Dean Pritcham turned to look at him, her eyes narrow and her blood hot. “Make up your mind, Byron. I heard about the little speech you gave the kids. We’re either soldiers or educators. I think we both know the truth. We might have signed up thinking we were educators, but that was just us lying to ourselves. We’re soldiers, and we have orders. I’ll tell the students the truth about the risks, and they can decide whether to be a soldier or a student too. Get off your damned soapbox, though.”
Remington moved to the door and leaned against it. He crossed his arms over his chest. “There is a plan. The more people who know about it, the more likely it is to leak. We know that no one leaked in Miami, that those witches could see things regular humans can’t. However, we also know that their ability to see made it much harder on us. So we’re keeping this plan on a need to know basis.”
Dean Pritcham raised an eyebrow. “And we don’t need to know? You’re worrying we might leak?”
Lance shook his head. “Not you two, Pritcham. But Tina is out now, and the hexes that contained her powers no longer hold. She might be able to see. Even telling you right now that there’s a plan puts people at risk, but you two bickering like children isn’t helping anything.” Lance looked directly at Byron. “You need to decide if you’re a soldier in this or not. You’ve been a soldier before, but right now, you’re acting like an educator.”
Byron sighed and looked out the window to his right. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe not. I don’t want to see these kids killed.”
“No one does,” Remington answered resolutely. “Neither do we want to see the United States of America turned into an adjunct of the Underworld, so we have to get to work.”
Lance backed up to the door as well. “Do you want us to tell the students, or you two?”
Byron raised a finger. “I’ll do it. Alone.”
Jack knocked on Dr. Byron’s door. Marissa and Sam stood behind him. None of the three had a clue as to why they’d been called here.
“Come in,” Dr. Byron responded to the knock.
Jack pushed the door open and stepped into the office, recognizing that it would have been Claire in this position a few weeks ago. Now he’d taken the lead, and it wasn’t a position he wanted.
Dr. Byron sat behind his desk. “Welcome.”
Jack looked around the room slowly. “You’d think they’d give you nicer digs, huh?”
“Just as I thought your parents would have given you more manners,” Dr. Byron shot back before gesturing at the three chairs in front of him. “Please, have a seat.”
Jack sat in the middle chair—again, where Claire would have been—while the other two took the seats on either side of him. “We’re all kind of curious why you asked us to come here.”
Dr. Byron leaned back in his chair and turned it toward the window on his right. He stared out of it for a few seconds before speaking. “Have you told Ms. Howard what you learned about the Midwest?”
Jack looked at Marissa, matching the shock on her face. “No. We were told not to say anything, so we haven’t.”
“Tell me what?” Sam asked.
Jack shook his head. I’m not saying anything. If Byron wants to put his neck out there, he’s more than welcome to.
Still looking out the window, the professor spoke. “No reason to hide it now. Apparently, the odd sky activity was actually a god passing through the Veil. Hades, to be exact. The FBI agents are asking for you three to join them in trying to…”
He turned the chair around to face the students and shrugged. “I’m not sure what they want you to do. Only that you’re being pulled from class and put on another mission. I asked that I be the one to tell you. You all will be meeting with Special Agents Lance and Remington shortly, I’m sure.”
Jack and Marissa exchanged another glance, both of them thinking the exact same thing. Marissa was the one who said it aloud. “Dr. Byron, we’re not going anywhere without Claire. That’s insane.”
Byron ignored the comment but instead brought his attention to Sam. “Ms. Howard, do you understand what’s being asked of you?”
Sam shook her head. “Not exactly. You want me to do what they have been doing? Go out into the field?”
Byron nodded, then leaned forward onto the desk, placing his elbows on it. “That’s right.”
Jack was looking at Sam, wondering how she would respond to such an outrageous demand. She’s not ready, he thought. She’s not nearly ready, regardless of how smart or strong-willed she is.
Sam swallowed. “Do I have a choice?”
Byron shrugged again, slightly. “Not much of one, I suppose. You can either do what they’re asking you to do, or you can withdraw from the University.”
Sam turned to Jack and Marissa. “Did either of you know about this?”
Both shook their heads but remained quiet.
“But you don’t want to do it either?” Sam asked.
Marissa sank down a bit in her chair. “Not without Claire. I mean, I don’t want to do it with Claire. I don’t want to do it at all, but with Claire, we would have had a chance.”
Sam looked at Jack. “And you, what do you think?”
Jack didn’t like this situation, and he didn’t like that Dr. Byron was delivering this information. He sat up straighter in his chair. “Why did you want to be the one to deliver this news? You never have before. It was Dean Pritcham and the agents. Why this time?”
Dr. Byron smirked, leaning back from the table. He studied Jack for a moment. “You’re not as dumb as you look, Mr. Teams.”
Jack didn’t smile. “Appreciated.”
Dr. Byron’s smirk dropped. His face took on a very serious countenance. “I’m telling you because I want you to know you can quit. I don’t agree with these orders. I didn’t agree with what happened to make Claire leave. I quite honestly don’t agree with many of the government’s decisions right now. I don’t know what their plan is. I don’t know how they hope to defeat a god. I only know that none of you are prepared for this. With vampires, you were somewhat prepared. Perhaps more so with ghosts. Here?”
He shook his head and sighed. “Besides Marissa, I doubt either of you two can even tell me what weapon Hades carries.”
Jack and Sam looked at each other. They both shook their heads.
“A fork,” Marissa whispered.
Jack jerked his head back. “A what? He carries around a fork?”
Marissa smiled sadly. “It’s called a bident, or more commonly, a pitchfork. It’s like a trident, but with only two sharp daggers.”
Byron drummed his fingers on the desk. “Either way, you two didn’t know it. And that’s dangerous. There isn’t enough time for weapons. There isn’t enough time for anything. So, that’s why I wanted to tell you—to say that you can quit if that’s what you want.”
Jack didn’t like the way that sounded at all. “And who takes our place?”
Byron shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure. Maybe no one.”
Jack scoffed. “If no one does, then that means what? No one goes after Hades? He just has free reign over the world?”
The professor turned again to his window, staring out at the trees and grass. “I learned long ago that I couldn’t affect the entire world. I can only affect those around me. If you three want to join up with the FBI and go on this mission, then so be it. I’ve known you for a little while now, and I’ve grown to care about you. I just wanted to let you know my thoughts on it. I’ll support whatever you decide. I’ll help in any way I can.”
The campus felt subdued to Jack. The normal hustle and bustle of each day were absent. He saw very few people passing in the hallways and heard none of the usual chatter that usually filled the foyers. Jack led the way. He wasn’t completely sure where he was going but sorting things out needed to happen sooner rather than later.
This would be so much easier if Claire was here, he thought. We’d go, training or not, because we’d follow her anywhere.
But she wasn’t the
re. She was gone, and that meant he had a very different choice to make.
They entered the foyer, and Jack saw that it was empty. He stopped and looked at the other two. “Let’s talk about all of this.”
Marissa glanced around. “Here?”
“As good a place as any,” Jack answered.
Sam walked over to one of the couches and took a seat. “He’s for real, isn’t he? Dr. Byron? They’re going to tell us to go find this Myther.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her, wrestling with these new possibilities. She’s so naïve. She has no clue of how bad things can get.
He didn’t think it unkindly, just as a realization.
Marissa sat down on the couch next to Sam. “Yeah. Dr. Byron is completely serious. Lance and Remington should be coming to find us any minute. They don’t like wasting time.”
Jack shoved his hands in his pockets. He felt angry. “This isn’t fair.”
Marissa gave a single chuckle. “Don’t make me say it.”
Jack shook his head. “I know, I know. Life’s not fair. I don’t care, because this is a bit different than McDonald’s running out of milkshakes right before I get to the front of the line.”
Marissa stared forward with wide eyes. “That’s the truth.”
“What are you two going to do?” Sam asked, her voice was hard, as if she’d made up some kind of decision.
Jack turned his back to his classmates and stared out the room’s windows. “I don’t know. Without Claire, it all seems kind of futile. Dr. Byron is right, too. We know less about Greek gods than we do global warming, and I know fuck-all about that. No training. No weapons. No time. Yet, they’re about to come and ask us to go kill a god—”
“Maybe it won’t be to kill this time,” Marissa interrupted somewhat hopefully.
Jack snorted. “And maybe next time I’m in class I won’t be a jackass, but I doubt it,” he responded.
Sam interlaced her fingers, resting her hands between her knees. “Neither of you are answering my question. What are you going to decide?”
Jack turned back to her. “You’re a pushy one, aren’t you?”
Sam lifted a shoulder. “Only when I want something.”
Jack smirked, shoving down the comment he wanted to make. This wasn’t the time. “You sound like you’ve made up your mind. What are you going to do?”
She held his gaze and didn’t smile back. “I’m going to do whatever they ask me to. That’s why I came here—to serve.”
A glimmer of something lit inside Jack’s mind. “Were your parents in the military?”
She nodded. “My dad is a Marine. Twenty years.”
“Ahhhh.” Jack realized who Sam was at that moment. She’d been frightened at first, as anyone would be, but her childhood growing up surrounded by that service mentality came back. Sam would go whether or not they did.
Sam glared. “What’s that for? The ‘ahhhh?’”
Jack shook his head. “Nothing. It just makes more sense why you’d want to go. You’re more of a soldier than either of us. More a soldier than Claire, too.” He turned his attention to Marissa. “Well, looks like it’s you and me, Sissy. I hate to say it, but I’m going to do whatever you do.”
Marissa smiled devilishly, and Jack knew what she was about to say something regarding his wanting to chase Sam.
“Don’t even think about it,” he snapped.
Her smile turned to a smirk. “I guess let’s hear Remington and Lance out. I don’t want to decide first. Like I said, maybe the plan is different than trying to kill it.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “And maybe I'll learn to shut my mouth one day. Come on, let’s go find Agent Twiddle Fucks.”
For Jack, it was odd being in Dean Pritcham’s office without the dean. No Claire, no Pritcham, and no Frank. It was just him, Marissa, and Sam sat in front of the dean’s desk, while Lance and Remington sat on their usual couch.
Remington smiled. “Hi, Sam. I imagine you thought you wouldn’t see us again after we recruited you?”
Sam shrugged. “I figured our paths might cross again.”
Remington gestured toward Jack and Marissa. “These two are used to seeing us.”
“More than either of us would like,” Jack interjected. He turned around and looked at Pritcham’s empty chair. “Why isn’t the dean here?”
Lance leaned back on the couch and crossed one leg over the other. “What we have to say needs to be kept to a minimum number of ears. Even hers might be too many right now.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Very cloak and dagger of you. What is it you need to say?”
Remington held Jack’s gaze for a moment, then asked, “You’re angry with us?” He looked at Marissa. “You are as well?”
Marissa smirked. “Jack, do you want to handle that question, or should I?”
Jack smiled and leaned back. “Be my guest, Sissy.”
Marissa’s grin dropped, and her face grew stern. “To put it mildly, yes, we’re angry. You made our leader quit, and from what we just heard, you’re going to be throwing us into a very dangerous situation without any training.”
“Trying to throw us into it,” Jack interrupted. “We don’t have to go.”
Lance swatted Remington’s knee lightly. “Normally it’s Claire dressing us down. I sort of like this new side of Marissa.”
Remington shook his head, but he was grinning. “Speak for yourself. I prefer Marissa the way she used to be.”
Sam’s voice cut through their joking like a razor. “Enough. Maybe you all are used to this banter, but it’s not doing anything for me. What in the hell is going on?”
Lord, she’s tough, Jack thought. But, if she’s going to be on this team, she’ll need to be.
Remington nodded in agreement with Sam. “Okay, let’s get to it. Dr. Byron broke the news to you. Hades has come through the Veil, and it could mean a whole host of nastiness.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Like what?”
“Remember Griff?” Lance asked.
Both Marissa and Jack nodded. Jack leaned toward Sam. “It’s a big bird-lion creature who drinks and smokes cigars.”
Sam sighed. “Of course, it is. What else would it be?”
“Frank put us in contact with him last semester. We thought he had disappeared, but he got in touch with us again,” Lance continued. “He’s had scouts looking for any trace of the god, and he thinks he knows where he is. In fact, he thinks he knows where the entire cult leadership is.”
A chill ran down both of Jack’s arms. “The leadership?”
Remington nodded, making sure to meet both Marissa and Jack’s gaze. “That’s why this is so important. It’s why we’re willing to push forward, despite the risks. Griff doesn’t know how long they’ll be there, or where they’ll go if they leave. He only knows where they are right now.”
Marissa worked her hands nervously in her lap. “Could Griff or you guys follow them? The leaders? That would make it so we don’t have to go in now.”
Remington ignored the question. “The federal government is working with three theories on what is happening with the Veil and this mythological invasion. The theory that Lance, I, and this university is working from indicates that the tearing in the Veil is directly related to, and perhaps caused by, the cult. The leaders of this cult have been a mystery from the beginning. However, if we have them all in one place, as Griff believes we do, we—”
“Might be able to end this thing,” Marissa whispered, staring at her hands.
Jack understood how she felt. No more missions. No more marches against creatures from another world. No more risking life and death.
No more threats, he thought.
But Remington had skipped over Marissa’s question, and yet Jack thought it was the most obvious one. “This isn’t a job for us, then,” he stated. “This is a military job. Send in drones. Use warplanes and bomb the area. Hell, send in a tactical Navy Seal team and let them do the job. We don’t need to be t
here for any of that.”
Remington sighed. He reached down to his shoe and removed a small speck. “I really wish that were the case. We both do, as do all of our superiors. This has gone up to very high levels, but we can’t do what you’re suggesting.”
Marissa looked up. “Why not?”
Lance remained leaning back on the couch, calm and collected. “They’re in a major city, and there will be mass casualties if we use any kind of drones or explosives. If we try to evacuate the city, the cult will know something is happening and leave.”
Jack shook his head. “That still leaves tactical teams. Why not use them? Maybe they won’t see Hades, but if the cult leaders are human, that won’t be a problem. Send them in there like we did against Bin Laden, and everything is done. We all get to go home.”
“Hades freed Tina yesterday. Were you aware of that?” Remington asked.
Again, Jack shook his head. “No, but what the hell does that matter? Tina, Ike, or Whitney Houston. Either way, the Seals can kill the cult. This is stupid.”
Remington put his gaze on Marissa. “Do you understand the problem?”
“I hope so,” Sam interrupted. “Because I don’t.”
Marissa nodded. Her hands weren’t moving anymore. “Navy Seals don’t know any spells. I can’t imagine they read Latin either, to learn any. The Seals would go in there, but if magic was used, they’d be wiped out immediately.” She met Remington’s eyes. “You need me, not these two. You need me because I can use magic.”
Remington moved his hand back in forth in a see-saw motion. “Yes, and no. Jack and Sam can’t use magic, that’s true. But, if we ask you to come, and you say yes, there’s no way Jack is sitting out.”
Jack shrugged. “He’s right, but Sam doesn’t need to be involved.”
Marissa looked at Jack. “You don’t need to be involved either. If they need me for magic, send me in with a team of Seals, and that’s it. You’ll just be weighing people down.”
Paranormal University: Third Semester: An Unveiled Academy Novel Page 12