This was taking too long and he was tired. “Quill!” he called out.
Quill frowned, obviously trying to place his voice.
Ender’s head tilted.
“Do you know someone here, Seri?” Severo asked with a brow raised.
He ignored Severo’s question. “Quill, it’s Seri…that pregnant Nymph you helped a few months back.”
“Seri?!” Quill gasped. “Ender, it’s Seri North. The one I ran across in the diner.”
“Seri…” Ender drawled. “Seri North.” Skya chose that moment to squeal. The white-haired man chuckled. “And the baby Nymph is here too. Ahh, what trouble have you gotten yourself into, Severo?”
Severo’s eyesnarrowed in suspicion on the Gorgon. “How do you know of Seri?”
Ender scoffed. “And I’m the paranoid one? Whatever you’ve gotten yourself into, don’t worry, I only know part of it. My boy here ran across your currently hidden Nymph a few months back, looking as if he was in a mighty bit of trouble. Couldn’t help but offer our services to a heavily pregnant, and in his words, adorable Nymph in need.”
He looked at Seri. “Is this true?”
The Nymph looked tired, deep bags under his eyes. Yet…he still was beautiful. Peering into his realm, the Nymph looked so vibrant. The color of his cyan hair, the paleness of his skin, everything was amplified next to the various shades of yellow.
“Yeah…about a month after I escaped, I met Quill in that diner we passed, The Crazy Six. It was in December…” Seri said with a grimace, before quickly explaining the issue he’d been having at the time, and how Quill helped him.“That’s how I was able to get new fake ID Passbooks anytime I needed one. All I had to do was reach out.”
Severo laughed. “You got lucky as hell, didn’t you?”
“Stop swearing in front of Skya,” Seri snapped.
A shiver went down his spine that he refused to examine. “Sorry.”
“Well, then. It seems there is a lot more to Seri’s story than we were told, since you are here. Seri, my name's Ender Imorus. I'm a Gorgon, but plenty harmless to those in need, and the creator and person in charge of Cryptid Means, the very organization that has been helping you with your small identity issues. Why don’t you two come in and we can talk more? Maybe you can step out of the Shadow Realm as we do it, hmm?”
Seri had to say, Severo’s friend’s compound was weird. Instead of being above ground, it appeared to be a massive underground structure.
Was this what used to be called a basement? No, he supposed it was far too big for that. There were a lot of white walls with black trim. The floors were black with round lights every few feet.
Black and white described most of what he’d passed…but where he was now was more like an old-fashioned house. The walls of the dining room he was in were covered with flowery blue wallpaper, the floors were wooden, as was the old-fashioned oval table and chairs. A white display cabinet showed dishes and a horde of ceramic chickens.
He glanced up, feeling slightly pressured under the eyes watching him. There were seven people in the room, including him. Severo, Ender, and two others he didn’t know the names of, were standing around with coffee mugs, all waiting for him to speak. The fifth and sixth, however…weren’t paying him even a tiny bit of attention—Quill and Skya.
Quill was currently sitting next to him, playing with his daughter, and making more baby noises than Skya herself. A fact she seemed fascinated by, as she kept giggling each time he did it.
Seri cleared his throat. “Can all these people be trusted?” he asked Severo, eyeing the three men he didn’t really know. He was including Ender in those he didn’t know, even though the man was obviously Severo’s friend.
“While…we can’t afford any more leaks, I trust that Ender’s people won’t say anything. I trust their loyalty more than all the agents in the CEB. Mind you, I trust a fair few of the people there, but not all of them. Besides, most of what they do is skirting the law, if not outright breaking it. I’d bet my life on not a single one of them ever betraying us for money from a low life such as Preston Chanway.”
The three men’s eyes widened slightly at that, while Seri couldn’t help but wince at Severo revealing the man’s name. Quill was still not paying attention.
“That’s good to know, because you just bet mine and my daughter’s lives on it.”
“Preston’s money won’t impress anyone here, Seri. I weeded that trash out many years ago,” Ender drawled. “This here is…Kore McKinley…” He nodded to the blond-haired man to the right of him, before nodding to the man on his left, with hair the color of flames. “This is Toddles.”
Seri’s blinked…Toddles?
The red-haired man growled. “It’s Soren Odette. Ignore Ender, he’s senile.”
“Toddles is better,” Ender said with a put out sigh. “Anyway, you know Quill Kepler already. We’ve given you many thousands worth of ID Passbooks, thumb scanner caps, and whatnot for free. Do you think we’d be doing that if we were in any need of dirty money?”
Toddles snorted. “Don’t lie, you old coot. We take plenty of dirty money, we are just selective where we get it.”
