Chapter 14

Hallie knew that Zoya was dead. Ra had claimed her for her own, and Ra had gathered the power back into Himself.

She had won.

She let the sun shine on her, giving her strength again, then she got up and put up the candles.

"Zoya, come to me."

Zoya papered to her, no longer a living woman, but a salamander, destined to serve her.

"You have been disobedient, Zoya." she said. "you must be punished."

She now had Zoya's heart in her hand and she squeezed it. Zoya screamed as she was once more enveloped in flame.

"You shall know my wrath for a while longer. Go, Zoya."

Zoya disappeared, still screaming.

Hallie put the heart away in the box she now had with her. She put the box away. She put the stones and candles away. then she was free to pick up Eliot, and slowly rouse him and David.

"Is it over?" Redwolf asked, still shaking.

"Yes. It is over. My granddaughter is dead." Ruslan said. "and the danger is gone. We have the hand again. And there is one more thing that I must do before I leave."

"So it is over?" Quentin asked Barnabas.

"Yes. I talked with Old Munsungan. Ruslan wants to see you three, but from what Munsungan said, you have nothing to fear. It seems that then woman who came to pick up the hand was not acting for the tribe. She wanted the hand for herself. Her name was Zoya Zalisky and she was in thrall to a phoenix. She sought to use the hand to protect herself, only it did not work and she died."

"A phoenix, like Laura?"

"Yes. I imagine that Laura was by no means the only one. Poor Zoya. She must be a salamander now, just like Priscilla."

"We'll never know the whole story, I think."

"No, we won't"

"Barnabas, I have to ask you a favor. About Adam."

"How is he doing?"

"For what I can see, he seems to have gotten over being Curly Howard or Anton Romano. But still he's got the old conflicts that drove him to seek the hand. He will have to work on them."

"I can refer him to some therapist who are not connected to Julia or myself."

"He will take you up on it. I impressed it on him that he needs professional help. He's chastened enough by the experience, so he will not try any more 'do it yourself' schemes. But what he wants done it for you or me to go to Carolyn and explain to her what happened to him, why he left, and why he stayed away all this time."

"Ask her if she wants to give him another chance?"

"Yes. Somehow I think that she will listen to you better than to me."

Adam, Quentin, and Sebastian were not sure why Munsungan had called them. Barnabas had reassured them, but they could not help worrying. They had, after all, helped steal the hand from the gypsies.

As they suspected, the gypsy king was there.

"Do not fear." Ruslan said to them. "I know of you and your actions. I know now that I was wrong in what I did to you." he spoke to Adam now. "You are not Anton and I should not have tried to make you into him. I can't blame you for seeking to regain your true name.. As for you." he turned to Quentin and Sebastian "it was only because of your friendship that you became involved in this. You shall fear no revenge from me or my kind. You have lost your true shapes in coming here, and while you may have regained them, it will not last unless I use the hand to free you from them forever."

Quentin looked at Adam and Sebastian. He gulped. Could he trust Ruslan to do as he said?

He decided to gamble. He sat down on the ground, ready to accept what Ruslan had to offer. Sebastian and Adam hesitated, then did as he did.

Ruslan put the hand over each of their foreheads. It was a hot and tingling touch. And reassuring. They felt no fear when they were touched.

"You can go now." Ruslan said. "You are free to live your lives."

"Thank you." Quentin said. "We are grateful to you."

"Thank you for not bearing ill will towards an old man who only wanted his son back." he looked at Adam longingly "you are not Anton. I wished that you were, but my wish cannot make things be what they are not. Some of his body still lives in you, but you are not him. He used it once. You do now. Use it wisely, use your life wisely in memory of him."

Adam felt pity for the old man. But he could not help him. He could not lose his own identity and become Anton.

"I grieve for you." he told Ruslan "and I grieve because I cannot help you."

Would he find Carolyn nursing a drink? Before she went to Boston, she had been giving herself to Roger's favorite remedy. Had she kept at it?

But she was alert and smiling, with a shine in her eyes that had not been there before.

"That trip to Boston did you good, cousin." he commented.

"There is a whole world out there, Barnabas. Collinsport is not the world. And... and now I can see of how much I have cheated myself off. I will be dividing my time between here and there. There are organizations there that I can join and do much there. And I will stop micromanaging the plant. I will set up guidelines and see that they are enforced, but the day to day operations I will leave to a manager."

"If you want me to keep checking on him."

"No need for it, yet. But there is something that you wanted to tell me first, isn't it?"

"Yes. About Adam."

"Adam?" she said with pain and anger. "Why? Hasn't he done enough harm already?"

"He had lost his memory. Somebody made him believe that he was someone else. He only remembered recently, and his trip back was quite eventful... "

He told Carolyn as much as he knew of Adam's experience.

"Turned into Curly Howard? With Quentin as Moe and Sebastian as Larry?" she laughed. "that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

"It happened. It was quite a shock to me when I woke up and they were waiting for me at the Old House. I thought I had gone crazy when I saw them."

Carolyn laughed again. "I bet you did... But why did Adam leave me in the first place?"

"He was losing control of himself. He had assaulted Roger once and was afraid that he'd begin abusing Edmund. He tried to solve the problem on his own."

"But why not tell me? We'd have found help."

"He was not very smart, I agree. And he paid for it. He wanted a quick fix and got it. But for all of that, he loves you."

Carolyn shrugged. "I am done with him."

"Are you sure, or just hurt? As confused as he is, he loves you. And he is confused. Being Anton Romano and Curly Howard did not help him any. And he's all bruised up. They all are. They did not just look like the Stooges, they acted like the Stooges too. At least when they were together. So he got slapped around, had his eyes poked, and his nose twisted by Quentin. And also all the accidents they caused.. At this moment Adam is in need of Tender Loving Care."

"And I am supposed to provide it?"

"That is up to you."