Nora Roberts - The Pagan Stone

“You want to shake on that?”

She laughed again. “A superfluous gesture, under the circumstances.” She lifted the gel again, turned his hand over and poured some into his palm. And turned. “But you could wash my back.”

AN HOUR LATER, CYBIL POURED HER FIRST FULL cup of coffee, and had to admit she felt well-buzzed without it. She went upstairs to the office where Quinn and Layla sat at laptops. On the chart, her rape was documented.

Good, Cybil thought. It was good to see it there, straight-out, and know she’d survived it intact. “I’m going to keep the setup in my room this morning,” she told them. “But I asked Gage to come back later. It’s time we tried another link. I’m hoping one or both of you will hang around, act as an anchor.”

“We’ll be here,” Quinn said.

“Did you know Gage stayed, slept on the couch downstairs?”

“We talked about going back with him, to Cal ’s.” Layla swiveled away from the keyboard. “He said he was staying. The fact is, none of us wanted to leave in case you had a bad night.”

“Maybe because none of you left, I didn’t have one. Thanks.”

“I’ve got something that might perk you up, too. This house.” Quinn spread her hands. “Or the land this house is on-considerably more of it at one time, but this particular plot? Ann Hawkins’s grandson Patrick Hawkins, son of Fletcher, owned it. Fox is checking on his building, but I’d say we’re well on the way to proving another theory.”

“If this is right, and even if Gage’s definition of it as prison is more accurate than mine as sanctuary,” Layla continued, “it could give us a viable way to protect people. At least some people.”

“The more we can protect or at least give a fighting chance to, the more we’ll be able to focus on attack.” Cybil nodded. “I agree. And we are going to have to attack. It’s going to have to be at the Pagan Stone. I know we haven’t discussed it, not in detail since the men are resistant, but whatever we do to end it is going to have to be done there. We can’t be here, in town, putting out fires, trying to stop people from hurting themselves or each other. We all know when and where we’ll take our stand.”

“Midnight,” Quinn said with a sigh. “As July seventh begins. As this Seven begins, in full. I know you’re right. I think we all know it, but it feels like we’re deserting the field.”

“And it’s going to be harder on them, the guys,” Layla added. “Because they tried it before, and failed.”

“We’re not deserting the field. We’re taking the game to ours. We won’t fail this time, because we can’t.” Cybil looked back at the chart. “It doesn’t know us. It thinks it understands, and part of its understanding is that we’re weak, fragile, vulnerable. It’s got reason to think that. It comes, and in a very real way, it wins. Every time. Getting stronger, every time.”

“Dent took it down,” Layla reminded her. “For centuries.”

“Dent broke the rules, sacrificed himself. And he was a guardian.” Quinn angled her head as she studied Cybil’s face. “And still, it was a stopgap, still the burden and some of the power had to be passed on. Diluted, fractured. It took the six of us to reform that power and we still don’t know how to use it. But…”

“Yes, but. We have it now, and the means to learn. We know the time and the place,” Cybil said again. “We’re complete with the six of us. Those images I had, of something happening to each of us. I think they were warnings. It has to try to fracture us again, to dilute what we have. We can’t and we won’t let that happen.”

“I’ll talk to Cal about ending this at the Pagan Stone. Part of him knows it has to be that way already.”

“The same with Fox,” Layla said. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Which leaves me with Gage.” Cybil let out a breath.

GAGE PACED CAL ’S OFFICE. “SHE WANTS TO TRY the link again. Today.”

“Not that many todays left, son, before the big one. No point wasting any.”

“You know what it’s like, even pushing that on your own. It’s a fucking sucker punch. She had a bad experience yesterday. The worst.”

“Are you looking out for her?”

Gage stopped, baffled, annoyed. “No more than I would anybody. Plus, I’m looking out for myself. If she can’t handle it-”

“Too late for that, you already put her first. Don’t bother bullshitting me. You’ve got a thing. Why wouldn’t you have a thing?”

“The thing is sex,” Gage insisted. “And, sure, a mutual dependency given the circumstances. We’re in this together, so we look out for each other. That’s all I’m doing.”

“Uh-huh.”

Gage turned back with a stony look that did nothing to break Cal ’s grin. “Look, it’s different for you.”

“Sex is different for me?”

“For one thing.” Frustrated, Gage jammed his hands in his pockets. “For a lot of things. You’re dead-normal guy.”

“Don’t use the word dead, under the circumstances.”

Jingling the change in his pocket, Gage worked it out in his head. “You’re Bowl-a-Rama boy, Cal. House-in-the-country guy, with the tight family ball, the big, stupid dog-no offense,” he added, glancing down at Lump, who snored away with all four feet in the air.

“None taken.”

“You’re a Hawkins of the Hollow, and always will be. You’ve got the sexy blonde who’s happy to plunk her particularly fine ass down here with you and your big, stupid dog in your house in the country, and raise a brood of kids.”

“Sounds about right.”

“As for Fox, he’s as mired here as you. Hippie kid turned town lawyer with his sprawling and interesting family who snags the pretty brunette who turns out to have a spine of steel-enough of one to open a business in this town because that works for them. Like the house with a garden and a bunch of kids will work for them. The four of you will probably be happy as lunatics.”

“That’s the plan.”

“That’s if we live, and you know, I know, we all know some of us might not make it.”

“If and might.” Cal nodded. “Well, life’s a gamble.”

“For me, gambling’s life. If I get through, it’s on to the next. There’s no house in the country, no nine-to-five or what’s for dinner, honey in me.”

“And you figure that’s what Cybil’s looking for?”

“I don’t know what she’s looking for. It’s not my business to know, that’s the point .” Uneasy, he raked his fingers through his dark hair. Then stopped, annoyed, knowing the gesture was one of his tells. “We’re having sex,” he continued. “We’ve got a mutual goal to kill this bastard and live to talk about it. That’s it.”

“Fine.” Obligingly, Cal spread his hands. “Then what are you so worked up about?”

“I… Damned if I know,” Gage admitted. “Maybe I don’t want to be responsible, and linking up that way makes me responsible. They can claim equal shares all they want, but you know how it is, you know how it feels.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“What happened… What it did to her, how am I supposed to get that out of my head, Cal? How am I supposed to put that aside?”

“You can’t, you don’t. But that doesn’t mean we can stop. We all know that, too.”

“Maybe she gets to me.” He let out a breath. “Okay, she gets to me, no maybe about it. Hardly a surprise, considering.” His fingers itched to drag through his hair again, and he kept them firmly at his side. “This is all fucking intense.”

“Caring about her doesn’t equal house in the country and big, stupid dog, son.”

“No.” Gage let himself relax. “No, it doesn’t. I could spell that out for her. Diplomatically this time.”