Change, page 25
He paused.
It was Zita’s turn to shrug. “You’ve been trying to get her home again for a year. Jen’s been through a nightmare in that time. She needs doctors and family more than prison right now, and it can’t be healthy to keep hitting her with tranquilizer darts to keep her calm. Wingspan will get her where you need to take her fast, hopefully before you have to tranq her again.”
Freelance inhaled, as if preparing to say something.
“Arca! You have recovered!” Nikos’s voice hailed her, growing rapidly louder. “You are the last to awaken, yet you are still stone!”
Styx materialized from the puddle. She spared a stiff nod for Zita. “I do not apologize for doing what was best for the Underworld, but I am pleased you were successful.”
She nodded back. “Understood.”
Freelance picked up Jennifer Stone. He glanced at her. “Conference blond. Ambitious coworker. Not real date.”
Zita couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “Thank you. Hasta!”
He nodded.
Styx set her hands on his shoulders. Within another breath, dark water washed over nymph, man, and unconscious woman. When it receded, all three and any sign of water had disappeared, leaving only her completely dry blanket behind.
“Where did they go? The land forces will be most displeased that Jennifer of the Stone is gone. They left her here only because she slept, and they needed to prepare special accommodations to transport her. Who was that other woman? I had not seen her before.,” Nikos said, striding up to Zita.
When he tried to clap her on the back, she sidestepped it, picking up and folding her blanket as an excuse. “That was the nymph, Styx. I don’t think anyone could stop her from going where she wants here. Only an idiot would try.”
The big Atlantean shuddered. “The Styx herself? Yes, I see no need to trouble her with our cleanup. She can go with her friend. Your friend? The man of few words.”
“He was another prisoner they were holding here. I guess he had things to do, but he didn’t explain himself to me,” Zita said. Her wings twitched.
“Nor did he speak much else to anyone,” Nikos said. “The loud elderly man did, however, and claimed many things. He infiltrated the camps here to decide on the best way to destroy them, and you and the quiet man are his adoring but simple-minded servants. You both raced here to obey his whims and fight the tyranny of evil ghosts?”
Zita’s eyebrows rose. “That’s an interesting take on it. The guy who left and I worked together to exorcise the ghosts of Hera and Zeus from Jennifer Stone and the criminal who calls himself Zeus. Koschei... well, the ghosts held him captive and tortured him for months, so he went haring off on his own once I freed him, despite all efforts to keep him safe. Our plan had some side effects on me as you may have noticed, and while I was stone—rock—indisposed...”
Nikos snickered. “That has another meaning in Atlantean. Continue.”
She rolled her eyes and chose her words carefully. “Right. While I was out of it, someone dumped the ghosts and the items they were linked to in the lava, killing them. I didn’t see who because of the whole petrification thing. According to everyone here, there were only two ghosts, and my source says they are permanently gone.”
“You are certain the ancients are truly dead this time?” His eyes were intent.
“Yes. The ghosts are dead-dead. If it would make somebody feel better to know, the outward signs of ghost possession are glowing red eyes and narcissism. They preferred to possess what you call the blessed and had this trick where they’d drain power to fuel their lives and abilities. My source would know if they were still around for magic reasons I don’t get.”
Skepticism laced his tone. “Who is this person whose word you trust so implicitly in the matter?”
She enunciated to be certain he caught the name. “Styx.”
The Atlantean was silent for a long moment. “I accept that.”
“Good choice.” Zita snorted.
Nikos glanced over at the men in camouflage gear as they herded the mercenary prisoners toward the portal. “Truly, this will be a story told for centuries about how a friend of Atlantis reclaimed our own and dismantled the army of the dead gods in vengeance. Your land forces are less educated, however, in such matters, and likely will not believe in the ghosts. I do not know what you will tell them.”
Zita studied the thinning crowd and caught sight of a frowning man in a uniform with lots of decorations on it staring their direction.
Fatigue tugged at every part of her. “Me either. How did you get here? Did my friends get my message and save the religious conference? The archbishop?”
Nikos nodded. “Yes, not a single conference attendee was injured. When the invaders came, though it was later than you said and in greater numbers, they found your team, local government warriors, Atlantean war bands, and the European blessed team in a joined force waiting for them. It would have been a more glorious battle if more of the enemy remembered their battle plan or purpose, for they were in shameful disarray.”
Zita grinned and made a mental note to thank the nymphs somehow, maybe with a few pots of asphodel from home or bags of fertilizer when she brought Dmitri by to meet with Styx. “Glad that worked out. How long have you all been here?”
“Without tides or lights to say, I will guess we have been here more than three hours, less than four. Once we’d secured the conference, your Muse reopened the portal so select squads who had not been warned away could strike at the heart of the viper,” he said.
She made a noncommittal sound.
Eyeing the line of prisoners, he shook his head. “Atlantis did not bring enough war bands to join in all the conquest, but I am told the land forces which accompanied us have rooted out most of the mercenary scourge and are eliminating the last pockets of resistance now. Most are surrendering at the news of the capture of their general rather than stay here.”
She glanced at his armor, noting the suspicious brown splatter on it. “I’m pretty certain you guys did plenty.”
After a moment, the big Atlantean grinned hawkishly. “We did enjoy a vigorous battle at the portal. I am pleased to have suffered very few losses in our war band and to have had another chance to demonstrate the bravery of Atlantis and engage in a preliminary assessment of the warriors of your people.”
“Not that I’m not glad to see everything being wrapped up, but weren’t you supposed to wait three days before coming through?” Zita asked.
“Perhaps we anticipated the time limit by a few hours, but in fairness, they attacked first and the portal was already near our forces. Atlantis, and myself in particular, are in your debt. I have demanded the honor of our war band being your guard to the portal so all know of our esteem.” Nikos bowed, his fist over his heart.
¡Carajo! If it’s Sunday, I’m going to miss my flight home. The tax firm is going to be mad. They only agreed to give me the week to go to Barcelona in order to get Dino’s company to meet with their business division sales guy. I’ll have to deal when I get home. Speaking of working, I’m pretty certain I struck out convincing the reality chick to be nice, but maybe I can help Andy another way... She pursed her lips. “Is Atlantis planning some kind of show of goods? Worked ones, not just raw materials?”
He nodded. “Yes, the attack delayed it. That is one of the events being rescheduled for later. It is an area of lesser interest to me, but I know the delay doesn’t matter as we were waiting to finalize what we displayed based on the interest showed during the rest of the conference. As the caste of artisans, scholars, and merchants, the Athenans also have to inform us which masters will attend to answer questions and take contracts.”
“Do you know any jewelers who work with oreikhalkos?” She crossed her fingers.
With a frown, he nodded. “Of course. I am of the noblest bloodlines of Atlantis, and my family coffers are deep. Would a gift of such baubles win your favor or that of your government?”
Zita grinned. “No, it’s not my thing, and our government frowns on that kind of present. I might have heard a rumor about a way you could indirectly make Caroline Gyllen a very happy woman and get a ton of publicity for Atlantean goods at the same time. You’ll need to have a jeweler who works with oreikhalkos at the exhibition, and invite Caroline and her boyfriend to it.”
Nikos smiled. “My interest in jewelry has suddenly increased. Speak.”
Epilogue
A knock on the door woke Zita later that night.
She rubbed sleep from her eyes and stretched. By the time she’d gotten through the portal and given a brief accounting of events a few times to a barely remembered, blurry mass of people, she’d been so tired she’d been slurring and swaying on her feet. A shower, nine hours of sleep, and three meals (once she’d shapeshifted back to her natural human form) had her feeling more like herself.
Experimentally, she prodded at the emptiness inside and was pleased to feel it was much smaller. After smoothing out her rumpled sheets, she grabbed some clean clothes.
Wyn set aside her teacup and rose from where she’d been reading in the other bed in the room. While she answered the door, she waited until Zita had dressed before ushering Andy into the room.
He had on a dress shirt and pants, with his long dark hair neatly tied back. More importantly, he also had a fragrant bag hanging from one arm.
“Mano!” Zita said happily. She sniffed the air. Her stomach rumbled as she gave him a hug.
Andy pulled his food closer to himself. “Thou shalt not covet, Z. Based on the way you’re eyeing my snacks and no longer a flying rock, I’m guessing you’re doing better?”
She harrumphed. “Yes, Muse healed my injuries before I shifted back and I’ve been recuperating. For your information, I was told by someone who would know that the best way to recover from ghost leeches is with lots of rest and outrageous amounts of food.”
“A likely story,” he replied, grinning.
Wyn smiled. “And one she’s been repeating all day on those rare occasions she was awake and her mouth was not full.”
“Still, I’m happy you’re yourself and up now. Sorry it took so long for me to come by. I had to play arm candy for Caroline while politicians and businessmen tried to salvage the Atlantean conference. Given I had to squeeze in that trip to upstate New York, wait around for someone to finish his business, and get back, my time’s been at a premium. Why did I get volunteered to carry around Freelance and Jen, by the way?” Despite his words, Andy seemed more curious than annoyed as he set the food on the tiny desk.
“Because I haven’t told Freelance about my other skill yet?” Even in the privacy of their motel room, Zita was careful not to mention her teleportation. She rocked on her heels. “Besides, can you imagine Jen going through airport security and customs and then a transatlantic flight without having a bad episode? Nobody wants that, including Jen. That poor woman needed to go home and have family time and meds.”
Andy perched on the edge of the small scruffy sofa in their room. “Well, she got both. Her dad was waiting for her with a couple of doctors and lawyers. After Freelance finished handing her over, he checked his phone and made this grunt. It sounded almost happy. I dropped him off on the beach near the conference hotel.”
Zita smiled, her fingers itching to check her Arca texts. She inched closer to the desk. “Wouldn’t you be happy if you finally collected a paycheck you’d been chasing for the better part of a year?”
“That’s fair,” Andy allowed.
She remembered something and glanced at the clock in the room. “Speaking of paychecks, we’ve overstayed our original plan to be here, and there’s no way I can get back in time for work tomorrow.”
Wyn smiled. “You are still gainfully employed at both of your regular jobs. I called Friday and informed them of an unknown-length delay because of the damage at the airport. Given the extensive news coverage of the events in Barcelona, and your assurance that you were on a waiting list to get back as soon as possible, they had no recourse but to accept. Your brother understood as well, though Quentin suggested you had purposefully given up your seat on the flight to get more time to explore the local mountains. I did not disabuse him of the notion.”
Zita grinned. “That’s fair. I would do that.”
Her friend inclined her head and continued. “Please note there was no mention of bodily functions in that discussion, though Dino believes you have been absent due to the consumption of bad fish. His nephews were sent home to Greece following Zeus’s incursion, so I ostensibly spent Friday reading legal documents for him and the rest being paid to exist. Once you were back, I booked our flights home for tomorrow, so you’ll miss as little time as necessary and we will need to pay only for one night here.”
“Excellent,” Zita said. “My work hours in the spring pay for the rest of the year, so it would’ve sucked to have lost my job with the tax company. You’re the greatest.”
Her friend smiled. “I know.”
Zita snorted.
Andy grinned. “We all know what’s best for us and agree. On the bright side, while I was waiting for Jen’s dad to transfer funds or whatever for Freelance, I caught up on the latest science news. General Aetherics announced they found the source of the flaws in the experimental shuttle to Ganymede.”
Resettled on her bed, Wyn sipped her tea. “Oh?”
“I said it before. The whole space thing seemed shifty to me, but what are they claiming?” Zita did her best to seem interested, but the fragrant bag stole some of her attention.
“They have declared the shuttle was over-engineered to safeguard the astronauts’ lives, and the issue was a defect in the error-detection system itself, and not anything actually wrong with the ship. I hate to say it, but I agree with Zita. I don’t know why they wanted us to find that crashed ship, but the situation seems set up to make us do so. General Aetherics is up to something,” Andy said.
“Why do you say that?” Wyn asked.
Zita took her attention off the tempting bag for a moment. “They are. You should agree with me more. I’m awesome and fun, and even being wrong is a ride. What rang your alarms?”
He frowned. “Too many coincidences. Even if we hadn’t owed Brie for letting Zita hide Dee on her ship, would we have turned our back on astronauts doomed to starve to death in space?”
“No manches. Of course not,” Zita said. “You think they rigged the ship to throw the signal?”
Slowly, Andy nodded, setting his bag on the table. “Well, according to what they released to the press, the mission had been going pretty smoothly until they were almost near the end of their time at Ganymede. Then this non-error that looks like a catastrophic failure but doesn’t impact anything happens and we get a call to help. We’ve never advertised my speeds or my space-worthiness before. How did they know I could travel there in time unless...?”
“They been stalking you like creeps. Do I smell those spicy croquetas I like?” Zita put her hands on her hips.
Wyn seemed thoughtful. “They might’ve been able to extrapolate from your flight patterns that you are space-capable since you often take us in parabolic arcs to go faster without risking damaging anything when we have to go overseas or to South America quickly.”
Andy nodded unhappily and didn’t answer Zita’s question.
Zita’s mind was whirling now, too. “You think if we’d said we couldn’t help that they would’ve let those people die?”
He blew out a breath. “I hope not? They might’ve told the astronauts to try the trip back despite the fatal error warning as an alternative to starving in space.”
“It’s coincidental and perhaps something to watch, but one instance doesn’t make a pattern,” Wyn said.
Zita clicked her tongue. “Not once. At least three other times. Vegas is one. Robot bugs attacked one of the biggest tourist attractions in the US with a recruitment message for any metas that stop them. General Aetherics whipped out more bug robots at the DMS prison island and when the Atlanteans attacked the cruise ship. The Vegas ones coincidentally resemble the hell out of that insect in the barn by Mamá and on the crashed ship. Clockwork’s whole thing was robots.”
“Eh. His aren’t the same because they’re—” Andy said.
“Still robots. Point two. Clockwork owns General Aetherics.” Her mouth watered at the aromas from the food bag.
Wyn set her tea on the table. “Except he’s supposed to be dead.”
“Is he really, though?” Zita snorted. “He could be dead the way I’m a teenage stripper in an unnamed DC gang, and even if he’s just old, you can’t discount the elderly. Look at the number of companies run by old white dudes. Most of my apartment building is senior citizens, and that place runs on laxatives, hard candies, and evil schemes. My point is, General Aetherics could’ve been the source of those robots and Clockwork is their boss.”
Andy spoke up. “Chiron did say our lifespans might be much longer than usual.”
Reminded of all the centaur hadn’t told them, Zita huffed. “At least he told us something useful. We need to sit him down, or whatever you do with horses instead of sitting, and have a talk about all the mierda he’s been holding back on.”
While he acknowledged her point, Andy continued talking. “He might not even be old. Dream Auntie—”
“Linda,” Wyn said mildly.
He barreled on. “Right, Linda. She doesn’t look her age at all. Zeus and Hera lived centuries before they hibernated.”
“Got to admit, Dragon’s spry for an old lizard, and she was part of the Seventies group too,” Zita added. She made a mental note to thank Linda for the warnings, as annoying as they’d been. Would’ve been nice if she’d been specific and said, hey, watch out for the power-stealing, body-snatching ghosts, though. Just saying.
Wyn messed with her phone and then set it down, tapping her fingers on her knee. “General Aetherics is privately owned by a consortium of investors headed by his son... who has been noted for his resemblance to Clockwork. Vampire novels frequently have characters claiming to be their own descendants. If everything we’ve heard is true, perhaps I should start picking out names for my future false dynasties.”
