I could ask you a few questions about it—"
"Keep it," he said, trying to tug his shirt from my hands.
I clung even tighter, knowing full well that if I let go, he'd be off and running to the petting zoo. "What?"
"Keep it. I have no need for it now. Why don't we check on Tiffany? She might wish to see around the rest of the park. I could show her my cavern. She would like it. She would appreciate all the sights of nature."
"I'm sure she would, but about the am—"
He wrestled his shirt from my grip, backing away from me quickly. "It is yours! I absolve you of your charge to deliver it. Let us find Tiffany I" He hared off without even waiting for me to finish my sentence.
"Well, hell," I said, slipping the horrible thing over my head again. "Now what am I supposed to do?"
Go back to the hotel, apparently. Gydrgy was unhappy when Tiffany opted to return with us rather than staying ai the park and allowing him to show her around.
"But I have many things to show you! Many flowers and sweet animals and birds in the trees!" he protested, almost on his knees begging.
I tried to give them a little privacy, but Tiffany was absolutely indifferent to Gyorgy's obvious infatuation with her.
"The flowers and birds and sweet animals will be here another day," she told him firmly. "I must go with Ais-ling. She is paying me. I will share my smile with many people. Perhaps later, if you promise not to say the things to me that you said last night, I will share it with you, too."
With that put-down, she left, scattering sunshine hither and yon as she headed for the main gate.
Gydrgy groaned such a pathetic, love-struck groan that I felt sorry for him. "She is a goddess. No, beyond a goddess, a... a... what is beyond a goddess?"
"A virgin?" I suggested.
"Yes! She is a virgin, the purest of the pure. There is no other one like her. She must be mine!"
I gave him half a smile, not at all comfortable with the possessive light in his eyes. "You may have a bit of a fight there. Tiffany is awfully set on her course of celibacy. You might say it's her business. Look, I know you've got other things on your mind right now, what with trying to woo Tiffany, but I can't keep your amulet. It's way too expensive, and besides ... it's just weird."
"Weird?" he asked, moving to the edge of the waist-high brick wall that marked the boundary of the petting zoo. Beyond, through the big black wrought-iron gates, Tiffany was strolling through the parking lot toward Rene's car. His shoulders sagged. "How is it weird? It is a Venus amulet, created by Marsilio Ficino, inscribed with both the third and the fifth pentacles of Venus."
"Ficino? The Ficino who served the Medicis? The man who wrote the De triplici vital"
"The Three Books on Life, yes, that Ficino. The amulet was one created by his hands, but I have no need for it now. Not now that I have found her."
He looked with longing out the gate to the parking lot.
I paid him little mind, too busy eyeing the amulet, turning it in the bright sunlight until I found, so faintly etched they were almost invisible, two circles topped with a tiny pentagram, scribed with spells along the perimeter and invocations inside. The pentacles of Venus, as described and drawn in an ancient grimoire known as the Key of Solomon the King. I'd seen them before in one of my translations of the Key of Solomon, but never had I held an object bearing the marks. One pentacle would be enough for a strong love charm, but for an amulet to be scribed with both ... hooo! No wonder it rendered me nigh onto irresistible to mortal men.
I frowned at a rogue thought, looking at Gyorgy. Why hadn't he been overcome with passion for me? I'd been wearing the amulet both times, and yet he hadn't blinked twice at me. I slipped it on over my head, holding it in my hand.
"Well, Gyorgy, I'd better be going." I leaned close to him, invading^his personal space. He nodded, his eyes still on Tiffany as she got into Rene's car. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. Tf you don't mind me borrowing the amulet for another day or so, I'd like to keep it. Til return it to you later, of course."
He flashed me a look that was mostly distraction. "Yes, yes, that's fine. You keep it. I have no use for it now that I have found the one who shall save me."
I pursed my lips, blowing a little breath on his cheek. He shifted his weight. Away from me.
"I can't do that, but I will gladly borrow it. Say, I have a thought! Why don't you come with us back to the hotel? There are some lovely gardens there, as you probably know. Maybe we could take a little stroll through them? Just you and I? And you could tell me about the sweet birds and plants and stuff?"
"No, no, it is forbidden."
"Huh?"
He turned and gave me another friendly smile. "It is forbidden to the order of hermits to which I belong that we should dally in regions not assigned to us. This park is within my domain. Trie gardens on Margaret Island are not."
"But you were there last night," I pointed out.
"I did not visit the gardens. I stayed only in the hotel. My clan is strict, but we are allowed to make contact with an outsider once a day."
"Ah."
I took a deep breath, and while his attention was on the front gate, closed my eyes, opening myself up to the environment and all the possibilities that existed therein. Glorious color flooded my mind, the trees beyond the edge of the clearing clad in a million variations of green and brown, swaying in an intricate dance that I suddenly realized was a form of language. The trees bowed and scraped, almost as if they were talking to each other! Fascinating as that was, it wasn't what I had wanted to examine, so with real regret that I couldn't watch the trees, I pulled my mental vision back until Gytirgy filled my mind. He looked ... human.
"Damn."
"You said something?" he asked without turning to look at me.
"Nothing important." I examined him from the tips of his scuffed, worn boots to the top of his head. There was nothing about him that looked different from any other mortal man Fd used my super-Guardian vision on. So why was he immune to the charms of the amulet?
"Yes, I totally agree. You are quite right. Who is that in the car with Tiffany?"
"Rene. He's a friend of mine. He's also a taxi driver, and in case you were worried, he's not looking for a little action. She's perfectly safe with him."
He turned to look at me then. I blinked as my vision returned to normal. "I was not worried. It is clear he poses no threat."
"Ah. Good."
There didn't seem to be much else to say, so I told him again I'd be back to give him the amulet in a day or two, then headed off to the car, my mind a whirlwind of thoughts, none of which seemed to make any sense.
23
What do you know about Venus amulets?" I asked Jim later, after we had checked on Nora. She was up, dressed, and breakfasting with Pal, who, I couldn't help but notice, was being very pleasant. Nora looked like she'd been to war; Gabriel's magic spit had worked wonders, but not enough to hide the fact that she'd been beaten. Her lip and eye weren't swollen any longer, and the cuts had healed to angry red stripes, but there was a bit of telltale bruising.
We left her after she swore she just wanted to rest. Pal vowed he would stay there to protect her, which I thought was a bit unnecessary since it was daylight and incubi sought lovers only in the dark of night, but Nora seemed pleased to have his company. She also looked as if she was recovering her usual cheerful spirits, which, in turn, made me feel better.
"They're amulets. Supposedly created in Venus's name. Supposed to make the wearer irresistible to men. Is that what you've got there?"
"Yup. Gytirgy says it contains both the third and the fifth pentacles of Venus."
Jim whistled. "No wonder guys have been falling all over you."
"Is it enough to summon incubi without my knowing?" I asked as we stepped off the elevator, heading for the side of the hotel where the dog park was located.
"Well, shyeah! Unless you deliberately summoned those ones who showed up in your bed before you and Drake shacked up together."
"No, not that. Could it be powerful enough to bring forth incubi, but not to my bed? You know, kind of'— I made a vague gesture as we went out into the sunny morning—"free-range incubi."
Jim just stared at me.
"What?" I asked it.
"Free-range incubi?"
"Oh, don't be so pedantic. You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I do, but it's only because I'm a superior sort of demon."
"Uh-huh. Answer my question, superior demon."
"I can't." Jim stopped to smell a beautiful bronze rose, its back leg lifting automatically.
"Use it and lose it," I warned. Jim huffed and marched over to a small shrub. "And I gave you a direct order, buster. You have to answer it."
"I can't. And by that I mean I cannot answer the question, not because I don't want to but because I don't know the answer. I don't know the extent of your powers, Ais-ling. For all I know you could be some sort of walking turbocharged Guardian who can pull beings in without a conscious thought. I'm only your servant. I have no way of knowing what you can and can't do until I see you do it."
"Oh," I said, kicking a tuft of grass as T strolled down the groomed lawn toward the trees where I'd been ambushed my first night in Budapest. "Poop."
"Thank you. I don't mind if I do."
I shook its leash at it. "No, you won't. I don't have a bag, and besides, you had a potty stop earlier. Come on. If you're done watering everything, I have places to go, ghosts to see."
'The nun ghosts? I thought you'd written them off." Jim shambled along behind me as I cut through the cool shade created by a crescent of trees, emerging on the other side to blink in the sunlight.
"I made a promise, and dammit, I always keep my promises. Most of the time. When I can. Which way is the convent?"
"North."
We walked through the gardens I'd seen only by moonlight, now filled with bike riders, picnickers and sunbathers, and children running after dogs, balls, Fris-bees, kites, and balloons. Jim stopped to beg for an ice cream cone, but I refused, mindful of the diet the vet had given me. T made a mental note to come back when I could admire the water lilies in the Japanese garden, the gorgeous roses in the rose garden, and the shady bowers of the English garden. By the time we reached the northeast side of the island where the Saint Margaret's Dominican nunnery lay in picturesque ruins, was so relaxed and filled with the beauty of the island that I had almost forgotten what we were doing there.
Almost.
"Jim. Go stare at that couple."
Jim looked over to where a young man and woman were evidently checking each other's tonsils with a thoroughness that would do an ear, nose, and throat specialist proud. "Sure. Can I drool, too?"
"You always drool. Just go make them uncomfortable so they'll leave us alone here."
I looked around the stone ruins, finally finding a partially standing stone-and-mortar arch at the rear that looke
d like a good spot to commune with ghosts. The lovebirds toddled off after Jim sat unmoving, staring at them while long ropes of saliva dribbled from its flews.
I sat on a shady patch of grass, cleared my mind, and opened the door in it to everything that might be.
The nuns were there waiting for me.
"Hi," said, trying to look confident and in control, as if I talked with spirits all the time. "I'm glad to see you're so prompt. I don't have a lot of lime, so if you could be as brief as possible about what it is you want me to do for you, I'd really appreciate it."
Jim flopped down next to me in the shade, panting just a little. "Oh, way to go, Ash. Rush the poor dead nuns."
"Sorry, um, ladies. Go ahead and tell me what you want."
The first nun, the one closest to me, shimmered and looked agitated. I think. It was hard to tell under all that medieval cowling. Her mouth opened, but she didn't speak, not exactly. A dim, breathy rushing sort of noise came out of her mouth, almost like a wind heard at the end of a tunnel. Riding the top of the noise, so faint it was almost impossible to hear, words formed.
'Thread of crime," the first nun said.
The second wafted forward, her image as translucent as the first. Her hands stretched toward me, entreating me to understand. "Evil in design."
"Urn ..." I said, goose bumps rising on my back and arms. The ghosts didn't have an evil feel about them, nothing that made me feel sick like some demons did, but it was still very creepy to be sitting in the middle of a haunted convent ruin, listening to ghostly howls. "OK. You want me to solve a crime? Get in line. Oops. Sorry. Didn't mean to be flip. Did someone kill you?"
"Cord go round," nun number one said, her image flickering in an ethereal breeze.
"Cord? You were strangled?"
"Soul be bound," the second one intoned, her voice soft, the words spoken on a half moan.
"Right. Your souls are bound here. I understand. Were you both strangled, or just one of you?"
"Call elements fourfold," the first one said, her image fading until there was just barest faint impression of her.
"OK. I can do that. I think," I said in what I hoped was a reassuring voice, totally at a loss. They were strangled nuns, but they wanted me to call the elements? That was usually done only in conjunction with a being of the dark powers—demons and the like. Maybe ghosts were part of the dark world, and no one had bothered to tell me.