Tala Phoenix and the School of Secrets

by Gabby Fawkes

  Artemis nudged me. “Hey, looks like you got to see even more of the department top dogs – that’s Willow and Arbor Bartrynl.”

  “I can always leave you here if you’d rather wait around for them to catch us,” Axel warned, a few steps away.

  Just then though, his progress was blocked by a bulldozer of a man.

  “Ares – so it is true: you really are back!” his English-accented voice declared.

  Axel looked impassively at the man’s big-bearded face. “Yes. I go by Axel now.”

  The laughter that boomed out of the man broadened the hairy sliver of his chest visible in the V of his neon lime T-shirt.

  The next second, hyena-like laughter rang all around us. It was coming from simpering-looking men and women, who had surrounded us at some point.

  My muscles tensed.

  “It’s fine,” Artemis whispered, sensing my unease. Her still caramel-wigged head jerked to the burly He-man. “That’s Gordon.”

  Gordon, he was the one she’d said was… big and hairy and… I scanned him, grinning. He really did have a Rolls Royce in the shape of a golden G on each wrist.

  Most improbably of all, he was still laughing.

  I caught Kian’s eye and joined her in gradually edging away, taking Demi’s hand and pulling her along with us. It almost looked like we were going to make it too, when another voice joined the fray. “Just what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

  This voice was high, snide, and sounded like it had gotten a degree in How to Be an Uptight Bitch. Its owner looked ludicrous. She was wearing shoes that had to have been reconverted stilts. Her hair was as bright red as a parrot, while her dress was so smelly with golden sparkles that, even though I was several feet away, I coughed.

  “Lucinda,” Axel muttered.

  I swallowed. Another one of the DSA top dogs. Just our luck. Or not.

  Based on the way Lucinda was looking at us, like we were a particularly stubborn toilet stain, our running into her wasn’t lucky. Not one bit. At least, not for us.

  “Are we not permitted here?” Axel asked.

  “You know what I mean,” she said coldly.

  While I wracked my brain on what to do, I saw the muscle in Axel’s jaw flex. Damnit – even he was worried.

  Beside me, Demi and Kian looked stumped. There wasn’t any time to come up with a good excuse to get out of here. Then again, who said we needed one?

  “My friend’s sick, we gotta go,” I said.

  And, without another look at her, I yanked Kian and Demi after me.

  We raced out and down the lit-up pathway without so much as a giggle. If Lucinda called the guards after us, or if Axel managed to talk her down, I didn’t know. Only that no one followed us, or caught up to us, as we sprinted all the way back to the field.

  Only when we had staggered to a breathless halt at the horses, where Apollo was already waiting, did Kian dare smile.

  “Was your lip color actually called…” I asked.

  “Oh that, tiger orgasm?” She giggled. “Nah. It’s called mauve madness.”

  “I thought so,” I said, smiling vaguely.

  Kian was still smiling too. “My friend’s sick… Nice one. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.”

  “The last time we used that…” Demi said airily, leaning down to stroke the tips of the grass.

  “You both saved my ass,” Kian said. “When my school runaway attempt failed.”

  “Good thing we were more successful this time,” I said.

  “You hope,” Apollo said pointedly. “In case you haven’t noticed, my siblings have not yet returned.”

  “They will,” I said stubbornly, with more confidence than I felt.

  They were Olympians, after all – even the DSA couldn’t detain them if they didn’t want to be, right?

  In the evergreen-tinged breath of the wind, no answer came. Seconds rolled on, and my heart sank further and further. Not just because the others weren’t back yet, though. Because I’d failed Jeremy again.

  I’d wasted precious time getting all silly from that cupcake, then squandered my one chance at getting close to a DSA top player, by out and asking him where the base was like an idiot.

  All in all, I’d endangered everyone for nothing. We’d barely lasted twenty minutes in there, without me messing things up.

  Plopping my butt on the ground, I ripped up a handful of grass, ignoring Demi’s critical glare burning into the back of my head. Her disapproval of my grass massacre was the least of my worries right now.

  I had a right to be frustrated with myself anyway. If I’d just kept my head, Axel would’ve let us stay longer and we might’ve found out more. Not to mention that I was fairly certain that I’d barely escaped some seriously creepy stuff with Stewie. I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly would’ve happened if Axel hadn’t showed up, except that it wouldn’t have been good. Especially with the way Axel had looked when he’d come for me. Like he could’ve snapped Stewie’s neck in his bare hands.

  I ripped off a new handful of grass, depositing it on my already-made pile. My birthmarks were burning, my head was burning, but I couldn’t let it overwhelm me… I just had to keep my cool until they were back… whenever that was….

  Another rip of grass was less satisfying than the last two.

  Why had I just accepted Axel telling us to leave? Just because I’d been rattled about what went down with the cupcake and Stewie? That was no excuse for letting myself be led back here like a useless sheep, instead of demanding to stay to find out more. Some friend I was.

  Kian and Demi were talking in quiet, anxious voices, having sat down beside me, but I hardly heard them.

  When footsteps sounded and figures appeared in the distance, we all got up.

  It was Axel, Dion and Artemis.

  “Aphie stayed,” she said with a shrug.

  “Glad someone enjoyed themselves,” Dion said with a dark glare at Axel.

  “You’re lucky I got us out of that one,” he said.

  “Lucky?” Dion demanded, though it was hard to take him seriously with the way his beard wig wobbled. “I hardly got to dance.”

  He shot a pointed look at Kian, whose hand went to her hip.

  “Um, hello?” she said. “What kind of sociopath would go dancing when her best friend was missing?”

  “Well, here she is, perfectly fine,” Dion said crossly, ripping off his pitiful beard wig.

  “And thank John for it,” Demi said firmly.

  That quieted everyone down. Maybe it was my crappy mood, but it seemed like everyone went about the next few minutes of getting on their horses in a bad-tempered silence.

  I got paired up with Demi and Apollo, which I was happy with. Right now, I didn’t want to be around Axel, even if I had a lot of questions for him. They could wait until I wasn’t afraid of plummeting hundreds of feet to my death anyway.

  Demi tried to make conversation at first, but finding me barely responsive, she eventually gave up and we all settled into silence.

  Normally, the winged horses’ mostly smooth pace would’ve lulled me to sleep. I’d have been able to too, wedged between Demi in front and Apollo in back.

  But my tiredness was more a dull disappointment. I could hardly keep my eyes shut without seeing that bear’s face – livid and suffering - Jer’s face.

  Time on the horseback dragged like half-frozen molasses. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we were dismounting.

  Kian approached, clearly bursting with things to say. I waved her and Demi ahead.

  “You sure?” she asked.

  I nodded. “When Axel rescued me… I just have some questions for him. I’ll explain later.”

  “Okay,” Demi said, although she didn’t move.

  Axel was approaching, having dismounted from the other horse, and Demi and Kian didn’t look like they were going anywhere. My forearms still ached, though whether from anger or frustration, I wasn’t sure. Couldn’t my friends just trust me to figure thi
s out on my own for once?

  “Guys,” I said. “Can you give me a freaking minute?”

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew my tone was all wrong. These were my friends, and more than that, they were the only family I had ever known. They were just worried about me.

  But I was worried too, and I had no clue what had happened. With Stewie, with us leaving… with everything. And I knew Axel would be more forthcoming if it was just him and me.

  “Fine, fine.” Demi threw a long swath of curls over her shoulder and, shooting Kian a look, with a wave of her hand my way, said, “Alis volat propriis.”

  The pair sniggered as they stalked off.

  I watched them go dully. ‘She flies with her own wings’ – seriously, now?

  And they way they’d been laughing – not with me. At me.

  Get yourself together, psycho, my PV voice said.

  I could’ve laughed with frustration. Now my psycho voice was calling me psycho? Maybe it was right. It certainly wasn’t like I could handle myself lately – not with shifting, not with today’s plan…

  “You want to talk?” Axel was asking.

  The others had ventured on ahead by now. It was just me and him.

  “Yeah,” I said, rounding on him. “What the hell?”

  He eyed me uncomprehendingly.

  “Okay, what about that cupcake, for starters,” I said. “What was up with that?”

  “Shifters are particularly sensitive to the herb carum carvi. Most magical beings love sticking it in baked desserts for a mood boost,” Axel said robotically. His face held all the emotion – it was a mask of tension. “Most shifters know not to consume it unless they want to get dangerously light-headed.”

  I glared at him. “You couldn’t have given me a heads-up or anything?”

  “I didn’t know they would be serving them,” he said simply. “Believe it or not, I can’t prepare for every and any contingency.

  I kept on glaring at him. He probably had a point, and cupcakes had always been my weakness. But still.

  “Fine,” I said. “What about what you said - saying that I was yours?”

  Axel turned so that all I saw was his proud, unwavering profile. “You don’t understand how things work in the DSA.”

  “’K, tell me then.”

  “That… slime”—Axel’s upper lip curled with the word—“Would’ve laughed and spirited you away if I’d merely called you a friend. The DSA see themselves as above average witches, shifters, and the like. Mainly because they are. They are immune from most laws, and when they break others, usually a blind eye is turned to the offense… They recognize the gods’ powers, grudgingly. If I had not claimed you as mine…”

  He trailed off and shook his head. My head was still fuzzy, so I couldn’t be sure I was understanding him right. Axel wasn’t actually saying…

  “That top platform,” Axel said quietly, “is a passage straight to the private treetop rooms the DSA elite have access to.”

  My jaw dropped. “So he thought…”

  “That you were a lady of the night, yes, or as good as.”

  I stared at him for a full moment, before I lost it. “No, no way! You’re saying that those disguises Dion gave us… and you all knew…”

  “You were determined to attend the gala and find out what you could. And those disguises were the best way to get you three in without arousing suspicion.”

  I could’ve slapped him. Or thrown fire at him, whatever. Luckily, my PV was staying shut up for once. Maybe since I was mad enough for the both of us.

  “And you didn’t think to tell us?” I snapped. “To mention that, oh, I don’t know, that everyone there would think we were a bunch of hookers?”

  Axel gave a derisive snort. “You three are the worst liars I’ve ever seen. If I’d told you, the plan would’ve failed for sure.”

  “Well, it failed anyway, so great, thanks. And if you thought we were such bad liars, why even bother having us go to the gala at all?”

  Axel wouldn’t meet my eye for that one. “You were so determined to help your friend…”

  “That what – you thought giving us false hope about finding out something was the best option? Then left the oblivious three of us in our hooker costumes to get assaulted by some DSA creeps?”

  “No,” Axel snapped, stepping in near. “I stayed close the whole time. Only Stewie latched on to you and you both were moving so fast…” He scowled. “I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”

  He looked down at me, and I looked up at him. There was something in his face that made me know his words were true.

  “Goodnight, Tala,” he said coldly before I could start to think of what to do next.

  I walked back to my timple alone. My friends hadn’t waited up for me. There was nothing to do but collapse into bed and hope for sleep.

  That night, I was back at the party. On the top platform, surrounded by all glass and my PV’s BURN THEM ALL, I was flinging fireball after fireball at Stewie.

  But shaking his old rose-smelling blue-haired head – hey, that was my wig – Stewie only laughed and laughed.

  “The base,” he kept saying, “Something tells me you’d know all about it, though.”

  As I burned and raged at him, he only advanced further into the path of my flame, his skin starting to pinken, then peel, with a wink. “Something tells me you’d know all about it, though.”

  The flames enveloped him. His lips peeled back from his teeth and fell away, while his skin darkened and blackened, rolling up at the edges like a sizzling sheet of paper.

  And still he advanced, winking, robotic, hideous. “Something tells me you’d know all about it, though. Something tells me you’d know all about it, though, though, though – Something tells me. Something tells me –me –me –me.”

  I backed away, but it was too late. Stewie was a step away, his skeletal oozing face still rattling with laughter, those lidless vein-blue eyes bearing into my soul.

  Until, as blackness enveloped me and I screamed, the last thing I heard was, “Something tells me – you know.”

  And when I woke up, I did.

  27

  “Demi,” I said softly, rustling her.

  A twitch, then her voice, quiet yet firm. “Demi is asleep.”

  “C’mon, I’m sorry. About being a jerk last night, and waking you up now. But it’s really important.”

  A sigh, then, “She’s sorry too, but she really is asleep.”

  “Talking about yourself in third person isn’t going to change anything.” I gave her a harder shake. “Seriously. I think I know where the DSA base is.”

  Demi peeked one eye open, then the other. She sat up with a displeased sniff. “Why didn’t you say so? And how…”

  “Where do hookers hang out?”

  Demi’s hand flew to her mouth. “Excuse me?”

  Now I was the one sighing. “Long story short, thanks to Dion’s disguises, everyone at the gala last night thought we were hookers. Now, where do hookers hang out?”

  Demi frowned, her breathy voice almost amused. “I knew there was something off about our outfits and how the waiter kept slyly asking who we knew and if we were ‘free’ later..”

  “Demi,” I said.

  “Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” she said. “They hang out in brothels, I dunno, seedy motels, places like that.” She eyed me warily. “Tala…”

  “Okay. But what about worldwide? Isn’t there this place in this European country where they’re allowed and everything? Some place where there’s a bunch of canals too. Pretty sure in 5th year, Mr. Nicholson…”

  “Amsterdam,” Demi said, not missing a beat. “It has canals, the Red Light District…But what does that have to do with anything?”

  “Maybe nothing, but Stewie thought I was a hooker. When I asked him where the DSA base was, he told me he couldn’t tell me, but something told him that I knew where it was. Then, he said: ‘What, not a fan of all those red light
s? Or the canals?’”

  A hiss cut through the night. “Shut up.”

  “You shut up yourself,” I hissed back, then, realizing who it had been, “Kian?”

  No answer. Going from Demi’s timple to hers found her twisting around, with an expression that looked ready to kill. “I swear to God. If I have another shitty night of sleep because we just fought a giant bear who was actually Jeremy or running for our lives for some other loco reason, I’m going to-”

  “We might know where the DSA base is,” I said, leaning over close.

  “Kill you!” Kian shrilled, shoving me back with her palm on my collarbone. “Now shut-up and go! – what did you say?”

  I grinned, feeling stupid and hopeful all at once. “I said: We might know where the DSA base is.”

  “Which is?”

  “I have to go find Axel and ask him to be sure.”

  “What – that’s it?” Kian demanded, flinging herself out of bed and storming after me. “You disturb my sleep, then leave the one thing I won’t be able to sleep not knowing unanswered…”

  Even after we told her the base might be in Amsterdam, Kian bitched the rest of the way to the woods.

  Turned out the rumors that Axel slept outside were true, lucky for us. Apparently, he still wasn’t comfortable sleeping in the Temple of Apollo like the rest of them.

  As we approached, seeing in the dark the six glowing orbs of Cerebee’s eyes was a bit nerve-wracking.

  “Hey,” I whispered, about to kneel down. “Axel, we-”

  Next second, he was on his feet, body tensed and ready. “What is it?”

  I swallowed. What it was, was… um hello bare chest?

  Being in Axel’s presence was overwhelming enough, but with those muscles, enough to make an Abercrombie model cry…

  “The DSA base,” Kian said. “Could it be in Amsterdam?”

  “Even though Stewie wouldn’t tell Tala where they were,” Demi added, “He told her that she’d know all about it, then asked if she didn’t like the red lights and canals.”

  For one beautiful series of instants, Axel was quiet. But then, his head shake was definitive.

  “No,” he said. “It’s impossible.”