House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1

by T. John Greene

  Chapter 12

  Percaline

  The house was buzzing over the trials. When Percaline stepped outside, fully transformed into a phoenix complete with wings and eyes, she finally understood why. The presentation was spectacular. There were chairs set up on the edge of the property for Hades, Don, and the other members of the house.

  Percaline, Lucas, Josephine, Landon, Savannah, and Mason were on thrones, surrounded by Percaline’s face, which was plastered on all of the screens throughout the Underworld like she was one of the competitors. She wasn’t comfortable with this, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it either. She couldn’t disguise herself because she was the phoenix, but at least it was something she could hide behind. Lucas was also dressed in his part as a Gargoyle, sporting his wings, a chiseled naked chest, and deep purple animal-like eyes. He looked good and Percaline thought about putting a censor bar over him.

  The screens should have been concentrated on Hades because he looked the most fantastic in Percaline’s opinion, but maybe that’s because she hadn’t yet seen him in all of his winged glory. From his ankles to above his head, his wings flowed out behind him, casting off sparks like a campfire as he walked.

  The assembled crowd watched the four winged creatures and their counterparts take their seats. In front of them was an obstacle course, a jousting arena, and a melee field. Each contestant would start out competing on the obstacle course, where they would complete a couple of menial but informative tasks that would showcase their strength, balance, coordination, and speed. If the contestant made it to the finish line, then they would move on to jousting. Jousting was like your typical medieval jousting except the contestant could use any form of four-legged animal they wanted in place of a horse. If the contestant won their match, or best two out of three, then they would move on to the melee field where they would fight in close combat against each other, either disarming their opponent, making their opponent tap out, or knocking their opponent out, depending on the weapon used. The contestants that could transform into other beings were allowed to choose whether to transform or remain in their human form.

  The arena was colored in brilliant blues, reds, oranges, greens, and yellows and each opponent wore one of those colors to signify their brand of monster. Red meant that the contestant was a vampire. Blue represented werewolves, so Mason and Landon held up blue flags. Yellow was for witches, wizards, or any other metaphysically powerful individuals; green was for ghosts, zombies, and any similar dead things that didn’t fall into the other categories. Orange was for Saints, who seemed to be every other leftover combative monster, or just monsters who didn’t belong to any of the other large groups. Some Saints had tattoos on their hands denoting that they were Saints and others didn’t. Hades explained that demons didn’t have a color because they wouldn’t be participating in any House event.

  Percaline noticed that there weren’t any winged creatures competing. “Besides angels, Gods, dragons and the occasional harpy, winged creatures are few and far between,” Don told her. “There may be one or two dragons down there, or a nightingale, but they will cloak their wings so nobody knows exactly what kind of creature they are.”

  Josephine spoke up. “That seems hardly fair for the vampires and the werewolves,” she said.

  “The Saints wouldn’t compete otherwise, and no offense to Landon and Mason, but vampires and werewolves are arrogant enough to believe that it doesn’t matter,” Don said.

  “No offense taken,” Landon said. “And completely accurate as always.” He waved his blue flag in the air and smiled down at the field. His flag had the number 22 on it. Percaline looked at contestant number 22. He was a young burly guy who Percaline would have guessed was a werewolf even if he hadn’t been wearing a blue shirt.

  “My brother,” Landon said, noticing Percaline watching. Number 22 walked towards the starting line and transformed into a brown werewolf.

  Like they were live at sports center, a man named Quinton who was sitting at a table in front of the jousting area was projected onto the TV screens.

  “He’s an emotional vampire, or emo vamp,” Don told Percaline without elaborating.

  “Hello, Underworld,” he shouted as the crowd yelled with anticipation and closed in around the different apparatuses. “Before we begin the trials we need to again go over the rules.”

  Quinton lifted a piece of paper and read it to the crowd. “All trials will take place in their designated arena, which includes twenty feet of air above them.” He stopped reading and looked the yellow contestants. “That means no fireballs, light balls, water balls, or other means of magic above twenty feet or outside of the field, do you understand?” he asked, then went on. “Only that which is on the field can be used against your opponent. This means that only the air, water, fire, earth, and other portable objects on the field can be manipulated into your means of assault.” Again he paused. “We do not play to the death. When the referee tells you to stop, you stop. When the referee tells you you’re out, you’re out. Failure to comply will result in your being banned from any participation in future trials.

  “The House of Phoenyx is looking to fill four positions, so we will be choosing four champions from our victors. The first test will be the obstacle course, the second will be jousting, the third will be melee, and the fourth will be entering House of Phoenyx property as designated by the purple perimeter around the House. If anybody has a problem with the rules for the trials as I have read them, please forfeit. If at any time you are caught breaking any of these rules, you will automatically forfeit pending trial banishment. I now ask that all competitors take their mark at the starting line of the obstacle course.”

  The contestants lined up. “There must be a hundred of them,” Savannah said as she started to count them out loud. She got to twenty before giving up. One hundred was a fair assessment.

  “Can I please get a clock on the screen?” Quinton asked. A clock showed up on every screen, starting at ten seconds. “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” The crowd counted down in unison and when they got to one, a horn blew and the contestants started to run.

  Percaline watched as a variety of creatures ran forward through the mud to the first obstacle, a set of four circle platforms each standing four feet apart in a tank of water. The object was to use those to get to the other side without falling into the water. If you fell into the water you were out.

  Landon’s brother, blue number 22, made it to the other side easily, jumping to each platform on all fours. Others fell or were pushed in by other contestants. “What about the water?” Josephine asked.

  “It’s not holy,” Don replied. “Many creatures don’t like it but it shouldn’t kill them.” One of the members of the yellow team glided over the pool of water without touching the platforms. “And they always have the option of not competing. Of course if we hire a vampire, or one of the other water intolerant creatures, the House will have to make exceptions for them,” he finished.

  The second obstacle was a wall. Landon’s brother changed back into his human form before he started to climb. He was the first one up. This was where the vampires and werewolves that had made it past the water excelled. This obstacle was all upper body strength, which they had in spades. Many members of the yellow team didn’t succeed in climbing the wall because they weren’t allowed to use magic to glide over it. It went twenty-five feet into the air, but they tried their hardest, levitating themselves to nineteen feet before having to use muscle.

  Those that were able to climb the wall found a nice treat waiting for them on the other side—a river. They had to jump off of the wall into water and swim across the current to a set of elevated bars that were waiting on the other side.

  Landon’s brother jumped into the water without hesitation and swam across it to the bars. However, he didn’t take into account how heavy and slippery he would be when he finished, so he fell off the bars into the mud below them. />
  Landon was on the edge of his seat watching as his brother tried to hold on, but he put down his flag when his brother hit the mud. “Sorry, Landon,” Percaline said and patted him on the back. Landon didn’t seem very upset. He was already holding an orange flag.

  Another contestant passed Landon’s brother, and was now leading the pack. She was number orange 16. “Are you rooting for number 16 now?” Percaline asked.

  Landon replied, “No, I’m actually rooting for number 5 just behind her.”

  Savannah and Mason both perked up. They both had orange flags for number 5. “Us too!” they said in unison.

  Percaline looked for orange number 5 and found him. He had black hair in a long black braid down his back, beautiful golden skin, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt or shoes. She figured they were rooting for him because to call him attractive would have been an understatement. Lucas saw where he was looking and shook his head.

  Lucas was holding a green flag with the number 8 on it. Percaline looked for green number 8 at the back of the pack and recognized him at once. “It’s Reaves!” she screamed in excitement. The others looked at where she was pointing and all of their flags changed from orange 5 to green number 8. “Woohoo! Go Reaves!” everyone shouted.

  Reaves was kicking ass. He swung through the elevated bars without any trouble and landed on a sandy beach on the other side of the mud. Now all he had left to do was run to the top of the hill, walk across a balance beam, and claim the first flag. Reaves started up the hill behind a couple of others who were losing traction. No one had claimed a flag yet because they were all running through quicksand. There was a rope leading up the hill to the balance beam and Reaves stopped fighting the sand and held it firmly. He pulled himself up and out of the sand with the rope and moved on to the balance beam. The balance beam was set high above the ground so no magic could be used. Also, anyone with a fear of heights would be out. Reaves breezed over the beam with quick feet and no hesitation and grabbed his flag. He had come in first place.

  Their section of seats exploded with excitement as Reaves stood at the top of the hill, flag in hand, doing his version of a touchdown dance as any victor would. Savannah voiced Percaline’s thoughts out loud: “Reaves is the man!”

  The obstacle course had easily narrowed the field of competitors from one hundred to fifty. Now it was time for jousting. Reaves was up first, having taken first place, and rode into the arena on one of the horses the House stabled. It was a beautiful black horse with a horn rising out of its forehead. “Is that a unicorn?” Percaline asked in surprise.

  “It is,” Don replied with little enthusiasm. Apparently unicorns weren’t that big of a deal to him.

  Reaves’s competition rode into the area on a huge burly dog. “It’s a Hell hound,” Don said before Percaline could ask. Hell hound guy had been one of one of the last people to finish the obstacle course. He wore yellow, indicating he was a wizard. He and Reaves took their positions on opposite sides of the field and looked down the course at one another. A jester of sorts stood in the center of the field on top of the wall that separated the two participants. He faced Percaline and held two flags in his hand. When he lowered the flags, the two players would ride towards each other with their lances up, trying to knock their challenger off their animal. The jester would then escape by jumping into a trap door beneath the wall.

  The jester asked both competitors if they were ready. When they nodded, he lowered the flags and jumped beneath the wall with great speed and precision. Reaves and the black unicorn started running full speed towards his rival. The wizard threw spell after spell at Reaves, but the unicorn appeared to have natural spell blocking abilities, so they were cast off. When they were only feet apart Reaves drew his lance up and struck the wizard with such force in the chest that the wizard flew off the Hell hound. “Green number 8 advances,” Quinton said over the loudspeaker and the crowd erupted.

  Orange number 16 advanced to the next challenge and orange number 5 waited on deck. Savannah, Mason, and Landon all bent forward, watching closely. Orange number 5 was riding a big white horse. His competitor was a vampire who rode in on a werewolf. “So vampires and werewolves get along?” Percaline asked.

  “Of course they do,” Don answered. Landon elaborated, “It’s like it is aboveground, you might dislike the person but not their entire race.”

  The jester lowered the flags and the contenders started towards each other. Percaline would have been intimidated running towards orange number 5 because of the sheer volume of him and his horse, but the vampire wasn’t. They stabbed their lances into one another and slowed at the end of the track. “Ah, doesn’t that hurt?” Percaline asked. They weren’t wearing armor.

  “Most monsters have thicker skin than your average human, much like Lucas,” Don replied. Percaline glanced at Lucas, asking him with her eyes if he’d known that. He hadn’t. “And both of them are wearing a guard over their hearts,” Don finished.

  Orange number 5 hit the vampire square in the chest. “He gets two points for that hit. The vampire only gets one point for hitting him in the shoulder,” Don explained. They waited at opposite ends of the track again. The jester dropped the flags and they rode towards each other. Again orange number 5 hit vampire square in the chest. The vampire missed orange number 5 completely. “With one more round the score is 3 to 1, orange number 5,” Quinton announced over the loudspeaker.

  The vampire didn’t have a chance in the third round. Orange number 5 knocked him off his werewolf.

  “Orange number 5 advances to the next challenge,” Quinton told the crowd.

  “What is an emotional vampire?” Percaline asked Don, referring to Quinton.

  Don answered, “Instead of feeding on blood, emo vamps feed on emotions. Even as a poltergeist, as Quinton is, they are able to feed off other people’s emotions.”

  “Quinton was killed as an emo vamp and then came back as a poltergeist? Why?” Percaline questioned, not understanding how “emo vamp” and “poltergeist” could be used in the same sentence. There were monsters and some of them were dead, but she had thought that the fact that they were dead was what made them monsters. She had never considered the fact that they could be both.

  “Like aboveground, no one knows why some stay and others go into the light, or blackness. They just do. Maybe Quinton has some unresolved Underworld business,” Don said, shrugging. He offered Percaline a handful of popcorn from the tub that was now in the hand that had earlier held his trident for notoriety purposes.

  The trials were marketed like any other sports event with concessions, food and drink vendors, and clothing vendors. Savannah was actually trying to sweet talk one of the House’s stable boys—Percaline thought he said his name was Stanley—into getting her a House of Phoenyx Trails shirt because he was one of the only people allowed between the House and the purple barrier that separated them from the rest of the Underworld.

  “Pretzel bites?” one of the maids asked and Percaline nodded. She loved eating pretzel bites during a sports event and she liked that the House was trying to make them feel like part of the crowd, although everyone knew that anything given to them had already been tested for poison. She wondered if she’d have to have a bodyguard follow her once they were allowed out into the Underworld.

  After twenty-five pairs were finished competing in the joust, the winners were ready for the melee. The contestants randomly took different sides of the arena with their weapon of choice in hand. When the whistle blew they ran forward into battle. The object was to be the last one standing.

  Reaves ran with a sword, finding orange number 5 who also held a sword. “Oh no,” Savannah and Mason exclaimed.

  It was difficult keeping track of them with all the fighting going on. Wizards and witches were throwing fireballs and lightning bolts at one another. Vampires fought werewolves in hand-to-hand combat. Most Saints had started out with a sword or a stake or some other weapon, but after they disarmed or knocked out t
heir opponents they moved on to hand-to-hand against the werewolves. To Percaline they looked like the most talented.

  One by one the challengers were called out by the refs, until Reaves, orange number 5, two other orange competitors, a witch, and a vampire were left.

  The witch, who was currently fighting one of the Saints, threw a fireball that hit Reaves smack in the back. “And green number 8 gets struck in the back with a rogue fireball, knocking him out,” Quinton announced.

  Reaves was a good sport. As he made his way to the sidelines, he rooted loudly for orange number 5, who had just kicked the witch to the ground. He spun around to miss another fireball and kicked the vampire in the head. She went down, unconscious.

  “You’re out,” the ref told the vampire when she regained consciousness a couple seconds later.

  That left orange number 5, the two other orange competitors, one of whom was orange number 16, and the witch. The witch was the next to fail, followed by one of the oranges, number 9. Orange number 16 was left against orange number 5.

  The show that they put on was quite spectacular. They moved with fearlessness and purpose, bearing down on the other if they had a chance until orange number 5 finally held orange number 16 in a choke hold and orange number 16 tapped out. They shook hands and hugged like they were old friends.

  “Orange number 5, orange number 16, orange number 9, and yellow number 16 advance,” Quinton announced. “This means that if one or more of them don’t pass the barrier test, then the last opponents will be tested in the order they went down.”

  The four contenders made their way to the open gate of the House. Don, Percaline, Lucas, Josephine, Landon, Savannah, and Mason stood on the draw bridge, waiting to welcome the winners into the House.

  Orange number 5 was the first to cross the threshold. With confidence he walked over the purple line that served as the barrier and up to the group in front of him. “Congratulations, orange number 5.” Percaline said.

  “Nathaniel,” he replied. He shook her hand. The others were falling over themselves to meet him, Mason introducing himself before Savannah so he could tell Nathaniel that Savannah was a Siren. Nathaniel met Josephine last. She was the only other person besides Lucas who was not impressed. “Daughter of Enoch,” Nathaniel said and he kissed her hand. Josephine blushed but she snatched her hand away.

  Orange number 16 was next. She crossed the threshold and walked up to the group. “Renata Rain,” she said, offering her hand to Percaline. “But my friends combine my names and call me Rainata.” Percaline shook her hand, noticing her Saint tattoo. Rainata had olive skin, straight brown hair, and wore a welcoming smile on her face like they were already friends. “Congratulations, Rainata,” Percaline said. Rainata shook hands with the rest of the group and waited off to the side with Nathaniel.

  Next was orange number 9. She was young, pretty, and petite. She hesitated before she stepped over the purple line. Percaline figured out why a second later as she changed from a woman into a man. He introduced himself to Don first. “Blake, shape shifter.” He took Percaline’s hand next and walked down the line as Don explained to him that shape shifters would be forced to remain in their true skin when in the House.

  The last contestant to cross the threshold was yellow number 16. She walked to the line with confidence and crossed it. She smiled as she extended her hand to meet Percaline but an instant later, the witch was uprooted and thrown back across the line. “And yellow number 16 gets ejected from the House,” Quinton announced. Don gave the new guards a look as if asking who knew what about the witch. Nathaniel whispered something into his ear and took a position behind Josephine.

  “The surprising dismissal of yellow number 16 leaves one spot still open,” Quinton said as the vampire red number 2 took her place at the purple line. Percaline didn’t know when she had started to root against the good guys, but she was hoping that the vampire would be kicked off of House of Phoenyx property too. If she was expelled then Reaves would be next in line.

  Red number 2 crossed the threshold with no problem and introduced herself to the group as Isidora Lucero. The House didn’t expel her. “Welcome, Isidora,” Percaline said, shaking her hand, which also held the Saint tattoo, although her red eyes clearly said she was a vampire.

  “And the House of Phoenyx has found its new bodyguards,” Quinton bellowed to the crowd. The House’s inhabitants both old and new went through the water wall and into the House to get better acquainted.

  When they entered, Reaves was there to meet them. Everyone applauded him and he took a little bow. Nathaniel spoke. “I would be honored to spar with you again anytime. You are a true opponent.”

  Reaves nodded.

  “Anytime you want to stand in for one of our guards you may,” Don said to Reaves.

  “Thank you sir, but I did it to see if I could do it, not to become a bodyguard. I rather like my position,” Reaves explained.

  Don nodded at Reaves, then motioned for everyone to follow him. “You all may take the grand tour later. Nathaniel, your horse will be shown to the stables.” Don took the last of the stairs two at a time. “And all of your bedrooms are located on the third floor.”

  “Did you know we had a third floor?” Percaline asked Josephine. Josephine shrugged but Savannah answered. “Mason and I found it earlier today.”

  Percaline was definitely going to have to carve some time out of her day to explore. She hadn’t known the House had a third floor. She didn’t know where the stables were, just that they had them, employed a stable boy (or man by the looks of him) and they housed a black unicorn. “So where does Reaves sleep?” Percaline tested.

  “His quarters are in the basement with the other staff quarters, the swimming pool, and the ballroom.” Mason answered.

  “Ballroom?” Percaline asked.

  “Yeah, but it’s not your typical ballroom,” Savannah said and she and Mason both chuckled. Mason hadn’t even been awake for twelve hours and he knew more about the House than she did. Maybe she could talk Lucas into exploring more of it on their date.

  They reached the library. Everyone took a seat around the study table, which was suddenly longer. Savannah, Landon, and Mason positioned themselves across the table from Nathaniel. They wanted to have an unobstructed view of him when he spoke.

  Don spoke to the bodyguards. “I would like to assign you all to an ally of the phoenix, but that should by no means prevent you from protecting another member of this group, understood?” He was all business.

  “Yes,” the bodyguards said in unison.

  “Blake, I would like to pair you up with Mason because chances are that you may need to impersonate him in the next few days to come.” Blake and Mason nodded at each other to acknowledge the pairing.

  “Nathaniel, I would like for you to pair up with Josephine since there is no way you will pass for a teenager.” Savannah lowered her shoulders in defeat. “Isidora, you can’t be aboveground during sunlight hours so you will stay with Landon in the Underworld. Rainata, you will be with Savannah.”

  Percaline looked around the room at the pairings. All of them made sense. Rainata looked the youngest. Percaline recalled her fight with Nathaniel and took ease in the fact that she would be protecting Savannah. Mason and Blake were also a good match; as Don had pointed out, there would probably be a need for him to impersonate Mason over the next couple of days. Mason was up and walking now but since he had been attacked by a werewolf less than twenty-four hours ago, going back to school earlier than Tuesday probably wasn’t going to happen.

  Mason was also vulnerable for the next twelve days until the full moon, so she wanted to see if he would stay in the Underworld at night until his change. She would also have to talk to Josephine about creating a door from Mason’s house to the House of Phoenyx to use after he transformed. She thought about preparing a dossier about Mason for Blake so he wouldn’t seem like a fake to Mason’s parents.

  A booklet appeared on the table in f
ront of Blake. It was Mason’s dossier. “The House just knows,” Percaline said to a surprised Blake.

  “Our primary target is Mischelle,” Don said. A digital hologram of Mischelle appeared in the middle of the table with her biographical information on it. “She is the girlfriend of Azazel and head of his Underworld gang.” Azazel’s picture appeared on the screen. “My sources tell me that Azazel is still safely trapped in Tartarus, but from what we’ve been experiencing, he has the ability to possess people aboveground.”

  “Can he possess people in the Underworld?” Nathaniel asked.

  “We don’t know for sure, so I would like for you to assume that he can until proven otherwise,” Don answered. “Nathaniel, you were telling me outside that the witch that was dispelled from here is one of a group of people calling themselves the Sons of Adam.” A new group of faces appeared on the screen.

  Nathaniel took over. “The Sons of Adam are a group of misfits who believe that Adam is the one and only God and that he will return once the Fallen rise to power. They are anti-phoenix because the phoenix is prophesized to stop the Fallen, or at least one of them, from returning to power.”

  “Adam? Like the first man Adam, of Adam and Eve?” Savannah asked.

  “Eve goes by the name Lilith, but yes,” Don answered her. “He is not someone humanity would like in a position of power. The Sons of Adam see humanity as a weakness and will destroy it.”

  “They loathe humans. If Adam rises there will be a mass genocide on all aboveground life,” Nathaniel added. “If there was a fourth Fallen, Adam would be him. Semjaza, Azazel, Samael, and Adam.”

  “You will all be guarded when aboveground and when you are in the Underworld you will remain at the House of Phoenyx until we come up with a plan or until I say otherwise,” Don spoke. “Unless there are more questions, everybody is released except for the bodyguards. We have some basic housekeeping issues to discuss.”

  Nobody had any questions and Percaline took advantage of the freedom. It was six o’clock. Her date was in an hour. She needed time to prepare, so instead of going to her room she followed Savannah and Mason to theirs. She wanted to shower and get ready and she couldn’t do that in a bathroom she shared with Lucas.