Calypso Magic (Magic Trilogy 2)

"He is my son!"

"Yes, and he must be stopped."

She shuddered and buried her face in her hands. She moaned softly.

Lyon walked to her and put his arms around her. "I am sorry," he said, "truly sorry. Will you speak to Lucien now?"

"He will hate me," she gasped. "He will despise me for bringing madness and death to his island."

"No," Lucien said from the doorway. "I won't despise you, my dear, but Lyon is quite right, you know. Daniel must be stopped."

Lyon met the older man's eyes from across the room. He wondered how much Lucien had heard. He patted Deborah's back and gently eased away from her. "We must find Daniel," he said very gently. "You know that."

"Yes, I know."

Lucien said, "We will speak of this later, Deborah. Come, my boy."

"Daniel, it's my cave! You found my cave!" Diana whirled about to grin hugely at Daniel.

He merely returned her smile as he dismounted from Tanis' back.

"Yes," he said, turning to face her, "I guessed it was your cave. I found camping things and clothes that I figured belonged to you."

Diana also dismounted and tethered Salvation to an oleander bush. "Have you done much exploring?"

"No, I'm much too large to get about."

Diana giggled. "Even I am too large for much exploring."

"You never found another way out?"

She shook her head.

"Shall we go inside?"

"Lead on, big brother!" She shivered and wrapped her arms about her. "I always forget how very cool it is inside." She remembered quite clearly that afternoon she and Lyon had spent here, and unconsciously, she smiled.

"Did you and Patricia speak of other things, Diana?"

She blinked at the unexpected question, but replied readily enough, "No, not really. All this awfulness, Daniel, well, I know that Patricia knows more than she's telling. I'm sorry, but from what she told me today, well ---"

"What did she tell you?" His voice echoed strangely about her, very low, very deep.

"Things that didn't make much sense. She spoke of monsters."

"Ah."

"Oh, let's not speak of it, at least for now. Listen, Daniel, can you hear the sound of water? I know there's an underground lake."

"Perhaps you will find it, Diana."

"We haven't the time to hunt for it, I'm afraid."

"My mother isn't well, you know," Daniel said after a moment.

"She is naturally upset."

"Yes, and soon, very soon, she will not be able to keep things quiet. You see, she loves your father."