Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

right . “Who’s in charge, Maia?”
    Maia took her time. “Phillip Crane pulls the strings, but he lets my father think he’s the boss. He’s a wise old man from a long line of wise old men. Nothing goes on without his approval. Then there’s Cybele a nd her devious daughters. N ow, because I screwed up, no one will ever know about this place and what they’re doing .”
    “Don’t be too sure. Ernie was working with the FBI to find the compound . They will.”
    “ You heard my father. It’ll be too late for me and for Anat and Cal. And for your policeman,” she said apologetically. “They can’t let him go.”
    Hearing the truth was much worse than thinking it. “I know. How will your father explain your disappearance?”
    “I thought you were the psychic.”
    Diana managed a weak smile . “I thought so too, but Edward Slater fooled me com pletely. Good thing I retired.”
    “Edward surprised me too. As for my disappearance … ” Maia drew a deep breath and let it out in a long , hissing stream. Her gaze connected with Diana’s. “Oh, I’ll go on an extended vacation, I guess. Maybe I’ll be hypothetically kidnapped by terrorists while troubleshooting Compton business in the Middle East . I’d be the perfect target, wouldn’t I? Daughter of a rich American held for ransom. Only they’ll never find me. Silas could arrange that, in theory anyway. He’ll be heartbroken for the world to see. He may even arrange for my body to be found. He’d enjoy the theater.” Maia lifted her manicured fingers and massaged her temples. “I can’t believe what he’s done. He murdered my mother, Diana.”
    Diana sat on the arm o f Maia’s chair. “I’m so sorry.”
    “ We didn’t start out like this. Even though Dione and I hated Selene, we believed they were building a new world, where love and learning formed the basis for a n advanced society. I thought of the Satan aspect more as a metaphor to lift the constrictions that religion burdened on the individual and free us of our inhibitions. Dione and I thought it was over the top, but we never believed we practic ed a philosophy of evil.
    “ Not until the kidnappings.
    “ Then I saw what my father allowed Nona and Brigid to become. His own daughters. His and Selene’s.”
    Diana got off the arm of the chair and crouched in front of Maia. “Those two girls are Silas’s daughters? Your sisters?” Maia nodded, and Diana rose and pace d the room. “Some psychic I am. I felt the evil, even saw it, but―” She couldn’t go on. This was more perverse than a charred, skeletal hand prophesied. Silas Compton was a monster, and puppeteer Phillip Crane pulled the strings. T o what ends would they go to advance their nightmarish ambitions ? Diana had encountered the dark side many times in her life, but neve r to these unfathomable depths.
    “Is there another compound? Somewhere they ’d go if they had to abandon this place?”
    “ Not that I know. Why, do you think there is?”
    “They knew when Ernie and I disappeared the feds would keep looking until they found us. So, yeah, there’s a nother place, an escape route. One buried even deeper in red tape than this one. ”
    Maia bit her bottom lip. She wiped away a tear. “Oh, my G od. What have they done? What have I done?”
    Diana wondered why Maia Compton never asked herself these questions before. She ’d ignored all the signs. But this wasn’t the time to add more guilt to her mountin g list of regrets.
    “Forget the self-incrimination for now.” Maia sniffled and wiped her eyes. “How did you get free to come here?”
    Maia told Diana what she, Anat, and Cal had done so far. “When Seth wakes, he’ll be furious. How could we think he’d go against his father ? He’s been conditioned to obey. But ― ”
    “But what?”
    “Something he said ―l ike no evil existed here until the kidnappings. I think he’s wrestling with his conscience.”
    “ We can only hope he’s com e to his senses. Not that it will do us any good tonight .”
    “ What if they’ve found Anat and Cal and locked them in isolation ? ” Maia got up, walked to the window, and drew back the drapes. “ I t’s so black out side . A big endless nowhere.”
    “Where are we?”
    “Exactly? I don’t know. Seth knows, but he would never say.”
    Didn’t anyone ever question anything? Then she thought how she was raised to do what her father ordered. Maybe we are n’t so different after all . “We’ve got to