by CK Dawn
“I can see that. It has been evident for a long time. I remember Lehela once, arguing with one of the others. You know, she is the only one we ever see now. About 200 years ago, they all just left. They went into hiding and Lehela was the only one who stayed in the community. We were told that they left because they needed to go into some sort of slumber and that this was how they would continue to sustain Oikos. They were never supposed to return, Lehela would be the only one.
I wasn’t supposed to be in her home that day, but I was. I’d had a fight at school and couldn’t go home. I ran to her house and into the room to read more of the journals. Those stories were my haven, my place of peace. I heard them arguing. I heard my name and Lehela was angry, it was the only time I’d ever seen her angry. I waited until they all left. I just hid and when she went to bed I snuck out. We never even talked about it after that even though I knew she knew I was in the room. I knew she knew I heard them, but I never asked her.”
“We have to stop them.”
“Yea, right.”
“Carter?”
“I’m sorry, Asa. I just need to process all of this.”
“I understand.”
“What else did she say? Lehela, what else did she tell you?”
“That all of this was meant to happen as it is.” Sitting next to him, hand on his knee, Asa paused before her next words. No matter what Carter said, that place was his home. “Oikos will fall.”
“What?”
“Yes, that is how she sees it playing out. Every scenario leads to the same outcome.”
“And Ares, the gods? What about them?”
“She cannot foresee what will happen to them, she can’t tell if they take Oikos or if they all perish along with it.”
“Right, because they are above her magic.” He slammed his fist into the cushion of the couch. “I am just so sick of this. All of it.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I’m moved to say that I wish I hadn’t entered your life, that all of this wouldn’t be happening to you, but that isn’t true. The truth is that we have both been played like pieces in a game.” She leaned back into the couch, relaxing for what would be the last time in a while. “Before we were born, all of this was worked out inside of her mind. Including this moment, and the next, and the one after that. Nothing we choose is really our choice at this point. It has all been decided for us.” She paused, catching his chin in her hand and turning him to face her. “Accept, after Oikos is done. If we survive, our lives belong to us again. We control the outcome.” It was all that she could do, to give him that bit of hope.
“Well, all we can do now is play our part. The situation isn’t changing just because we know the ugly truth behind it all.” Carter stood from the couch and held his hand out to her. “I think it’s time that you met the others.”
Twelve
They stood outside of the room the others had turned into their headquarters. Carter had made claim to the abandoned warehouse located on the south side of the city, in an area where the economy had fallen. Asa prepared herself to be jarred. There would be questions, accusations, and conflict. She needed to be open with them. Carter had pretty much demanded it. He trusted them and so should she. If they were all expected to stand together, side by side, she would have to let them in.
“Guys, this is Asa.”
“So, she returned, the mystery woman.” Jax stood from his seat when they entered.
“Yes, she has returned.” Asa smiled at the sardonic man.
“Perfect, because I have so many questions, and Fort Knox over here wouldn’t allow for one single leak.” Jax slapped his hand against the table.
“Jax, relax, man,” Dee said, understanding the joking tone in his friend’s voice could easily turn the situation volatile. They knew very little about Asa, and he didn’t believe it wise to taunt her.
“I apologize for my friend.” Madelyn stood and walked over to them. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She held her hand out to Asa who accepted the gesture.
“You as well. And I do apologize for vanishing the way I did. It was rude of me.”
“No need to apologize. Trust me, we all know how embarrassing being involved with this guy is.”
“Jax!” Madelyn turned and snapped on him. “Enough. Can’t you be serious for even one moment?”
“Sorry.” Jax stood with his hands in the air. “I’ll just take my leave and go check on the masses.”
“I would apologize for him, but if I started, it would never end.” Shaking her head, Inda watched him leave.
Asa smiled. “No need to apologize at all.”
“It’s good to meet you, Asa,” Madelyn repeated herself.
“You as well, Madelyn.” She smiled nervously under the weight of Madelyn’s gaze. The woman was peering into her, searching for something.
“I take it Carter has filled you in on our little group.”
“Yes, in great, yet minor detail. Just enough for me to know what I was walking into.” Asa glanced over her should at Carter who’d become a bystander, an onlooker.
“Smart man.” Inda smiled.
“So, what are we working with? Carter said you all have amassed a small army. I saw the shifters and vampires as we came in, are there others?”
“Yes, the fae are here, though they refuse to stay in close quarters with the vampires for obvious reasons. The dragons are as well, up above,” Madelyn offered.
“Pretty impressive.” Asa shifted the conversation; they needed to focus on the task at hand, the business of why they’d all come together.
“Yes, well, most see the necessity in this,” Inda replied.
“We have been training everyone, not much to really go on. The ones who came are already warriors. They know what they need to do,” Dee stated, his deep baritone filling the room.
“Exactly what have we been training them for?” Asa asked.
However, Dee’s response was cut short when Jax burst into the room with a small woman dangling from his hand, her face a pale blue as she struggled to breathe. He tossed the woman onto the floor and she gasped for air.
“Jax, what the hell?” Dee, gentleman at heart and never wanting to see a woman hurt, yelled.
“I found us a little spy here.” Smiling, Jax kicked the woman in the stomach causing her to choke on the small bit of oxygen she’d manage to get into her lungs.
“A what?” Madelyn stepped forward. “How can you be sure?”
“I am no spy!” The woman’s voice was small, elfish. She pleaded to be let free but was ignored.
“Yeah the fuck right! Look at her. These fuckers are taking over vampires now. Hell, they’re easy targets, seeing as they have no souls!”
“Wait, what?” Asa pushed pass Carter who had moved his body in front of hers when Jax entered.
“Catch up, sweetheart.” Jax turned to the woman who bared her fangs. “Who are you?”
“I don’t know what you want from me.”
“Oh, no?” Pulling a small flashlight from his pocket, Jax aimed it at her face. “Last chance to find your conscious.”
“I swear! I—” Words turned into a shrill scream after the flashlight turned on and emitted rays of UV light that burned the cheek of the vampire.
“Now,” Jax turned the light off. “None of the vamps out there know you. Not one of them cared when I carried your little ass out of there, so tell me. Who are you?”
“I told you, my name is Janet,” she cried.
“Wrong answer.” Again, he burned her with the light. And then pulled out a bigger one from a bag that was on the floor. “I think we need to upgrade here.”
“Jax, can you take that somewhere else?” Madelyn eyed the man. “I am not in the mood to be smelling burned flesh.”
“Wait, are you really just going to let him torture her?” Asa asked as Jax picked the woman off the floor.
“Jax has a sense about these things. If he says she is a spy, well, she is.” Carter grabbed Asa’s arm, holding her
back from following Jax and his detainee.
“Fine, okay, if you all trust him.” Inda nodded as she followed Jax out of the room and Asa once again found Carter’s eyes. She was all for torturing the bad, it was what she did, but suddenly she had a sense of remorse for it all. Knowing that someone else had written her fate, she felt regret.
The screams and shrills of the vampire crying out for relief were heard throughout the halls. They echoed, bouncing off the high ceiling and reverberating around the warehouse. Everyone, every species, went on with their tasks as if nothing was happening. Carter, Asa, Madelyn, and Dee sat in the chairs around the table of their makeshift war room and waited.
“Asa.” Madelyn took the moment to approach her. Carter and Dee were discussing strategy for the guys on the ground when it was time to move forward.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to keep staring at you, but you look so familiar.” She reached into the pocket on her jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, handing it over to Asa. “I keep this with me, as a reminder of where my people come from and what we are fighting for.”
Asa gasped as she took in the image, the face sketched on the page, one she hadn’t seen in eons.
“You know who this is?”
“Yes, I do.” She wiped her eyes. “Tethys. She was a siren.”
“You know her?” Madelyn whispered. “More than just her name, don’t you?”
“Why are you showing this to me?”
“You remind me of her. Not just the features in the picture, honestly you don’t look at all like her, but it is something about you that makes me think of her.”
“Madelyn, I …” Asa wanted to tell her, but couldn’t. Not yet.
“Well, that wasn’t too difficult.” Jax returned to the room with a wide smile on his face telling of his success.
“Yeah, so who is that?” Rising from the table, Carter peered down the hall. Jax hadn’t brought his victim with him.
“Iris.” Inda joined them in the room, wiping blood from her hands. She winked at Asa who stared.
“Fuck.” Carter closed the door to the room. “Are you sure?”
Dee leaned forward. “Yeah, okay, someone is going to have to explain what that means to me.”
“Iris.” Jax sat down. “You’d think after all this time you would have done a little research, man. Iris is the messenger to the gods, she is the Goddess of Rainbows. She worked closely with Hera, but apparently now she reports to a new boss, Ares.”
“What else did she say?” Carter joined the others around the table.
“Only that he is coming. Soon. We have three days give or take a few hours.”
“Three days.” Asa thought about the time. That was it, just three days and she would come face-to-face with the man who’d been the worst part of her life.
“Yep, and then the shit is gonna hit the fan.”
“At least we know what to expect now. Do we know where?” Madelyn asked.
“I couldn’t get that out of her.”
“I could.” Inda stretched out in her seat shooting a cocky grin Jax’s way. “Millennium Park.”
“What?” Jax smacked the table, not happy about being shown up. “How the hell did you manage that?”
“Oh, I have my ways. Don’t worry, someday you will be as good as I am.” She winked at him and laughed at his childish pout.
“Okay, you two can pick this up later,” Carter interjected, bringing the focus of the conversation back to where it needed to be. “What exactly did she say?”
“Apparently, there is some sort of draw of energy there, precisely where the Bean sits. That is what he plans to use to tap into Carter’s home world. This will give a direct ride for the rest of the godly beings straight there. Eliminating the need to stop in on Earth and risk being taken out.”
“So, you mean to tell me that they found a way around having us catch them? What exactly are we supposed to do now?” Dee looked around the table at his friends, all of whom wore an expression of concern.
“We need to change our strategy. Instead of fighting down here, now we have to stop them from entering Oikos. If they get there they won’t need the time it takes to regain their strength here on Earth. They will have instant access to all the power that is held in Oikos. Which will mean they will have instant access to rain hell down here on Earth. If they get to Oikos, we’re all screwed.”
“What is it that you think we should do? What chance do we have of stopping them from getting to Oikos from down here? Besides, I thought that it was impossible for a god to enter your world.” Inda turned her attention to Carter. “Has something changed that we don’t know about?”
Asa was the one to answer her question. “A lot has changed. To every rule there is an exception to work around. Ares had to have figured out that all they need is a demigod, someone of both human blood and of descended from the god, that would be able to get them inside. Once they have someone on the inside it’s just a matter of time before they find a way to break it apart and, apparently, they have done just that.”
“Wait a minute … what?” Carter turn to Asa eyes wide. Was she holding something from him? She hadn’t mentioned it before. “What are you talking about? I didn’t know that there was any indication of a stranger going into Oikos, let alone another demigod.”
“I’m sorry, Carter. Lehela told me when I went back. She figured out that there was another demigod there. She did all she could to try to stop him but it was far too late. The gods had all the evidence of Oikos that they needed, but they couldn’t get inside without direct access. She has been working to evacuate the realm for quite some time now. It’s something that she held a secret, but now with the new developments she had no choice to tell me the truth. The High Council, your elders, the creators of Oikos, they have been preparing for this day for a very long time.
“Lehela knew where all of this was leading from the beginning. Like I told you, she is the orchestrator here. She designed everything that is happening right now and there is nothing that we can do to stop it from playing out. All we can do it’s fight and try to protect the gateway to your home, because if we fail and the gods take hold of that land there will be a lot more than angry gods and greedy goddesses to act as tyrants over this Earth again. What they plan to do is far worse than anything we can imagine. They aren’t just here attempting to take back this land, trying to gain power so that they can live the lives they once did. They are pissed off that the people of Earth lost faith in them, causing them to fall. They want revenge for all of that and they are not going to stop until they have it. I wish I had better news coming back. It was the feeling I had in my gut when I heard Madelyn talk about her people, about the siren, about my mother. I wish that it was wrong but it wasn’t. Lehela confirmed everything.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean your mother? Who are you exactly, and why are you here?” Madelyn knew there was more to Asa; she knew there was a reason she was drawn to her, that she felt the connection to her peoples’ past.
“My name is Asa, formerly Calypso. I am the daughter of a siren, Tethys, who saved the princess of your people, the princess you spoke of. I am the daughter who the stone was made for. Lehela knew exactly what she was doing when she told your people to create that stone. It was supposed to be a fail-safe for her plan, should things go south. She wanted to create Oikos so her and her people could become the new gods. She saw it all in the vision and she thought that it meant that once the gods of Olympus fell, she and her people were meant for takeover, but the vision wasn’t a golden prophecy. It wasn’t some prediction of greatness to come for her. It was a warning that if she created this new world, it would come back to bite her in the ass. Instead of straying from walking in the path of the visions, she did everything she wasn’t supposed to do. It’s up to all of us to fix this, to fight, and to prevent them from taking over.”
“Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that you’re the Calypso, the one from all the stor
ies? How is that even possible?” Madelyn wanted to get a closer look at the woman who claimed to be siren who was eons old. She’d spent so much time while growing up learning about the woman who came to her people and saved their princess. All her life she read stories about how that siren was gifted a stone, a stone so powerful that it could break down a god. She never thought that she would ever have a chance to see the stone, let alone the woman who possessed it. She fought the urge to reach out and touch Asa, knowing that she would not be welcoming of that. Instead, she turned her sight to Carter. “Did you know about this? Did you know that she was Calypso, that her mother was the siren that I told you about?”
“Yes, I knew that she is Calypso. She told me before you guys got back. It was not my place to tell you all her secrets, it was hers, but it wasn’t until just before we came here that I found out that Calypso was the daughter of the siren you told us about.”
“There are things that I have never told anyone and that was one of them. The stone that has been my biggest secret. My mother gave it to me on her deathbed and she told me that I would do great things with it. It wasn’t until recently that I realized just how much truth was in her words. Like it or not, each one of us was meant to be here. I feel like a broken record now, but it was destined. As much as I want to believe that I am the ruler of my own fate, that I control what happens to me, I know now that it’s not true. Long before you or me or anybody in this room were born, Lehela knew what was going to happen to us. She knew where that path was leading. And maybe you guys don’t feel that this is something that you have to see through, but I do. I know that I do.”
“Hell, I didn’t come all this way just to sit back and watch you all take the glory of keeping this world safe.” Dee straightened in his chair. “I say we get all these people here focused. They’re all great fighters. Yet even now, I doubt they understand what the hell we’re walking into. What we shouldn’t overlook is that we now have an advantage on our side. We know when he’s coming, we know where he is coming, which gives us an upper hand. Ares doesn’t know that we have this information, and our best bet is to make sure that a little messenger in there doesn’t get that across to him. We got three days … I suggest we use that time to prepare. We still don’t know what other people he has here with him. We don’t know what other gods are out there waiting for this to take place, so we best get our shit together.”
