Friends without Benefits (Rise of the Discordant Book 4)

by McMullen, Christina

  With a giggle that might have been more snort, I flung open my closet and dug around in the mess of stuff that I’d accumulated and forgotten until I found what I was looking for. The cardboard box wasn’t very big, considering the contents were intended to be life-sized. Granted, by the time we got around to inflating him, I was half in the bag and don’t remember much. All I remember was the look of pure horror on Betty’s face when she realized that the manufacturers of the sex toy/flotation device had screen-printed a photographic image of a real life naked man onto the cheap vinyl body.

  “What the hell am I thinking?”

  I was immensely grateful that no one was around to answer my question. Not only was vinyl impossible to work with, but the novelty item was so monstrously silly that I was starting to have doubts about my sanity. Before I could question it further, I grabbed the box and stuffed it back into the darkest corner of my closet. I all but ran back to the Beast and peeled out of the driveway before I had a chance to have second thoughts and do something so profoundly stupid as try to trap an incubus with a novelty sex toy.

  When I returned to mom’s, everyone else had arrived. It was really strange to see the entire mystic community together. Well, almost all. We were still short one since Taffy had recently died. Still, it was surreal to say the least.

  Harry and Desmond were setting up the circle of stone that would house the holy flame. Louise and Eller were using some strange combination of mathematical trajectory to plot where the planets and stars would be in order to get the coordinates of the four corners just perfect. Betty sat in the center of the circle where she’d fashioned a temporary altar out of one of the larger paving stones from mom’s garden, shredding herbs and getting the supplies laid out.

  “Oh good, you’ve got the binding.”

  Mom came to take the curtain ties, handing them over to Seth, who it seemed would form the triad with the twin Guardians.

  “Yous about ready to get into position?”

  I turned around and nearly fell over laughing.

  “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

  Bogie, who had let his glamour drop, was dressed in nothing but a loose pair of woolen pants with a ceremonial staff in one hand and the conch shell in the other. As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, he wore a chain of wildflowers around each of his stunted horns.

  “What?” he asked defensively. “You is gonna need a high priest for this and, sorry Red, I ain’t seein’ no somebody elses what has the qualifications.”

  Oddly, he was right. The role of high priest could not be fulfilled by the agents, as they were not grounded in this reality. Harry was unacceptable because his staunch faith kept him from being flexible enough and Eller had the exact opposite problem, being a nonbeliever. That left Bogie, who was not only grounded in this reality, but his severed ties to Chaos actually gave us an advantage. That didn’t mean it wasn’t totally weird.

  “Donna?”

  Mom had taken her position next to the statue and beckoned me to stand on its other side. Harry, Desmond, Eller, and Louise each stood at the four corners, creating the first circle. Seth, Nai, and Jem held the bindings that created the second level. Within their triad stood the holy flame, mom and the golem, and the high priest and priestess (Bogie and Betty) as well as the altar.

  “Um, give me a second,” I said and took a deep breath. I’d performed hundreds of ceremonies, some almost as complicated as this. Heck, just last month I’d nearly gone insane trying to cleanse a mind torn asunder by the ultimate truth. So why was I suddenly so nervous?

  With a deep breath, I took off my shoes and stepped into the first circle. Immediately, I could feel a swell in power. It was…

  Intoxicating.

  There was a tenuous balance that appealed to both my human and Discordant nature. For the briefest of moments, I wondered exactly what I would be capable of if I could harness this power, but just as quickly, I let the idea go. Or more to the point, the many pairs of eyes that were all looking at me as if they expected something to happen stopped me from testing my potential boundaries.

  Curling my toes in the dirt gave me the stability to move forward. As I got closer, Seth lowered the binding and allowed me to step into the inner sanctum. Almost immediately, the thrum of power shifted. Instead of being a temptation, it became something of a shield. I no longer had thoughts of harnessing the power for myself, but I took comfort in knowing that nothing, not of this world or another, could get to me as long as I stayed within the double circle.

  After a moment, Betty gave me a covert questioning look that I returned with a nod and a smile. She cleared her throat and began the summons.

  “From every corner, hear my call. From worlds of balance or none at all.”

  It was all I could do not to smirk. I’d read through the chant earlier and about burst my gut at the corniness of the wording. Earth witches, even those prone to creativity like Betty, were not known for being exceptionally crafty with words. As such, most of our spells sounded like the runner up of a fourth grade poetry competition. Fire witches were the only ones who wrote memorable prose.

  As Betty continued the chant, Bogie tossed ingredients into the cauldron on the altar. From the smirk he was doing little to hide, I could tell I wasn’t the only one who thought the verse was awful. At last, all of the ingredients were in the cauldron and the two of them walked it over to the fire. A nod was our cue, so mom and I reached out, clasping hands as they poured the concoction into the holy flame.

  For a moment, nothing happened. If anything, it looked briefly as if the liquid sloshing about in the cauldron was going to put out the flame, but a moment later, it blazed back to life, stronger than before and deep gold in color. Something shot into the sky, taking a few moments to display some aerial acrobatics before making a beeline for the earthen man between mom and myself.

  I was not expecting it to feel like a bomb exploding. There was a blindingly bright flash and mom and I were both knocked back. When I could see again, I thought for sure there was something wrong with my vision. The statue blinked and began to stir. As I recovered, it turned its head towards mom, who Betty and Bogie were now flanking as if they were bodyguards.

  “Myrna Rose? My, this certainly comes as a surprise.”

  “Does it, Fa Be’yoh?” Mom asked.

  “Darling, darling,” he said with a strangely airy laugh that was incongruous with the solid earthen body. “You played hard to get for nearly forty years! A gal like you can play havoc on a man’s ego, you know. I should have known you’d be crafty enough to summon me eventually. Though I must say,” he added with a critical eye, “I’d have preferred the attempt a few years ago, hmm?”

  “I see you’re as insufferably vain as ever,” mom muttered. I had to give her credit for keeping her cool. Had I been in her shoes, we’d be picking body parts out of the trees for years to come after that barb. “Why, I’m shocked my humble handiwork was found worthy enough to lure you.”

  “Yes, it is a rather pleasing vessel,” he said, running his hands over the body, which was slowly transitioning from earth to flesh. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “You still think everything is about you, don’t you Fa Be’yoh?” Mom shook her head at the man, who was emerging from the golem. I’d be lying if I said the whole process wasn’t just a little bit freaky.

  “If it’s not about me, then what am I doing here?” he asked with more smug than I’d ever heard before. I’d had enough run-ins with him in the past to know that my dad was a real piece of work, but this took the cake.

  “You are here because you have been given a chance to prove that you are not a completely worthless deadbeat,” mom hissed. “Your daughter needs you.”

  As if sensing me for the first time, dad turned to me, a frown growing on his face.

  “Ah yes, Madonna dear, I imagine you’re quite tired of your nightly visitor.”

  “Excuse me?” That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected.

&n
bsp; “Yes, I’m aware of… Clyde is what you call him?”

  I nodded.

  “I am aware of Clyde’s transgressions. Had I known of this unintended consequence, I would not have thought to seek my… ahem… that is, I…”

  “I know that you put a curse on me,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m asking you politely to remove it.”

  “Ah, yes… You see, there’s just a little problem with that.”

  “Okay, forget polite then,” I growled. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what I could do to the guy in his current form, but I was willing to find out.

  “Do not misunderstand me, Madonna. I want this as much as you do.”

  “So you’ll do it?” I asked, taken aback. I’d expected a fight. I’d expected that we would have to force him to act. “You’ll remove the curse?”

  “I would.”

  I certainly didn’t expect agreement. For a moment, I allowed my spirits to lift. I nearly let out a whoop of victory, nearly. There was something about those words, I would, that triggered a warning in my head.

  “I see,” I said slowly. “You would, except…” I prompted.

  “Except that I can’t.”

  Chapter 11

  Same Seth, Different Day

  If I didn’t actually know better, I might have suspected divine intervention when a particularly nasty quake finally gave me an excuse to start snooping around for dirt on Down to Earth. All week I’d been trying to dig up anything I could find out about who was behind the organization or the contract they’d negotiated. But the fracking company had hired an army of lawyers and nearly all of the information that was not legally required to be public record was sealed. I didn’t have clearance for the secured files room where the physical contracts were kept. Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with a plausible situation that would grant me access to the records.

  Granted, there was a simple solution. I could have explained to Desmond where the records were kept and had him sneak in from outside the Cycle. As far as I knew, there were no additional security measures inside. Just the locked door and the cameras in the outside hallway. Had he shown up in the evening, after the office was locked up for the night, no one would be the wiser. But of course, that would have required that I have a seemingly normal conversation with Desmond, which wasn’t going to happen.

  Truth be told, I was getting tired of the careful choreography required to keep from running into the Warrior. It was cowardly, I know, but I was hurt and more than a little angry. The trouble was, I wasn’t sure who I was angrier at; Desmond for keeping the truth from me, or myself for the way I handled the information.

  As it happened, when the quake hit, I had been passing by the records room. Per the emergency procedures that had been drilled into my head, I automatically moved to the doorway and was surprised when the locked security door behind me swung open. I had to jump out of the way as a filing cabinet fell, spilling its contents into the hall. Lying on the top of the pile, almost as if it had been planted there for me to find, was a folder with the Down to Earth logo. Without a second thought, I jammed it up under my jacket and headed for my own office.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of anything of use. Had I been paying attention, I might have noticed that all I got was the folder with the initial offer. But at least I now had a name. Astor Roth, the founder and CEO of Down to Earth Energy & Natural Gas, had done all of the negotiating himself. Looking over the terms of the original contract and the way the promises were worded made my blood boil. I was completely dumbfounded that the city council, who voted unanimously to allow this company the contract, would agree to the terms laid out in the paperwork I’d grabbed. I only hoped that the finalized contract had nullified some of the concessions.

  Astor Roth. For some reason, the name sounded familiar, yet I couldn’t place it. It hadn’t been on the news. The negotiations had been done mostly in secret. I’d always thought it a little strange that the promises to the citizens of Blackbird had been set forth by the city council and not the fracking company themselves. Now I knew why. They were empty promises. There was no promise of economic growth. There was no promise of jobs. In fact, everything in the proposal I read had Discordant influence written all over it.

  I copied down the pertinent information and took the folder back to the records room, where a couple of my coworkers were scrambling to sort out the mess that the quake had made.

  “Wow! That doesn’t look like fun,” I said with a low whistle as I casually strolled up the hall. “Maybe the state will pay for electronic record keeping after this.”

  “Yeah right. Cheap bastards,” muttered Peggy, the security manager, before plastering a fake smile on her face. “Of course, you didn’t hear that from me,” she said with a breezy voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “You’re preaching to the choir,” I said easily. “Remember who has to key in all of those paper applications. We’re probably asking too much of the government to consider efficiency.”

  I prattled on, using the bad mouthing of the agency we worked for as subterfuge to slip the folder out of my jacket and back on to the mess of scattered files that littered the hallway.

  “Well, I don’t want to get in your way,” I said at last, smiling politely before turning back the way I’d come. “I’ll come back later.”

  Perhaps it wasn’t James Bond level spy work, but I couldn’t help but feel just a little giddy over my successful deception. I’d managed to obtain information through stealthy means. It was almost exciting. Of course, overshadowing my excitement was the fact that I still had to get my information to Desmond, which meant I could no longer avoid him. Though as I went about shutting down my office for the evening and making sure that nothing was permanently damaged by the quake, I had an idea.

  * * *

  “Nai, can I ask you for a favor?”

  Logically, Jem should have been my first choice for what I was about to ask. As the gentler half of a split soul, you would think that I’d want him to be the one to break the news to me. But it doesn’t take an Observer to know that logic is one of the first lines of defense to fall when presented with complex emotional issues. Instead, I waited until Jem left before seeking out Nai.

  “Maybe,” she said with a glance at the clock. “I’m supposed to be at an employee meeting in an hour. Mort just texted me yesterday. He seems to think we’re going to be ready for a Big Royal grand opening on Halloween, which…” She frowned and flipped through her phone. “Holy crap! That’s tomorrow! I’ll bet you he’s totally going against Des and using magic.”

  “Actually, he’s not,” I assured her and looked around out of instinct to make sure we were still alone. “Bogie is, but I’d appreciate it if you kept that to yourself.”

  She stared at me for a moment, shock registering on her face before she broke out into a wide grin.

  “Oh my cow! Seth, are you actually being shady? I’m impressed.”

  “I’ve done nothing shady as you put it,” I said with a chuckle, but again, as silly as it was, I couldn’t help feeling a little proud of myself for my covert operations. “I just happen to know that we’re going to need all the help we can get keeping spirits up here and I wasn’t in the mood to argue with anyone about what may or may not be a good way to go about that. Anyway,” I added, changing the subject. “I’ll only need a moment of your time.”

  Suddenly I was nervous as I was brought back to the reason I was bugging Nai. “I um… I would like you to soul gaze me, please.”

  I thought for sure Nai would jump at the opportunity to dig around in my history. The soul gaze may be one of the more powerful tools a guardian has, but it is also the one they are allowed to use the least. Instead, she pursed her lips into a thoughtful frown and seemed hesitant.

  “Uh… Are you sure? I mean, you know, only use what you need, blah, blah, blah, rules and stuff.”

  “I wasn’t aware that you had any regard for the rules,” I countered, raising my eyebrows at her halfhe
arted attempt to dissuade me.

  “Okay, well, see, I might have accidentally soul gazed Des once and he might have threatened bodily harm if I told you who… um…”

  Ah. Now we were getting somewhere. I vaguely remember Desmond and Nai having words when the Guardians were first brought to Blackbird.

  “I’m guessing you saw who I was in his lifetime. That’s fine, Nai. I know now what our relationship was. I’m more interested in going back to the lives before that one.”

  “Oh,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Well that’s a load off me. This part should be easy. What do you want to know?”

  “Um, well, you see, Desmond and I have a soul bond,” I stammered. Surprisingly, her question was more difficult to answer than I expected. “In each lifetime, we should have known each other. I just wanted to know… that is, if you could go back a few cycles and see who we were…”

  “You want to know if you were always the girl, don’t you?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  Nai rolled her eyes at me.

  “Seth, you’re kind of insecure in your masculinity, you know?”

  “Um, no. I don’t know, but apparently everyone else does,” I grumbled. I shouldn’t have been taken aback by Nai’s bluntness, but it wasn’t just that she’d blindsided me with her declaration, but the fact that both Myrna and Bogie had said the same thing. I didn’t like the idea that I came across as a macho jerk.

  “Oh please! You’re like, so incredibly afraid that people are going to think you’re not tough or something because you’re not a big burly guy like Des. It’s so obvious.”