Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Light flickered in the darkness and grew until I could see the familiar spot where the Simurgh had talked to me so many times before. Great wings whooshed like a tornado and threatened to topple me over. The Simurgh, the First Hidden, folded her rainbow wings and regarded me with one enormous golden eye.

“Welcome, Aegis,” she said. Her voice was sunshine and freshly baked bread, and filled with more wisdom than any one human could hold. “You did well.”

I didn’t know what to say at first.
Had
I done well? My mother died. I couldn’t stop that from happening. “I did well enough,” I said. “I could have done better.”

“There was no way to save her. You must let go of that idea.”

“There’s always a way. I just didn’t find it.” The words tasted bitter, and I knew much of what I was feeling was exhaustion. And my head hurt.

“Blame is for the guilty, little chick. And we have much to do. Let go of it.”

I so didn’t want to hear the phrase
we have much to do
. I groaned. “What’s left?”

“Aegis, regardless of the positive outcome, Peter’s actions ended the Covenant.”

I felt the blood leave my face. “No. You can’t take my friends away.”

The Simurgh cocked her head to the side. “What? No. The new world isn’t upon us. The Covenant is broken is all. We must forge a new one.”

I frowned. “A new Covenant? We can’t just copy the old one or renew it?”

“You are the Last Aegis, but the world is not a new one. Therefore, you are the First Aegis. We begin again.”

“What does that mean, exactly? I can change things?”

“Together, we can change many things. We can shape the world as we see fit.”

I smiled. “I have some ideas where to begin.”

My biggest concern was the birth of new Hidden. When the world was new, stories grew organically, through word-of-mouth, over the course of many generations. The human population had been nowhere near the scale of what it would become, and new Hidden evolved over time. In the modern world, humans existed on every continent and, through the miracles of technology, they could all talk to each other instantly.

This was what had caused the premature self-awareness of Shadow Man, and we couldn’t allow that to happen again.

“The number of times a story is told is what triggers the birth of a Hidden,” the Simurgh told me. “But I think that no longer works. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” I curled myself into the comfy chair the Simurgh had manifested in the empty space between our minds. “The criteria should be time-oriented now. The story has to be told for so many years, rather than told so many times. New Hidden need time to evolve.”

And so began a long session of agreements and negotiations. We did what we could to prevent another Hidden from forcing its way out of the ether, and we addressed a number of other problems I’d wrestled with over the last two years.

Shadow Man had wanted to change the world. He’d succeeded, though not in the way he’d intended. The world was about to change to what I wanted it to be—what I knew it needed to be.

When we finished, I felt refreshed. The fatigue dragging at me when I’d arrived had vanished. I found myself in Riley’s arms, cradled in his lap in the grass.

“Welcome back.” He kissed my cheek. “You kind of collapsed when we came through the bubble.”

I glanced around. “Where is everybody?”

“They went inside.” He pointed at the phoenix perched on top of the nearest tent. “She didn’t seem alarmed, so we figured you were talking to the First Hidden.”

“I was.” I climbed out of his lap and squinted at the sun overhead. “I was there for hours, I thought.”

He looked at his watch. “Long enough that Kam came through on her way back and wanted to draw a moustache on you. You’re welcome, by the way. I didn’t let her. You’ve been out of it for about thirty minutes.”

“Nifty trick.” I took a step toward the phoenix. “She’s been here the whole time?”

Riley pulled himself to his feet. “The whole time.”

I moved slowly so I didn’t startle the beautiful bird. It regarded me with one bright eye, and the tuft on its head bobbed. “Aggie?” I whispered to it, hoping but not expecting an answer.

She ruffled her wings in response, then dipped her body forward.

“Mom was with you earlier, wasn’t she?” My throat clogged with tears. I missed Aggie so much sometimes. She’d been like a grandmother to me. And now Mom was gone, too. I felt queasy. Who would take care of me now? I was on my own.

Riley stepped up beside me and took my hand in his. The phoenix straightened and made an odd cooing sound. I would have sworn she winked before she stretched her wings and took flight. The small tropical bird I believed might hold my mother’s soul flew from the woods to join the phoenix.

I watched the splotches of red and green in the sky until they became tiny dots, then disappeared.

Riley gave me a minute to collect myself before turning me toward the house. “How about we have some dinner, maybe watch a movie?”

I gave him a tired smile. “Take the blankets off the windows?”

He stopped and took a deep breath. “Do you smell that?”

I sniffed. “What?”

“That’s the smell of no one wanting to kill you.” He inhaled again.

I leaned my head back to suck in a lungful of air. “It smells kind of like a happy ending.”

“You think so?” He put his arm around me and kissed my head, still handling me like I might pop like a soap bubble if he squeezed too tightly.

I nodded. “A bittersweet one, but yes. A happy ending. Time for a family meeting.” I tugged his hand and led him into the house.

I found everyone sitting around the kitchen table, talking, drinking coffee and munching on fresh cookies straight from the oven.

“But Africa’s so far away,” Kam said, waving a cookie at Sara. “You’ll be back, right?”

“Of course we will.” Sara took a delicate sip, made a face, then blew on the rim of her cup. “Eventually, we’ll have to figure out where to live. We can’t sleep in Zoey’s guestroom forever, and when we stay at my house, I’m always nervous about turning on the lights in case the neighbors think it’s a burglar.” She saw me come in and smiled. “Besides, Zoey’s going to sell my house for me anyway. Right, Zo?”

I shrugged and took a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie from the plate. “I don’t know. I was thinking you might want to call off the Realtor and keep the house.”

She scowled. “We talked about this. You’re going to sell my house and my car for me because I can’t do it myself, and I can’t use them anymore.” She made her eyes big and pointed at her twisted, metallic horns. “Yeah?”

Toby, his mouth ringed in chocolate, laughed. “I think you’re pretty, Sara. I wish I had horns.”

“Hell, I don’t even have cool horns like hers, buddy,” Maurice said, refilling the kid’s milk glass. “And I’m a monster.”

Janey giggled, and Aaron—sitting with his family at a smaller table on top of the bigger table—snorted milk out his nose, which caused his brother, Fred, to laugh so hard he fell out of his chair.

The room erupted in laughter, the cleansing kind that eases grief and washes away the stink of fear and sorrow. I smiled, but couldn’t quite join in on the laughter. It was too soon yet. I’d get there.

The late sun coming in through the screen of the back door darkened as Darius climbed the steps.

He hesitated, then opened the door, fixing me with a sad gaze. “May I speak with you, Aegis?”

I followed him to a small campsite not far from the house. He settled his bulk on a bench, while I sat in a folding chair.

“Are you okay?” I asked, peering at his dark face, so filled with sorrow.

He shook his head. “Not really.” He stared back, scrutinizing my face as much as I had done with his. “Are you?”

I sighed. “The day has certainly been a mixed bag.”

He dropped his gaze to his hands. “It’s not every day you lose the person you love most and save the world at the same time.”

“No, I guess it’s not.” We sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the sun move toward the bay.

“I have a favor to ask.” He hesitated. “As the Aegis. As...as my good friend.”

I knew what he wanted, and it made my heart hurt. “Can you wait for a few days?” I asked. “I know it’s hard. But I need you to be sure first. Try. Also, I have news to share with everyone, and I kind of want you to experience the repercussions with them.”

He flipped a rock over with the toe of his boot. “Very well. It can wait.”

I went to his side and put my arms around him—as much of him as I could, anyway. He lowered his face and rested his cheek on the top of my head, and we sat that way for some time, each taking strength from the other, sharing our terrible loss.

When the sun dipped below the horizon, I felt Darius make the change from man to mothman. He tried to pull away, but I held tight until it was over. I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone and that I didn’t find him repugnant.

We parted and returned to the house to find our friends had moved into the living room.

“I saved you some cookies,” Maurice said. He sat cross-legged on the floor playing Candy Land with the kids.

“Thanks. Hang on a sec.” I slipped down the hall to my bedroom and grabbed the book that had caused me so much trouble. Flipping through the pages, I checked to verify what was inside. Sure enough, the new Covenant had replaced the old one. I pressed the book against my chest and returned to the living room. “I have something to share.”

I gazed around the room, and everyone stopped what they were doing to listen, even the little ones.

“Riley may have told you that I spent considerable time out there talking with the Simurgh.”

Kam made a pouty face. “You would have looked amazing with a little goatee. Sharpies come in red, too. I could have made it match your hair.”

I paused to give her a half-hearted stink-eye, then continued. “The Covenant, it turns out, really was broken today.”

Rene gasped. “We have to go? After all that, we still have to go?”

I patted the book, my voice sounding far away, as if I were dreaming. “From the ashes of the old Covenant, a new Covenant was born. And things are going to be different.”

Abby’s eyes grew wide and she leaned closer to Molly, speaking in a stage whisper. “Is she going to read that whole thing to us, Momma?”

I chuckled. “No, honey. I’m just going to tell you guys the important parts.”

Abby blushed. “Then can we play? I was winning.”

“Shh. Just listen.” Fred pulled his sister into his lap.

I took a deep breath, then let it out. “First of all, we’ve fixed the loophole, so what happened with Shadow Man can’t happen again.”

Everyone looked relieved, and I realized their joviality hadn’t been as lighthearted as I’d thought.

“Second, we have to rebuild the government from scratch. Turns out, I was right not to let them boss me around. Aegises are supposed to be in charge, and we’re going to put things back together, better than before. The government is supposed to help the Hidden. And it will do so again.”

Maurice frowned. “Zoey, there’s only one Aegis. How are you going to do all that, especially all over the world?”

“That’s the third thing. Aegises will start to show up again, gradually at first, but in a few months, we should have the population back to what it should be. And no Aegis will be forced to take the job—though I have a feeling anybody who’s an Aegis by nature won’t want to turn it down. But no more assigning locations and ripping families apart. Aegises go where they want to go because, left to their own devices, Aegises go where they’re needed.”

“Does that mean we’ll finally get a vacation?” Riley’s face was filled with hope, practically begging me to say yes.

I gave him what he wanted. “Yes. Just hang in there a few more months while we get things set up. Also, as First Aegis—”

“Last Aegis,” Sara said, correcting me.

“Nope. Now I’m the First Aegis. And as First Aegis, I have the power to choose new Aegises if they meet the criteria. Once I’ve chosen, the natural order will kick in to choose the rest naturally.”

“That’s a lot of new stuff,” Maurice said. “We’re going to be busy.”

Excitement bubbled inside me, and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from yelling the best part. “One more important thing.” I grinned. “The best part.”

Sara wrinkled her golden brow. “You saved the world, guaranteed its continued safety and figured out how to rebuild the infrastructure. What’s left?”

“You get to keep your house and your car.” I felt like I was going to burst.

She shook her head. “They’re useless to me now. I told you that.”

Still beaming, I shifted my attention to the closet monster on the floor next to her. “Maurice, where do you want to go? What do you want to see next?”

He spoke slowly, his gaze flickering from me to Sara, as if checking with her that I was sane. “We were thinking about seeing the Great Pyramids at night. Why?”

“No.” I was going to combust in a grand explosion of excitement, and the pile of slimy body parts would continue to giggle to themselves for decades. Scientists would be baffled. “Where do you
want
to go? What do you want to see above all other things?”

He froze, and the single word came out whispered. “Vegas.”

I couldn’t contain it anymore. “You can go to Vegas!” I ran around the room, flailing my arms like a deranged Oprah Winfrey. “You can go to Vegas! Everybody can go to Vegas!”

I’d dropped the book on the sofa in my manic cavorting. Truthfully, the overwhelming emotions of the day had probably made me loopy. There was only so much a person could take before she kind of snapped.

Sara picked up the book and thumbed through it. I stopped and watched her read. She found the correct heading and read it out loud. “Hidden in Plain Sight. Normal humans shall no longer have the ability to identify the Hidden, instead seeing the illusion of another human in the Hidden’s place.” She put her hand to her mouth, eyes widening. “Oh, my God, Zoey.”

“Let me see.” Maurice pulled the book from Sara’s slack hand and continued. “Hidden will only be identified in their true form by other Hidden or by those humans who are part of the Hidden world, including but not limited to Aegises, officials of the Hidden government and various human sensitives.”