“Wizards? They’ve got wizards,” Baer breathed.
“It’s like I’m suddenly living in a Tolkien book,” Grey muttered.
Clay leaned forward a little, so he could look down the table at Grey. “You should be so lucky.” Grey smirked and flipped him off around the knife still held in his hand.
“Focus, boys,” Flo said under her breath.
“We’ve been fighting the pestilents long enough that they’ve learned how things work with the Circle. After you die, you’re reborn vulnerable and without your powers. The big rush is to find you before we can get you to a safe haven and hand over your powers again. To do that, they send through as many low-level troops as they can to find you.”
“They play the numbers game,” Clay said, and Flo nodded.
“Exactly. They apparently have an abundance of hunters with no powers and no particular brains.”
“Fabulous,” Baer sighed.
“And things change when it’s clear that you’ve gotten your powers. They keep flooding us with hunters, but then they start adding in wizards.”
“It gets worse,” Jo said.
“Of course it does,” Grey complained.
Jo directed a sad look at Grey. “Some of their wizards can get into the minds of humans. Use them as willing slaves to act on their behalf, whether its reconnaissance or to murder one of you.”
“Fuck,” Baer breathed, and Jo didn’t bother to correct his language.
“You have to be cautious about who you let onto plantation land. Our spells keep out only the pestilents. Not humans. It can’t weed out humans who have been infected by their magic.”
“So, what do we do? Are we now killing humans too?”
“Not if you can kill the wizard who infected the human first. That breaks the spell,” Flo explained.
Jo pushed her nearly empty plate forward and folded her hands in front of her. “That’s where Grey’s powers also come in handy. He can see into the minds of the humans. See who has been infected. In the past, he’s also been able to track back to the wizard.”
Grey loudly dropped his silverware and started to shake his head. “No offense, but you know that none of us actually asked for this ‘special gift,’ and you three ladies are technically goddesses. Why aren’t you taking care of this little pest infestation? It should be easy with your godly powers, right?”
Okay, Clay might not have phrased it quite like that, but he’d been thinking the same thing.
Flo’s face flushed bright red, and her mouth dropped open. Clay was sure the goddess was about to seriously unload on Grey, but Jo held up one hand, stopping those words dead in Flo’s throat.
“Because we’ve already been beaten by the pestilents. We almost lost the world and all life here because of our failure. Even with our godly powers, we weren’t strong enough because they’d been stealing our powers for too long.”
“If you’re not strong enough, how the hell could we ever be strong enough to beat them?” Clay asked.
Silence fell over the table. Clay watched Flo and Jo staring at each other, seeming to communicate without words. Once again, it was Willie who broke the silence, though her words didn’t exactly make any sense.
“Because our cups only hold ten ounces,” she announced lightly.
Clay blinked at her and then looked over at Flo, who was chuckling.
“That is very true.”
“What?” Clay demanded.
Flo picked up her water glass and held it so everyone at the table could see it. “Each of us can hold only so much power. Like ten ounces in a glass. Each goddess is responsible for two powers. I’ve got earth and fire. Jo has animal and soul. Willie has water and air. That means we devote five ounces to each power. But if we give part of that gift to each of you, that means you’re not splitting your power into two directions.”
Grey shook his head. “We’re still human, though. How much power can we actually hold, even if it’s devoted entirely to one gift?”
All three goddesses smiled at them. It was more than a little unsettling, and Clay struggled to remain in his seat.
“We’ve never seen you reach your limit,” Jo murmured with a note of pride in her voice. “We believe you could hit ten someday.”
Flo smirked. “The Circle together can be stronger than just three little old goddesses.”
“Where does that leave us now? What can you do?” Baer asked. He didn’t sound reassured that they were supposedly stronger than three goddesses.
“We can protect the plantation until all six are gathered. Then you’ll have to set your own protection spells,” Jo said.
“We can also provide information about the pestilents.”
“And our past lives,” Grey pressed. “You’ve known us for centuries. You know what we’ve tried in the past. Where we’ve failed. You can keep us from making the same mistakes.”
Jo and Flo frowned, while Willie was adamantly shaking her head.
“We can…some,” Jo seemed to hedge. “We need you to use your own experiences and instincts to figure this out. You can’t lean on your past incarnations to lead the way, or you’ll spend all your time doubting yourself.”