In the background, she heard a horrified scream. “Hey!! Don’t rip it up!! Give it back!! Doriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!”
Good riddance, Kendra thought. The last thing she wanted on her missions was a weapon that somebody else could pick up and use against her.
Kendra let her eyes adjust to the bright sunshine before stepping through the barrier, noting that there were only two people standing out there, and neither of them looked particularly dangerous.
She’d half-expected to see a battalion of police or one of the magical girls she’d recently defeated, but instead, she saw two women she didn’t recognize in the least. One of them was dressed in fashionable slacks under a sheer half-skirt, with a belt made from enormous chain links on top. Another wore a punkish outfit and a scarf wound around her neck and waist. They definitely weren’t police or magical girls. Most likely they were fellow villains.
Once she was sure her eyes had adjusted, Kendra strode through the barrier, summoning her spiked halo into the right hand that was hiding behind her back, just in case. “We’re not interested in newsletters, we have all the allies we need, and we don’t care about neighbors. That cover everything?”
“No, actually,” the woman with the chain link belt said. “We’re here to see my sister.”
The other woman raised her pointer finger. “Name of Chronos, no fashion sense whatsoever?”
“Chronos has a family?” Kendra blurted out.
It was hard to imagine. The soothsayer was just so antisocial.
“Quite a large family,” the woman with the chain link belt said, smiling. “My name is Rhea, and this is Minerva.”
Kendra stared at them blankly. Was that supposed to mean something to her?
“From Greek mythology?” the woman said impatiently. “I mean, Minerva is the Roman name, but that’s because she’s technically not blood-related.”
Kendra’s jaw dropped. “Chronos is an Olympian?!”
“What did you expect, with a name like that?” the woman asked incredulously.
“I thought Olympians were named things like Zeus and Odin,” Kendra protested.
For some reason, the woman looked very offended.
“Isn’t that second one from a different —” the other woman began.
“Yes.”
Kendra had no clue what they were talking about, and she was still trying to process this. It was unbelievable. All that time Chronos said she wasn’t a villain, and she was an Olympian? What a liar! Was anything she told me true?
What if she’d been manipulated?
What if her future would have been something totally different?
What if she could have stayed a magical girl?
What if the world hadn’t needed her to be a villain?
Kendra was on the verge of a panic attack.
But then she remembered the details that had convinced her. Her future self’s change of costume. Her future self’s change of hairstyle. Both things she had imagined but never told anyone she was planning. The Magical Girl Union, which nobody had known she was serious about starting someday. The catchphrase echoing down through her future years: “To protect world peace!”
Kendra shuddered, shoving the thought away. No. She hadn’t been mistaken. Everything she had done had been necessary.
“. . . see my sister, please?” the woman with the chain link belt was saying.
Kendra shook herself. “I’ll have to ask her,” she said briskly. “Hey, Chronos —” she called back over her shoulder.
But footsteps were already pounding up the stairs. Chronos exploded through the barrier.
“Rhea, get out of here!” she shouted. “You’re not welcome!”
“I’m pleased to see you too,” the dark-haired woman said dryly.
“Get out!” Chronos shouted, pointing fiercely away.
“No, I don’t think I will,” the woman said. “We need to have a little chat, my baby sister. Besides, I brought you presents.”
“So did the Greeks at Troy,” Chronos muttered.
Rhea beamed.
“I am not going to have a conversation with you,” Chronos snapped. “I’m not going to talk to you. You’re certainly not going to get inside my lair. So just drive away, and —”
“Ooh, do we have visitors?” a voice squealed from above them. “I’ll deactivate Davie! BREAK IT!”
The protective barrier made by the defense grid instantly vanished.
For a moment, Chronos looked too stunned to move. For some reason, Rhea did too.
“Who the heck?” Rhea screamed. “Is there another person living in there?!”
“Does your sister have more than one defector?” the other woman asked.
“How should I know?!” The dark-haired woman looked on the verge of hyperventilating. “She could have an army of people in there!”
“That’s right,” Chronos said with satisfaction. “There’s an entire army in there waiting for you —”
But Rhea had already put her hands together and was rapidly flicking through every room inside the lair.
“How many?” Minerva asked.
“Just one,” Rhea said. “Or just one a second ago.” She glanced up at her sister.
“Yes, well, there are a whole bunch waiting to teleport in —” Chronos began, clearly trying to salvage the situation.
“She has the teleport watch, so you clearly don’t have anyone waiting to teleport in,” Rhea said, pointing at Kendra. “I suppose it’s possible that she’s prepared to teleport and grab reinforcements, but in that case, I doubt you that would have her standing right next to me within arm’s reach —”
Kendra shoved her left hand defensively behind her back.
Rhea laughed. “Oh, I’m not going to steal the watch! I have much better toys of my own. Ones that coordinate with outfits, rather than clashing. That thing is hideously ugly.”
Kendra made an involuntary face. The dark-haired woman wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t so much that the watch was ugly, per se, but it was decades out of fashion, and it looked like it belonged on the wrist of a businessman instead of a villain. That was why she didn’t wear it when she went on missions. She tucked it into her belt instead. Sure, it might be useful in combat, but she didn’t want to rely on it for anything but transportation, and she hated the idea of ruining the cool look of her villain outfit.
“Oh, did you know that I designed your costume?” the dark-haired woman broke in. “You might have heard of me. Rhea Korstanos.”
Kendra’s mouth fell open. “You’re Rhea Korstanos?”
The woman smiled. “The same.”
Kendra turned to look at Chronos. “You’re related to Rhea Korstanos? You?”
“Unfortunately,” Chronos muttered.
“I find it hard to believe myself,” the woman chuckled. “Her taste in fashion is appalling, isn’t it?”
“It’s nonexistent,” Kendra shot back.
Rhea sighed. “I’ve tried to educate her, you know.”
“She doesn’t even own an iron.”
“Why would I need an iron?!”
“Because your clothes are always wrinkled!” Kendra shouted.
Rhea moved forward and put a friendly hand on Kendra’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re working with her. I think you’ll be a good influence. Can I task you with ensuring that she sometimes dresses appropriately?”
“No,” Chronos snorted.
“Absolutely,” Kendra said, nodding.
The oracle looked extremely disgruntled.
“Now,” Rhea said, clearing her throat delicately, “about why we’re here —”
“Oh, speaking of which,” Kendra said sharply, eyeing Chronos, “‘Not all born mages are villains,’ you said. ‘I’m not a villain,’ you said. ‘Why are you so quick to judge my people, and so quick to praise yours?’ you said. And you were an Olympian?”
“It’s true!” Chronos said, hunching her shoulders. “Stop looking at me!”
“A-hem,” Rhea sa
id, looking a trifle annoyed at the interruption. She held up a zippered bag that had been resting by her feet. “Well, we’ve come to bring you a special gift —”
“Accessories!” the woman beside her enthused, unzipping it and pulling out several handfuls. “Necklaces . . . bracelets . . . buckles . . .”
Kendra’s eyes fell lustfully on half a dozen black leather straps with buckles that were trapezoidal-shaped, just like the belt of her villain outfit. She wasn’t sure where she would put them yet, but the costume definitely needed those.
“We don’t care,” Chronos said rudely. “We don’t trust anything you bring. Now, if you’d just pick them up and clear out —”
“Which ones are for me?! Which ones are for me?!” Tiffany shouted, running through the doorway.
Rhea looked extremely taken aback. “Er . . . I didn’t actually know you existed, so I don’t have anything meant for a child your age . . .”
“Noooooooooo!” Tiffany howled.
Rhea placed her hands on the other woman’s shoulders. “Tell you what: Minerva here will make you something!”
“I will?” the punkish woman asked skeptically.
“You will.” Rhea’s smile was like iron.
“I will,” the woman muttered.
Either an employee or a minion, Kendra surmised.
“Can she make super pretty things?” Tiffany asked excitedly.
“Of course,” Rhea beamed. “In fact, I’ll even let you design it. Just draw it, take her inside, and she’ll bring it into reality!”
“I’ll go get my crayons!” Tiffany cried, racing back to the lair.
Kendra eyed the bag of accessories. She wanted those buckles. She needed those buckles. She needed those buckles right now.
“Feel free to choose whatever you want,” Rhea said, smiling. “Both for your outfit and for my baby sister’s.”
“Cool,” Kendra said, trying to seem barely interested. “My costume needs more accessories.”
Chronos bolted for the doorway, and Rhea reached out and snagged her sleeve.
“. . . While my sister and I have a heart-to-heart chat.”
Kendra casually reached for the bag and pulled out a few necklaces, several bracelets, a pair of earrings, and all of the straps with buckles, as if they were only an afterthought.
“Come! Let’s go give you a makeover!” Rhea said cheerfully, pushing her sister towards the doorway.
“Just go away!” Chronos shouted.
As they reached the unbarriered doorway, Rhea stopped and glanced over her shoulder at her minion, who was still hanging back. The woman had the air of one who was hoping her boss would forget to make her do an unpleasant task.
“You will,” Rhea repeated.
“I’m asking for two days off next week,” the minion muttered, trudging after Tiffany.
Chronos had no idea why her sister was here, but she was absolutely certain about one thing: it was not to have a heart-to-heart chat.
“Do you have a brush anywhere?” Rhea asked brightly.
“No,” Chronos said immediately.
But Rhea snapped her fingers, summoned up an image of where the bathrooms had been a few minutes ago, flicked through each of them until she found a brush in one of the drawers, and headed straight for the nearest bathroom.
Before Chronos could escape to her bedroom and lock the door, Rhea reappeared with the offending implement in her hand.
“I suppose you didn’t know where it was because it’s such a foreign object,” she said cheerfully. “Have you ever brushed your hair more frequently than once a decade?”
Chronos glowered at her.
Rhea moved forward and attacked her hair. Chronos tried to shove her off, but to no avail.
“Show me a tour of your new place!” Rhea ordered.
Chronos snorted. That was certainly not going to happen.
“Let me see,” Rhea said, her hands still moving busily through Chronos’s hair despite her best attempts to shove them away. “I see you have a bedroom, enormous dungeons, a kitchen that’s woefully understocked . . .”
She was going to give herself a tour if Chronos didn’t stop her, it seemed.
“Let’s go to the plotting room,” Chronos grunted. There was nothing in there that she minded Rhea investigating closely.
She stormed down the stairs, trying to ignore how satisfied her sister looked as she followed her. When they got to the plotting room, Chronos flopped into a chair and sat there sulking while the brush continued attacking her hair.
“I’m so happy to be here to visit,” Rhea said from behind her, shoving the brush through the many tangles. “It’s been so long since we’ve had time to catch up. It seems you have two teammates! When did the other one get here?”
“I know perfectly well what you just did,” Chronos grated. “You distracted them both so you could have time with me alone. So? Would you please explain why you’re really here?”
Rhea gasped from behind her. “I’m shocked that you’d accuse me of duplicity! I’m scandalized! I’m —”
Chronos snorted. She didn’t turn around to look at her sister’s false attempts to look innocent. “Rhea.”
“Fine.” With a sudden jerk, she felt herself grabbed upward, with an arm wrapped tightly around her neck. “I want to know why you’ve been betraying the family.”
Chapter 3: The Peril
She choked and gagged, barely able to breathe. Chronos shoved the arm away from her throat just long enough to shout, “Let go! I’m not betraying anybody!”
She choked. The arm was back to squeezing tightly.
“Oh, really?” her sister asked in a dangerous tone. “Have you seen this?”
The arm released her, and Chronos slammed back into the chair, smacking her tailbone hard against it. Her sister’s hands were shoved in front of her face, and scenes rapidly flickered across them. Scenes of Kendra, Kendra, Kendra, Kendra, Kendra.
“I don’t even know what you want me to see!” Chronos sputtered.
The flickering scenes halted, and a single one took its place. Kendra flipping backwards, shouting, “I’m not a typical villain! I only fight corrupt magical girls!”
Rhea stopped there, as if that were supposed to illustrate some sort of point.
“And?” Chronos said.
“There is no way you’re that stupid!” Rhea exploded. “She’s fighting corrupt magical girls! She’s trying to purify the users of the magic system, which will only make them more powerful!”
“Or she was lying,” Chronos said.
“Oh, don’t try that with me,” Rhea said. The tone of her voice made Chronos’s blood run chill. “She wasn’t lying. Everything she’s done is consistent with that goal. The question is whether you’re complicit in it.”
Chronos swallowed. She’d never seriously considered that her sister might try to kill her, but now that seemed possible — in fact, plausible.
On the other hand, she was pretty ticked off right now. She wasn’t going to try to mollify her sister, who had barged in here without permission and then attacked her with both a hairbrush and a chokehold.
“I’m not complicit in anything,” Chronos said sourly. “That girl, as you recall me saying before, wanted to become a villain. I gave her the costume you made and I bought her a lair. Then she wouldn’t let me move out. Do you want her? You can have her.”
Rhea shoved her hands back in front of Chronos’s face, and more scenes flicked across her vision, almost too quickly to see. One in particular caught Chronos’s attention.
“Huh,” she said in irritation. “She killed one of the Koala Cuties. Guess I’ll have to chew her out about that.”
Rhea spun the chair around and jabbed her finger at the floor. “So you admit it! You’re a traitor!”
“I don’t want her to kill children,” Chronos said flatly. “How does that make me a traitor?”
“How does —?” Rhea sputtered, speechless.
“How does that make
me a traitor if it didn’t make me one before?” Chronos clarified. “I’m not doing anything different from what I’ve always done.”
Rhea waved her arm incredulously to indicate the plotting room and possibly the rest of the lair. “You call this ‘not doing anything different’?”
Chronos shrugged. “Okay, fine. I saw a future where most of the world was destroyed. I acted to stop it. How does that make me a traitor?”
“Destroyed?” A red flush swept across Rhea’s cheeks. “That would have made conditions ripe for our family to take over!”
“No, Rhea,” Chronos said flatly. “In that future, all our family was dead.”
Shock chased incredulity chased disbelief across Rhea’s face. “Dead?”
“That’s right,” Chronos said with satisfaction. She loved when she could shock her sister. It was so difficult to do. “With magical girls ruling the world. Kendra would have been the ringleader, and she would have led an extermination against all born mages, especially villain families. Bet you’d have loved that society.”
“Impossible,” Rhea said, recovering. “We’re superior. Born mages have a manifest destiny —”
Chronos jerked her hands upwards and slammed a series of visions into her sister’s face.
Olympus Estates in ruins.
The Magical Girl Union.
The assassination of Emperor Kami.
The slaughter of a dozen Deathwaves.
The shattered moon across the sky.
The dead body of Rhea’s minion, with a random magical girl standing over her.
“And that’s only the futures that weren’t totally prevented,” Chronos said at last. “A lot worse would have happened if I hadn’t stopped her. Believe me, villains are safer, and so is everybody else, right now.”
“Why didn’t you just kill her?” Rhea asked rudely.
Chronos stared at her incredulously. “Because I don’t believe in killing children!”
“That’s not a child,” Rhea said scornfully. “That’s an extremist.”
“Fine, then I don’t believe in killing people,” Chronos growled.
Rhea shook her hair, as if to clear her head. “That’s all a bunch of nonsense, anyway. Magical girls defeating all the villain families? No way. You’ve got to be lying.”
To Prevent Warm Welcomes Page 2