by Bonnie Lamer
I give him a wry smile. “That’s what I thought, too. And just so you know, I grew up in Colorado.”
This surprises and confuses him. “I thought you supposedly just came from another realm?”
Nodding, I confirm, “We did. I moved to the Fae realm after meeting Kallen. I didn’t have to hide my magic or my ghost parents there. Plus, my biological father is King of the Fairies, and I need to take over for him some day.” With a grimace, I add, “I’m supposed to take over for my grandfather, who is King of the Witches here, but that is much less appealing. Honestly, since the Angels decided that my destiny is to bring harmony to the universe, finding the time to be Queen of either is going to be pretty tough.”
Kallen reaches over and takes my hand in his. Out of the corner of his mouth, he says, “My love, you are rambling a little.” He is clearly amused both by my rambling and the confusion spreading over Alonzo’s face.
“Yes, I suppose I am,” I admit. I also shouldn’t be giving out too much information about myself or the Witches to a stranger. I know Eliana has been careful to keep most of the Witches’ secrets from everyone to help keep them safe. To Alonzo, I say, “Sorry, I’m used to spending time with other supernatural beings, and they all tend to know who I am. I don’t usually have to explain myself.” Maybe I could write up a little bio to hand out in these situations to keep me from saying too much.
“Xandra has quite the reputation in the supernatural world,” Jadyn confirms.
“So, back to this Phoenix thing,” Sam says, more interested in the end of the universe than in my supernatural reputation. “I’m kind of with Alonzo on this.” He is clearly not happy about being on the same side of an argument with the guy, but he continues, “The science part doesn’t make sense.”
“Do I make sense?” Eliana asks.
Josh smiles and says, “You make perfect sense.” Love shines from his eyes when he speaks to Eliana. It’s really sweet. But, his words didn’t help her argument.
Rolling her eyes but smiling back at him, Eliana presses her point. “I mean, my existence doesn’t make sense.” Turning to her friends, she says, “I don’t know all the details of this yet, but I know enough about how things work to know that magic and science are intertwined in ways that sometimes defy explanation. If Xandra and Kallen say that this Phoenix woman can destroy the universe, we should believe them.”
I grin across the room at her. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”
Eliana shrugs and admits, “I still kind of wish you were wrong, though.”
Nodding in agreement, I say, “Me, too.”
Growing sober as a thought hits her, Eliana narrows her eyes and asks, “You aren’t here to ask me to help you kill the Phoenix, are you?”
With a shake of my head, I say, “I asked the same thing when Kallen’s grandmother first told me about it. I flat out refused to do it if that was what she wanted.” I can appreciate the relief that washes over Eliana’s face, as I felt the same way during my conversation with Isla. Neither of us are killers.
Kallen also reassures Eliana. “The Phoenix cannot be killed. The only way she can die is if she chooses to do so.”
“What can we do to help, then?” Josh asks.
Now things are going to get a little awkward. More awkward than telling them a bird is going to end the universe. “Apparently, Ra and the Phoenix had some sort of…relationship.” A bit of color rushes to Eliana’s cheeks, and mine, but I push on. “He had a temple or something dedicated to saving her ashes. The Angels believe there may be a clue there as to where to find the Phoenix.”
“Wait, the Phoenix is missing?” Jenna gasps.
I nod. “No one can find her. Not even the Angels,” I say with a grimace.
Alonzo is not content to remain silent any longer. “I thought Angels knew everything. How is it they lost someone?”
“There is only one truly omniscient Angel,” Kallen informs him. He does not add that he is currently Fallen and that he lives with us. We can only pile so much on the guy before his head really does explode. I do not want to spend my night scrubbing brains off the walls. Technically, Kallen would use magic to scrub them off because I would be way too grossed out to help, but still. It’s the principal of the thing.
“Okay, then why doesn’t he tell you where this Phoenix is?” Alonzo demands.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. He’s not allowed to share his omniscience,” I explain. “It would be detrimental to free will. We have to find the Phoenix on our own, even if that means the universe ending before we do.” It is what it is. Not that it makes it any less annoying that Raziel keeps his information to himself. I understand why he does, though. “So, we’re hoping Ra can help.”
Turning his attention to his friend, Alonzo says to Eliana almost accusingly, “I thought you couldn’t just ask the gods inside you questions?” Hmm, I’m starting to dislike the guy as much as Kallen does.
“I can’t,” she admits. “But, if Ra knows anything, he’ll find a way to communicate it with me. I’m sure of it.”
“In the meantime, we were hoping you would come back to the Fae realm with us so we can try to come up with a plan,” I tell her. “Kallen’s grandmother is much more knowledgeable about all of this than we are.”
Eliana and Josh pass a look back and forth, and my hope that they will come with us begins to fade. Turning her attention back to me, Eliana says, “We want to help, but it will be hard to just leave. We would have to make arrangements with our boss.”
That’s right, their jobs are a little different than mine. “Do you think your boss will mind?” After all, they will be helping to save the universe. That seems like a reasonable excuse for taking time off to me.
Alonzo snorts. “Mind? She’s going to demand that she be allowed to come with you.”
I glance at him in horror. “Seriously?”
He nods. “Oh, yeah. Just you wait and see.”
“This is not a sightseeing trip,” Kallen grumbles.
“No, but Liza is determined to learn as much about the supernatural as she can,” Josh sighs. “Especially since she was recently cursed.”
“Cursed?” I ask in surprise. “Is she okay?”
Eliana nods. “She’s fine now. We had a recent run in with some Witches.”
Frowning at Jadyn, I complain, “You told me about the Witches working for the ancient god, but you didn’t tell me that their boss was cursed.”
Jadyn shrugs. “I didn’t want to worry you since it all turned out okay.”
“Next time, worry me,” I grumble. Jadyn is my eyes and ears with the Witches. She helps me make sure that my grandfather is not getting too old to keep things under control. He hasn’t been doing the best job of that since Grandma left him and returned to being an Angel. Not that I blame her. They had a sham marriage after my mother left them. My grandfather is pretty weak in the character department, which he proved during that whole incident and after.
Seeing the concern on my face, Eliana assures me, “She really is fine.”
Pulling a cell phone from his pocket, Josh sighs in resignation. “We should get this over with. I assume you want to get back to your realm as soon as possible.” When Kallen and I both nod, he pulls up his boss’s number and holds the phone to his ear.
Funny, human technology is becoming odd to me. I forget how convenient things such as telephones are when I am in other realms. I admit, I still miss television and movies, too. Fortunately, Kallen and I find other ways to occupy our time.
“Liza, we have a situation. How soon can you get to our house?” Josh asks into his phone. “Okay, see you then.” Ringing off, he announces to the rest of us, “Twenty minutes.”
More than a little surprised, I ask, “She didn’t want to know what is going on?” My curiosity would be eating away at me the entire drive over here.
Josh shrugs. “She would rather hear about it in person.” Okay, I can appreciate that.
“Maybe
you could show us some of your magic while we wait,” Sam encourages, ignoring the elbow to his ribs from Jenna.
Out of the corner of her mouth, Jenna reminds him, “Just like Eliana, they are not a circus act.”
I really do like her. I like Sam, too, and I can’t blame him for being curious. I can tease him, though. So, I do show him some magic. I take his voice away. Which he realizes when he opens his mouth to argue with Jenna. His lips move, but no sound comes out.
Eliana and Josh laugh. They’ve seen this trick from me before. “Can you keep him that way?” Josh asks.
Missing the joke, Alonzo scowls. “What are you talking about?”
“Xandra took Sam’s voice away,” Eliana explains.
“Right,” the large man snorts.
Apparently, he wants his voice taken away, too. Which I do. “What was that?” I ask, then laugh when he tries to respond but can’t. Even Kallen’s lips rise a little.
“Did you say a spell or something under your breath?” Jenna asks, staring curiously at Sam’s mouth. “I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t when Kallen made the chairs, either.”
“Unlike Witches, Fairies do not need spells to work most magic,” Kallen explains.
Her eyes lighting with curiosity, Jenna exclaims, “Really?”
“Really,” I confirm.
“Why is it different?” she asks.
Amused by her curiosity, I say, “I don’t know if I can give you an exact reason for that. Kallen once explained to me that it has to do with how magic is pulled. Fairies do it internally, and Witches do it externally. That’s the best I can do explanation wise.”
Satisfied with that answer, Jenna forgets her admonishment to Sam a moment ago and asks, “What other kind of magic can you do?”
Jadyn chuckles. “That list is too long to enumerate. Suffice it to say, if these two want to do something, it is pretty safe to assume that they can.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I complain, growing embarrassed by the attention to our power.
“Remember, I have seen you in action,” Jadyn counters with a grin. Yes, she has. Both in this realm, and when my doppelganger was causing trouble and I confronted her in the Fairy realm.
Recognizing my growing discomfort like only another supernatural enigma could, Eliana changes the subject. “Would you guys like something to drink while we wait? We have cola, coffee, juice.”
Grateful, I tell her, “I would love a cola, please.” When Kallen gives me a questioning look, I remind him, “You’ve had one before. You liked it.” Well, didn’t that comment make me feel like an old married couple. Actually, I kind of like the feeling.
Nodding even though I don’t believe he remembers having a cola before, he says, “I will have one, too, please.”
“Um, you will eventually give Sam his voice back, right?” Jenna reminds me.
Oops, I forgot. “Done,” I tell her.
“Thanks,” Sam says dryly, but I don’t think he means it. I give Alonzo his voice back, too, but he doesn’t say anything. I doubt I will get even an insincere thanks from him. I am going to assume that the guy grows on you, because Eliana seems like a really good judge of character. I don’t believe she would purposely hang out with jerks.
“So, other than this Phoenix thing, what’s been new with you?” Josh asks, trying to spark a new conversation while we wait.
“Well,” I glance around the room, debating what to say. I decide to be vague. “Since Egypt, I’ve been introduced to a lot more new and interesting beings.”
Returning with our cola’s, Eliana says, “Jadyn filled us in on a little of it. She said you met your doppelganger from another universe.”
“Yeah, she was a real treat,” I mutter under my breath.
This interests Alonzo. Sitting forward on the couch, he asks, “Are you saying the multiverse theory is real?”
I nod. “It is.”
“Who else have you met?” Jenna asks, eager to learn more.
I glance at Kallen and he gives me a little shrug as if to say, ‘why not?’ Okay, if Jenna really wants to know, I’ll tell her. “After the whole doppelganger thing, we helped the Centaurs and the Sasquatch end their feuding; we ended the reign of the Sirens; we were tricked into babysitting the Elf Queen’s baby, which actually turned out to be her consciousness inside her child’s body in a twisted scheme to trust our loyalties; we found my parents’ bodies, and with the help of the ancient Greek gods who felt badly because one of them played a nasty prank on us, we put my parents’ spirits back inside them; and most recently, we fought Demons.” Pausing, I give Alonzo a sheepish smile. “I can see how that would all sound unbelievable to you.”
With a sigh, he says, “Actually, I’m starting to believe you. I’ve seen enough crazy stuff with Eliana that I really shouldn’t doubt anything anymore.” Since my internal lie detector isn’t going off, he must be telling the truth. I guess the shock of our surprise visit is starting to wear off.
“There’s the Alonzo we know and love,” Eliana says with a fond smile, convincing me even more that his behavior tonight must not be his usual.
“Speak for yourself,” Sam mutters under his breath. I am definitely going to have to ask Eliana later what the deal is with him and Alonzo.
“Yes, here I am,” Alonzo says with a cocky grin and a wink in Jadyn’s direction. I do not have to ask what the deal is there. Alonzo is obviously interested. Jadyn just rolls her eyes and doesn’t respond. I can see in her expression that he is wearing her down, though. It won’t be long before the two of them are dating if they aren’t already.
Jenna and Sam ask a few more questions about what I said, but Eliana’s boss must live much closer than she said. Or she drove really, really fast. Only ten minutes pass before she is knocking on the door. Josh lets her in, and her eyes immediately zero in on Kallen and me.
“Who are they?” she demands.
With a tolerant smile, Eliana says, “Liza, I would like to introduce you to some friends of ours. This is Xandra and Kallen.”
“Nice to meet you,” Liza says tightly, obviously reserving any real judgement on the matter until she knows more about us and why we’re here. Turning back to Eliana and Josh, she asks curtly, “What do they know?”
Josh chuckles. “A lot more than we do.”
Liza is not amused. “What does that mean?”
“It means you should probably sit down,” Alonzo informs her.
Scowling in annoyance, Liza does scan the room for a place to sit. I suspect she has had too many surprises from Eliana to underestimate the effect of learning more about the supernatural world will have on her. Not to mention, she was recently cursed. I am still annoyed with Jadyn for not telling me about that. I would have come earlier and checked on her. From afar, of course.
Next to me, Kallen rises from his chair. “Please, sit here,” he says politely.
Glancing nervously in my direction, Liza squares her shoulders and bolsters her courage. She sits down next to me. Geez, I’m not that scary looking. I did get most of the snarls out of my hair before coming here. Giving Liza the once over, I can’t help noticing that she is visibly armed. Humans do tend to feel safer with their guns, even when they would prove to be totally useless in a given situation. Like this one.
Liza seems to have the same deficiency in regards to patience as I do. “Okay, I’m sitting. What is going on?”
Eliana and Josh exchange a look, obviously debating who is going to speak first. Josh ends up taking the lead. “We need a leave of absence. We need to help an old friend with a situation.”
Not being stupid, Liza easily determines that I am that old friend. “Help with what?” she asks me, bypassing her employees in her quest for immediate knowledge.
Having no clue what Josh and Eliana want her to know, I defer to them. “I’ll let Eliana explain.”
Giving Alonzo a wry look, Liza asks, “Is she afraid this is all above my pay grade?”
Alonzo chuckles. “I thin
k this is above all of our paygrades.”
Not encouraged, Liza turns back to Eliana. “Explain.” Not the most personable, is she? She kind of reminds me of Isla.
To my great surprise, Eliana tells her boss everything that Kallen and I told her about the Phoenix. I am even more surprised when Liza accepts it all as fact, unlike Alonzo who struggled to believe any of it at first. Bringing her attention back to me, Liza asks, “What if Ra refuses to help?”
That was not the question I expected. “Why would he do that?” I ask.
Liza shrugs. “From working with Eliana these past months, I have learned that the gods within her strongly encourage the ‘figure it out for yourself’ approach.”
“I don’t believe that Ra wants the universe to end, though,” Josh points out. “When the time is right, I believe he will step up in this situation.” He looks to Eliana for support in his claim.
The best she can do is offer a half smile. “He has not stirred within me yet, but I think you are right. He will do what he can to help us.”
Slapping her hands on her thighs, Liza stands. “When do we leave?”
Another chuckle from Alonzo. “I told you.”
“Yes, you did,” I sigh.
“Do you expect me to sit idly by while the universe is in danger?” Liza demands. She does a lot of demanding.
“It is not that,” Kallen begins. “But honestly, there is probably very little assistance a Co…a human can offer.”
Squaring her shoulders again, Liza declares, “That does not mean I shouldn’t try.” I give her credit, she is brave. Or, just very, very curious about the supernatural and other realms. Probably both.
Glancing helplessly at Eliana, I say, “It’s up to you who comes along. It’s not like anyone who comes could ever find their way back to the Fairy realm, or any other.” I emphasize this last part for Liza’s benefit. I have only known her for a few minutes, but I would already not be surprised if she tried.