I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (51 page)

"Because she carried this little card around with her in Fledge. A prayer card from the church. I never did get a real good look at the one she had, she kept it tucked in her pants. But I saw the front of it once, so I went looking for that card in the Fledge Church after Inanna took her and you came home. And I found it."

He stops and lets the seconds drag on, forcing me to participate in the conversation. "What'd it say?"

His smile is weak when he begins to explain. "It was about destiny, about meeting destiny on your own terms, actually, and not just accepting it. So that was a message that was important to her, right? And that's why she carried the card. So when I think about what she said in that church that night, maybe it was just a little bit of her insanity coming out, and not the real her. Because if she believes she's the captain of her soul, then she can't be blindly sailing the winds of destiny too."

I close my eyes and hope.

"She gets lost sometimes, I think. And scared, ya know? And she does and says things that contradict her true self. So that's what I thought this whole dissipation thing was about at first, right? That she's lost in there right now, and she just needs a little help to find her way back. Like maybe she's more scared of what's waiting back here than she is up there, and she just needs someone to tell her it's OK. That's she's doing fine."

I grunt at this.

"But then I talked to HOUSE today and she also told me something."

Now this I want to hear, so I actually sit up in my chair. "What'd she say?"

He draws in a breath between his teeth and I can tell this is bad. I want to choke the life out of him right now but I force myself to be calm. "Go on, Annun. Just say it."

He shrugs. "Well, I was looking up at the sky and she caught me, thinking I was wondering about Junco, maybe. I wasn't, I was thinking about—"

"Just get on with it, Annun." I growl it this time and he nods.

"OK, yeah. She said,
She's not scared
. I asked her who and all that, trying to figure out what she's talking about, and she just said it again. She said,
Junco's not scared. She has a little bit of peace
."

I grunt again. "Well, as Junco would say, that's fucking awesome."

Annun sighs at me. "Shit, dude, you're so clueless sometimes, ya know that? She's not scared, right? Which means she planned this. And HOUSE says she's at peace, which to me means she got to her end and couldn't take it any more. So the only thing to do when you get that far down the road, Tier, is just accept shit. And that, my dense superior officer, is exactly the right place for you to enter the picture."

"How do ya figure, Annun?"

"Because when you're ready to quit like that, you're really just begging for someone to come along and take charge, right? You just want to give it over to someone else." He shrugs and gets to his feet. "That's how I see it anyway. I watched her in Fledge. I saw her out there with you in Deliverance. And I figure I knew her better than anyone at that point in time. Maybe we didn't talk much, but I watched her very carefully. And I was her pick, ya know. I was her pick."

"I know, Annun. And that's why yer on my team right now."

"Yeah, well." He sucks in another breath. "This is your right place and your right time, Captain. All you gotta do is show up for the fucking party. Be the goddamned hero for once. Save Junco from herself because she's tired, Tier. She's had enough, she's been lied to, manipulated, scarred, mutated, cloned, killed, and tortured. And if I were her, I'd figure dissipation felt pretty motherfucking wonderful too. Better than any offer she's gotten here so far. Damned peaceful. She's definitely not coming back on her own. And maybe Sera's in there and maybe she's not, but you've got a direct link to Junco sleeping on the sand down there and all you've done today is drink beer. And maybe it's not my place to say it, but everyone else has been talking about it all day long, so fuck it—you can kick my ass if you want. Your kid's sick, Tier. Her nose is running, her head's all sweaty, and she's breathing like she needs a fucking respirator."

I sit up straight and ask my vision screen for an ethanol antagonist. It rushes into my blood stream and the lethargic drunk feeling is gone in an instant. "What?" I kneel down and pick her up and she whines in protest as I hold her to my chest. He's right, she's hot. "Shit, Annun. Why didn't ya say something earlier?"

"I have no experience with human kids, for fuck's sake, and you're the one taking care of her, not me. Everyone here but you can see she's not an AI, Tier. She's something else, so ya know… maybe you should try and figure that out and get your ass back to work before we all get blown to bits by the fucking Angels."

I wipe the sweat off her forehead and lean into her ear. "HOUSE?"

"Hmmm?" She squirms in my arms and swats my hand off her face.

"Ya OK, darlin'?"

"I'm tired," she mumbles, then turns into my chest and goes back to sleep.

I stand up and hold her tight. "She's tired."

"Yeah," Annun says. "Like I said. She's tired. Just save her from herself, dude. She just wants to rest."

Chapter Seven

The fires down below burn well into the night. Not out of any kind of celebration, but just as a way to stave off the darkness and impending doom, I think. I'm still not sure if Ashur gave the go-ahead for all these warriors to be here on the beach, but I figure they're none of my business anymore, so what the fuck do I care if they're not following orders?

I don't care.

They're just making the most out of the time we have left.

HOUSE is inside still asleep on the couch where I put her down more than two hours ago. I put in a call to Layla but she's not even on ship right now. So I found a medi-kit in the bathroom and gave her some medicine to cool her off and the last time I checked, it was working and this makes me feel a little less like a total piece of worthless shit.

I want to get drunk again very badly, but I let my metabolism clean up my blood and live with the consequences of my new reality. My head is hanging over the edge of the terrace in a sort of solitary pity party when Caleb ports in next to me.

I know he's there but I don't bother looking up.

"You're moping?" he asks.

"Yup," I reply, my forehead resting on my hands. "I'm fucking moping."

He walks behind me and takes a seat on the patio chair.

"Join me, Tier. I have a question for you."

My senses perk up at this, but I don't get too excited. It's Caleb, after all.

"What question? You wanna know why I'm keeping a baby Junco clone, too?"

"Is the rumor true, then?"

This makes me turn. "What?" I study him for a few seconds. He looks way too much like Gideon for my comfort level. He's got the same sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and all-around perfect guy persona going for him.

"
Do
you have a clone here? I've been told you paraded her around the beach this afternoon, is it true?"

How is this possible? That he, of all people, is not aware? How could this possibly be the best-kept secret in the Solar System? "Yeah, it's true," I say and then walk over and take the seat across from him because this is just way too interesting.

"We're not quite sure what to make of that, to be honest. Everyone thinks you've gone insane."

"I've never been accused of being sane, Caleb. You know me better than that."

"True," he says, averting his eyes to the door. I look as well, hoping like hell that HOUSE doesn't come out while we're talking.

I turn back. "Is that why you came? To assess my sanity?"

"No, I've come with a message, I said. We have an offer, if you're interested."

"Yeah? What's that, then?"

He studies me for a long time and I simply sit still under his gaze and study him back.

If someone asked me to describe how I am related to Caleb, I'd be at a loss for words. We are twins, but not. We are brothers, but not. We are friends, but not. We are the sanctioned sons of very powerful beings and have unimaginable abilities, but have no real clearance to wield it. Yet. Although he's always been sanctioned, I was only promoted to this position today.

"He is not happy with Lucan. Not at all. He allowed the summoning gift under conditions, Tier. Conditions that there would be no more. And then you two decided to allow Isten, of all people, to twine her mind. What the hell were you thinking?"

I raise my eyebrows and make to answer but he waves me off.

"Never mind, it was rhetorical. But then Inanna marked her with the Archer morph. But that mark is Lucan's, you are aware, correct?"

"Of course it's Lucan's mark. Inanna has no authority to mark for herself."

"She was not Lucan's, Tier. We are not happy about this development. In fact, I'd go so far as to say He is extremely pissed off. I've never seen him so angry."

"She's always been one of ours, Caleb. She came straight from Gyr."

"No, you're wrong. She is His, Tier. She came straight from Him and He is not happy."

Huh. So there it is. The confirmation I've been looking for. She was made by Him.

"I said," he enunciates, "He is not happy, Tier. You owe us now. A soul for a soul."

I grunt out a laugh. "You have three of my brothers, Caleb. You've gotten more than your share."

"We never wanted them, you know that, Tier. We had to take them because they were left unmarked by Lucan. Their gifts were sanctioned and we had no choice. So that is why we took Selia. She is the only pure thing you had to offer. But this unsanctioned claim will not be forgiven."

I've lost all my patience. "Who gives a shit, anyway? Do you think I give a fucking shit? She's fucking
gone
, Caleb!"

I take a very deep breath to bring the claws back in.

"I could intervene in this one instance. But we will take Junco afterward. I'd need Lucan's permission of course."

"Ah, you lowly piece of shit!" I point at him. "You know damn well I have the baby Junco, right? Because you were listening to my conversation with Lucan earlier. And now you know I
am
the sanctioned son. And you know Lucan wants Junco. Yet maybe you can persuade me to speak for him and give her up, is that why you're here?"

He holds his words.

"Fuck you." I get up and go back to the terrace wall and look down the beach again. "Fuck. You."

He joins me and starts his speech in a whisper. "We don't need your permission, Tier. Gideon has a claim, as do Subjack and Inanna. We could get her any of these other three ways."

"So take her." I turn and lean back on the railing, satisfied with my positioning for the first time in a very long time. "Take her if you can get her."

"She's stuck in the Pillar."

"Yeah, that was your man Gid's idea. And you think he's on your team?" I laugh.

"They've got a private agenda, those two. They're not playing by the rules."

I let out a long, loud laugh at this. "Really? Well, fuck. Who would've thought that Gid and Junco might have their own fucking plan? Huh? Who'd a thought that after more than two decades of bullshit, torture, and psychological damage that they might want some motherfucking revenge? Where the fuck have you been for the last twenty-two years, asshole? Where the fuck has
He
been?"

"You know the rules about interference."

I stare at him in a rage, my eyes lighting up the whole terrace. "Who is Gideon? Is he yours?" A small shake of the head is all I get, but I push. "Then who the fuck does he belong to?"

"He belongs to no one," Caleb starts, "for now."

"He's an Archer, Caleb. How the hell can he not be claimed?"

Silence.

"I know Inanna did his morph because Lucan sure as hell didn't. And if Inanna did his morph, then he'd be Lucan's warrior. And his scars are not Lucan's."

"Why not ask your father who he belongs to? Why me?"

"Because I know he's yours, asshole. What I don't know is how he managed to do that when Inanna's the one who morphed him."