Excerpt: Song of the Ancients

Chapter 20: The Hidden Triad

“Sam, you’re holding out on us,” Alexis whined. “You spent the night with Nicholas and haven’t told us a thing.” She paid for our cokes and grabbed my arm, steering me to the farthest booth in the corner.
Rumor slid into the booth beside me. “Are you OK? You haven’t said a word since we left work.”
“I’m fine, just distracted.” I’d been thinking about Bella’s grimoire all morning at work, itching to get back to my deciphering. I pulled a pen out of my purse and began doodling on the napkin under my cup. I printed ‘Nicholas Orenda’ in neat block letters. Underneath I penned ‘Wakenda Ondear, and added ‘Renard Corbeau Orenda’ and ‘Bella Orenda’. There. Everything I knew about Nicholas and his family fit on one side of a cocktail napkin.
“Saaamm.” There was to be no ignoring Alexis.
“OK.” I paused, thinking back to the snowy weekend with Nicholas. “He’s actually nice. Intense, but nice.” God, that sounded so bland, considering the seriousness of our discussions – which I had no intention of sharing, not now anyway. “He has two cats, which surprised me.” I told them about Shadow and Magick, and described the house and the library. “He’s loaned me a ton of books to study on herbology.”
“Is he a good teacher?” Rumor asked.
“Priorities, sister,” Alexis chided. “The important stuff first. Is he a good lover?”
I stuck my tongue out at Alexis. “He’s an OK teacher, he likes to teach by demonstration.” I twirled the pen between my fingers, thinking. “It hasn’t really been like learning, it’s been more like just getting to know him.” As I said it, I realized that the biggest lesson I’d learned in the last month was that magic existed. There were so many things in this world beyond my control. Nicholas’ most valuable lesson for me was that these events didn’t have to be beyond my control. He could teach me to interact with my environment, to make things happen how and when I wanted them to happen. It gave new meaning to my life, new purpose.
“Saamm.”
I smiled at Alexis. “I have no doubt he’s a good lover. But I can’t prove it - yet.”
Our detailed analysis of Nicholas’ male attributes lasted until dinner time, so we ordered burgers and replaced the cokes with beers.
“Have you started your holiday shopping yet?” Rumor asked us. “Sam, are you getting something for Nicholas?”
“Oh my God!” I wailed. “I have no idea what I’d buy for that man!”
“What does he like? Does he have any hobbies?” Rumor asked.
I thought about that. “Books? Or maybe some authentic British tea.”
Alexis put on her most serious, helpful look. “What about black silk boxers?”
We both looked at her for a long beat and burst out laughing. Then we went silent again. “I’m lovin’ that visual,” I sighed, falling over in the booth in a dramatic swoon.
The waitress walked over to us, laughing. “You’re falling over from one beer?” she teased.
“No, a man,” Alexis corrected. “Keep the beer coming, we need it.”
The waitress gave us a ‘thumbs up’ and soon returned with fresh drinks.
As the waitress cleaned up the table, Rumor grabbed back the napkin I’d written on earlier. “Let’s take a look here and see if you’re destined to hook up with your sexy teacher,” she teased me. Across the top of the napkin, she put the numbers one through nine. Then she put the alphabet letters in order under the numbers. “Have you ever applied numerology to your name?” I shook my head. “Do you know Nicholas’s middle name or his birthdate?” I shook my head again. “Ok, then we’ll compare just your last names.” She wrote the number values corresponding to each letter of his name: O=6, R=9, E=5, N=5, D=4, A=1. ‘When you add these up, they come to 30, which reduces to 3.” She wrote a 3 by Nicholas. “There are certain attributes for each number, which you can compare to see if you’re compatible,” she said. “Let me figure yours and we’ll compare them.”
“You really are a gypsy, aren’t you?” I laughed. “Do you read crystal balls and tarot cards also?”
Rumor gave me a surprised look. “Of course. Don’t you?” She laughed and patted me on the arm. “I’ll teach you my trade, Sam.” She raised her eyebrows and wiggled them at me. “Reading a tarot spread by candle light is quite effective as a seduction art. Trust me.”
She put number values under the letters of my last name: D=4, A=1, N=5, R=9, O=6, E=5. When she added them up, a puzzled expression crossed her face. “Huh.” She checked her numbers again. “I’ve never had this happen before.”
I looked at the napkin. My numbers added up to 30, the same as Nicholas’s.
“Isn’t that an odd coincidence,” Alexis murmered.
For the second time, Nuin’s words reverberated in my mind: “Haven’t you learned yet, there are no coincidences?”
Rumor slapping my arm interrupted the thought. “Sam, holy crap, look at this. It’s not just the same number, it’s the same exact letters. Your names are anagrams!”
I studied the napkin she had shoved under my nose and gave an involuntary shiver.
Rumor had grabbed the napkin back and was studying it again. “OK, I see the other Orenda names. Relatives of his, I assume?” I nodded. “What’s this last name, Wakenda Ondear?”
“That’s the name Sinclair told me, the Witch of the Stones.” And the originator of the Orenda family prophesy of doom, I thought grimly.
Rumor was bouncing in her seat like a little kid in her excitement. “Sam, I don’t even need to run this name. Look!!” She arranged the letters from Ondear, first to spell Orenda, and then to spell Danroe.
I said nothing. This was beyond coincidence. I needed to talk to Nicholas.