by D. N. Leo
Michael frowned and played with the hem of his sweater. “My stepfather.”
“Why did he try to hurt you?”
“He didn’t try. He did hurt me.” Michael was still examining the hem of his sweater.
Ciaran lifted Michael’s chin and looked into his eyes. “Where are your parents?”
“I’ve never met my father. My mom died.”
“How old are you?”
“Eight. And I don’t go to school, if that’s your next question.” Michael stared straight up at him and didn’t go back to playing with the hem.
“Do you understand what I just did to your stepfather and why?”
Michael nodded. “He hurt me. You told him to stop, but he didn’t. He tried to hurt you with the knife, but he got that knife in the end. He deserved it.”
Ciaran looked at Michael. “Nobody deserves to die, and no one has the right to murder.”
“If you didn’t kill him, he’d have killed you. Then he’d have killed me. Who would say then that he doesn’t have the right to murder?”
“Michael, I killed him in self-defense. That’s a totally different matter. But I provoked him first. I did that because I know I can protect myself. What did you do to provoke him, knowing you can’t protect yourself?”
“I told him I’d kill him sooner or later.”
Michael shivered. His sweater was obviously not enough to keep the chill off him. Ciaran reached out to him, but her son backed away. Tears still streamed down Michael’s face. Mai wanted to approach but refrained from doing so.
Michael said, “We tried. But it’s winter. People don’t go out as much. We couldn’t get much money. He cut off our food, and he hit me. That was when Nick got angry. I told him not to… I can take it… but he kept biting until… until he grabbed his neck and twisted it.… Nick couldn’t defend himself… he provoked that man and got himself killed…”
Michael gasped for air and then continued.
“I promised Nick I was going to get him out of here. I couldn’t keep my promise. Without Nick, I couldn’t pick any pockets. He beat me more… and more… and just now I told him I was going to kill him. He got angry. He was going to do to me what he did to Nick. He was going to break my neck tonight. But I was ready for it… I want to see my mom…”
Michael swayed, on the verge of passing out.
Her son wanted to see her. She didn’t look anything like Sara Fraser, but he would understand. Mai came out from her hiding place although she still stood in the darkness—neither Ciaran nor Michael saw her.
Ciaran wrapped his arms around Michael. “When was the last time you ate something?”
“Can’t remember…”
He took off his thick coat and wrapped it around Michael. The coat was too big for Michael to walk in, so Ciaran carried him in his arms. Michael’s head lolled against his neck and stayed there for a short moment.
Mai followed them.
Ciaran walked along the tunnel to the main road. When he was nearly there, Michael stirred and straightened his head. “Where are we going?”
“Hospital. I need to put some food into you, but we have blood all over us. If we go to a food stand, they’ll call the cops. So the hospital seems to be appropriate. I want a doctor to check you out, too.”
“No, go to the cops. The police station is just around the corner. We have a dead body in the tunnel, and he ain’t a dog.”
“I can take care of that after I take you to the hospital. I’ll call for a car now.”
“You mean a cab?”
“No, my company car,” Ciaran said and reached into his pocket. “Damn it!” he cursed.
Michael laughed out loud.
“What’s so funny?”
“You talk pretty, so I didn’t think you’d swear.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your words are pretty. I like them. Mom has pretty words, too. She’d been to school for many, many years. She said she wanted me to go to school, too. She never got around to it. We moved around a lot. Then she ran into him…”
“Did he get violent with your mother?”
Michael said nothing and leaned into Ciaran’s neck again.
“Okay. I won’t ask. Now, I don’t have my phone with me, so I’ll have to walk to the main road to hail a taxi—”
“Police station, just around the corner,” Michael mumbled.
Ciaran kept walking.
“Cabs won’t go this way. You can only get them at the rank,” Michael said.
“Would you mind telling me where the rank is? Or I can go to the main road and ask someone.”
“They have food at the police station.”
Ciaran kept walking.
“You’re shaking,” Michael said.
“Yes, I’m cold because you’re wearing my coat.”
“Okay, you’ll find cabs on the left, turn there and cross that little street.”
Ciaran followed Michael’s instructions and ended up at the police station. He pushed in the door. A blast of warm air from inside greeted them, and then there were a dozen pairs of eyes staring at the blood on their clothes.
Mai cast a small spell so that people couldn’t see her for a short while, and she then followed Ciaran and Michael into the police station.
“Put me down,” Michael said.
Michael took the coat off and gave it back to Ciaran. Seeing the blood on both of them, the officer at the front counter gave them immediate attention and got them into an interviewing room, separate from the main foyer.
“Officer, we have an incident to report, but the kid hasn’t eaten for days. Could you get him something?” Ciaran said.
One officer went for the food and another remained in the interviewing room. The first officer soon returned with a sandwich and a bottle of water.
Before he could say anything, and before the officer took a seat with his notepad, Michael said, “I found him like that in the tunnel. Dead. Blood everywhere. He said he was going out to get some dinner, but I waited a long time, so I went out and looked for him. I found him in the tunnel.” Michael pointed at Ciaran. “Then Mr. Pretty Talk found me and brought me here. I was scared shitless.” Michael bit into the sandwich.
Ciaran arched an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something, but Michael cut in. “I can sort things out with the officer here. You can go now.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ciaran said.
“The kid said he’s fine and you can go. I know the guy Michael’s talking about. He’s a regular here,” the officer said.
“Who’s the regular? Michael or his stepfather?” asked Ciaran.
“Both. His stepfather, if he deserves the title, is the worst kind of junkie.” The officer shook his head and made notes on his writing pad. “I always knew someone would do him in one day. Let’s hope today is the day.”
“But I found them. Shouldn’t I give a statement?” Ciaran said.
“Ciaran LeBlanc, is it? Sorry if I didn’t say your name right.” Michael put Ciaran’s wallet on the table. “Old habits die hard.”
Ciaran smiled. “Now that’s pretty talk.”
“Mom taught me.” Michael grinned. “Didn’t mean to pick your wallet. I just wanted to know your name.”
“You could have asked me.”
Michael took another bite of the sandwich and spoke with his mouth full. “Man, if ya told me, I wouldn’t get the spelling right.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem if you go to school.”
Michael arched an eyebrow. “Going to school doesn’t feed me.”
“So you’re saying if you didn’t have to worry about food, you would go to school?”
Michael contemplated that but said nothing in response.
“Can you promise me if you don’t have to worry about food, you will go to school? I know you’re a man of his word,” Ciaran said.
Michael continued to chow down on the sandwich and shook his head. “I can do this myself. Don’t need ya no more.” He ga
ve Ciaran a dismissive shrug.
Ciaran nodded. “All right then.”
He stood up and signaled the officer to take him out. When Ciaran was at the door of the interviewing room, Michael said, “I want more.”
Ciaran turned. “And what else would you like?”
The officer chuckled.
“If I go to school, I’ll need pocket money. I need to buy clothes, books, and all sorts of—”
“All right, you’ll have an allowance. What else?”
Michael stood up and approached Ciaran. “I will give you your money back, and I want it on paper. I want someone to write it down on paper.”
Ciaran frowned. “You want me to give you an allowance and have my lawyer put it in writing?”
The officer’s jaw dropped, and he glared at Michael.
“No, I want your lawyer to write down that I owe you the money and will pay you back when I grow up. I want to have that on paper.”
Ciaran nodded. “I’ll send my lawyer tomorrow to draw up the paperwork.” He glanced at the door of the police station and saw his company car had arrived. Ciaran nodded toward the officer at the counter, thanking him for making the arrangement. Then he turned back to Michael. “I have to go now.”
Michael nodded.
“If you want to keep in touch, all you have to do is to ask. You don’t have to hang onto a piece of paper.”
“Are you going home now?”
Ciaran nodded. “Yes, I’m flying to London tonight.”
“When will you be back?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to check my schedule.”
Michael smiled. “See! I need that paper.”
Ciaran laughed. “You’re a very smart boy. You’ll do well in school. Learn everything you can, make a lot of money, and pay back your loan.”
“I promise,” Michael said solemnly, his eyes gleaming with tears. Ciaran opened his arms. Michael dove into them and hugged him.
Mai watched as Ciaran left in his long black limousine. As the car pulled away, leaving the police station behind, Michael peered out from inside the station door.
Mai looked further into her vision of Ciaran’s future. She didn’t have the power to do so, but she had just made a small trade for this piece of information. It was worth it.
Ciaran LeBlanc, future king of Eudaiz, the most prosperous and powerful universe. He had two daughters and a son. While the information about the other daughter wasn’t clear, she saw that Lyla was the destined leader of Ciaran’s legacy.
Mai did what she had been putting off for eight years—she cast a spell to give the other half of Michael’s fire power to Lyla and followed with a love spell of Michael’s soul mate.
Chapter 24
Lyla entered the cave where they stored their equipment and saw Gale hunched in front of the computer, focused as if nothing had just happened. He looked up at her when she stepped in.
Jaxper was devastated when she passed the word that Gale wanted to see Lyla, and Lyla understood why. Gale had rejected Jaxper.
His striking blue eyes were cold and distant. He was calm and almost collected. That was very unlike his usual manner.
“Jaxper did what she did to save you from the nasty robotic component in your body, Gale.”
“Come here, please.”
She approached him. He held both of her hands, and she put her thumbs on his temples. She nodded, then turned on her internal micro-system to check him.
“You…” she began as she staggered back.
“Yes, Lyla. I turned on both robotic systems myself. And yes, I am in control. It’s me—the human Gale is talking to you now. But I need time to manage and stabilize this. I don’t think I can handle Jaxper right now.”
“Understood. So how much do you remember about the incident?”
“The one ten years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Everything until the ugly hideous scum stabbed me with its tentacles.”
She nodded. “Good. So you know that the fact you can maintain ten percent is a miracle.”
“I appreciate that you fought for me and helped me keep it, Lyla—especially given I tricked you and Caedmon into that hologame.”
She smiled. “We were young…”
“And stupid.” He chuckled and then turned the computer screen toward her. “But let’s travel down memory lane when we get back to the Daimon Gate. We’ve got work to do.”
She looked at the information on the screen. “Ha Long Bay, that’s where we want to be to get the source codes.”
“Yes, that was true before your recent time travel to the Kingdom of Champa and what happened in the temple with Michael and Phala.”
“I know Kannitha was a vessel. A powerful creature, possibly the creator of the shadow we’re chasing, tried to attack me after the temple incident. What’s the connection between that and Ha Long Bay?”
Gale smiled. “A strong and wicked connection. It seems to me that there is a mastermind behind all the fire incidents. The shadow we met before in the Daimon Gate, and one we’re dealing with now might be the same, but it’s working for a higher power. The Viet Kingdom in 1258 was on a larger scale, though, and definitely done by a different creature.”
“Possibly by the mastermind himself, judging by the way he tried to control me afterward, because controlling me might give him access to Eudaiz.”
“Exactly. I ran simulations, and the data suggests that the Mongol invasion at that time could have given him hundreds of thousands more dead souls. But Michael sucked the fire energy out of one of his largest campaigns in the Viet Kingdom. I still don’t know how the bugger managed to do that. But anyway, that ruined his plan. The Ha Long Bay massacre was part of the plan.”
Lyla smiled. “The good news now is that we don’t have to go to Ha Long Bay for the source code anymore. The bad news is we still don’t know who the shadow or its mastermind is—or what he’s up to next.”
Gale nodded. “Worse. You’re now on his radar. Not only does he know you exist, but he also knows that you and Michael could thwart his bigger plan, whatever that is, and that the two of you are now stranded on Earth without Eudaizian protection. And before you ask, no, I can’t connect to Eudaiz now. It would point directly to where we are, and we’ll be doomed before help can get to us.”
Chapter 25
“Are you sure? He didn’t give even the slightest hint of what their conversation was about?” Michael asked Jaxper.
She glared at him.
Michael shrugged. “All right then.” Lyla and Gale had a history that dated back to forever ago. He didn’t know why Gale had to be so secretive, but he didn’t want to interfere. If Lyla didn’t want to tell him, he wouldn’t even ask. But they were in a situation now, and the more information they had, the better it was for everyone.
He knew Lyla trusted him. But maybe Gale didn’t.
They were sitting at the edge of the woods, a short distance from the cave. As soon as Lyla finished her conversation with Gale, he planned take her to the other side of the woods to check things out. He had a feeling they’d have better access to the multiverse from that side.
He needed to take Lyla back to the Daimon Gate. From there, he’d sort out her ridiculous exile ordeal. If Eudaiz didn’t take her back, then he’d take her with him to Iilos. It was a small universe, but there were plenty of good things happening there. The most important thing was, he was in charge in Iilos. He was in a position to protect her.
“Can I ask you another question, Jaxper?”
“As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with Gale.”
“No, but it’s about the love spell. So…is that related to Gale?”
Jaxper jumped up to her feet. “Every bit of it!” she said and then stomped into the woods.
Michael followed her. He walked for only a few feet before he saw a flying python swoop in, grab Jaxper, and drag her deeper into the woods. He hurried after them and had no idea how far he ran before he caught up.
<
br /> Jaxper fought hard, stabbing the python with the small knife he had given her earlier. Michael knew she had poisonous thorns and needles that could kill this creature, but she didn’t have a spare hand to grab her lethal weapons.
He wanted to burn the animal but couldn’t because its body was wrapped around Jaxper’s. There was no way he could kill it without burning Jaxper too.
He approached, unsure what to do. He knew Jaxper wouldn’t last long. He had to take a gamble. He grabbed the python’s tail, turned on his heat, controlling it and keeping it at the lowest level he could, and burned just its tail.
It worked.
The python loosened its upper body. Seizing the opportunity, Jaxper reached for her poison thorns and jabbed one into the python’s head. It dropped to the ground, wriggled for a short time, and died.
They heard clapping. “Well done, both of you.”
A chill ran down Michael’s spine. Lythe. Damn. Lyla had given him the jar just before she entered the cave to talk to Gale. Michael didn’t know if Lythe could read minds, so he tried not to think about anything specific. He glanced around. They were at the spot where Lyla and he had run into Lythe at the temple and jumped into the time gateway.
He couldn’t burn what he couldn’t see, and sending heat out randomly was a stupid idea.
“Come with me, Son of Fire. I know you’re not whole, but it’s better than nothing.”
He felt a sudden suction, and his body was lifted off the ground. Jaxper grabbed his hand with hers and wrapped her free arm around a small tree trunk. Michael knew this wouldn’t work long term, so he looked in the direction of the source and sent a strong blast of fire.
The pull on him stopped, and Michael dropped to the ground. He jumped to his feet and sent another blast. They heard a haunting scream, and the watched as the wall of fire blanketed the shape of a woman.
“Lythe,” Michael said and sent another blast.
Lythe’s body was thrown backward, wriggling and screaming in pain.
“Stop, Michael, stop!” Cole darted toward Michael, knocking him to the ground.
The fire died out instantly, and Lythe ran away.