Feros and the Underworld Prince

by A. L. Bridges

  “Yeah!” Addie replies in an overly animated fashion.

  “Come on Adelaide, your bath is read—oh, hey Cole.” Sara says while walking into the room.

  “I wanna talk with Daddy some more!” Addie pouts.

  “Be a good girl and go take your bath Addie. I promise that we will talk tomorrow.” I tell her.

  “…Okay… I love you, Daddy…” Addie quietly replies.

  “I love you too, sweetie! Sara, I need to talk to you about something so can you ask Tia to give Addie her bath?” I ask.

  “Come on Adelaide, let’s go take your bath!” Tia says while entering the room before Sara has the opportunity to answer.

  “Thanks Tia!” I reply. Tia shuts the door behind her as she and Addie exit the room.

  “So what did you need to talk about?” Sara inquires.

  “I recently met a nagini that gave me a present… and she said it was from my brother.” I inform her and stick out my tongue to show her.

  “I can’t really see it through the webcam; what is it?” Sara asks. I pull out my phone and send her the zoomed in picture of my tongue. I hear her phone ding over the webcam.

  “I know that it’s a yantra; I’m hoping that you can answer whose. The present came with a message from my brother that was telling me to not die again because mom and dad don’t have the resources to bring me back a second time.” I tell her as she opens her phone to look at the picture.

  “What!? But this is… this makes no sense!” Sara exclaims.

  “I need to talk to my mother; I’ll get back to you tomorrow. So has anything else been going on?” Sara asks.

  “Well I discovered that Lila is attending high school here, woke up next to her naked in her bed on Sunday morning, and it’s only the first day of classes, but I’ve already had sex with one of my teachers and Cheza has already found out about it. On the plus side, I have a lead in the investigation so this may be over relatively quickly.” I say as Sara goes slack-jawed.

  “Don’t worry; nothing happened between Lila and me, despite the fact that I don’t remember anything because her friend dosed me with fairy alcohol. Oh, and the teacher was Natasha.” I add and Sara relaxes slightly.

  “Alright, well I’ll look into this yantra; talk to you tomorrow.” Sara replies.

  “Yep, see ya.” I say and end the Skype call.

  …

  Chapter 28: Stacy’s Mom

  [September 23rd]

  “So, Cole… why is your left arm like, always bandaged?” the blonde Stacy asks during our cardio kickboxing lesson.

  “My left arm was really badly burned so I keep it wrapped up for self-conscious reasons.” I blatantly explain.

  My patience is running thin with punching and kicking that only connects with air, and the music that Spanish Ewan McGregor is playing isn’t helping anything.

  “Oh, um… sorry.” Stacy replies, looking embarrassed for asking.

  “Don’t sweat it, but if you really feel bad, you can answer some of my questions.” I suggest.

  “Shoot.” Stacy responds, looking almost hopeful at the chance of redemption.

  “Okay, where are you from?” I ask.

  “Burbank, California.” Stacy replies.

  “Huh… do you live with your parents?” I ask.

  “I live with my mom.” Stacy replies; a smile crosses my face.

  “Huh… does your house have a pool?” I ask.

  “Umm… yeah, it does.” Stacy answers, looking confused.

  “Huh… if we went to high school together, would you invite me over after school to hang around by the pool?” I ask.

  “Uh, sure?” Stacy replies, more confused than ever, but I think Kacey and Sarah have caught on to the joke, based on their giggling; Nagi doesn’t appear to understand at all, but I didn’t expect her to anyway.

  I decide to leave it there for today. We finish the class and I make my way to English. I sit down in the middle of the class, away from the four other males that are currently in the classroom, who are all in the front row. Cheza walks in the classroom, completely avoids looking at me, and sits down next to me. Needless to say, her actions confuse me greatly.

  “Don’t worry; Natasha explained things and I get it. You’re a guy and have things to take care of to keep you from going around the country, murdering strippers. Besides, I’d rather have you doing it with Natasha instead of some random girl.” Cheza says with a hushed tone.

  I’d like to point out that she and I could have sex and it would solve all of those problems, but I don’t.

  “I know, Cole… I’m just not quite there yet…” Cheza quietly replies. Did I say that one out loud too?

  Natasha comes in the classroom wearing a similar ensemble to the one she wore yesterday, but appears to have traded the stockings for pantyhose and has buttoned her shirt up a bit. She assigns the prompt for tonight.

  “It was brought to my attention that some people don’t drink for religious or legal reason or whatever and some people asked me what they should write about, to which I replied ‘you figure it out.’ Apparently that wasn’t obvious enough for those people so I’m just going to tell you all directly: you’re in college now, so if you have the dilemma of not having the experience that I’ve told you to write about… MAKE IT UP! I’m not fact-checking this shit! I’m never going to call you out and say ‘I see that you wrote about the time you got in a knife fight with a carnie because you thought he was rigging the non-existent prizes for donkey rides… show me the scars.’ So for tonight’s prompt, you all know what to do. Class dismissed!” Natasha announces.

  After class, Cheza and I walk back to the dorm together. We chat for a bit and she tells me that I need to call Ada more often. We head back to our respective rooms and I work on my assignments for a few hours until I hear a knock on my door at about 6pm. Travis invites me to dinner and I tell him that we should invite Cheza and Naia as well. He agrees and we head down to the fifth floor. I leave inviting Naia to Travis while I go knock on Cheza’s door.

  “Hey Cole, what’s up?” Cheza asks.

  “Do you want to go get dinner with Travis, me, and possibly Naia?” I inquire.

  “Umm… sure, let me grab my jacket.” Cheza says with a bit of uncertainty and retreats into her room.

  I’m going to take her willingness to go as a sign that our relationship is getting better… now how do I keep from fucking it up? Travis and Naia join me in waiting outside Cheza’s door. She comes out about a minute later and we all walk to the food court. Cheza joins me in line for Asian food while Travis and Naia head to different sections. We get our food and I see that Travis has gotten us a table, so I lead Cheza in that direction. A few minutes later, I notice Naia looking around lost so I wave her over.

  “Chezarei, Cole, there is something I wish to speak to you about, but…” Naia says while glancing at Travis.

  “You don’t want me to hear it? That’s fine; I’ll just plug my ears.” Travis offers.

  “No, that is quite alright.” Naia replies, appearing to change her mind about Travis.

  “Well… Ryuji invited me to have dinner with him this Friday… what should I say?” Naia asks in a slightly embarrassed fashion.

  “I haven’t met Ryuji; is he a nice guy?” Cheza asks, directed at Naia and me.

  “Yeah, he is.” I reply. I still wouldn’t trust him around Addie though…

  “I doubt that there is any man that you would trust when it comes to Ada. Well, do you like him, Naia?” Cheza asks. I really need to stop saying my thoughts out loud.

  “Yes… we have a lot in common and he is fun to talk to…” Naia replies.

  “Well then, I think you should accept his invitation to dinner.” Cheza says.

  “I agree completely.” I add.

  This is going in a direction that I had not been expecting when I introduced the two of them. I look across the table and see that Travis is sort of moping.

  “I’ll work on setting you up next, Travis
.” I tell him and he perks up a bit.

  One of the girls in my cardio kickboxing class might be perfect for him. Which reminds me: I still need to work on my joke for Stacy…

  I call Sara when we all get back to the dorm. I talk to Addie about her day for a little while before telling her goodnight and that I love her. Sara puts Addie to bed and then comes back and sits down in front of the computer.

  “I wasn’t able to get ahold of my mother today, but I’ll try again tomorrow.” Sara informs me.

  “Alright, is there anything else?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I received a call from Katie today; her analysis of Adelaide’s blood is complete.” Sara replies.

  “And?” I inquire.

  “The enhancement works like a virus that bonds with its host until it becomes irremovable. The virus in Adelaide appears to be a more primitive strain and is missing the agent that allows a third party to control the virus’s host, but is more deeply ingrained into her, as though it had been inserted into the embryo.” Sara tells me.

  “Thanks to the injection that Father gave me before he sent me on my mission to create the girl…” The memory of Fenrir’s voice surfaces I my mind. I thought he had been talking about Cheza at the time, but it makes sense that Addie would have been conceived under similar circumstances.

  “So will this be able to help The Agency?” I inquire.

  “Yes, they should be able to synthesize a drug with this information.” Sara replies.

  “Good. Now all I have to do is stop the source of the enhancements. Well I still have assignments to complete before bed so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I say.

  “Alright, goodnight Cole.” Sara says and ends the call.

  …

  [September 24th]

  After encouraging Naia to accept Ryuji’s date in computer science, I head to my cardio kickboxing class. Spanish Ewan McGregor is setting up the music for class when I arrive.

  “Excuse me, Professor? That is a Bluetooth stereo, is it not?” I ask.

  “That is correct.” The professor states.

  “Then I have a suggestion. Perhaps it would be a good idea to allow a student to pick the music for class every other day. Most people have MP3 players that also have Bluetooth capabilities so that wouldn’t be a problem. It could act as a morale boost and it would give the students more incentive to be excited about class.” I spiel.

  “Hmm… that actually sounds like a good idea… I like it! How about you bring in the music for tomorrow and we will do a test-run?” he suggests, playing right into my hands. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Cackle.

  “Yes, Professor.” I reply and walk over to the girls with my hands in my pockets so that I don’t hunch over and start rubbing them together. This means I have two more questions to get through to have the perfect setup for tomorrow.

  “Hey Stacy, has your mom ever gone on a business trip?” I ask about halfway through the class.

  “Umm, yeah… I like, think so.” Stacy asks with a perplexed expression.

  “Huh.” I reply and then I wait for about fifteen minutes before I ask my next question.

  “Hey Stacy, which job do you think I would be better suited for: mowing lawns, or as a masseur?” I inquire.

  “What?” Stacy asks.

  “It’s kind of like a psychology test… just answer the question, please.” I reply as I hear Kacey giggling, but Sarah looks confused.

  “It’s from the music video.” Kacey whispers to Sarah.

  “Umm… masseur, I guess.” Stacy replies.

  “Alright, thanks.” I say and leave it at that for today.

  After English, Cheza and I walk back to Graythorn and I head up to my room. I finish my assignments before Travis knocks on my door. We do a repeat of last night for dinner, only this time Naia is excited about her upcoming date instead of wondering how she should reply.

  I talk to Addie on Skype again, once I return to my room after dinner. I tell her I love her and then Sara gets on.

  “Okay, so I talked to my mother and she said that she can’t tell me and I’m not allowed to tell you that the yantra belongs to Ganesha.” Sara says.

  “Well that is stupid that you are not allowed to tell me; I guess I will just have to figure it out on my own.” I reply in a robotic fashion before smiling at her.

  “Well, I have some stuff to finish for school so I’ll talk to you later. Night Sara!” I say.

  “Goodnight Cole!” Sara replies and hangs up.

  I access my music management program for my phone, let’s just call it uTunes, and I transfer all of the music by the Fountains of Wayne that I have on my laptop onto my phone. With my stuff for school finished, I access Wikipedia and search Ganesha. I discover that he is one of the most widely known Hindu gods because of his elephant head. His picture includes a lotus flower and a snake coiled around his neck. He is the Deva, or god, of intellect and wisdom, which puts him on par with Saraswati: the Devi, or goddess, of intellect and wisdom. Well, I can now see how Saraswati is connected, but not how she fits into all of this, or why she wanted this to be kept secret from me. I decide to just sleep on it.

  Tomorrow should be rather amusing.

  …

  [September 25th]

  I walk into my cardio kickboxing class with a bit of a pep-in-my-step. I sync my smartphone to the Bluetooth stereo before joining the girls in my usual spot. I have the song set to play on track number fifteen, so I wait forty minutes before asking today’s question.

  “Hey Stacy, if you caught me jacking it in your bathroom to the sight of your mom in a bikini, what would be your response?” I ask, trying to be as serious as possible when I hear the opening guitar riff to Stacy’s Mom by Fountains of Wayne.

  “WHAT!?” Stacy replies while Sarah and Kacey start giggling; even Nagi laughs, but I don’t think it’s because of the actual joke, just the side-effect. The singing in the song comes in and Stacy’s face is priceless; she listens while connecting the dots between the lyrics and all of the bizarre questions I’ve asked her in the past few days.

  “REALLY!?” she replies sort of shrilly. Sarah, Kacey, and I are all dying from laughter.

  “My gods that was sooo worth the three days of setup!” I exclaim.

  “Okay, that’s it; the next time you guys want to know something about Cole, you can ask him yourself!” Stacy replies in a melodramatic manner.

  “Well, even though your use of the stereo appears to be for an elaborate joke, I still believe it is a good idea. Starting next week, every other day, someone can play their music.” Spanish Ewan McGregor announces.

  With class over, I head to English while deciding that I won’t tell Cheza about Ganesha until I have more information. I sit down beside Cheza and we sit through class in silence. Natasha assigns the new prompt before going through and reading a couple of the papers that are her favorites; luckily she’s smart and keeps the writers anonymous.

  The rest of my day follows the pattern that is very quickly becoming routine: walk home with Cheza, assignments, dinner with everybody, nightly chat with Addie and Sara, bed.

  Tomorrow is my first fight club meeting; that should be interesting.

  …

  [September 26th]

  “Cole, I need to speak to you after class.” Natasha thinks during English.

  “Alright, that about covers it for today; have a good weekend everybody!” Natasha announces and leaves the room. I gather up my stuff and slip it into my backpack.

  “Ready to go?” Cheza asks.

  “Actually, I have to talk to Natasha about something so I’ll see you later.” I reply.

  “Reeeeeally… I think I’ll join you.” Cheza responds in a way that tells me that she’s coming whether I like it or not, so Cheza and I head upstairs to Natasha’s office.

  I knock on Natasha’s door before entering. Natasha looks at Cheza and raises an eyebrow.

  “So we require a chaperon now, eh? Fair enough… you have your first meeting with the figh
t club tonight, right?” Natasha asks. I nod in response.

  “Well make sure to be careful and keep your eyes peeled for clues about the enhancements; tell Travis to keep his eyes peeled too.” Natasha says.

  “What does Travis have to do with this?” Cheza asks.

  “He was hired by The Agency and we were both recruited by the fight club.” I answer.

  “This is really the only lead we have so try not to fuck it up, Cole.” Natasha says in a lighthearted tone, but I can tell that she’s a bit worried about this.

  “Don’t worry, everything will work out fine. I’ll make a report tomorrow.” I reply while trying to sound reassuring.

  Cheza and I return to Graythorn Hall, I finish my assignments, and I call Addie to talk to her, knowing that I won’t be able to later tonight. After I tell Addie that I love her and end the call, I decide to take a nap before Travis and I have to leave.

  …

  Chapter 29: Who needs Flunitrazepam when you’ve got style? 7

  I awaken to knocking at my door at 6:26pm. I trundle out of bed and answer my door.

  “Hey bro, are you ready to go?” Travis asks while wearing a track suit.

  “Oh… umm… yeah.” I groggily reply. I start to step out into the hallway before Travis stops me.

  “You should probably put some pants on first.” Travis informs me.

  “Right… pants.” I trundle back inside and pull on a pair of jeans before heading back out.

  Travis gives me a sideways look, but doesn’t say anything. We head downstairs and find that Penelope, the girl from the arm-wrestling contest, is awaiting us. She also gives me a sideways look before smiling at us and walking out the door; she’s no Lassie, but I’m pretty sure she wants us to follow her.

  “So where are we going?” I inquire when we walk onto the path that leads into town.

  “You’ll see.” is all she says and continues walking.

  When we are about halfway into town, Penelope turns left into the forest. This is starting to feel like a trap so I prepare myself and follow after her. We walk for about a mile before I spot a small cabin. Penelope makes a beeline for the cabin and we enter it. It appears to only be a small unfurnished cabin with a fireplace… until I recall that my life is a series of Scooby-Doo mysteries. I have no doubt that a brick in the fireplace opens up a secret passage that leads underground.