by Nicole Thorn
“I’m tired of getting attacked in my own home,” I said, surprising myself with the bite that my words had. “I’m tired of tensing up when the doorbell rings, and of wondering how secure the backyard is. I’m tired of sitting in my studio, wondering if I’ll see you two again, after you’ve left the house. I’m tired of waiting for the bad thing to come to us, because we don’t know what else to do, and people don’t want us hunting it because we’re weak. We aren’t weak anymore, we don’t need to be saved anymore, so why should we play this game the way that we used to?”
Kezia touched my shoulder, but I kept my eyes locked on Juniper.
I could hear her heart racing in her chest, and see the panic starting to build up in her eyes. I’d seen that look a thousand times in my life, and didn’t know how to stop it, how to push it back. “Because I’m the same!” Juniper said. “All this supposed strength and power haven’t changed me, and if I try to find Argus, then I’ll probably fail. Or worse, I’ll find him, and take my entire family into the center of his operations, to be slaughtered by his people.”
Jasmine stepped forward and took our sister’s hand. “Juni, we can’t be slaughtered. We’re not weak little humans anymore.”
“You don’t know that we can’t be slaughtered,” Juniper whispered. “We heal faster, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be killed fairly easily.”
I didn’t think we’d get through to her, which mean we had to figure out a different way to find Argus. I didn’t want my sister to feel bad for not helping us, so I wouldn’t push her into it, either.
Fortunately for all of us, Verin existed.
He wrapped his arms around Juniper and buried his face in her neck. The demigod didn’t let go of her until she relaxed somewhat, and when that happened, he turned her around to face him. “You don’t have to worry about a thing, luv, because I won’t let anyone hurt or kill our family. You’re talking to the man that brought you back from the dead. You think I’m going to let anything come that close to killing you again?”
Juniper frowned, shifting around on her feet. “I suppose not, but things can still go wrong.”
“They could. But if something happens, I’ll get you out of there,” Verin said. “You still have to give me a wife and triplets, you know.”
Juniper’s eyes narrowed. “I probably won’t have triplets now. That bit of magic went to that other woman. The one we cursed.”
“Oh, we’re still having triplets,” Verin said. “Don’t you worry about that.”
Kezia shook her head, and I smiled down at her. It made so much sense that Verin would be that cocky. Also, if my sisters kept talking about their sex lives, I’d eventually have to hurt someone.
Juniper also rolled her eyes. “Yes, you are so potent that you’ll be able to bypass biology and get me pregnant with triplets anyway.”
“Yes,” Verin said.
I tried not to gag.
Juniper rubbed her arms and looked at our house. “If he came here, he’d probably wreck the house again,” she said. “And leave us with more reminders of all his bullshit. I’m tired of having to piece the house back together. If something goes wrong, it would be my fault entirely.”
“I hereby absolve you for any future blame for teleporting accidents, when we are the reason you are trying to teleport us in the first place,” Verin said.
“Ditto,” Jasmine agreed. The rest of us assured Juniper that we wouldn’t be angry with her, but I knew that didn’t concern her as much as she let on. She worried that she’d teleport us into a bad situation, one that we couldn’t get out of without hurting ourselves in some way.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “All right,” Juniper said. “If I teleport you into a volcano, then I’m so, so sorry. Just know that I didn’t mean to do it.”
Kezia smiled and took Juniper’s hand. “I trust you.”
“And if I teleport only myself, then I’ll do my best to come back on my own,” Juniper continued.
Verin scoffed. “Don’t you worry. I’ll pick you up.”
“And if I only teleport some of us, then keep in mind that I’ve never tried this before,” she said. “And it’s really only a matter of time before I screw up anyway.”
Verin narrowed his eyes at her but didn’t say anything. He knew what our childhoods had been like. The fact that Jasmine had such a good self-esteem shocked me endlessly.
We all went into the house to grab our weapons. Kezia didn’t have any more god-made arrows, but she could work with her normal ones. Then we all headed back outside, to try using our new-found magic.
Juniper took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and grew still. Her shoulders relaxed, but Verin stayed hovered right behind her, ready to grab her if she needed his help. Her eyes darted around behind closed lids, like she read off a piece of paper. Her fingers twitched, as well.
Her eyes popped open, but I didn’t think she could see anything in the backyard. “Trees,” she whispered. “Lots of trees and grass. There are buildings lining one side of the clearing. They look kind of like hutches. Empty. So empty, I can feel it in my bones, and the silence that stretches on and on and on . . . ”
“Okay, you’ve got a location,” Verin said. “Now, try to move toward it.”
Juniper, when she had been human, couldn’t hear or hold a conversation while having a vision. Now, she blinked, and said, “How?”
“What did you do it last time?” Verin asked, not surprised by her talking to him. I wondered if he had been working with her already. It would’ve made sense to me, because Verin thought he could do anything. Even retrain a seer on how to use her powers.
Juniper licked her lips. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I had been picturing Argus, and I saw all the guns . . . and I . . . ”
My sister reached out with her hand, as if she wanted to touch something. She stood there one second, and the next, she vanished.
“Shit!” Verin said, jumping back. “Bollocks, but that’s gonna take some getting used to.” He reached for his pocket and pulled out his phone. Before he could even pull up her number, Juniper appeared again.
She looked around, frantically. I could hear her heart thundering in her chest. When she saw Verin, her shoulders relaxed. “I think I’ve figured out how to do the actual teleporting,” she said. “I reached for one of the leaves, and when my hand would’ve touched it . . . poof!” She spread her fingers wide and waggled them about. “I don’t like that, by the way.”
Verin laughed, rubbing the back of his head. “I wouldn’t imagine so. All right, you ready to try again?”
Juniper frowned. “I don’t know how to get all of you there, though.”
“Let’s try touching,” Verin said. “See if that does anything.”
She nodded, and her eyes went distant. Verin put his hands on her shoulders, bracing himself. “Trees . . . ” Juniper said. “The same ones as before. The same hutches as before.” Her eyes squinted, and she reached forward with her hand. Just as she would’ve touched something, she vanished into thin air . . . without Verin.
“Dammit,” Verin said.
Juniper reappeared, frowning heavier this time. “That’s not working,” she said.
Kezia came forward with a thoughtful expression on her face. “When I make flowers, I literally have to pull magic out of the ground and produce something real. It’s this tug from inside my chest, telling me what to do, how to do it. Maybe that’s the problem. Do you feel any power inside your chest?”
Juniper shook her head. “No, I don’t feel anything.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “When I went into my vision, I felt something. It tugged from my insides, yanking me toward the past.”
Jasmine crossed her arms over her chest. “Figures that you two got to travel around, while I had to stay at home.”
Zander rubbed her hip comfortingly, but I didn’t miss the almost relieved expression on his face. He didn’t mind that Jasmine hadn’t traveled into one of he
r visions. I felt like that would have been giving her too much power.
Juniper took another deep breath, and said, “Okay, let me try again.” Her eyes lost their focus, and kind of darted around the backyard. Eventually she stilled, and her breathing evened out. “Different,” she said. “Everything is different. Feels different. Looks different. Building. Large building. Looks kind of like concrete. Old, but not distressed. Well cared for . . . Cars outside. I can hear voices.”
“What are they saying?” Verin asked.
Juniper’s eyes narrowed down on nothing. “Talking . . . talking . . . It’s hard to hear. They aren’t where I am.”
“Focus on their voices,” Verin suggested.
Her face tensed, as if she listened to his advice. “Training . . . ” she whispered, and then started reciting words. “Kicked his ass today, yeah I did. I’ll do even better tomorrow. No man, you suck. You can’t even hit the side of a building with a brick. Fuck you, dude. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That sounds like the right place to me,” Kezia said.
Verin touched Juniper’s face, silencing her recitation of a conversation. “That’s good enough, luv. Now, focus on me. See if you can’t do what Kezia and Jasper suggested. Wrap yourself around me.”
I didn’t feel anything, or see anything, but Juniper’s face started to strain again. Her lips thinned down to almost nothing, and her color drained away. While she concentrated, Verin kept talking to her, in a low whisper. I didn’t pay attention to what he said, because those words hadn’t been meant for me.
Juniper’s face stayed tense as she reached her hand out to touch something we couldn’t see.
She and Verin disappeared.
“Shit,” Zander said, rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s getting more impressive with every attempt.”
“Yeah,” Jasmine said. “To think, she could take me to the mall after it closes, and I could get anything I wanted.”
“Why do you always use your powers for evil?” I asked.
Jasmine smiled, just as Juniper appeared again. She seemed winded, and put her hands on her knees. “That was harder than I thought it would be.”
“Where’s Verin?” I asked.
“I left him back at the building. He promised me that he wouldn’t do anything rash, so I’m trusting him. Maybe that makes me a stupid girl, but I figure that he’ll be able to scope around a little either way. Who’s next? I don’t trust myself with more than one person right now.”
“Me!” Jasmine said.
“No,” Zander barked.
“Kezia,” I said. “If someone attacks, she can wrap them up in vines. It makes the most sense.”
My wife kissed me on the cheek before going to stand with Juniper. The girls clasped hands, and the seconds ticked away slowly. One second, they stood there, and then they both vanished.
When Juniper came back, she took me next, since Zander didn’t want Jasmine to go without him. Juniper took my hand, and I didn’t know what I had been expecting. Maybe to feel her magic wrap around me, or to feel the air shift. I didn’t feel anything. One second, I stood in the backyard, the next second, we appeared in the middle of a parking lot.
Vertigo hit me hard, making me stumble. Juniper managed to catch me, making me think that the others had the same reaction to teleporting that I had. “You good?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “I just didn’t expect it to feel like that.”
Juniper smiled. “How did you expect being transported by a baby goddess to feel?”
“Good point,” I said.
She patted my shoulder, and I spotted Kezia and Verin behind some bushes. I jogged over to them while Juniper went to get Zander. We all knew that he wouldn’t be okay with Jasmine leaving before him, and we didn’t have time to argue, either.
When I reached my wife, I knelt down. She grew the bushes, making them thicker and taller, so that we could hide. “You okay?” she asked me, once that had been accomplished. Her eyes scanned my body, but I didn’t have a mark on me. I wouldn’t have, even if I’d been attacked.
“I’m good,” I said. “Have we found anything important?”
“Not really,” Verin said. “Those two tossers that Juniper heard talking climbed into a truck and took off. I would’ve stopped them, but Juniper told me that I couldn’t. I figured I should listen to her, so that she doesn’t abandon me here, ya know? Or hide my other drumsticks. Eventually, I’ll run out.”
Kezia smiled at him.
I looked through the bushes, at everything else in the parking lot. The building looked like Juniper described. It looked dirty, but not ill cared for. I could spot another four cars in the parking lot, and I suspected there would be more around the other side of the building. And I could hear voices in the distance. “Do you think those are coming from inside?” I asked.
“Yes,” Kezia said. “Verin took a quick jog around the building, and he said that he didn’t think anything else was nearby.”
“Nope,” Verin said. “They’re trying to rebuild this part of town, it looks like. They’ve got empty construction sites all over town, but no one working in them right now.”
Juniper appeared with Zander, and then vanished again, to grab our other sister. Zander came over to us, his eyes scanning the entire area. He had his sword out, like he thought that maybe he’d walk into a battle zone. When Zander reached us, he sheathed the blade, and didn’t bother kneeling down. In some ways, Zander could be worse than even Verin.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“Was that not obvious?” Verin responded. “We’re going to kill Argus, and anyone that steps in the way.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:
Bleed
Kezia
AS MUCH AS I trusted him, I did not like seeing my brother with a sword. It seemed like asking for trouble, and Jasper looked when he noticed the way Jasmine admired her boyfriend. The girl could have been deemed the queen of inappropriately timed bedroom eyes. I could read Jasper’s mind then, wishing he could lock her up in her room. She would only break out now.
“Time for a murder spree,” Jasmine said, cracking her knuckles. “Should be . . . ”
“Bad,” I said. “I don’t even have a way to justify letting people get away. They’re not being controlled by magic this time. They want to be here, fighting for Argus and against the gods.”
While I didn’t want to say they had it coming, I wouldn’t have felt guilty over the people I might have to kill today. They would come at us with everything they had in them, caring more about what Argus told them was right. I didn’t like taking lives, but now that someone did that to my family, I lost some of my kindness. I did not believe it would come back.
“Do we have a plan?” I asked.
Verin shrugged. “Go in and kill everything that moves. No one in there is going to be human. They’re all part of Argus’ little army against the gods.”
“Are we sure about that?” I asked.
“We’ll find out,” Jasper said. “I imagine Argus’ people are going to have those guns he stole. When they start firing . . . ”
“Argus is the main target,” Verin said. “All I care about is making sure he’s dead. The others, I couldn’t care less what happens to them. If they get in the way, then they die.”
It sounded reasonable to me. “Argus could be anywhere inside.”
“Then we slash our way through,” Jasper said.
We marched forward as a team, walking in the middle of the day with a bunch of weapons that would have gotten us thrown in jail. The good news was that we could probably bust out if we had to. If not, then I had a sister I could call. Persephone would have gotten a kick out of freeing us from jail. I could only imagine the stuff she got up to with Medusa in her free time.
Verin led the way, walking past the parking lot, garrote in hand. His father had given it to him so that he wouldn’t be left out. We all had weapons, but I knew Verin liked u
sing his bare hands to do things like this. When he took down that camp, he had gone in without a weapon, and only fury to fuel him. It worked out well enough.
I listened out for people, and I heard them inside. Their conversations sounded inconsequential, but it gave me locations as to where they were. On the bottom floor, I heard several voices. There were countless people inside, but at least we had a hint.
“The second we walk inside, they’ll know who we are,” Juniper said, raising her crossbow when we got outside of the doors.
“Yes,” Verin agreed. “Don’t let them kill you.”
While Verin let Juniper at his side with no problems, Zander tried pushing us all back to take the front. Jasmine grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him back. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You know what I’m doing,” he said. “Stand behind me.”
“Not a chance. You know I’m more durable than you, right? I could literally lift you over my head.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m going to protect you.”
Jasmine put a hand on her hip. “We’re not having this conversation now. Argus is inside, and I know you care more about killing him than trying to keep me from damage that won’t actually hurt me.”
My brother sighed, and Verin opened the doors. We walked in together, and I readied an arrow in my bow. Of all the weapons, mine might have been the least convenient, but I knew how to use it. My god speed gave me the ability to shoot faster than a human, and I hoped that meant I could beat a bullet.
When we got inside, we were met with an empty desk where a receptionist might have worked. On either side of the room, were multiple elevators, to the front was a door, right next to a staircase.
“Choices,” Jasper commented.
“I say we go forward and work our way up,” I said. “If we move fast, maybe we can even get this done without alerting everyone around us.”
Verin took a few steps to the door, and his hand hesitated on the handle. He pushed it open, and Juniper held her crossbow at eye level. She walked in with Verin, leading the way.