“I think…” He swallowed. “I think something’s happened to him. He won’t answer, I even tried calling. I wouldn’t have brought it up, and I probably wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong if this was back when we first started talking. Because back then, it usually took days for him to text back. But the thing is, after meeting up that one time, that changed. Emmet started answering back within minutes.”
“How long has it been since you’ve heard from him, Seri?”
“Four days… I’ve sent multiple messages each day, and…nothing. I would have asked Killian to track his phone, but…he’s not here anymore, so…” Seri bit his lip, not wanting to admit, on top of everything, that he missed the Siren being there. He still talked to the man, but he wasn’t sure how much computer access the Cryptid had at the moment, so it hadn’t felt right bringing it up.
Severo pursed his lips. “While I don’t want you to sit here worrying, I don’t think him going suddenly silent is a good sign. Write down everything you know while I get ready for work. Text it to me. I’ll make some calls as soon as I can.” The Dweller pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make sure he is found.”
Seri nodded, even as he worried about what state Emmet would be in when he was found.Ifhe wasfound…
Why hadn’t he said something that first day? He shouldn’t have waited so long…
Severo eyedthe message from Seri, his frown deepening as he read it. The full details were concerning, yet vague. At least, there was an address. Regardless of if it had been properly registered, there would be documents to find, and a trail of some kind.
Walking into his office, he spun back around when the door slammed shut, and found Brom Grimm standing there, blocking the exit. Dressed in business casual, the Fate’s hair was perfectly styled, while the jacket the man had on seemed to bulge on his muscular form.
At a little over seven feet tall, with a hawk-like nose, Brom’s irritation was clear in the flush on his pale cheeks, his clenched square jaw, and slightly narrowed reddish-purple eyes.
“I do believe this would be considered entrapment.”
“I’d hardly call me waiting for you in your own office entrapment,” Brom drawled. “Now, we both know why I’m here.”
“Oh, so you do realize it’s my office, and you entering while I’m not here is out of line?”
“I am your boss now.”
“Mm, and you have been for five weeks. What about it? Or rather, what about today makes you think I will say shit to you about two men who don’t fucking work here anymore?
“Actually, you know what, I think I want to file an HR complaint. You know, about a superior trying to cross personal boundaries, and making harassing phone calls. Not to mention, the threats towards volunteer workers who also happen to be family of staff. Any of that ring a bell?”
The Fate’s eyes narrowed. “You know where they are and who they are with, don’t you?”
“Again, that sounds very personal, which means I don’t have to say shit.”
Brom let out a growl. “It’s time you inform his family of where he is!”
Severo laughed. “Oh no, his family knows where he is. And I believe they told you to fuck off, multiple times, in some very colorful ways, I might add, as Vivian Grimm has a rather wonderful way with words.”
“I could just take the information from you the hard way,” Brom sneered.
His eyes narrowed at that, his body tensing. “You try and I’m out of here.”
The Fate slowly smirked. “Do you really think you could stop me?”
Severo chuckled darkly as he began to reach out for the darkness. “I know I can, and you know it too. But I am getting tired of the threats, Brom. I'm tired of this fit you're throwing over you fuckers not getting your way. So how about you get the fuck out of my office, and rethink yourself before you do something that will end with you losing another Department Director, hmm?”
Severo watched the man’s jaw clench, and then he saw resolve. Well…it was more that he saw the shift in his eyes, changing from a dark reddish-purple to blood red. The second Brom’s muscles tightened, and he began to reach out, Severoslipped into the shadow realm, leaving a puppet behind in his place.
Severo laughed as the Fate touched the shadow puppet and flew into a rage, kicking over his desk in anger on realizing it wasn’t really him. While Brom continued to destroy the room, his laughter slowly dropped away as the seriousness of the situation slid home.
When they were younger, Cyrus had once told him that if one of his relative’s eyes ever changed to blood red, and they reached for him in the way the man just did, he was to run. Because they were trying to rake his mind, and that person could not be trusted. So, run he did.
So much for his new job—fuck…
“—so therefore, Cyrus will be coming with us on the exchange as our lie detector, and he will tap my back two times if something is really wrong, or once if it’s just a simple lie!” Ender finished his announcement with, he’d say, the same amount of enthusiasm as when he had started the whole spiel. Which was a grand old feat in perseverance, as he’d sat there being blankly stared at.
The full Cryptid Means Inner Circle were at the meeting today. And the blank, baffled stares were coming across very clearly on Kore and Meara’s face, even though they were currently just hologram projections, as the two were in space. Though the way their forms sometimes flickered in the seats they were projected in, told him either the power cell in themachine was dying, or something was glitching. Though, all of their expressions had nothing on the frozen stupor that was on Cyrus’ face.
Soren took a deep breath, slowly letting it out before saying, “Okay…if you think that’s a good idea, why the fuck not.”
