“Thank you, Koios. I hope Johnny has the answers you seek.”
Garzaxie reappeared with a black vial sealed with red wax. He placed it on the table with the books before shooting a worried glare their direction.
“Oh, don’t be such a grump,” Cosmo said. “Come, my hobgoblin. Let us go find our mates and make merry!”
Cosmo skipped toward the door and in one second to the next, he and Garzaxie both vanished. Iris screeched from the other end of the clinic and Ben chuckled.
“I think Connal vanished as well.”
“Good guess. She’ll be in here in three…two….”
“Koios!”
Ben laughed as Iris bolted into the room.
Then she screeched again. “Why are you out of bed? You just had a heart attack. You need your rest.”
“It was cardiac arrest, Iris,” Koios said. “Totally different heart-related events.”
“Do not test me, little brother.”
“I wouldnever.”
“Oh, bullshit.”
“It’s time for my walk around the clinic. Ben says I need to stretch my legs a little, but I have to go slow and blah blah blah.”
Koios looked over Iris’s shoulder toward Ben, then glanced toward the vial. Ben nodded his understanding as Koios wrapped his arm over his sister’s shoulder. He guided her out of the room while hoping Ben had linen and black ribbon handy. He didn’t want anyone to touch the vial by mistake. Nothing named after Beshaba, the Goddess of Misfortune, could be good for anyone who didn’t know how to use it.
“I don’t like this, Koios,” Iris said. “You’re keeping secrets.”
“I am indeed, but not from my good doctor. You have to trust Ben and me not to get into too much trouble, okay?”
“That’s the problem. With the way you two are looking at each other…Koios, I’m worried, okay?”
Koios frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Ben is infatuated with you, little brother. Open your eyes and see.”
Koios took a deep breath and focused on keeping his heart rate steady. Not that it helped, but he didn’t have any pain in his chest. “He told me he’s attracted to me,” Koios said softly, for his sister’s ears only.
Her eyes widened. “Whoa.”
“I don’t know what to do…how to…any of it.”
Iris stopped walking and turned to face him. She put her hands on his cheeks and smiled. “You don’t have to know how to do anything. Our Gentle Ben is as…awkward…as you are, baby brother. I think the two of you will find your own way.”
“That doesn’t reassure me.”
“It should,” Iris said. She moved back to his side and looped her arm through his. His wing settled around her back, like it used to when they were kids. “Goddess, I’ve missed this.”
“Missed what?”
“You being my brother,” Iris said. “Ever since—no, I’m not going to complain. I’ve just missed moments like this.”
Koios held her closer. “I know you didn’t like that I got involved with the problems in our world. No, don’t argue,” Koios said when she opened her mouth to fight him. “I also know that you understand why I did it. I have a gift, Iris. I don’t know why I was so drawn to making a team and becoming the Oracle.”
“Silly nickname. It fits, though. And I know why you did it, Koios. The goddess led us all to that basement under Main Street. We fought our way out of the darkness because we had each other. You’ve always recognized more than the rest of us how lucky we are to have survived. Kids alone, hiding out and stealing food right under the noses of an entire town. It doesn’t make sense that we made it, that we came out not only alive but well.”
