Simply Irresistible Read Online Free PDF Page B

joy on their faces.
    Vivian ate her muffin, the peanut butter making her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth. She drank some orange juice to dislodge it “You do owe me an explanation.”
    Clotho nodded. “We’re trying to think of the best way to tell you.”
    “What did Eugenia tell you about the magical world?” Lachesis asked.
    “The magical world?” Vivian repeated. “Eugenia told my parents I’m psychic.”
    “And?” Atropos asked.
    “And to tolerate what happened to me, saying that it was pretty normal for someone with my abilities,” Vivian said.
    “And?” Clotho asked.
    “And that Eugenia had been psychic when she was a kid, so she understood what was going on.” Vivian frowned.
    Eugenia had said had been , as if being psychic was something someone outgrew. She never exhibited any psychic powers around Vivian that she could remember, but maybe Eugenia had had different talents. Maybe she could foresee the future. Maybe that was why she had sent Vivian that box the week before her death.
    Maybe that was what Eugenia had meant when she used to invite Vivian to Portland, claiming they were running out of time. I’m not young anymore , Eugenia would say during their phone calls.
    Nonsense , Vivian used to say, you’re going to live forever, Aunt .
    “And?” Lachesis asked.
    “And what?” Vivian said.
    “What else did she tell you?”
    Vivian shrugged. “Bits and pieces here and there. So I wouldn’t feel like a freak. Even though I did. Because I was. Am. You know. You do know that I’m psychic, right?”
    “We know everything about you, child,” Atropos said, and Vivian started. She’d never had anyone her own age call her child before.
    “Or we used to,” Clotho said.
    “And we will again,” Lachesis said, her voice rising the way people’s voices did when they were trying to cheer other people up.
    “How old are you?” Atropos asked.
    “I thought you knew everything about me,” Vivian said.
    Clotho waved a hand in dismissal. “We’re never great with details.”
    “I’m twenty-six,” Vivian said.
    “Twenty-six,” Lachesis said to the other two. “That’s old enough. In fact, that’s too old. Eugenia should have started the training long before that.”
    “Training?” Vivian asked.
    “She did tell you that she was your mentor, right?” Atropos said.
    “Well, it was obvious,” Vivian said. “No one else I ever met could have been my mentor.”
    “For your magical training,” Clotho said.
    “My what?” Vivian asked.
    “Your training, you know, how to control your powers,” Lachesis said.
    “My what?” Vivian asked again.
    “Your powers, you know, the ones you’ll come into after menopause,” Atropos said.
    “What are you talking about?” Vivian asked. “Are you saying I’ll be Super Hot-flash Woman?”
    “Your magical powers,” Clotho said.
    “I can’t believe Eugenia didn’t tell you,” Lachesis said.
    “She’s always so responsible,” Atropos said.
    “Except lately,” Clotho said.
    “She could have told us about losing the house,” Lachesis said.
    “And her change of address,” Atropos said. “If she had planned better, we wouldn’t be here now.”
    She addressed that last to Vivian. Vivian, who felt like she was only getting half of this conversation anyway, set her English muffin down.
    “Um,” she said cautiously, “you do know that Eugenia died at the beginning of the month.”
    “She what?” All three women spoke in unison.
    “Impossible,” said Clotho.
    “We would have known,” said Lachesis at the same time.
    “We should have known,” said Atropos a second later.
    “I’m sorry to tell you this way,” Vivian said. “She was murdered.”
    The three women didn’t respond to that. Instead they looked at each other, and for the first time, Vivian got a sense of them. The sense was fleeting and odd, as if they were communicating with each other telepathically.
    They were frightened. That much she could tell, even