“And the others?” I said slowly. “You said there were two others.”

“The second one failed us. The third one the Nix cast into a different dimensional plane.”

“Where?”

“We don’t know.”

My head shot up. “You haven’t found him yet? Excuse me if the job suddenly doesn’t sound so attractive, but—”

“We have safeguards in place now. We’ve figured out her tricks.”

“So she can’t toss me into an alternate dimension?”

“Not for long.”

“Uh-huh.”

The old Fate took over, eyes sparkling. “Job too tough for you, Eve?”

“Don’t bother challenging me,” I said. “I’ll do this because I made a promise, and I always keep my promises. You’ve shown me the worst, so I’m forewarned and ready to start.”

“Good, then the first thing we want you to do is—”

“The first thing you need to do is tell me how this Nix got out of her hell, and why she isn’t going to do the same thing as soon as you toss her back in.”

“She won’t.”

“Details?”

“I’m not about to explain our security arrangements to—”

The middle Fate interceded. “We initially put her in a place protected against dimensional travel and teleportation, but, after two centuries of trying, she managed to open a portal into the kind of dimension we never dreamed she’d use as an escape route. You’ve heard of animals that will gnaw off a limb to escape a trap? The Nix knowingly leapt into a dimension that made her hell look like paradise, and did so with only the faintest hope of ever leaving it.”

“And that surprises you?” I shook my head. “Never mind. Just tell me that she won’t have that choice to make the next time.”

“She won’t.”

“Good. On to step one, then. I want—”

“We’ve already arranged a plan for you, Eve.”

“Great, and if it’s better than mine, let me know. Now, first, I want to talk to one of these ‘seekers’ you sent after her. Under the circumstances, it isn’t tough to figure out which one I’ll have to choose: the bounty hunter behind door number two, the guy you pink-slipped.”

The child Fate took over. “Can’t do it. Where he is, you can’t go. And, believe me, you don’t want to. You thought that last place was bad? Paradise compared to where he is.”

“But you said the Nix didn’t catch him. You fired him.”

“Yep, we did. Fired him right down to—”

Her middle sister cut in. “You can’t speak to him.”

“Hold on. Is this the incentive program? If I fail, you send me someplace worse than the Nix would send me? No wonder you can’t find any volunteers.”

“We didn’t punish—” She sighed and shook her head.

“The details aren’t important.”

“To you, maybe—”