Forever Wicked (Castle of Dark Dreams)

by Nina Bangs

  Holgarth ranked returning money right up there with demonic possession and the apocalypse. Ganymede glanced past the wizard. Yeah, people were staring. A few seemed nervous. He looked to Sparkle for her promised lie.

  Sparkle sighed. It was a long and really phony sigh. She widened her eyes, her go-to expression for shocked innocence. After thousands of years, Ganymede knew all of them.

  “I’m so sorry, Holgarth.” She smiled.

  Fake smile. Ganymede wondered if his father was going straight to his room.

  “Ganymede has been on a weight loss plan.” She reached over to pat his stomach. “His washboard abs are getting a little flabby.”

  Outraged, Ganymede glared at her. He had never had flabby abs. But he sucked everything in just in case.

  “Stress makes him pig out, and he finally reached his breaking point. He wants to go up to our suite and eat the whole gallon of peach ice cream I just bought. He’ll hate himself in the morning.”

  Holgarth’s expression said he had nothing but contempt for anyone with such little self-control. The wizard would be surprised at exactly how much control he had. Because right now Ganymede wanted to punch the pompous meddler in his smirking mouth.

  “Well, try to keep your arguments over dietetic choices out of the public eye.” He cast Ganymede one more scornful glance before stalking back to where his latest victims cowered.

  “Someday I’m going to pound his skinny ass into the ground.” Ganymede turned back to the stairs.

  Sparkle fell into step beside him. “First, we’ll check to see if your father is in his room.”

  “You know his room number?” He seemed to remember Bourne mentioning the number, but it was buried in the information dump that now passed for his brain.

  Now it was her turn to fling a disdainful glance his way. “I checked out the info Bourne sent to our phones. You might want to take a look, oh I don’t know, sometime before Zendig attacks us.”

  “Cut the sarcasm.” He hated when she did that. “What’s the number?” He was on the move as soon as she gave it.

  Ganymede took the stairs. He didn’t have the patience to walk over to the hotel lobby to catch an elevator. Sparkle slipped off her heels so she could keep up with him. Once he reached his father’s door, he stood staring at it as she slipped her shoes back on. His father could be on the other side, only a few feet from the son he hadn’t seen for thousands of years. Ganymede forced his breathing to slow, but he couldn’t control the pounding of his heart. What should he do? Knock and when his father answered grin and greet him with, “Yo, Dad, it’s been a while. How’s Mom?” He rubbed a spot between his eyes. He wasn’t ready for this.

  Sparkle touched his arm. “Don’t forget to check if he’s alone first.”

  “Jeez, I can’t think.” He drew in a deep calming breath. “Give me a minute.” He forced himself to focus. Closing his eyes, he extended his senses beyond the door, probing for signs of life. He found one. Ganymede opened his eyes. “Only one person in there.”

  She nodded. “Good. I have an idea. Why don’t you take your cat form? Then you can open the door, slip inside, and make certain it’s really your dad in there. A few seconds later, I’ll show up looking for a guest’s cat that got loose.”

  “Why?” God, he just wanted to blast through that damn door, hug his father, and then demand to know what he was doing spying for his son’s kidnapper. What do you really know about the kind of man your father is now? You don’t even remember what kind of man he was then, other than that he played ball with you? Ganymede shoved the thought aside.

  She stroked his arm as she leaned close. “You’re upset, and you’re not thinking straight. We have to finesse this. First we meet him in a nonthreatening situation before revealing the real you.” She glanced both ways. “You can change in the supply closet at the end of the hall. I’ll stand outside to make sure no one tries to get in and that the person inside doesn’t leave.”

  “You’ve forgotten that the spies know you’re on Bourne’s side. Don’t you think your visit will look suspicious?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. But they’ve only been here a short time and most of that time they’ve spent in their suite. There’s a good chance he won’t recognize me.”

  He could have told her that anyone who had seen her once would remember her. “I guess it’ll be okay. Even if he recognizes you, what can he do? He might even think it’s a good chance to learn something he can pass on to Zendig.” It hurt Ganymede to say that.

  On the way to the closet, Sparkle took her phone from her purse and called the registration desk. When she stopped talking for a moment, she turned to him. “The desk is calling his room phone right now.” When she finally put her phone away, she was smiling. “The man in the room is using the name Brian.”

  “That won’t be his real name.” Brian didn’t nudge any memories. Now that Ganymede had calmed down a little, he could see the value of easing into the situation. He stepped into the closet, then closed the door. And there in the darkness he became a pudgy gray cat. The process took too long and hurt way too much. He wished he could change as quickly and easily as Mistral did. But shape shifting wasn’t his thing. At least he didn’t have to strip naked before changing. When he returned to human form, it would be with clothes and everything in his pockets intact. He thanked whatever magical genes he’d inherited for that small blessing. About twenty minutes later, he stared at the door and it swung open. He padded back into the hallway.

  Sparkle bent down to pat him on his head. “Now we’ll go talk to your dad. And you will absolutely not lose your temper.”

  Mede hissed at her. She grinned. He hated anyone patting him on the head. Now, for the serious stuff. Mede trotted beside her as she returned to his father’s door. Sparkle only hoped the man wouldn’t notice it opening by itself.

  The door swung open just enough for a cat to squeeze through, and Mede slipped inside. A moment of silence and then a man’s surprised expletive. “How the hell did you get in here, cat?”

  That was Sparkle’s cue. She pushed the door wide, strode into the room, and then closed it behind her. Mede’s father—they’d lucked out—stood facing the couch in the suite’s small sitting area. Mede crouched on the couch giving his dad his touch-me-and-die glare.

  “Bad kitty.” She swept past the confused man to scoop up Mede who grumbled at her. He didn’t like her picking him up like that. Cradled in her arms didn’t allow him to operate from a position of power. She smiled at Brian. “He belongs to one of the guests. Everyone has been searching for him.”

  Mede’s dad narrowed his eyes. He really didn’t look anything like his son. Both might shout warrior, but this man would have hunted the African plains while Mede would have been at home as a Viking marauder. Of course, appearances meant nothing. Both had been towers of shining energy in a place far from this planet when they took their physical forms. For a moment, Sparkle wondered if there was some kind of catalogue her people looked at before choosing. Then Mede spoke in her head, and she lost the thought.

  “I slipped into his mind. He recognizes you, but he’s decided to brazen it out.”

  Mede licked one paw before yawning. He might look casually bored to his father, but she could feel his tension.

  “You’re in luck, though. He thinks he’s safe because he figures you don’t know him.” Mede finally gave up on the casual look. He stared at his father.

  “How did the cat get in here? And who’re you?” Brian stepped closer to her, ramping up the threat in his body language.

  Sparkle turned up her smile. Wrong question, dummy. Right question: who is the cat? “You probably didn’t close your door tightly enough. He’s great at pushing doors open.” She set Mede on the floor. He padded over to the coffee table and leaped onto it. Then he sat, wrapped his tail around him, and offered everyone his zen stare. “I’m Sparkle Stardust. I own this Castle along with the rest of the park.” Okay, so she enjoyed bragging once in a while just to
see the sudden awe in someone’s eyes.

  Brian didn’t look awed. He glanced at the door then back at her. “The door was closed. I’m careful about things like that. So why’re you here?”

  You’re asking the wrong one, buddy. Sparkle searched for a reasonable answer. Then Mede took it out of her hands.

  “We’re here to fill you in on your pal, Zendig.”

  From Brian’s shocked expression, she knew Mede’s message had reached him. She had to give old dad credit, though, He didn’t stand around gaping long. Without breaking eye contact with her, he reached over the couch’s arm and pulled out a gun from between the cushions. At the same time, he grabbed his phone from his pocket. His one mistake? He didn’t look at the cat.

  “Explanations. Fast.” He kept the gun on her even as he started to make a call.

  Without warning, the gun and phone flew from his hands to crash against the far wall. Frantically, he looked around.

  “Yo, you’re looking in all the wrong places. It’s the cat. All eyes on the freaking cat.” Mede stood and then stretched.

  Mede had his father’s complete attention now. “What are you? And what do you want from me?”

  Sparkle heard no fear in his voice. He was either very brave or very stupid. She decided it was a little of both.

  “Before I answer questions about me, I want to tell you a little about yourself.” Mede paced the length of the table and back, his only sign of nervousness. “You had a son once. He was almost to the age when he would have decided his final form when he disappeared. Let me tell you how it happened.”

  Mede’s dad curled his hands into fists. “I know what happened. Zendig told me. Bourne, the one we’re searching for, kidnapped a bunch of youngsters, forced them into human forms, took away their memories, and then brought them to Earth where he set up his own little empire.” He took a deep steadying breath. “From what you’ve said, I assume you know this already. Tell me what happened to Tarquin.”

  Mede jerked his head back as though the sound of his name had delivered a hard punch.

  Tarquin. Mede’s real name. No, that was wrong. He would always be Ganymede to her. She glanced at Mede. He stood frozen, staring at his father from wide amber eyes. Sparkle couldn’t imagine how he felt hearing his name again after tens of thousands of years.

  She spoke to give Mede a chance to recover from the shock. “I think you should sit down.” Sparkle wasn’t sure if she was talking to Mede or his dad. Not surprising, they both ignored her.

  “What happened to my son?” Brian forced the words out through clenched teeth.

  Mede allowed the silence to build until Sparkle thought she would scream. Finally, he answered.

  “Zendig, not Bourne, took your son.” He hissed to stop his father from interrupting. “You asked a question, now hear me out.”

  Brian dropped onto the couch. He scrubbed at his face with hands that shook. “Is he dead?”

  Sparkle recognized his expression, the one that said he feared the answer but had to ask anyway. For the first time, she felt sympathy for him.

  “No, he’s not dead.” Mede began to pace again.

  His father closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, they held a feverish gleam. “Where is he? Tell me. And I don’t believe that garbage about Zendig being responsible. He explained to all the parents who lost children exactly how Bourne did it. That’s why he sent a bunch of us here to witness and take part in his revenge.”

  Sent a bunch of us here? Sparkle’s heart sputtered and then kicked into hyper drive. Was anyone from her family on Earth right now? Would Zendig bring them with him when he came?

  Mede stopped pacing and moved closer to his father. He bared his teeth. “Zendig tricked me into leaving the house that night by promising to show me something amazing he’d found down by the stream. I was young, gullible, and he was someone I was supposed to trust. I went. When I woke from whatever he’d given me, I was in an energy-proof cage somewhere in the wilderness. He forced me to take a human form he chose, and then he spent years turning me into the being he wanted—a cosmic troublemaker who would spread destruction across the planet where his enemy lived. That enemy was Bourne. See, he hoped if he sent enough of us here, Bourne would try to stop us. If Zendig was lucky, we’d kill each other. But before Zendig shoved me through the portal, he took every single one of my memories from me. It’s only been during the last few months that some of those memories returned. The last memory was of you.” Mede caught his father in an unblinking stare.

  Sparkle saw the exact moment Mede’s father got it. First, there was disbelief, then suspicion, and finally a small flickering hope.

  “I don’t believe you. You can’t be Tarquin. You’re a shape shifter, you’re…”

  His voice died away, but in the silence Sparkle could hear what he really wanted to say. “Please be my son.”

  Mede stood motionless, his unblinking amber eyes fixed on his father’s face. “Zendig’s ego could swallow universes. We were his creations, his hunters, his destroyers of worlds. So he wanted us to do him proud. Bourne said Zendig never abandoned his energy form, and gradually it grew in size and power. Zendig gave each of us something extra, a little bit of himself, so we’d have a chance to survive if we met Bourne. Once here, we enhanced our own abilities over the centuries.” He gave a cat shrug. “Now I have a few extra skills.”

  A few extra skills. Right. That was like a T. rex saying it had a few extra teeth. Sparkle could almost see the questions spinning in Brian’s head. She watched him rake his fingers through his hair. Right about now distrust would be warring with uncertainty. She spoke to Mede’s mind. “He needs proof, something only his son would know.”

  Mede glanced at her. “Like what? I only saw a flash of him playing ball with me. He said something, but…”

  “Great, Mede. I knew we should’ve waited. This confrontation needed more planning.”

  “Get out of my head. Let me think. Distract him for a minute.”

  Distract him. Well, maybe she could keep him busy with a few truths. “This is tough for Mede. He’s only gotten a few memories back so far. I haven’t gotten any. We—”

  “Mede?” Brian seemed to finally remember she was still in the room.

  “Short for Ganymede. He didn’t know he had a past life, so he named himself. He’s had a few over the millennia, but this is his favorite.” She was losing him. He’d turned his attention back to Mede.

  “I think this whole story is fake. You know who I am, and I know you’re with Bourne. But trying to turn me against Zendig isn’t going to work. So do you just kick me out of the Castle, or are you going for something more permanent?” He stood, his glance shifting to his gun laying on the floor across the room.

  Mede spoke. “The ball.”

  “What?” His father stopped edging toward the weapon.

  “The ball you threw to me. It was green, and it had the autographs of all the guys on the national batwick team. You were crazy proud of that ball. You said,…”

  Sparkle willed Mede to remember those words.

  “You said maybe one day my name would be on that ball.”

  The whole room seemed to decompress. Sparkle sank onto the couch. Brian staggered then dropped down beside her. She watched his hands shake as he gripped his thighs.

  “How could…? When…?” Brian shook his head then leaned toward Mede. “Get rid of the cat. I want to see you.”

  “It’ll take a few minutes. And I like my privacy.” He leaped from the coffee table then padded into the bathroom. The door closed behind him.

  Mede’s dad didn’t speak to her. He stared at the far wall, but she had the feeling he was seeing a time and place a long way from Galveston, Texas. She thought about leaving. After all, this was a time that should belong to the two of them. But in the end, she stayed. There was still the chance things could go south, and she wanted to be there to… Oh, forget the lies. The truth? She loved Mede and wanted to share in some small way
this most important moment in his life.

  The bathroom door finally opened. Mede stepped out. He wore his battle face, all hard lines and sharp angles. Oh, she knew that face well. Nothing could touch him behind that mask. He would accept triumph or defeat—when it dared make an appearance—without twitching a muscle. No one would know the feelings that crouched behind it. But she’d know. She held her breath as she switched her attention to his father. Please, please welcome your son home.

  Mede’s father stood. He didn’t bother to guard his expression. Wonder and shock lived in his eyes. He took an unsteady step toward his son. But when he spoke, the name he murmured wasn’t what Sparkle had expected.

  “Kurn.” He took another step.

  “Who?” Mede’s battle face gave way to confusion.

  His father laughed at the same time tears slid down his face. “He gave you my brother’s face. You have your Uncle Kurn’s face, and isn’t that a kick in the teeth.”

  25

  Ganymede stood staring at his father’s tears. He had none. Whatever Zendig had done to him—he still couldn’t remember all the details—Ganymede had emerged into his new world with a lesson learned. Cosmic troublemakers didn’t cry. For his entire existence, he had reserved any deep emotion besides rage for Sparkle. Now, here was his father, and he had an Uncle Kurn. The gods help him, he didn’t know what to do.

  He glanced at Sparkle. She nodded towards his dad, urging Ganymede to go to him, the tears he couldn’t shed shining in her eyes. Guess she hadn’t gotten Zendig’s memo about crying. Now what? He wasn’t a hugger. He was a hitter, smasher, and overall badass. But this was his father.

  Drawing in a deep steadying breath, Ganymede took that first step, the one that would bind him to a past he didn’t fully understand and wasn’t sure he could be a part of again.

  His father didn’t wait for his son to take another one. He strode to Ganymede, clasped him tightly, and then stepped back. Ganymede just stood there. It had been easy to embrace the idea of having a father, but the reality was something else. He needed time to work up to hugging a stranger.