Night Prowler Part One
Page 34
“Alice, please sit down,” the guy said with a surprisingly strong British accent. He was standing by the window with his hands in his pockets.
“Can I just, like, spend my night or pay my fine or whatever? I’m not into that scare me straight thing,” I huffed, crossing my arms.
“You’re not here for the fake ID scam,” the guy laughed. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Or trying to hack into state records. Yes, Alice, I’ve been watching you closely these past few months. I know your record inside and out.”
I continued to stare defiantly.
“I’m not here to get you in trouble, Alice,” the guy said, sitting down. “My name is Agent Jason Lark, and I work for the FBI in a special unit that caters to people like you.”
“Is our government really that bored? They had to make a special unit in the FBI for troubled teens?” I scoffed, looking out the window. This Agent Lark guy was making me a little nervous – sounded like he knew too much.
“No, not a unit for troubled teens,” he said. “I know who your father is; I know you’re a child of Seth.”
I clenched my jaw but tried to not attract attention to the fact I was getting increasingly nervous. My records all said my father’s name was Seth. Nothing weird about him knowing that.
“Not just any Seth, the Seth, Alice. I know you’re a demigod.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, continuing to look out the window. Actually, I did know what he was talking about, and I was terrified of what would happen if my father found out. He had a rather short temper.
“My unit needs your help, Alice. I assume you know more about the Palace than the rest of us, seeing as you came from there –”
“The what?” I asked, this time honestly confused.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, honestly. I haven’t seen my father in years and I don’t want to.”
“You… you’ve never heard of the Palace?” Lark asked, bewildered. “But you’re a demigod, you should know all about it. I assumed you were born there.”
“Seth is the god of chaos; did you really think he’d be a good father? I met him once in my whole life and I was so terrified of him I actually pissed my pants. He told me to never tell anyone of his existence or he would kill me. I’m half afraid he’s going to kill me just because you found out he exists. I don’t know what this Palace place is, but if my father is involved with it I suggest you forget anything you know.”
“But, he’s Divine! They’re supposed to protect us!”
“Oh, bullshit. The Egyptian gods don’t give a fuck about us humans. Once we quit sacrificing to them, they quit caring.”
“You don’t know, do you?” Lark asked with a small smile. “You don’t know about the rest.”
“Are you going to charge me with something?
Because if not I would really like to go home.”
“You’re not going home anytime soon, Alice. We need you. Your country needs you.”
“Country my ass. I’m behind in calculus. Can I at least do my homework?”
I was taken by police cruiser to a large house in south Anchorage, a few miles away from Service High School. I went to Bartlett, so I wasn’t super thrilled about the new situation.
Our schools don’t exactly get along. Lark wouldn’t really tell me what was going on, but apparently I needed to be kept in a safe house for a while. He promised to explain once we were there.
Upon entering the home, I simply rolled my eyes.
There was my aunt Isis, her throne headdress brushing the tall ceiling. She smiled and held out her arms to me.
“Alice, darling!” she cooed, hugging me tightly.
“What’s going on?” I asked, not returning the hug.
“We’re worried about you, love,” Isis said seriously, pulling me down on the couch with her to sit.
“I didn’t realize no one ever told her about the Palace,” Lark said to Isis, acting completely comfortable about being in the presence of a god. It was normal for me, sure, Isis was just a family member. But for anyone else, it was just plain rude.
“That was my brother’s decision,” Isis said sternly. “He didn’t want Alice to take part in Palace affairs.”
“What is this Palace thing, Aunt Isis?” I asked, irritated at being ignored.
“We’re not the only gods, honey,” Isis said softly, as if it was big news. I’d always assumed there were more gods –
what made Egypt so special, anyway? – but my assumptions had never been backed up by anything concrete until now.
“And the kicker is…?”
“All deities exist. We all live together at the Palace. But that’s not the point, dear. Seth has gone missing. We were worried you might get hurt. I contacted Agent Lark to find you here on the Earth plane.”
“Aunt Isis, you’re a god. Why did you use human means to find me?” Isis shifted uncomfortably.
“I cannot say. Our… resources… are a little tied up at the moment. The Palace has other problems to deal with.”
“What kind of problems?” Lark asked eagerly, leaning forward. Isis’s eyes darkened and the lights in the room dimmed. She used this scare tactic on me a few times when I was little and used to steal cookies from the Sun Jar.
“You do not have the authority, Agent Lark,” she said, her voice deep and angry. I learned a long time ago not to ask questions about godly affairs. Gods have rather short tempers.
“I don’t know where Seth is,” I said, trying to distract my aunt. “I only saw him that one time when I was twelve.”
“I am concerned about this. He was arguing with Anubis when he suddenly just… disappeared. Like when a Ghost
pops from one plane to another. Only we can’t find him in the Palace or the Earth plane. I fear…”
Isis stopped herself and refused to go on. I wondered what she was worried about. After all, if my father truly did disappear, what was the harm? He was the god of chaos, not the god of the harvest or something. His disappearance would be helpful, not harmful. Unless he was plotting against my cousin Horus…
“If you hear from him, you know how to call me,” Isis said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “In the meantime, stay here with Agent Lark. I expect him to explain his unit.”
Lark nodded at Isis and she shimmered out of existence. It always weirded me out when gods did that.
“Well, I guess I better explain myself,” Lark said, getting right to the point. I like those kind of guys. “I am the leader of a small unit of supernatural investigators, to be frank.” I blinked.
“Supernatural investigators?” I confirmed, trying desperately not to laugh. Lark pursed his lips and frowned at me.
“Yes,” he said, “supernatural investigators. Some demigods end up being real trouble makers,” he added, a sharp, accusing edge to his voice.
“Hey, don’t blame me, I’m the child of a chaos god. It’s in my blood, literally.”
“The unit was started back in ‘76. Charles Henry, the leader before me, was an agent that got caught up in a witch war. He spoke to his boss, who spoke to his boss, and eventually our unit was formed. Since then, we’ve been recruiting demigods, witches, and plainclothes like myself to assist in the capture and containment of poltergeists, rogue witches and demigods, demons, and other undesirable supernatural entities.”
“You practice that pitch often?” I asked. Lark hesitated and then nodded. “OK, what is it you want me to do with this information?”
“A few years ago I was contacted by a man who claimed to be a god, who needed the help of my unit to find his daughter. He said his daughter hated him for not being around
while she was growing up, and this hatred created a sort of shield against him finding her. That was your father, Alice; that was Seth.”
“You’re the one who let him find me?” I shouted, leaping up from the couch I was sitting on and accidently knocking a few pictures off the walls (telekinetically, of course –
&nb
sp; hazards of being a chaos demigod).
“I didn’t know what he was planning on doing,”
Lark said, trying to remain calm. “I thought he wanted to reconcile!”
“He. Is. A. Chaos. GOD!” I said haltingly through gritted teeth.
“Then you know how stupid it would’ve been for me to refuse him,” Lark said seriously. I sat back down. I was still angry at him, but he was right. Ticking off a chaos god is not a good plan; I speak from personal experience.
I didn’t like thinking about my father or the one time I ever met him. My mother had always told me the truth, right from the beginning. “You’re a demigod, hon. The child of Seth, Egyptian god of chaos,” she’d said. I might not have believed her as I got older except it was the only explanation for my telekinesis. But she had also been honest when she said that Seth was not a personable god.
In other words, my mother hadn’t slept with him by choice, and she tried to end the pregnancy more than once. I had known this all my life, and the anger and resentment I felt towards Seth kept him from finding me. But when he did find me, he was so angry he murdered my mother – in front of me.
Isis was the only Divine family I ever had contact with growing up. She and my mother formed a sympathetic bond after I was born. Isis already hated my father for killing her husband, my uncle, Osiris, but realizing Seth was also running around raping and impregnating humans with tiny, chaos god spawn really pissed her off. She spent a lot of time around me but never told me much about the gods. Then again, I never really asked. It all seemed like something I didn’t really want to know.
So I understood why Isis was so worried about Seth being missing. Isis was always worried about him trying to kill my cousin Horus, too. If he were to plan something, going into hiding would be his first step. I knew I should’ve felt scared, but for some reason I didn’t. I actually felt sort of comforted, like I knew he was in a bad place or something, like he wasn’t ever coming back.
“I’ll help you if you help me,” Lark said, interrupting my reverie. “We are working on a case that could use your skills. If you help us, I’ll make sure your record reflects that.
I’ll get you help, Alice. You don’t have to let your father’s godship dictate the type of person you are.”
“You really expect that crap to appeal to someone like me?”
“It worked when Agent Henry used it on me.” I gave Lark a questioning look. “I’m a child of Ares.”
FIVE YEARS LATER
Sending kids away really breaks my heart, though I’ve only had to do it twice. Once, my first week of being a cop, and the second time today. I didn’t think Zac was a bad kid.
Unlucky, perhaps, but not bad. He didn’t deserve to go to prison, and his mother certainly didn’t deserve to have such a brave kid.
If Zac was mine, I’d be posting his bail before they could lock him in and hiring the best lawyer the country had to offer; not crying and wiping my nose, apologizing for being an abusive parent. There’s time for that later.
When I got home, I found my cousin Horus waiting outside my apartment. Thankfully he had left his godly garb at home and opted for jeans and a t-shirt. He was still fairy conspicuous, however. Hard to hide a face like his.
“Isn’t this funny?” he said with a grin, pointing at the sun symbol on his shirt. “Humans think this is a tribute to Uncle Ra! They call him ‘American Ra!’”
“Horus, it’s American Rag, not American Ra.
Have you been stealing from the Christian church again?” I assumed the G had worn off.
“Jesus told Zeus I was making fun of him! Zeus electrocuted me!” Horus whined. “I had to get revenge somehow.” I opened my door and set my purse and jacket on the couch.
“Maybe you should stop insulting the Greeks and Jesus will stop snitching on you,” I sighed, reaching for a box of pasta. I put a pot on the stove and began to boil some water.
“Mother asked me to come talk with you,” Horus said, changing the subject. “We found Seth’s body.”
I froze, dropping the pasta box onto the floor.
“He’s a god, Horus,” I said slowly. “How is it you found his body?”
“I didn’t know it was possible,” Horus said desperately, coming towards me and grabbing my arms so I had to look him in the eyes. “Lucifer found a way to kill us.”
“Why did you find Seth now? It’s been five years since he went missing,” I said, jerking away from my cousin.
“There’s something you need to know, Alice.
Something about us, about the gods.”
Horus launched into an explanation about the Palace and my father. My cousin explained that the original God and Goddess, the ones of the Old Religion, had created something called a Sign to keep everything in order. A group of rebellious demigods had formed a rival clan called the Core, and they existed solely to kill the Signs. When my father had gone missing, Isis and the other gods had just gotten news from another dimension that the war that would end the ongoing battle would soon ensue – that’s why the Palace had been too busy to allow Isis to look for me. According to Horus, the Core had kidnapped my father in the hopes he would join their side (sensible, him being a chaos god and all that). But my father had rejected the offer, and as punishment Lucifer kept him prisoner until a way to kill a god was discovered. Obviously, that provoked a lot of fear among the Palace Nobles, especially now.
“Why wasn’t I ever told about this?” I asked, tossing pasta into the now boiling water.
“Mother didn’t want you to be involved. Seth didn’t, either. Not knowing kept you safe. But now that they’ve discovered… whatever this is, my mother and I felt you needed to know.”
“In case he kills you, too,” I said. Horus nodded slowly, his face stony. “Does Lark know?” I asked. Ever since the day I discovered my father was missing, Lark had been a huge part of my life. He was closer to family than Isis or Horus, despite their frequent visits, could ever be. I spoke with him on a daily basis and always introduced him as my brother. In all honesty, he probably saved my life.
And working with supernatural investigators is kind of fun.
“No,” Horus said seriously, staring at me intently.
“And he cannot know. He is a human. This is a godly affair in which he has no place or right.”
“And I do?”
“You are a demigod. You have the right to know, just not the right to act,” Horus answered. “Look, Alice, that’s not really all that important. What I came to tell you is more urgent.”
“Well then spit it out, Horus. I’m sick of waiting; you gods take forever to tell me things.”
“That boy you sent away today?”
” I didn’t send him away, the system did.”
“He’s the Seeker.”
” What?” I gasped. My pasta began to boil over and I cursed my telekinesis.
“We have sent the Doberman after him in prison,” Horus explained. “Our best assassin. But there is no guarantee he will succeed in killing the Seeker. Wound him perhaps, but that will only bring on his powers faster. Doesn’t really matter at this point, the Sign has already gotten hers.”
“That’s the girl who got stabbed, isn’t it?” I asked, taking a wild guess. Horus nodded.
“The boy who stabbed her was recruited after the Soul Searcher sensed the Doberman. We didn’t plan on the Core creating their own assassin. They never have.”
“What is it you want me to do, Horus? I don’t have much power.”
“We need to keep the Seeker in prison as long as possible. The Core will have to work very hard at getting him out, and he truly does have only two Earth years as his grace period.
The longer he is incarcerated, the less amount of time he has to train.”
“I can’t really do anything, Horus,” I admitted.
“You have to have some kind of idea,” Horus pleaded. “He needs his brush with death as quickly as possible, but he needs to stay in prison.”
“We haven’t given him the word,” Horus said with a smile. “The other gods agreed to consult with you first. Oh, and another thing, you need to watch Lark. He’s getting too close to this. We don’t need him getting in the way of the battle.”
“What am I supposed to do, Horus? I can’t tell him to let these two kids fight to the death without offering an explanation.”
“I’d prefer you kept this a secret,” Horus sighed. “Tell him if you must, but only if you must.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll try to keep Lark out of it,” I said. Horus grabbed my arms. “Thank you, Alice. You’re the only demigod I’ve ever loved.” He gave me a peck on the cheek and hugged me tight before shimmering out of existence. When I touched my cheek, it came away with drops of blood. I shook myself and drained my pasta.
Gods are incestual. I won’t lie; I definitely take after my mother in the dating department. I’m just not attracted to guys with hawks for heads.
The Reign
of the Gods
Jacob
April 2009
Age 16
I woke up in the hospital with an aching chest and a fuzzy head. I didn’t remember a lot of what had happened.
In fact, I didn’t remember where I was or had been… for the last few months.
When I first opened my eyes, the light gave me a headache, so I closed them and tried to sit up. That proved more of struggle than it should have been, seeing as I could hardly breathe. When I did finally get myself up there, I rubbed my eyes and eased them open.
“Afternoon, mate,” someone bellowed in my ear.
I cringed and groaned. “So glad you’re awake. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
“Who are you?” I asked, noticing the guy’s British accent. He looked pretty tall and lanky with an unruly mop of black hair and a disturbingly chipper smile.
“Probably best you don’t remember,” the guy said, his grin taking on a bit of a sinister edge. “Do you remember why you’re in here?”