Chapter 3
Frances was the first one he met as he entered the castle. She was carrying a large sheaf of papers in her arms, and acting as if those were important papers.
"George Brant, of all people!" she said, cheerfully. There was a slight bitterness in her voice. Maybe she resented the fact that he and others outside the egg seemed to have forgotten their existence.
If it was there, he accepted the reproof. They had been lax in their duty towards their wards, and while there were excuses, they still should have done more.
"I came to see how you were doing, and if you needed something that I could bring."
:As you can see, we are working hard. I had no idea when I agreed to come here that there would be so much work involved. Not that I am complaining, mind you. After all, Howard works even harder... I wish I knew where he gets his energy from. He always has some new idea to implement... And Roxanne, she's another dynamo..."
"Life in Collinsport is nowhere as hectic. Still, we manage to get trouble."
"Yes, life in Collinsport was a lot easier. My patients there understood that I was trying to help them, and followed directions. Here, it is a struggle not to have them drink eyewash solution, or make aspirin into footbaths...At least we managed to convince them that you do not use manure to staunch bleeding... before they did it, since Vassily healed them anyway... Well, that's what you get when you treat people at their level of education..."
"You have your work cut out for you, I see."
"By the way, what happened to Maggie and Joe? Derek told us that they were turned to stone, and then restored, but never got the whole story."
"It all began when Adam saw this mermaid."
"A mermaid? You mean that you have mermaids in Collinsport, on top of all else?"
"We got this one at least. And it was not what we expected."
He told her all of it.
"Poor Barnabas!" Frances said after he was finished. "Why had he to be the one to be cut up? It had not been his fault."
"He was the only vampire we could use."
"It was unfair."
"Life is unfair."
"What else happened?"
"David's wife, Hallie, turned out to be a phoenix, just like his mother. She wanted to sacrifice her son, and turn David into a phoenix too. We did stop her. Or rather, Amy stopped her."
That made another long tale, and George told it. Then he decided that he had been sidetracked long enough.
"Well, that's the big news in Collinsport. We seem to be heading for another calm interlude, and we better enjoy it while it lasts. Now I want to hear the news here. And what you need and how we can help."
'Not much news. Just a lot of work."?
"There must be some juicy gossip you want to share."
"We don't indulge in such." Frances said a bit stiffly.
"You mean that you deprive yourself of its joys? Come on, a bit of it warms the soul."
"We consider it an undesirable activity."
"I see. On the other hand you many not want to share because you resent me and the way I seem to have forgotten you. I do talk with Derek now and then..."
"Yes, you talk with Derek, and with no one else." she said this more than a bit sourly. "I bet that he DOES tell you a lot of juicy gossip."
"I know that Derek likes to complain. And given his past occupation, I learned to be skeptical about what he says. So I came over to check by myself. I cannot go on relying on what he says."
"Or maybe you believe him. That's what Howard says."
"I know that he and Howard are not getting along. Maybe I will have to mediate between the two before it gets ugly. I want to hear both sides of it."
"What business is it of yours?"
"I am in the Board of Trustees, remember."
":And that's enough reason?"
"Yes, should it not be?"
Amy laid down her cards. Her fingers moved over their flat surfaces could tell her more than her eyes ever could. She knew that Barnabas pitied her for her loss, and wished that he could somehow make it up to her.
"There is more than one way of seeing" she admonished him. "and pity is not what you should feel."
"I didn't.."
'You do. Even though you see me in my post at the labyrinth, even though you know that I am a Sybil, you still see me as little Amy, a little troubled girl that needed a lot of help. And a troubled adolescent who still needed it. And a troubled young woman who got stronger bit by bit, but still needed help...But that is past. I have come into my power, and you are here, in my labyrinth,"
"Do you regret it?"
"Sometimes. Not as much as you regret what you are... Because I did not have to pay the price you did...But once you become what I am, there is no going back."
"It seems a dull existence. Nothing bur reading the cards, and giving advice."
"It is not. Not just reading the past and the future, but helping shape it. And I am never lonely. People come in and out with questions and news. You came here, in your dreams, as you laid in your coffin for the day. Others come, and I learn, hear questions, and give answers. And you want answers, don't you?"
"Yes. About me."
"What about you?"
"I was told that I would die soon. I want to know how and when."
"Do you trust the person who told you this?'
"Yes."
"Well" She laid down the King of Cups. "This is you."
"Not the King of Cups. I never achieved it."
"Don't be falsely modest. This is you."
Amy laid down the next card.
"Death" She did not try to sweeten the blow by telling him that it might only mean great change. His fate had been sealed and he could only accept it.
Death would come and he would accept it...
The Three of Cups came, representing a goal. A birth, love multiplying itself. From his death good would come, and love would renew itself. George would heal, comforted by the need to care for Georgina...
"Yes, his daughter will comfort him." Amy said, echoing his thoughts. Things will be as they are meant to be.
"Do you know when it will happen?"
"I cannot tell yet, but I can try to make it clearer, bare the forces that are behind it.
The Ten of Swords. Endless strife and heartbreak lay behind him. The struggle would soon be over.
The next card was the Fool. Also in the past. He had been guilty of great foolishness. And also of great daring, of glorious gambles, of daring to say and do what others didn't. Now that too was past, the foolishness and the glory.
"It is all past now." Amy said. "all but the final battle."
For the Tower of Destruction came next, foretelling the future.
"Destruction for whom? Just me? Or will it touch others?"
"For more than one. And that downfall might be earned. The outcome will depend on the battle itself."
The Two of Wands came next, representing Barnabas.
"Yes. This is you. You have achieved balance and inner peace. Whatever comes, you are ready for it."
"But what about the battle?'
"That's the next card."
It as the Magician "Beware of returning warlocks"
"Vassily Petofi? Nicholas Blair?"
"Too early to tell."
The Page of Sword was next.
"Caution. Be on guard. What seems calm and friendly might not be so."
"Yes, Be cautious. About what?"
The Moon card came next.
"It is not clear where the danger will come. It is dark still. But enlightenment will come... Beware of hasty impressions and decisions. What looks like an enemy might be a friend. What looks like a friend might be an enemy."
"Yes. Be cautions. And beware of returning warlocks. And this is my last battle."
Had she said too much? Frances sighed. It was difficult to hold things back when talking to George. The man was good at what he did, and asking questions and getting answers was part of it.
At least she had said nothing about Roxanne. With the kind of mind that George had, he could put the worst possible construction on anything she said, specially if Derek had been telling him stories about his wife...
Of course, she and Howard had problems. They were just overworked, both of them, and that made them irritable... Yes, she wished that Howard and Roxanne did not work together so much... But from that George could build up a whole soap opera...
She did not expect things to be perfect when she married Howard.
True, she had married Howard when she understood that her undeclared love for Barnabas would go nowhere, and Howard was close enough... True she resented Roxanne... but to blow it out of proportion, and to jeopardize what they were trying to build, just to satisfy Derek...