by Gareth Otton
Turning back to Lizzie, she decided she had come this far and she might as well go a little further and share one more truth.
“Lizzie, we’re losing this war. Kuruk’s people are hitting us in ways we can’t defend, and worse, we don’t know how to retaliate right now. We thought we have been preparing for a war for the last year, but we didn’t even know what this war would look like. Their hit-and-run tactics, hiding behind the Children of ADaM and using the dreamcatchers in the way they are... it’s too much. We’re only a week into this thing and already I don’t know how we will survive another month. We’ve lost so much, and that won’t change unless we change. No more half measures. If nothing else, I won’t be able to sleep at night unless I know I did everything in my power to help.”
“You don’t sleep at night,” Lizzie pointed out, and Stella allowed herself to smile in response.
“Which is why it’s so important that on that rare night I do get to sleep, it’s not a night filled with nightmares and doubt. So what do you think, can you help us?”
It was Lizzie’s turn to smile, only hers progressed into a grin.
“Come off it, Stella. Think of who you’re talking to. You think I’m going to be stupid enough to turn down this gift of a story? Of course I’ll help. In fact, I already know how to come at this. I don’t think one story will be enough. I think we need a whole series. It might require sending a few camera guys with you when you’re going into action, but that will only help spread the truth about the war, so I don’t see that being a problem, right?”
Stella hesitated as she thought that through, not liking that idea. But finally she decided she had come this far, so why not take that one step more.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she agreed, making Lizzie’s grin grow all the wider.
“Oh, this is going to be so good,” she exclaimed, then she stood up, her coffee forgotten. “If I head back now and divert my guys onto this, we might be able to get a show up by tonight.”
“Oh my god,” Leon groaned. “That soon?”
Stella laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed in support, but it didn’t seem to help with the pained expression on his face. Lizzie, on the other hand, failed to hear the dismay in his voice and answered like he was as excited as she was.
“Yeah, it will take a bit of work and we’ll be rushing some things, but I think we can do it.” Grinning at both of them, she said, “You guys want some belief to make you stronger. Well, by the time I’m done with you, I’ll convert the whole world to your side. This is going to be so much fun.”
Then, without another word, she vanished, and therefore missed Leon’s dismayed groan.
Despite her own misgivings, Stella smiled at the reporter’s enthusiasm and hoped that she had just done the right thing by going against her own instincts and trusting Lizzie.
It’s too late for second thoughts, she told herself. So instead, she turned her attention to her coffee and forced herself to focus on that simple pleasure as a momentary distraction from the work that was still waiting.
Sipping that heavenly drink and looking out of the window over a view that was over a thousand miles from home, she dared to think of what her life might be once this war was over. She had spent her whole life running from the darkness of her childhood and devoted to her career, so travel had never been something she was interested in. However, sitting in this cafe and looking at one of the historic wonders of the world, she tried to imagine what it might be like to be here for nothing more than the pleasure of the experience.
The tattoo on her back and living with a dreamwalker made that potential future all too possible. As she let herself think of it, she realised it was a future she wouldn’t mind chasing. She had never been one to think of the future much, never liking what she saw for herself. Now, even with everything she had lost, she could see happiness if she could just overcome the obstacles in her way to make that future a reality.
In that moment, she achieved something she never had before, a goal to chase that had meaning beyond the achievement of that goal itself. She had hope for a brighter future.
Therefore, when she finished her coffee and was ready to head back, there was fresh energy in her movements, as she had a new reason to continue the fight.
29
Friday, 30th December 2016
18:04 (Local Time)
The phone rang six times, then cut off yet again. In a rare moment of weakness, Elias let his emotions slip and crushed the iPhone in his hand like it was made of paper. It didn’t put up enough resistance to satisfy his need to destroy something, but he choked down that urge because he was surrounded by nothing but priceless treasures that he didn’t want to damage.
Instead, he reached for the phone on his desk and punched in a three-digit number.
“Good afternoon, sir. How can I help?”
“Deacon, get me Paul Anderson on the phone immediately.”
The man on the other end of the phone hesitated before asking, “Paul Anderson, sir? Who is that?”
“For the love of... Is everyone who works for me this incompetent? He’s the head of the secret service detail for the President of the United States. I want him on this phone in 30 seconds or you won’t like the results.”
“Yes, of co—”
Elias slammed the phone back into its cradle, cutting off the idiot as he seethed in anger. He was surrounded by incompetents, and their inability to do anything right had gone too far.
He tried looking out of his massive windows to calm himself, but for the first time, that wasn’t working. He continued to seethe as he waited for the phone to ring and counted down the seconds. Once he reached thirty, he was ready to march downstairs and tear that idiot’s head from his shoulders, but a second later the phone rang and Elias snatched it up.
“Paul, that better be you?”
“Yes sir. How can I help?”
“You with the president right now?”
“Yes. She’s in a meeting with—”
“I don’t care. Take out your gun and rest it against the back of her skull, then put your phone on speaker.”
There was yet another hesitation before Paul proved himself to be the most competent employee today. There were no questions, just a simple, “Yes sir.”
There was a moment of muted shuffling that got louder as the phone was put on speaker, then an instant later there was a shocked scream. It didn’t sound like Pamela, so it must have been one of the people she was meeting with.
“Paul, what are you—”
That was Pamela’s voice, and Elias chose that moment to interrupt.
“You dare ignore my calls?” he screamed into the phone, unable to control his temper.
“E... Elias? I didn’t... I’m in a meeting and—”
“I don’t care. If you are not standing in front of me in the next ten seconds, Paul is going to pull that trigger. You got that, Paul?”
“Yes sir,” Paul said, with no hesitation this time.
“Come with her Paul, and bring your men.”
“Yes sir,” Paul said.
“Elias, I can’t just—” Pamela started, but again Elias interrupted her.
“Nine, eight, seven—”
He never reached six before a terrified woman surrounded by six men in black suits with their guns drawn popped into existence on the street outside the building and marched into the reception. Elias was momentarily furious that they hadn’t come to his office before remembering he had invested in dreamcatchers to ward the building against that very thing.
Unwilling to wait for them, Elias snatched up the phone again and dialled those same three numbers.
“Keep her there,” he snapped the moment it was answered, hanging up again before being acknowledged. Then he marched out of his penthouse and stepped into the private elevator that was waiting. Like everything else in this building it was state-of-the-art and therefore took less than thirty seconds to descend to the ground floor, but each of tho
se seconds felt like hours to the impatient man and he was spitting mad as the doors opened onto the reception.
Time seemed to have stopped in the large space as no one knew what to do with themselves. The president stood in the centre of the room, eyes wide and panicked as Paul stood behind her with his gun still resting against the back of her head. Each of the five men with him had their guns drawn as well and were also pointed at the terrified woman. Elias hadn’t asked for that, but he paid these men so well so that they would predict his desires. For once, that paid off. They weren’t eidolon and knew better than to take chances with her.
His receptionists, including that idiot Deacon, gawped at him as he strode in, and looked every bit as terrified as the president. Even the guests cringed away from his entrance and he realised his fury must be written clear on his face. He was past the point of reining it in, though. He kept his attention focused on Pamela.
“You dare ignore me,” he demanded, outraged.
“I was in a meeting,” she answered, like somehow that mattered.
“I don’t care. You never fucking ignore me, is that clear?”
“Elias, I—”
When she didn’t immediately agree, Elias lost it. He raised a hand towards one of the stone coffee tables in the waiting area, and there was a flash of white light, blinding in its brilliance, and a peal of thunder that accompanied the mini bolt of lightning and shook the windows of the room. A second later, the table lay in pieces on the floor and a stunned silence settled over the reception along with the feeling of static build-up and electricity in the air.
Elias pointed the index finger of the hand that launched the lightning bolt at Pamela’s face, making her flinch hard. However, she had nowhere to go, as there was still a gun at the back of her head that had never wavered despite the shocking display of power.
“I am Elias Masalis, head of the Eidolon Council and descendant of Zeus himself. If I call, you answer. If I tell you to do something, then just fucking do it. Am I clear?”
More heads nodded than just Pamela’s, but her acceptance was the important one. Her terror-filled eyes stared at his pointing finger like it was more dangerous than the gun at the back of her head.
“I’m sorry,” she answered. “It will not happen again.”
“No, it won’t,” he agreed. “Because this is it, Pamela. You have had your last chance. No more warnings, no ultimatums, nothing. Next time you displease me, you will simply end and your family will follow.”
“M…my family?” Pamela asked, her voice shaking.
“I don’t need the headache of vendettas. It’s clear now that you all need a reminder of what happens when you go against the Eidolon Council. An example needs to be set.”
“But I didn’t work against you,” she dared say. “I’ve been doing everything you asked.”
“Really? Then how the hell do you explain this?” He turned to Deacon and said, “Pull up Lizzie Bradley’s channel on that TV there.”
To his credit, the terrified man didn’t waste a second in complying this time, and soon the giant TVs in the reception were all showing a feed of Lizzie Bradley’s YouTube channel.
“There, that most recent video. Click that.”
Instantly, the face of the reporter Elias hated more than any other on this planet appeared and she looked more excited than usual as she started in on her intro. They couldn’t hear the words as all the TVs were muted, but that didn’t matter as what she was talking about would become clear all too soon.
“Skip ahead a minute,” he ordered, and again Deacon acted instantly. It took the browser a second to buffer the video, then Elias got what he wanted to see and turned back to watch Pamela’s expression as she finally understood why she was here.
The footage playing out on every screen in the reception showed an inhumanly handsome man lifting enormous beer kegs like they were movie props that weighed nothing at all. The footage soon changed to a shot of the Phoenix event where the homeless shelter for ghosts had been overrun by mad ghosts. There they saw this same handsome man face down a furious Dream Team member with an active dreamcatcher like it was nothing. He also saw a beautiful woman with him who had thrown that Dream Team member away with inhuman strength a few moments earlier.
More shots featured these same two people in various scenarios, each time showcasing abilities that were beyond human normal, but also not the abilities of a dreamwalker. When Elias had watched this earlier, he had listened to that woman explain how there were more supernatural beings in the world than just Dreamwalkers.
“They’re cultivating belief,” he said to Pamela, jumping straight to the point. “And on scales unheard of since our ancestors first gave up their powers. What’s the view count on that video?” he asked Deacon.
“Thirty-six million... and it’s only been up for an hour. That’s insane even for her channel.”
“Of course it’s gone super viral. Look at what she’s showing the world.” Glaring at Pamela, he said, “She’s showing them footage of supernatural beings who have nothing to do with Dream. Proof that there is more in the world than just dreamwalkers. And she is doing it on the behalf of people who were supposed to be dead ten times over by now.”
“We don’t know she’s doing it for them.”
“Of course we do,” Elias snapped. “She blurred out their faces last time. She hasn’t this time. From what we’ve heard, they are still on good terms, which means she is doing this with their permission. The only reason for that is to cultivate belief. On this scale...”
His words trailed off as he tried to imagine just what those two could become with that sort of belief. There probably weren’t thirty-six million people alive to believe in the ancient gods. Granted, their believers were true worshippers and would have believed more strongly, but even the weaker belief of such an enormous number would have profound effects.
“I’m fed up of waiting, Pamela. I tell you to kill them, and you fail. I tell you to reign in that rabid dog of yours that’s terrorising that country, and you fail. I tell you to bring me the Borderlands within a month, and you’ve failed. Well, now you have a day.”
“What? One day? That’s not enough—”
“Look at that view count, Pamela. It’s only going to rise, which means they’re only going to get stronger. They can’t be left alive long enough to benefit from it, or you can forget about the dreamwalkers because they will no longer be our biggest problem. I want them dead, I want the Borderlands under eidolon control, and I want no more loose ends by this time tomorrow, or I will sort out this mess myself.
“Tell me, if I am busy doing your job, what do you think will happen to you?”
Pamela gaped at him, her whole body trembling as he had broken the last of her spirit. He felt a thrill of satisfaction as he remembered the upstart eidolon in their council meetings, testing his patience by overestimating her own importance. She was so stubborn that she never learned her lesson until he was forced to do something as drastic as this.
Well, she had learnt that lesson now, and judging from the look on her face, it was one that she wouldn’t forget any time soon.
“Enough. Paul, I want a team of your people by her side at all times. She doesn’t even go to the bathroom alone, is that clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“Make sure your phones are charged and that one of you is always close enough to her to grab her before she can even think of dreamwalking away with that tattoo of hers.”
Finished driving home his point, he waved at them and said, “Go, you’ve all got jobs to do.” Looking at Pamela one last time, he added, “Don’t fail me again.”
Then, before any of them could reply, he turned and walked back toward his elevator, feeling a little more calm. In hindsight, he could have handled that better, but sometimes a show of force was necessary and he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Instead, he focused on the footage still playing out on the monitors and he thought of that view-count.
He refused to admit it to himself, but somewhere in the back of his mind, a part of him shivered at something it had not felt in as long as he could remember. If he were honest with himself, he would realise that this was what had driven his rage and it was an emotion he was so unfamiliar with that he did not know how to deal with it.
For the first time in centuries, Elias felt the icy touch of fear.
30
Friday, 30th December 2016
21:45
“Sir. The President is calling again.”
Kuruk swung his legs out of bed, pleased that for the first time all day, there was no residual pain from recent injuries. He’d cycled between his three healing tattoos constantly, keeping at least one active at all times. Therefore, he was almost as good as new as he climbed to his feet and crossed the small space of his bedroom.
The man in the hall jumped as Kuruk swung the door open, but recovered quickly and repeated what he said.
“I heard before. Do the same thing I told you last time. Tell her I’m busy and can’t be disturbed.”
“I tried, sir, but…” his voice trailed off and he shuffled uncomfortably.
“Spit it out,” Kuruk demanded.
“She sent people here,” he admitted, then cringed like he expected Kuruk to attack him.
“And just how did she know where here is?” Kuruk asked, not angry yet, just exasperated. After Todmoryn, Kuruk removed his people from the camp they trained at and hid them with the Children of ADaM around the world. They had known from the start that their relationship with the government could only go so far and had been prepared for when things fell apart.
“We think they traced the call when they rang earlier?”
“Weren’t we taking precautions against that?” Kuruk asked.
Again the man flinched and Kuruk finally realised what happened. Whatever the man was supposed to do to stop them from tracking them had not been done and he feared the reprisals.
