15
“Oh, my God,” Weezy said. “He’s been through pure hell.”
As they’d strolled through Central Park, the Lady had covered the past year or so of Jack’s life—sketching the succession of betrayals and treachery, the circumstances of Kate’s and his father’s deaths, Tom’s mysterious fate, but going into detail about what had happened to Vicky, Gia, and their baby just this past January. Eventually they’d reached the Turtle Pond and settled there.
They’d chosen a spot near the water’s edge. The grass had been worn thin by the countless feet trampling it day after day, but that changed as soon as the Lady seated herself on the ground. Weezy watched in amazement as the anemic, beaten-down blades closest to her began to thicken and green and straighten. The rejuvenation spread in a slowly widening ripple until the grass for about a hundred feet in all directions looked like a carefully manicured lawn.
And then the turtles began to leave the water and approach. Soon a couple of dozen clustered around her, stretching their necks from their shells to stare at her.
But that didn’t last. They’d had the lawn pretty much to themselves when they arrived, but now people were beginning to straggle in, bringing blankets and kids and food. The Lady shooed the turtles back into the water.
Weezy watched them swim with their heads above the surface toward the island at the center of the pond. Birds were circling and landing there. Not far away a snowy egret stood frozen in the shallows, eyes fixed on the water, waiting for breakfast to swim by. Nearby a man was trying to help his son launch a kite but the breeze was too gentle to keep it aloft.
Granite-walled Belvedere Castle with its conical tower loomed on the opposite shore atop Vista Rock, while the horseshoe of the Delacorte Theater sat empty to their right. She remembered dragging Steve there years ago to see Hamlet at the annual “Shakespeare in the Park” series.
A lump formed in her throat as she remembered how he’d said he’d hated reading Shakespeare in school and she’d countered that the plays were meant to be seen and heard, not read. He’d come away a fan.
If only he could be here beside her now, with the Lady, learning the secrets behind the Secret History.
Weezy gestured around her. “All this peace and beauty. It’s all stage dressing, isn’t it. Built to keep us from knowing about the dark turmoil that lurks behind it all.”
“No,” the Lady said. “It’s real enough. It’s simply not the only reality. And it is just as well that what is on the other side is hidden. Revealing it would cause only panic and misery.”
“But people deserve the truth, don’t they?”
She shrugged her thin, stooped shoulders. “Why? Because you think knowledge is power? It isn’t. Behind all this is an ugly truth they are powerless to do anything about.”
Weezy couldn’t—wouldn’t buy that.
“Then why am I parsing the Compendium? Why is Jack somewhere out there trying to find the Fhinntmanchca?”
“You and Jack are not common folk. You are gifted, and he is . . . cursed.” She pointed to a woman playing pattycake with a little girl on a blanket. “Look at that mother. Would she be better off knowing what fate awaits her child if the Fhinntmanchca destroys the noosphere? Would she be happier? Would she even be out here playing with her child if she knew?”
She thought about what the Lady had said about Jack.
. . . cursed . . .
From what she’d heard, it certainly seemed that way.
A spear has no branches . . .
Those words, and their portent, made her shudder each time she thought of them.
“How does Gia handle that?” she wondered out loud.
“Handle what?”
“Knowing that someone tried to kill her and Vicky and did kill her daughter just because the baby was Jack’s?”
“She doesn’t know,” the Lady said.
“How can that—?”
“Jack hasn’t told her yet.”
“Oh.”
Not good. She could see him looking and waiting for the right time to drop that bomb, but more than six months had passed.
“An odd tone in that syllable.”
“Big, big mistake.”
The Lady turned to her. “I agree. But you sound disappointed.”
“Maybe I am . . . a little.” She wasn’t sure why.
“Because he is not perfect?”
Was that it?
“Maybe.”
“Is that fair to him? He’s never pretended to be perfect. Quite the contrary. He makes mistakes and he knows it. And though he may be the Heir, he’s still only human. I know many beings who are perfectly human, but not one perfect human being. We should not expect perfection in anyone. If we do we shall be perfectly frustrated.”
“We shouldn’t expect even you to be perfect?”
The Lady smiled. “I’m only as perfect as the beings who feed the noosphere, and they are all imperfect.”
Something occurred to her, and it made her uncomfortable.
“You know an awful lot about Jack. Are you that aware of everyone?”
She shook her head. “Because he is the Heir, I know where he is and I can find him. I pay special attention to Jack. That was why I moved into Johnson shortly after he was born. He was never aware of it, but I’ve kept an eye on him all his life.”
Weezy shook her head. “I could have used some looking after.”
“Your trials came from within and from the world around you, but they were always of this sphere. Jack has been an object of scrutiny from beyond.”
“ ‘Watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s.’ ” She winked at the Lady. “H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds.”
“Perhaps not so ‘keenly and closely,’ but watched nonetheless. It is not for me to interfere in the natural course of events in this sphere.” She nudged the dog with a foot and it raised its head. “My friend here is not so strict as I on such matters, but the fact remains that, despite how much we wish we could at times, we do not exist to influence human concerns and events.”
“Except in Jack’s case.”
“His case is different. Forces from beyond this sphere have impinged and warped the trajectory of his life. Since they originate beyond the normal course of human events, I have on occasion felt justified in stepping in to nudge him onto a less hazardous path, or to ameliorate the effects of their intrusions. I have had varying success. For instance, I was able to save Gia and Vicky. I could not save their unborn.”
Weezy thought again about Gia not knowing that the accident was no accident, and that it had been caused simply because of her relationship with Jack.
How would she react when Jack finally told her? Weezy didn’t know her well enough to say. But she had a pretty good idea how she’d feel if she happened to learn from another source: furious, betrayed, devastated.
It might destroy their relationship.
Weezy suddenly hated herself for what she was thinking.
Don’t. Go. There.
Ever.
The thought retreated, but it wouldn’t die.
“You should convince him to tell Gia about what happened—ASAP.”
“That is not my province. But you, as a friend—”
“Me?”
“If you love him, you will tell him.”
“Is that why you told me all this? I could just as easily tell Gia and ruin things between them.”
The Lady looked at her. “I don’t think you would do such a thing.”
“I’m even less perfect than Jack. And I’m not even supposed to know about it.”
She almost wished she didn’t.
“But you do. And you can tell him where you heard it. You may have an opportunity very soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s coming this way.”