“Roscoe.” Rest in peace, she thought. “Infecting animals is a usual pattern. And I know we have a list of documented attacks by pets and wildlife in the files. Still, as you say, it’s a long way from town to here, on foot-even on four feet. No reports of sightings or attacks by a rabid dog?”

“None.”

“So, logically, this today was, again, target specific. The Big Evil Bastard not only infected that poor dog, but directed him here. You’re often here alone during the day,” she said to Gage. “Twisse couldn’t know I’d be here, certainly not before he infected that dog if it’s been missing for two days. So you go out, maybe take a nap in that appealing hammock Cal ’s got between those maple trees, or maybe Cal goes out to cut the grass. Or Quinn takes a walk through the gardens.”

“Any one of us could’ve been alone out there,” Cal agreed. “And it might not have been a dog you buried.”

“A clever way to do it,” Cybil mused, “or try it, with little effort or energy on its part.”

“Handy, having a woman with a gun around.” Gage took a slow sip of his own wine.

“And one,” Cybil added, “who eventually comes around to the simple truth that she didn’t kill that dog. Twisse did. Just one more thing to add to the list of payback he’s earned.” She glanced toward the road. “Here come Fox and Layla.”

“And dinner.” Quinn touched a hand to Cybil’s. “I ordered up a big salad and a couple of pizzas from Gino’s, figuring we’d want to stick with the simple and the staple tonight.”

“Good thinking. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

THEY DIDN’T, AS THEY OFTEN DID, TALK OF ORDINARY and easy things over the meal. The day had been too full, and the mood too urgent.

“You’ll need to record this, Q,” Cybil began, then turned to Gage. “Gage had a dream.”

He held her gaze another few seconds, then relayed the dream of passion and death.

“Symbolism,” Quinn decided quickly. “That doesn’t go into the prophetic column. Obviously, no matter how good the sex might be, neither of you would just keep at it while the room burst into flame around you.”

“Good point,” Cybil murmured.

“Maybe it was such hot sex, they self-combusted.” Fox shrugged. “Just trying to add a little levity.”

“Really little.” Layla poked his ribs. “We’re all stressed, so violent or, ah, sexual dreams aren’t surprising. And if you consider that… well, if you factor in that you, Gage, that you might be feeling somewhat-”

“Sexually frustrated,” Quinn broke in, “and attracted to Cybil. We’re all big boys and girls, and this isn’t the time to be delicate. Sorry. But the fact is you and Cyb are healthy adults, not to mention really pretty, and you share an ability during a time of extreme stress. It’d be amazing if there weren’t some sexual vibes buzzing about.”

“Satisfy an urge, burn in hellfire?” Cal chewed on the thought as he chewed on pizza. “I don’t think it’s that simple, even symbolically speaking. Connect on intimate levels, there are consequences. And connect to forge another separate link in the chain the six of us have already created, increases the consequences and the power.”

“I agree with that, exactly.” With a nod of approval, Cybil smiled at Cal. “Too bad Q’s in the way, or you and I could have hooked up.”

“Staying in the way, sister.”

“You’re so selfish. Anyway, prophetic dreams, in my experience, are often clouded with symbolism. I think this one could go into that column, or at least be penciled into it.”

“We could go upstairs now,” Gage suggested. “Test the theory.”

“That’s a generous offer. Heroic really.” Pausing, Cybil sipped her wine. “I’ll pass. While I might be willing to sacrifice my body to sex for the good of the cause, I don’t think it’s necessary at this point.”

“Just let me know when we’ve reached that point.”

“You’ll be the first. What?” she demanded as Quinn slapped a hand at the air.

“Just swatting at these damn buzzing vibes.”

“Aren’t you the funny one? But moving on,” Cybil continued, “as the astute and handsome Caleb theorized, it’s about connections, links. And there are links every bit as intimate as sex.”

“Still tops my scoreboard,” Fox commented. He grinned at Cybil’s stony look and reached for more pizza. “But you were saying.”

“Gage and I experienced one of those links when we combined our particular gifts. There was power, and there were consequences. Before that shared experience, he had another on his own. Ann Hawkins.”

Cybil paused again, but this time to watch the iridescent flash of a hummingbird outside the window as it dived to the heart of a bold red blossom. “Before I left to come here, Quinn and I logged that incident, charted and mapped it. Gage went through it again for me, for my notes, in case there were any details that dropped out in the relay. There weren’t, that I found.”

“I thought about that off and on today,” Layla put in. “She said she’d wept for him, for Gage, and that you would, Cybil. At least that’s my interpretation. That it would matter.”

“Tears should matter.” Cybil continued to watch as the jeweled bird darted to another blossom.

“I wonder if tears are literal, like a magickal ingredient we’ll need, or if they’re symbolic again. Grief, joy-emotion. If it’s the emotional connection that’s important.”

“And again, I agree exactly,” Cybil added.

“We know emotions are part of it,” Quinn continued. “Twisse feeds on the negative-fear, hate, anger. And it seems pretty likely the positive is one of the things that kept us all from being crisped at the Pagan Stone last trip.”

“In other words, she wasn’t telling us anything we don’t already know.”

“Positive reinforcement,” Quinn said to Gage. “And she said, clearly, we have everything we need to win this. Figuring out what that everything is, and how to use it-that’s the problem.”

“Weaknesses versus strengths.” Fox took a swig of his beer. “Twisse knows our weaknesses, and plays on them. We need to counter that, and in fact, negate that, with our strengths. Basic strategy.”

“That’s good.” Layla nodded. “We need to make lists.”

“My girl’s hell on lists.”

“Seriously. Our strengths and weaknesses as a group, and as individuals. It’s war, isn’t it? Our strengths are our weapons, and weaknesses are the gaps in our defense. Shore up the defense, or at least recognize where the gaps are, and we build up the offensive position.”

“I’ve been teaching her chess,” Fox told the group. “She catches on quick.”

“It’s a little late in the day for lists,” Gage said.

Unoffended, Layla shook her head. “It’s never too late for lists.”

As Cybil picked up her wine, the hummingbird shot away like a sparkling bullet. “Next on mine is cards.”

“You want to play cards?” Cal asked her. “Aren’t we a little busy for a game?”

“You’re never too busy for a game,” Gage corrected. “But I think the lady’s referring to her Tarot deck.”

“I brought it with me today, and Gage and I conducted an experiment.”

Though she trusted her memory, Cybil took out her notes to relate the result to the others. “All Major Arcana, all with meanings specific to both of us,” she concluded. “As our resident gambler would agree, the odds of that being coincidence are in the astronomical range. The cards are open to various interpretations depending on the reader, the question, the surrounding cards, and so on. But it feels as though, in this case, they spoke of connection-physical, emotional, psychic connection. Then the symbol of each ancestry, and the potential for dramatic change, and consequence. I’d like to do a series of this same experiment. Cal and Quinn, Fox and Layla, all three men, all three women, and lastly, all six of us together.”

“You always had a hand with Tarot,” Quinn said.

“My Romany forebears. But this today was more than that.”