Three Fates

other.
    “That’s just weird.”
    “And nobody we know was invited here tonight.” With a wary glance toward the doorway, Malory lowered her voice. “From the looks of it, we’re it.”
    “I’m a librarian, you’re a hairdresser, she runs an art gallery. What do we have in common?”
    “We’re all out of work.” Malory frowned. “Or the next thing to it. That alone is strange when you consider the Valley’s got a population of about five thousand. What are the odds of three women hitting a professional wall the same day in the same little town? Next, we’re all from the Valley. We’re all female, about the same age? Twenty-eight.”
    “Twenty-seven,” Dana said.
    “Twenty-six—twenty-seven in December.” Zoe shivered. “This is just too strange.” Her eyes widened as she looked at her half-empty glass, and she set it hastily aside. “You don’t think there’s anything in there that shouldn’t be, do you?”
    “I don’t think we’re going to be drugged and sold into white slavery.” Dana’s tone was dry, but she set her glass down as well. “People know we’re here, right? My brother knows where I am, and people at work.”
    “My boss, his wife. Your ex-boss,” Malory said to Zoe.
    “Your baby-sitter. Anyway, this is Pennsylvania, for God’s sake, not, I don’t know, Zimbabwe.”
    “I say we go find the mysterious Rowena, and get some answers. We stick together, right?” Dana nodded at Malory, then Zoe.
    Zoe swallowed. “Honey, I’m your new best friend.” To seal it, she took Dana’s hand, then Malory’s.
    “How lovely to see you.”
    Their hands were still joined as they turned and looked at the man who stood in the archway.
    He smiled, stepped inside. “Welcome to Warrior’s Peak.”