House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1

by T. John Greene

  Chapter 6

  Percaline

  “Savannah’s a Siren,” was the only thing Percaline had said to Lucas in the last couple of days. Lucas had broken her heart and it was everything she could do to keep living. On Thursday while Savannah was at school, Percaline stayed home in bed. Idle time wasn’t something she did well but she had made the choice to stay at home for the day, so that’s what she was going to do. The only problem was that Lucas was also there. He had given her space, which she appreciated, but she figured it was more out of fear than respect.

  Savannah was a Siren. Percaline had seen the transformation with her own two eyes. This left the door to the other possibilities wide open. Lucas was a something, Josephine was a prophesying witch, Don was a God, and Percaline was a bird that was going to save the world. There was always the slight chance that the prophecy was crap, but then that brought up the question of why Mischelle had picked Lucas. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Mischelle found Lucas in a bar in Tokyo, made him fall in love with her, and followed him back here.

  The phone conversation Percaline had with Mischelle had summed up her intentions pretty well. Mischelle had wanted to manipulate Lucas to get to Percaline. To get to the phoenix. Maybe phoenixes couldn’t do their phoenix thing with a broken heart and all of humanity was now going to suffer.

  Percaline wasn’t sure, but no matter how she looked at the last couple of days she kept reaching the same conclusion: all of this supernatural stuff was real and she was in the thick of it.

  Not only was she in the thick of it, but she had also managed to involve Savannah. Percaline was supposed to be her guardian and to protect her. Instead she had let Mischelle attack Savannah and make her into a Siren. This was what Percaline was going to have the hardest time forgiving Lucas for. He had brought a monster into their house, into their sanctuary.

  The other thing she was going to have a hard time forgiving Lucas for was sleeping with Mischelle at their mom’s lighthouse. Of all of the things he did, this was the one thing that Percaline gave him full credit for. Sure, he was under a Siren’s spell when he brought her back to the U.S., and he was under a Siren’s spell when he brought his fiancée into their house, but a Siren’s spell couldn’t explain why he had driven her to the lighthouse.

  Percaline felt stupid. She had been at school waiting for him to pick her up while he was banging the hooker. She was waiting to see her best friend and future husband and he was intentionally defiling the place where she went to think about her mom. Oh God. Did she and Savannah stand in the space where they did it? For hours, Percaline thought about all of these things. She took a bath in the middle of the morning just to be in water.

  Lucas had gotten brave sometime after noon and knocked on her door. That’s when she told him through the door, “Savannah’s a Siren.” She didn’t want to talk to him but she also didn’t want Savannah to return home from school without him knowing. That wouldn’t be good for anyone. She could hear Lucas slump against her door as he sat down his back to it.

  “On top of everything else you blame me for what happened to Savannah. I would too. I’ve been racking my brain for hours trying to recall every moment that Mischelle and I spent together and I’ve been wondering if I could have done anything different to prevent it. But that’s just it. If Mischelle was a Siren, like you say Savannah is, what chance did I have? What could I have done differently? I was set up to fail.

  “I know that you feel betrayed by me and I know that I’ve hurt you and I’m willing to take personal responsibility for that, but please understand that I was under a spell. They must have spelled me to get to you. Percaline, you’re not safe alone and I don’t care how mad at me you are, I’m still your best friend and I would give my life to protect you. Until we can get this thing figured out I’ll be following you everywhere. I’ll keep my distance but I’ll be there.”

  Percaline cried silently. Once the flood gates had opened they would not close until all of the emotion was out. She remained locked in her room and stayed in bed, crying.

  “Where are we?” Percaline asked Jon, looking around at her surroundings. They were standing on a sidewalk next to lake covered in fog. The only thing she could make out was a canoe that rocked at the dock beside them. Everything else was swallowed by the fog and mist.

  “You tell me. You’re the one that brought us here,” Jon said, kicking one of the rocks on the sidewalk into the water below them.

  Percaline looked around again. The fog lifted just enough so she could see the Stanley Hotel in the background. “We’re in Estes Park.”

  She and Lucas had been to Estes Park once or twice when they were in high school. It was only a couple hour’s drive from Denver and it had two things which Percaline loved: water sports and haunted establishments.

  Percaline slumped when she thought about Lucas. Jon picked up on it and grabbed her hand, pulling her down the sidewalk innocently. “Percaline, you’ll be okay,” he said.

  “I wish you could die from a broken heart,” she said, holding onto her chest above her heart with her other hand. For the last two days she’d felt like she was having a heart attack. “It would hurt less.”

  “No, you don’t,” Jon said. “That which doesn’t break you will make you stronger.”

  “I don’t want to be stronger,” she said, stopping. “I just want to be happy.”

  “Then change the thing in your life that doesn’t make you happy. No one will judge you for forgiving Lucas,” Jon replied, letting go of her hand.

  “I don’t think I can do that,” Percaline said.

  “If getting revenge makes you feel better, then do that, but don’t throw away your friendship over something that’s petty,” Jon said, looking into Percaline’s eyes. He was in a young body but his eyes had all the depth of a wise, older man. She considered his statement for a minute. If her dead uncle was telling her she was being petty then she probably was. It was time to move on.

  When Percaline awoke it was two p.m. She hadn’t napped that well or that long since ever. The most rest she usually got was when Lucas slept in the bed next to her. When she woke up she felt like it was a new day and she was a new person, a rested person.

  Percaline jumped out of bed, brushed her teeth, and dialed Josephine. “I’m in need of an outfit for the party tonight and I thought a little retail therapy might help. Wanna go?”

  Despite the short time they had known each other, Percaline knew that Josephine was the type of person who would put friends before anything else. It was something they had in common.

  Josephine gleefully agreed because she also needed an outfit, and in her words, “It will be nice to have someone who can help pick out clothes for me.”

  Savannah was up next, but she was in class so Percaline texted her:

  “Shopping? I need retail therapy.”

  “Now?”

  “30?”

  “K! ”

  “Do you need a note?”

  “Siren.”

  Percaline picked up Josephine and Landon and then met Savannah outside of school. On the way to the mall Percaline filled Josephine in on Savannah’s becoming a Siren and all of the Lucas stuff that had taken place since the last time they talked. Savannah made the comment that the only way to get over one boy was to concentrate on another. God, she was wise considering her years. Sometimes it scared Percaline.

  Percaline knew that Savannah was still mad at Lucas, but also that she didn’t really want Percaline to move on. She knew this because it was the same way she felt. She needed to heal and the best way to do that was with a healthy dose of self-esteem. She would go to the party tonight to look for rebound guy. She probably wouldn’t do anything with the rebound guy but she needed to know that she was still desirable and that Lucas was the one who changed, not her. She hadn’t gotten ugly or fat and she knew that, but she needed to feel it.

  Who knew, with the way that things were going today maybe she would even start
speaking to Lucas again. After all, he would be at this party even if she didn’t invite him.

  Shopping was great. Percaline found an outfit that would be Mason-approved and she picked up a couple of lingerie pieces on sale. The lingerie pieces were Savannah’s fault. Savannah needed a couple of new bras and if you were a Siren in a lingerie store where the owner was a man he just gave you free stuff. Actually, they were given free stuff at almost every store they entered. Percaline was starting to like having a Siren for a sister and was curious to see what would happen once the second stage of the transformation took place and Savannah’s voice changed.

  Josephine wanted to buy a conservative long-sleeved black top and a pair of black jeans, but Percaline and Savannah refused to help her find anything of the sort, so instead she ended up with a free faux leather black bustier, compliments of Savannah, and they built the outfit based on that one piece. In addition to the bustier they found her a pair of skin-tight faux leather black leggings, flat black shin-high boots to go over the pants, and a pair of black cat sunglasses she could wear as a mask. They found Landon a mask too. After all, it was a masquerade ball.

  Josephine also bought a sweater to wear over the bustier and only got away with it after sweet-talking a saleswoman into helping her find the knee length black sweater while Percaline and Savannah were busy looking at jewelry that would conveniently draw attention to their boobs. All and all it was a good shopping experience.

  Percaline dropped Josephine off at her house and Savannah at the school so she could pick up her Beetle, so she was alone when she walked into the house. Lucas was not happy about this. “I told you I didn’t want you to go anywhere by yourself and I know you heard me!” he yelled.

  There were two ways Percaline could handle this. She could either yell back at him, telling him that she wasn’t by herself and that Savannah and Josephine had been with her the entire time, or she could continue to ignore him. The latter seemed the easiest so she went with it. Lucas continued to yell at her about being irresponsible, but he became more upset about the fact that she wouldn’t speak to him. Lucas hated the silent treatment.

  Percaline sat on the couch and turned on the TV. She thought she’d drown out the sound of Lucas yelling with it. Conveniently, Savannah walked through the front door just before the TV reached optimum level.

  “Calm down, Lucas. I can hear you from a mile away,” Savannah said and Percaline turned down the TV. She did want to hear this part. “Percaline wasn’t alone today. Josephine, Landon, and I were with her at the mall.”

  “No offense, but I don’t think two girls and a dog would be much use against an attacker,” Lucas commented, but you could tell he knew he was beat. He sat down in a chair.

  “A Siren, a witch, and an attack dog,” Savannah returned.

  “Landon’s an attack dog?” Lucas asked.

  “I don’t know, but it helped our story so I went with it,” Savannah replied. “And Percaline won’t be alone tonight either.”

  “What’s tonight?” Lucas asked.

  “Tonight is a masquerade party at Alpha Delta Phi and you’re going with her and Josephine and Landon.” Savannah paused for a second, which was almost long enough for Lucas to butt in again. “You’ll be their designated driver.”

  Lucas thought about it and shook his head. “No, that won’t work. You’ll have to come too.”

  Savannah and Percaline laughed at the same time. “Me, a Siren, in a house full of single frat boys? Yeah…no. I’m going to Don’s.”

  “To Don’s?” Lucas asked.

  “Yeah, you know Don? Tall, good-looking God? Has a trident? He’s agreed to teach me about Sirens.” Savannah patted Lucas on the head as she walked past him. “Be ready at eight.” She threw Lucas the mask they had bought for him. It was creepy, with a long nose that would cover his whole face. Percaline didn’t want to speak to Lucas but she also didn’t want other girls to speak to him either.

  When it came to Savannah, Percaline always tried her best. It had been her idea to have Savannah call and ask if Don could teach her about Sirens tonight. Percaline knew that regardless of what she was doing, escaping the house without Lucas this morning was probably a once in a lifetime move, so from now on he would be with her no matter where she went. Obviously Lucas couldn’t be at two places at once to watch her and Savannah, and Savannah couldn’t come into the party with them, so that left Don. Percaline thought about skipping the party, but she honestly couldn’t sit prisoner in her room for another night because Lucas was in the house and she obviously wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. She needed to do something that would take her mind off of everything, if only for a couple of hours.

  At seven-fifty, Percaline walked down the stairs and stood looking at herself in the large mirror that hung on a wall in the living room. She looked hot. She was wearing a pair of black gladiator ankle heels, a short black skirt, and a faux leather shirt that was designed to look like two halves of a shirt that had been ripped apart and reattached. The best part of the outfit was the black and green mask that she had drawn onto her face around her eyes. Her hair was down, her naval showed, and her legs were accentuated. Perfect!

  Savannah came around the corner and looked at Percaline. “Perfect!” she said aloud. Then they both watched Lucas as he came down the stairs. He wore a gray hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, a pair of gray faded jeans, a black muscle tee, and the mask. He was dressed just like a frat boy going to a masquerade ball at a frat house. He looked at Percaline, said “Shit!” and grabbed the keys to the Xterra. Lucas was out the door when Savannah gave Percaline a high-five and grabbed her book bag. “Let’s go.”

  Lucas

  They had dropped Savannah off at Don’s, picked Josephine and Landon up from her house, and were now at the party. Percaline still wasn’t speaking to Lucas and seemed to be doing her best to piss him off. He watched as she danced with guy after guy, allowing them to put their dirty hands all over her body and in some instances even promoting the groping. It was all Lucas could do to not throw his coat over her and carry her out of the party. He just kept thinking, I’m the one that messed up. It wasn’t like he’d purposefully sought out a Siren to ruin his life, but he did take her to the lighthouse and he did have sex with her there. For that alone Percaline was allowed to punish him.

  He stood in an old Victorian-turned frat house, with sparse worn down furniture, ΑΔΦ on every wall telling you whose house they were in, and red Solo cups covering every duct-taped surface.

  Josephine and Landon kept Lucas company. Josephine told him that she was there because Percaline had wanted to go, but she wasn’t really into the frat boy type. Before her sight was taken she was into guys who were pretty and stupid, but now with her sight gone she was really into personality. Lucas understood that. If you couldn’t judge a person by appearance then you judged them by personality and Lucas could tell that these frat boys didn’t have much personality.

  Landon seemed to be enjoying himself, though. He was wearing a little red mask which had been specifically made for a dog, and every guy that attempted to flirt with Josephine started with her dog. Landon was getting belly pats, ears scratches, and the all-too-famous butt rubs. The butt rubs were his favorite. Lucas liked Josephine and could see why she and Percaline had become instant friends. Lucas also like Landon. He was an observant little dog.

  Percaline had seen to it that no other girl would try to pick up on Lucas when she had made him wear the mask. That was fine with him. He liked to think of it as Percaline marking her territory. If she wasn’t in love with him anymore she wouldn’t care if he got hit on, so for now he wore the mask, didn’t talk to any other girls except for Josephine, and stood by the snack table eating while watching Percaline work the room.

  He had to give it to her. She knew exactly what to do and how to move to get everyone’s attention. Once he had seen her in that little outfit he had known that tonight was going to suck for him. He could look but not touch. He could
protect her but not be overprotective of her.

  He watched as her latest suitor, some quarterback-sized tattooed no shirt douchebag fondled her. Wait, did she just give him her number? A heavy-set girl moved into Lucas’s line of vision.

  “Hey, handsome,” the girl said. Lucas didn’t want to be mean but he really needed to keep his eyes on Percaline and Douchy-mcyoungons and he’d lost sight of her.

  Josephine saved him. “Keep walking, this guy’s with me.”

  “Too bad,” heavy-set girl said and walked away.

  Lucas was panicked for a minute while he tried to get a visual on Percaline. When he finally spotted her he saw Douchy-mcyoungons, who was now dancing behind her, grab her waist and pull her into him. Lucas would have thought that would have been it, Percaline would stop this now but she didn’t. Instead she put her hands above her head and adjusted her body so her ass was digging into him. She locked eyes with Lucas while she helped Douchy-mcyoungons’ hands find their way to her stomach. She turned from Lucas to kiss Douchy-mcyoungons and that was it. That was Lucas’s breaking point.

  Lucas flew across the room, pushed Douchy-mcyoungons to the floor, and picked Percaline up in one swoop. He threw Percaline over his shoulder, not caring who could see her ass because chances were that every guy in this place already had, and carried her upstairs and into an unoccupied bedroom. Percaline protested. Lucas threw her on the bed.

  “So that’s what you want Percaline? To hurt me like I hurt you? We were best friends before all of this and I can’t believe that you would purposefully try to hurt me like this,” Lucas yelled.

  “Like this? I was dancing with another guy. You had sex with another girl in the one place in New Haven that reminds me of my mom. We’re not even close to being even!” Percaline yelled back as she got to her feet.

  “Okay. Then let’s not forget who denied whom first and who kept on denying. I shouldn’t have slept with Mischelle at the lighthouse and I’m truly sorry for that, but it’s not like we were together or even dating at the time. You made it clear to me a long time ago that you didn’t want to be with me,” Lucas yelled. He walked closer to Percaline until they were only inches apart.

  He could see the drive in Percaline to win this fight, but instead she gave up and slumped onto the bed. “It’s not that I didn’t want to be with you, Luke, it’s that I wasn’t ready for all the commitment that came with it. I was raising a teenager at age twenty, I was an orphan, and I was holding on to my dreams by a thread. I wanted to keep the small piece of teenager I had left for as long as I could.” She fell back on the bed as Lucas sat down next to her. “You of all people should have known that. But I did want you and I knew that when we finally got together it would be forever.” She looked over at him as she said the last word.

  Lucas fell back on the bed too so that their faces aligned. “Did?”

  “Did. Do. I don’t know. You really hurt me Luke, and right now I need time to heal,” she said.

  Lucas smiled. “But you’re speaking to me so that’s a good sign.”

  Percaline smiled back. “Baby steps.”

  Lucas wasn’t sure later if he would have tried to kiss her, because in that moment the power in the house went out. Lucas stood up from the bed and found his lighter in his pocket. He flicked it on and looked at Percaline. For the second time that night Lucas almost panicked. Percaline was seizing.

  He tried to put her on her side with one hand but she fought him off. She was so strong that Lucas fell to the floor and his lighter went out. They would have been in complete darkness again but Percaline had stopped seizing and now light was shooting out of her eyes and mouth. She looked like someone who was about to experience a visit of the fourth kind. Lucas watched her as she stood up, made the sign of the cross, and whispered, “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.” She crossed her right leg over left leg and put her arms up like she was the one hung on the cross.

  The light coming from her bounced off the walls of the bedroom and shot into Lucas. He doubled over in pain and passed out.

  Lucas woke up laying on the floor with Landon licking his face. “Stop!” Lucas told the dog. Josephine was standing over him.

  “Lucas, is that you?” she asked with fear in her voice.

  “Yeah.” Lucas sat up holding his head. He had a headache either from the light hitting him or his fall. He shook his head trying to shake the ache, but instead it made the rest of his body ache. He looked down at his chest. Why wasn’t he wearing a shirt?

  The power was back on. It took Lucas a second to find Percaline. She was stirring on the bed. Lucas moved to help her up and looked into her eyes. They were not Percaline’s normal green eyes. They were orange and red and yellow like they were on fire and in the center of them was a black bird.

  Percaline asked, “What happened?” as she got up. Lucas saw the imprint of wings where her body had been laying on the bed. Percaline was looking at Lucas as he stood there open-mouthed. He pointed at the wing impression on the bedspread. “I think what Josephine said about you being the phoenix is true.”

  “I felt it,” Josephine said. “I felt the energy change in the house.”

  Percaline looked at the bedspread and then back at Lucas. “Your eyes are purple.”

  “My eyes have always been purple,” Lucas said. He moved Percaline to the mirror. “You should see your eyes.”

  Percaline looked at herself. Other than the eyes she looked the same. She looked at her eyes for a long time, then blinked hard. When she opened her eyes again they weren’t their normal color but at least they weren’t on fire anymore. They had changed to sapphire green with specks of gold in them. They complimented her face. She seemed content with this and moved so that Lucas could look in the mirror.

  He’d always thought his eyes were purple but to most people they looked dark blue. Not now though. His eyes were truly purple and there would be no mistaking that. The rest of Lucas’s body had changed too. He was bigger.

  A thought occurred to him and he looked around the room. Almost every frat boy had a kettle bell and the guy that lived in this room was no different. Lucas took the kettle bell in his two hands and dented it. He was definitely stronger too.

  “I think we should go see Don,” Josephine said.

  Savannah

  Hanging out with Don in Truthaven, Savannah now knew everything there was to know about Sirens, mermaids, and harpies. They were all basically the same creature, but in one legend they thrived in water and in another legend they had wings. In all legends they were beautiful young women who could seduce men with their voice. Savannah hadn’t sprouted a tail or a pair of wings, so she assumed that Don had been right and her particular brand of Siren had evolved to walk the earth on two legs. He’d told her that she wouldn’t have the voice of the Siren until her eighteenth birthday. Honestly, this was kind of a relief to Savannah. She already had the femme fatale thing down with just the body and she didn’t want to add the brain-scrubbing voice to the mix, at least not until she was out of high school. She didn’t need the nickname jail bait.

  She also learned a little bit about Don’s family tree. He and his brothers Hades and Zeus had a human mother and an angel father named Esdreel. When God—like the God—found out that angels were procreating with humans, he sent the great flood to stop more “giants” or “Nephilum” as they were called from being born.

  The angels that announced God as their one and only true love were sent back to Heaven and their children were allowed to live. The angels that chose women over God were killed in the flood along with their children. The giants that were saved remained on earth without any contact with their fathers, and after only a fraction of their life had passed their mothers died.

  Some giants chose to procreate with their sister giants and they created demigods, or little gods. Others took human lovers and created semideus, or half gods. If a giant reproduced with a human, the first offspring of that union would always be the same sex as
the giant. In rare cases those unions could produce twins.

  Like their angel fathers, the giants didn’t see their children although there wasn’t any rule about it, and in every generation the god-blood became more diluted. Their children’s children were “gifted” with abilities like telekinesis or telepathy, and others were diagnosed as autistic.

  “But according to mythology your mother was Rhea and your father was Cronus,” Savannah observed.

  “The authors of the stories got a lot of it right but not all of it.” Don paused to look at Savannah. “Although they were right about Zeus overthrowing Cronus and locking him up in Tartarus,” he threw in. “Cronus was more of a self-appointed father figure. Rhea just happened to be his consort.”

  “So there’s no chance that Percaline or I are the children of a God because in order for that to be true we would have to be boys?” Savannah asked.

  “Correct,” Don said and laughed out loud. “The stuff that comes out of your mouth.”

  Savannah finally took the opportunity to ask Don if only women became Sirens and if she could turn Mason into one. That led to a whole conversation about how Sirens are usually born and not created and ended with Don refusing to tell Savannah how to make a Siren while reassuring her that only females have Siren capabilities. “Well, damn,” was all she said.

  Percaline, Lucas, Josephine, and Landon walked in while they were talking among a table filled with books in the large room that made up most of Truthaven. There was something noticeably different about Lucas. He was bigger and his eyes were deep purple. There was something different about Percaline too. Maybe it was her eyes?

  Savannah looked at her watch. “You guys are here early and I’m guessing that has something to do with the fact that Lucas is gray.”

  “I’m gray?” Lucas looked alarmed. He asked Percaline, “Am I still changing?”

  She answered, “You have a grayish tone to your skin.”

  Savannah butted in. “But on a scale from Caucasian to little gray man you’re more on the Caucasian end of the spectrum. It’s barely noticeable.”

  Don stood standing in front of Lucas, studying him. “You’re a Gargoyle.”

  “I’m a Gargoyle?” Lucas asked. “What is a Gargoyle?”

  Savannah chimed in with an answer. “You know those grotesque demon dogs that they put on buildings to ward off evil spirits?” Then she smiled and did her impression of the famous Ghostbusters line. “I’m the key master.”

  Instead of responding “I am the gate keeper,” as she usually did, Percaline snapped, “Savannah, this isn’t funny. Don, what’s going on?”

  Don stood back and admired Lucas. “Savannah wasn’t far off,” he said, smiling at her. “The Gargoyles you see on buildings are based off of the original Gargoyle. The type of Gargoyle Lucas is…” Don trailed off and moved to a bookshelf, “is a protector of the phoenix—you, Percaline.”

  He found the book he was looking for, pulled it, and flipped through it until he found the page he wanted. He left the book open to that page and set the book on the table he and Savannah had been working at. Everyone moved around the table to look at the book except Josephine, who hung back listening.

  Don continued, “The Gargoyle was created in the image of the seven Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Esdreel, Raguel, and Ramiel. In Enoch’s time, when my brothers and I were born, God sent down the seven Archangels to rid the earth of the angels who had fallen from His grace and their offspring. Each of the seven was given a task. Ramiel guided the watchers who had pledged their love for God back to Heaven; Uriel was to instruct Noah to prepare for the destruction of the world; Esdreel was to retrieve the soul of Moses because Moses was the grandson of Enoch.” Don looked at Josephine as he said this.

  “Gabriel and Raguel were sent to destroy the children of the fallen; Raphael was to bind and bury Azazel, one of the three fallen, in a desert until judgment day; and on Judgment day Michael was to confine Semjaza, Azazel, and Samael in Tartarus. Once all tasks were complete and the three fallen angels were locked in Tartarus, the seven Archangels returned to Heaven to protect God.

  “After the great flood, a phoenix, Bennu, was born to police the giants that remained on earth. They were to remind the giants that even though their fathers were angels, they were seen as nothing more than abominations of the human race. The phoenix, although supernatural, were still considered human, so a Gargoyle was created to aid in their protection from the giants.

  “Since the phoenix was created as a human soldier and representation of God, the Gargoyle was also created as a human soldier as well as a representation of the seven Archangels.”

  “And it didn’t occur to anyone that since I was slated to be a phoenix Lucas might be my Gargoyle?” Percaline asked, noticeably upset and confused.

  “I didn’t know Lucas would be a Gargoyle because not every phoenix has needed one. The only phoenix that have been born with a Gargoyle consort were the original Bennu and another named Garuda, a Hindu phoenix who defeated a serpent God. It suggests that Gargoyles are only born if the phoenix is to fight a God or giant.”

  “Percaline like legit just became a phoenix and they’re already telling her that she can’t hang with the big boys by herself. That she needs a protector. How encouraging!” Savannah liked to use sarcasm in stressful situations. She looked around the room at everyone but no one said anything.

  “I’m a Gargoyle?” Lucas asked again. “And I was created in the image of the Archangels to protect Percaline from an attack by a God?”

  Don was nodding, “Yes, or more accurately, to aide Percaline in attacking a God.”

  “Attacking a God?” Percaline asked.

  “Throughout history phoenix have been born in times of war. Bennu, the first phoenix, was born at the beginning of time and oversaw the remnants of the war of the fallen angels. A phoenix was born before the Titans war and helped to maintain the balance my brothers, cousins, and I had built with the humans. Thunderbird, or Native American phoenix, was born during the Unktehila war to help the Sioux people. Garuda, or Hindu phoenix, was born to protect people from the Serpent God Naga. There are more: the Firebird, the Fenghuang, and the Lebanese descendants of the phoenix, but all their stories are the same. The phoenix is born when mankind needs help to maintain itself and avoid annihilation. Since Lucas was made into a Gargoyle at the same time you were made into the phoenix, then that can only mean that this is a war against an immortal and your legendary proclivity as a weapon will put you on the offense rather than the defense.”

  “I’m a phoenix whose sole purpose of creation is to protect the human race from an Armageddon brought on by a God?” Percaline asked.

  “Yes. Exactly.” Don responded.

  “But I’m only human,” Percaline commented and sat down. She looked a little faint. Savannah rushed to the small kitchen off the hallway next to the small bathroom to get her some water. “Here you go,” she said as she handed Percaline the glass.

  “Yes, you are both human in the sense that you were born human and carry human blood, but as a phoenix, and a Gargoyle, you are both much more advanced than a normal human.”

  “Advanced how?” Lucas asked.

  “You are stronger, harder to kill, and have a longer life span. But probably the biggest perk is your ability to move between earth and the Underworld,” Don replied.

  This time Josephine spoke up. “They get to go into the Underworld?”

  “No, we all get to go into the Underworld,” Don answered with a smile on his face.