The Root

by Na'amen Tilahun

  “That’s why you took so long healing after the way-station—the Angelic disorientation affects you more.” It also explained his fugue states while in the car.

  “Huh.” Erik flipped the file closed and handed it to him. “Can you put this in your bag? I wanna read the rest later.”

  The lights came on.

  “We know you’re here, Matthias.”

  Matthias rolled his eyes at Hu’s voice.

  “There was no need for this deception. All you had to do was ask to see the records room.” Luka sounded offended.

  He dropped his power and instantly they were the center of two gazes.

  “And give you the chance to remove the information we wanted to find? The information you kept from us?” Erik’s voice was angry, each word almost a yell.

  Luka looked confused while Hu looked guilty. Erik let out a snarl, calming only when Matthias placed a hand on his shoulder and moved in front of him.

  “You knew my aspirant’s bloodline but you didn’t reveal it despite our upholding our side of the deal we made.”

  Luka was immediately staring at Hu. “You idiot! Is this true? You broke the Organization’s deal?”

  Hu was silent but the color was rising in his face.

  “I will have to talk to the other Maestres. There will be repercussions for Hu and reparations offered to you. On my name,” Luka said to them formally.

  Matthias nodded and Erik followed his lead, though he could see the young man’s feet start to step in Hu’s direction before he grabbed his elbow.

  They exited the room and found a stairway down to the garage.

  “Well, that was fucked up. What do you think Hu is up to?”

  Matthias shrugged. “Who knows? The Organization has a lot of different factions inside of it. It could have something to do with your bloodline being Greco-Roman or your race or your sexuality. Don’t ever think because we’re descended from the old ones that we aren’t just as flawed and fucked up as humans.”

  “Well . . . that’s lovely, isn’t it?”

  Matthias shrugged. “It’s the truth.” He opened the door to the same Mini Cooper as before and Erik climbed into the passenger side.

  “Well, bad luck they caught us but we came out of it okay, yeah?”

  “I thought they might catch us.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah.” Matthias shrugged. “I mean, if they were hiding something they would have to be watching it pretty closely to keep us from stumbling on it.”

  “That reminds me, why would you keep the evidence in the building we were staying in? Seems stupid.”

  Matthias smiled. “Bureaucracy. Hu didn’t do that research himself. Somewhere along the chain of information someone filed it and it just grew. All the files replicate in all of the research libraries as soon as they’re filed in one. In fact, they’ve probably already replicated, so don’t feel bad about taking this copy.”

  “I wasn’t. I feel bad they still have a copy.”

  Matthias smiled and turned the car toward Erik’s house.

  DAYIDA

  It was late but Dayida didn’t keep “normal” hours on an average day, and it was anything but average. Her son was injured and her husband was gone. The second of those affected her more than she liked to admit. She did worry for her son, but Erik was strong, she had tried to make sure he would be, and his father had inadvertently brought it all to fruition with his actions toward Daniel.

  Robert was weaker. He always had been, though she hadn’t been able to see through his bravado early enough. All that anger had been a mask for his weakness. He hadn’t shared it with her and she wasn’t a mind reader so she didn’t feel guilty. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried. She didn’t know much of Robert’s family except that he’d had a falling out with them right before he left for college and never talked to any of them again, and that most of them were on the East Coast.

  The front door suddenly swung open and Erik rushed into the hall. He leaned his back against the door. She came in from the living room and caught a flash of light through the part of the small window that his body wasn’t blocking.

  “They’re still out there?”

  “Yeah, just a few.” Erik glanced back through the window, rolled his eyes and pulled the curtain down.

  She took the time to study him. He stood taller. Over the past year she had watched him shrink in on himself until he looked like a hunched shadow of the young man he was. Now, in only days, his confidence was back. Dayida could actually believe that for him, awakening was exactly what he needed. She studied his face; it was as if all hints of his childhood had been washed away. He was a man now.

  When he finally turned again, he took her in and smiled.

  “Mama. How have you been?”

  “Boy.” She got up from her seat and he stepped forward to meet her. She clutched him in her arms. He had only been gone for a few days but she feared that his power would wipe away his personality and remake him into someone else. It hadn’t and she was grateful. She buried her face in his hair and took a deep breath. The scent of him was different. There was now a hint of something spicy that overlaid everything.

  “Are you okay, baby?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  She pulled back to take a long look at his face and then nodded.

  “Let me see.”

  He fiddled with his shirt hem before pulling it up. She placed her hand on the soft bulge of pudge that was his stomach and traced her fingers over the scar that now marred his side. It was the size of a baseball and she was sure it had been larger when it first happened.

  “Any news from Robert?” He dropped the shirt as he said it. She knew an attempt at a distraction when she heard it. She allowed it. For now.

  They moved into the living room. It had always been one of Dayida’s favorite rooms; the walls were a shade somewhere between purple and red, and the couch and love seat were deep sea-green monstrosities you could lose a limb in. The tables were all glass-tops with drawings from her students and Erik placed under the glass. It had been her tradeoff for the kitchen. Robert could have that room but this one was hers.

  “No, I’ve called all his cousins that live in state. They all say they haven’t seen him. I think he’s just sulking somewhere.” She settled on the couch and he did the same next to her.

  “I could have Matthias look into it. If you want.”

  She hesitated and then shook her head. “If I wanted that I would ask that boy myself. I’ve known him since he was a teenager.” She paused, and then continued. “Robert will come back when he’s ready. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have enough on my plate right now.” She had a gallery show coming up in just a few weeks and wanted to finish a couple more pieces beforehand.

  Erik looked at her and did her the return courtesy of changing a subject that she was obviously uncomfortable with.

  “How exactly do you know Matthias, Mama?”

  “He trained with your grandmother for about a year before being transferred to another Counselor. It was when you were working on the King Peggy biopic in Los Angeles and I was traveling back and forth. When I was up here I stayed with your grandmother sometimes. He was a lot younger than me but we became friends. He was easier to talk to than your Grandma Hettie. We just always stayed in touch.”

  “Do you know anything about someone named Byron?”

  She sighed and made a move as if to stand. “Are you hungry?”

  “Not really.”

  She stayed silent, almost hoping he would try to push her to reveal it. She would meet such coercion with an equal amount of contempt and push back, but this silent waiting slowly unraveled her resolve.

  “It’s not really my story to tell, but Byron was someone he cared about. The Organization messed with him and then he caused the death of someone else Matthias cared about very much. Matthias changed after that. First he hoped that she would return like some of the Blooded do. When enough time passed and tha
t didn’t happen he disappeared, went completely off the radar. No one could find him for four years. In fact I thought he had been killed . . . or killed himself, but then a year ago he just popped back up and got back in contact with everyone.”

  “Hmm.”

  She knew that look on her son’s face. She had seen it before, whenever he looked at Daniel. Any attempt at warning would be useless but she might still try. Later.

  ERIK

  He hugged his mama one final time, taking in the comfort of her scent. She promised to cook him a big breakfast before he went to his former school to clean out his locker. He knew it most likely wouldn’t happen. His mom had a habit of promising things she never delivered on. It wasn’t malicious on her part. She just tended to get engrossed in her next piece and forget certain things. Plus he was a better cook than either of his parents anyway. He pecked her on the cheek and headed upstairs to his room.

  He still loved her for the promise.

  He’d spent a lot of the last two days sleeping and wasn’t feeling particularly tired, so he turned on the television in his room and it immediately came on to a local news station. His face stared back at him from the screen, two years younger, smiling with boundless enthusiasm.

  “Local celebrity Erik Allan has been expelled—”

  He turned the channel immediately. How was he still news? He’d stepped away from it all over a year ago. He just wished that they would forget him. He found a station playing a marathon of Elvira and lost himself in cheesy black-and-white horror films until he drifted into restless sleep.

  He did not want to wake up but he could feel something getting closer and then there was a knock on his bedroom door. He was up in a flash, his mind still working to catch up to the rapid movement of his body.

  “Erik, breakfast is ready! You better hurry, Matthias called and said he’ll be here in thirty minutes.”

  “Okay, Mama.” His voice was shaky because of the adrenaline still shooting through his body.

  He checked his phone while doing his best to ignore the cracks in the screen; the results of his tantrum after his failed attempt to call Daniel last weekend. There was a missed call from Matthias and a text from Melinda that read “good morning” with a ridiculous animated face smiling and dancing next to it. He smiled in spite of himself and sent a reply about how he missed her with an equally ridiculous animation of a heart breaking.

  He pulled on a pair of dark blue jeans along with a long-sleeved brown shirt that spiraled into blues and blacks and whites on the edges, like a nebula. He didn’t have time for a shower if he wanted to eat breakfast. He shoved on a white beanie with the words BOW DOWN B*TCHES embroidered in black thread across the front. He made sure he was wearing his bracelets.

  He smiled as he entered the kitchen. His mother sat at the table, two plates in front of her. Eggs, bacon, and toast waited for them. He ignored the smell of burning that told him this wasn’t the first breakfast she’d tried to make this morning. It explained why she was waking him up with so little time to get ready. His mom looked at him with the same combination of pride and fear that had showed in her face any time he left her side for an experience she could not join him in—elementary school, the show’s set, and now this.

  They ate in relative silence and quickness. He heard a horn honk outside and stood up, reaching down to grab the almost empty backpack he’d carried downstairs. His mom stood to say goodbye.

  “Good luck today, sweetie. Pay attention to Matthias, he’ll keep you safe. And call me with updates. I might not answer cause I’ll be in the studio but I’d like to know you’re okay.”

  “Yes, Mama.” Erik smiled and leaned up to return the kiss. Her cheek was soft and he could feel her smile through its movement, though it was gone when he pulled back. She left the kitchen, putting her dishes in the sink, already mumbling softly to herself as she moved toward her studio. He turned to the window in the side door and took a peek. Angling his head, he spotted two paparazzi right away and he was sure there were some others hiding about.

  Matthias had his car in the driveway and he was staring at the house, not noticing he was already being photographed. Erik didn’t want to imagine what the blogs would be saying tomorrow. In fact he didn’t have to imagine; he knew exactly how they would spin this. He took a deep breath and opened the door, determined to give them as little fodder as possible.

  Erik couldn’t help thinking how he wished the stories they would print were true. But he shoved the thought aside. Matthias had put distance between them for some reason and he wouldn’t fight for someone who didn’t want him.

  ZEBUB

  LIL

  She fell into a rhythm over the next two weeks. Every day was spent researching and gaining tidbits of knowledge that Lil savored. They found statues hinting that Antes and ’dants once lived on equal footing, books detailing animals they’d never heard of, scrolls locked behind powerful blood wards. She longed to spend years studying these things. Things she was not allowed to carry from the Ossuary. The others shared her disappointment every day, not only in finding nothing on the creeping dark, but disappointment in being denied the spark of rediscovery that was right on the tips of their fingers.

  The rhythm of her new schedule was not completely smooth, though. More and more she had noticed Babel coming to her tongue, mostly when she was annoyed and too tired to control it. So far, she had been able to regain control of her tongue before completing any of the words. But even those few syllables should have burned. She was worried and had been subtly trying to ask Mayer questions. Unfortunately, they had no time and he refused to speak with her.

  Every night was a dinner that Arel and Jagi helped her dress and make her face up for. None of their dinners were as large as the first. They shuffled from Hive to Hive and were not a gathering of the full Courts. Some treated their group of ’dants as nuisances, others treated them as beloved pets, which was the best they could hope for sometimes. During the nightly dinners she heard talk of attacks reported from the outskirts of Zebub as well as nearby Dis and Tarus and as far away as Hannam and Raka. Thankfully none had penetrated Zebub as deeply as the initial attacks, but they were becoming more frequent and longer in duration. Some Antes had been lost in addition to many, many ’dants and the Courts did not like that at all.

  All the Holders and Apprentices put on brave faces every night and spoke in vague hints of potential weapons against the creeping dark to stem the tide of impatience that grew against them every day. Lil and Mayer understood best what was happening, being able to understand more of the angry gurgles, scents, and wind patterns as they were.

  The Nif came to her every dinner but there was no more startlement, even if she still felt herself being observed every night. Mayer and the other Holders did their best to push back against the rumors that said the ’dants had caused this somehow and that the Holders were deliberately holding back information. They all called in favors and still Lil felt the danger grow more and more every day she was in the Courts.

  The days and nights blended into one another until the night the white snake came back. Lil had not seen them since that first night and had done her best to forget how easily she had lost herself in the colors of their skin. Arel and Jagi had tried to explain something about the Ante the next morning, but she had changed the subject until they’d gotten the hint and talked of other things, though the kicked-puppy look had lingered on their faces when she’d returned that evening to check on Davi and Min and for them to dress and make up for dinner.

  The next morning, she remembered her vow in the bathing room. She could not afford to turn away information simply because she was embarrassed the Ante had gotten the drop on her.

  “Fine.” She spilled out the entire story and finished with, “Tell me.”

  Arel and Jagi both let out deep sighs.

  “Thank the seven sisters. The white snake is named June and belongs to the House of the Madame. So they knew exactly the effect they were having.”<
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  “Hmm.” Lil had suspected as much.

  “This white snake, June, is ambitious and will do almost everything to get their way. No one knows where their true loyalty lies. June is high in their House, not quite in the upper ranks but climbing fast.”

  Jagi finally took over. “It is possible that June is working for one of the Courts but more likely for their House or some private agenda. Stay alert.”

  She nodded. She was no fool; she knew there was more to their loyalty than the binding she had laid on them. They had both gone above and beyond the letter or spirit of it. She trusted them. It felt odd, to trust an Ante rather than fear them or hate them.

  Now, she was glad she had asked. She sat at a table with the other Holder and Holder-Apprentices. Everyone was aware of the impatience that filled the Hive, which was directed at their table. That evening they were hosted by the Court of Decayed Thought and they sat at many small separate tables in a line on the back of an animal, the likes of which she had never seen before. It filled the dining hall they had been escorted to. A giant limbless worm circled around and around in a large ring, almost nose to tail, yet somehow the scenery around them changed from forest to city to desert to beach to ocean. They skidded along, all on the steady back of their calm pet.

  It made Lil sick to her stomach when she thought about it too much.

  The Holders and Apprentices had been seated at one table together. It was the first time that she and Mayer had been seated alongside their more shunned brethren. Mayer was fuming.