by I. T. Lucas
“You can ask him to stay a little longer,” Syssi suggested. “I’m sure Kalugal could do without him for a day or two. Right, Jacki?”
“I can’t speak for Kalugal. The truth is that I have no idea what those two do all day, but they are always together.”
“It won’t make much of a difference,” Edna said. “Besides, I have my own work to keep me busy.”
Syssi pushed to her feet. “I feel for you. There is no easy solution for you and him. Would a margarita make you feel better? Amanda and I will have to do with a virgin version, but I can make yours and Jacki’s loaded.”
Edna smiled. “Thank you. I could use something with a little bite.”
“Can you make mine weak?” Jacki asked. “Or on second thought, make mine a virgin too. I’m not a big fan of alcohol.”
Amanda grimaced. “I hate virgin margaritas. They are nothing but fancy smoothies.”
“It’s a small price to pay for your miracle.” Syssi walked over to the bar and opened the fridge.
“How are you feeling?” Edna turned to Amanda. “Are you getting nauseous in the mornings?”
“Not at all. I feel great.”
“I didn’t ask before, but what made you suspect that you were pregnant?”
“I was getting tired easily. In the middle of the day, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and I had to put my head on the desk and nap for a few minutes. When it kept happening day after day, I knew that something was up. And since we don’t get sick, that was the only logical conclusion. But it still took me almost a week to get a pregnancy test. I was scared, and I kept postponing it, hoping that the feeling would go away.”
“I bet you are happy now that it didn’t.”
Amanda sighed. “I wish. I still have moments of sheer panic, but I also have moments of incredible joy.”
“What about you, Syssi?” Edna asked. “Do you get scared sometimes?”
“Nope. I wanted to have a child for such a long time, and I’m enjoying every moment of the pregnancy.” She handed one margarita with a paper umbrella to Amanda, and the other to Jacki. “I conduct entire conversations with my daughter.” She went back to the bar and brought Edna a glass without an umbrella.
Amanda chuckled. “That’s sweet, but I think you should have a talk with Vanessa. What if you are having a boy? Imagine how he feels knowing that you want a girl.”
Syssi rubbed her belly. “I know that I’m having a daughter.”
Amanda lifted a brow. “No doubts, darling? Life is full of surprises. What if you are having twins?”
“I’m not. There is only one heartbeat.”
“If their heartbeats are synchronized, they might sound like one. Bridget needs to give you an ultrasound. You are pregnant enough to find out the baby’s sex. No more guessing.”
“Yeah, you are right. But Bridget has ordered a new ultrasound model that provides better imaging than the one she has now. I’m waiting for it to get delivered. I saw the images it produces, and they are simply amazing. You see the baby as clearly as if the camera was inside the uterus.”
Amanda looked down at her flat belly. “I wish I could find out the sex of my baby too. But it’s too early. It has to be a girl, though. I’ll go nuts if I have to wait for a boy to reach puberty before he can be turned immortal.”
“Don’t think like that,” Syssi said. “A moment ago, you admonished me for my conviction that I’m having a girl and addressing her as one. If you psych yourself up for a daughter and then discover that you are having a boy, you might feel disappointed, and that will affect the baby.”
Jacki snorted over her paper umbrella. “Just call it the baby until you find out what you are having. Wouldn’t that solve your problem?”
Amanda laughed. “You are absolutely right, but I have a better idea. I will call mine Tiny.”
Stifling a smile, Syssi shook her head. “No child of yours and Dalhu’s is going to be small. You should call it Colossus.”
“That’s awful.” Amanda rubbed her belly. “I’ll call my baby a precious miracle.”
57
Edna
All the talk about pregnancies and babies was making Edna wistful, and jealous, and a little resentful, which in turn made her angry at herself.
It wasn’t Syssi and Amanda’s fault that her situation had no easy solution. She should be happy for them.
“I talked with Merlin,” Jacki said. “He told me that I should wait six months before trying to get pregnant because I need to fully transition first. But since Kalugal and I aren’t using contraceptives, it can just happen, right? Maybe we won’t need his potions. I hear that they are awful.”
“They are.” Syssi took a sip from her glass. “I think he does it on purpose to make sure that the couples seeking his help really want to conceive.”
Amanda waved a dismissive hand. “Some people think that it’s all psychological and that his potions don’t do anything and they are just placebos. So far, you are the only one who’s gotten pregnant with his help, and it could have been a fluke.”
“How many are trying?” Jacki asked.
“Let me think.” Amanda tapped her finger over her upper lip. “I know about Bridget, Vivian, and Gertrude. I know that Callie is not, and neither is Wonder. Ella is not ready either. I think Ruth is going for it, but I don’t know about Sylvia and Sharon. I don’t think Tessa is ready either.”
“What about Kri?” Jacki asked.
“I don’t think so. She and Michael are too busy with work and school. They are both attending an online college.”
Hearing about all those happy couples with their uncomplicated lives didn’t make Edna feel any better. Maybe she should join the men outside and ask Kian for one of his small cigars.
Except, she didn’t smoke, and the cigar would only make her nauseous, and not for the right reasons.
“What’s the matter, Edna?” Amanda asked. “You were smiling, and now you look like you have a sour lemon stuck in your mouth again.”
“Amanda!” Syssi gasped. “That’s such a nasty thing to say. Edna is upset because Rufsur is leaving later tonight. Leave her be.”
Amanda shook her head. “Come on, Edna. I know that there is more to it. Talk to me.”
Edna put her margarita glass down. “I wish there was a simple solution for Rufsur and me, and that I could join your lovely discussion about pregnancies and babies.”
“You can have a baby with Rufsur,” Syssi said. “Even if you get pregnant right away, which probably won’t happen that fast, by the time the baby is born, a solution might present itself. I know that you are opposed to the idea of Kalugal and his men joining the clan, but that is Annani’s ultimate goal, and what Annani wants, she eventually gets.”
Syssi’s words brought about a surge of hope that started deep in Edna’s belly and radiated up to her face, but then reality slapped it back down. “Annani rarely orders Kian and Sari to do things they are opposed to, and there is no way Kian is going to agree. Not unless we find a workable solution. But Rufsur and I have been wracking our brains, and I even consulted with William, but so far, Rufsur has hit a brick wall with Kalugal. He’s not willing to compromise. I didn’t try Kian yet, but I have a feeling his response will be the same.”
Syssi leaned forward. “The last time we talked, you were vehemently opposed to the idea of Kalugal and his men joining the clan.”
“I changed my mind. As you said, life is not black and white, but a million shades of gray, and things never fit neatly into the boxes we build for them. You said that you prefer a messy box to an empty one, and I realized that I also don’t want my box to remain empty, but since my tolerance for mess is limited, I need to find a workable solution. Rufsur and I came up with the idea of forming a federation of two independent communities. The problem is that Kalugal is not open to it at all, and I doubt Kian is either.”
“He is not.” Syssi grimaced. “I guess we all got the same idea after Kalugal made the comment about Sari and her p
eople moving here, and the two arms of the clan forming a federation. I talked with Kian about it earlier, and he is not willing to consider anything. He doesn’t trust Kalugal.”
“Kalugal is the same,” Jacki said. “Rufsur came over earlier, and the two of them had a long talk. I guess it was about the federation idea because neither of them looked happy, and Rufsur left right after.”
Edna sighed. “Kalugal told him to choose a different female.”
Syssi gasped. “He didn’t!”
“I’m afraid so. But after Rufsur explained that we are serious about each other, Kalugal offered him additional days off so he could spend more time with me. Perhaps we should just accept that instead of trying to move mountains.”
Amanda put her hand on Edna’s arm. “For now, this arrangement will have to do. But I bet my mother will find a way to convince my brother to give it some further thought. It just doesn’t make sense to me that we can’t find a way for the two communities to coexist independently when there is no real conflict of interest between us.”
58
Eleanor
Eleanor hefted her suitcase into the trunk of her rental car, got behind the wheel, and turned the engine on.
Scrolling through the notes on her phone, she debated which address to input into the GPS first.
The Airbnb house that she’d rented was in San Mateo, only a fifteen-minute drive from the airport. The mansion was a little farther away, but she’d already decided that she was going there first.
The two-hour nap she’d caught on the plane wasn’t nearly enough, and she was fighting fatigue, but she could power through another hour. If she didn’t do at least a drive-by, she wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.
Checking the GPS, she found a drive-through Starbucks and headed there to load up on coffee first.
Half an hour later, she arrived at her destination, drove by it once, twice, three times, each time snapping more quick photos with her cheap burner phone. The quality didn’t matter. What mattered were the security cameras she’d noticed.
It was a good thing that she’d kept her sunglasses on, and her hair gathered in a ponytail. Tomorrow, she was going to get a different car and change her appearance, so even if she’d been caught on camera, they wouldn’t recognize her.
Parking one street over, she went over the photos she’d taken of the house, the fence surrounding it, and the street it was on.
The location was problematic.
The house was in the center of the small street, and the trees lining the pavement on both sides were mature, but not big enough to hide her even if she ditched the car.
Perhaps the other side of the house was more approachable. She needed to check that possibility and drove to the street where the back yard terminated.
As she’d expected, there were security cameras on the back fence as well.
She needed a cover, a disguise that would make her invisible.
Given how rich the neighborhood was, gardeners and housekeepers coming in and out of houses were probably a common sight, and no one paid them any attention. Perhaps she could pretend to be a new maid who had gotten the wrong address and just buzz the intercom?
Except, they wouldn’t let her in.
She needed to watch the house to figure out the best way to infiltrate it, and a maid’s costume wouldn’t help her with that.
What type of work justified street presence?
Eleanor chuckled. If she could get her hands on one of the vehicles that the city used for street cleaning, she could make rounds back and forth all day and no one would take any notice of her.
The problem was finding one. There weren’t many of those, and she didn’t have time to comb the streets for one she could commandeer. Perhaps she could call the municipality and ask? Her talent worked over the phone, so she would get the answers she needed provided that she reached the right department.
Yeah, good luck with that.
She could spend all day on the phone and never get to the person in charge of dispatching those vehicles.
She needed to come up with something better than that, but that wouldn’t happen while she was exhausted and her brain was foggy. She needed a good shower and a good night’s sleep.
With a sigh, Eleanor turned the ignition on and drove off.
59
Kalugal
“I don’t know why I’m doing this.” Kalugal puffed on Kian’s cigarillo. “I don’t even enjoy smoking.”
Kian leaned back and crossed his legs. “We are social animals, and we like sharing activities. I enjoy smoking alone, but it’s more fun in company. Same goes for a glass of good whiskey.”
“That, I like.” Kalugal lifted his glass from the side table and took a sip. “Whiskey is an acquired taste too.” He smiled at Kian. “I’ve been drinking much more of it since we became acquainted.”
Kian chuckled. “Don’t tell your mother. She’ll think I’m a bad influence.”
“On the contrary. My mother is overjoyed that we are cooperating and spending time together. She hopes that our ties will further strengthen.” Kalugal cast a quick glance at Rufsur, who was talking with Dalhu. “As do some of my men.”
“We are doing the best we can, cousin. Rome wasn’t built in a day either.”
Kalugal sighed. “I wish there were more of us. We could have built city-states like our ancestors did.”
“Someday, we might.” Kian took a puff. “Except, I doubt there will ever be enough of us to have our own sovereign country.”
“That would be nice.” Kalugal stubbed out his cigarillo. “We could find an unpopulated island like my father did. We could have our own unofficial country.”
Kian chuckled. “No, thank you. Navuh is, or rather was, in the business of war, so he can have his base wherever he wants. You and I are businessmen, and even in this internet-connected world, we need to be close to where things are happening. Besides, I don’t like the idea of living on a secluded island. I like to be able to go to a nice restaurant in the city or take my wife to see a show or a musical.” He grimaced. “Not that I get to do those things often. But having the option matters to me.”
“I feel the same way. When I was more involved with the stock market, my base was in New York. But when my interests shifted to new technologies, I moved to the Bay Area, where most of the startups are.”
Kian nodded. “My primary reason for choosing Los Angeles was its size and the movie industry. Our philosophy has always been that hiding in plain sight was the best strategy to avoid detection by your father. This village is a slight departure from that philosophy, but after one of our chief programmers was murdered in his home, I realized that it was not enough and that I needed a place where I could better protect my people.” Kian glanced at Dalhu. “The Fates have a really twisted sense of humor.”
Kalugal followed his cousin’s gaze. “Even though I wasn’t aware of the clan’s lore until you told me about the Fates, it seems like they decided to include my men and me in their grand scheme.”
“Lucky you.” Kian saluted with his drink. “Thanks to them, you have Jacki.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Kalugal clinked his glass with Kian’s. “By the way, did Nathalie speak to her ghost?”
“She couldn’t reach him, which reinforces my belief that it was the Fates’ doing.”
Kalugal wondered whether Rufsur and Edna’s relationship was also part of the Fates’ grand scheme.
Rufsur’s proposition had taken him by surprise. The guy had been a loud opponent of even coming to the village, and now he was pushing for unification.
Was he even in love with the judge?
He’d talked about having a child with Edna, but he hadn’t mentioned loving her.
Except, he’d compared his feelings for her to what Kalugal felt for Jacki, which meant that he thought of her as his one and only.
Kalugal still remembered his own response to learning of Jacki’s potential dormancy. His first thought had been that
she could give him immortal children. Thoughts of love and a life-long relationship had come later.
His lieutenant was probably going through a similar process, but it seemed like he was getting very close to the conclusion that Edna was his mate.
The unselfish thing to do would be to free Rufsur and let him join the clan. But that was too risky.
If Rufsur shifted his loyalty to Kian, he might reveal Kalugal’s grand plans, and that would be disastrous. With Annani having the power to override Kalugal’s compulsion, his secrets would not be safe even if Rufsur didn’t wish to betray his trust.
And even worse was her ability to compel him, something even his father couldn’t do. With one verbal command, she could prevent him from achieving his life’s ambitions.
There was no doubt in his mind that Annani would do that. His goals might be similar to hers, but his methods of achieving them were very different. While Annani believed in empowering humans and steering them in the right direction by providing guidance and technology, Kalugal wanted to do the work for them.
If she got a whiff of what he intended, his aunt would do everything she could to stop him.
While her method appeared morally superior, his method was faster, more efficient, and might save humanity from annihilating itself along with the immortals living among them. Even if things never got to that critical stage, compared to Annani’s snail-paced efforts, his faster approach would save millions from needless suffering.
Nevertheless, Rufsur’s plight tugged at his heart, and Kalugal would love to find a solution for his friend. Perhaps he could convince Kian to let Edna go? After all, Annani could compel her to keep the clan’s secrets safe, so that shouldn’t be an issue. And as for her legal expertise, the clan must have members who’d studied law, and she could train one of them to take her place.
The question was how to present it to Kian without him overreacting and immediately assuming the worst about Kalugal’s intentions. His cousin had a short fuse, and he wasn’t the most rational person. Perhaps it was a good idea to bring it up while Turner was around. Which reminded him that he still hadn’t gotten to play chess with the guy.