Stars of Fortune (The Guardians Trilogy, #1)(15)

“We need to find a place, Riley had the right of that. A place the three of us can spread out, study up, plan. A kind of HQ.”

The idea made her smile. HQs seemed as far removed from her world as swimming to Albania. “HQ.”

“Exactly. And as I don’t know that the other three you’ve drawn will just walk up to us, as we did to each other, we’ll need to ramble about like we are today.”

“We have to come together. Until we do, we can look but we won’t see; seek, but not find. Not a vision,” she said quickly. “Just a kind of knowing.”

“Which strikes me as the same.”

“Maybe. I want to sketch while we’re here.”

“We’ll need to get you a chair. We can rent one, I expect, or . . . There’s a taverna right over there. How’s that view?”

“That would be fine.”

Once they had a table, and she’d angled her chair, he studied the view as she did. “Want a beer?”

“Oh, no, thanks. Maybe something cold.” Pulling out her pad, she began to draw the flowing sea oats and long slice of beach.

He ordered a Mythos for himself, and the Greek juice that was a combination of orange, apple, and apricot for Sasha. As she sketched, he took out his phone to check his emails.

Even as he dealt with work he watched her, those slim, pretty hands conjuring a scene with paper and pencil.

She left out things that were there, he noted. The people. Her beach was deserted but for birds winging over the sea.

She flipped to another page, began another. He supposed she’d term them rough sketches, but he found them both wonderfully lean and fluid. It was a kind of magic, he thought, that she could with quick, sure strokes of a pencil create her vision.

She started a third—a different perspective, he saw. Not quite the beach spread in front of them, and hers with a moon, not quite full, floating through a drift of clouds over a sea where waves tossed.

A woman stood at the edge of the sea, facing it, her dark hair a tumble to her waist. Her skirts billowed around her knees. To her right, high, sheer cliffs rose, and on them stood the shadow of a house where a light glowed in a single window.

When Sasha stopped, turned back to finally pick up her drink, he set his phone down.

“Will she go into the sea or back to the house on the cliff?”

“I don’t know.” Sasha blew out a breath, sipped again. “I don’t think she knows either. It’s not here. I don’t know why I looked out there and saw this so clearly.”

“Maybe we’re close. She’s the only person you drew. In the other sketches of this beach, you left out the people.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “It’s more peaceful without them. I don’t usually draw people. Or I didn’t. When I was studying and we used models, I’d end up reading them. It’s the focus, and it always felt so intrusive. I learned how to block it out, but it didn’t seem worth the effort. I like the mystery of a scene empty of people.”

She propped her chin on her fist, smiled at him. “You like scenes full of people.”

Conversations—something she’d avoided tucked away in the mountains—took a different tone, had a new appeal, when she had them with someone who knew what she was, and accepted.

“And how would you know?”

“Clubs,” she explained. “You own clubs, and perform, so you must like people. And audiences who marvel at your magic tricks.”

“I can appreciate an empty beach as well. But . . .” He held up a hand, empty palm toward her, closed it into a fist, flashed out his other hand. Then offered her a curved white shell from his once-empty palm. “I like the marvel.”

She laughed, shook her head. “How do you do that?”

“Nothing up my sleeve.”

“And no smoke and mirrors around either.” She traced the edges of the shell. “How did you learn to do magic?”

“You could say it’s a family tradition. My mother actually taught me my first . . . bit.”

“Your mother. Does she perform, too?”

“In her way.” Because he liked her laugh, he took a deck of cards from his pack, fanned them out. “Pick a card, any card.”

She drew one out, glanced at it. “Now what?”

“Back in it goes, and you take the deck. Shuffle it up. We should reward ourselves with a swim at the end of the day. Which would you pick, sea or pool?”

“The sea.” If no one else was on the beach, she added to herself. “How often will I have the chance to swim in the Ionian? Is that enough?”

“It is, sure, if it feels enough for you. Set the deck down again, and fan it out yourself.”

She did as he instructed, leaned forward, eyes sharp.

“Now where do you suppose your card might be. Here?” he tapped a card. “No, no, maybe here. Ah, here comes our Riley.”

“Playing cards and drinking beer, while I’ve been sweating over a hot cell phone.” She dropped down, picked up what was left of Bran’s beer, and drained it.

“He’s doing a card trick, but I don’t think it’s working out for him.”

“Such lack of faith and wonder.” Bran sighed. He ran a fingertip along the fanned cards. “Not here or there at all, it seems, because . . . Do you mind?” he said to Riley and took the hat from her head, turned it over. “Your Queen of Hearts is in Riley’s hat.”