“And you—” She pointed to the next person, who immediately straightened their posture “—I need you to take this shit stain somewhere. He’s to be fed and allowed quarters, but he needs to have eyes on him at all times. I’m not sure if he was the portal user, or if he’s just an accomplice.”
“Do you want him awake?” I asked before they could haul him away. “I can put him in a dream for a while, if you’d like.”
“Can you dig into his psyche?” Medb asked, her lips pursing briefly before she got control of her emotions. “I’m unsure how far your powers reach.”
I nodded. It was easy to get past his defenses, since he was already out. I dug in, creeping past the corridors in his mind that had no relevance, noticing that he’d been from thePaxat one point, but that his family had moved to the Shifter realm after his father had begun running from the law for nefarious reasons when Borom was a child. He’d been caught up in family business until he’d met a Shifter woman. They’d fallen madly in love, mates more than likely, and she had been turning his life around. His past had caught up with him, as it usually did when you lived this type of life. He’d been contacted by someone who I couldn’t glean from his psyche. His contact, however, was a woman named Daji. She was a Huli Jing, or a fox spirit. She was a trickster by nature, but it seemed like she was part of something bigger, and we needed to figure out what that was.
I trapped Borom in a dream, hoping to keep him peaceful until we had time to get back to him. “He knows something,” I told Adaela. “I’m not sure exactly what yet, but we need someone to find Daji. She’s in the Shifter Realm, and considered one of its Goddesses.”
Adaela gave the guard directions about what to do withBorom, and I saw that we’d attracted a small crowd of witnesses. Great, just what we needed. The bystanders were actively avoiding the Shifters in the crowd. Faces were plastered with wariness and disdain. That was the last thing we wanted, and I was determined to get to the bottom of this before it tore thePaxapart.
April 19th
It had been two days since we found out the truth about the culprits in the alleyway. Two days since I realized that my powers had, in fact, changed again. I wasn’t going crazy when I thought that I was going through another power surge. I’d never heard of a Fae who had gained power like I had several hundred years into living.
I’d killed a god, for fuck’s sake. I was distracted, constantly thinking about the repercussions of this. I wasn’t sure how no one had called me out on this yet.
His name was Deimos. He was the god of fear in the Greek pantheon. He’d been missing for centuries, according to Athena. They figured he’d gone back to Mount Olympus after Zeus had given him the power of lightning to fight an old God that Zeus couldn’t handle on his own. Zeus had decided that he wanted nothing to do with thePax,considering it to be another one of Athena’s little pet projects.
The other being I murdered was a Human man named John Greeley. He was originally from St. Louis, but he and his family had moved to the Shifter realm years ago, where it sounded like John had gotten into trouble by getting in the middle of someShifter disputes, leading to his attachment to a pack that had a bad reputation for blackmail and other schemes to survive.
The trio were waiting down at the guard’s post when I finally made my way down to the often-neglected dungeons in the caves underneath thePax’s headquarters. It was during the beginning of thePax’s inception when for-profit prisons started showing up all over the United States. We all agreed early on that, while there would be cause for imprisonment on occasion, we’d do our best to deal with crime as a community issue rather than a sentence to put someone behind bars unless there was no other choice. I nodded at them as I walked toward the prisoners, and they followed. I filled Loki in on the way to the interrogation room on the whole fiasco and asked his thoughts.
“Well, it does seem odd that your powers are still growing. Who have you spoken with about this?” he asked, running his hand across the wall as he walked.
“I haven’t spoken with anyone yet. It was a theory until just a couple of days ago. I’m at a loss on who to speak with,” I replied. I kept running the scenarios through my head, but I couldn’t figure out why they’d attacked me. I’d never heard of John Greely until a couple days ago, and I also couldn’t remember a time when Deimos and I would have ever crossed paths. I mean, there was a real possibility that we fought one another during the Great War, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
“I think you should speak with Baba Yaga,” Vada said.
I was sure my face projected the confusion in my head. Baba Yaga was a fun person to party with, but she hadn’t left the Dark Wood in centuries. “Why Baba Yaga?” I asked.
“In addition to her being a hermit in the woods, she also sees prophecies from time to time. She may have some insight that the Moirai do not,” she replied.
“I wonder if she’d see me, since she’s still in Underhill,” Ipondered aloud. The last time we’d spoken, she was yelling at me for something or other.
“She seems to be on your side,” Vada said, seemingly picking up on my own thoughts.
“We’d be remiss not to invite oracles from every faction we can. Maybe if we get all of them together, we can determine what Fate has in store,” Medb stated, slowing her stride.
We all grew quiet then, silently acknowledging that we had something to handle after we left the dungeons. As we neared the cells, one of the guards Loki assigned stood at attention next to the interrogation room doors.
“Sir, we have Borom in this room, and Daji in the other. Daji is pissed. Borom is pretending like this whole thing is a big joke. Between the two of them, it might be best if you decide now who will interrogate whom,” the guard suggested.
“Thank you. Medb and Adaela, I think it would be best if the two of you took Borom. Plan to use force if necessary, but let’s try to keep them both alive if we can. Vada, you’re with me,” Loki said, taking the lead. Loki was here because he had taken the responsibility for the dungeons. I’d trust his judgment.
A little pang went through my chest that I wouldn’t be teaming up with Vada. Loki knew what he was doing. If he believed that Vada’s succubus powers could help with another trickster goddess, I’d believe him. I’d dealt with my fair share of Shifters, as had Medb. We could handle this.
Medb nodded as I hesitated, waiting for her signal. I kicked in the door to the interrogation room, startling the Shifter who had his head down in the seat he was chained to with silver. I wrinkled my nose at the scent of burnt skin from his arms where they laid bare against the table, chained down with silver attached to a hook in the top of the bolted-down table. He looked up at me, his eyes changing color, and he snarled.
I sneered.
“Oh, Borom. What mess have you gotten yourself into now?” I asked, turning the chair around backwards to sit down.
“I ain’t telling you shit, bitch,” Borom said, pulling at the chains.
“Original,” I deadpanned. “Just know that you’re going to tell us something before we finish tonight.” I slowly pulled my sleeves up and put my arms on the table.
“See, the thing is, Borom, you can talk to us willingly, or I have many, many ways of extracting that information from you,” Medb said, sitting down next to me.
