"Anna," She looked up from her computer, her fingers still typing as she did, and noted the Amazon of a woman with striking cheekbones as imposing as her eyebrows. "How'd this morning go?"

"Well enough."

"Well enough?"

"Enough to know his system's shit and he'll need a complete overhaul to make it seaworthy." She finished a line of code and saved before turning to face the woman. "I said I could work the week, full-time, and have it finished by Friday."

"You think you'll be done with Doc's Garage by Friday?" The woman raised one of her imposing eyebrows at Anna. "You're sure about your estimate?"

"I know my skills Mary." Anna made a note on a pad beside her computer and then continued typing. "And, having seen the system he had originally, I can say with the utmost confidence that I can rebuild his system with my eyes closed."

"I thought you weren't going to rebuild his system because it's shit."

"Which is why I'll keep my eyes open while I build him an entirely new system." Anna smiled up at Mary. "That's what I told him anyway."

"And you'll have it finished by Friday?"

"So I told him."

Mary pursed her lips and gave a little shake to her head. "You've not done any other job that quickly."

"Is that a problem?"

"Makes me wonder why we've not had your speedy fingers handling our sticky situations in the past."

"Because in the past I wasn't the one who could make a scheduling decision on the fly." Anna frowned and returned her focus to the computer screen. "And besides, the jobs in the past were puff pieces anyway. You wouldn't waste my time with those sorts of jobs."

"You mean you wouldn't waste your time with those."

"Same difference as far as I'm concerned, especially when you charge by the hour." Anna finished a line of code and turned fully in her chair to face the other woman. "I'm sure you understand my hesitancy to unnecessarily draw out the kind of work I'm being asked to do here."

"No?"

"No." Anna pointed at Mary. "You're the one who told me this client represents big interests for your father's interests."

"You're not wrong." Mary shrugged, "But if you're going to be stubborn about it all then I'll file the ticket and we'll see where you can get with the client."

"You say that like you doubt my abilities."

"Never." Mary shrugged, "We both know you can do this."

"It's flattering that you've got such confidence in me."

"Confidence pays." Mary tapped the top of Anna's cubicle with her clipboard. "But I do have to wonder if you should do this in so little time. Especially given how big a potential opportunity Doc's Garage is."

"The size of the opportunity would seem to suggest that quicker is better."

"I guess that's your call."

"I appreciate the trust." Anna cracked her neck. "Although I am curious why he's such a big potential client."

"First of all, because Bates is a friend of Papa's. Second," Mary held up the requisite number of fingers, "He knows some people who could give us future business and that's of value to Papa."

"He values garages?"

Mary frowned, "What makes you think that?"

Anna responded with a confused frown of her own. "Well, Mr. Bates owns a garage and we're fixing the system there so if there's future business then it's probably with other garages." She offered a shrug, "It's solid reasoning."

Mary snorted a little laugh, "Did he give you the idea that his expertise is only for cars and fixing them?"

"That's what he was doing when I was there." Anna chewed the inside of her cheek. "And his name was on the sign outside."

"And you didn't ask why it's called 'Doc's Garage' or why everyone calls him 'Doc'?" Mary narrowed her eyes, "It didn't seem odd to you?"

"Why would it seem odd to me?" Anna's face went a little slack. "Mr. Bates didn't tell me any differently but it's probably not as simple as all that given your line of questioning."

"You're not wrong there." Mary sighed, "But whatever reasons Bates had for not telling you why he's called 'Doc' would be his to elucidate."

"Is it a secret?"

"Not as such but it is his business." Mary pursed her lips. "And the business Papa hopes to get from him is the tipping point on a scale to get him the notice from the Big Boss."

"I know." Anna turned back to her computer. "Unfortunately for him, I doubt he'll ever get enough done to get the notice from the Big Boss. Even if he exerted all of his efforts."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because no one's going to ruin the level of prestige they've developed being mysterious and unreachable by suddenly extending a hand to their underlings. Besides," Anna finished another section of code. "And because the 'Big Boss' was featured as 'the most mysterious of CEOs' in Forbes."

"That's pretentious."

"It's what I'd do if I didn't want to ever meet anyone and I had the money and time. However, for as fascinating as this conversation is," Anna pointed at her screen, "May I get back to my work please?"

"You like your job that much?"

"I get paid by the hour so I've not got the time to waste."

"Please," Mary clicked her tongue against her teeth at Anna as she pushed off the top of the cubicle, "You've got nothing but time because you've not got a life, Anna. You and I both know it."

"But I don't need to be reminded of it, no matter how true." Anna faced her screen, watching Mary walk away in the reflection. "It's all for the best anyway."

Paris, France - 1610

"He's not ostentatious. I like that." The older man craned his head back to survey the house. "You can tell a lot about a man when you see what he does with his money once he has enough to not worry about the bread in his stomach."

"I'm sure the roof over our head might seen ostentatious to a man trying to simply put bread in his mouth." Anna joined the man on the pavement, holding tightly to his hand as he held it out to help her from the carriage without taking his eyes off the house that rose above them.

"Yes, it probably is." He took his hand from hers, pacing on the pavement as his mouth moved, almost muttering to himself. "I hope he got a good price for this."

"I'm sure Monsieur d'Barthélemy would be more than happy to discuss the price he paid for his house once we're inside it." Anna put her hand on the man's arm and tugged slightly. The motion pulled him from his reverie but he motioned toward the house's roof.

"Do you not see the angle of the slant? It's sloped there where it should not be. The builders didn't use a straight line and-"

"And they've compensated for the additional weight of a gutter that runs the rain down the side of the building instead of simply deluging into the street." Anna pointed at it, moving the man's hand to match the direction of her gaze. "It's all in service to a greater purpose Papa."

"But they might've supported it through-"

"Better engineering." Anna leaned over to kiss her father's cheek. "A topic of discussion we might risk after the desserts are served yes?"

"You act as if this is something to simply smile over."

"Absolutely not." Anna huffed and better situated her hand on his arm so they could walk toward the door together. "I act as if you can lose yourself in the minutia of a fascinating subject and leave others confused by your myopia."

"It only truly troubles the uninformed."

"Of which there are, unfortunately, very many." Anna paused before the light of the doorway and reached over to adjust her father's cravat ever so slightly. "But I hope the company this evening will be to your taste."

"Not yours?"

Anna smiled and put her arm back through her father's. "My tastes are easier to match than yours. I've not got your mind."

"Nor the maladies that come with a mind like mine." He tapped his temple and sighed, speaking a bit more quietly as they ascended the wrapping staircase to reach the second floor. "There are risks to the brilliance I hold and the world I see."

"There are banes to every boon." Anna hugged herself to her father's side for a moment. "But you've got me to help you sort them, should you need it."

"I'm always grateful for your help." Her father kissed the back of her hand before replacing it on his arm. "It makes understanding the world so much easier. Especially when all the noise sets in."

Anna could only kiss her father's cheek quickly as the doors before them opened and the sitting room beckoned them.

The assembled crowd struck colors and types more like a traveling carnival than a dinner gathering. Clothing of all styles and colors, speaking to parts of the world Anna only read about, caught her eye as she and her father moved tentatively into the room. No one seemed to pay them more than a second of mind and the assortment of guests intimidated Anna almost to the point of reversing course when Jean appeared.

"Monsieur Lefèvre," Jean bowed at the waist to greet Anna's father but paused as he straightened. "Or would it be more appropriate to address you as Count d'Fey? I would hate to insult your position."

"In a gathering of potential like minds it is always best to consider all equals and treat them as such." Lefèvre's gaze swept the room, "It allows for more learning and conversation than if we're all standing on ceremony."

"My thought exactly sir." Jean turned to Anna and kissed the back of her offered hand. "It's lovely to see you accepted my invitation Ms. Lefèvre."

"It would've been our loss to not come." Anna motioned to the gathered collection of guests as her father strode determinedly to the edge of the room and began a determined circle of its perimeter. "They're far more eclectic than we'd have in our company for dinner or parties."

"They are a rather interesting grouping but I'd say only half of them are mine and the other half are here on Vera's invitation." Jean extended a hand and Vera joined him. They kissed one another's cheeks and Anna surveyed the crowd again.

"And which are which?" She motioned toward them as both Vera and John narrowed their eyes in a shared confusion. "This afternoon Vera suggested that you, Jean, meet more interesting people than she does but it would seem you've both amassed a fine collection of spectacular friends."

"Vera was being modest this afternoon." Jean's hand held Vera's and he kissed the back of it with a twinkle of affection in his eye as he looked at the other woman. "She attracts interesting minds to her. I think it's the work of her salon and the open-mindedness she encourages for all who attend."

"You'll have to come." Vera's unoccupied hand reached out for Anna's. "As a woman with business experience there are many in my circle who would find what you would say very interesting."

"I would not be so sure that I could offer anything interesting to say on the subject of business, per se." Anna shrugged slightly, "I'm more for the study of mathematics myself."

"You study mathematics?"

"She studies theories of mathematics but practices it in accounting and speculation." Lefèvre stepped into their conversation, his perusal of the room complete. "Her eye for business is untrained but promising. Her mind for mathematics, on the other hand, is almost unequaled."

"We've a few amateur mathematicians here tonight." Jean pointed and Lefèvre noted the line of his arm before shaking his head.

"Not dabblers sir. I speak of those who understand mathematics as the highest of all studies outside of religion." He held up his hand, forefinger and thumb separated by a sliver. "Those who understand that the thin line that separates the mysteries of the universe from our comprehension can be breached with the study of mathematics. Application of such principles constitutes a divine comprehension of the workings of the universe from the largest of the stars to the smallest particles of dust that float on the dullest of sunbeams."

Anna swallowed and opened her mouth to speak but Jean spoke first, nodding as the intensity of his focus fixed on Lefèvre, "Then you'll need to speak to another friend of mine here. Give me one moment."

He kissed Vera's cheek and moved off into the gathering. The silence between the remaining trio was only broken as Vera apologized for leaving them when another guest called out her name. As she vanished into the sparse crowd Jean returned with an ebony goddess on his arm.

"Monsieur Lefèvre, Anna, may I present a new acquaintance but fascinating friend, Mademoiselle Nubia."

"Nubia?" Anna frowned, "As in the region south of Egypt?"

"It's where I originally called home, yes." The woman's accent spoke perfectly but an undertone Anna could not place almost wafted about them like spices. "It's easier to make it my surname as I had none when I came here."

"Then you've no family?"

"Not here and they're names would be no easier for the people here to pronounce." She smiled at them, her teeth perfect and almost too dazzling. As if the sight of them distracted from her face. A face, Anna noted, she could not accurately describe as it seemed to shift and scatter before her eyes. "So I chose a name for myself and I rather like it."

"It's a beautiful name." Jean agreed and nodded at Lefèvre, "But the true reason for the introduction is so you can meet Monsieur Lefèvre. He's just touched on a marvelous point about the miracle of mathematics and what it could mean for the study of the universe."

"Truly?" Nubia turned her focus to Lefèvre and, for a moment, Anna thought she could finally see the other woman's face clearly. As if not looking at her, or catching a glimpse from the corner of her eyes, allowed her to actually see the woman's features enough to describe them. "You must tell me more."

"And I must give the seating for the table." Jean smiled at them before nodding at Anna, "Again, I'm so happy you could come this evening."

"As am I." She smiled back at him, watching as he vanished into the crowd, and then turned to her father's animated conversation with Nubia.

All through dinner, dessert, and even the drinks that came after, Anna's father and Nubia discussed mathematics. And engineering, art, and finally architecture with Lefèvre begging Jean for a pen and some paper to take notes on something Nubia had said. While they disappeared to a study, and Vera occupied herself wishing departing guests a good evening, Anna found herself on the balcony of the sitting room with Nubia.

She swallowed and spoke, "I do apologize."

"For?"

"My father's excitement… And the depths of discussion that he delves." Anna shrugged a shoulder, "I do not begrudge him the interests but he can forget that others are not always as intimately invested in topics as he is."

"I was not bored."

"I didn't suggest you were."

"But you speak as if you've had to defend your father's passions in the past." Nubia straightened, almost unfolding to dwarf Anna as a constricting feeling clenched at her lungs.. "Does he embarrass you?"

"Absolutely not."

"Then you speak to protect him." Nubia shrunk slightly and Anna almost felt as if her chest loosened. She managed a deep breath. "That is comforting to hear."

"And why is that?"

"Because there are many who are embarrassed by passion and interest. They would rather bury themselves in propriety and performance. Function and fashion over utility and uniqueness."

"But not you?"

"I am Nubian, Ms. Lefèvre." Nubia smiled with her dazzling teeth again but this time her face did not fuzz as it had before. "I know all about being unique."

"Then what brought you here?" Anna pressed, risking a step toward the woman. "What brings someone as interesting and unique as yourself to Paris?"

"The ideas?" She shrugged, "What else is one to find in Paris?"

"Companionship." Anna nodded back toward the interior of the house. "You've spent all evening discussing all topics under the sun and moon with my father. And while I believe part of it is because you're as starved for deep and thoughtful conversation as he tends to be, I believe you also wanted someone to make you feel a little less alone."

"You could glean all that between our conversations about mathematics and astronomy Ms. Lefèvre?"

"I know my father and I know his mind is not like others'." Anna chewed the inside of her cheek. "That means I also know when he's found a spirit like his. Someone who feels a little lost in the world."

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Relieved." Anna gave a sighing laugh. "Because I often feel I've failed him when I can't understand the heights of his thoughts."

"Then you've not failed him at all for you try." Nubia's jaw shifted, as if her teeth scraped the inside of her cheek. "And you're not wrong. I have felt rather… Alone, of late. Even at a gathering like this I feel alone."

"Would it be impertinent to ask why?"

"No." Nubia swallowed, "Where I came from… recently, I… I had become an anathema. It was necessary for me to seek somewhere else to find rest."

"And you came here?"

"I did." Nubia shrugged, "I've seen many places and lived in more. Egypt, Greece, Rome, and even the far-flung outposts of the Holy Roman Empire. But the only constant thing I discovered in any of those places is how alone one can feel when they're different."

"Are you so different in those places?"

"Very." Nubia lowered her voice, "Do you believe in magic, Ms. Lefèvre?"

Anna blinked, "I'm not sure I understand."

"Do you believe in magic?"

"Like the kind the Gypsy women peddle at street stalls?"

"Of the kind similar to what your King Solomon was rumored to seek when he supposedly searched out a book on demons."

Anna snorted, "I don't recall any priest giving those details to me in their Latin masses. Details of that sort would be the kind I would remember."

"Then you've not experienced true magic." Nubia gestured toward the interior of the house. "What your father discussed, his theories about the power of mathematics to discover the mysteries of the universe, are not just theories to me."

"Nor to him."

"And that is why he can see magic." Nubia snapped her fingers and Anna jumped slightly at the appearance of flame on her fingers. "The question is, can you see it too?"

"I…" The flames vanished and Anna blinked. "I think…"

"I think I should give you time to contemplate it. After all," Nubia gave a dramatic bow, "Not all are ready for the secrets of Hecate."

"Hecate…" Anna shook her head, as if the physical act would clear her muddling thoughts. "The Greek goddess?"

"More recently." Hecate straightened, "But I've been farther and wider than that. Farther and wider than you've imagined for yourself."

"I've-"

"But you could imagine greater." Hecate stepped closer to Anna. "If you wanted to imagine more, I could help you reach it. I could teach you how to be more than you are now."

Anna swallowed, "At what cost?"

"Cost?"

"Everything has a price. I'd assume that all magic would come with a price as well." Anna forced herself to swallow again, as if the mechanical act would trick her body to a calm her thundering heart did not desire. "What would I have to pay for the knowledge you'd give me?"

"Company and a place to stay here." Hecate withdrew a pace. "And a new name. I cannot be Mademoiselle Nubia forever and I cannot travel in this world without the aid of someone to help me attune myself to it."

"But you've already traveled so far."

"There are limits to what one of my color can do."

"True enough but your color could be an illusion." Anna shrugged, "Could you not alter your appearance to fit in with others?"

"I shouldn't have to."

"There are many things we shouldn't have to do but must so we survive." Anna gathered her breath, "But none of that answers why you would teach me… Whatever it is you'd teach me."

"That's true, it does not." Hecate waved her hand in the air and Anna gasped out as the stars all glowed brightly before seeming to fall towards them to earth. "This is the future. A universe we can almost hold in our hands. And while I can touch it, for a moment, with magic I cannot grasp it."

"But I can?"

"But you can." Hecate nodded, closing her fingers into a fist to cease the fall of the stars. "You can teach me how to grasp it as well."

"How would I do that?"

"By teaching me what your father only scratched the surface on this evening." Hecate waved her hand at the city. "This will fade. These buildings will fall or erode or crumble or be rebuilt. People will die and decay and turn to dust as new ones take their place in a never-ending cycle. It is the principle of the cycle of life. All things end to be reborn in another way."

She took a breath, "But mathematics… the new discoveries in physical science, the opening of comprehension and the expansion of the mind that will slowly dawn on all of society… That will remain. Thoughts and proofs and theories will continue long after every person in that sitting room are nothing but dust and bones. There are forms of immortality that I wish to discover."

"Are you not already immortal?"

"One of the loneliest you'll meet." Hecate offered Anna a sad smile. "Which is why I want you to teach me the things that will grow to be immortal with me so I'm never alone."

"And in return you'll teach me what you know?"

"If you want."

Anna shook her head, "As gracious as your offer is, I'll decline."

"So quickly?"

"Yes." Anna took a breath, "I'm one of those things that will die and decay and turn to dust and I'd rather that."

"You would?"

"It's the purpose of existence, to live the best you can and then to die so another may do it better when they've a chance." Anna nodded, "It's the greatest human tradition I know."

"And you're willing to join in it?"

"Of course." Anna smiled, "What would my life be, eternal or otherwise, if all those I loved were dead?"

Hecate smiled at Anna, "A very wise choice."

"That being said," Anna raised a hand, "I'd like to offer you what you desired. A place to stay, a guide through the life here, and an opportunity to study those deeper mysteries of science and philosophy."

"At no cost to me?"

"The cost will be your company for my father." Anna took a breath, "His mind if like few others but you understand it. You can speak with him at a level I only manage half the time. That is how you'll learn those things you want to know and how you'll return the price of your knowledge."

"Companionship for information?"

"Relationships and knowledge are the only true thing we own in our lives, as my mother once taught me." Anna extended her hand, "Do you agree to my terms, Miss… Now I'm not sure what to call you."

"Name me." Hecate spread her arms, "If you name me then the deal will be sealed for as long as we both wish it."

Anna pursed her lips and then gave a nod. "Anathema."

"Is that my name?"

"It is what you are and there's no more fitting name."

"Then Anathema I will be." Hecate bowed again and Anna matched it. "A companion and student of Master Lefèvre."

"And, I hope, a future friend to me."

Anathema gave another dazzling smile, "Only time will tell."