House of Phoenyx: House of Phoenyx book 1

by T. John Greene

  Chapter 16

  Savannah

  It was weird being at school with Blake dressed up as Mason. Every time she saw him she forgot for a split second that he was really Blake. It was creepy. Blake was creepy. Rainata, on the other hand, was awesome. She fit right into Savannah’s life. Savannah introduced her to Brie and Tiffany, the other members of her group, and Rainata immediately put them in their place. Brie and Tiffany had a tendency to think they were more important than they actually were. It was one of the reasons she and Mason had slowly started to part ways with them.

  They were in Spanish class, one of the classes Savannah didn’t usually have with Mason. “Hey guys, this is Rainata. She’s new,” Savannah said to Brie and Tiffany as soon as they sat down. Brie and Tiffany nodded in unison, then whispered something to each other.

  There was something up with them and Savannah didn’t know what it was. “What’s up, guys? Why are you being so weird?”

  Tiffany spoke up. “We heard that you and Thomas broke up,” she said.

  Savannah looked between the two of them in disbelief. “We didn’t break up because we were never going out,” she said, confused. They should know this. They had talked about it early on Friday.

  “So if you were never going out then you won’t mind that I had a date with him Saturday night,” Brie said. Ahh, now Savannah understood. One of her friends had gone out with the guy she’d called dibs on. True friends didn’t do that.

  Rainata covered for her. “Wait, didn’t you go out with Nathaniel on Saturday? That’s weird that you guys didn’t run into one another. It’s probably good that you didn’t though, since you were the one who didn’t want to go out with Thomas,” she said to Savannah. “It might have been awkward for him to see you with another guy.”

  While Savannah was trying to process what Rainata said, she watched Brie and Tiffany’s faces go still. Rainata had basically just told them that Savannah had another boyfriend and that Brie was going out with her leftovers. This was a deal breaker for any self-respecting teenager, but it was too late for Brie. She had already gone out with Thomas. That’s what she got for being sneaky.

  Savannah had noticed the difference in the way they had been talking to her last Friday, but she’d blamed it on her becoming a Siren. Now she was wondering if it was always their plan to steal Thomas from her. She said “their” because one of them didn’t make a move without the other. If Brie got this guy, then Tiffany would get the next guy.

  “Yeah, where did you guys go on Saturday?” Savannah asked, acting like nothing affected her at all. At the heart of it all it didn’t. She had two less friends now, but what kind of friends were they really?

  “We went to dinner and a movie,” Brie said. “What about you and Daniel?” she asked, testing her.

  “Who’s Daniel?” Savannah asked innocently. “Nathaniel and I went to Not My Dogs Brewery and played pool all night. Nathaniel is a couple years older than me.” Savannah drove the nail into the coffin. There was nothing more attractive to a high school girl than going out with a college man. It was gross but it was also true.

  “And how do you know Nathaniel?” Tiffany asked Rainata, trying to find a hole in the story. They didn’t want to believe them because if Savannah and Rainata were telling the truth that meant Savannah won.

  “He’s my step-brother,” Rainata said. “He just moved here from New York, where he was working as a model. Wait, I can show you a picture,” she said, pulling out a bunch of loose papers and some money from her back pocket. She leafed through the mess and finally pulled out a picture. “Here he is,” she said and handed the picture to Brie and Tiffany.

  This was great! It was a picture of Rainata, Nathaniel, and Savannah at the barbeque last night. They were laughing in the picture and were legitimately having a good time. It didn’t scream that Savannah and Nathaniel were a couple but it also didn’t disprove it. “Aren’t they the cutest?” Rainata asked. “You guys are going to look so good together at homecoming.”

  “You’re bringing him to homecoming?” Tiffany asked, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

  “We’ve talked about it, but I don’t know if I’m going to go to homecoming. It might be too juvenile for Nathaniel,” Savannah responded. She really didn’t know if she was going to homecoming or not. “Hola,” Senorita Maria said, announcing the beginning of class.

 

  Percaline

  Percaline and Lucas walked hand-in-hand between buildings on the Yale campus. Her classes were the same as usual but Percaline was different. She was smitten with the man whose hand she held and everything else faded into the background. She sat through her classes, took notes, and occasionally raised her hand, even in Don’s class. Now they were outside waiting for Josephine and Nathaniel to finish telling Don about the door in Mason’s room so they could get back to the house to meet with Savannah and Rainata.

  “I can see why you love it here,” Lucas said, sitting down on a bench and closing his eyes, taking in some sun. It was fall in New Haven, which meant the leaves were falling and including a sweater in your wardrobe was never a bad idea, but every once in a while there would be a moment where the sun broke free of the clouds and it felt like summer again. This was one of those times.

  “Do you ever feel like your life is completely balanced?” Percaline asked, thinking about how miserable she’d been last week around this time and how blissfully happy she was now.

  Lucas opened one of his eyes and looked at her. “I guess I’ve never really thought about it,” he said. “Why, what’s up?”

  “Nothing. I just have this feeling like we’re in the calm before the storm. Like nobody can be as happy as I am and not pay the price for it in the future.” She kissed his cheek. “You make me really, really happy.”

  “Or maybe you’ve been through so much bad stuff in your life already that it’s time for all the good stuff,” Lucas said, cuddling her to him and kissing her forehead. “I know that as long as I have you and Savannah I’ll be the happiest, best version of myself.”

  “Do you think Savannah is doing okay with all this new stuff? This new life?” she asked, the parent in her surfacing.

  “I think Savannah is more adaptable than you give her credit for. I think she is doing better at this new life than we are,” Lucas said.

  Percaline hugged him tighter with one arm around his back and one hand draping from his neck. “Maybe you’re the balance in my life,” she said, feeling the chain around his neck that her key hung from like it was another dog tag. These days she liked to touch Lucas just for the sake of touching him. She liked to examine him like she was memorizing his every curve.

  “Yin to your yang?” Lucas said, massaging her side. He seemed to always be touching her too.

  She pulled the chain out from under his shirt. On the chain hung one dog tag and two house keys. One of them was a skeleton key with a red crystal in the middle. “When did you add my House of Phoenyx key?” she asked.

  “Since Reaves cheered you last night I’ve been thinking about how ingrained you are in the Underworld and you don’t even know it. You’re their physical manifestation of hope.” Lucas paused, making sure Percaline was paying attention. He always did that when he had something profound to say. Lucas didn’t like to talk just for the sake of talking. “This represents me,” he said holding up the dog tag. “And it’s proof that I was here aboveground in this world.” Percaline knew what he meant. Lucas had his Navy buddies, her and Savannah, but beyond that he didn’t have anyone who would remember him when he died. She knew this because she didn’t have any more than a handful of people who would remember her either.

  “This one is home.” He held up her house key. “No matter where I am I know that I always have a home with you. And this one…” he held up her House of Phoenyx key,” represents you. You are Percaline, you are home, and you are the phoenix. This key is the most important because of the belief everyone has in you, including me.” Lucas ch
anged course. “When I got out of the shower this morning the House had it there waiting for me.” He reached into his pants pocket. “She also had this waiting for me.” He held out another chain holding his other dog tag and a purple sapphire skeleton key. “This is for you to wear next to your heart to remember me.”

  Percaline moved so that Lucas could put the necklace on her. When he finished she sat back, looking down at the talisman hanging from her neck. “It’s beautiful, Luke, but I don’t need this to remember you by. I have you.” She smiled and hugged him again.

  “In the military they give you dog tags because they expect that during your service you will at some point go onto a field of war. Not many people survive war. We are going to war for humanity and I want you to have something of mine just in case. It’s the only tangible thing I have to give and I want you to have it,” Lucas said, clasping her hand around the tag.

  She knew Lucas had had a lot of time during his overseas missions to think about things like this and she knew he was right, but she couldn’t think about ever losing him. If he died she would die too. She wanted to think about training and she wanted to think about how she was going to find Mischelle. These were the things she could control. She had been working hard but she would work harder, she would learn more, she would keep him and Savannah safe.

  She changed the subject. “How long does it take to tell a God about a door?” she asked. She held up Lucas’s wrist so she could see the watch he wore. They were on a tight schedule and they had to get back. Percaline looked over at the Law building that housed Don’s class and saw Josephine being carried out by Nathaniel. Josephine was yelling “Put me down!” at him.

  “If you would calm down I would,” Nathaniel was saying calmly.

  “I can’t believe you! Who picks up a blind person against their will?” Josephine yelled back, clearly not calm.

  “I prefer the term visually handicapped,” Nathaniel said, laughing. “And I wouldn’t have picked you up if you hadn’t taken so long. Honestly, it took you ten minutes alone to navigate the stairs.”

  They finally got to where Percaline and Lucas sat and Nathaniel put her down on the ground. Percaline and Lucas were laughing silently. “If you guys are done with whatever it is that you’re doing, I think we should get going,” Lucas said, teasing both of them.

  Josephine stomped her foot and tried to walk off but she was heading in the wrong direction.

  “This way,” Percaline said, not daring to touch her.

  When they got back to the house Savannah and Rainata were already there. It was just the two of them since Blake was staying at Mason’s house. When Percaline walked into Savannah’s room, she found her stuffing photo albums into her backpack. “I think we should keep these at the House of Phoenyx,” she said.

  “Are you sure there isn’t already a copy of them at the House?” Percaline asked, thinking that the House had already duplicated everything else they’d wanted.

  “I am. I’ve been mentally asking for them all weekend,” Savannah replied.

  The photo albums were as much Savannah’s as they were Percaline’s so she didn’t care what happened with them as long as they stayed at one house or another. “Do you need anything else from here?” Percaline asked.

  “Nope. I’m ready to go. I want to tell Mason about my day,” Savannah said. She pulled her backpack on to her shoulders.

  Lucas came up behind Percaline. “What if we all catch a movie tonight?” he asked, loud enough so that Savannah and Rainata could hear him too.

  “Ooo. You know what comes out soon that I’m sure the House already has access to?” Savannah was excited.

  Percaline knew it wasn’t Fast and the Furious or The Amazing Spiderman because those were the movies she’d gone to see at midnight when they’d opened. She and Savannah had a tradition of going to midnight movies and blowing off school the next day if the movie was one of their favorites.

  Savannah didn’t wait for an answer. “Thor!”

  Rainata gestured at Nathaniel. “We know the real Thor.”

  “Shut up!” Savannah said. “Is he a Saint?”

  “He is,” Rainata walked to the window seat. She folded her arms across her chest, slid down into the box, and vanished from sight.

  Savannah went next. She looked at Nathaniel before she got to the window seat. “What about the Batman?” she said in her Dark Knight/Terminator Christian Bale voice.

  Percaline had taught Savannah the difference between Marvel and DC comics and this was definitely a Marvel house, so she was happy to hear Nathaniel say, “Human and kind of a wiener.”

  “Batman always has the best toys, though.” Savannah slid down into the box. Percaline couldn’t argue with that. Josephine and Nathaniel were next to go, followed by Percaline and Lucas.

  It was like going down the slide at Waterworld without all the water. The tunnel was dark and the only sounds was the swishing her clothes made against the tubing. No sooner did Percaline see the light at the end of the tunnel, she popped out of a drainage tube high on the wall. She fell a couple of feet into a swimming pool full of little plastic balls, like the kind in the ball pit at Chuck-E-Cheese. She swam around in the multicolored balls, recalling memories of going there with her mom. Lucas shot out of the drainage hole next and with a plunk, he landed somewhere to the right of her.

  She found him and they battled the balls together, finally making their way to ladder. “Ballroom. I get it,” Percaline laughed as she got out.

  “That was definitely the coolest entrance we’ve had into this house so far,” Savannah commented.

  “I would have to agree,” Percaline said. “Josephine, you should create doors more like that.” Josephine giggled like a little kid. Apparently Percaline wasn’t the only one who became a child again when thrown into a ball pit.

  Everyone made their way upstairs and disappeared into their separate corners. Savannah and Rainata went to check on Mason and Josephine and Nathaniel disappeared to the library. Percaline and Lucas made their way to the bedroom.

  “We still have a little time before we’re supposed to meet Griselda in the courtyard for training,” Lucas said, trailing kisses down Percaline’s neck.

  Percaline skimmed her hand over his short hair. “Yes, but we’ll have plenty of time for this later. What we need to do right now is get warmed up,” she told him breathlessly. She wasn’t kidding about training harder. She didn’t want anything to happen to him.

  “I don’t know about you but I’m pretty warm,” Lucas said as he lifted his mouth from her neck and turned on his one hundred watt smile.

  “I don’t want to keep Griselda waiting and if we start this now we will be late,” Percaline smirked at him and adjusted the sheath that was on her back.

  “I’ll settle for making out in the courtyard,” Lucas said and pulled her down the hallway.

  Knowing Lucas, he would have made good on his word and Percaline would have enjoyed it too, but when they got to the courtyard Reaves was standing there waiting for them.

  “Ms. Percaline. Mr. Lucas. How was school?” he asked in his most cordial voice.

  “Very good, Reaves,” Percaline answered. Sometimes when he spoke she couldn’t help but answer him like Anne Elliot would.

  This was never lost on him. “Ms. Griselda wanted me to inform you that she would be a couple of minutes late this afternoon. She wanted me to keep you busy in the meantime.”

  “Okay, Reaves. What do you have for us?” Lucas asked.

  “Well, being a military man aboveground I thought that you might want to learn a proper soldier’s goodbye in the Underworld,” Reaves suggested.

  Both Percaline and Lucas nodded in agreement. Every soldier deserved a proper goodbye. She heard the door to the courtyard open just as Reaves pulled out a sword.

  “Percaline? Lucas? May I borrow one or both of you for a minute?” Landon asked, coming through the double doors that led to the courtyard.

  “Reaves?
” Percaline asked.

  “Yes, of course,” he responded, sheathing the borrowed sword again. “But hurry.”

  Josephine

  When Josephine and Nathaniel got to their table in the library, Landon and Mason were there waiting for them. “I think Savannah and Rainata just went to find you in your bedroom,” Josephine told Mason and he quickly exited the room.

  “How was aboveground?” Landon asked. He seemed disgruntled.

  Josephine opened her bag and started pulling out supplies. “Unspectacular,” she said, meaning it as a jab to Nathaniel for carrying her up the lecture hall stairs. “How was werewolf sitting?”

  “Difficult,” Landon started. “I had to tell Mason why I wouldn’t date him.”

  Josephine finished placing her supplies on the table and reached out to take one of his hands. “Oh, Landon. I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want to do that,” she said sympathetically.

  “How did he take it?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Better than I would have expected.” Landon scrunched his face and then recovered and handed a packet of paper to Josephine. “I found this and thought we might use it to try some locator spells today. I thought we could try out your blood-bond theory on paper.”

  Josephine took the packet of paper and unfolded it. It was a map separated into quarters, showing the Underworld, Tartarus, Purgatory, and aboveground. Each one was just the surface of the world until it was touched, then it zoomed in, bringing each location to three-dimensional life like a blueprint.

  “This is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Landon said. “We have to find a reason to use it.”

  Josephine did want to practice blood locator spells now that Percaline, Lucas, Savannah, and Mason were going to be linked. She gently brushed the edge of the map. “I have a blood locator spell right here,” she said, lifting up one of the books on the table. “All we need it to get a drop of blood from Percaline, Lucas, or Savannah.”

  “I’ll go try for Percaline and Lucas,” Landon said, looking out the courtyard window and spotting them. “They’re standing in the courtyard.”

  “And they’re not in the same room as Mason,” Nathaniel added. Landon shrugged. “That’s true.”

  Landon returned a couple of minutes later with Percaline and Lucas in tow. “I explained it to them on the way up,” Landon said hurriedly.

  “Yeah, sorry. We need to get back to practice,” Percaline said.

  The spell was actually very simple so Josephine had no problems doing it quickly. While Landon was gone, she and Nathaniel had cleaned off the table. Now she laid the map out in front of them and smoothed it down. “Who’s donating?” she asked.

  Lucas volunteered his finger. “I am.”

  Nathaniel removed a small dagger from his boot and cut Lucas’s finger. Josephine used a dropper to suck up some of his blood. Percaline handed Lucas a tissue from a box that manifested.

  “That’s all I need,” Josephine said. “You can have your finger back.”

  “Well, I’m not leaving now,” Lucas said. “That’s my blood you’ve got there. I want to see what you’re going to do with it.”

  Josephine smiled at him and centered herself over the line running down the middle of the map. She spilled a drop of Lucas blood over the top vertical line in the center. “In nomine Patris,” she intoned. Then she dripped another drop of blood on the bottom vertical line in the center. “Et Filii,” she said. She dripped a drop of Lucas’s blood on the left and right horizontal center lines, saying, “Et Spiritus Sancti.” She was essentially making the sign of the cross on the map.

  Everybody stood back, waiting for the results. Like a lens zooming in, three Xs came into view in the Underworld quarter, which was mostly comprised of blueprint lines. One for Lucas, one for Percaline, and one for Savannah since Mason had yet to undergo the blood-bond. Nathaniel folded the map in half so that only the Underworld and aboveground showed. He wanted to get a better view of it. When he put it back down the Xs showed in the House of Phoenyx’s second floor. “Wow. That’s accurate,” he said.

  “Yes, and if you give it more time it will probably place two of them in the library, and one of them in Mason’s room.” Josephine was proud of her spell.

  “Yep, there I am,” Percaline said, pointing to one of the Xs at the table. “Almost on top of Lucas.”

  Percaline and Lucas left and Nathaniel clipped the folded map to a whiteboard that Josephine had confiscated from Don since he had started to use a digital system.

  “Mason is planning to go to school tomorrow,” Landon shared with the group. “So we should probably find a blood-bond spell so we can bind him.”

  Josephine held up another book, The Craft. “There’s something in here, but we don’t need a spell to do it,” said. “All we have to do is combine the blood of the people who are bonding it and vow that their blood is your blood or any variation of that. It’s how Lucas was able to bind them without using magic.”

  “Good, then we’ll be free for the movie later,” Nathaniel said, draping his arm around her neck.

  Landon looked from Josephine to Nathaniel. “What movie?” he asked.

  “Lucas invited everyone to a movie later,” Josephine said, pushing Nathaniel’s arm off and giving him a dirty look. She needed to set boundaries, but she would do that later because tonight she was really excited about the movie. It would be the first movie she’d seen since she lost her sight. The House had added a TV to her room, so late at night she’d been staying up to watch Vanderpump Rules. She was almost through the first season and was going to start watching Rookie Blue after that. She had a lot of television to catch up on and the House provided her with the DVD sets of the programs she’d missed over the last couple of years.

  “Ooo. That’ll be fun. Can I sit with you guys?” Landon asked.

  Josephine grimaced at Nathaniel. “I don’t know about ‘you guys’ but you can sit with me,” she said and changed her grimace into a smile when she looked at Landon.

  “Why do I suddenly feel like I’m going to be sitting by myself?” Nathaniel laughed.

  “I’m sure Rainata will sit with you,” Josephine countered. “After all, she hasn’t had to spend all day with you.”

  Landon was now smiling at the both of them. They had somehow developed a fun banter between them over the last couple of days.

  “Your words hurt,” Nathaniel said, holding his hand over his heart in mock pain.

  Savannah

  Savannah and Rainata were reliving for Mason what had happened when Brie and Tiffany heard the news that Savannah had a boyfriend named Nathaniel. They were all sitting on Mason’s bed and he was completely engrossed in the story. “And when I started to look through my stuff I found this picture,” Rainata said, handing it to Mason.

  He laughed. “I love this House. Way to stick it to them.”

  “I was so fortunate that Rainata was with me,” Savannah said. “I froze when Brie told me that. I didn’t know what to say. My brain wouldn’t work.”

  “That never happens to you. You and Percaline are always eons ahead the rest of us,” Mason retorted.

  “I know. I think it was because I wasn’t expecting that. We’ve been down here for a couple of days and everything aboveground seems to have changed. It’s weird,” Savannah responded.

  “Not everything has changed,” Mason comforted her. “And you didn’t want Thomas anyway.”

  “Yeah, he’s definitely not good enough for you,” Rainata said. “And he’s kind of a dumbass. I think you need someone smart. He needs to be able to keep up with you.”

  “I have been trying to tell her that forever,” Mason seconded.

  Savannah had been in the House of Phoenyx for only a couple of minutes and already she felt more peaceful. She didn’t need Brie and Tiffany. She had Mason and Rainata.

  “How was my mom?” Mason asked, breaking Savannah’s thought process.

  “She’s good. She was happy to see that you
survived camping, and she packed us each a lunch.” Mason smiled, expecting Savannah to give him his lunch. She reached into her bag and pulled it out for him. “I had to fight Rainata off of this, so you owe me.”

  “It’s true, she did,” Rainata agreed.

  Mason emptied the contents of the bag onto the bed; a Vitamin Water, an apple, and leftover prime rib and potatoes. “I love my mom,” he said. “And this is going to help after the day I had.”

  Savannah had been so preoccupied with herself that she missed a couple of the signs that Mason generally showed when having a bad day. He wasn’t his normal chipper self and he was already wearing his blue fuzzy slippers. Savannah looked at the slippers. “Was it Landon?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Mason said sadly. “He says he doesn’t want to date me because I’m too young.”

  “Too young?” Savannah said, shocked. “How old is he?”

  “Twenty-one.” Mason replied in a monotone.

  Savannah and Rainata both scrunched their faces. “Four years isn’t too bad…” Savannah said, contemplating her next words.

  “When you’re an adult,” Mason finished for her. “I know. I didn’t know he was that much older than me.”

  “And rejection in any form sucks!” Rainata said.

  “Well, maybe things will be different when you’re eighteen,” Savannah said hopefully. “But for now let’s go find out if Sirens, werewolves, and Saints can digest ice cream.”

  Savannah and Rainata put on their slippers, which were on the floor near Mason’s bed, and they all hurried downstairs.

  Within minutes they were in the kitchen and Mason had the ice cream out of the freezer. Savannah really hoped that werewolves didn’t have lactose issues because Mason was shoving ice cream into his face. “Slow down. You have to save room. We’re going to a movie later,” she said, taking his hand and helping him to put down the spoon.

  “That sounds fun. Who’s all going?” Mason asked, staring at his ice cream.

  “Everyone. Lucas invited everyone,” Rainata replied.

  “That sounds…” Mason fished for the correct word. “Awkward,” he finished.

  Now he looked like he was going to be sick. Savannah wasn’t sure if it was the name Landon or the ice cream that had done it. “You’re going to have to work with him,” she said, putting the lid back on the ice cream and putting it back into the freezer. She had decided that it wasn’t the ice cream. “And Landon doesn’t seem the type to be awkward. He’s so worldly.”

  Mason sunk lower in his chair. “I know. That’s why this sucks,” he said sadly. “He’s probably doing just fine because he didn’t have his heart broken today.”

  Savannah and Rainata both hugged Mason. “I’m sure he is just as upset about it as you are. I’ve watched him with you. He likes you and I’m sure you two will be together some day,” she said.

  “I hate my life,” Mason yelled but he was laughing. “Rainata, tell me about you? Savannah and I are a pity party tonight but what about you? Any heartbreak we should know about?”

  “I lived with and was practically engaged to Nathaniel’s brother Logan,” Rainata said.

  “Yeah, okay. I can work with that,” Mason egged her on.

  “We lived together for five years and he always talked about getting me a ring. I didn’t push because I was young and I didn’t know if I was ready to start a family, so by the time I finally decided that that’s what I wanted he had already moved on. He’s now married and has two kids,” Rainata said.

  Savannah pulled the ice cream back out of the freezer and handed it to Mason. Mason said, “You need this more than we do,” and handed the ice cream to Rainata. Everyone laughed.

  Savannah liked Rainata. She was obviously older than them even though she looked so young, and she was real. After hanging out again with Brie and Tiffany, who were over-entitled brats that would never have to work hard for anything in their lives, being with Rainata was refreshing. She didn’t judge and Savannah could appreciate that. She was like Josephine in that way.

  Thinking about Josephine reminded Savannah that she needed to see her. She patted her pants pocket where she had stuffed two of the pictures from her photo albums, one of Percaline and one of Uncle Jon. “I have something I have to do, so I’ll meet you guys before the movie,” she said and left Rainata and Mason to their heartbreak and ice cream.

  When she got to the library Josephine, Nathaniel, and Landon were discussing Vanderpump Rules.

  “I’m just saying that I wouldn’t kick her out of my bed,” Nathaniel was saying while smiling at Josephine.

  Josephine retorted with, “But she’s such a bitch!”

  Well, so much for not judging people, Savannah thought but she laughed.

  “Yes, but on the hot-to-bitch scale she’s still within doable range,” Nathaniel argued back.

  Landon noticed Savannah. “What do you think?” he asked her.

  Savannah agreed with Josephine about Stassi but she didn’t want to pick sides. “I think it’s funny and kind of adorable that Nathaniel watches Vanderpump Rules. I expect it from you two,” she said, pointing to Josephine and Landon, “but not from you.” She pointed to Nathaniel.

  “What? It’s a good show,” he said, laughing.

  “I brought a couple of pictures and I wanted you to look at them, Josephine,” she said as she reached in her back pocket to grab them.

  “I’ll pick you up before the movie,” Landon said, getting up. He kissed Josephine on the cheek before he left.

  “Me too,” Nathaniel said and made to also kiss her on the cheek. Without looking at him, Josephine pushed his face up and away from hers. “I’ll see you in the theater,” she said. Nathaniel smiled and left.

  “Still playing hard to get, I see.” Savannah handed the pictures to Josephine.

  “Oh, that. He just does that because he thinks it’s funny.” Josephine made a backwards flicking motion in the direction Nathaniel had gone.

  “I was going to ask you about these,” Josephine said, adjusting the photos Savannah had lined up on the table. “I was curious to see if you had found evidence to support your gut feeling.”

  “Well, I looked through the house today for my mom’s old hospital papers but I couldn’t find them,” Savannah said.

  Josephine looked between the two pictures, trying to cross-reference them. She picked up the picture of Uncle Jon. “What were you going to use them for?” she asked.

  “I wanted to see if there was anything strange on them. Zeus said that the delivery nearly killed my mom. I wanted to see if there was anything that indicated why, like maybe another baby,” Savannah said and she looked away from Josephine. “I know that this sounds crazy.”

  “Don’t you think your mom would have known if she was carrying twins and if one of them had died during labor?” Josephine asked, not trying to judge Savannah but just trying to obtain the facts.

  “I do,” Savannah said. “But I can’t think of any other way.” She had spent hours thinking about it and the only thing that made any sense at all was if Percaline was the baby sister of a twin boy.

  “There’s always the possibility that Don is right and Percaline is not Zeus’s daughter,” Josephine reminded her, but she smiled when she said it. She put the picture back down and picked up her magnifying glass to study it more closely. “I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to all this magic stuff,” she said as she examined the picture. “This is the same little boy from my dreams that led me to Truthaven. It’s remarkable.” She set the magnifying glass down over the picture. “Except in my dream the little boy didn’t have a scar over his eye.”

  Savannah looked at the picture of Uncle Jon and remembered the scar. When he was little he’d gone face first through the windshield of a 1955 Chevy during a car accident. That was back before car seats and seat belts. He had always thought that the scar gave his face more character. Savannah always called it his Dylan McKay scar.

  Josephine was still ta
lking. “But I guess when you become a ghost you can discriminate against whatever body part of yours you didn’t like when you were living.”

  “If Uncle Jon is a ghost, do you think he’s down here somewhere? Somewhere in the Underworld?” Savannah asked. This was also one of the things she was wondering about. She didn’t think he was because she would have seen him by now, but she thought she’d ask.

  “That sounds like a question for Don,” Josephine said, moving the magnifying glass and picking the pictures up from the table. “He was right about the similarity. They do look alike.”

  Savannah took the pictures from Josephine’s out-stretched hand. Maybe Don was right, maybe Percaline wasn’t the offspring of Zeus. “Thanks for looking,” she said.

  Lucas

  Originally Lucas was only going to ask Percaline and Savannah to the movie because he wanted to spend time with the two of them. It had been a while since he’d been to an actual theater and the last time had been with them. They had movie night on base, but that usually consisted of an old movie projected on a white wall, so he mostly skipped those nights. He wanted to recreate the memory of the last time they’d watched a movie together, but when he thought of all of the people who were willing to fight to protect Percaline he had wanted to invite them too.

  The Underworld was not so different from the military; everybody came together for one common goal. In the Underworld that goal was to stop mass annihilation, or as he liked to think of it, to protect the phoenix. He welcomed it. Percaline had him and he would fight to the death for her and for their family, but if the destruction of humanity did actually become a reality he liked knowing that others would protect her. The House and all of its members would protect Percaline and Savannah and that was all that mattered to him.

  Now that he had Percaline, not another minute was going to pass him by. He was going to watch the movie and tease her about her diet and later he was going to fall asleep with her in his arms. In the morning they were going to wake up and start training again, so that he could be the best physical version of himself for her. The first of all vampires was coming for them and they needed to be ready.

  He finished lacing up his shoe, stopped in the bathroom to quickly rub on some deodorant, and knocked on the door that connected the bathroom to Percaline’s room.

  “Hey, Luke,” she said, opening the door to let him in. “I just want to grab my sweatshirt and then I’ll be ready.”

  Lucas folded his arms and leaned against her dresser. The purple rose that he had given her was still sitting where she had left it. “Is it just me or does this rose look more alive than when I gave it to you?” he asked, examining it closely. When he had picked from the courtyard it was beautiful, but now it was practically glowing.

  “It seems more alive,” Percaline said, finishing with her sweatshirt. She walked over to Lucas and put her hands on his sides. “I think it represents us.”

  He unfolded his arms and rested them on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “Then we should probably find a more permanent display for it, because I plan on feeling this way for the rest of my life,” he said.

  “I like it there,” she said. “It’s the first thing I see when I walk in, but I like your sentiment.” She kissed him. “Now let’s get going.”

  Percaline closed the door behind her, not bothering to lock it, and they began walking down the hallway. Savannah came out of her room. “Hey, kid,” Lucas said. He was holding hands with Percaline but grabbed Savannah with his other hand and hugged her to him. “Are you excited about the movie?”

  “Yes,” she said and giggled.

  “Where’s Mason?” Percaline asked.

  Savannah nodded down the hallway. “Probably trying his hardest to blend into the movie theater wallpaper. Landon told him earlier today that he couldn’t date him because he was too young.”

  “Aww. Sad day,” Percaline empathized. “Is he going to be okay? I’d rather not have to kick Landon’s ass, but I will if I must.”

  Savannah laughed. “He gets it. It’s just going to take some time. He has no ill feelings towards Landon. There he is,” she said as she ninjaed her way out of Lucas’s grip and ran towards Mason.

  “Would you really have kicked Landon’s ass?” Lucas asked Percaline.

  “Nah, Landon’s one of my people and I can’t fault him for his reasons. Seventeen is too young for that kind of commitment. He practically lives in the same house with him,” she replied.

  “So you’ve been telling me for the past seven years,” he teased.

  “Touché,” Percaline responded.

  James and Reaves were manning the concessions and doing some crazy things with the food and drinks like they were characters in the movie Cocktail. Lucas got them a couple of snacks and some non-alcoholic beverages. When he went to find Percaline, she was sitting in the center of the auditorium.

  “You’re panic is better down here, isn’t it?” Lucas asked as he set their drinks in their cup holders.

  “The House makes it better,” she responded, grabbing a nacho with a jalapeno on it.

  Josephine and Landon were sitting towards the front together, probably because Josephine was excited and didn’t want to miss anything. Savannah and Mason sat in the row just in front of Lucas and Percaline. A couple of seats to their left were Nathaniel, Rainata, and Isidora, one row behind Josephine and Landon but just to the right of them.

  “Why don’t you think the staff came?” Lucas asked Percaline in a hushed voice as the trailers started to play.

  “I think they wanted all of us to have our own time together,” she whispered back.

  “What about Don?” he said.

  Percaline shrugged. “I don’t think he’s back yet.”

  “What do you think? Should I go as Thor for Halloween?” Lucas asked as he opened Percaline’s bedroom door for her.

  “Hmm…I was thinking I would go as Fiona and you could go as Shrek,” Percaline said, pushing him into her room.

  Lucas kicked off his shoes one by one. “Well, if you’re into green guys, could I go as the Hulk?”

  Percaline pulled her sweatshirt over her head. “You know it doesn’t matter what we want to be. Savannah gets final say on our costumes.” She shoved him onto her bed.

  Savannah’s birthday was on October 26th, so they always celebrated on Halloween. It was the Golden sister’s favorite holiday because Savannah got to dominate the costumes and events and Percaline got to do everyone’s make-up. Last Halloween they dressed Mason up like Christina Aguilera from her Dirty video without his mom knowing. Nancy wouldn’t have cared that he was dressed up like a woman but she would have cared that he was wearing next to nothing.

  Lucas pulled his shirt off so only his chain with the dog tag and two keys lay on his chest. “Maybe this year she’ll pick something more flattering for us,” he said as Percaline kissed her way up his chest.

  “But it’s Halloween. The point isn’t to look pretty, it’s to look authentic,” she said, stopping. “Besides, I hate to break it you, but the Underworld does their own version of Day of the Dead with all the make-up and everything. It’s called Night of the Undead and Savannah’s expecting us to participate in that too.”

  “The things I do for you and your sister,” he said, trying to leave it at that.

  This was the part where Lucas knew he needed to stop talking, but for whatever reason he was all nerves. He loved the woman in front of him and with everything he was feeling he didn’t know how he was ever going to be able to make her understand it. There weren’t enough gestures in the world to convey what was in his heart. The rose on the dresser pulsed with color.

  He grabbed her arms and brought her up so that she was eye level with him. “In the future when I propose to you again, and when you say yes…” He paused to smile lovingly at her. “I think that we should have our wedding in the Underworld.”

  She traced his lips with her finger. “When I say yes?” she smiled, teasing h
im.

  “The happiest I’ve been has been down here with you. All of our friends are here, all of our family is here, and this is our home. I have the key for the house aboveground but now if I ever had to find you I would start here.” He kissed her finger gently. “But I’m not proposing…yet.”

  Percaline laughed, then taunted him, “Whatever you want, since you are clearly the girl in this relationship.”

  Lucas flipped her over so that he was now on top of her. “You’d better take that back,” he said, tickling her ribs.

  She laughed. “I take it back,” she said. “Besides, I thought you said you were done proposing, and the next time it was my turn?”

  “Hmm…” Lucas said. “Then hopefully for you I say yes.”