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Fenn leaned back in his seat, the subtle movement seeming to capture everyone’s attention. “Yes,” he said. “Though none of us are fond of the Horsemen reference, if you don’t mind.”
Tamping down on her flash of humor, Sienna said, “I’m sorry for lying. That was honestly my idea, I didn’t think either of you would handle ‘hey, I brought the Grim Reaper home for Christmas!’ all that well.” She offered each sister an honest, shameful smile.
Maya snorted into her coffee.
Piper inclined her head. “That’s fair.” She looked between them and Sienna recognized the crinkle in her brow that meant a hard question was coming. “But I also think it’s fair if I ask a couple of questions. First, is it still true your touch is lethal? I can’t think of any other reason you’d go to the trouble of warning us away.”
“Every living thing I touch dies,” Fenn replied. “Within seconds.” He let the words hang heavily in the air. “There are two drastically different exceptions. Florence, if the contact is brief enough, can heal herself given time.”
Piper frowned. “And Sienna. That bit was true, I presume.”
Sienna let out an awkward laugh. “Yeah, pretty much that whole story of me just grabbing him and unknowingly taking my life into my hands was true.”
Maya leaned forward. “How—why—would Sienna be immune to something like that?”
“That’s why I’m here,” Fenn said. “If there’s an explanation, my goal is to find it.”
Sienna propped her elbow on the table, angled to look up at him. “Yeah … how is hanging out with me and my sisters for the next two or three days going to help with that, actually? I mean, you promised you would, and I’m totally holding you to that, but I don’t get it exactly.”
Fenn was silent a moment, his gaze downcast and brow pinched. “Originally,” he finally said, “I had hoped that learning more of your family story would provide the answer.”
A memory popped into Sienna’s head and she sat up straight, snapping her fingers in excitement. “I figured it out!” She swung her gaze around the table to be sure she had everyone’s attention. “It’s the goddess that Gran always said blessed our family like forever ago. Supposedly that’s why the females in our family line have weird powers, like we do, and it’s the most obvious explanation for why I can touch you!”
Fenn stared at her, one brow arched sharply on his forehead. He looked less than convinced.
Piper groaned. “That’s an old fairytale, Sienna. Something Gran told us to help us feel special instead of like freaks.”
“But Mom could—”
“It doesn’t matter what Mom could do,” Maya said. “Even if it was true that some goddess from the past once influenced our bloodline, that has to do with our abilities. How does that tie in with your immunity?”
Sienna looked between her sisters for a minute, frowning. “We’d have to test it.”
Both her sisters gaped at her.
“Sienna.” Fenn said only her name, but it was clear he was equally unimpressed with this idea.
“Obviously I don’t want anyone to die,” Sienna said quickly. “So we’d have to be smart about it.” She began gesturing as she explained the plan unfolding in her mind. “It would have to be Maya who took the risk—”
“Wow, do you hate me?”
Sienna ignored her. “That way, if it went bad, Piper could do her thing and rewind time to back before Maya came into contact with Fenn. And then we’d know if it’s a familial thing or a me thing.”
Maya propped her chin on the heel of her palm. “I only might have to die first.”
“And you know full well I’ve never used my ability to restore a life,” Piper said.
“But youcould,” Sienna insisted. “As long as you were ready.” She didn’t point out that Piper herself had theorized as much when their parents had died years before. There was no need to tear open that wound.
“There’s a gaping flaw in that plan,” Fenn said flatly.
Sienna twisted to face him. “What do you mean? I thought it sounded pretty good, actually.”
“Under ordinary circumstances, Piper might have the ability to reverse a recent death.” He wouldn’t know for certain unless she tried and gave him the opportunity to analyze her power. “But if the life lost is actively ended by me, that becomes their irreversible point of death.”
A cold silence fell over the table and Sienna swallowed. Quietly, she asked, “What does that mean?”
Uninterested in explaining the concept and functions of the Fates, Fenn instead said, “Think of death as a destiny. Currently, Maya has many years ahead. But if my power ends her life, whether I consciously wish it or not, that moment becomes her altered death destiny. So even if Piper reverses time, when that precise moment inevitably returns, Maya will die. It will be, as the saying goes, her time.”
