by Wall, Nathan
“That was Franklin,” she replied, cutting him off.
“Whatever, it’s been a long day.” He rubbed his face and stepped between the tables. Claire was sitting with her chin resting on her hands, which were laid flat on the tabletop. “Don’t you have anything to add to this?”
“Like anything I do or think has much of a consequence.” Claire rolled her eyes.
“Shit, you two.” Austin rested his hands on his hips. The self-prescribed haplessness in the room was almost tangible. He pointed at Claire. “You, buck up and quit moping.”
“I’m not moping,” Claire whined. She looked at Lian who smirked and nodded in agreement with Austin. “Whatever.”
“And you,” Austin added, pointing at Lian.
“Who, me?”
“Yes, you.”
“What about me?” she asked.
“Stop snooping on the good guys and start working your magic on the unknowns. I don’t want to stay around here any longer than we have to. I don’t have a good vibe about this place.”
“Is that one of your new spider-senses?” Lian giggled, casting playful flutters of her eyes toward Austin.
“Stop it.” That shit was pissing him off. Madame Patricia really didn’t give an answer as to why Sanderson had decided to separate Lian from her brother. Something wasn’t meshing well and he needed all those he could trust to pull it together. “I’m just going to say what we’re all refusing talk about: what the hell is wrong with Jarrod?” Claire’s eyes vaulted up and Lian stood straight. He waited for them to add something to the conversation, but nothing came of it. “He’s still our friend…”
“Is he?” Lian asked sharply. Claire shot her a look and Lian continued. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, but we don’t really know what we’re dealing with. The Double-Helix would break down test subjects in a matter of months. It’s been over a year for him. Maybe instead of physical decay it’s warping his mind.”
“He’s still our friend. So whatever it is, we deal with it and take it on the chin if we have to.” Austin stood rigid and squared his shoulders, expressing a dominant pose. The ladies were visibly unimpressed. “God knows he’d do whatever he could for us.”
“I could try talking to him?” Claire sounded unsure, as if prodding for affirmation. Lian and Austin ignored her to banter back and forth.
“Austin, he nearly ripped your arm off,” Lian chided.
“But he didn’t. And he stopped a container from crushing me,” he replied. She gave him a ‘so what’ smirk and cupped her hand behind her ear. That irritated him further. “You convinced Jarrod and Sanderson to walk into a trap while Charon and Argus launched a full scale assault. You then nearly beheaded Sanderson…”
“I was under Maya’s influence, in case you don’t remember.” Her nostrils flared as she scowled and turned red.
“How’s this any different?” He cocked a satisfied grin when the words slapped her face and sealed her lips. Immediately, guilt rooted out the happiness he felt putting her in her place. It wasn’t like him. “I only wanted to point out that you of all people should know what it’s like to not be yourself, and to have someone else fudging with your upstairs.”
She nodded. “I’ve been a bitch.”
“A massive one,” he agreed.
Her eyes widened and her face went flat. “Let’s not get too excited about that admission.”
“I’m gonna hear about it later, aren’t I?” he asked, but she continued to stare in silence. “Yeah. Dammit.”
“None of this solves the Jarrod issue, or the lack of any real answers we just got,” Claire said. The others looked her way and she sunk back in her seat. “Right?”
“Completely.” Austin squinted at Lian. He was going to get answers from Madame Patricia, no matter what. Lian reluctantly waved him off.
Jarrod returned just as Austin was about to march off. He seemed out of it. Austin put his mission on standby, worried that the worst was about to happen. His longtime friend looked up, released a heavy sigh, and sat next to Claire to bury his forehead into her shoulder. Claire rubbed the back of his head and nodded at Austin that they were fine.
“Keep me posted on them,” Austin whispered to Lian as he pulled her in close. She kissed his cheek and nodded.
He wandered through the building. It was immense—much larger than it appeared from the outside. It was strange how so many spacious rooms and hallways could be crammed into one tiny hut. Then again, was it really a hut or was that some sort of illusion to fool anyone who might try to sniff them out?
Austin approached a room at the far end of the hallway. Harold and Madame Patricia spoke quietly, oblivious to Austin’s presence. Curious, Austin pressed his back to the corner of the maple-panel wall and listened.
“He’s not to be trusted,” Madame Patricia said softly. “The others are going to push back. The changeling and powerless one should be easy to contend with, but the mind reader will be a handful.”
“Why did you send for them?” Harold’s whisper was more like a quietly forced grunt. “We could’ve easily just ignored them. Maybe they would’ve been caught and dealt with accordingly. The Assassins have a bounty on them. You know what that means, right?”
Assassins? Austin thought.
“You can’t trust Svarog. He’s a jilted coward.”
“You just said we can’t trust Jarrod either,” Harold retorted. “You’ll have to pick a side. At least cowards are known for spilling their guts.”
“There are plenty of sides to choose.” Madame Patricia took a sip of wine. Her eyes moved in Austin’s direction. He pulled his head back and disappeared in the shadows before she could see him. “The age of revelation is fast approaching. It is best to juggle all sides until there are fewer to choose from.”
“As far as the celestial clock is concerned, these are mere infants. What use are they?” Harold asked with a frustrated growl.
“Did you not see what those infants did in Moscow?” Madame Patricia giggled. “That was half of a legion’s army laid to waste like a Sunday brunch. Imagine when the baby’s appetite grows into a teenager. Will you be so quick to dismiss their side then?”
“The smart play would be to hand them to the Assassins and gain favor with the Archangels,” Harold quickly replied. He spoke so low and fast that if it weren’t for Austin’s heightened sense of hearing, none of it would have been understood. “Don’t let the children grow.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Madame Patricia bellowed. Austin caught her jetting to her feet through the distorted reflection of several silver plates in a display case. “Jaden’s kind is being hunted down…”
“Yeah, by the Assassins.”
“Shut your yap until I am done speaking.” Energy shot from her hands and a shockwave rippled through the air like a tsunami, scattering the furniture in the room. “This is not a forum for open debate. You will not speak over me.”
“Yes ma’am.” Harold leaned back away from her with his head down.
“The truth of the matter is that the woman detective that continuously snooped around where she didn’t belong may have—unknowingly—been onto something.”
“Emma?” Harold asked.
“Yes, now don’t mention that bitch’s name again.” Madame Patricia raised her hands and the furniture realigned itself. “She was so fixated on the Ourea, that one girl, and Durga’s gem, that she never thought to think why that girl. She was so busy looking for a religious reason behind it.” Madame Patricia leaned over a chair and wrung her frustration out on it, snapping the wood in half.
“That’s right,” Harold said with pep in his voice. “When we was rummaging through her partner’s belongings, Oreios said it was odd his kind would be up in this part of the world, preferring warmer climates. Emma…” Harold choked back the name when Madame Patricia glared at him. “I mean, that bitch said she was just looking for that type of religious fanaticism. She didn’t think to broaden it to other kids.”
“It was about the type of kid, not just the ritual.” Madame Patricia and Harold went silent. Austin could sense his presence was being observed, so he turned the corner to get the inevitable over with. Madame Patricia appeared none too shocked. “Catch an ear full?”
“Plenty of it.” Austin nodded. “Care to explain to me how Oreios was marching around here when he was supposed to be in custody? Did you break him out?”
“It would be a mistake to think a man like Oreios was being kept in custody without allowing himself to be.” Madame Patricia grinned. She looked at Harold and continued their conversation. “There were other children being used in similar rituals. Children that shared similarities with the girl that female detective was fixated on. We need to find out more about them, and just how those Ourea were tracking them down. We do that, and we can protect Jaden from the man who is coming to get him.”
“And who would that be?” Austin asked, standing as such that he demanded Madame Patricia’s attention.
“An ancient one just like me.” She looked at him with an unnerving force. “He’s not the type to be trifled with.”
“And you are?” Austin asked, squinting at her.
“That’s beginning to change.”
“What about the Assassins?” Harold shivered at the mention of their name. Austin was intrigued. The way Harold fidgeted meant he’d run into them before. “They’re out there and they won’t stop until they get what they’re after.”
“Have you learned nothing from history?” Madame Patricia asked. “You of all people should know what the Assassins are capable of.”
“I do,” he said, lowering his collar to expose three jagged scars at the top of his chest, just below the clavicle. “They killed my family when the Saxons came. The mark from that day reminds me every waking hour.”
“You would hand us over to them?” Austin grabbed Harold by the shirt and lifted him off the ground with ease.
Harold growled through his teeth, “You know the old saying mate: if you can’t beat them...”
“Then you try harder.” Austin tossed Harold backwards. “You’re no different than anyone else we’ve come across.”
“Then maybe you should start to catch on,” Harold replied, rubbing the back of his head and adjusting his clothes as he stood. “I’m afraid you’ve worn out your welcome. This realm no longer offers you safe harbor.”
“That’s not for you to decide, Harold,” Madame Patricia snapped.
His breathing intensified. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Now you intend to tell me that I’m wrong?” She swiveled in place, folded her arms, and ground her teeth. Austin could tell she meant business. “If we’re reexamining someone’s welcome, maybe we should start with yours?”
“I’ve been like a son to you. I have followed you in everything, and this... You choose them?” Harold shouted. His hands were shaking, as was his jaw. His right eye twitched. “If you think Set and his cronies don’t already have you in their sights, then you’re the fool. The best thing to do is slap a bow on this lot. Everyone loves a good Christmas present.”
“It’s not just them you would be handing over, Harold. It’s the collateral damage.” Madame Patricia snapped her fingers and a pink vapor trail stabbed through Harold, dragging him into a rift until he was gone from their sight. She fell to her knees, holding back cries. “Harold, what did you make me do?”
Austin froze in shock. Even though he didn’t trust Madame Patricia much more than he already had, he knew that whole expulsion scene wasn’t for show. The anguish she held in her forehead, cheek and jaw was a dead giveaway of as much. If she could easily dispose of someone obviously so close to her, then what would she be willing to do to him and his friends? What was she really protecting? He had to know.
“He had a point,” Austin said.
“He usually does, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t misguided.” She stood and walked over to an unopened bottle of wine. The cork popped out and into her palm with just the wave of a hand. She poured two glasses and gave one to Austin. He didn’t dare to refuse it.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy you chose us over him, but you’re insane if you don’t think he’s running to these Assassins now. Unless you killed him.” Austin thought about it for a second. He was nervous to ask. “Did you kill him?”
“No.” She sipped her wine. The volume in her glass suggested she had a thirst for it, but the slow, uninterested way she sipped it suggested it was the furthest thing from her mind.
“Who is taking Jaden’s kind and how do we stop him?” Austin asked, drinking a good amount of the wine in order to brace for the answer.
“It’s sweet you feel like helping, but really you don’t have to.” She smiled at him. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not doing it for you.” Austin emptied the glass into his belly and set it aside. “If Heaven’s real, and they’ve got these Assassins that have Harold that scared, they mean business. You shook them off like they were nothing. You threw Harold out like yesterday’s newspaper. Why? What has you so worked up that the raging bitch I met when I first got here is all of a sudden sitting on her hands?” Austin took the bottle and poured himself some more. He was talking serious shit to a woman who could easily tear him apart with the snap of her fingers. More courage was in order. “I’m not in this to help you, or make you feel better or more at ease with the many poor choices I’m sure you’ve made over the years.” He took another big swig. “I’m doing it because I love Lian, and her brother is incredibly important to her, as he seems to be to you. So maybe through this common goal we can get past the lies or the blatant omission of truth, air out our secrets and get something done.”
“I like you.” She smiled, drinking her wine.
“And I like this shit.” He finished his second glass. “So, we cool?”
Madame Patricia tipped the bottom of her glass in the air, but kept her eyes trained squarely on him. She looked at the empty bottle and then cocked her eyes at Austin. He nervously awaited her answer.
Chapter Twenty
Jarrod III
Everyone was frantic and talking over one another. The jumbled roar of their bickering raked across Jarrod’s brain louder even than the voice that only he could hear. This was all wearing thin. Athena was barking at Madame Patricia about casting Harold from their realm. Lian was yelling at anyone standing close by, wanting answers about ‘her kind’ and asking ‘why she and her friends don’t just leave with her brother’. The only one who resembled anything close to calm was Jaden.
The boy sat in the corner, kicking his legs with his feet dangling several inches off the ground. The bowl of pudding on his lap held more intrigue than the constant arguing of grownups.
“Must be delicious,” Jarrod said to himself, smirking. He folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. Jaden noticed him and mirrored the movement. “Chocolate?” Jaden nodded. Jarrod grinned. “My favorite. I like whipped cream on top. Ever had that?” Jaden shook his head no. “We’ll have to change that sometime.”
“Don’t you have anything to contribute to all this?” Lian poked Jarrod’s shoulder. He didn’t bother acknowledging her. “I’m talking to you.”
“No, you’re yelling.” Jarrod moved to sit by Jaden, pulled a quarter from his pocket, and spun it on the tabletop. He gently flicked it with his finger to keep it spinning. “The trick is to wait until the quarter is at the perfect speed and to lightly nudge it. Do it too hard and it’ll fly off the table. Do it too soft and it’ll fall flat. You try it.”
“You can’t be serious right now.” Lian slammed her hand over the quarter and pushed it off the table. “We’re being hunted. Did you hear that?”
“This is news to you?” Jarrod laughed sarcastically. “Seriously, when do we not have someone trying to bring us in for a science experiment, some douche trying to slit our throats, or some whore-mongering bitch trying to seduce us into joining her army? This is just another day at
the office. You want me to get worked up over it?”
“Trust me, no one wants you worked up.” Austin pulled Lian away from Jarrod’s personal space. “Just, ya know…”
“Supposedly I don’t know what I know, so you tell me.” Jarrod shrugged and threw his hands up in the air like he was giving up. This was all getting old, and he wanted to break the cycle. He didn’t trust himself, but he trusted himself more than he did Madame Patricia or anyone else who might be playing games. All options were dangerous.
It was time to part ways. His friends felt like they were walking on eggshells around him, and maybe they were. He couldn’t really help that. In fact, he had his own demons that needed attending to. Certainly it wouldn’t be a good idea to throw himself into a situation where the voice in his mind was in a position of influence. That was no way to help his new family.
“I still understand not why Harold was expelled,” Athena said, pacing in circles. “He was our most trusted ally.”
“I had the same question,” Austin added. “Obviously Miss P. here is hiding something.”
“I am ready for a fight.” Athena smacked her left palm over her right fist. “Let them bring whatever force they want.”
“The truth is Jaden wasn’t the only one brought to me for safe keeping,” Madame Patricia replied with a weary voice. She rubbed the tension from her face and spoke through her hands. “You were brought to me by an inside source. If your existence is revealed then there will be many brought into the light and whole realms of Descendants all over creation will die.”
“So this isn’t just about me and my brother?” Lian asked, as if offended.
“Sorry girly, but the world doesn’t revolve around you,” Madame Patricia said sassily. “You’re here now. You’re more than welcome to try things on your own, but you can’t have your brother.”
“As if you can stop me!” Lian yelled, Austin trying to restrain her. “Look at me, old woman. Do you know who you’re messing with?”