by John Corwin
"Mhm." Shelton gave me a sideways glance. "Aren't we rigging the game by replacing Kaelissa with a dolem?"
"I guess we are." I gave myself a moment of introspection to see if I felt guilty about such underhanded dealings, but nope—I felt just fine. "Then again, we're not the only ones trying to cheat."
"You got that right." Shelton blew out a breath. "Can we get out of here for a while? Maybe a walk will help me clear my head."
"Yeah, sure." I walked over to the others. "Shelton and I are going to take a short walk. We'll be back in a few."
"We'll be done with the pattern tracing in an hour," Adam said. "After that, we'll need help burning it into the bedrock."
David looked up from his work and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Be careful."
I gave him a thumbs-up then turned and left. Shelton and I sneaked out of the back and into the garden, staying alert for any other Seraphim out for an afternoon stroll. I cracked a yawn and remembered I hadn't slept last night. A nice, long nap was in order when we got back.
We continued down the garden path, waltzed through a neighborhood south of the mushroom house, and followed the curving road until it led us back to the south side of the plaza Elyssa and I had been in last night.
"How are the drinks here?" Shelton asked.
I grabbed a chair at an empty table next to a group of gossiping seras. "Why don't you be the judge?" Using a smaller gem, I paid for a decanter of nectar and poured each of us a glass.
Shelton's eyes widened when he took a sip. "Damn, that's good." He took another sip. "It's like liqueur, but not as sweet."
I clinked my glass against his. "Here's to new adventures."
Shelton snorted. "How about an adventure where we don't have to fight all the damned time?"
The angel choir across the plaza burst into glorious song, drawing the attention of other patrons. Shelton and I drank in silence, enjoying the moment of peace before we forcefully threw a load of crap at a fan and hoped for the best.
Shelton poured his third cup and paused in the act of putting down the decanter. His eyes narrowed. "Am I imagining things, or does that dude look awfully familiar?"
I followed his gaze and froze in my seat. The seraph in question locked gazes with me. Recognition flared in his eyes. He spun and stalked away.
I grabbed Shelton's arm. "Come on. We've got to catch him."
"It's him?"
"Yes," I growled. "It's Cephus."
Chapter 31
Shelton jumped out of his chair like a shot and we hurried after our quarry.
Did the real Cephus die or is this him?
Shelton echoed my doubts. "Is that a dolem?"
I switched to demon vision. The aura of our quarry flickered fitfully, a weak candle flame fringed with blue. This wasn't the real Cephus. "He's a clone."
Shelton grunted. "I'll bet he's the one responsible for the rifts to Draxadis."
"Seems likely." I squeezed through a group of chatting Seraphim. "I wonder how he recognized me."
"Maybe he has some of Cephus's memories," Shelton suggested.
The dolem looked over his shoulder and quickened his pace when he saw us following. Unless we broke into a sprint, we weren't going to catch him.
"Even if we catch him, do you think he'll give up any info?" Shelton dodged a running child. "What if he has friends?"
I gave him a look of disbelief. "Are you saying we should let him go?"
Shelton took out his wand. "Nah. I'm just taking your advice and getting sneaky." He whisked his wand through a pattern and flicked it toward the dolem. A tiny dot of light streaked from the tip of the wand and hit the dolem in the back of the neck. Fake Cephus still faced forward and didn't even notice.
"Uh, what was that?" I said. "Pixie dust?"
"Tracking spell." Shelton grinned. "He took out his phone and switched to the map. The phone had already drawn in the parts of the city we'd visited while unexplored parts remained black. A white dot moved from the mapped parts of the garden path and into a black area.
I stopped and stared at the phone. "What's the range?"
"A hundred miles, give or take." Shelton tucked the arcphone back in his pocket. "Even if he walks out of range, we'll have a trail to follow until we pick up his signal again."
I elbowed him in the ribs. "I like it when you're sneaky."
"Later tonight, when he thinks he's lost us and is all snuggled up in his lair, we can spring a surprise." A smug smile stretched his lips. "If we're lucky, we'll snag him and any co-conspirators."
"And maybe figure out what he's up to." I clapped my hands together. "Brilliant!"
"Darned tootin'!" Shelton held up his hand for a high-five. I didn't leave him hanging.
When we got back to our own lair, we told the others what had happened and our idea about capturing the dolem that night.
Once everyone got over the shock of hearing our story, Elyssa shot down our plans. "Tonight won't work."
"Why is that?" I asked.
Alysea stepped forward. "Because tonight, your father and I are going to get Kaelissa's soul essence."
A cube of ice crackled around my heart. "Tonight? Isn't it a little soon? How are you going to get in?"
Alysea clasped her hands below her waist and gave me a pleased smile. "While you were out, I took a walk of my own and spoke with some of the guards in the restricted zone."
"You did what?" I said.
"I told him I was Felysea of Cbora, here with my mate, Ijoruss, and that we wished to pay respects to the empress this evening." She saw the puzzled look on my face and clarified. "Kaelissa will recognize our aliases as those of ancient Seraphim only two generations removed from the first of Seraphina. Cbora is far to the north and out of range of any Alabaster Arches, which means the Schism would not have affected us."
"I thought the idea was to dangle David as a potential mate," I said. "Why not introduce him as a brother or something?"
"The ancient Seraphim did not hold to such traditions as marriage," she said. "It was not uncommon to switch mates to politically bind two households."
I wrinkled my nose. "Are you saying the ancient Seraphim were a bunch of swingers?"
Alysea looked scandalized. "Of course not! It was done out of necessity."
Shelton smirked. "I'm sure they all say that."
"Suffice it to say, we have been granted a private audience tonight." Alysea held up a white gem. "With this modified soulstone, I should be able to capture a soul fragment tonight. If David and I perform flawlessly, Kaelissa will not even know."
Thoughts about what that meant snaked through my guts, leaving a trail of nausea. "You're not—uh"—just the thought of it made me want to throw up—"going to have—" I stopped myself right there before I puked.
David barked a laugh. "Son, it's absolutely normal to have a threesome to save the world."
"Gah!" Elyssa plugged her ears. "That is definitely not part of the plan."
Shelton burst into laughter. "Whatever it takes, right?"
Bella elbowed him in the ribs. "Harry Shelton, don't encourage him."
David doubled over with laughter. "Oh, Justin. You've seen war, death, and a lot of nastiness, but you get queasy thinking about parental sex? That's adorable."
"David, stop torturing your son." Alysea walked over and patted my shoulder. "We should be able to complete the mission without coitus, but we're prepared to make any sacrifices necessary to get the job done."
I took a deep breath to drive away the terrible thoughts clouding my mind. "Whatever you do, don't give me the details later, okay?"
David snorted. "Don't worry, son. We'll preserve your delicate sensibilities."
"It's my sanity I'm worried about." I shuddered like a wet dog. "When do you leave?"
"In two hours." Alysea gave me a wistful smile. "Everything will be okay."
I didn't know if I could believe that.
The time came and my parents left. I worked on a plan with th
e others to capture Fakor, as I nicknamed the Cephus dolem. "We have enough people to pull this off," I argued. "Why don't we get it done while my parents are gone?"
Michael stroked his chin. "What if Fakor has a dozen allies? What if he has traps set near his lair?"
"Then we adjust our plans."
"We need a full team just in case." Michael looked at his sister. "Thoughts?"
"I'd feel better with Alysea and David backing us up." Elyssa touched my arm. "Justin, we can't take chances in a city full of enemies."
"Can we at least recon the place?" I said. The tracking dot on Shelton's arcphone had stopped about a mile east of us. "If we know what we're up against, it'll make capture a lot easier."
Elyssa nodded. "As long as that's all we do." She gave me a pointed look.
I held up my hands in surrender. "Recon. That's it."
Michael nodded. "Sounds good."
Shelton held up his arcphone. "Let me transfer the tracking spell."
I bumped Nookli against his phone and downloaded the tracker.
As we turned to leave, Adam and Cinder burst into the room. Cinder wore a manic look on his face, like someone who'd taken too much ecstasy at his first rave.
A person I didn't recognize walked unsteadily behind them, a blank expression on his face, and his tender bits swaying freely for all to see.
"What in the hell?" Shelton said. "I thought you were going to wait for me."
"Eureka!" Adam shouted. "We've got our first dolem."
Elyssa blinked. "How very naked he is."
Shelton snorted. "Man, is he related to a horse?"
Bella looked at the dolem with a critical eye. "He is certainly well-endowed."
"I have no idea why he came out like that," Adam said. "Anyway, this form won't hold cohesion for more than an hour because there's no soul essence binding it together."
"This is proof of concept," Cinder said. "Once David returns with soul essence, we should be able to use it as a template to copy Kaelissa."
"Excellent work," I said. "Will it be easy to control the Kaelissa dolem?"
"That all depends on the programming we put into the spark," Adam said. "The dolem should do whatever we say." He turned to the newly minted creature. "Do jumping jacks."
The dolem complied without a word, his inordinately large junk putting on quite a show.
I grimaced. "I think I've seen enough."
"Just a few more," Bella said.
"Hey now!" Shelton said. "Stop looking at it like it's a hunk of meat."
I took Elyssa's hand and led her around the exercising dolem. "We're going to spy on Fakor." I tapped the communication pendant on my shirt. "Let me know if there are any problems."
Michael nodded. "Whatever you do, don't try to capture him on your own."
"We won't," Elyssa assured him. She gave me a sharp look. "Right, Justin?"
"I already said I won't." I raked my gaze across the room. "Let's just hope today isn't the day he plans to unleash the dragon apocalypse on the city."
I left them with that grim thought and headed down the levitator with Elyssa. We made good time through the gardens, heading in the general direction of the tracking spell while letting the map fill in the blank spots along the way. The crystal road climbed a steep hill and meandered to a section of town with cramped residences crammed into compact neighborhoods.
This section of Cabala illustrated clear differences in Brightlings social classes that I hadn't seen in the Darkling nation. The buildings showed little variety, the Brightling equivalent of townhomes—two story crystal cubes with permanent windows built in instead of the magical sort back in the fancy section of town. There were no door gems on the outside either. The doors slid open and closed.
"Why don't they use door gems?" Elyssa said.
"Gems are currency," I suggested. "Maybe they're expensive to install."
She shook her head slowly. "At least the Darklings didn't discriminate like that."
Upon nearing the target building, we slowed our pace and became more vigilant of our surroundings in case Fakor had sentries watching the streets. There were few Seraphim out and about—probably because they were busy with repair duties after the dragon attacks of the previous day. That made it easier for us to spot anyone suspicious, but it also meant enemies didn't have to pick us out of a crowd.
The domicile in question resembled all the other two-story domiciles. Curtains shielded the large windows, preventing us from seeing inside. Elyssa turned into an alley and scouted the back of the residence. There were no fences, just a long swath of red grass dotted with large mushrooms and shrubberies. Curtains also blocked the rear windows of Fakor's joint.
Elyssa didn't seem deterred. "He's got to come out of there sometime. Let's find a place to watch."
We settled on a narrow alley just down the road that allowed us to look around the corner and observe the abode without revealing ourselves to anyone leaving it. Nearly two hours later, Elyssa raised a hand to interrupt a serious discussion about the possible plot of a Princess Bride sequel to say, "He's coming out."
I joined her at the corner. Fakor emerged from the residence and looked back inside, apparently conversing with someone inside. Seconds later, a figure in a dress and cowl stepped outside, back to us.
A random seraph and sera walked past our hiding spot. The female stopped, eyes narrowed. "Who are you and what are you doing next to our house?"
Oh, crap. I fumbled with an explanation. "We're looking for a place to live. Heard this was a nice neighborhood."
"Does it look like a nice neighborhood?" the sera said in a sarcastic voice. "If you have no gems, then yes, this is the perfect place to live."
"Come now, darling, no need to take out our woes on strangers." The seraph put an arm on her shoulder. "These are desperate times for all of us, and with the dragon attacks, things will only get worse."
Tears formed in the female's eyes. "How could it possibly be worse? We have already lost so much!"
This was definitely a desperate time for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fakor and his companion headed our way. The moment they passed the alley, we'd be in plain view.
I offered a curt bow to the sera. "I'm sorry for intruding. Live long and prosper." I backed further into the alley since stepping onto the street would reveal us. The seraph looked confused, but the sera buried her face on his chest and distracted him.
The moment we reached the back end of the alley, we headed down a few houses and peered around the corner. Fakor and his female companion gestured at each other, apparently engaged in lively conversation. The sera shook her head and glared straight ahead, finally giving us a clear view of her profile.
"Oh no," Elyssa said in a horrified voice. "It can't be."
My heart dropped like a lead brick on steroids. "You've got to be kidding me."
If Fakor and this sera were in league, it meant my parents were in terrible danger.
Chapter 32
The gray-haired sera was one of the first people we'd met in Ooskai, and the person who'd first taken me to meet her mother. I switched to demon view just to make sure the sera before me wasn't a dolem. Though her aura glowed with far less vigor than Brightlings untainted by the Schism, she was the real deal.
My guts twisted with apprehension at what this meant: Djola, daughter of Kaelissa, was in cahoots with Cephus's dolem.
"Why is Djola talking to Fakor?" Elyssa said.
It certainly boggled my mind. "I never in a million years thought she'd betray Kaelissa."
Elyssa's forehead pinched. "I don't think she has."
"No?" I swung my head her way. "Why would Djola hang out with the dude working to undermine Kaelissa's rule?"
"Djola reveres Kaelissa." Elyssa tapped her chin with a finger. "This is something else, but we have to get closer to overhear their conversation."
"Yeah, that and we have to capture them." We crossed behind more houses to keep pace with our targets. "What if Fakor to
ld her that I'm in town? What if Kaelissa puts two and two together and realizes she's meeting with my parents?"
"Has she ever met your mother?" Elyssa poked her head around the corner and waited before crossing the next alley.
I shook my head. "No, Kaelissa was banished to Pjurna with all the other Darklings before my mother met Daelissa. But if Fakor recognized me, then he probably knows what my parents look like."
"The question is, does Fakor know everything Cephus did?" Elyssa bit her lower lip. "I think the safe assumption is yes." She tapped the pendant on her dress. "Michael, we have intelligence suggesting the Fakor dolem is working with Kaelissa. We need to capture him immediately for interrogation."
"You're certain?" her brother replied.
"He's with Djola, one of Kaelissa's most loyal servants and children."
"Follow him," Michael said. "We'll coordinate."
Daggers of ice sliced at my heart. What if Kaelissa already knows who my parents are? What if her meeting with them is a trap? I couldn't think about that right now. We had to make a clean capture of our targets without alerting other citizens.
Elyssa and I skipped ahead and took cover near the street so we could overhear the conversation between our prey.
"Their blooms will be lovely this year," Fakor said.
"Indeed," Djola replied, spreading her hands apart as if she had just nailed an opponent in a debate contest. "The land will flourish."
Their botanical discussion faded in the distance as they left the neighborhood and entered an open stretch of road heading back to the gardens.
I stopped to let them get out of sight over the rise before continuing after them. "Why in the blazes are they talking about flowers?"
Elyssa bit her lower lip. "Something isn't right, Justin." She headed up the rise and stopped to watch Fakor and Djola enter the gardens ahead. "This doesn't make sense." She tapped her comm pendant and updated Michael on our location.
I put on my thinking cap and tried to make sense of it. "Let's assume Fakor's plan is to create a dolem version of Kaelissa. If that's true, making best buds with Djola is a good way to gain access to her."