by Brey Willows
The sentiment echoed the same words of the Vodun goddess. At some point, you’ll have to make a choice. “But whatever we do, it’s what we’re meant to do, because we can’t do anything other than what you’ve already decided. Isn’t that right?” Tis tried to stay calm, though she wanted to let a snake loose on the old woman.
“Perhaps. Or maybe there’s more free will in the world than you think.”
“You drive me insane, you know that?” Alec shook her head. “You’ve driven me crazy since we were kids.”
“Yes, Alectho, I’m aware. You told us often, when you’d come eat cherries with us in the summer.”
“Good times,” Meg murmured.
“Now, I must get back to work. People being born and dying every moment, you know.”
They watched Atropos leave, and Meg blew out a windy breath. “I’ve never been as nervous around anyone as I am around them.”
“I can’t imagine what it must be like, to be born of Necessity and Night. Not really very warm parents,” Alec said.
Tis nodded, but she was barely listening. She kept trying to make contact with Kera, to feel her or get a sense of her surroundings. Alec startled her back to the moment.
“I think it’s probably a good time for a break, don’t you?”
Tis nodded, grateful for the respite. She went back to the podium and motioned for silence. “I think you’ll have found what Atropos had to say is extremely helpful. I know I did. On that note, since we worked through the night and you all have things to attend to, I suggest we take a break until tomorrow afternoon. Get back to work, and put some of what Atropos said into practice. We’ll meet back here after lunch tomorrow and tackle some of the other questions and issues.”
The atmosphere was lighter and more hopeful than it had been when Tis had arrived, and she was thankful she’d bought more than twenty-four hours to try to find Kera without walking away from her duty.
Meg came up beside her. “Petra says she found two guys at the dock who watched a group of five guys unload a van into a seaplane. They didn’t see a woman with them, but there was a rolled up carpet that looked unusually heavy. The guys offered to help and had guns pulled on them as thanks. But neither she nor the loa can find any trace of them now.”
“Tell Petra thank you, and to let us know how everyone else is doing.” Tis thought furiously. A seaplane. If Kera stays unconscious, I won’t have any idea where they’re taking her. But seaplanes, for the most part, couldn’t land in any kind of rough water. That ruled out large coastlines. But it leaves a zillion lakes. She’d never felt so helpless. Logic and strategy couldn’t help her until she knew where to start.
Come on, baby. Wake up. Just for a minute, so I can get to you. Whatever else happened between them, Kera was special, and Tis wasn’t about to let some evil bastard hurt her again. And when I find you, asshole, you’re going to wish for death.
Chapter Twenty-four
Kera’s throat was on fire, and her head pounded. Each time she’d managed to swim back to consciousness, a needle was jabbed into her neck, and she’d blacked out again. This time she stayed completely still and made certain her breathing didn’t change. She slowly took stock of her body, starting with her feet and making her way up. Her ankle hurt and her boot felt too tight around it. Swollen, but not broken. She kept going, and when she concentrated on her ribs, she knew they were badly bruised, but again, they weren’t broken. A quick survey of her arms let her know her wrist was probably broken. Her neck hurt where they kept jamming that goddamned needle into her, and her head was pounding like someone with a jackhammer was trying to get out via her eye sockets. But not dead. That’s something, right?
She had no idea how long she’d been unconscious, or where they were. She could hear an engine but couldn’t figure out what kind it was. Given that she wasn’t on a bed of feathers drinking ambrosia, she guessed her mental phone call to Tis hadn’t worked. Not a big surprise, really.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’re almost home.”
The voice sent a chill down her spine and made her want to vomit.
“Come on. We can tell by the monitors that you’re awake, Dr. Espinosa. No need to play opossum.”
She opened her eyes and closed them again, the light making the pounding in her head worse.
“Ah, of course. Dmitri, turn down the lights. You see, the little concoction we’ve been using to keep you asleep has some side effects, and I’m afraid a truly noxious headache is one of them.”
Even with her eyes closed she knew the lights had dimmed, and she slowly cracked her eyes open again. Degrovesnik held a plastic cup with a straw in it.
“I imagine you’re quite thirsty, too.”
She wanted the water more than she’d ever wanted anything but couldn’t bear the thought of taking it from him.
“It makes no sense to deny yourself. As you know, true dehydration is very uncomfortable. And unnecessary.”
She struggled to sit up in what she realized was a hospital bed, and Degrovesnik moved around to raise the back of it for her. She took the cup from him and drank deeply, never taking her eyes from him. “What do you want?” she asked, her voice hoarse.
“What all men want, I suppose. Love, sex, money. All the base things. But then, I also want revenge. And death. There are those things, too.”
“Where am I? And where are you taking me?”
He sighed dramatically. “Such mundane questions. I expected better. But okay. For now. You’re currently on a train headed for an airport. Once we’ve reached that airport, we’ll take a flight to a high security, extremely remote location where I’ve got a truly exceptional lab setup. There, you’ll have all you need to continue the experiments and research that were so rudely interrupted when your American friends removed you from my care.”
He used almost the same words he’d used so many years ago to entice her to his lab in Siberia. “Russia, again? Do you miss it that much?”
He gently pressed on her injured wrist, which was wrapped and clean. She jerked it away. “No, Kera. After you left, I did some soul searching, and I came to understand I was too narrowly focused. No, this time we’ll go where I can reach many, many more people with little effort. And with your help, I’ll let the Western world know how impoverished and fragile they can be.”
“You know I won’t help you. I watched good men and women die because I wouldn’t help you.”
His smile was pure evil. “But will you allow children to die?” He nodded at the guard at the door. “I don’t think you will.”
“What the fuck does that mean, you overzealous cologned prick?” She sat up and immediately fell back as the room spun.
“Soon enough, Dr. Espinosa. Soon enough.” His voice grew faint as the door shut behind him.
The guard moved forward with that fucking long needle in his hand again. She raised her hands to ward him off, but he just shoved them aside and jammed it into her incredibly sore neck.
He turned away, and Kera let the tears fall. She thought of Petra and Ajan’s daughter watching as she was taken away, as they knelt over his inert body. Please, please don’t let him die. She wasn’t praying, because she didn’t know how, or who she’d even pray to. The only one she’d ever known that listened… “Tis, I know you can’t hear me. But if there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that you can… I’m so sorry.”
* * *
Tis gasped and shook Alec awake. “I heard her.”
Alec nodded and struggled out of her cramped position on the sofa. “Give me your hand.” She nudged Meg’s leg with her own. “Meg. Get up. Give us your hands.”
Meg groaned and stretched her arms out, still face down on the lounge chair. Tis and Alec took her hands in theirs.
Tis concentrated on the energy flowing between them, using it to spread her awareness of Kera’s energy as far as she could. The words were brief, but they lingered. “She’s moving…a train? She’s far away, I can’t quite get her…” Tis opened her eyes a
nd dropped her sisters’ hands. “I lost her. They must be keeping her sedated. Did you get anything?”
Alec shook her head, her expression sympathetic. “I’m sorry, Sis. Like you said, she felt far away. I wouldn’t say she’s in this country, but I couldn’t get a read on where she is. It felt like she was in less pain, though. That’s something, right?”
Meg said something, but it was muffled because she was still face down.
“Flip over, fang face.” Alec nudged her again as she went to make coffee.
“You’re a fang face.” Meg rolled onto her back and looked at Tis upside down. “She was definitely in less pain, but she’s scared. She knows the guy who took her.”
Tis jumped to her feet. “The research team. I can get them to see where the guy is, right? They can run him through the system. And Petra. She was doing something to do with him too. That’s why Kera had bodyguards.”
Meg stretched. “I’ll call Petra. You call the research team. I’m taking a shower.”
“I thought you were calling Petra?” Alec said.
“Where better to talk to her than while I’m naked in hot water? Have you seen that woman’s body?” Meg grinned and headed into the bathroom.
“I feel stupid for not thinking of this before,” Tis said, taking a mug of coffee from Alec.
“To be honest, Petra’s probably a better bet than the research team. Granted, he might be a religious bad guy, but if he’s not a believer, he won’t be in the system anywhere.” She sipped her coffee contemplatively. “He’s letting her wake up long enough to call out. Hopefully, when they get to where they’re going, she’ll be awake long enough for us to get a flag on her location.”
“I hate that we have to wait. I hate every second she’s with him.”
Alec gave Tis a tight hug. “We’ll find her. And you know we’ll take care of the bastard when we do.” She looked at her watch. “Until then, I need to run home and see Selene before we go back to the meeting this afternoon. But if you hear anything more and need me, just shout and I’ll come right away.”
Tis hugged her back, not wanting to let her go. “Okay. See you soon. Tell Selene I said hi.”
“It will be okay. I promise.” Alec kissed her cheek and left.
Tis drank the rest of her coffee while staring out over the ocean. They’d gone back to her place when they’d left the meeting and ordered pizza. Meg had put in some absurd movie that made a mess of the fall of Troy, and they’d distracted themselves by tearing it apart and talking about what had really happened. They’d all fallen asleep where they were, and Tis’s wings ached from sitting in the egg-shaped chair all night.
Meg came into the room looking refreshed and vibrant, as she always did. She wore Tis’s jeans and one of her tighter T-shirts, and Tis wondered if she looked as good in them as her sister did. Tis envied Meg’s all-out approach to life, something she’d had even when they were children. Nothing ever fazed her. But then, she didn’t seem to actually let anyone genuinely close, either.
“Okay, I’ve had a chat with Petra.” She took a piece of paper from the drawer and started writing. “Here’s all the information she found on the guy they think took her. She was worried about something like this happening, which is why she was there in the first place. Bummer she couldn’t stop it, but at least she’s there with Ajan. And he’s going to be okay, by the way. Concussion, but no big deal. Humans have such soft heads, don’t they? It’s amazing they manage to live past their first year.”
Tis called the research team and spoke with the head of research, Lu, a former Chinese god of knowledge. She gave him every detail she could recall from her conversation with Kera, as well as everything Meg had learned from Petra. He promised to work fast and get back to her as quickly as possible.
She put the phone down and looked at Meg blankly. She had no idea what to do next, and the weight of it all felt utterly overwhelming. In an instant, Meg had her in her arms.
“You know, it’s strange.” Meg’s tone was measured, as it sometimes was when she was being serious. “We were born without human belief. Death, the Fates, and us. None of us need belief to stick around. And yet, not one of us has ever left the job the way some of the gods have been able to. We serve, and keep serving, even though we don’t have a boss and can’t get fired. We do it because we were born to do it, and I think you’re the only one who’s ever questioned why.” Meg leaned back to look at Tis. “Did you come up with an answer before everything went to shit?”
Tis laughed slightly. “I think I did, actually. And you’re right. We were born to it. It’s who we are. We can’t just change jobs like other people can. I’m proud of what we’ve done for the world, and even if we can’t fix all of it, at least we do something. So, yeah, I think I’m okay.”
“But Kera didn’t see it that way?”
Tis sighed. Trust Meg to get right to the point. “No, she didn’t. We tried to get past it, but she’s angry about the limitations and that the gods don’t live up to people’s expectations.”
“And of course you couldn’t explain the whole shebang, because you’d be in violation of every Afterlife code going.” Meg shook her head. “That’s why I’ve tried to keep my distance from humans all these years. It’s too messy. Alec lucked out that Selene has that demigod thing going on.”
It was true, Alec had lucked out. But Tis hadn’t, and there didn’t seem to be any way to fix it. “Well, regardless, I have to get her back and make sure she’s safe. After that…” She shrugged.
“The first thing you need to do is shower. You smell like an overripe goat. And you look like a plastic shopping bag, you know, the ones that float around in the air on a windy day? How will the gods have confidence in you if you look like a homeless fury?”
Tis winced and laughed. “Thank you for that lovely description. Good thing you’re my sister.”
Meg poured herself a cup of coffee and flipped on the TV. “That’s what sisters are for. Go, stinky hoofs.”
Tis took off her clothes and saw how wrinkled they were. She looked in the mirror on her way to the bathroom and grimaced. A plastic bag for sure. Her hair was tangled, and her feathers were matted. She turned on the overhead rainwater faucet as well as the wall jet and let the hot water stream over her. She scrubbed herself raw until her hair and feathers squeaked when she ran her hands over them. She thought of the hot showers she’d taken with Kera, of the way their soapy bodies had slid over one another, and how Kera’s fingers had felt inside her. She rested against the wall and remembered as she tugged at her nipple with one hand and circled her clit with the other. Kera’s mouth, her tongue, her fingers, her moans…
The bathroom door flew open, and Meg stood there with a towel in her hands. Tis was about to tell her off when she saw the look on her face. “What is it?”
“Come see.” Meg threw the towel to her. “And before you ask, it’s not about Kera.” She turned and left.
Tis quickly toweled off, feeling far better than she had when she’d woken. But something had rattled Meg, which meant it had to be really bad. She threw on some clothes and went into the living room. Meg sat staring at the TV, her hands pressed to her cheeks and tears in her eyes. Tis focused on the news anchor.
“It’s an unprecedented wave of destruction. That these attacks could be carried out almost simultaneously in so many countries is unbelievable, and yet, it’s true. There’s no word yet on the number of casualties, as most of the fires are still burning too intensely for firefighters to get anywhere near the buildings.”
Smoke filled the background behind the reporter, but as a plume thinned, Tis recognized the blackened walls. She looked at Meg, horrified. “Meg?”
“Churches. Temples. Mosques. All over the world at the same time.” She looked at Tis and tears streamed down her cheeks. “They’re destroying Zed’s temple.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Peaceful. Thank fuck. Kera slowly climbed back to consciousness, aware only of the absolute sile
nce. She’d woken briefly when they’d wheeled her onto the plane, but they’d quickly knocked her out again. Now, there was nothing moving, no engines chugging, or people talking. Her eyes felt like they had weights on them, but she forced them open and rubbed the grit out of them. Her wrist was wrapped in clean bandages and throbbed like a son of a bitch. She was dressed in a kimono type thing with a lot of ugly flowers on it. They’re already torturing me. She sat up slowly, stayed still until the wave of dizziness and nausea passed, then looked around. At least it’s not a dirt cell this time.
It was a large bedroom, and it had the feel of a cabin. There was lots of wood everywhere, including the big four-poster bed she was sitting on. There was a large window across from the bed, and she wondered if she could be so lucky, or her captors so stupid. She slid off the bed and stumbled toward it, but dropped to her knees when her legs wouldn’t support her. She had no idea what day it was or how long the assholes had kept her drugged, but her legs felt like they were made of water. She crawled to the window and hefted herself up using the window ledge. She couldn’t see any locks on it, but no matter how much she pushed at it, it didn’t budge. But whether that was because it wouldn’t open, or because she was too weak, she didn’t know.
The door to her room opened, and Degrovesnik walked in, followed by an extremely tall Amazonesque woman with long blond hair in two thick braids. A guard closed the door behind them.
“Good morning, Doctor. I’m very glad to see you awake and already out of bed. How are you feeling?”
“Yeah, this is nice. Reminds me of a place I stayed in Vermont. Three weeks with a trio of friends who couldn’t get enough of…well, anything really. But right now, I’d feel a whole lot better if I was on a plane home with a cute flight attendant waiting for me in the staff area.”
