But deep down I knew the truth.
The Ginger I had briefly seen on the other side had responded. And he wanted to know if I was real. What a find this had been. My instincts had been spot on. But… who was the Ginger, really? A retired God? A creature? A demon? Or… God, capital G, perhaps?
That made me shiver, but I squinted at my hubris. God didn’t personally text with mortals, even if this wasn’t really texting. And I was almost completely confident that God didn’t sound schizophrenic or helpless like the brief messages the man had written in the book.
To be sure, I needed to quiz Alucard about playing a prank. Typically, pranks were fun.
But something like this? Not funny. It was actually reality altering, so I needed to be sure. Or… I could just write another message, and lock up the book where only I could get it. If a response came back I would know that it was indeed the Ginger. Or some other person coincidentally using this book as a twin message board of some kind. I wasn’t even sure how the magic for that would work. But it was possible. Just because I had a response didn’t mean that the person responding was the Ginger.
I needed to ask my new pen pal a question only someone from the White Room could answer properly. And then lock up the book where only I could access it.
And then wait…
I scrunched my eyebrows, came up with a short reply, and jotted it down.
What else did I accidentally stain?
I closed the book loudly and strode over to my secret safe. One that Dean didn’t even know I had installed in the small personal bookshelf built into the very wall behind my desk. I removed the books from the shelf to reveal the wooden backing, then pressed a button concealed on another shelf entirely. The backing whisked open on invisible hinges to reveal a combination dial.
I opened the safe, tucked the book inside between a few vials and a pair of amulets I had secreted from the Grimms after our battle. I had other spares stashed around the house. There had been a dozen of the bastards, and although I had told everyone I buried them, I hadn’t been comfortable leaving items so dangerous only six feet underground. In case Indie ever lost hers, I told myself. I closed the door, spun the dial, and returned everything to its rightful place, stepping back to assess my work.
I would know if anyone came to peek. I had it monitored… both magically and with video surveillance. I heard voices from down the hall. Alucard had picked up the Reds, and it was time to go see Pandora.
Chapter 23
I bravely endured the topic of weddings, gowns, decorations, reception venue, and all that other fun stuff with my mother. Her ideas and advice were endless. But without Indie beside me I felt overwhelmed. I sighed.
“I’m sorry, am I keeping you from something?” My mother said in the tone that only a mother can. I shook my head as Alucard disguised his laugh as a cough. He leaned against the sandstone wall, discreetly studying Pandora. Well, checking her out would have been more accurate, but no one was supposed to know that.
“No, it’s not that. I’m…” I quested for words. “I’m just worried about her.”
My dad was entertaining Misha’s daughters, the recently-orphaned red dragons, after their mother had died fighting the Grimms. Alucard had picked them up from Soccer practice to meet me here. We had an appointment later, and I figured they would enjoy seeing Pandora and hanging out with Uncle Alucard for a while.
The two girls were tall and lanky, and their red hair shone like living fire, their piercing eyes watching my father intently as he spoke. The three were as thick as thieves whenever I let them be. My father seemed just as fascinated with them – weredragons – as they were with him and his stories. The two girls currently wore contacts, or their irises would have been a solid red with horizontal pupils.
Kind of noticeable. Hence the need for contacts.
I had dubbed them The Reds, but their names were Sonya and Aria.
Pandora sat on a stool, ignoring everyone as she concentrated way too hard on painting her nails. My mother had been catching her up to date on beauty trends for the last century or so. She had chosen hot pink. And she had zero artistic skill. I guess they never taught the Greeks how to color inside the lines.
My dad came over, catching the last comment I had made. The Reds trailed him like two lost puppies. “Grimm business?”
I nodded, and my mother stood to herd The Reds off further into the Armory, leaving the adults to talk in private. I turned to my dad. “Kind of. I’m not really sure. You know about her control issues.” He nodded. “Well, she is still trying to get that mastered, but she’s been exhausted lately. Passed out last night after a stressful set of events, and then a similar situation today. She looks… I don’t know, like she’s coming down with the flu or something.” I very carefully worded my answer. They didn’t need to know about my new friends, the murderous immortals. I needed to talk to Pandora about that.
My dad smiled, no doubt attributing my concern as simple love for a partner.
But I was pretty sure it was more than that. Indie had been dealing with the Grimm issues for a while. But she had never looked sickly. Then again, maybe she was just catching that nefarious flu virus, and I was being an overly sensitive groom-to-be. I sighed, deciding to simply keep an eye on her and maybe pick up some medicine if it worsened.
“Sparks. Embers. Racing through the streets like snakes. Death and destruction in their wake…” Pandora chanted like a nursery rhyme under her breath. The hair on my arms pebbled in gooseflesh. Hell of a nursery rhyme. We turned to look at her, but she was paying absolutely no attention to us. She wore typical Greek garb, a light fabric toga of sorts, leaving one dainty shoulder bare. A large pin with a symbol I didn’t recognize adorned her other shoulder, keeping her outfit in place. She seemed to sense our combined attention and looked up. She beamed brightly, flashing us a dazzling smile. “Look! What do you think?” She promptly stood up, smearing her nail polish all over the chair and the skin of her toes as she hadn’t allowed it to dry. She didn’t even notice. My mother’s lips tightened in disapproval from across the room.
“Great job,” Alucard smiled. I rolled my eyes at him.
“What were you saying, Hope?” I asked her, using the nickname I had given her.
“Hmm?” she murmured, spinning in a circle as she finally looked down at her feet and noticed the mess. “Oh bother. I’ll have to redo them…” She finally looked up at me, cocking her head to the side. “Have you followed the trails of fire? The sparks of madness? The embers of chaos?” She asked conversationally.
My dad froze so abruptly that he might as well have screamed. My mother was standing now, staring at Hope in horror.
I glanced at them, and then Pandora. “I beg your pardon?”
She blinked back, then shrugged. “Well, if you don’t know what I’m speaking of, then I’m sure you don’t need to worry about anything.” She skipped from the room on her toes as I turned to face my dad.
“What the hell was she talking about?”
His face was ashen. “I’m sure it’s nothing, son,” my father began.
“Not good enough.” I leaned forward intently. “Tell me.”
My father sighed, glanced at my mother, and then turned back to me, finding no assistance in her startled face. He steeled his features, more of his usual Type A personality reasserting itself. “Truly. If she says it’s nothing to worry about, you don’t need to worry about it. I will tell you in due time. It’s a dark story. But this should be a time of celebration. You don’t need to hear this yet.” I began to argue, but he held up a finger. “Nate, listen. If I had any concern about her warning being time-sensitive, I would tell you right now. Seeing as how it’s not, I don’t want to bring anything else onto your plate. You need to take care of Indie, and by the looks of your face when you got here, you didn’t come here to talk wedding cakes. What troubles you?”
Pandora chose that moment to return with a wet rag. She plopped down on her chair, and muttered a cur
se under her breath as the flesh above her heel caught on a splinter, drawing blood. She hesitated upon seeing the small cut, then pensively placed her thumb on the tiny drop, rubbing her finger in small circles as her eyes grew distant. She murmured a small chant under her breath, almost like a prayer. I blinked as I recognized one word.
“Achilles…” I repeated. She startled, glancing up at me.
“I didn’t realize I had spoken aloud,” she said softly.
I hesitated for a moment before answering, watching the look on her face carefully. “He asked to see you.”
She looked up sharply, mouth open but no words coming out. Alucard shifted his weight against the wall, watching us intently. “You befriended Achilles?”
I nodded. “Yes. I… well, I wouldn’t say we’re friends, but respected acquaintances.”
She smiled in amusement. “Yes, Achilles only had one friend.”
“Patroclus,” I replied.
She nodded sadly, but I could have sworn I caught a brief flicker of something darker. “Well, several others were close to him, but I’m not sure he ever let anyone else that close after Patroclus.” Her eyes grew distant again. “Of course, after his… well, death,” she smiled, obviously alluding to the fact that he hadn’t really died, “he grew quite distant, leaving Greece entirely. I saw him once after…” her eyes faded into memory. “I would very much like to see him again.”
“Of course… I’ll set up a time.”
My mother clapped softly, nudging my father with her knee in excitement. After all, she would by default get to meet him, too. Which they obviously never had done, despite Achilles living in our home town of St. Louis. I thought about that for a moment before glancing at my father. “Do you find it odd that St. Louis is so popular? It seems like all the legends retire here.”
He nodded. “St. Louis, the Gateway to the world…” he responded with a shrug.
Which seemed like an elusive answer to me, but I left it alone.
I turned back to Pandora. “Hope, should I be concerned about bringing him here? To the Armory? He is, after all, a renowned warrior, and this place is full of weapons, a lot of them Greek. Even though he’s currently under some mysterious obligation not to interact with our world for some reason.”
She frowned at that, but didn’t comment on it. “As your custodian here, I must be entirely honest with you. Anyone you ever bring here is a risk.” She glanced pointedly at Alucard, who straightened instinctively, his mouth closing with a click. She turned up the wow factor on her smile for a moment, and he practically lifted off the ground, hopelessly mired in one of the L words: Lust, Love, or Like. Her eyes briefly roved over the Reds, but they were too busy talking to themselves to notice our attention.
Pandora continued. “Anyone granted access by you has your express permission to be here as if it were their own home… which means they could… borrow any item at their leisure. If you grant them their own access, they wouldn’t even need your accompaniment to do so. The Armory would allow them to enter and exit of their own free will, borrowing as they saw fit. I do not advise granting anyone solo access. Regardless of how much you trust them. They could always be coerced at a later point, and by effect, forced to take something from the Armory against their own volition. Extorted, I think you call it. It could spread like wildfire.” I shivered at the thought. Frightening to say the least. Not that I knew how to grant anyone solo access, but I definitely would not be researching it anytime soon now.
“But to answer your question in a more personal manner, Achilles is the most honorable man I’ve ever encountered. He was born and raised in a time where a man’s word was all he had. Well, that and his spear and shield,” she winked. “But even among his peers with the same upbringing, he stood like a Titan. He is of no threat to you or the Armory. His honor forbids him from deceit. You can trust him. He will never lie.” She grinned. “Just be sure to get him to openly say what he will or will not be allowed to do. If he says it, he will not deviate. Ever. But he can be rather sneaky,” she winked.
I nodded, a slight tension leaving my shoulders. That was a relief. I was understandably paranoid about bringing anyone here. But then again, bringing these two old friends together would benefit me in both the short and long term. Achilles would remember what I had done for him, despite the risks to myself. And Pandora would have an old friend to talk to after such a long separation from the world. I actually felt good about this. Doing something right without blowing anything up or picking a fight.
“Is that why the Grimms were unable to take anything? Because they didn’t have my permission?”
She frowned thoughtfully. “In a way…” I leaned forward, catching the educational tone as she spoke. I was eager to understand more about the Armory so that I could better protect it. “They were merely passing through.” I frowned. Seeing my reaction, she scrunched her eyebrows together and placed a dainty palm on her temples. “Let’s see. How do I describe this…?” She slapped her thigh after a moment, nodding to herself. “Okay. The Grimms went on a stroll through a valley that temporarily existed inside the Armory. They were able to look to the sides and see the Armory, but it was a vision, not corporeal. It was a gateway to the Dark World.” She shivered at mention of their domain.
“I needn’t fear the rest coming back and taking anything? Creating another gateway from this… Dark World?” I added. She snapped her fingers, nodding.
“That gateway is closed, but there is always the possibility. However, they would not be able to touch or take anything.”
Which was a huge relief. Kind of. I leaned back, thumbing the stubble on my chin. “What is this Dark World?” I asked her, having never heard of it before. Hell, I had seen it, but I hadn’t realized it was important enough to have a name of its own. That irked me. I considered myself fairly knowledgeable on all things spooky. I glanced at my parents, but they were watching Pandora with interest, so they hadn’t heard of it either.
“I… I would rather not speak of it. I would prefer you do the same. Speaking of it here… I can’t be confident that doing so wouldn’t attract them. Their brothers already used this place once. Speaking of their world could possibly weaken the defenses again, or light a signal fire for them to see. And from what we’ve discussed, there are many more left behind than you faced before.”
I hadn’t thought about that. It was akin to summoning someone. Using their True Name three times was practically a bullhorn. It made sense that a place could be the same. I nodded at her. “Okay. I’ve just never heard of it before.”
She looked uncomfortable, so I dropped it.
I decided to do a bit more probing, not wanting to strike out again. “Have you ever read Through the Looking-Glass,” I asked my dad.
He nodded. “Fun story.”
I nodded. “I just picked up an old copy of the book for my personal collection.” He smiled absently, glancing off at the Reds as their voices rose for a moment. “Black leather embossed cover,” I began to describe it, figuring he would know if there was anything special about it.
He froze, and slapped his hands down onto his knees.
“Lock it up. Put it in here if you must,” a disgusted look flickered across his features at that thought, “Just Don’t. Touch. That. Book.”
I must have looked guilty. He leaned forward. “Nate, listen. Whatever you’ve already done is water under the bridge. Lock that thing up. Now. Your sanity depends on it.”
“O… okay.” I replied dumbly, feeling very foolish all of a sudden. “I take it you know what it is then? About the… White-”
He held up a hand, attempting to silence me. “Do not speak it!” He shouted.
The Reds silenced instantly, and Alucard grunted in surprise. My dad was a pretty calm guy, and it was entirely out of character for him to get so worked up about anything. I nodded slowly, letting him see I was paying attention. “Do not speak of that place. Especially not here, but not anywhere, or with anyone you care about.�
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“Anyone I care about?”
My dad nodded. “Dangerous. Beyond dangerous. On my grave, leave it alone. Please…”
It was hard not to admit what I had done, but after that warning, I didn’t know what he would do. And surely there was no harm in one comment scribbled on a page in a book.
Right?
I held up my hands in surrender. “Okay. Let’s talk about something else.” I did have one other thing I wanted to ask him. It had been bothering me for quite some time, but I had been too busy to bring it up before. He was nodding eagerly, relieved to change the topic. “When I encountered Jacob Grimm, he seemed to be entirely too comfortable with the layout of Chateau Falco. I don’t know how, but he knew passages that even I had never seen or used. Do you have blueprints stashed somewhere that I could peruse to make sure everything is buttoned up?”
He shook his head with a concerned frown. I hadn’t ever told him about it, instead brushing over the specifics of the battle. After all, I had been in a dark place following the fight with the Grimms. Indie had died. Then come back again after my period of mourning. It had messed me up pretty badly, and I had capitalized on our renewed future with zeal. “No. I never needed them. I had thought my father showed me all of her secrets. And I have shared all I know with you. I wouldn’t have thought an old pile could have any more secrets…” his face grew more concerned as he spoke. He opened his mouth to throw down some fatherly advice, but I saw the look a mile away, flashing a smile at him as I interrupted.
“Yep. I’m on it. I’ll do some digging. Maybe even swing by the courthouse to see if I can get the official record or something.” I thought about Othello, and wondered if her skills would be of any use in finding such an old document. I doubted it had been scanned online anywhere. Probably buried in a dusty filing cabinet.
Alucard cleared his throat, tapping his wrist pointedly. I jumped to my feet. “Crap. Almost forgot. We have a meeting to get to.” Alucard rushed over to the Reds, practically pulling them to their feet. Pandora watched him like a cat watching a mouse.
Silver Tongue: A Novel in The Nate Temple Supernatural Thriller Series (The Temple Chronicles Book 4) Page 11