London – Present Day

Anna entered the office and paused, halfway through removing her coat, at the sight of a little girl with dark hair swiveling back and forth on the chair by the desk. She perched on her knees, leaning over the desk, and continued clicking away on the keyboard as she hummed to herself. Raising an eyebrow, Anna approached the girl and draped her coat over her arm to free her hand so she could rap her knuckles on the computer tower.

The girl jumped a little at the sight of Anna. "Who are you?"

"I'm the person going to fix these computers if you'll let me have your seat." Anna nodded at where the girl's shoes rubbed against the back cushion. "Or if you'll find me another one."

The girl ignored the comment and continued to study Anna with the intensity a child preparing a stack of questions wields. "You're the computer woman?"

"It's my day job, yes."

"Do you have a night job?"

"Not in years." Anna studied the girl back, narrowing her eyes in the process of her analysis. "You look a little young to be an employee here."

"They won't let me near the cars anyway."

"Ah." Anna leaned slightly into the desk, holding her coat and bag with her crossed hands in front of her. "Then you must be a guest here."

"Sometimes it feels like I live here." She pouted, "I'm always waiting for my dad to finish up work."

"You're here that often?"

"Feels like it." The girl shrugged, "But it's usually after school."

"Not today though?"

The girl frowned, "How'd you know that?"

Anna made a show of checking her watch, "Because it's a little early for school to be over, isn't it?"

"I guess."

"Then what's keeping you from getting your education?"

"We've got a holiday today."

"Lucky you."

The girl frowned, "Don't you have today off?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't work for the government."

"Would you want to?"

"You couldn't pay me enough to do that again." Anna shook her head, "It wasn't a great experience for me."

"Dad says he'll never work for the government again either. Even though they've come knocking on his door before."

"What for?"

The girl shrugged. "He invented something they wanted to use I think."

"Dangerous time to be smart."

"I guess."

They were silent a moment as Anna pursed her lips and surveyed the office before speaking again, "Can you answer a question for me?"

"Sure."

"If you're here waiting for your dad, why are you in this chair at this computer?" Anna nodded toward it, "Don't you have a phone or something for games or reading or watching some streaming service?"

"Dad says I'm too young for a phone and his is a brick."

"No books then?"

"I already read the ones in my bag." The girl used her thumb to point at the monitor, "Besides, sometimes he lets me play games on this but it's gotten wonky."

"I noticed."

"Do you know why it's gone all funny inside?"

"Probably because there was a lot of corrupted code in the system."

"From what?"

"Malware and inherent problems in the original coding." Anna shrugged a shoulder, "That's what I found so far anyway."

"You found that?"

"I did."

The girl's mouth drew into an 'O' of awe. "You did that? All on your own?"

"This time."

"Not always?"

Anna shook her head, "Not always."

"But you can fix this computer this time?"

"That's the idea." Anna pushed herself to stand. "I'm being paid to fix it so I guess we'll see how much I can do about all that."

"Can I watch?"

After thinking a moment, Anna shrugged, "I don't see why not."

"You mean it?"

"Why wouldn't I mean it?"

The girl shrugged, "Sometimes adults say things they don't mean because they want kids to shut up."

"People you know say that to you?"

"My Mum used to, back when she lived with us."

Anna only nodded at the comment before taking a breath, "You can watch me work, if you really want to."

"I want to."

"Then you need to agree to keep quiet enough for me to work." Anna put a finger to her lips, "I've got to focus."

"I can keep quiet."

"Then we'll have no problems." Anna found another chair and dragged the wheels over the pitted floor.

"If I…" The girl stopped herself, biting at her lip as Anna booted up the computer and endured the whine of the tower.

"If you what?"

"If I keep extra quiet then can you teach me how to do what you'll do so I can fix the computer in the future?" The brightness of hope practically glowed in the girl's eyes but Anna cut through it.

"Probably not."

"Because you don't think I can do it?" Her face fell slightly and Anna smiled in what she hoped was reassurance.

"That's not why."

"Then why not?" The furrow to her brow gave Anna paused, as if something brushed against her skin with the force of the question. Almost a wave breaking against a shore to compel an answer from her.

Anna's jaw slackened slightly and her eyes narrowed in another, more rigorous, study of the girl before her. "I can't teach you how to do what I do because it took me a lot longer than a week to learn what I know."

"I'm smart enough to pick it up."

Anna pursed her lips at the continuing sensation, now almost like something brushing against her skin to find a place to worm itself into her. A caress instead of the brute force of a second ago. It made her want to roll her shoulders, as if to physically remove the sensation, but she forced herself to remain still.

Cutting through the dregs of the odd sensation, Anna gave another shrug, "Even with how smart you probably are, I can only promise teach you some basics."

"Only the basics?" The girl pouted a little, "Why only those?"

"Because I've only a week to fix this system and it took me much longer than that to learn everything I know."

The girl's expression grew curious, "How long did it take you to learn it?"

"Long enough." Anna paused, "How long do you think it would take?"

The little girl shrugged, "A month of afternoons maybe?"

"Not even close."

"Oh." The deflation of the girl's hopes hit Anna differently than the earlier wheedling and she finally allowed herself to roll her shoulders as if to escape out from under the weight of the barrage.

"That being said…" The girl perked up at Anna's words but the new wash of emotion had Anna chewing the inside of her cheek before continuing. "We'll see how far we get with one day of watching. If that goes well then we see how far we can from there… If you're alright with that."

"Yes." The girl nodded vigorously and Anna patted a section of desk so the girl shifted her position there. "I want to see how you do it."

"Then you'll have to pay attention and not talk too much."

"I'm pretty quiet."

"Do you get bored easily?"

"Depends."

"Depends on what?" Anna raised an eyebrow and the girl squirmed in her shrugging motion under the scrutiny.

"On how interesting it is."

"This can get pretty boring so I warn you, if you're going to be bored and distracted then I won't bother to go slow so you can follow what I do." Anna studied the girl again, "Do you understand?"

"I won't get bored."

"You're sure?" The girl nodded vigorously, and Anna smiled. "Okay then."

Anna cracked her knuckles methodically and took a breath, "Let's get started. We've not got much time."

Paris, France – 1611

"You can't be serious." Anna shook her head, laying down her cards. "It's not possible for you to win that many times in a row."

"It is when you're in possession of the skills at my disposal." Anathema grinned at Anna and took the cards back to deal again. "Remember, watch closely."

"Perhaps she's not watching closely enough." Lefèvre leaned over, barely leaving a finger to keep his place in his book as he used another one to jab at the piles of cards. "Ace of diamonds, six of hearts, and eight of clubs. It's mathematics, Anna. Simple mathematics."

"At speeds my mind can't match." Anna huffed and then nodded at Anathema. "Alright, deal them out again."

Anathema dealt out the cards again, Anna trying to follow the speed of the moves, and then took her dealt cards. They played another five rounds with
Anna only managing a single win. At that she laid down her cards and massaged the bridge of her nose.

"I'm slower than the both of you, but if you explain again why we're practicing this particular game?"

"To better your mathematic skills." Lefèvre put down his book, now finished with the tome, and stood. "It quickens the mind and improves your ability to understand facial expressions."

"One of the best ways to understand people is to interpret them in times of stress." Anathema shuffled the cards back into a perfect deck and set it to the side. "The mathematic skills you may develop from this game is truly the smallest percentage of this activity."

"Don't discount the mathematics inherent in everything." Lefèvre raised a hand, as if to begin a long dissertation on the glories of mathematics, but stopped at the presence of a boy at the door. "Yes?"

"Sir, there's someone below asking about the incoming sugar shipment."

"Ah." Lefèvre straightened his coat and pointed at Anathema and Anna. "We'll finish this discussion later."

"I'm sure we will." Anathema smiled at him as he left and took up the deck of cards again when the door shut. As Anathema shuffled the cards in complex configurations Anna left her chair for the desk to open the topmost ledger.

"I'm sure you only say things like that because you know it riles him."

"Absolutely not." Anathema had the decency to feign a look of affront before continuing her shift deal and then reassemble the cards. "I do it because it's truth."

"But you know why he insists on the game." Anna tallied the numbers and worked her way through the pile of receipts before leaving the pages to dry and moving to another ledger. "He believes in the power of mathematics."

"As do I but I also know the power of people is a far stronger skill in this day and age." Anathema gave a dramatic sigh, "Especially since you still refuse to learn what I offered to teach you."

"I've no desire to learn magic." Anna moved to another ledger, "Even if I didn't think the Church would have a great many things to say about the possible devilry in what you offer."

"What," Anathema snorted a laugh and finally put the deck of cards to the side and turned to Anna. "Do you believe I'm offering to teach you something that has a touch of the Devil about it?"

"No. I simply believe that what you offer has the kind of price I, as the daughter of a merchant and a budding mathematician, cannot afford to pay." Anna finished and took a blotting page to begin drying the pages so she could close the ledgers. "That is why I continue to refuse your rather generous offer."

"Well, given that we're coming up on a year since you allowed me to come into your home," Anathema ran her hand over the deck of cards and Anna noted the print on the back of them changing as Anathema dealt them out in a configuration she did not recognize from playing cards but tugged at the back of her mind. "I do have a gift to give you."

"Do you?" Anna came around the table and noted the new piles of the cards and frowned. "Another game?"

"Of a sort." Anathema waved her open palm over the cards. "Choose one."

Anna put out her hand but paused, drew back a moment, and then picked a card to the left of Anathema's hand. Flipping the card had Anathema pursing her lips. "Fascinating."

"What does it mean?"

"Well…" Anathema paused, bit the corner of her mouth, and then pointed. "Turn over two more cards."

Anna flipped two more and Anathema took a breath. Curling her fingers toward her palm, Anna tried to stop the tremor that spontaneously began. "What? What does that mean?"

"The purpose of the Tarot, and reading them, is that there are no set meanings but these three…" Anathema tapped the first. "The Lovers. Some suggest it means love, possibly sexual love, but I tend to believe it means many more forms of love. In this case, with its position next to the Three of Cups, suggests an honest and vulnerable friendship. Something closer to agape or philia."

"Agape or philia?"

"Agape, in Greek, is the highest form of love. It's more than romance or even the love of a parent for a child. It's the unconditional love God has for His children. Or, in this case, the love you can have for another that is beyond the consumption of lust but would lead you to die for them." Anathema shrugged, "And philia is the brotherly love that speaks to friendship and the bonds forged between two people that bond them beyond family to the point of an eternal fraternity."

"And the last card?"

"The tower." Anathema bit at her lip and shook her head. "It never portends good things."

"The images on your card suggested as much."

"And next to the other cards…" Anathema frowned. "If I read these right and, within the bounds of interpretation, I believe they mean that you're going to form a friendship with someone. A friendship that is deep and abiding and all-consuming and it will end tragically."

They stayed silent a moment, Anna standing and looking at the cards with their artistically drawn caricatures and Anathema's furrowed brow looming over them. Another moment passed before Anna spoke. "How sure are you of the readings you do?"

"There's always room for error."

"In your experience, statistically speaking, what is your margin for error?"

Anathema's eyes narrowed and Anna shivered under what she recognized as a deep study. After a breath, Anathema spoke. "Less than ten percent. You would wager your father's sugar for the next year and not get a better return than the ones I get with my predictions."

"And I would have the same chance at success if I learned to do what you do?" Anna pointed at Anathema, "If I studied what you are, I would have the same rate of return?"

"Possibly." Anathema gathered the cards, shuffling them sufficiently before setting them back on the table. Anna noted they changed back into the playing deck from before. "But I've studied for a very long time. There is a certain degree of practice to the skill, as with all things."

"But you're sure you're not wrong?"

"Quite sure."

"And this is how you're repaying a year of hospitality?" Anna pointed at the now innocent deck. "But telling me that the deep friendship I have with you might be doomed to a tragic end?"

"I didn't say it was our friendship." Anathema stood. "Although I am flattered you believe our friendship would be on the level of something as deep as agape."

"Then who…" Anna stopped herself, her mouth forming an 'O'. "You're not the only friend I've sought to make in the last year."

"I can't speak to that." Anathema tried to move around the table but Anna stepped in her path.

"Are you telling me that you know who it is?"

"There are times, when handling the cards, I can glimpse bits and pieces of the future." Anathema shook her head, "But they're unreliable. Divination, like astrology, is a rather useless occupation for someone of my skill."

"Even given what you can do?"

"Seeing past the turn of time is a sure road to madness."

"And yet you handle the Tarot?"

"That's more a reading of the winds, not trying to scry the future." Anathema huffed. "Tarot is for impulse and instinct. It's more about the person's desires and destiny than it is their immediate future."

"But you saw who those cards reference."

"Perhaps." Anathema sighed. "I think I did."

"And it's not you?"

"As I said, I don't think I qualify."

"Then it's Jean."

"Anna-"

"Is it Jean?"

Before Anathema could answer a voice spoke from the door. "I do hope we're not speaking of Jean d'Barthélemy. I can't stand to hear the sound of that man's name. It almost chokes me even to think it."

Anna twisted into a turn to see Mr. Vert standing in the doorway. His grin, almost a predatory leer curling back to expose his teeth, triggered a shiver down her spine as her flesh pimpled. Almost unconsciously she reached for Anathema but found the woman practically frozen in place as if her feet suddenly took root through the wooden floor.

Summoning her courage with a breath, almost pushing air into her constricted lungs, Anna spoke. "This area is not for customers, Monsieur. I'll have to ask you to return to the front of the office. That is where business is done."

"Because the back room is for other endeavors?" He almost licked his lips as he sized up the two women. "We could have some fun with the three of us back here, if that's what this room is for."

"I assure you, sir, that your presence is unwelcome here and you should return to the front of the shop." Anna risked a step forward, pulling herself along while fighting a restraining feeling akin to walking through mud sucking hard enough to risk the loss of a shoe. "Leave, now."

"Will you force me to?" He had not moved from the doorway. "It would seem very unkind to risk disappointing a potential guest."

"You're no guest of mine." Anna reached the doorway. "Now leave."

"It's rather rude not to invite me inside." His eyes flashed the same yellow color burned in Anna's memory from a year before. "And you wouldn't want it to be known that you were rude to a guest, would you?"

"I…" Anna swallowed but her tongue almost swelled inside her mouth. "I…"

"She told you where you can go and I suggest you make your way there." Anathema was next to Anna in a second, moving faster than her muddled mind could comprehend, and gripped her hand. The physical touch shocked Anna out of her stupor and forced her to adjust her footing to keep her balance at the surge of energy. "We've no need of your kind or your services here."

"My kind?" Vert looked Anathema up and down, "Compared to you, I'm positively invited everywhere I go."

"With effort, I imagine." Anathema took another step and put her body between Vert's and Anna's. "Leave or you'll find it worse for you."

"Worse for me?" Vert gave a snort and then studied Anathema more closely. "I don't think you understand the power I wield or what I can do to you."

"And I believe it is you, sir, who does not comprehend what I can do." Anathema nodded at the space behind Vert. "If you've business here then conduct it at the front but otherwise, take yourself elsewhere before I remove you."

Vert gave a laugh and a dramatic bow to the one that matched the perverse one in Anna's memory. "Then I'll take my leave, ladies."

The grip on Anna's arm loosened and she almost sagged to the floor. Only Anathema replacing her grip kept Anna steady until they reached a chair. There she almost collapsed but managed not to sink into the cushions as recognizable sensation returned to her limbs and extremities. A full-bodied shiver finally restored her to the point she could adjust her posture in her chair and turn to Anathema.

"What did you mean?"

"About what?"

"When you…" Anna blinked and pressed her palm to her forehead, as if her mind fought to hold the memory of the encounter steady. "When you said we had no need of 'his kind or his services'?"

"He's a merchant, is he not?" Anathema shrugged, "Someone who sells less sophisticated wine or something of equally foul value."

"But you said he'd find it worse for himself if he stayed." Anna shook her head, trying to clear it against what felt like an encroaching fog trying to slip into the cracks when she was not looking. "You said he didn't understand what you can do."

"He doesn't."

"But you said it as if he should. As if he's something that you understand and he should, because of what he is, know you. And…" Anna pressed the palms of her hands to her temples and gritted her teeth to growl in frustration. "I can't keep my thoughts straight in my head."

"It's surprising you can keep any thoughts at all considering the sway."

Anna's mind cleared and she lifted her head to look up at Anathema. "Were you trying to take my thoughts?"

"Not intentionally, I assure you." Anathema took a seat with Anna. "But it's a consequence of ensuring he did not leave anything in your mind."

"Because he's like you?"

"Hardly." Anathema fairly scoffed, "Whatever Mr. Vert is, and I have a few theories from our encounter, he's nothing like me."

"Then he's not a witch. Or a…" Anna frowned, "A warlock?"

"The male form of a witch is a witcher. A warlock is a different breed of magic user." Anathema waved a hand at Anna's clear confusion. "It's a diverse field of magic but think of those who train to use magic the same way a merchant can sell any number of goods."

"You've diversified magic?"

"Sometimes someone wants to sell their soul to use a higher form of magic and other times they simply want to learn which herbs do what when combined in the right order over a fire on a single night of the year." Anathema shrugged again, "It would be inconsiderate to say those two individuals were the same."

"But Mr. Vert is none of those?"

"He's no magical ability that I can sense and, as a goddess of magic myself, I'd know what I was looking for." Anathema leaned forward and removed Anna's hands from her head to replace with her thumbs on Anna's temples. "But what he does have is a strong skill in persuasion."

"It was as if everything in me found him repellant, like a large beast, and yet he drew me toward him."

"That eliminates a few options for what I thought he could be." Anathema paused, her fingers flexing against the skin at the back of Anna's neck. "What else did you sense in him?"

"His eyes… They flash an odd kind of yellow. Almost sickly and putrescent."

"When?"

"When he's… Luring me?" Anna shuddered, rolling her shoulders back as Anathema removed her hands. "As if he's exposing a part of himself to try and draw me closer to him."

"Predatory behavior to be sure." Anathema forced herself to stand and paced. "And he couldn't enter the room without your permission."

"He had an odd way of going about it if he wanted to enter the room." Anna shivered, "I wouldn't trust him in my home."

Anathema stopped, her head cocking to the side, and then pivoted to face Anna again. "A predatory creature who has to practice guest rite but can attempt to compel their potential victim to invite them closer… There are only a few creatures who meet those requirements while wearing the form of a man."

"You're making me nervous."

"It should make you extremely nervous." Anathema put her hand over the card deck and drew one, showing Anna the symbol on the other side. It took Anna looking at the deck to confirm the rest of the cards were the playing versions while the one in Anathema's hand was one of the Tarot.

"What does this mean?"

"It's the Devil card. The ultimate adversary and a creature of great pain and damage." Anathema put the card in Anna's hand. "Keep this with you. If he comes again, it'll be a protection to you."

"You say that as if you're leaving."

"I am." Anathema straightened. "Someone… Or, something, like Mr. Vert requires I find a few… friends."

"Friends?"

"I need more information than I have." Anathema shook her head, "I can't help protect you, or your father, if I don't know how to combat the enemy."

"But if you leave then…" Anna fumbled for words but Anathema put her hands on her shoulders and forced Anna to face her.

"For the moment you don't know what he is. Whatever interest he has in you, or whatever dislike he holds for Mr. D'Bartélemy is… It's enough to bring him back into your sphere but I might have enough pull to bring him after me. Make a chase of it while I figure out what he is."

"Is that dangerous?"

"Extremely." Anathema smiled and then kissed both of Anna's cheeks. "But this is the gift I can give your family for the kindness you've shown me."

"After all the kindnesses you've shown me and my father, I believe the debt needs to be paid in the opposite direction." Anna pulled Anathema into a hug. "Don't leave us for long."

"It'll be a blink of the eye for you." Anathema embraced her back before stepping away. "Don't worry, it'll be alright."

"You're sure?"

"Not entirely but enough to leave you on your own." Anathema smiled at Anna, "You both survived before you met me and you'll survive without me just fine again. I have no doubts."

"Even with a frightening man wearing human skin potentially waiting in the dark to… compel me to allow him into my house?"

"Especially then." Anathema took a breath. "Take care Anna and trust I'll be back before you need me."

"I'll hold you to that." Anna smiled in return and, before she could breathe again, Anathema vanished from before her eyes.