“Micah, what a….pleasant surprise. What brings you here?” Cadmus could barely restrain the snarl in his voice.
Micah brushed past him into the house, dumping the leather carryall to the side. “I got HTM all curious about the energies you talked about here, so he sent me to check it out for myself. See what you got going on down here.”
“Ah, I see.” Cadmus closed the door decisively, wishing that Micah were on the other side of it. Flayed.
He watched as the younger male prowled around the modest living room, before heading towards the kitchen. Where the doorway to the root cellar was.
Cadmus made some quick calculations in his head, as he adjusted to the fact that his nemesis was here. The situation was dire indeed, if His Terrible Majesty was now sending Micah to check up on him. Doubtless the hateful rival was filling His Terrible Majesty with untruths and slanderous smears about Cadmus.
It was all the more critical that Cadmus delivered the man-wolf to His Terrible Majesty, and even more that he accomplished the feat without Micah discovering the man-wolf for himself and claiming the credit as his own.
“I’m even feeling the retro 80s vibe here, Cad-man.” Cadmus rolled his eyes. Micah wasn’t even born yet in the 80s, while Cadmus was already lamenting the loss of a time when men dressed as men, in woolen suits, ties and hats, and women never dreamed of wearing —he shuddered—spandexout of the house.
Instead, Micah was admiring the grotesque furnishings that came with the rental. With luck he would be even more afflicted with the samemagickalmalady that Cadmus still had not recovered from. Certainly his aesthetic sense could not be worsened.
“So are you…feelingthe energies here?” Cadmus tried not to look at the door that led to the root cellar.
Micah took a deep breath, sweeping his arms wide as if he were starring in his own rap video, or having a The Hills are Aliiiiive moment. His jacket flew open, revealing several large medallions hanging from a shiny rope of gold chain. Cadmus hid the surge of envy. Not at the gaudy chain, but at the medallions which were clearly the gift of His Terrible Majesty. He recognized the ancient symbols that were etched onto them, which Micah had never been studious enough to learn.
“How could you not? You weren’t kidding about the energies here. I felt it the minute I got to this area.” He tuned to Cadmus, an ecstatic grin on his face. “I’m all lit up with it.”
Cadmus didn’t know what that last bunch of nonsensical syllables meant. Maybe it was Micah’s babbling about themagickaljet lag. Or maybe the babblingwasthe result of themagickaljet lag. If so, he could only hope it would be followed bymagickalexplosive diarrhea. “Give yourself some time to acclimate, then.”
“Acclimate? Why, do you think it gets even better than this?” Micah spun around, and then settled in front of Cadmus, his eyes narrowing shrewdly. “Or are you stillacclimatingyourself?
Cadmus cursed inwardly. It had been a mistake to reveal that weakness on the Skype call to Micah. It would be catastrophic to admit to it now. “Of course not,” he lied. “I am merely cautious and I like to document the different effects this potent energy has on me day to day as I spend more time here. After all, His Terrible Majesty should get all the data it’s possible to acquire.”
Micah tilted his head back, or maybe it was just his eyebrows pulling his face with it upwards.
“Of course,” he echoed, albeit with skepticism. “Well, that’s one half the equation. Now I want to check out the lands available for purchase, and the town, to see what the scene’s like. Check to see if it’s something HTM would spark to, could settle in.”
Micah was watching him too carefully. Cadmus needed to muster his wits about him. The boy might talk like a buffoon at times, but he had a keen intellect. Cadmus had trained him himself. He didn’t see the suck-up-itude at the time, because he was on the receiving end of the brown-nosing.
It was another level of hate that he had for Micah. The boy had learned from Cadmus how to reveal weakness and exploit it, except he then used that knowledge on Cadmus. Successfully.
“I welcome your input.”I’d rather eat live scorpions and sleep on polyester.Cadmus smiled tightly.
“Sure you do.” Micah said. “And don’t worry, I’ve got a rez at the 5 star in town — you know it?”
Cadmus was sure a vein was about to pop in his forehead as he nodded. He knew the place, it was the hotel he longed to stay at, instead of this “retro 80s” rental. At least he brought his own twelve-hundred count Egyptian cotton sheets to sleep between.
“And how long is your reservation for?”
“It’s open ended for now. They don’t have another booking in the Presidential Suite for another two weeks.”
“How fortunate.”Two weeks?
“But of course we should get back to HTM way before that.”
Cadmus exhaled with relief. “I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to stay away so long.”Because who else could suck up to him so well?
“True that.” Micah grinned.
Cadmus thought of the pendulum, upstairs on the windowsill, sidelined for the time being. He offered up a little prayer that they not happen upon the man-wolf—he would have to stick closely to Micah’s side as they were out in the woods.
Come to think of it, he would not want Micah to meet Jordy either, and steal away his first recruit. He’d find a moment and call her to stay away. At least in the meantime, Micah hadn’t sensed the root cellar and themagickalworkings that had been going on—
“Oh, man, this basement is dope!”
