House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1

by T. John Greene

  Chapter 4

  Percaline

  Jon was the cutest little kid in shorts, suspenders, and a bow tie. He skipped down the street whistling a song. Whenever Jon came to Percaline in a dream it always smelled like the ocean. Percaline thought it was because of the time he had spent in Santa Barbara. Or maybe it was because they had spread his ashes there.

  They had been walking, or in Jon’s case skipping, for a couple of minutes now. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry, Percaline. We’re almost there,” Jon stopped whistling long enough to reply in a sweet child’s voice.

  Percaline continued to follow Jon down the street past Not My Dog’s Brewery to a brownstone building covered in moss and vines.

  “This is it,” Jon said and pointed to the building.

  “What is it?” Percaline asked, looking up at the building. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

  Jon was now skipping in circles. “Truthaven,” he replied. ”Now wake up!”

  It was four a.m. and Percaline was standing in the kitchen waiting for her tea to finish brewing. She had changed out of her pajamas and was now wearing a pair of yoga pants, a workout jacket over a sports bra, and a pair of running shoes. All she needed was something warm to hold in her hands.

  “Where are you going?” Lucas asked as he joined her and sat down.

  Percaline always had a hard time lying to Lucas. “I’m going to explore the place Jon led me to tonight.”

  Lucas, who had sat down on his designated stool for all of a minute, got up. “I’m going with you.” Lucas said.

  “Why?” Percaline asked.

  “Because I know there’s no talking you out of going and it’s four in the morning and I don’t want you walking the streets alone.” Lucas left the room, presumably to change and throw on shoes. Percaline waited.

  Savannah walked into the kitchen next. “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Lucas and I are going to go look for a place that Jon showed me in a dream tonight.” Percaline said, showing no sign of foolishness.

  “Really? That’s cool,” Savannah replied. Then reality set in. “I’m going too. I don’t want to be alone in the house with that crazy bitch. She scares me.”

  That was a weird reaction even for Savannah. “Okay then. But the next time the two of us are alone I want to hear about your private time with Mischelle.” Percaline paused. “I’ll make you a cup of coffee for the road.”

  “Thanks!” Savannah went back to her bedroom to change.

  By the time Percaline had made all three of them a hot beverage, Lucas and Savannah were ready to go. They left the house with Percaline leading the way. For a majority of the trip Lucas and Savannah were silent, probably still half asleep.

  Savannah finally spoke up, “Jon led you here? Did he say anything about it?”

  Percaline answered as they rounded the block the brownstone was on. “Truthaven.”

  “Truthaven? What the hell is that? More ghost convoluted crap?” Savannah asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s just what he said,” Percaline answered.

  Percaline stopped in front of the building. This was definitely the place. It looked identical to her dream. It was a three story brownstone wedged between a store and a garden. Looking at it more closely though, the garden could have been part of the brownstone by the way the fence connected the two. Percaline looked through the front door window but couldn’t see anything.

  She turned around and shrugged. Lucas looked at her and shook his head. He walked to the garden gate and opened it. He held it for Percaline and Savannah. Percaline walked through first. She figured that if they were caught trespassing, Lucas and Savannah had a better chance of not going to jail if she was the one committing the crime and they were merely following. She made her way through some shrubs and walked into a courtyard.

  The courtyard was beautiful. It was romantic, with parlor tables and chairs, and white lights hanging in zigzags above. The courtyard was also not empty. Josephine and Landon were there. Lucas saw them and instinctively moved in front of Percaline and Savannah. Josephine and Landon didn’t look intimidating but Lucas never took chances.

  “Josephine? What are you doing here?” Percaline asked, trying to defuse some of the tension she saw building in Lucas’s back.

  Lucas paused. “You know her?”

  “Yeah. We met Monday. She’s in my Faith, Morality, and Law class.” Percaline paused. “Do you live here?” she asked Josephine.

  “Percaline?” Josephine said in a low whisper like she wasn’t really asking a question but like she was mulling something around in her head. “That makes sense.”

  It was very early in the morning so you could say that Savannah wasn’t her most cordial self. “Percaline, if you know this girl will you please tell her to use her words and get to the point? It’s too early for all of this. She’s either going to call the police, invite us in, or kill us and serve our bodies with little green tomatoes.”

  “I would love to invite you in,” Josephine continued, still whispering. “But I don’t live here. I actually don’t remember how I got here.” Landon cried at her side. She shook her head as if trying to dissolve a haze that filled it, then patted Landon on the head and told him it was okay. “I was sleeping...” Her voice trailed off as she looked up, clearly trying to remember something. “And when I woke up I was here. Will someone please tell me where here is?”

  Lucas answered, “We’re in the courtyard of a brownstone in old town New Haven, not far from Not My Dog’s Brewery.” He was looking at the brownstone curiously.

  “I used to sleepwalk as a kid but I haven’t done that in years,” Josephine said. “Landon, did I sleep walk?” she asked. The dog barked as if saying, “No.”

  Lucas moved towards the side of the building, clearly looking for something. He pulled some vines out of the way and patted the brick. Other than the noise he was making, it was quiet. Josephine broke the silence and jolted everyone awake when she said in a loud voice, “It was a little boy. I dreamt about a little boy and in my dream I followed him here.”

  Percaline was the first to find her voice. “You followed a little boy here? You could see him?” she asked.

  “Yeah. He was a really cute kid. He told me that he wanted to show me something. Called it Truthaven.” Josephine laughed at herself. “I guess I did sleepwalk here.”

  Percaline was baffled. “And you’ve never been here before?”

  Josephine shook her head.

  Savannah asked, “Do you know what ‘Truthaven’ is?”

  Lucas, who was still pulling vines, spoke. “I do.” He yanked the last couple of vines out of the way and cleared the dirt off of what looked like a plaque with his sleeve. The plaque read “Truthaven.”

  Percaline, the most awake of them all, asked, “How did you know that was there?”

  “I didn’t. The only thing I knew for sure was that there was some type of entryway here.” Lucas backed up and looked at the building from where everybody else was standing. “See?” Lucas pointed. “You can see the top of the door’s casing.”

  Percaline looked. She had been raised by a carpenter and hadn’t seen that. She still couldn’t see it. She wasn’t the only one either.

  “But how did you see it when it was covered in vines when I can’t even see it now?” Savannah asked.

  Lucas walked back up to the brownstone. “You really can’t see it?” He pulled off a couple more vines and then traced an outline of the elevated bricks with his hand. “This is the roof of the door frame.”

  It took Percaline a minute but then she saw it. It was like one of those pictures that looked like white noise, but when you shifted your eye focus a bunny or something would pop out. Savannah could suddenly see it too.

  “But how did you see that?” she asked again.

  “It’s my job,” Lucas said with a smirk.

  “Then where’s the door?”

 
Lucas wasn’t sure. “Maybe they sealed it. I heard that a lot of these old places were used as prohibition cellars. Maybe they closed it up once alcohol became legal?”

  “Let’s remember that some of us are visually handicapped,” Josephine said.

  “We found Truthaven.” Savannah paused. “Or at least a plaque that says ‘Truthaven.’ And there appears to have once been a door here.”

  “But why would Jon lead us here?” Percaline wondered.

  “Who’s Jon?” Josephine asked.

  “The little boy ghost that brought you here. That’s Jon,” Savannah answered her.

  Josephine seemed to take the news well. “And he brought all of you here too?”

  “Yep,” Percaline, Savannah, and Lucas said in unison.

  Savannah walked closer to the plaque. “This says something else too, but it’s in Braille.” She looked at Josephine. “Please tell me that Percaline didn’t befriend the only blind person who doesn’t know how to read Braille?”

  “She didn’t. I befriended her. And I read Braille.” Landon led Josephine towards Savannah’s voice. Savannah took Josephine’s hand and placed it on the plaque. Josephine sucked in some air. “It will be easier for me if I have space,” she told Savannah. Savannah made a “please be my guest” gesture, which of course Josephine couldn’t see, and moved back to stand next to Percaline and Lucas.

  “No. Secrets. Beyond. This. Point,” Josephine read out loud.

  Percaline repeated, “No secrets beyond this point? What does…” But she was cut off by a sudden movement in the bricks. A secret door appeared.

  “Did I just hear a door open?” Josephine asked.

  “You did,” Lucas answered her. “It’s like one of those bookcases in the old movies that swings open once you pull the secret lever.” He touched the edge of the door and Percaline saw him genuinely smile for the first time since he’d been back. “This may be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Lucas continued to fondle the door. “It must have opened when you said the magic words.”

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s go in!” Savannah made to go inside but Percaline stopped her.

  “Wait! Doesn’t anyone else think this is crazy? I mean, we just found a secret passage that leads to God knows where after being led here by a ghost.”

  “You still have your tea?” Lucas asked her. He knew that she did better in moments of stress with a beverage in her hand.

  Percaline looked around and spotted all three of their cups sitting on one of the tables. They must have absentmindedly sat them down in all of the fuss. She let go of Savannah and moved towards her cup. “Yep,” she said as she picked it up and felt its weight.

  “Then you’ll be fine. Honestly, how many times growing up did we fantasize about a secret passageway?” Lucas commented as he went through the door first. Savannah followed, then Percaline, and Josephine and Landon brought up the rear. The door closed behind them and for a minute Percaline experienced panic. The passageway was dark. Lucas, always the Boy Scout, lit a hidden torch with his lighter. They were in a tunnel, like one of those used to mine coal. Lucas looked in front of them and behind them seeing nothing but tunnel and a dirt wall where the door once was, before finally deciding to move forward. The tunnel went on for about fifty feet before ending at a spiral staircase heading down. As they walked everybody was silent. Percaline was thinking that all of them had entered a horror movie and they were now heading into a vampire’s nest. Their faces would be posted on milk cartons across the nation. Or at least Josephine’s would, since she actually had people outside of their current group that cared about her. Mason would probably look for Savannah.

  The staircase was made out of stone. As they walked down it, Lucas lit each of the torches they passed like they were bread crumbs that would lead them all back. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs they stood in a large stone room. A water wall lined the circular room, ending in wells that were waist high. Lucas lowered his torch into the well closest to them and lit the water. Like dominos, the wells circling the room caught fire.

  Everything was more visible now and Percaline could make out a seal etched into the stone floor. It read “Truthaven.”

  “How did you know to do that?” Percaline asked him.

  “The CIA New Headquarters Building has something similar,” he shrugged.

  “Actually the CIA stole the idea from me.” A voice echoed through the stone room.

  Percaline could just make out the figure of a man walking towards them from the opposite end of the room. She moved in front of Savannah and Josephine.

  “Oh, no. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man said as he stopped in the center of the room. Percaline remained tense. “Professor Leven?”

  “Yes, of course, but please call me Don,” he said as he came toward the group with what looked like every intention of shaking their hands. Don was a tall, big man. Not someone you’d ever want to run into in an alley. In class he had worn a three-piece suit that made him look very dapper, but now he was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt that was one size too small for his muscles. He had on socks but no shoes.

  “Percaline, that’s your professor? He’s hot!” Savannah said, then slapped her hand over her mouth.

  Lucas whispered a scolding, “Savannah.”

  “Oh, please don’t blame Savannah,” Don said as he gestured around the room “It’s this place. It’s like truth serum. It will not let you lie.”

  “Seriously?” Savannah asked.

  Don smiled. “We’ll test it out in a minute.” He extended a hand to Lucas and Lucas accepted it and replied, “Lucas. And I already know Percaline, of course. And Josephine and Landon,” he said as he nodded towards the girls and dog. “And you are Savannah.”

  “I am,” Savannah responded.

  “How very nice to meet you all,” Don said. “Now please won’t you come in? I would like to show you my place.” Nobody moved. “Still don’t trust me?” Don asked. Everyone shook their heads. “Okay. Then why don’t you tell me what the driving force was behind you all breaking into my house?”

  Everybody spoke at once. This was the gist: “There’s this ghost named Jon, and we followed him here, and he told us about Truthaven, and then we found this secret door and opened it and we didn’t know it was your home.” Once everyone finished they all looked around at each other, baffled by their verbal diarrhea.

  “I told you. It’s this space. It won’t let you lie. Now please come in, this stone is chilly.” Again nobody moved. “I promise that I will not try to hurt you in any way,” Don insisted.

  “But how do we know that you’re not immune?” Percaline asked.

  “You will just have to trust me,” he replied.

  They followed Don out of the circular water room, down a hallway, and into a large, square room that could only be described as magnificent. It was lined with blue tapestries and looked a lot like a library without so many books. There were a couple of large tables separated by couches and chairs. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. But the most impressive thing in the room was a massively large fireplace.

  “This is your home?” Lucas asked.

  “One of them, yes,” Don replied. “May I get you guys anything? Perhaps a beverage?”

  Without losing a beat, Savannah began, “I’m afraid to talk because I think I’ll say something I shouldn’t.” She smacked her hand to her mouth and after a couple of seconds removed it. “Ahh. Who am I kidding? Josephine, you are like ridiculously pretty and if that wasn’t enough to be jealous of, I have to compete with the fact that my Uncle Jon visited you in a dream when he’s never visited me.” Finished with Josephine, she circled to Lucas. She was on a rant and there was no stopping her. “Lucas, I hate your girlfriend. She’s an over-possessive bitch!”

  Percaline chimed in too. “I agree.”

  Savannah looked at Percaline. “And Percaline, we wouldn’t even be in this fiancée mess if you would have just told Lucas you loved h
im.” That’s what Percaline got for opening her mouth.

  “Is that all?” Percaline asked.

  “For now, with you, yes.” Savannah turned to Don. “I’m reading The Odyssey in class and you look just like an African-American version of Poseidon. Are you Poseidon?” Savannah paused, not really waiting for an answer, then began again. “And I think Mischelle’s a Siren and that’s why Lucas acts like a little bitch when he’s around her.”

  Lucas was the first one to reply, “I do not act like a little bitch!”

  “Really, after everything I just said that’s what you picked up on? Maybe Percaline was right all along. She is too good for you,” Savannah retorted. Lucas looked from Savannah to Percaline with accusation in his eyes.

  “I never said that,” Percaline said. “And I don’t think that.”

  “Then since we’re in the room of truth, why don’t you tell me what it is that you do think?” Lucas asked.

  This was like a bad dream. Percaline prepared to say something that wasn’t altogether true but instead what she said was, “I love you. I’m in love with you.” It was probably only a matter of seconds to say it but it felt like a lifetime to her.

  Josephine was the one to break the awkward silence. Percaline would have to thank her later. “So you decided that you want to be with him?”

  “I did,” Percaline responded, not holding Lucas’s gaze. She couldn’t tell what was going on in that mind of his. Lucas didn’t say anything. He went to one of the couches and fell on to it. It was too late, Percaline thought. She had waited and now it was too late. Lucas and Mischelle were going to get married and have babies and after tonight he was probably never going to talk to her again.

  Savannah must have read the look on Percaline’s face because she said, “Don’t worry, Percaline. Lucas isn’t in love with Mischelle. He’s just infatuated with her.”

  Don asked, “Infatuated? What a weird choice of words. Why do you say that?”

  “Please refer to my previous statement. Mischelle is a Siren,” Savannah replied very matter-of-factly.

  Josephine commented this time. “And she’s not the only one.”

  Body language suggested that Savannah knew exactly what she was talking about. “If you have something to say, then why don’t you just say it? Use. Your. Words.”

  “You. You’re on team Mischelle. What did you do? Sell Percaline out so that Mischelle would make you a Siren?” Josephine accused.

  Savannah’s body tensed and finally slumped. “No. Mischelle attacked me.” She sat down in a chair across from Lucas. “I know that we don’t get along all the time but I would never betray Percaline. I didn’t ask for this, it just happened to me.”

  Percaline had been lost in the maze of her own thoughts and was now trying to catch up. Mischelle had attacked Savannah. Is that what she heard? “Mischelle attacked you?” She balled up her fists and turned looking for an exit. No visible exit. Huh. That was a first for her. Walking into a room and not immediately knowing where the closest exit was. She turned on Don and with every ounce of anything that wasn’t rage in her body she asked, “Will you please show me where the exit is?”

  “Yes, of course, but first you may want to hear Josephine’s secret.” Everyone turned and looked at Josephine and Landon.

  “I’m a witch,” she said simply.

  “A witch?” Percaline responded. A little laugh escaped her before she realized that Josephine couldn’t lie.

  “And why don’t you tell everyone why you’re here in New Haven?” Don prompted Josephine.

  Josephine

  Josephine hadn’t anticipated having to tell Percaline like this. She hadn’t anticipated having to tell Percaline at all. She had come to New Haven in search of the phoenix and it wasn’t until she woke up in the middle of a strange courtyard surrounded by these people that she realized that Percaline was the phoenix, or at least she would become the phoenix.

  “I come from a line of witches that date back to Genesis. My great grandfather to the millionth degree was Enoch, right hand man of God.” Josephine paused to catch her breath before continuing. “According to the Jewish Book of Enoch, Enoch was a prophet for God. This tradition of prophecy was passed down to one child in each generation of my family, with me being the last.” She paused again and took off her sunglasses. The room took in a collective breath when they saw Josephine’s white eyes. “The day I lost my sight I made my first prophecy. ‘The bird of life will rise, for another, the shadow of an eternal enemy, will come to being with the apocalypse.”

  “Okay, so Josephine’s a witch. Now why don’t you tell me where the door is?” Percaline asked Don.

  “I can’t until after you hear all of what Josephine has to say,” he replied.

  Josephine continued, “I’m in New Haven because I did a locator spell to see if I could find the phoenix. This usually requires something, preferably blood, from the person you are trying to locate but instead I used myself since I made the prophecy. Like pinging a cell phone, it led me to the closest tower but not to the cell phone’s, or in this case the phoenix’s, exact location.”

  “The phoenix?” Percaline asked.

  “Yes. The phoenix is the bird of life that will prevent the apocalypse.” Josephine pointed towards Percaline’s voice. “You are destined to become the bird of life. You will be the phoenix.”

  “The prophecy is about me? I’m going to prevent the apocalypse?” Percaline laughed uncomfortably. “That’s ridiculous.”

  Clearly she wasn’t buying any of this, but Josephine couldn’t think of another way to tell her. Maybe she needed more proof. Josephine thought out loud. “Don, you should answer Savannah’s original question.”

  “My original question?” Savannah asked.

  Josephine nodded, “You asked, ‘Don, are you Poseidon?’”

  Now all the attention was focused on Don. “I have many names.”

  “Please tell us what they are?” Josephine asked.

  “Throughout the years I have been called Repun Kamui, Yam, Lir, Ao Guang, Sobek, Dakuwaqa, Ahti, Agwe, Kanaloa, Pariacac, Idliragijenget, Mizuchi, Bangputys, Tangaroa, Njord, Haik, Neptune, Leviathan, and Davy Jones, but I am probably best known as Poseidon, God of the Sea.” Don paused and looked at Josephine. “And your great grandfather referred to me and my brothers as Nephilum or Giants.”

  “Because you were born of man and angel?” Josephine asked.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “You’re like legit a God?” Savannah acknowledged.

  “More or less, yes. I’m afraid that your other conclusion is also true. I do know of a Siren by the name of Mischelle and it is her blood I smell coursing through your veins.”

  “What does that mean exactly?” It was Lucas’s turn to ask the questions.

  “It means that Savannah is becoming a Siren,” Josephine said.

  “She’s a Siren?” Lucas laughed.

  “No, but she will be in about twenty-four hours,” Don explained. “Sirens are not easily created and the first process takes about thirty hours.”

  Savannah asked, “The first process?”

  “Yes, the first process involves the transformation of your body,” Don answered.

  “Oh God! Am I going to grow a tail?” Savannah had a shiver in her voice. Maybe that was the wrong question to ask Don. They had all been through so much already. Maybe the talk of Poseidon should have been tabled for another night.

  “Just like humans, Sirens also evolved. They now walk the world on two legs,” Don reassured her. “The transformation is much more human-aesthetic.”

  “And what’s the second process?” Percaline asked. Her voice sounded worried but steady.

  “She will gain the ability to control men with her voice,” Don said calmly.

  “So what you’re saying is that I’ll be rocking a hot bod while I’m killing it at karaoke night?” Savannah’s voice had gone from frantic with terror to amused and even excited.

  Luc
as spoke up again. “I don’t believe any of this.” He stood up from the couch. “I think we should go.”

  Savannah protested. “We can’t go, Lucas. We have a Siren at the house who attacked me and I don’t trust you to have my back if she does it again.”

  Percaline asked Savannah, “You believe all of this?”

  “I do, but if you don’t all you’ll have to do is wait a couple of hours for my transformation to take place. Or I guess you could wait for your transformation to take place.” Savannah paused. “What will happen to Percaline? Will she grow wings?”

  “It has been a very long time since I’ve seen a phoenix born so I’m not entirely sure, but I’m fairly confident that she will only have wings in the Underworld,” Don answered.

  “Wait, who said anything about transforming?” Percaline asked.

  “I did,” Josephine replied. “I said that you were destined to become the phoenix. You are not the phoenix already. Change implies transformation.”

  “You are quite astute, Josephine,” Don commented. “As for your Siren problem…” Don waited until everybody was looking at him. “As soon as you tell the object of the Siren’s affection that they are under a Siren’s spell, it will wear off. But I’m almost positive that Mischelle will be gone by the time you get home. You all have been here for more than an hour now, so whatever power she had over Lucas has since passed.”

  Josephine could hear Percaline pacing. She still wasn’t buying any of it.

  “So Percaline’s a phoenix, Savannah’s a Siren, Josephine’s a witch, and you’re a God? I’m starting to feel really inadequate and a little intimidated,” Lucas shared.

  “I wouldn’t feel too left out if I were you,” Don said. “Truthaven doesn’t appear for anyone purely human. In order to enter Truthaven you must be supernatural in some way. It’s how I knew you all were who you are.”

  “Then what am I?” Lucas asked.

  “I don’t know. Josephine, do you have any ideas?” Don asked. Lucas sighed.

  Josephine moved to touch Lucas. Instinctively he moved away, but then returned once he realized what she was doing.

  “Lucas, let her touch you,” Savannah said. “It’s how she knew I was a Siren.”

  Josephine grabbed Lucas’s arm, her hand on his bare skin. She could feel his humanity and his embarrassment, presumably over Mischelle. Beyond that, all she could feel was heartbreak. They were in a truth-speaking room but she didn’t think she needed to share his that with everyone else. He was barely keeping it together. She assumed the heartbreak was over Percaline but for a split second thought that it might be over Mischelle instead. She decided to believe that it was over Percaline but she didn’t know why exactly. Percaline had told him she was in love with him. “I can’t feel anything supernatural,” is how Josephine replied and it was the truth.