by Alexie Aaron
“Whoa,” Mia said.
“But that’s not what we’re talking about. It’s that you found an ATzxe and asked my counsel.”
“Yes.”
“Would I be unwanted if I flew up there?”
“No, you would be appreciated. Please stay out of the GSD. I thought I spotted the Devil’s Pride just inside the lake region of the dimension.”
“I’ll make arrangements. Please meet me above this cave in a half an hour,” he instructed. “I will know where it’s at by sensing your presence.”
“I didn’t know you could still do that. I’ve had so many changes.”
“The one thing that hasn’t changed about you is what I’m tied into,” he said and hung up.
“What’s that?” Mia asked, not knowing herself. She walked into the cabin of the sailboat and handed the phone to Ted. “I’m going to meet Angelo up there.”
“I’ll go with you. I just have to complete these transfers.”
“I’ll take Kevin and Fergus with me,” Mia said. “You finish your work so we can party later with the others.”
Ted smiled. He knew Mia didn’t care for the get-togethers at the bar with the rest of the PEEPs. The island was rife with spirits that congregated in the restaurants and bars. Mia did it because it was good for the team to be all together.
Mia pumped the rented bike’s pedals hard up the hill. She knew she may be a little late because she wasn’t able to locate Kevin and Fergus in time. It’s not that she needed a chaperone with Angelo. She should be fine as long as she kept her distance. Mia arrived at the site with seconds to spare. The superhuman genes kept her performance high even on the steeper terrain. Mia arrived sweaty but happy with her accomplishment.
She put a finger to her carotid artery. Her pulse was high, but her heart was pumping with a steady beat.
Angelo watched her from the trees as she pulled her silver-blonde hair back in a ponytail. Her body glistened with sweat under the PEEPs cut-away sweats she chose to wear. She was beautiful.
Mia looked around and smiled as Angelo walked out of the trees. His large, Italian, muscled frame seemed at odds with the clothing he wore. He looked more like a well-dressed mobster than the leader of the North American Wing of the Brotherhood.
“Little Bird, I had forgotten there were no cars here.”
“It was either a bike or a horse. I thought perhaps the horse would pick up my unusual scent and take off,” Mia explained. “It was hard going up that damn hill, but it will be a breeze on the way back.”
“Be careful you don’t go too fast and end up in the lake,” he teased.
“Now, that’s highly probable,” Mia admitted. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“One doesn’t dally when ATzxes are spotted,” he said.
Mia pulled off her backpack. “I brought climbing gear.”
“Mia, we don’t need gear,” Angelo said.
“What if we’re being watched?” Mia said, looking around.
“I sense no one here,” he said. “Come.” Angelo held out his hand, and when Mia put hers in his, he held her tight to him. His wings appeared and wrapped around them. When he let go, they were a few yards into the cave.
Mia stepped away, dizzy. “What did you do to me?” she asked.
“Just transported us. I tried to read your mind, but you’ve fortified since we last met. Your body, however, I had no trouble reading,” he said. “Why do you keep me from your thoughts?” he asked. “I hear you share them freely with angels and fallen, but not me?”
“I used to know who you were, and then things changed. Or maybe I changed. I’m a very dangerous person to be in association with, especially one climbing the ladder of the Brotherhood of the Wing,” Mia said. “I wouldn’t have called you if I could have avoided it.”
Angelo looked down at her. He couldn’t read her anymore. He reached for her, and she backed away. It made him angry, but not angry enough to hurt her. She would always be his little bird, no matter who she aligned herself with. “Show me where you found the ATzxe.”
Mia opened her hand and produced a small ball of light. “It’s a new trick,” she said, pleased with herself.
“You’re using the friction of the telekinesis to ignite the oxygen,” Angelo observed. “Nicholai teach you that?”
“No. He spent his time tossing me face down in the mud.”
Angelo laughed. “He’s a great teacher.”
“Here,” Mia said, stopping.
“Direct your light on the wall,” he asked.
They saw the dark shadow twitch and start to slide down the wall.
“Be careful, it’s going for your feet,” Mia warned.
“Primitive. It hasn’t latched on to a spirit to gain intelligence,” Angelo observed. “Shine it on the floor.”
The DTD moved deeper into the cave. Angelo followed, keeping Mia just behind him. He stopped, flexed his fingers, and cast a ball of light that hung high in the cave. The floor was a mass of DTDs. Their eellike bodies twisted around each other.
“It looks like hundreds of them,” Mia said.
“We need to purge the cave with fire. I’ll call for backup.”
Mia heard a sound behind her. She ventured out towards the entrance, and standing there, bold as life, was a man who bore a remarkable resemblance to Edwin Gifford. He wore the garb of an eighteenth-century ship’s captain. Behind him, floating in the lake, was the Peacock and the Devil’s Pride.
“Captain George Wall, I presume?” Mia asked.
“Aye. Who be askin’?”
“She’s Abigor’s Emissary,” Captain Waite identified as he was pushed forward by two massive pirates. Mia saw his hands were bound behind him.
“Captain Waite, are you alright? What are you doing here?” Mia asked.
“Stephen told me a tale about a certain Rosa de Familiare and a treasure…”
“My treasure!” Captain Wall said. “I followed him. I sensed he was up to no good.”
“There is a distinct possibility that it is on this island,” Mia said.
“Maybe in this cave?” Wall asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get past the ATzxes. Take care, they will take you over and use you most horribly.”
“Are you threatening me?” Wall growled.
“No, warning you. Right now, they can be exterminated. Once they take over you and your ships full of lost souls, they will become a terror. That life you live in the GSD will end.”
“You’re just trying to get my treasure for yourself. You’re a woman. Women can’t be trusted,” he pronounced.
“I find your statement puzzling because Rachel, your wife, kept your secrets to the grave. She died with the secret of your daughter tucked deep in her heart.”
“Rebecca?”
“Yes. You see, she was secreted away with a cousin who took her west. She married and kept the family’s secrets. These she passed down to her children, and they kept them. Rachel’s heirs were honorable people. Are you not honorable enough to listen to me?”
“Show me these ATzxes,” George Wall demanded.
“Follow me. Be careful, and do not touch a shadow. They hide in shadows,” Mia told them.
“First, how do I know you’re not taking me down to kill me as you did Crocker?”
“I didn’t kill Crocker,” Mia said. “We had a deal. Why would I kill him?” she asked.
“The deal is everything,” Wall said. “Go on, I shall follow you.”
“I have an associate in the cave. Let me ask him to step aside first.”
George Wall looked at the woman. Her face showed no lie, but no truth either. He turned to Waite. “Can she be trusted?”
“As long as you don’t let her seduce you. She’s a demon from the house of Abigor after all.”
“Fair enough,” Wall said.
“Angelo!” Mia called. “Stand down, I’m bringing friends.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered.
As they walked, Mi
a described her first encounter with the things and how hard it was to rid the land of them. Wall was interested. “Funny that someone from the house of Abigor would spend so much time with humans.”
“I wasn’t always associated with the house of Abigor,” Mia said honestly. “It was only recently I found out that he held me as a babe.”
Wall stopped. He turned her face to see it better. “You’re the assassin.”
“Yes. If I dispatched Ruax, then it would be no trouble ridding this cave of you. But I’m an honorable being. I know that if there is a treasure, it belongs to you.”
“Honor amongst thieves, eh?” Wall said and patted her on the back. “I shall teach you about parleying with pirates. Not the movie version, the real way you parley.”
“I’d like that.”
They entered the spot where the DTDs twisted themselves in supplication to the light Angelo held over them.
Wall nodded. “I see you do not lie. Where is my treasure?”
“We don’t know what your treasure is. There were rumors of jewels that Rosa de Familiare wore, but we could not find mention of anything else.”
“So, she wore the jewels…”
“That is what the gossips claimed,” Mia said.
“There were bolts of cloth.”
“The years would have stripped them of their beauty,” Mia said. “In this environment, they would have rotted.”
“Six trunks of gold and silver plates.”
“Now that’s a treasure,” Mia said. “I just find it amazing that she would have moved it from New Orleans to Montreal to here.”
“Why are you here looking then?” he asked.
“There are records that said she was about to buy the land over this place when the Americans took over the island.”
“So, you’re thinking…”
“Not me, Patrick, my coworker,” Mia said quickly. “Personally, I think that the treasure was put into storage somewhere and forgotten. But I want to be proven wrong.”
Angelo watched how Mia controlled the conversation. He’d heard what a good negotiator she had become. He was now seeing her in action and was pleased how she influenced the pirate.
“Let’s exterminate these critters,” Wall said.
“It would take a lot of fire,” Mia said. “What if it burns the treasure?”
“The thing about gold and silver is that it can be melted down and remade,” Wall said. “That’s what we did with a lot of our plunder.”
“Smart.”
“We will have to do it at night so the smoke isn’t detected by the parks department,” Angelo told Mia.
She turned and looked at Wall. “I know you have to rejoin your ship and move back in the GSD to regain power. Do you trust me to do this for you?”
“No.”
“At least you’re honest,” Mia said. “I’ll leave it to you. But if you ignore my warning and let these things attach themselves to you and your crew, then I’ll have to destroy your ship.”
“You would do that?”
“I would enjoy it very much. I don’t abide slavers, of any sort,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
Angelo detected a brief shudder as if the pirate felt a chill.
“Did you smite The Risen?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“The ship The Risen. It was found in pieces in the south Atlantic.”
“Sorry, but I know nothing about it,” Mia lied.
Wall looked into her eyes and knew she was lying and shuddered again. “Why don’t you take care of the wiggly things, and we’ll stand by to search the cave afterwards.”
“Come back tonight after dark,” she instructed. “But leave Captain Waite as insurance that you’re not going to attack us when our backs are turned.”
“But…” Waite started but held his tongue as Wall’s crewman poked him in the back.
“He’s yours.”
Captain Waite was pushed into the cave. Angelo caught him before he fell on the mass of undulating DTDs.
Mia waited for Captain Wall to descend the cliff and get into the waiting boat before speaking. “What happened to The Risen?” she asked.
“It was blown apart, apparently, by a waterspout.”
“I didn’t know they could be that strong.”
“It happens. The captains of the other ships think it was foul play but can’t prove it. I thought it was you but…”
“It doesn’t matter, just as long as Captain Wall thinks I’m capable. I take it your ship has been taken?” she asked, freeing his hands.
“Yes.”
“Angelo, are your exterminators on their way?”
“Yes, they should be here just after sundown.”
“Do you think they would be up to pissing off the Peacock when they have finished?”
Angelo smiled. “It would be a pleasure. I take it the plan is to get rid of the ATzxes. Then we appear to take off, and once the landing party is here to look for the treasure…”
“You take the Peacock and release Waite’s men and any others who’d rather perish in the lake then be slaves for eternity. Also, I expect they have taken your treasure, Captain Waite.”
“Treasures can be gathered again. But I would like my navigator back. Harley is the best in the seven GSDs.”
Angelo nodded. “How will I know this Harley?”
“He’s a hippy, dresses badly, and says groovy and man a lot.”
“I need to rendezvous with the flock. Mia, can you hold the cave?”
Mia drew two swords out of her backpack. “We can.” She handed one to Captain Waite.
Angelo ran towards the entrance and sprouted his wings and flew away.
“He makes it look so easy,” Mia said. She set a few light discs down to keep the ATzxes from advancing from the depths of the cave.
“Friend of yours?” Waite asked, referring to Angelo.
“Colleague,” she said. “Long story.”
“I now know why you were incensed on releasing the birdmen.”
“Originally, I misunderstood and thought they were dead,” Mia admitted. “You see, if their bodies are kept out of the light, their souls can’t transcend. So, imagine my surprise to find them still alive.”
“Did Stephen catch up with you yet?”
“I don’t think he’s intending to come here. I heard that he did make it back to his farm.”
“He has a message from me and the dagger I took off you. I wanted to give it back.”
“Thank you, I’ll collect it later.”
“I wanted him to tell you…” Captain Waite stopped and seemed to think better of it.
“What?”
“I know what you had to do to free those birdmen. I wanted you to know that you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Thanks to you, I didn’t have to follow through,” Mia said. “I’m still trying to figure out how far I would have gone. I’m married and love my husband with my whole heart. Was it adultery I was playing with, even though most of the action was just an illusion I put in Crocker’s mind?”
“It was warfare,” Waite said.
“Warfare,” Mia repeated. “What were you before you were a pirate?” Mia asked.
“A carpenter. I was working aboard a ship making repairs to the center mast when the ship was swallowed whole by the GSD during a storm. I worked my way up to quartermaster and then inherited the captaincy of the Devil’s Pride.”
“I was sorry to hear about Crocker’s death. I couldn’t abide his sport, but he was fair with me.”
“So, you didn’t kill him?”
“No, and knowing who did won’t bring him back.”
“Warfare,” Waite said. “Mia, I’m starting to lose my connectivity.”
“Go ahead, get to your ship. Do you think you can swim or would you like a ride?” Mia asked, standing up. She brought forth her wings and let the armor fall.
Waite was mesmerized. “There is a prophesy about such a set of wings.”
“Di
d they belong to a birdman?” Mia asked.
“No, they were on an angel.”
Mia walked closer to Waite. “Don’t tell me what happens. It will spoil the ending.” She grew and wrapped her wings around both of them and disappeared.
Chapter Thirty-five
Ted looked down at his phone and then at the group around the table. “Mia’s going to be late. She’s got a few Darker than Darks to fry. Angelo has called in a flock.”
“Thank God, we didn’t go any further into the cave,” Mike said.
“Will the fire destroy the treasure?” Patrick asked.
Ted read the next text. “She anticipated your question and answered that the treasure, if there is one, is metal. Gold and Silver plates. She also said, she didn’t see anything like that inside the cave.”
“Ask her how she knows this?” Patrick requested.
“A pirate named George Wall told her but fifteen minutes ago.”
“Shit! He’s come for his treasure…” Patrick said, standing up.
“Patrick,” Sabine said, grabbing his sleeve, stopping him. “It’s his treasure.”
“Burt, Mia says she’s activated two recording devices. We may want to see if they are transmitting.”
Burt jumped up, dropped a hundred-dollar bill on the table for the bar tab, and ran out of the restaurant.
“I’m going to go with him. Anybody else curious?” Ted asked.
“Hello,” Mia said, walking out of the smoke. “I’m here in Big Turtle Cave. Forgive the smoke, but it seems, without smoke, there is no fire…”
Mason groaned.
Ted watched, enchanted. Mia was walking around like a pirate. Her sword was tucked in a baldric that swung from her hip.
“I’ve ventured deeper into this cave to see if indeed the treasure was left here and to show our viewers some ghost pirates. George Wall and his crew are climbing the cliff as I speak. I’m going to leave this camera facing the tunnel and continue into this crevice. It’s tight going through here. Damn. I shouldn’t have eaten all those donuts,” she said.
“Told her,” Ted said.
The camera picked up the wall and the light, they had yet to identify, that was illuminating the rocks. It opened up, and Mia pulled the camera off her shirt and spoke, “I’ve found some steps going down…
