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theorize that the reason the Chosen Ones is such a successful legend is because there’s a sense of continuity. Do you know that every seven years, a new seven Chosen are drafted to become protectors of the innocent?”

    “I did know that.” He had not been happy about it, either.

    In the throes of relentless enthusiasm, she said, “I’ve got a book that tells all about it. Wait here.”

    A month ago, Aaron had been called to the Gypsy Travel Agency, a casual invitation he’d found odd in the extreme. Yet in his line of work, he found it best not to let oddities go uninvestigated. Once there in the cast-iron building that housed the agency, he’d been called before the board of directors, a bunch of white, business-suited, humorless men who laid the facts on the line.

    They knew what he did for a living, they knew how he did it, and if he hadn’t signed the contract agreeing to go to work for them as one of this cycle’s Chosen Ones, they would have betrayed him to a certain Japanese businessman, a businessman with a grudge and the money to carry that grudge to its most extreme. It was blackmail, pure and simple, and if Aaron had not agreed to their terms, he would be dead by now.

    But frankly, he’d signed their contract, then barely escaped the blast at the Gypsy Travel Agency when he and six others, strangers to one another, had been taken to be confirmed as the Chosen Ones. In the days since, their seer had been almost killed by one of her visions, he himself had been far too close to death for his own comfort, and his prospects weren’t looking any too cheery for the immediate future. Just getting to the Arthur W. Nelson Fine Arts Library had been an exercise in caution.

    Yet for all their travails, the remaining six Chosen had bonded together, swearing fealty to one another and to their mission.

    Now, if only Rosamund and her prophecies could help guide them in the right direction.

    Rosamund returned with a leather-bound book, blew the dust off the top, and showed him the cover.

    Taken aback, he said, “You’ve got a copy of When the World Was Young: A History of the Chosen. ”

    “It was published by some obscure press in the early sixties as the definitive story of the Chosen Ones, and best of all, it’s in English.”

    “Yeah, that is helpful.”

    Flipping to the table of contents, she found what she was looking for, then opened to the right page and read, “ ‘For seven years, the Chosen Ones are required to work tirelessly under the one they elect as leader to save abandoned children like themselves from the clutches of the Others. Then if they wish, they’re allowed to retire, as another group is brought in and trained to help the innocent.’ ”

    “Does this book, or any of the texts or paintings you spoke of, indicate what happens when a tragedy occurs, and all the Chosen are killed?” Or blown up the way the Gypsy Travel Agency had been blown up?

    “Oh!” She lifted a finger. “Interesting that you should mention that. According to the Greeks, the Chosen Ones made Athens their home for centuries, and in 430 BC, at the height of their power, a plague of some vicious disease swept through the city. Of course, there continues to be debate as to the exact nature of the plague, and how it came to the city, but according to the historian for the Chosen Ones, it was introduced by the Others. The resulting misery and death killed almost a third of the populace and most of the Chosen, and caused Athens to lose the Peloponnesian War. Athens never recovered her former glory, and eventually passed her dominance to Rome.”

    “So when the Chosen Ones fail in their efforts—”

    “Death, suffering, and disaster result.” Rosamund sounded cheerful enough, but then, she didn’t believe in the Chosen.

    He had the gift and the mark of the Chosen. He was looking disaster right in the face.

    In the five days since the blast, they had lost one of their own new members, and been forced