by G. E. White
“I can see that.”
Once again, the mini-van in front of them slowed, though no signs or lights dictated the action.
Perhaps they’re lost.
The woman sighed in exasperation. “Okay that’s it,” she said moving her hand from the wheel to the gear shift on her right.
The teen looked down at what she was doing, seeing her slide the stick shift from third gear to a position between the two extra gears labeled R1 and R2. At first all he felt was a tingling sensation, as if the air was electrified, causing the fine hairs on his arms to stand on end. But then Quinn saw a shift in the scenery outside the vehicle – the streets, buildings and cars before them were still visible though appeared to be less substantial. It was as if they were simply an image of the outside and not the outside itself. Overlapped with the faded views of the city were images of a large meadow that lead into a forest.
Quinn was reminded of when the television would occasionally get two channel signals crossed, resulting in the faded image of a Batman cartoon laid over top of the local news cast.
Once the change in gears was done, Surina, without concern for the driver ahead, stepped on the gas.
Quinn’s arms flew up to protect his face from the impending crash, yet when no collision occurred he hesitantly peered through the gap his arms created. The mini-van that had been in front now lay behind them while they continued forward, passing straight through another car. The passengers of the other car flittered by like ghosts projected onto a Hollywood screen.
Quinn expected to feel something, a chill, a rush of air, the tingle of electricity as the specters brushed by, though not even the lightest breeze disturbed his hair. "What just happened? Where are we?" he asked.
Jared gave a snort of amusement, shifting around in the passenger seat to face him. "Technically we’re not anywhere, yet we are everywhere."
"Don't say stuff like that, you're going to freak him out." Surina tilted her head towards the middle of the car to address the back-seat occupant. "What he says is not exactly true. I mean there’s some truth to it but overall he's just exaggerating."
"So what is going on?"
"As we told you Hephaestus was the one who designed and built this car. We call it the Phantasm, but despite the name we aren’t incorporeal. We aren’t hitting anything because we are occupying the space between spaces. Right now, we’re in between both the First and Second Realm. We can travel through both realms but in this state, we can’t interact with either of them.”
“So in the car we can shift between all the realms?”
Surina shook her head. “Not all of them – the materials use to build this car were specially crafted to allow travel between the first and the second. Access to the Third Realm is pretty restricted. Only a few Gods know how to get there.”
Quinn slumped back in his seat, slowly getting used to the passing insubstantial scenery. “Why only a few?”
“Some of us have been known to get a bit cantankerous in our old age," Jared said.
The teen narrowed his eyes, staring the other man down. "Which means what in plain English?"
"Which means that we don’t want to risk one of you getting pissed off and destroying a whole country, but that would only be a minor inconvenience compared to what else you could do with access to Olympia,” Surina explained, taking a right down one of the phantom streets.
“So there’s like a giant panic button there?” Quinn guessed.
“More like a giant delete button,” Jared groused. “Some gods’ responsibilities are less… well not important…”
“Yes they are,” Surina argued.
“Okay, some have more impact than others. So, we’re not going to give the launch codes to someone in charge of music, if you get what I’m saying,” Jared continued.
Quinn nodded. “So who does have the launch codes, so to speak?”
“Access is granted to only four gods: Lady Gaia, the Fates, mister popular over here-” Surina said with a jerk of her head in Jared’s direction.
“You!?”
“Yeah me,” Jared replied. “Being the one who actually feels the weight of taking lives gives me some credit when making tough decisions.”
“Wow… and the last?”
“That would be you, kiddo,” the man answered.
“Oh…” Quinn said, his tone and face a blank mask.
The rest of ride the passed in a blur for the teen, though that was not only due to the spectral plain they traveled through. Quinn’s mind spun with the implications of this new information. Not only was he part of this little club now, no, he was also one of their elite. To be honest the whole thing made him queasy.
Surina made another turn onto a mostly empty street and switched the gear shift back to the Second Realm, easily driving down the once again solid city street. Seeing a vacant parking space outside a towering condominium complex, she sharply pulled in bringing the Phantasm to stop with a jerk.
Quinn blinked owlishly, now stationary as the other two unbuckled their seatbelts.
“Quinn?” Jared called. “Come on, we’re here.
~ Chapter 15 ~
The elevator ride up to the Penthouse suite where Sebastien waited was oddly quiet. Neither Surina nor Jared had spoken a word since exiting the car, and now just silently watched the floor display light count upwards as most passengers were want to do.
Meanwhile Quinn’s mind spun with the events from the last few days. He had surprised himself with how well he was taking the whole situation. So far he had only twice thought he had completely gone off the deep end and that the whole thing was a figment of his broken psyche.
Yet he felt too much in control of the situation for it to be a hallucination. So, until he could prove otherwise it was probably best to just run with what he was given.
He glanced up at the faces of his taller comrades and smiled. Besides, hallucinations or not, the company was infinitely better than Jeremy and the others at Cedar Hills.
The thought brought Quinn back to the man they were to meet: Sebastien Azeri, Surina’s so-called employer. He had to be quite the man, that Surina would take orders from him. From what she had said so far, Quinn had deduced that Sebastien was some sort of psychic or oracle and his young mind continued to conjure up the image of a sage-like old man with a scraggily white beard, caterpillar eyebrows and circle spectacles.
Quinn shook his head to clear it of the cliché image. It was obvious that he had spent too much time in the fantasy section of the Cedar Hills Library.
The bell of the elevator chimed and the doors slid open to reveal a long corridor with only a few doors lining its walls. Quinn followed Jared and Surina to the last door the left. The woman pulled out what appeared to be a simple set of house keys and unlocked the old-fashioned deadbolt.
As she placed her right hand over the doorknob Quinn noticed a small jagged piece of metal sticking out from the knob’s base. The teen watched confused as Surina consciously pressed her thumb into the metal thorn hard enough to draw blood. The second her blood welled onto the metal Quinn heard several other heavy locks snap open.
Surina turned the knob and eased the door open ushering the other two in. After closing the door behind them she brought the wounded thumb to her lips to stem the small amount of blood flow, but otherwise appeared undisturbed. Quinn watched curiously at her actions.
Her blood must act like another key, kind of like a retina scan does in those FBI movies.
“Take off your shoes,” she instructed, proceeding to do the same.
The blonde toed off his worn sneakers and took a moment to glance around the penthouse. And penthouse it was aptly named as Quinn’s eyes roamed the sprawling room and top to bottom windows that curled around one of the corners of the apartment.
The place was the epitome of chic with its stainless-steel kitchen appliances, black granite countertops, hardwood floors, plush cream furnishings that all matched the black, cream and taupe color scheme.
> Standing at the kitchen island was a young man in his late twenties with light stubble and wavy brown hair that fell to his chin. He wore a pair of grey slacks and a white polo shirt. His back was to them as he placed four glasses on a tray alongside a white bowl holding sticks of cinnamon.
“Oy, there you are. Just in time for horchata,” he greeted, turning to them, the tray in his hand. “Hola Quinn, I’m Sebastien.”
The young man before them was definitely not what Quinn had been expecting. His lithe figure and Latin drawl coupled with the quiet, gentle demeanor made Sebastien give off the vibe of a salsa dancer turned bookworm. But then, he figured any book the man read would have to be in braille if the cloudy hazel eyes that stared forward but focused on nothing confirmed his suspicions.
Surina snorted, “Don’t act like you didn’t know when we’d be here.”
Sebastien smirked indulgently as he maneuvered around the furniture with practiced ease and placed the tray on the coffee table.
“You hate it when I act like a know-it-all and you hate when I try to play dumb - there really is no pleasing you, is there Surina?” he asked, a smile softening his harsh words.
“You’re just trying to get on Quinn’s good side before he gets to know you,” she teased.
Jared caught Quinn’s gaze behind the other’s back and rolled his eyes dramatically causing the younger man to snicker.
“Okay if you two are done flirting, I think it’s time we got down to business,” Jared interrupted, flopping down onto one of the couches.
Sebastien good naturedly chuckled alongside Quinn, while Surina huffed in irritation, a light blush staining her cheeks. The teen took the seat next to the Death God leaving Surina and Sebastien the love seat opposite them.
When all were seated, Sebastien began to serve the strange white drink with an ease that belied his handicap. Quinn graciously took the offered cup and agreed when Sebastien offer to grate some cinnamon on top. Taking a sip of the concoction Quinn was surprised to see that not only was is sweeter than normal milk but was being served ice cold.
“So you’re Surina’s boss?” Quinn asked suddenly, unsure of how to start this conversation, or even what conversation they were supposed to have.
“Is that what she calls me?” the Seer commented. “Well, I guess that’s better than calling herself my babysitter.”
“Brat-sitter is more like it,” Surina said into her cup.
“Despite what she might say, she likes me” he winked in the blonde’s direction. “As you can see, unfortunately I’m not running at one hundred percent,” he said, gesturing to his sightless eyes. “So I have Surina do some of my leg work for me, as well as some minor errands I don’t feel like doing. You see my responsibility among the gods demands much more attention than most.”
“And that would be?” the teen prodded.
“Surina never told you?”
Quinn began to shake his head before he remembered the man before him couldn’t see the gesture. “No sir.”
“No need for ‘sirs’” Sebastien snorted, “We’re all equals here.”
Yet Quinn noticed that Surina turned her head away at his words, almost as if ashamed. If Sebastien was aware of the gesture he gave no indication as he continued. “I am this generation’s incarnation of the Fates.”
Quinn furrowed his brow, “Wait, weren’t the Fates made up of three people?”
“You’re speaking of the three sisters, Clotho who spins the Thread of Life, Lachesis who measures the thread and Atropos who cuts it,” Sebastien replied grimly. “There was a time when I was known as them… I’m better now though.”
“Better?” Quinn echoed.
Jared placed his hand on Quinn’s shoulder drawing the teen’s attention. “The Fates were originally recognized as one person – an oracle that told past, present and future but the strain of that kind of information became too much for her. It ended in one of the incarnations offing herself, her mind and soul so fractured that when she was reborn she was split into three separate bodies. That was the generation where we earned our names from the Greek Pantheon, and was why the Fates are generally thought of as being three people and not one.”
“But as I said, I’m better now,” Sebastien assured. “I figure everyone is allowed a little mental breakdown once in a while, especially with a job as stressful as mine. But despite any problems I’ve had with my abilities they do allow me to see coming conflicts… to a degree. And though it might not seem like it, I’m a very busy man.”
“You need me to do something for you,” Quinn concluded.
Sebastien smiled. “Usually Surina, or Jared who has helped me in the past would be enough, but I think both you and the investigation would benefit from your participation. Think of it as on-the-job training.”
The blonde young man shifted awkwardly in his seat. “I don’t really know what I could do to help, but I’ll try if you want…”
The truth of the matter was Quinn had no clue what this man wanted of him – for all he knew they wanted him to go slay a dragon or something. The idea was far-fetched, but between three-headed dogs and dimension-shifting cars, dragons were probably a step towards normalcy. Hopefully the task he had in mind wouldn’t be too impossible.
“It would probably be better if we explained the situation first,” the demi-god scolded, taking in Quinn’s worried expression.
“You’re right,” agreed Sebastien, setting his teacup back on the tray. “So let’s start with the basics. As you know, at one time many of the gods had temples dedicated to them where their followers would gather and worship them. But all that remains here in the Second Realm are ruins, but in the First Realm they continue to thrive. Now when you think of the followers of a temple you’re probably picturing priests and priestesses, and while that’s partly true they are also soldiers dedicated to their patron god or goddess. Almost every temple teaches their followers some sort of combat.”
“So you’re worried about these soldiers?” the teen questioned.
“Si y no,” replied the blind man. “At the moment I’m dealing with three different temples – each of which held an artifact of great importance. But so far two of these temples have been broken into and their artifact stolen.”
“And what were these artifacts?”
“Stars,” Jared answered. “Well, pieces of a star – the North Star to be precise.”
The blonde twisted around to look at Jared, dubious of what had just been said.
“Tell me Quinn, what do you know about astronomy?” Sebastien asked.
“Not much,” Quinn replied, “But I know what the North Star is, I just don’t understand how pieces of it could be stolen.”
“That’s because what you know about the North Star isn’t exactly true,” Surina said. “There isn’t just one North Star, but three. Scientists have been able to figure out that much so far.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, leaning forward to place his glass on the tray before him and to better hear his female companion.
“Well you see, as the Earth orbits the sun it doesn’t just revolve, it rotates on an axis… kind of like a spinning top losing speed. So eventually, what we know as the North Star – Polaris – will change to Vega and then later on Thuban. But this rotation will take thousands upon thousands of years,” she explained.
“What scientists don’t know is that these three stars were once all part of the same star, and that this star had a physical counterpart here on Earth,” Sebastien continued.
“Physical counterpart?” Quinn asked, unsure of what he was referring to.
“Yeah, it generally looks like an enormous diamond,” Surina said. “It’s a very powerful and sought after artifact.”
Quinn sat back, taking all this in. “Powerful how?”
Surina appeared bashful as she awkwardly sang a couple lines, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are…”
“You’re kidding…” Quinn gaped.
; She shrugged. “Where do you think they got the idea in the first place?”
“So it really grants wishes?”
“Well, it used to,” Jared interjected. “A long time ago the Temples of Apollo, Artemis, and Demeter, also known as the Solar, Lunar and Earthen Temples, went to war over the star. All of them were frightened that whoever had the star would use it against them. But in a battle the Star was broken into three pieces. Now with the threat out of the way, the three temples made a truce and each took a piece of the Star as a sign of this, knowing that the other two temples couldn’t use the star against them.”
“But now two of those pieces have been stolen?”
“Unfortunately yes,” Surina huffed. “The bigger problem being that both the Temple of Demeter and the Temple of Apollo claimed that a magi from one of the other temples stole it.”
“Magi…” Quinn muttered to himself. “You mentioned that before. What are they?”
Surina scowled as the conversation strayed to one of her least favorite topics.
“Magi is a term for followers who have been trained in the magics of their temple god or goddess,” she said. “Not all followers are official magi but all of them train to be one. Now when I said there aren’t humans in the First Realm I was only being partly truthful. You see some humans descended from various incarnations of gods and goddesses can train at one of these temples if they want to.”
“You mean these temples are a ‘demi-gods only’ club?” Quinn asked.
“I didn’t say that. The other four races are allowed to study too as long as they don’t cause any trouble, though the same could be said for the demi-gods.”
Quinn nodded. “So now they think that magis from different temples are stealing from them.”
“Apparently, which could be really dangerous,” Jared retorted. “Before this, the temples had even started working together. Every few years they’d bring their best magi students together for a tournament and the top twelve from each Order would be awarded a place in one of the Twelve Houses.”
“Houses?” the youth questioned.