Endeca (The Escapism Series) (11 page)

“Let go of me,” I growled flinging him, a two hundred and four year old immorta, across the room. He flashed before me, confining me against a wall. He was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for.

“If you can’t contain her, I will,” he threatened.

I grumbled, taking a long deep breath. “Okay…she’s
contained
.” Styx’ boiling rage lessened a few notches but I feigned normalcy as cover. Her rage burned just as deep and sizzled like molten lava about to erupt.

“Good. You can go,” he dismissed, continuing, “I’d keep an eye out for anything suspicious tonight like Caleb or the others lurking about.”

“Duly noted, thanks,” I said.
How could I forget Caleb, Mr. Flood the city?
I prayed that he wouldn’t make an appearance tonight because he’d ruin all of Marla’s hard work, and she was so excited about hosting the event.

There was nothing stopping the immorta from showing up. I hoped that they kept it on the down low, as did Sebastian. The carnival was looking middle ground for conflict as it fit the criteria: a big crowd of people, lots of energy and…me.

After a nice long, hot shower, I dressed in a lose pair of jeans and knitted sweater. As I walked down the hallway, I heard the guest room shower running. “See you there, Edric.”

“Count on it,” he hollered back. My personal bodyguard;
Styx’s body guard to be exact
.

I video texted Marla, “Hey, I’m just heading out the door. See you soon.” Down the street, Marla’s house caught my eye. The front door was wide open.

I walked in cautiously surveying the living room. “Anyone home?” I called out, but the place was eerily silent. The interior looked intact, and nothing seemed out of place. I called her cell and it went straight to voicemail. I called Calliope, hoping she would know of Marla’s whereabouts.

“Z, you’re missing all the fun. Where are you?” she shouted over the loud background.

“I’m…I’ll see you soon. Have you seen Marla?” There was no point in raising alarm just yet. She likely left in a hurry, forgetting to lock the door amidst her excitement.

“Just a few minutes ago. Hurry, you’re missing out!” she said, before hanging up.

Who lurked in our neighborhood and more importantly, were they still around?
I locked the front door with a gust of wind and slowly walked up the stairs. I was scared at first but then riled—this perpetrator was in my friend’s home.
They were messing with the wrong girl.

I heard a noise in Marla’s room and zipped over, swinging the door open with a push. It came at me and I ducked just in time. A rabid cat paused down the hallway.

“Stupid cat! You scared the shit outta me,” I gasped, “Damn it, I need a drink.”

After inspecting the upper level, I made way for the kitchen. In the cupboard, the first bottle in sight was rum. I took a shot that didn’t quite hit the mark so I chased it down with vodka followed by a few deep breaths. “Better,” I said to myself.

The cat returned, hissing something fierce. “Get your own,” I hissed back. I took another shot as the cat leapt on to the counter, leering at me. She didn’t like me very much, and for the most part, neither did her kind. “Who let you in?” I asked and the cat acquiesced, purring as she left. “Hey, I’m talking to you,” I shouted after it. “Great, I’m talking to a cat and now I’m talking to myself, even better.” After my final shot, I locked up before I hailed a cab.

It was a two-day event, commencing tonight. Ordinarily, I’d be ecstatic but this time around, I had too much on my mind. Acacia for one, or Tree as she put it, was riding me for papers. The temporarily sealed portal was on my mind because I didn’t want to be the band-aid seal any longer. Moreover, Nicholas, with his mysterious idle behavior, warranted snooping.

I applied lip-gloss using my pocket mirror for precision on an otherwise smooth ride up until we passed a light and before us appeared a woman.  The car swerved to an abrupt halt and the woman disappeared.  The cab driver got out and looked around beguiled.

She appeared beside me in an instant. “Xenia, I don’t have much time.”

I gasped, “Who are you?”

Her piercing green eyes swirled uncontrollably in a fashion I’d never seen before—too quick for an idle one. “I’m Kiran,” she whispered.

~

“No you’re not,” I sneered warily.

“I am Kiran…offline that is.” She seemed ill at ease, just like me. Red highlights perforated her long black hair. It seemed as though everything from her hair to her disposition was edgy.

“You’re his off-source? Hmm, that could explain a lot.” I incidentally uncovered more about human nature than I had bargained for.

Kiran vanished before I blinked—all the more reason to believe him,
her
. Kiran was quick and so was this supposed offline version.

The cab driver returned to the car, cussing under his breath. “Crazy college kids…pulling pranks…God damn it!” he cursed, while examining his tires.

Once on campus, I walked through the darkness, averting the carnival grounds in hopes of luring her—it worked.

Girl Kiran reappeared. “It’s happening and I don’t know how long I can fight back.”

“What’s happening? Tell me.”

“Sebastian.”
I knew he was up to no good
. “He’s searing us all one by one and he’s not alone.”
Viola?

“How can you even be here? Does this mean online Kiran is—” I couldn’t say it.

“No, he was seared too, but I don’t know where. Around the time the portal was sealed something happened and I ended up here. And right before I was seared online, I overheard Castiel threatening Sebastian. He wants to get you alone and is using Sebastian as a diversion.”

“What’s he planning to do?”

“He’s—” she started before disappearing into thin air.
Classic Kiran only this time, someone else was pulling the strings.
Whoever this Castiel was, he was working overtime to keep the Aldridge’s away from me.

On Winter’s campus grounds, the festivities were in full swing. Candied apples, cotton candy and rigged carnival games all within reach. I bought a bag of cotton candy and pulled off a long, sticky, mouth full size.

I VT’d Nicholas because I couldn’t track him otherwise—not in this hectic environment.  “I’m here, alone and it’s very dangerous. I’m on my second bag of cotton candy, riled up without a partner in crime. Where are you? I can’t find you.” I hit send reluctantly. Soon after its delivery, I incessantly checked my messages, impatiently waiting for his response. I saw Calliope with Landon and one of his friends. While Calliope moved in on her prey, I looked into mine. If Sebastian turned up, I’d let Styx have her way with him.

My Cyclopod beeped with his reply. “I’m here. Try and find me.” He sounded himself but then again, it’d be easier to dismiss girl Kiran if the rest of the immorta of Endeca weren’t also bitten by the idle bug, or worse, missing.

“I like challenges,” I replied, playfully. I focused in on the atmosphere, drawing from the earth’s core, signaling my coordinates. I had come to learn that I needed to move slowly in such a big crowd. My eyes guided me and just as I approached, he turned to face me.

“You’re good.”

“Oh no,” I whispered, horrified by the swirl in his eyes. It was discrete enough that humans wouldn’t notice. “I’ll be right back.” I quickly took off in a panic, in search of Edric.
If Viola and Sebastian were up to something, I’d need his help. It wasn’t long before I located Edric.

“Are you enjoying the carnival?” he asked, mundanely. His eye color swirled markedly…he was freshly seared.

“How could I?” I sighed, leaving a place of turmoil. Boy Kiran was nowhere to be found. His cell went straight to voicemail and he didn’t respond to any VT’s. Was girl Kiran really who she said she was? More importantly, was Castiel really trying to get me alone? Shivers travelled down my back one too many times.

It didn’t take Castiel very long to orchestrate his plan at the carnival, the best place to get to us all, especially being as I was the common denominator. Nicholas was first to go, then Kiran, and Edric. In the distance, I saw Viola cruising around in a daze. I approached her too, except she was just like the others. Swept over by alarm, I knew I had to leave and fast.

“Where’s this psychic already? She’s twenty minutes late!” Marla vented, pulling me into a tented pavilion.

“I’m sure she’s on her way. With so many different tents set up, she’s bound to get lost. Oh, and
hi
.”

Marla grumbled under her breath, annoyed. “She could VT or call at least. Some kind of update so that I could plan a backup. How would you like to get paid for waving a wand around?” she asked, pretentiously.

I snickered before another person joined us in the pavilion.

“I don’t use a wand—only energy,” crooned a petite woman.

“Use whatever you want! Just be here once people start arriving,” Marla snapped.

“There you girls are,” said Calliope, joining us.

“Great! Our psychic just arrived. Show us what you’ve got. Calliope, sit,” Marla delegated. The psychic closed her eyes breathing in deeply, visibly annoyed by Marla’s temperament. She sat down, and took a moment to light a candle and celestial smelling incense. She nodded to Calliope, gesturing for her hand.

“You’re cold,” she whispered.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she smirked.

“I meant your hands, not your person,” she said, continuing, “I see greatness ahead. Your children will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Calliope instantly recoiled. “Excuse eh moi? Chil-der-en? Eww, no thanks. Here’s a twenty. Tell me something like I’ll be rich and famous.” The psychic looked worried, refusing the money. “No? Okay, your turn,” Calliope recruited Marla in her place.

The psychic cleared the air for a fresh start with a whisk of incense as Marla settled into the chair.  Her inviting hand awaited Marla.

“You have a good heart, but…” her smile gradually formed into a taut line.

“If it’s children, it’s okay. I like them,” Marla whispered, lightheartedly.

“Your life’s path will be altered.”

“How so?”

“Darkness,” she gasped with wide eyes. “Your fate lies in another’s hands.”

“Okay, listen. You’re gonna have to tone it down for rest of them. People like to hear happy things not cryptic omens. Got it?”

“I read what I see. Nothing more.”

While Marla and the psychic covered formalities, I made an exit.

“Not so fast. We haven’t had corn dogs yet,” Calliope chirped.

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” Marla and Calliope smiled, appeased. We had rituals of our own to fulfill. Each ritual as of late had a mutual self-fulfilling prophesy—my untimely death, granted some took longer than others.

To the humans (and Castiel) the carnival was a hit. It felt like the entire populace attended. I caught a glimpse of a lanky man who lurked amongst the crowd. His menacing expression was unsettling.

Run now warned my lizard brain. Castiel in the flesh!

He caught wind of my alarm and moved faster than expected, undetectable in the crowd.  I felt his grasp around my wrist but it wasn’t Castiel, it was Sebastian.

“Xenia, I’m sorry but you’ll have to come with me,” he uttered.

“Why’re you doing this?” I tried to escape, Styx even tried, but we were subdued by Sebastian’s hold.

“I had no choice. He’d kill me otherwise.”

“He’s going to kill me if you do,” I whispered in disbelief. I didn’t need Kiran to spoon-feed me on Diplozoe affairs any longer. It was all starting to make sense.

“I’m big on self-preservation. Always have been, always will be.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised.”

He led me to the outskirts of the carnival into a secluded tent. Just when I thought I’d met the darkest hour of my life, Girl Kiran reappeared.

“Sebastian, you don’t have to do this.”

He stared at the unidentified woman the same way I did the first time. He seared her and she reappeared quickly, knocking him to the ground before he could even blink.

The Kiran’s were a quick lot, I’d give them that
. She moved quickly, anticipating his every move.
‘She wasn’t just clairvoyant,’ Styx whispered. ‘Her ternio used magic.’

Sebastian was enraged; his eyes were in full force, red with fury. Kiran gave me another opportunity to run but before that could happen, Castiel resurfaced.

“Well, what do we have here? You’re making me work double time, you know. It wasn’t enough to sear your on-source but now your stupid off-source too?” He held her gaze and started, what sounded like, a searing of a lifetime. Kiran screamed out in tongues.

“Stop it!” I shouted in protest. I (mostly Styx) broke Sebastian’s wrist, freeing us. In that brief moment, whereby Castiel’s eyes left hers, Kiran was able to spring free, as I prayed she,
he
would. With Sebastian and Castiel by my side, they pulled me into a secluded pavilion, away from everyone, and anyone that could possibly bail me out.