A black and white border collie with soft brown eyes appeared from behind one of the filing cabinets and came to sit attentively beside Dr. Ford, poised for the next command.

"You bring your dog to work?" Caleb asked.

Dr. Ford raised his fuzzy white eyebrows. "Of course. All witches have a familiar."

Chapter 11.

Operating Systems...Again

They trailed Dr. Ford out of the office and down the polished halls of the Horton building. Despite his limited stature, the professor walked with a brisk and precise gait, and Abbey had to double her usual pace to keep up. Sanome padded by his side, leash-less, showing no inclination to wander away or sniff at garbage cans, the faint click of her toenails audible on the floors.

Mark's stomps echoed behind them. He'd screamed and pulled his hair when they told him they were going, and had only agreed to leave Dr. Ford's office if he could return and trace a copy of the map of Coventry Hill the next day. Dr. Ford had seemed totally bemused by the outburst, and in the end it was Simon, in his new role as Mark's keeper, who had convinced Mark to depart.

Dr. Ford turned to Abbey. "How is she? Francis, I mean. How bad was the stroke? Is she conscious? Is she herself?"

"She seems to be herself. She's conscious. But she can't speak. She used drawings to tell us to come to you."

"Oh dear, oh dear. Has Mantis been to see her, do you know?"

"I believe he has," said Abbey. "In fact..." she hesitated, unsure of how much to tell him. "We're worried he may have had something to do with her stroke."

Dr. Ford looked at her sharply. "Well, now, that would be notching it up a level for Mantis. Are you sure?"

"We don't know anything for sure. He's been following Mark around, and there were two gla.s.ses at Mrs. Forrester's house that went missing. We have the contents of the gla.s.ses, though."

"Ah, now, here we are," said Dr. Ford, stopping beside a blue Suzuki Sidekick.

"A Sidekick?" asked Simon blandly.

"What did you expect? A broomstick, or a Beemer? Teaching at a college isn't that lucrative." Dr. Ford opened the back and Sanome jumped in. "All right, it's going to be a tight squeeze in the back. Hop in."

Caleb got in the front and Abbey found herself wedged uncomfortably in the back between the window and Mark, the rubbery folds of his stomach nestled against her arm.

Mark seemed agitated. "I do not like dogs. I might be allergic. Multiple potential germ vectors."

Two blue eyes topped with wild white brows were reflected in the rear-view mirror, but Dr. Ford said nothing and the SUV pulled away from the curb with a lurch. Abbey checked to make sure she'd fastened her seat belt, but relaxed slightly when she realized nothing outside the window was pa.s.sing with any speed as Dr. Ford aimed the Sidekick toward the parking lot exit.

Out on the road, they continued their sedate pace in the left-hand lane, with a few drivers pa.s.sing in the right lane offering them some finger gestures for their trouble. Dr. Ford took little notice and seemed content to drive under the speed limit with his hands at nine and three.

"Let's start at the beginning then," said Dr. Ford. "The stones have been around for a long time. They were created by a group of witches who wanted to create a kind of oracle. This whole region is a former enclave of witches. You may have noticed all the names around here. They're all witch related. Coventry comes from 'coven'. Coventry Hill in particular was an old witching area, which is why the magic is so strong around there. Stairway Mountains, Circle Plateau, Moon River, Greenhill, they're all witch references. It's funny how people don't even notice now..." Dr. Ford stopped talking while he signaled left and slowly moved his car into the left-hand turn lane. When the light changed, he turned with a wide arc.

"Anyway, they were trying to create an oracle so they could read their futures. They succeeded-but there were some glitches. Or maybe the glitches were intentional to prevent witches from abusing the power of the stones. The doc.u.mentation is a bit limited. Anyway, the glitches, or the controls, however you want to look at it, gave rise to the rules. It's important, though, for you to understand that the stones don't show the future that's necessarily going to happen. Querents see one of their possible futures. The stones are intended to show you your personal potential, what you could do, not what you necessarily will do. They also give warnings. If you're going down the wrong path, the stones will show you where you could end up. They were the last part of the Trials that witches used to take when they were sixteen. The goal was to help the witches make wise choices with respect to their lives. But one of the glitches is that everyone else in the world also makes choices with regard to their lives. So, the stones can only forecast the potential future based on the querent's energy signature and abilities." Dr. Ford stopped talking to make a right turn.

"The key," Dr. Ford continued, "is you can only change the future on this side of the stones. If you try to change the future when you're on the other side of the stones-and believe me, some people do-you create what's called a paradox, and you end up in Nowhere...which is a very bad place, and really inaptly named, because it is really more nowhen. But I suppose being in a place without time is much the same as being in a time without place." Dr. Ford pulled in to the parking lot at the hospital and smiled brightly at his pa.s.sengers. "And now the fun begins." He gestured to the silver Jag parked two cars down. "I see our friend is already here."

"Maybe we shouldn't go in," said Abbey, making no move to undo her seatbelt.

Dr. Ford smiled again, but there was a tightness around the edges of his cheeks. "There is nothing to be gained by running from what you fear."

"Is that in the witching handbook?" Simon asked.

Dr. Ford laughed. "No. That's a Dr. Ford special. Mantis wouldn't dare do anything to tarnish his image. Threatening or hurting children is certainly not something he would risk in a public place. My guess is that he's going to get someone else to do his dirty work in a back room. So, anything we can learn by observing him here is only to our benefit. As long as you don't take any candy from him or get in his car we should be okay."

"Yeah, right, we won't get in his car. We've already established a pattern for not getting in his car," muttered Abbey.

"One more thing," said Dr. Ford. "You said Mantis might be trying to kill one of you."

"Yes," said Caleb. "Well, we think so."

"Can you tell me...I a.s.sume you've been through the stones a few times. Was there anything remarkable about any of your potential futures? Are any of you potentially important people in the future? A person that someone might want to get rid of, say..." Dr. Ford trailed off.

"Caleb was..." Abbey started and then stopped. She wasn't supposed to know or tell Caleb. She grasped for words. "Caleb was with us each time. He should answer that."

Abbey saw Caleb looking at her out of the corner of his eye, his brow furrowed slightly. He took the cue though. "Well, Abbey and Simon seemed like important people. We think Simon was a computer programmer, and a pretty important one. We went on a s.p.a.ceship in his future. We think Abbey was a scientist in a lab. Maybe. But we don't know. My future was just all dark. I could've been dead in a ditch in my future for all I know. But we actually didn't meet ourselves. We just had feelings."

Dr. Ford had nodded throughout Caleb's speech. "Well, you can't meet yourselves. It's one of the rules, and the closer you come to your future self, the sicker you'll feel. Your future self will feel the same way. It's a safety mechanism to keep you away from each other."

"Oh," said Abbey. "That's just how I felt, when we were in Livingstone Labs. I thought I was going to throw up."

Dr. Ford turned his gaze on Abbey, his white fuzzy eyebrows in the air. "Did you say 'living stone'?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Interesting. And a computer programmer. That might be of relevance to Mantis. One can't ever make a.s.sumptions of course. And," he rotated back to Caleb, "your future may have seemed dark, but the stones speak in strange ways. That's why, historically, querents have only been allowed to go through when they have an advisor and are prepared for what they might see. All right. Let's go."

Dr. Ford undid his seatbelt and opened his door. Caleb followed suit.

Simon started to get out of the vehicle but Mark mutinously crossed his arms in front of him. "Germs," he said. "And that bad man."

Abbey stopped in the middle of extricating herself from the backseat and looked back at Mark. "But don't you want to see your mother? And you'd be safer with us. Safety in numbers."

Mark shook his head. "Germs." Abbey imagined how they would force Mark's large frame out of the back of the SUV. Caleb and Dr. Ford had already crossed the parking lot to the hospital doors.

"I'll stay with him," Simon said. "We can watch for Mantis."

"Are you sure?" Abbey asked.

"Yup. Mark and I will chat. See if he can remember anything else of use to us."

"Be careful," Abbey said, feeling as if there were many ways this could go wrong.

Abbey jogged across the parking lot after Caleb and Dr. Ford. The managed air of the hospital blew out of the gla.s.s hospital doors at her as they slid open. She sucked in her breath and tried not to think about what might lay inside.

Mrs. Forrester had been moved from the ICU. With Dr. Ford accompanying them-claiming to be Mrs. Forrester's brother-things moved a lot faster. Abbey followed Caleb and Dr. Ford down a maze of hallways with beds and food carts in the halls.

Mrs. Forrester lay in the far bed of a double room. The near bed sat empty, the hospital-issue sheets folded back with tight precision. The mauve slatted blinds had been pulled open and weak rays of natural light fell across Mrs. Forrester's bed. Her eyes were closed, but she was no longer surrounded by a flotilla of machines.

Mantis sat by her bedside. Abbey found her breath coming in strangled bursts. His silvery locks swept back from his forehead and gathered around his shoulders in an array of controlled curls. He wore a navy suit, well-cut, and of fine material. High cheekbones gave his face a sculpted aristocratic look, and when his eyes came to rest on the new arrivals, Abbey could see they were a cerulean blue, like the barest shallows of a tropical ocean. He wasn't as old as she'd originally thought from the gray hair. She guessed just over sixty.

Dr. Ford didn't hesitate on his trajectory. "Ah, Sylvain, so nice to see you."

Mantis nodded. "Paul. I've been wondering when you might show up."

Dr. Ford stopped at the end of the bed, resting his hand on the tan blanket that covered Mrs. Forrester. It seemed like a casual move, but Abbey noted that his fingers curled into the depths of the blanket. "How is she?"

Mantis shrugged. His eyes suggested a look of sadness, as if he actually cared about Mrs. Forrester. "Hard to say. It was an ischemic stroke. She can move and see, but still can't speak or understand. The next two days are critical, but she could make a full recovery."

"Were you with her when it happened?"

The turquoise eyes narrowed slightly before Mantis's face relaxed into a broad smile. "Yes, I was." He looked beyond Dr. Ford, at Abbey and Caleb. He nodded. "Caleb, nice to see you again. And I a.s.sume you must be Abbey. Pleased to make your acquaintance. You can call me Sylvain."

"How do you know who we are?" Abbey's words hung in the air.

The blue eyes widened fractionally. "Why, Francis told me about you, of course. You are, I believe...her lawnmowers. She speaks quite highly of your yard work."

Abbey folded her arms. "You must be very good friends for her to tell you that."

Mantis smiled this time. "Francis and I are, and have always been, good friends." This seemed directed at Dr. Ford, who appeared to visibly chafe.

But Mantis leveled his gaze back at Abbey. "And where's Mark? I a.s.sume it was you who liberated him from the home he was staying in. Where have you put him?"

Abbey opened her mouth to reply but Caleb stepped in. "Like I said before, we don't have any idea where Mark is. Why are you looking for him?"

"As I explained before, Caleb. As an old family friend, Mark is my responsibility."

"We'll let you know if we see him."

Mrs. Forrester began to make a sputtering noise. Her eyes had opened sometime during the exchange. She took in the a.s.sembled crowd, her face impa.s.sive. Dr. Ford and Mantis both reached for one of her hands on either side of the bed, each glaring when they realized what the other was doing. Mrs. Forrester tucked both her hands under the blanket.

Dr. Ford spoke first. "Francis, the children told me what happened. I'm so sorry. Do you need anything? Water, ice, the nurse, magazines?"

"She can't answer you," Abbey whispered.

"I know, but it's still best to talk," Dr. Ford whispered back. "We should probably get the nurse to check her vitals or something."

"Righto," said Caleb, heading out of the room. Abbey felt suddenly paralyzed, alone with these two strange men and Mrs. Forrester. The two men were smiling at the woman who lay on the bed. Mrs. Forrester nodded slightly at Abbey and Dr. Ford, and then everyone just stood or sat. Abbey tried to give rea.s.surance with her eyes that Mark was okay, but she wasn't sure how to do that, and even less sure Mrs. Forrester would have any capacity to interpret the look. The IV infusion pump whined in the background, delivering its predetermined dose of something into Mrs. Forrester's hand.

Mantis stood up and looked out the window over the parking lot. Abbey prayed Simon and Mark weren't visible in the car. Mantis turned back with a hint of a smile and an arched brow.

"Still driving the Sidekick, I see."

Dr. Ford flinched slightly and joined Mantis at the window. He stared out at the lot for a few seconds and then nodded, as if to himself. "Some of us aren't as inclined to abuse the opportunities we've been afforded," he said.

"What is the point of the opportunities if you don't take advantage of them?" replied Mantis, returning to his seat next to the bed.

Abbey glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 4:47. They needed to get home soon.

"Well, you've done well for yourself, Sylvain. I hear you have a new business. What is it? A revolutionary new operating system? Isn't that what your website says?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Is there a lot of compet.i.tion in that field?" Dr. Ford asked. He widened his eyes and blinked a few times, making him look more like Richard Simmons than ever. Abbey expected him to break into aerobics at any second.

Mantis appeared unfazed. "Why, yes. There always is, of course. But we aren't worried."

"I see. Been to the stones lately?"

Mantis smiled more broadly, revealing a golden tooth in place of one of his molars. "They seem to be in working order."

Caleb returned with a pink-clad nurse. She surveyed the gathering and went to Mrs. Forrester. She drew Mrs. Forrester's wrist into her hand and checked her watch. She glanced back at the group around the bed. "Only two visitors per patient. Two of you are going to have to leave."

Dr. Ford stood. "We were on our way out anyway. I have to take these children home." Abbey wondered if he'd placed a slight emphasis on the word 'home'. He smiled at Mrs. Forrester, pulled a notepad out of his backpack, sketched something in it, and handed the notebook and pen to her.

He waggled his finger at Mantis, who had leaned over to look at the drawing. "No peeking. Don't you know it's rude to read someone's mail?"

"We'll be back tomorrow," Dr. Ford said, patting Mrs. Forrester's bedside. He nodded at the notebook and patted the bedside again, as if to inquire if she needed anything. Mrs. Forrester tore the first page out of the notebook and crumpled it up, placing it under her blanket.

She moved the pen slowly and deliberately across the page, ripped off the piece and handed it to Dr. Ford. He glanced at it, nodded, folded it in half, and placed it in his backpack. "All right then, we're off. Always enlightening to see you, Sylvain. Just make sure you keep in mind the most important rule. Lex parsimoniae. The shortest distance between two objects... The stones aren't about opportunities."

Dr. Ford turned and walked out of the room.

Abbey and Caleb followed.

Abbey trotted along beside Dr. Ford. "Should we really leave her...with him?"

Dr. Ford smiled. "She was one of the most powerful witches around in her day. Far more capable than Mantis with his striving sleight-of-hand hokus-pokery. She'll be all right. And besides, I slipped a bag of pot into his bag. I'm pretty sure there'll be an opportune time to call the police and report it in the next little bit. Should keep him busy for the next day or so, I hope, since we're on a tight timeline here and all. Tomorrow, you said?"

"Yes," said Abbey.

"What did she draw, anyway?" asked Caleb.

"A camel," answered Dr. Ford, pressing the elevator b.u.t.ton.

"A camel? What do you think that means?" said Caleb.

The elevator doors slid open. "Haven't the foggiest," said Dr. Ford as he stepped inside.