by Siegel, Alex
Most of the audience vanished.
Marina faced Aaron. "I have to return to San Francisco."
"I'd rather you let your legionnaires deal with that mission," he said. "We've been apart too much. Stay with me and help me straighten out Chicago. It's your hometown after all."
She nodded. "OK, but let me give them their orders." She beckoned her team with her finger.
Yang, Ipo, Katie, and Hanley walked across the open field and stood at the foot of the dais. All four had taken on wild, abstract forms. Yang was made of yellow crystals and white flames. Ipo had expanded to become a huge brown boulder with stubby legs and a head. In contrast, Katie's body had stretched and thinned, and now it looked like a skeleton made of steel bars. Her brown hair went down to the floor like a wedding veil. Hanley was the most recognizably human, but his hair was black flame, and he was wearing white armor reminiscent of a medieval knight.
Marina would have no trouble recognizing them regardless of their appearance. She saw the essence beneath the transient physical form.
"Yang," she said, "take the other three to your prisoner, and then return to Olivia. Stay close to her until I say otherwise."
"Yes, ma'am," Yang said.
"Hanley, you're in charge of finishing the mission in San Francisco. Ipo and Katie will assist you. Find the Goddess. I want to meet her. Go."
The four legionnaires vanished.
Marina looked at Aaron. "Now we can fix Chicago, darling."
* * *
Walfred was trying to find a way to lie down and sleep, but it seemed impossible. His tiny island was all volcanic rock. His shoes protected his feet from the sharp, jagged edges, but the rest of his body wasn't so lucky. He couldn't even sit comfortably. His eyes were drooping with exhaustion after a very long and stressful day.
Suddenly, he wasn't alone. Three monsters were standing on the surface of the ocean directly in front of him. They were grossly distorted versions of human beings and clearly not made of ordinary flesh. Walfred was convinced he was having a nightmare. A grenade had knocked him out in the cave, and now he was unconscious.
A creature made of black flames and white armor walked up to Walfred. "What's your name?"
"Walfred," he replied in a quavering voice.
"The leader of the Warriors of Dagda. You're exactly who we wanted to talk to. Fate has brought us together. Where is the Goddess?"
Walfred sucked in his gut. "I don't know, and I'd never tell you anyway."
"Why are you protecting her? What has she done for you?"
"She's my fountain of wisdom and understanding. I have faith in her."
"Badly misplaced faith," the monster said. "It led to the death of all your men, and it put you at the mercy of us."
"I'm not afraid. She'll punish you for your insolence."
"You have it backwards."
The monster grabbed Walfred's arm. Suddenly, he was in a different place full of hot, choking smoke. His skin felt like it was on fire. He looked up at the sky and saw three suns, and he realized he was on another world.
A second later, he was back on his prison island, but his brief interstellar journey had left its mark. He coughed violently and then threw up. His eyes were watering so much, the world was a blur. The alien gases had torn up his sinuses, and when he wiped his nose, it came away bloody.
"If you're so confident in the power of your Goddess," the monster said, "you should be eager for us to meet her. She'll crush us, right? We're just maggots compared to her."
Walfred looked into the thing's face. It had eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but they were just sketches, as if the artist had lost interest before adding color and texture.
Walfred had lied about being afraid. He was actually so terrified, he could barely hold his water.
"You're right," he said. "Maybe I should show you how to talk to her. Then you'll see. She'll put you in your place."
The monster bowed slightly. "I'm eager to be 'put.' What do we do?"
"We need the magic mirror."
"Ah!" the monster said. "I heard about that. Where is it?"
"I left it in the car."
* * *
Hanley was walking up a road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was the middle of the night, but his eyes could detect photons across the electromagnetic spectrum, so the darkness wasn't a problem. His hearing was even more sensitive. The passage through the aperture had magnified his gift a million-fold. His entire body was a sound detector capable of distinguishing the heartbeat of a squirrel on the far side of the valley. He could hear termites slowly grinding through the trees.
He was still getting used to his new body, and the strangest part was that it wasn't really a body at all. His physical form was just a manifestation of his mind and his willpower. It was more fantasy than substance. He could project it anywhere in the universe or even make it disappear entirely.
He wondered if his true self resided in some secret place well hidden from God's enemies. Maybe the Lord had constructed a vault containing the souls of His legionnaires. The real Hanley had to be somewhere after all. It was interesting speculation, but he would probably never get an answer. Only God and perhaps the twins knew the truth, and that was for the best. Some secrets had to be kept forever.
Ipo, Katie, and Walfred accompanied Hanley. The prisoner was jogging ahead, driven by fear. Hanley could hear the man's heart thudding like a drum. Hanley looked over at his teammates, and even though they had adopted strange forms, he wasn't put off in the slightest.
Cars, trucks, and vans were parked beside the road in a long line. A substantial force had come to the mountains to kill Olivia, and only the empty vehicles remained.
Walfred pointed at a blue car. "There."
Ipo went to open the door, but it was locked. He ripped off the door and tossed it aside. He dug through the interior until he came out holding a large mirror. Mystic symbols covered the thick, silver frame. A smoky finish to the glass made the reflection fuzzy and dull.
He placed the mirror on the ground leaning against the car. "Show us."
Walfred knelt before the mirror, clasped his hands together, and bowed. "I beckon the Goddess, speak to me."
* * *
A chime on Iris's phone surprised her. She certainly wasn't expecting a call.
She and Laurence were back at the executive terminal at the San Francisco Airport. They were waiting for their airplane to land. As a precaution, the Boeing 717 had remained in the air until the last second, and it would be on the ground for only a few minutes.
Iris took her phone out of her purse. The display indicated Walfred was trying to make contact with his magic mirror. Her eyes widened in astonishment.
"Who is it?" Laurence said.
"Walfred."
"You told me he was gone."
"Apparently, he's back," she said. "Should I answer him?"
"It can't hurt. He won't see the real you."
Iris accepted the call.
* * *
Cute, Hanley thought.
A giant burning eyeball was floating in the mirror. It was just a hologram, but the rendering was excellent. Stars twinkled in the background, and the flames rippled like flowing water. The mirror was clearly a very sophisticated device.
"What happened to you?" a woman said.
Hanley used his gift to analyze the voice. It was electronically masked to hide the speaker's identity and to make it sound more impressive, but he was able to discern some interesting details. The Goddess was in a noisy environment. He listened closely and tried to untangle the sonic clues.
"I was captured, ma'am," Walfred said. "The... things that caught me want to talk to you."
"You showed the holy mirror to our enemies?"
"I wanted them to see you in your glory, Goddess, so they would accept your superiority."
Hanley heard rising and falling high-frequency sounds. Jet engines, he thought. An airport. She's boarding an airplane.
"And are they impressed?" t
he Goddess said.
Walfred looked at Hanley, Ipo, and Katie in turn.
"I don't know, ma'am," Walfred said. "Are you going to smite them?"
"Hmm. No. This conversation is dangerous, and I have to go. I'd wish you luck, but I'm afraid yours has run out. Good bye, Walfred. It's a shame things ended this way."
The burning eyeball faded, and the mirror returned to its original appearance. Walfred stared at it with an expression of crushing disappointment.
"You still have faith in your Goddess?" Hanley said.
Walfred turned to him. "She abandoned me."
"Obviously. The irony is you were fooled by a hologram, and you created the angel holograms which fooled so many others. I guess that's why they call it blind faith. It makes you blind to the obvious."
Walfred just stared.
"I'll make a deal with you," Hanley said. "When we find your Goddess, we'll let you meet her in person. You can tell her how you feel to her face, but first, you have to tell us everything you know."
Walfred furrowed his brow, and Hanley wondered what kind of pain he was experiencing. Hanley had never had much faith in anything, so he wasn't familiar with how it felt to lose it. He was fundamentally cynical. He assumed the worst and was rarely disappointed. Believing in God didn't count as faith when Hanley had actually met the Guy.
"OK," Walfred said at last, "but I don't know much. I never met her."
"You probably did, but you just don't realize it."
"There was a woman in a black car..." Walfred appeared thoughtful.
"What kind of car?" Hanley said.
"A Mercedes sports car. It looked very expensive. I'd recognize it if I saw it again."
Hanley turned to Ipo and Katie. "I heard jet engines in the background. We'll check the parking lots in the major airports. I bet we'll find that car."
* * *
Iris looked up at her jet as it taxied towards her. It was a gorgeous aircraft, and normally, it made her feel proud and confident, but not tonight. She was scared out of her wits.
She had glimpsed the enemy through the eyes of Walfred, and they weren't human. They were living nightmares made of flames and armor, pure incarnations of divine wrath.
Something was horribly wrong. Iris had heard many tales about the Gray Spear Society from the other Pythagoreans, but none had mentioned demons of this sort. It appeared the Great Adversary had learned a new trick, and the game had changed. Her decision to flee was looking much wiser now.
Iris looked over at Laurence. He didn't know what she had seen, and it was probably better that way. He was a loyal assistant and far from cowardly, but he was smart enough to realize staying with her could be suicidal. The monsters were coming for her.
The Boeing 717 parked in front of her, but the engines continued to run. Iris and Laurence stayed far away from the huge jet intakes. Airport workers rushed a staircase into place, and Iris began to climb even before the wheels were locked. She reached the hatch just as it opened.
Her pilot looked out. "Where to, ma'am?"
"Fly west until we're clear of any radar," Iris said. "Then turn south. We're going to Rio de Janeiro, but don't take the direct route. Avoid population centers. We don't want to be tracked by anybody."
"Yes, ma'am. I understand."
* * *
Hanley was buzzing through the parking lots around San Francisco Airport at six hundred miles per hour. His body was the size of a gnat, so no civilians noticed him as he zipped past at nearly the speed of sound.
He was looking for a high-end black Mercedes sports car. He had already found a few, but none of them had turned out to be the right one.
Hanley was passing through the lot near the executive terminal when he spotted a McLaren that looked promising. He instantly popped to the tiny Pacific island where Walfred was being kept, grabbed his hand, and brought him to the car. Donning the appearance of a normal human, Hanley stood beside Walfred in front of the car.
"Is that it?" Hanley pointed.
Walfred was still recovering from teleportation. Hanley waited impatiently for him to gather his wits.
Finally, Walfred nodded. "I think so. It looks right."
Come here, Hanley thought. Ipo and Katie got the message and appeared beside him. After realizing where they were, they also switched to a normal appearance. Ipo was once again a big, beefy Hawaiian with his hair in a top knot. Katie had the same light-olive skin and blue eyes. Hanley noticed she was distinctly skinnier than she had been as a human, and he smiled at her vanity. Some habits are hard to break, he thought.
Katie went forward to examine the car.
She touched a smudge on the hood. "Pine tree sap." She knelt down and rubbed the hubcap. "Pollen. It could've been in the mountains. And something else..." She closed her eyes.
"What?" Hanley said.
"I see a face. Black, gently curled hair and a stylish mustache. His name is Grupo. The Goddess is going to meet him."
"Huh? How do you know that?"
Katie opened her eyes and turned to him. "I just do. Wesley told me the aperture might give me psychic powers, and it looks like he was right."
"That's very convenient. What else can you tell us about Grupo?"
"Nothing." She shrugged. "A name and a face is all I got."
"So the convenience has limits." Hanley looked around. "Let's talk to air traffic control and find out what planes have taken off recently. We'll pretend to be FBI agents."
"What if they want to see our badges?"
He focused on his hand. It required some mental gymnastics, but he found he could extend his fingertips and flatten them into the shape of a card. It took a little more effort to form the right colors and words on the surface.
He showed Katie the badge. "Good enough?"
"Cool," she said. "I didn't know we could do that."
"It's all a matter of being in the right frame of mind. Let's go."
* * *
Yang was watching Jia sing a lullaby to Olivia. The song was in Chinese, and Olivia probably couldn't understand a word, but the music was doing its job. The little girl's eyes were gradually closing. She was lying in one of several big beds in the enormous hotel suite, and it made her look tiny.
Yang still loved both of them even though they were made of flesh and he wasn't. If anything, his transformation had purified his feelings. He understood the profound importance of love and why it should never be denied. His human neuroses were gone.
Jia turned off the light and padded out of the bedroom. When she saw Yang standing at the door, she jumped in surprise.
"I didn't know you were there," she whispered.
She and Yang stepped out of the bedroom, and he closed the door.
"We need to talk," he said.
"Yes. You can start by explaining how you pop in and out like that. Is that a gift you got in Chicago? It's extremely impressive. And what happened to the men who were attacking us? Are they dead?"
He looked around the luxurious hotel suite. The witches were in another room performing some kind of ritual, so Yang and Jia had some privacy.
"Before I answer you," he said, "promise me you won't scream."
"Why would I scream?"
"Just promise."
"OK," she said. "I promise."
Until now, Yang had only showed her his original human form. He switched to his preferred representation, a creature made of yellow crystals and white flame. The form expressed some inner truth, although he couldn't explain it in words. It just seemed to fit his soul.
Jia stifled a scream.
"I'm not human anymore," he said. "I'm an immortal entity with powers you can't comprehend. All the surviving legionnaires are like me now."
"Surviving?"
"Many died."
"What about Ipo, Katie, and Hanley?" Jia said anxiously.
"They're fine. They're chasing down the Goddess as we speak."
Emotions played across her face. She was obviously having a hard time deal
ing with the revelation.
Yang guided her to one of the couches, and they sat down. The couch had purple satin upholstery, but the softness didn't give him much pleasure. He no longer experienced human sensations.
"The Lady of the Society, Marina, ordered me to protect Olivia," he said. "I expect that will be a permanent assignment. The Lady also told us to retain some assistants for the new Society, the ones we think are especially talented. I choose you, and I want you to help me with Olivia. In other words, the three of us can stay together as a team. We'll be her family."
Jia furrowed her brow. "I don't understand. I'm a hacker in the Gray Spear Society. I have duties."
"The old Gray Spear Society no longer exists. I'm sure the Lady will agree to this arrangement. I'll argue until she does."
"Does that mean you still love me?" she said softly.
"Of course," Yang said. "I think I just proposed to you."
"But you're some kind of supernatural alien thing."
He changed his appearance back to human form. "I can be the man you need in every way that matters."
"And what happens when I get old?" Jia said. "You won't."
He made his hair gray and added wrinkles to his face. "I can look the same age as you. Nobody will be able to tell I'm immortal."
"But one day I'll die."
"And then I'll be very sad, but I won't worry about it until it happens."
Her eyes widened. "Could you make me immortal?"
"I'll ask," Yang said, "but the answer will probably be 'no.' You aren't a legionnaire. All I can offer is a lifetime of love."
She smiled slightly. "I guess that's not so bad."
"It's pretty good, actually." He kissed her on the lips. "We'll watch Olivia grow up and marry Wesley. Their children will be like our grandchildren. Those memories will carry me through the rest of eternity."
Her smile grew. "Now tell me exactly what happened in Chicago. I don't want any more surprises and secrets between us."
"Sure. It turns out everything was about the twins and their amazing machine..."
Chapter Twenty-three
Hanley, Ipo, and Katie were soaring over the Pacific Ocean. According to air traffic control in San Francisco, a suspicious Boeing 717 had departed from the executive terminal at about the right time. It seemed likely the Goddess was aboard that jet.
