by Gabby Fawkes
"You had no feelings before?" I said. "No compassion, no empathy?"
"None," Axel said, still talking to the wall. I was almost relieved. If his face was as deadened as his voice sounded… "I cared for nothing but the glory of war and sex, so I never knew much pain. It was odd to me when others became sad over a loss, over love. I didn't understand it.”
“God,” I said quietly, after another silence.
He swallowed. “I'm not finished yet."
"As for warfare, I reveled in it," he continued. "I sought out battles near and far. And when I couldn’t find them, I created them. Attacking one people and blaming another, influencing generals and kings with promises of great riches. H was in on a bunch of it, loved the violence and garnering more souls for the Underworld. Athena helped too, loved the game of war, although hers was always for the strategy, not to cause any lasting harm. And when the battles arose, as they inevitably did, I was in the thick of it. I would jump from one side to another, not caring as long as I was killing. And I didn't just kill soldiers, or those you could argue deserved it, no. I killed the innocent as happily as the guilty. I killed the old and young alike. I killed men, women." An involuntary shudder went through him. "Children. And when I returned to Olympus bathed in blood, Zeus let me. He found me useful. And I suppose I was. When any of the other gods tried to stand up to my father, with me and my loyal army of Spartans behind me, the uprisers were as good as dead, banished, gone. That was what happened to Poseidon and many others in his wake. But as the years wore on, my exploits grew more and more murderous, and I more reckless. I even went so far as to interfere with magical government affairs, joining the rebels and egging them on in burning down part of the DSA base. Zeus noticed too, began to warn me. He began to tire of the ceaseless battles, the killing, the pillaging that went on, on Olympus and Earth, aided and abetted by me. I ignored my father, continuing my ways until I caused something so horrific that even my father had to put me down."
"What was it?" I almost didn't want to ask.
"I believe the reggies know it as World War I, though to the gods it has a different name. Truth was that it wasn’t a reggie war, not at all. At first I had contented myself with meddling with their small wars, but over time, I grew more ambitious. Most of the shifters and witches knew better than to trust me, but this new regime wasn’t as cautious as the ones before. Over the ages, the shifters, the witches and we Olympians had always had our own quarrels, although most were solved quickly and efficiently. Not this one. With me at the helm, shifters ravaged the witches’ Mathusalem, while different gods chose different sides. Reggies were just in the way. Afterwards, it took thousands of witches working around the clock to alter the memories of the reggies who were left. To convince them that they had done these unforgiveable things, caused this unforgiveable slaughter. But really, it was my doing. A new low. The Unforgivable War."
I opened my mouth but no sound came out. Okay, so that had to be the evil admission of the century. Axel was saying he was majorly responsible for World War I? He was right. I didn’t want to know.
"Hang on," I said. "What about Franz Ferdinand? I thought-"
"The witches’ spells, I told you," Axel said. "Even with their help, the reggies were changed for good. It caused ripples, and not just other wars. People lost a basic belief in good, in God. What I did almost destroyed everything. And when Zeus saw this, when he realized what I'd become, he pulled away my soul and threw it into a suffering child's, then repeated the exercise ten or so more times over. He shoved my soul into victims of war, innocent women and children who were in pain, tortured, suffering. He gave me a heaping dish of the pain I so well deserved. He didn't kill me; he couldn't do that. But he made damn sure that I got the message. Until only a few months ago I was in the body of a woman who'd been beaten from birth. Beaten for the stupidest things, holding a glass the wrong way, looking or not looking at her father. And then, one day, I was just out. I was out and everything was different, and I'm not quite sure why. I probably would’ve killed myself if I could, only I know there’d be no point. No point in sleeping as some of my fellow Olympians are. All I want now to do is help. If I can. Any way that I can. For as long as I can."
"Now you know what suffering is," I said quietly.
"Maybe," he said.
We stood there for what seemed like hours but must've been minutes. Maybe even seconds. What Axel had just told me kept bashing around my head. He had caused… He had done… It just didn't compute with the man with the broken face I saw before me.
When it came down to it, I only had one thing I needed to know. One thing I didn't get.
"But why change?" I asked. "All that suffering Zeus put you through in those other bodies could've just made you bitter, rebellious, vengeful."
Axel wasn't looking at me; he was looking at a spot on the wall. "I was, at first. As for your question, I don't know. All I know is that now I can control myself, with how I told you, words and breath and going off by myself and focusing my rage elsewhere."
"But how do you know you won't go back that way?" I asked quietly.
It was a horrible question, but this was a horrible conversation. I had to know.
Axel's gaze cut to me. "I don't."
He didn't wait for my response. He turned on his heel, said, "Goodnight, Tala," and left.
As I stood there, with the horrific result of what I'd done, all I could think was that Axel’s worst fears had been right. Right now, I was glad he was gone. And I hated myself for it.
The next few days were full and hectic. Axel, Apollo and Dion left to start ferrying the kids over. I went with them for the first trip, but after we saw that no dragons dared harm us and Dion could fly the jet right through and over the booby-traps, I chose to stay back with the others and explore.
There was a lot of exploring to do. The stronghold was less of a fortress and more of a city carved out of rock. It made sense. This was where the Phoenix clan had done everything.
And so, they had everything. They had a large, crystal-clean pool. A large low-ceiling-ed fire pit with a hole overhead. They had royal bed chambers where everything gleamed gold, which, naturally, I visited as much as I could. I would’ve moved if there’d been any rooms beside it, but no such luck. My friends had gotten attached to theirs already anyway (Demi immediately filled hers with plants, while Kian, finding a golden-tinged hat, smirking, informed us we could start calling her Queen K). Although my PV was appeased by these visits, at least, as it told me in a tone of no uncertain delight, Tala, I may have underestimated you.
The stronghold had weaving rooms and artist dens and even a small, clearly rarely used room with a TV.
"Probably had a sentry here, who had to check to keep up-to-date with events, who they consulted once every few months, if that," Persephone said with a wave of her hand. "Since everyone knows the news is lies."
By now, I knew better than to ask ‘how’, as far as the whole electricity issue was concerned. Clearly, the Phoenix clan had taken more magical shortcuts than not. Although not everything we found was immediately explainable with the phrase ‘because magic’. In particular, there was one floating candlestick in the dining hall that no one could explain.
A few days later, with a huge batch of new kids, I stood at the front and started my tour spiel. I was getting pretty used to my new role by now – dare I say even comfortable.
"Okay, everyone," I said, gesturing to the dining hall’s soaring ceilings. "This is where we’ll be eating, but Persephone has the key to the larder. So you can't just come down and get food whenever you want. Although, if you get super hungry, there is a plate of cookies that replenishes itself in the Great Hall, courtesy of Kian."
Beside me, Kian beamed. Hungry and irritable one morning, she’d first tried the spell with disastrous consequences - the plate kept stacking with a relentlessly growing (and falling, and smashing) collection of plates instead of cookies, before a few tweaks finally fixed it.
; "And if you go this way," I said, continuing along, conscious of hundreds of eyes on me, “you’ll find the Great Hall that you entered in.”
This tour idea of Demi’s was turning out to be a good one. We’d been in need of it – with kids randomly wandering about and getting lost, while Jenna bullied everyone like she owned the place.
Although I hadn’t been thrilled that I was the one to give the tour (“But they’re asking for you personally,” Demi had pleaded), here we were.
As we stopped just outside the doorway, there was a distinctive whizzing sound. Hermes burst into the Great Hall, his winged shoes buzzing a flurry while he himself wore a look of dire foreboding. "Hera sent me with a warning."
9
"A warning of what?" Axel called from the far end of the Great Hall, his voice echoing over. Cerebee gave a morose bark too, one of the latest to be ferried over via Dion’s jet.
I hadn't even noticed he was there. Although lately, he had switched from avoiding me to tactfully appearing every place I was. I’d been meaning to talk to him about what happened the other night; I just hadn’t had the chance. Not that I had any clue what I’d say when I did get it.
Hermes held out a miniscule phone as everyone crowded round. I glanced to Kian. "You know how to do an enlargement spell, right?"
Kian lazily flicked a few fingers at the thing and soon Hermes was frowning as he helped support the tombstone-sized thing. "Hera won't be pleased."
"She’ll change it back right after," I said. Kian shot me an apologetic glance. She almost knew how to do an enlargement spell, it seemed.
I went over and pressed the screen. Everyone quieted down as the video started playing. The caption read: DSA Breaking News. Behind the caption a picture showed an exploding palace that looked horribly familiar. It was the Royal Palace in Amsterdam – the one where the DSA base and their creepy lab of mutant creatures was hidden.
I exchanged looks with Kian and Demi. So, the DSA had finally released the news that we'd destroyed their base to the public.
Already, Axel and the other Olympians had hurried over as the news clip continued. "Breaking news," the nasal voice of the newswoman said, as little parts of what look like the building seemed to be falling around her, a cool magical special effect. With a clearly bored gesture, she flicked her wand and they disappeared. "The destruction of a heavily-protected and top-secret Department of Special Affairs facility was confirmed earlier today with footage from both reggie news and unconnected magical sources alike. It hasn't been confirmed yet whether this was an unrelated terrorist attack or connected to the recent horrific creature attacks in various metropolitan areas."
In front of the burning, dissolving palace, footage of mutant bear Jeremy – as well as the vine-wrapped building and the dead dragons — was superimposed.
“What’s that?” I asked Artemis, pointing to a small letter in the corner of the screen. It looked like a backwards letter E.
She shrugged. “Aren’t those always there?”
The woman on the screen cleared her throat, and the images of mutant bear Jeremy disappeared. “Right now, we have breaking footage of the DSA press conference.”
The image switched over to a shot of a black-backgrounded stage where DSA officials, a whole crowd of them, were around a mic. Recognition shivered in me at the faces. There was Gordon, his odd dual G-Rolex watches as conspicuous as ever. There was the brother and sister, Willow and Arbor something, looking as bloodless and dark-haired as ever. There was Lucinda, with her crayon-red mane. And there, standing in front, with an insultingly over-the-top look of grave concern, was Stewie.
Him, my PV growled.
I didn't respond. I couldn't miss anything that was going to happen next, even if the guy on screen was a major creep. After I’d accidentally gotten the shifter equivalent of drunk on some carum herb at the DSA fundraiser event my friends and I had snuck into, not knowing who I was, he’d mistaken me for a hooker and tried to trick me into bed with him.
A reporter's hand jutted up into the air. "Is it true that a number of top level DSA officials were killed in the blaze?"
Stewie bowed his head. "I'm afraid so. Quite a few top members are no longer with us."
Another hand and a voice that spoke before being called on. "Do you know who or what is responsible for this? And is this attack in line with the others?"
"We believe so," Stewie said.
"Bastards seem awfully prepared for this ‘unexpected’ press conference," Axel muttered angrily.
"This is complete and utter rubbish," Dion declared. "There must've been a coup."
He turned to Apollo in a beseeching way, then whipped his gaze back to the screen, then back again. "Where's Peter? Stephylyn?"
"I don't know," Apollo said, frowning. "Let's just watch."
Stewie was gesturing to one of the unsmiling officials on the sidelines. "We have received evidence and eyewitness testimony that three young women – criminals – were responsible for this devastating attack."
Dion said something more, but I didn't hear it. Right then my attention was captured by the screen, by the pictures of the three young women he was showing:
Demi.
Kian.
And me…
Once again, we were famous. And not in a good way.
"You freaking kidding me?" Kian protested.
We should have pushed him off the top platform when we had a chance, my PV said mournfully..
"To be fair, we did destroy the DSA base," Demi pointed out.
"You mean I did," I said, my cheeks burning.
Now we were going to be sought out, hunted. Even more than before. And it was all my fault.
"Anyone who comes forward with information on these girls will be richly rewarded,” Stewie was continuing. “Reggie world leaders and news stations have been informed of this, and these criminals will now appear on their terrorist watchlists. We want the magical public to know, however, not to approach them or try to capture them, as despite their looks, these girls are extremely dangerous. As for whether there are any connections to the other attacks, we have evidence to indicate that there is."
“Yeah, connections in that you assholes were involved,” Kian said, fists clenched.
Another journalist’s hand sliced the air, and, for the first time this voice didn’t sound like it was reading off a script. "Since these eyewitnesses placed them at the scene of the explosion, as well as both the attacks, are you able to release their names to the public?"
"Unfortunately, no," Stewie said. "The individuals wish to remain anonymous to preserve their safety. One also died shortly after, from injuries taken in the blaze."
My mouth went dry. He had to be lying about that part, didn't he? The place had been abandoned. I hadn't killed anyone. I couldn't have.
"Don't listen to him," Sammy said fiercely, grabbing my hand.
"She's right," Demi said. "I was there. We didn't see or hear anyone. They wouldn’t have just died without shouting or yelling for help or anything. Anyway, you destroyed part of the base, not the whole thing – they must’ve lit up the rest too. More lies."
"More lies we can't do anything about," Jeremy said sadly. "This is my fault too. I was the monster who attacked Times Square."
"Don't you dare say that," I said heatedly. "They did sick experiments on you, tortured you. You didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”
By now, the video had stopped, although Stewie's words still hung over us.
Now it was official. We weren’t just persons of interest, we were fugitives.
How long would it be before the DSA found us here and made us pay for what we’d done?
"We could be hiding anywhere," Artemis said with forced optimism. "They can't know that we came here."
"Hera says to be careful," Hermes said, unhelpfully. "And that the DSA always get what they want."
"Thought that was Hera's catch phrase for herself," Axel said.
Hermes chose not to respond to th
at remark.
"Once they see a bunch of Olympians missing, it's only a matter of time before they start asking questions," Apollo said, running a hand through his sandy waves.
"Go back then," Axel said.
"That's not what he meant," Artemis said. "Just that… this is a lot of kids here. We’re not going to just stay sequestered inside here, either. I’ve been running more names, finding more families… We’ll have to bring more kids back to their families. Where we are is going to get out eventually."
Once again, everyone seemed to be looking at me, for some reason. Maybe because I was forcing myself not to look as afraid as I felt. Beside me, Sammy was rocking on the tips of her toes, back and forth, while a small gray cloud gathered over her head.
"When they come, we’ll be ready for them," I said. "This place is the best guarded fortress we're likely to find. It’s got the Phoenix clan’s own booby-traps. And, there's a whole weapon store I haven't even seen yet."
At least, according to Jeremy there was. Ominously enough he’d found Axel there the other day, eyeing the army-worth of swords and bows and arrows. What a bunch of shifters needed with what was apparently extremely high-quality gold weapons was beyond me, although maybe they just liked the gold.
"Let them come here," I repeated. "When they come, we'll be ready for them."
That night, everyone went to bed somewhat relieved. Except me. When everyone had looked to me, all what now? I’d panicked. I’d basically spoke out of my ass from pure necessity. Not belief.
‘We would be ready for them?’ How in the hell? Yeah, lately, some more kids had come into their powers. Now we had a jaguar shifter, a warlock, a few werewolves, and a mermaid. But what could they do? How could a bunch of kids fight the most powerful magical governing body in the world? One that apparently had an infinite amount of resources at its disposal? One that probably even had something to do with making the most powerful dragon clan in the world tuck tail and run, completely disappearing? And we were supposed to go up against that?