“Shower,” Evee said, feeling her cheeks flush. “Didn’t have time to dry it.” Before her sisters pummeled her with more questions, she shot out her own. “Why are the two of you here?” Aren’t you supposed to be looking for Chenilles and Loup Garous?”
“We were,” Gilly snapped. “Found out about the humans and Chank and have been racing around like fools trying to find you. Wanted to make sure that you knew and that you were okay. Is that a crime?”
“I didn’t say it was,” Evee said. “Why are you being so bitchy?”
Gilly held her arms out. “This isn’t bitchy. It’s pissed. We’ve been out there busting our humps and you’ve been here taking a shower.”
Evee turned away from her sisters and went to the counter, picked up the kettle she’d filled with water earlier and headed for the stove. She didn’t want to explain to them that she’d needed a shower after the whole Cartesian and river ordeal. She feared if she did, she’d spill the beans about Lucien, as well. As upset as they appeared now, even dropping a hint about her sexual encounter with Lucien, albeit one-sided, would have thrown both of her sisters into cardiac arrest.
“Well?” Viv said. “Explanation please.” She pursed her lips.
Ignoring her, Evee put the kettle on the stove and turned on the burner. She really didn’t want tea, but at least this gave her something to do.
“Evee, you know the death of the humans and the witnessing of the Nosferatu takes our situation to a whole new level,” Viv said. “The police will get involved, which is going to make this catastrophic. This situation is bigger than I think even the Benders realize. We need to figure out some kind of workable game plan. All we’ve been doing is chasing our tails, looking for Nosferatu, Chenilles and Loups.”
Gilly nodded. “Agreed. Dead humans. We’re way over our heads...wait a sec. What’s up with that?” Gilly walked over to Evee and touched her right shoulder, just near the edge of her scoop-necked sweater, and tugged it down an inch.
“What?” Evee asked. She felt Gilly pull the back of her shirt lower.
“What the hell?” Viv said, and hurried over to Gilly’s side.
Evee tried looking over her right shoulder to see what her sisters were gawking at. She couldn’t see anything. “What? What, damn it?”
“Your absolutus infinitus,” Viv said quietly.
All Triads since the 1500s were born with a black absolutus infinitus birthmark on a certain part of their body. Evee’s was on her right shoulder, Gilly’s on her right ankle, and Viv’s on her right hip. The mark was part of the curse carried by all Triads.
“What about it?” Evee asked, still trying to look over her shoulder.
“It...it’s gray,” Gilly said, her voice soft with astonishment.
“Get the hell out,” Evee said, and took off to look in the foyer mirror.
When she reached the mirror, she turned sideways, reached back and tugged on her shirt. Her sisters stood beside her, silent. Frustrated, Evee yanked her sweater up and over her head, not caring that she stood only in her bra and jeans. She turned sideways again, and felt her mouth drop open. She saw it, plain as the nose on her face. Her once charcoal-black absolutus infinitus had faded to an ashen gray.
“What happened to it?” Viv asked.
“I don’t know,” Evee said, still staring at her shoulder in the mirror. “I never felt anything, never noticed any change to it until you mentioned a minute ago.” She turned to Gilly. “What does it mean? The color change?”
Gilly glanced over at Viv and they both shrugged.
“It’s gray, like the mirrors in our Grimoires,” Gilly said. “Maybe they’re tied together somehow.”
The Grimoires were books of spells that had been handed down from one Triad generation to another. As part of their punishment, the first set of Triad had been forced to write every spell known to the Circle of Sisters and the Triad, along with the purpose of each spell, and the consequence of each spell once cast. The spells had been written on parchment paper and bound in elderwood. Inside the front cover of each Grimoire, a notch had been cut out of the elderwood, just big enough to hold a fist-size mirror. The mirror had been purposely set into each Grimoire so that whenever a Triad opened her book, the first thing she saw was the reflection of an apocalyptic destruction of the world. A reminder of what would happen should a Triad shirk her responsibilities and duties of the Originals assigned to her. It showed blood and gore, and the world as a wasteland. Viv, Gilly and Evee read their Grimoires daily, right before a feeding, noting new spells that might be needed should something go awry with their Originals.
Only a few days ago, when they opened their Grimoires, the sisters had been shocked to find that the mirrors no longer showed the apocalyptic vision. They only reflected gray swirls. Nothing more.
“When did your absolutus turn gray?” Gilly asked.
“I told you,” Evee snapped. “I don’t know. I’d probably still be oblivious of it if you hadn’t noticed it. It’s not like I check on it every day.”
Gilly turned to Viv. “What about yours?”
Viv glanced around the foyer as if to confirm that no one was around but her sisters. Then she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. She wiggled her jeans down just enough to bare her right hip, where she carried her absolutus infinitus.
It, too, had turned gray. Viv’s hands shook as she pulled up her pants, zipped and buttoned them back into place.
“What the fuck?” Gilly blurted. “It’s gray, too.”
“You think I didn’t notice?” Viv snapped.
“You didn’t notice the change before?” Gilly asked.
“No.” Viv looked up at her sisters blankly.
“But you shower every day, right?” Gilly said. “Wouldn’t you have seen it in the mirror?”
“Well, I didn’t,” Viv said. “This is the first I’ve seen it like this.”
Evee and Viv looked at Gilly simultaneously. “What about yours?”
Gilly’s eyes widened, and then she nodded. She leaned over and lifted the right leg of her linen pants and twisted her right foot slightly inward. Her absolutus infinitus sat right above her right ankle as usual, its color unchanged—charcoal black.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Evee said. She shivered. “I’m freezing here. I’ve got to dry my hair before I get pneumonia. You two go back to the kitchen. Get something to eat. I’ll dry my hair and meet you back there in a few.”
When Evee got to her bathroom, she saw Hoot perched on the counter near the bathroom sink.
“I told you,” Hoot said.
Ignoring him, Evee opened a vanity drawer and pulled out her blow-dryer. She plugged it in, turned it on and aimed a blast of warm air at her familiar.
Hoot screeched and flew off the counter and out of the bathroom, all the while yelling, “Told you, told you. See what you get for being a hussy?”
“Shut up,” Evee said, aiming the blow-dryer at her hair. If Hoot snapped back a reply, she didn’t hear it. Blessed be the dryer.
By the time she finished with her hair and made it back into the kitchen, her sisters were seated around the small kitchen table, each with a steaming bowl of gumbo in front of her and a cup of tea.
Gilly motioned for Evee to sit next to her, where another bowl of gumbo and cup of tea had been set out for her.
Evee sat and picked up a spoon, ready to dig into her food. The first bite drew a sigh from her. “This is so good,” she said,