The Vault of Destinies (James Potter #3) (96 page)

"Good advice indeed," a woman's voice said brightly. The sound of it echoed all around, rendering it huge and directionless. James startled, as did the rest of the group. All eyes scanned the dark space, seeking the speaker, but no one was evident.

"Who are you?" Petra called out. "And why have you attacked our world?"

"That's not the question you
really
want answered," the voice replied, still echoing broadly around the cavernous room. "Here, time may not mean much, but I assure you, in the world from which you come, it is still marching along as always, and there are things we must attend to, you and I. Let us not waste precious minutes on trivialities."

James raised his voice and ventured, "Where's the crimson thread?"

"A better question," the woman's voice answered, smiling, and a thin beam of light came into view, cutting through the heights of the room and alighting on a previously unnoticed scene. James turned toward it and was surprised at what he saw. A collection of utterly prosaic furniture was laid out in the unmistakable arrangement of a bedroom. There was a narrow bed and side table, a chest, a desk, and a high-backed chair, turned so that it faced away from the travelers.

Petra's hand squeezed James' suddenly, nearly hard enough to hurt.

"The thread is there," the woman's voice echoed in answer.

James squinted toward the light. A small silver jewelry box sat open upon the desk. Visible just inside it was an opal brooch. Spooled around this, glinting in the light, was a length of metallic red thread.

Zane gasped. "The missing thread!"

Petra moaned, "My father's brooch!"

James broke away from the group. Steeling himself, he approached the desk, which stood nearest of all the furnishings. When he reached for the brooch, however, his hand froze. He felt the veins of his fingers go brittle a moment before the flesh crackled white all the way up to his wrist. Tendrils of icy vapor trailed behind as he yanked his hand away and hugged it to his chest, crying out in shock and fear.

"That was unwise," the woman's voice said, smugly amused. "But instructive, I am quite sure. Only she who owns the brooch may approach it."

"Why are you doing this?" Petra demanded, striding toward James and taking his hand into both of her own. After a moment, James cried out again as the feeling returned to it. He flexed his fingers experimentally and then glanced thankfully at Petra.

"I am not doing any of it," the woman answered, and James finally thought he saw her. A figure stood disguised in the shadows beyond the beam of light. Even in the darkness, he recognized the shape of her—the hooded robe, framing that beautiful, arrogant face. It was the woman he had first met in the halls of the Aquapolis back at the beginning of their journey. It was Judith, the Lady of the Lake.

"You are right, James," the woman said, as if reading his thoughts. She stepped forward slightly so that the light reflected up onto her features. "But only a little. I have taken the form of the woman that Merlinus once loved, but I have also adopted a trace of the woman your sorceress friend bargained for. If she looks at me closely, she will see it."

Petra peered past the beam of light toward the woman on the other side. Her face paled. "Mother?" she whispered.

"I am both and I am neither," the woman answered lightly, waving a hand. "I have borrowed from the shape of Merlin's Judith and your own mother, my dear, partly because it amuses me and partly because it was the condition of the bargain."

"The bargain," Petra said, still whispering. "But… I didn't kill Izzy. The dreams I had at the beginning of our journey were wrong. Izzy
didn't
die in the lake on that night. I called it off. The bargain was never completed."

"You didn't kill Izabella," the woman corrected, "but you
did
kill. You sent your stepmother into the lake in your sister's place. By doing so, you only changed the
conditions
. The bargain itself was fulfilled. Your destiny insisted upon it. Thus, rather than recalling your beloved mother from the afterlife, you got… me. I arose from the lake on the night that you murdered your stepmother. You recalled me from the mists of the netherworld, my dear, in the place of your mother. I wish I could say that I was sorry, but alas, I am not."

"
Who are you
?" Petra asked again.

"This is still not the question that begs to be asked," the woman replied impatiently, "but if you must know, I am a Fate. There are three of us, although not in the way that you might think. The other two Fates do not know their own identities, and for now that suits me just fine. My true name would be unpronounceable to you, so you may simply call me Judith or the Lady of the Lake. I enjoy both titles."

"Why are you doing this?" This time, it was Lucy who approached. She stood next to James.

"Why?" the woman said, raising her eyebrows in a surprised smile. "Because it is
my
destiny. And because I enjoy it. Need there be any other reason?" She laughed. "The truth is, I have been working toward this end for nearly a year by your time—almost since the moment I arose from the lake's surface. It took me some time to find all of you, but once I did, I knew that you would lead me to where I needed to be. I even assisted when it was absolutely necessary. And sure enough, you led me to Alma Aleron and that delightful device known as the Vault of Destinies. The rest was eerily easy."

James felt Zane and Ralph join him now. The group was once again complete.

Petra's voice turned cold as she said, "What is it you want?"

"Still the wrong question," Judith scolded, her smile turning brittle. "Soon I will grow impatient with you. Stop wasting our precious time. We have work to do."

Zane spoke up then, his voice trembling slightly. "Give us back the crimson thread!"

"That is a demand, not a question." Judith sneered slightly, turning her pretty face piggish for a moment. "And I cannot grant your demand at any rate."

Petra made to reach for the brooch, around which was twined the tantalizing thread, but Judith chided her warningly.

"I would not be so bold, dear one," she teased. "The brooch can only be taken by she who owns it."

"But I own it!" Petra exclaimed. It was nearly a plea.

James took one more step forward, placing himself at the head of the group, his hand still intertwined with Petra's. "Will you," he asked, framing the question with great emphasis, "give us back the crimson thread?"

"
That's
the question I've been waiting for!" Judith cried out, clapping her hands with glee. "And I have an answer for you, James Sirius Potter, you wonderful, bold young man. The answer is no."

"Why not?" James demanded, barely stopping himself from reaching for the thread-twined brooch again.

"Because that is not the crimson thread!" Judith exclaimed, delightedly. "And because the
real
crimson thread does not
wish
to go back!"

As Judith spoke, James perceived movement inside the beam of the light. He turned toward it and saw that there was someone else in the castle with them, someone who'd been there the entire time, seated on the high-backed chair, turned away from them. A pale hand moved on the arm of the chair, gripping it as the figure stood, arose to her full height, and turned around.

"You wonderful fools," Judith breathed triumphantly, gazing at the young woman who now stood in the beam of light. "You failed to understand the true meaning of the Loom. That length of thread you see wrapped around the brooch is only a symbol.
She
is the
true
Crimson Thread, drawn through the Vault of Destinies from her own dimension, just as the symbolic thread itself was plucked from the Loom. As long as the symbolic thread stays here with us,
so… does… SHE
."

James was speechless. He stared into the beam of light, unable to take his eyes from the young woman standing there, smiling weakly. Her hair was long and dark, framing a face he knew very well except for the eyes. There, he saw only a hollow deadness, lurking just under a pall of misery. Except for the eyes, the young woman standing inside the light, at home in that odd bedroom assembly, was Petra herself.

"Izzy," the other Petra said, her voice cracking into tears. "I'm so sorry I killed you."

"It was
you
I dreamed of," Petra said, staring at her sudden twin. "Not me. In
your
world, you were too late. You killed her."

The other Petra nodded slowly, not taking her eyes from the Izzy that stood just outside the light.

"So that's
your
brooch," James said, nodding toward the jewelry box. "You never went on the ocean journey with us, so you never lost it."

"This is not the Petra you know, James," Judith replied, finally moving into the light. "In her world, she never came to your home seeking refuge. Instead, she gave herself over to the destiny that claimed her on the night she killed her sister. She has abandoned good and forsaken love. She has nothing left, which is why she was so willing to join me. And after all, why wouldn't she? I am her mother. She paid for me. She paid very dearly."

The other Petra responded to this by leaning her cheek onto Judith's shoulder.

"Petra," James called out sharply, speaking to the young woman in the light. "That isn't really your mother! Haven't you been listening? She's some evil beast from the netherworld, bent on creating chaos! Petra, she's not even really human!"

"Don't call me that name anymore, James," the young woman in the light said sadly. "Petra is no more. Now there's just me, Morgan."

Judith nodded slowly and smiled. "My 'daughter' and I have been very busy ever since I drew her into your world. You see, the rules of the Nexus Curtain do not apply to either of us. She is not of your dimension and I am not human. We may pass through as we wish, although doing so does have its consequences. Dimensions don't respond well to two of one person occupying them at the same time. Whenever my Morgan passed into your world, your Petra fell asleep. In truth, I suspect she even faded from your world, and slept here, on this very bed, trading places with Morgan. I suppose they
could
exist at the same time in the same world—for a time, at least—but it would not be without its own strange consequences. The fabric of existence would reject such a duality, and would strive to annihilate one of the dimensional twins, all in the name of balance. But this is neither here nor there. The fact is, we have passed through into your reality, on several, important occasions. We have, in fact, had quite the busy little lives in your world."

James suddenly thought he understood. He narrowed his eyes angrily. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing. "
You
killed the leader of the W.U.L.F. and took over!
You're
their new leader!"

"Oh my, no," Judith laughed again, delightedly. "No, no, no, you silly boy.
I'm
not the leader of the W.U.L.F." She gestured affectionately toward Morgan. "
She
is. She killed Edgar Tarrantus. Frankly, she was doing the man a favor. He'd grown so very
political
in his old age that he was very nearly a joke. More importantly, she killed the Muggle politician. They'd had other plans for him, of course, but Morgan here can be quite persuasive. In death, Senator Filmore will serve a much greater purpose. And besides, American politicians are, as they say, a dime a dozen." She laughed as if she'd made a small joke at a party.

"Why couldn't you just stay in your own dimension?" Lucy called out suddenly to Morgan, her face pale but stern. "I'm sorry that you bollixed it all up and killed your own version of Izzy, but why do you want to go spreading your misery around to somebody else's dimension?"

"Why, that's simple," Morgan said, raising her cheek from Judith's shoulder. She shook her head, as if amazed that the answer wasn't completely obvious. "Because in your world, Izzy is still alive. Mother told me so. Here, I can get her
back
."

And then, with horrible suddenness, Morgan made a beckoning motion with her right hand. Izzy jerked away from Petra and flew into the light. Morgan caught her and instantly drew a hand down over the younger girl's face, putting her into a deep sleep. Izzy slumped.

"I'm sorry, Iz," Morgan said, nearly sobbing with relief. "I won't ever let you go this time. This time, I'll keep you safe."

Petra was rushing forward into the light, but she was completely unprepared for the bolt that struck her, emanating from Morgan's outstretched hand. Petra flew backwards, bowling into James, Zane, and Ralph, who toppled behind her.

"Stop this!" Lucy cried, running forward with her wand in her hand, pointing wildly ahead of her. She had nearly made it to Izzy, was reaching for the younger girl's limp hand, when Judith acted.

James saw it, but was helpless to stop it. He opened his mouth to cry out, but it happened even before he'd drawn the breath to scream.

"Die, little one," Judith laughed, and flicked a finger at Lucy, as if she was merely a fly. A bolt of green exploded against Lucy's side. Her head jolted sideways as her body flew into the air, turning almost gracefully. Lucy flew out of the light, dead in midair. Her wand fell from her hand and clattered to the rug, making no noise. There was a rolling thump as the girl herself dropped onto the shadowy stone floor fifteen feet away.

There was a pause of completely shocked horror. For one long, terrible moment, James refused to believe what he had just seen. Then, with perfect finality, the reality of it fell upon him and he cried out, using the very breath that he had drawn to warn his now dead cousin.

"NOOO!"
he shrieked, screaming the word so long and loud that sweat sprang out on his brow and his vision doubled. He saw Judith laughing at his horror, saw Morgan clutch Izzy even closer to her, ignoring the dead girl on the floor nearby. Zane and Ralph were clambering to their feet, moving as if in a daze. Between them, Petra seemed too stunned to speak. Her eyes were so round, her expression so utterly transfixed with shock and rage, that she looked as if she couldn't even move.