Chapter 7

Telese was running out of ideas to keep avoiding her father. She hadn’t heard from Eric in a while, and she couldn’t get a trace on him. She knew this was Siren’s magic, and only one other Siren knew how to shield herself from being marked. Megaera had been the one to teach Telese the magic of the hieroglyphs that the early humans had taught her. If that was who he was with, Telese was a little less concerned. Megaera had always made vague mentions of the desire for freedom.

Still, Telese was nervous that she couldn’t find Eric and the book. They needed to get moving. She sat down on her couch. Straight ahead, she could see the nighttime Washington, DC skyline. The whole city blazed from below with beltway drivers and late-night businesses. The Washington Monument rose above all of it, with the slow-blinking red safety lights on top pulsing like the heartbeat of the city.

Telese felt herself begin to doze off. She tried to fight it. Between the memories of her mother’s death and her torture in the Correction Rooms, it was worthless to try to rest and recharge. I need to stay focused, she thought, as she yawned and shifted on the black leather until her legs were curled up comfortably underneath her. She shook her head a little to try to restart her energy, but all that happened was it ended up against the plush back of the couch.

Her mind began to fog as her eyes closed. She began to see flashes of images in front of her. She felt herself trying to open her eyes, trying to remind herself where she was, but all that was achieved was feeling herself being to two places at once"her present and her past.

She felt the soft couch under her, and she could tell she was in her apartment. At the same time, her raw fingertips touched grainy stone that made them burn. Her mouth was covered in blisters from being burned repeatedly every day. Every bone, every muscle seared with agony and the only reprieve from one was when another pain overtook it. She screamed out, looking up above her. Black ceilings with no way to discern how far away it was made the situation worse. If she could bear to lift her hands upward, would she be able to touch it? Was she not able to stand up if she could? Her mind hurt from the unanswered.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she heard her own voice trying to drag her to the present. This is all behind you, Telese, she heard herself say. You’re far away from this now. See everything around you. Feel everything around you. This isn’t real.

She continued to focus on that voice when she started hearing other voices.

I need you to tell me about Telese. What’s she up to lately?

I swear I haven’t talked to her in weeks. I don’t know.

It was Eric. She could hear him. In small flashes, her cell changed to a swamp, cool and damp. She could see him, held down by dozens of muddy hands, talking to what sounded like a young woman.

A swamp. Where he could be blocked from her.

The pain crept back into her body. It was blurring her concentration.

Where was this again? Where was that swamp.

A sudden, snapping feeling in the leg that had nearly healed from the previous injury broke her train of thought.

It’s not really happening, Telese, she told herself as she screamed.

I think you’re lying, human, the unknown woman said.

I really haven’t seen her.

Florida. Everglades. The abandoned house.

Telese’s eyes snapped open. She was back in her apartment. Her body was sore from being tensed and relaxed repeatedly, but nothing was broken, burned or bleeding.

When Meg and Telese had been on a diplomacy job to settle a dispute within the swamps of Florida, they had found a small abandoned house while seeking out neutral grounds. After they had finished their job, Meg had gone into the attic of the home and drawn her protection symbols all over. It was one of the places safe from her father.

Telese stepped through the Vanishing Point in her living room. She felt the air and energy around her consume her body and travel into her mind. The Everglades, she told it, and it pulled her through. She felt as though she was broken down into nothing but the same energy that made up all existence around her, traveling through cables of earth and air and water until she materialized in the chilly, damp swamps that surrounded the house.

The Vanishing Point was just a short hike up a hill to the house. She walked up to the door and pushed it open, stepping into the entryway.

“Eric,” she heard Van shout, “I was starting to worry"“

As Telese turned the corner, she saw what she had expected to see. Meg looked back at her with surprise, Van with fear, and yet, there was no Eric.

“Telese?” Meg said. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard Fenny fighting with some woman. Not one of us,” she said as Meg became nervous, “it was a voice I didn’t recognize. Where is he?”

“He went to take a walk,” Meg admitted. “I told him to stay within the grounds, so there’s no need"“

Telese was on her way out the door before Meg finished her sentence. She heard the door close behind her again as she crossed into the woods. She knew both of them would follow, and it secretly comforted her. She had no idea what they were going to find.

She stopped and looked around. There was a small path in front of her with fresh footprints in the mud. She followed them until they came to the ledge of a riverbank. Instead of climbing it, she put her hand out toward Meg and Van and listened as they joined her side.

“I’m getting really tired of being nice about this. I’m going to remove a finger for every time you tick me off. You need to tell me all about Telese’s secret mission. What do you have to do with it?”

Telese looked over at Meg with a scolding look. You should have never let him walk off, she thought.

Meg couldn’t hear her aunt’s thoughts, of course, but the two had worked together for so long that they had perfected the art of communicating without saying a word. She balled her hands against her hips and gave her an indignant tilt of her head and an exaggerated eye roll. Oh, gee, I was fixing your mistake, you jerk!

Telese peeked over the ledge. The river bed was much closer than she thought it would be. She could see the hands she had seen from her vision. Mud demons. And the only thing that could summon Mud Demons were Dark Lords and their charges. Yet she didn’t recognize the woman with dreads as any of the Lords.

She looked back at Meg and Van. Meg gestured toward the voices and tilted her head, raising her eyebrows. Who is it?

Telese looked off and shrugged. When Meg narrowed her eyes, Telese sighed and rolled hers. She stood up and climbed to the ledge.

“You know what? I’ve asked you nicely. Now the pinky is coming off.”

One of the muddy hands stretched out Eric’s toward Thalia as he pleaded and cried.

“Hey, cut it out!” Telese shouted. She thought about it and added, “not literally, of course.

Thalia looked up at her, knife extended toward Eric’s hand. Still whimpering, he turned to look behind his shoulders. He couldn’t get a view, but stammered “T-T-Telese?”

“It’s me, Fenny. And you,” she said, shifting her eyes to Thalia. “I know who I am, who Fenny is, who my niece and this idiot is,” she said, nodding toward where Meg and Van were joining her, “but I have no idea who you are.”

Thalia smiled menacingly. “Well, that puts me one step ahead of you, because I’ve gotten your whole interesting story, Tilly.”

“Tilly,” Eric muttered, looking from over his shoulder to Thalia and back again.

Telese scowled. “It’s not Tilly, its Telese. So that answers that question. I guess the new one is what does Mortimer want with a human that requires slow dismemberment?”

“Tilly,” Eric said, nodding slowly.

Thalia moved away from Eric, banishing the Mud Demons with a wave of her hands as she did so. She pointed her knife at Telese. “Information. Particularly about what job Daddy gave you to keep you busy.”

“Ah,” Telese said, stepping down the slope of the bank to stand in front of her. “Well, obviously he’s not going to get that.”

“You sure?” Thalia asked. Like Mortimer, she managed to keep a cool exterior, but Telese could tell she was ready for a fight.

Telese smiled sympathetically and crossed her arms. “Look at you. You’re one step above a Dark Lord’s minion. Do you think you’re going to threaten a Siren? Is this really a fight you think you’re going to win?”

“No,” Thalia said innocently. She looked over her shoulder at Eric, who was still sitting on the ground, now rubbing his knee. “But I’ll bet I can take that human out pretty quickly. And I’ll bet that will throw a monkey wrench in whatever plans you have.”

Telese took a small step back. Eric looked at Thalia and muttered, tiredly, “Please don’t take the human out. Please just leave the human alone.”

“Okay,” Telese said, looking at Eric. “We can make a deal. Let us get Fenny back to the house. You can ask me five questions, and I concede to answering three of my choosing.”

“I don’t know about this idea,” Meg said, looking at Thalia warily.

“I agree,” Van said. “Working for Mortimer doesn’t exactly make me think she’s going to overlook details. You might be stepping into some trap no matter what questions you answer.”

“You’re flattering,” Thalia said. She looked down at Eric and back up at Telese. “Okay. I think I can agree to those terms. No tricks or surprises, though, or"“

“"You’ll disembowel Fenny and feed on his liver right in front of me, yes, I know,” Telese said dully as the colour drained from Eric’s face. “I’m a diplomat. I don’t make false deals. I’m good on my word.”

Thalia smirked and moved aside so that Telese could walk past her to help Eric. He looked up at her as she grabbed him under the shoulder. “Tilly,” he said, smiling brightly.

“Keep calling me that and a Dark Lord’s underling is going to be the least of your troubles, Fenny. Get on your feet.”

She assisted him as he stood, slowly they walked up the steep bank. He leaned against her when he took a step with his left knee. Telese said a small prayer that it wouldn’t need anything more than time. As a diplomat, she was nowhere near as talented at fighting as her warrior sisters or at healing as her healer sisters. She really hoped she could get away with not doing either. They rejoined Van and Meg. Telese looked over her shoulder.

“You coming?” she asked Thalia.

Thalia gestured in front of Telese. “Lead the way.”

They made the short walk back to the abandoned house. Eric whimpered the entire time. Telese rolled her eyes.

“Seriously, Fenny,” Telese said as they waited for Meg to open the door, which required a few spells she had put in place, “Have you never scraped your knee before? I’ve heard mules that whine less.”

“Not while being held down by Demonic mud people, Tilly,” he snapped.

She sighed. Whoever this is, she thought, I’m going to hurt her solely for spreading this stupid nickname.

 They walked into the house. Van helped Eric to the couch to take a look at his leg while Meg resealed the door. Telese led Thalia to a dirty, mold-filled kitchen away from the others as Mortimer’s underling surveyed the house.

“So you guys know how to ward off Alexandros? How is it done?”

“Is that one of your questions?” Telese asked.

Thalia shook her head. “Just curious. So, questions, let’s see.”

She looked around the room. Finally back at Telese. “Let’s start with the obvious. What did Alexandros ask you to do? What do you want with this human? What’s the deal with the Light Lord, here"“

“"I can tell you right now, you’ll get no information about the first or second question. Better make these next two really good.”

Thalia stopped speaking and narrowed her eyes, though her expression seemed smug. “Well, then, I guess you wouldn’t mind telling me about why your sister was asking my boss about secret passages in the Dark World as he informed me of earlier and, ah, let’s go with ‘who all in your family knows about this secret plan’?”

Telese felt her muscles tense. Her options were to give away important information about her father and Eric or put Morgan and Roxy in danger.

“It seems we’re at a stalemate,” Telese muttered.

“Yeah, chess isn’t my thing, but even I know that a ‘stalemate’ is when nobody wins. I’m pretty sure the word for when you’re backed into a corner and every move brings a loss is a ‘checkmate’.”

“First, your name.”

“That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“It is when you want to work with a Siren. I require names of every dispute or attempted partnership in a diplomatic job.”

Thalia was hesitant. Once a Siren was willingly given a name by its bearer, it was easier for her to find and follow them. Thalia made it her habit to never tell the Sirens her name. So far, she had been successful. Was this information worth giving her name to the Siren known for the Atlantis and Pompeii fiascos?

Telese shrugged. “In order to work a deal, you need to give a name in good faith. Otherwise, the deal is void. Your boss can tell you that. Can’t give you concessions without being able to make sure you don’t break the rules with them, can we?”

“I have a feeling you have less of a problem breaking rules than you’d like me to believe,” Thalia said.

“I guess your small victory is more accurately described as ‘check’, isn’t it? If you don’t concede to giving me your name, I don’t have to answer any of your questions. It gives me an out.”

The younger woman shook her head. “Thalia,” she said through gritted teeth, “my name is Thalia.”

                “Thalia,” Telese repeated. “Good. So, let’s answer the easiest question, shall we? Vangelicus is in hiding. He went into hiding just before I was rele"just before I returned from an extended event,” Telese winced a little, remembering her dream earlier. “I don’t know all of the specifics, but, as I’m sure you know, my sisters and nieces talk, and from what I heard, he wasn’t doing what he was asked to by my father.”

“Which was?” Thalia asked.

“He was supposed to take the knowledge of Mathematics away from humans.”

“Why?”

“I have my theories,” Telese said, “but you seem to want concrete answers. So the best I can give you is ‘I don’t know, something nefarious, because it’s Father.”

“Right? It is your father. Knowing that, how was Vangelicus able to hide from him for so long?”

“I shouldn’t answer that, because it’s delving outside of the question, but clearly Mortimer is terrible at training you guys. Let me even the playing field: Father can only track Sirens and any creature that uses their Dark or Light powers. Humans aren’t usually tracked. If Vangelicus doesn’t do anything related to the Light World, Father can’t get a read on him. To make it more complicated, he poses as a college student. It’s smart, because he can just transfer around if he thinks one place has been compromised.”

“So, the Light Lord in there is wanted by Alexandros. Good to know. Now, which of the other questions have you decided on?”

Telese gave it one more thought over.

“I can answer two questions at once. Know this: if you compromise anything I’m doing, death will be a sweet, sweet reprieve for you. Your torture will be long, slow and unrelenting, I promise.”

Thalia scoffed. “Please. You’re a diplomat. What do you know about torture?”

“Far more than you realize,” Telese said. So apparently Mortimer hadn’t quite told Thalia everything. “Do you understand the warning?”

Thalia shrugged. “Sure.”

Telese bit her lip for a moment. “My father has a very important book that explains absolutely everything about the creation of existence, the secrets of the universe, the Sirens, the Dark and Light worlds, blah, blah, you probably get the point. It’s very important. Recently it . . . went missing.”

“Went missing,” Thalia repeated, “because he just leaves that lying around?”

“Right. Obviously it was stolen. By whom isn’t important, and I don’t know and don’t know why,” Telese said, waving her hand dismissively as Thalia started to ask, “it just was. I’m supposed to find it and bring it back.”

“Why you? Diplomats double as Google for books on the Eternal Knowledge now?”

“No, but Sirens are a little better at tracing things among humans than my father, who’s proudly kept himself separate from them. As for why me specifically, we had a difference of opinion recently, and I assume he wanted me preoccupied.”

“So have you found it yet?” Thalia asked.

Telese nodded. “Of course I did.”

“How?”

“Because I’m me,” Telese responded, scrunching her brow as though she thought the answer should be obvious. “I know everything there is to know about human energy. I can pick up one that’s mingling with Siren magic.”

“So I assume that the guy in there has the book,” Thalia said. When Telese nodded, she asked, “so what are you doing? Are you planning to take him back to your father?”

Telese considered Thalia for a moment. “Eventually, yes,” she said, guardedly.

 “Not a good enough answer. When are you planning to take him back?”

“When he’s . . . prepared . . . .”

“Quit skimping on the answers,” Thalia demanded. “What are you planning?”

Telese paused. If she told Thalia, it wouldn’t take long before Mortimer knew. It gave Mortimer a lot of leverage, and the more people that knew, the easier it was for Alexandros to find answers if he started catching on.

But also the more people to help.

Telese nodded slowly. “I’m taking Fenny to my father when he’s armed with the knowledge of how to resist deals from Minions, of my father and of how to destroy him.”

Thalia smiled and lowered her head slightly, looking up at Telese. “What? Do you think Mortimer will even let you do that? No pacts for him to make….”

“…and yet if he stops my father from enslaving humanity and weakening the Light World, I’m sure The Dark One will be even more pleased being that, let’s be reasonable, the Dark World will be next on the list. Maybe even so pleased to give Head Slimeball an even slimier position somewhere above where he slimes around now. Which, in turn, could put Mortimer in a very good mood,” Telese looked at Thalia out of the corner of her eyes, “possibly even in a charitable mood. And I wonder who would be in the position to receive such charity.”

For once, Thalia was silent. Telese was right. If Thalia could help Mortimer get that kind of recognition and reward, who knew how he would repay her. Maybe he would take a significant amount of years off of her pact.

Maybe he would even erase it completely.

“So you think,” Thalia said, “that if Mortimer stops making pacts and the Dark World backs away from them for a while….”

“…then the Light World gains strength and can fight off Father when he tries to attack.”

“And you need what from us, exactly,” Thalia asked.

“Humans can only come into contact with minions when they’re desperate. Maybe use what Fenny translates and spread it through the minions. We have to get the messages out from that book quickly.”

Thalia considered everything. She didn’t know how she would even begin to convince Mortimer of this. “I can’t make any guarantees that he’s going to do this for free,” she said finally. “I can run it by him.”

“Please, do,” Telese said. “I’ll pay him a visit a little later, when I have more details sorted.”

“Telese,” Van called from the sitting room in the front.

Telese looked at Thalia and motioned for her to follow.

In the front room, Eric was sitting on the couch, rubbing his knee as Van and Meg stood over him. “And your certain,” Van asked Meg as Telese and Thalia entered the room.

“I’ve had these spells since the cave drawings. It was only a little bit of magic, and he won’t detect it,” Meg said. She saw Telese and Thalia and motioned to Eric, “Van healed his knee. Nothing serious, just bruised.”

“I want to go back to the dorm,” Eric said sullenly, not looking up. “Take your book, I don’t want it anymore.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Fenny,” Telese said. “You’re marked, with or without the book.”

Eric stood and limped to Telese and Thalia. His fists were balled at his side and his red curls went everywhere. He looked like a wreck.

“Take. Me. Back,” he demanded loudly, standing inches in front of Telese.

“Or what,” Thalia asked from beside her. “You have an Eternal Blade somewhere we can’t see?”

“Maybe it’s a good idea,” Van said. “Look, Telese, this whole thing"he was losing it a little while ago. He can’t handle this.”

“Yeah, something you knew could happen and didn’t warn me,” Eric said, backing up a little.

“I knew it could happen, yes,” Telese admitted. “But if I had told you? You were already on the fence. You most likely wouldn’t have tried.      Do me one more favour.”

She walked past him and picked up the book. She extended it out to him.

“Just read again. In front of me.”

“Telese, what are you"“ Meg began, but Telese held up her hand.

“I know that we’re in a desperate situation, and you may think I’m taking a chance, but be real. Would I just throw caution to the wind right now? Read it.”

Eric watched the book warily. Slowly, he took it into his hands.

There was a strange sensation when he picked it up. His fingers warmed to the book, as though the energy was being transferred from the book to him. Before his brain had been hazy. Now it was becoming sharper.

Eric looked at Telese for a moment, and then back down to the book. He opened it and easily found the place he had left off.

“What does it say?”

“There’s a woman that controls fire. But . . . it’s like it’s more. It’s talking about fire, but I don’t think it means ‘fire’. I don’t know, but I think it means . . . disasters. Things with a lot of power, like tsunamis or earthquakes.”

“What does it say about her?” Telese asked.

Eric looked at the words. He had been trying to translate them literally. Now as he read, images began to twist from the words. A shadowy figure that could create waves larger than skyscrapers and cause the earth to crumble under them moved swiftly around his mind. Fires blazed through howling winds to crashing waves.

But there was something darker than just the shadow. This wasn’t a person, it was an event, taking human form.

“It looks like she’s . . . she’s the end of days. The shadow isn’t a person, I think. I think . . . I think it’s the apocalypse or whatever you would call it. You know. End of days.”

Meg and Van looked at each other with wide eyes, and then back to Eric. Telese quietly pondered what Eric said.

“And how do you feel?” she asked him.

Eric closed his eyes for a moment. The image was still there, though muted.

“I feel fine,” he said. “I mean . . . I feel a little different, but more . . . awake. In control.”

The corners of Telese’s lips turned upward slightly into a ghost of a satisfied smile. “This is exactly what I was hoping for,” she said. She turned to Van and Meg. “Of course he’s going to have a rough start. Seeing the world you’ve lived in for what it really is can’t be an easy task.”

“So it’s easier now?” Eric asked.

Telese turned to him again, thinking about his question.

“Probably not,” she said finally. “I’m sure there will still be some episodes. The more information you take in, the more you have to readjust. I’m not saying it isn’t dangerous,” she added, as he winced, “I told you that before. I’m saying it’s not impossible.”

“Do you realize,” Meg said to both Eric and Telese, “that there’s no walking back from this insane plan?”

“Are you worried or hopeful, Megaera?” Thalia asked her.

Telese looked between the two. “You know each other?”

“I-Well-I mean, come on, Telese, you know people in the Dark World, too.”

“I know Lords,” Telese corrected. “Not their underlings.”

“Oh, Megaera and I go way back,” Thalia said brightly. She smiled toward Megera, who was giving her an obvious, tight-lipped, wide-eyed head motion to stop talking. “She likes to talk to me about all of the exciting things that happen.”

“You go way back with somebody from the Dark World, Meg?” Van asked her. “Like . . . have lunch together, talk about boys, trade clothes"“

“"or secrets?” Telese interjected.

Meg watched them both, trying to think of a good explanation.

“I think sometimes it’s a good idea to let the Dark World know what’s going on with big things.”

“You mean, the exact thing Alexandros has strongly suggested you not do?” Van said.

“That’s exactly what she means, yes,” Telese said. She had her usual calculative expression, straight-faced and interested. “I think Meg, for all of her caution, has been doing some scheming of her own.”

“Speaking of scheming,” Thalia said. “I’m going to go ahead and let Mortimer know everything I saw and heard today. I’ll send him your love, Tilly.”

“No problem, Thalia, I’ll be sure to keep in touch,” Telese warned.

Thalia rolled her eyes and pulled out the twisted dagger with the bronze fennec fox at the end. She slashed into the air. A new Dark World portal appeared, filling the room with the smell of sulfur.

“Peace out,” she said. She stepped through the portal. It faded behind her.

“What"“ Eric began.

“Entries and exits to the Dark World, which has a flair for dramatics. Those things they use to open them are their personal spell apparatus. Usually with their . . . I don’t know, spirit animal, for lack of a better word, somewhere on it.”

She turned back to Meg. “So . . . anybody interested in hearing next steps?”

“Do you have an idea?” Meg asked.

“To be honest,” Telese said, “a lot of them. But right now, that requires me to do some check-ups.”

“You might want to get on those,” Meg said. She sighed and looked around, then over to Van and Eric. “We need to discuss things. We need details,” she told them.

“Yeah, um . . . do we need details right now?” Eric asked.

“I need details, Eric,” Meg said. “We can’t just plan a whole freaking revolution against the most powerful being in the world and be like ‘meh, it will all work out,’ because it never works out against Alexandros, Eric. It never works out.”

“I need to talk to somebody else,” Telese said. “Somebody already on board.”

“Morgan, yes, I know already.”

“Why does everybody assume I’m talking about Morgan?” Telese asked. “I speak to my other sisters and nieces, too. You might as well wait for me to tell you what I find out. In the meantime, lie low. Fenny, work on that translation.”

“Yeah,” Eric said. “Will do, boss.”

Telese rolled her eyes. She looked over at Meg and Van.

“I won’t be long, I promise. You guys just make sure that nobody comes on these grounds unless you know them and know they’re coming. Even any of your aunts or cousins, Meg. As you can see, Father isn’t really concerned about turning us against each other.”

“You don’t think he’ll think that’s too risky?” she asked. “Who out of us would turn another in to Father for betraying him?”

“One who’s afraid of him,” Van answered. “And there seem to be plenty.”

Telese looked down at the ground for a moment, and then back to Meg. “He’s right. I don’t think a lot of the Sirens are ready to fight back yet.”

“And what about the ones who won’t?”

“I’m working on that,” Telese said. “A way that we can detain them for a little bit while those of us who do want to fight back can work.”

“Great,” Meg said weakly. “Great, I’m glad you’ve been planning this so thoroughly.”

“Well, it isn’t like we have a lot of time. And, you know, diplomat. I need to have all of the details in order, just like you.”

“I hope so,” Van said. “What about the Light Lords?”

“We’re going to have to start rallying them and soon. When I tell you, make your big dramatic entrance up there. Find Lords that you know will keep your secret and get them to spread the word.”

Van winced. Telese held up her hand.

“Like I said, when I say go. Not yet. Right now, things have to be a little more stable on humanity’s end. And that’s why it’s more important for Fenny to translate right now.”

Telese nodded at all of them. She turned to walk out of the door to the Vanishing Point. When she reached the door, she turned to them once more.

“Good luck, Fenny,” she said.

“You, too, Tilly,” Eric responded dryly.

Telese scowled and exited. As she did, Eric heard her muttering about tearing apart some guy named Mortimer.