41. Chapter 41
Chapter 41
‘Crone.’ Willow greeted me with a respectful bow.
‘Willow, good to see you.’ And it was. Willow had proved herself time and time again, not to mention she had hosted the Goddess herself in her own body. She was one of the few that was trustworthy; the others that were definitely trustworthy were the two Goddess-blessed in her car.
‘You know the Mother, and the Maiden,’ Willow introduced us.
‘I do,’ I confirmed, ‘but loosely. Knowing your real names would help.’
‘It is forbidden,’ Willow chastened with a frown.
‘More like not encouraged,’ the Mother replied with a wink. ‘I’m Justine, this is Kate,’ she gestured to the Maiden. ‘We’ve been sent to help. ’
Kate was young and she was grinning at me with youthful vigour and excitement; she was riding into danger and excited about it. Oh, to be young and reckless again, when you thought you were immortal and nothing was to be feared. I was older and I knew plenty of things that would get me quaking in my boots, though facing my father wasn’t one of them.
‘I’m grateful for it.’ I hooked my pendant out of my neckline. ‘I don’t suppose either of you can fix this?’
Willow let out a gasp. ‘That is vile!’ she gasped. ‘They have defiled the sisterhood pendant with blood! It needs to be cleansed. I will start right away.’
I was fumbling with the clasp when strong hands rested on my shoulders. I stood still as Bastion carefully undid the necklace for me then held it out to Willow. Huh. When I’d tried to remove it before I’d let myself be taken it hadn’t shifted, yet now it would come off. It was a fickle thing.
‘Thank you,’ Willow said politely as she took it from him. ‘Crone, leave this with me. I’ll have it singing with your sisters’ souls in a few minutes,’ she promised, grabbing a tote bag out of the car.
I turned to Kate and Justine. ‘We haven’t had much opportunity to work together yet, and this is rather throwing us in at the deep end, but is there anything I should know about the Triune? Anything helpful we can do?’
‘We can link our power giving one of us the power of three,’ Kate offered.
‘That might be helpful,’ I conceded.
‘Why do you think we’re here?’ she said with a cheeky grin.
‘And you’d just …give me your power?’ I asked.
‘For however long you need it,’ Justine confirmed. ‘We’re here to help you, but this is your show.’
‘Think of us as your back-up singers,’ Kate suggested.
Justine sent her a withering look and rolled her eyes. It made me smile; their friendship was clear to see, despite the age gap between them. ‘We’re not back-up singers, we’re just back up .’
‘You’re the one who said it was her show!’
I cleared my throat, ‘Well, thanks. I’ll be sure to get your help when it’s go time.’
‘Good. In the meantime, have some ORAL potion.’ Justine rooted around in her bag and passed me a vial. As Kate snickered at its name, I drank the potion and handed the empty vial back to Justine. ‘Thanks. Are you both good?’
‘We came via a portal,’ Kate reassured me. ‘We’re fully charged and ready to go.’
‘Great.’
I excused myself and went to speak to Shirdal. I needed some war counsel, and he was just the man to give it.