Lesser Gods (13 page)

I nodded gravely. The Angels currently had two master controllers who could psionically convert people into blind submission to their cause. The elder, a woman named Larissa Divine, was the queen of the Angels. She was far too well protected for the Guardians to kill, but Mr. Baker was hoping to terminate the younger master before she could succeed the Angel queen. Then the Guardians could simply wait out the natural life of Larissa Divine, who was already more than eighty years old. Once their queen died, the Angels would become masterless just like us. The problem was that we didn’t even know the younger master’s name. The Guardians simply referred to her as “Number Two.”

Mr. Simms said seriously, “So you see, Adrian, that this mission is of the utmost importance to us, and I must insist that you keep your word and be a team player this time. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” I said crisply. I had a personal stake in this matter: If Larissa Divine died without a successor, there would be no one left to reconvert my first sister and I still might find and rescue her from the Angels. I wasn’t going to mess this up.

“Good,” said Mr. Simms, grasping my shoulder. “My advance team has been on site for nearly three weeks now, gathering intelligence. You will leave with the main assault team tomorrow morning. Terry knows when and where. It will take a few days to get on site, and after we take the camp, we’ll be staying there for a while, so expect to be gone at least two weeks, possibly longer.”

“Is Mr. Watson coming too?” I asked, wondering if the pudgy finder had a role to play in a mission like this one.

“Just about every active member of my unit is coming for this,” said Mr. Simms. “God-slayers are just people, but armed and dangerous people. We gods need to be careful.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

Mr. Simms laughed. “There’s still a bunch of ‘ifs’ involved in this, Adrian, but if we really can find out who the Angels’ Number Two is, you may find yourself one step closer to rescuing your sister.”

Mr. Simms opened the door. “Alright, that’s it. I have to be getting ready myself now.”

I parted with Mr. Simms at the elevator.

“Thank you for letting me come, Mr. Simms,” I said.

Mr. Simms gave me a curt nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow or on site, Adrian. Good luck.”

As Mr. Simms disappeared into the elevator, I heard Alia’s voice in my head calling,
“Addy, where are you?”

I hurried back down the stairs to the dojo where Terry and Alia were resting on the mats.

“I’ve been calling you forever, Addy!” Alia said aloud.

“Sorry,” I said, walking up to them. “I guess there’s too much concrete down here for your telepathy to carry. What’s the matter?”

“Terry told me you’re going away again.”

“Yeah, well, that’s more than she told me,” I replied. Then I looked at Terry accusingly and said, “You already knew we were going.”

“I knew
I
was going,” said Terry, “but after the stunt you pulled with that wild-born, Mr. Simms wasn’t so sure he wanted you along. You’re a bit of a loose cannon.”

“That’s rich coming from you, Terry!” I said. “Anyway, I promised Mr. Simms I’d be good this time, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Don’t I have to worry?”
asked Alia, forgetting to speak with her mouth.

“We’ve been through this before, Alia!” I said irately. “This is something I just have to do. Now speak aloud or not at all.”

Alia maintained a sullen silence as we rode the elevator back up to the penthouse, and her temper improved little over dinner. When I told Cindy that I was going on another mission, she just nodded and said that Mr. Simms had already told her about it when he called today to ask where I was. Hoping to keep the peace, I retreated to my room soon after eating, leaving Alia to help Cindy with the cleanup.

Terry had told me over dinner that we would be leaving at 6am tomorrow. I was glad to hear it. I didn’t want to spend the whole day tomorrow waiting for our departure time under my sister’s disapproving looks.

I packed my duffle bag with three changes of clothes and some emergency cash. Terry offered me one of her pistols along with a spare clip and a leather holster, and this time, I actually accepted. My telekinetic blasts were far more accurate than any gun, but bullets flew farther and had a far better rate of fire than my focused shots. Holding the metal pistol didn’t drain my physical strength as much as it used to, and now that I was a bit more adept at using it, it felt a little less awkward in my hands. Nevertheless, I made sure to pack a pair of thin gloves to protect me from the metal.

I set the duffle bag next to my bed and sat down on my mattress. As I stared out the window on the other side of the room, I wondered what I would see and do on my second mission for the Raven Knights.

Mr. Simms had called this a “big one.” Taking down a God-slayer training camp in the mountains certainly sounded like a big deal. But I suspected that Alia and I had already seen bigger. We had been there when the Lancer Knights raided the Psionic Research Center – a veritable underground fortress guarded by heavily-armed professional soldiers. Compared to that, how dangerous could a Slayer camp be?

“Addy?”
I heard in my head.

I looked toward the door and saw Alia standing there, quietly gazing back at me.

“Feeling better?” I asked.

“A little,”
she replied, stepping closer to me.

“I’m sorry I’m going away again,” I said, meaning it. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Tomorrow?”

“No, not tomorrow. I’m not sure how long.”

“That’s okay, Addy,”
said Alia, sitting beside me on my bed.
“But I’m going with you this time.”

I rolled my eyes. “I sincerely doubt that, Alia.”

“Cindy said I could,”
Alia replied with a smile.

I stared at her incredulously. “She didn’t!”

“She did so! She said all I needed was your permission, and I could join your team.”

I couldn’t believe that Cindy, of all people, would play with Alia’s feelings like that, and I had a mind to go tell her so in no uncertain terms. But first I had to clear up this misunderstanding.

“Cindy was only joking,” I said. “She would never let you put yourself in danger.”

Alia looked me straight in the eyes.
“She was serious.”

“I’m sure she wasn’t serious, Alia,” I said patiently.

Sensing movement at the door, I looked up to find Cindy standing there and smiling at us. It wasn’t her usual warm smile, though.

“Oh, but I
am
serious, Adrian,” said Cindy. “Alia can join the Knights if you give your blessing on it. She was at my rescue too, after all. If she had been a Guardian, she may very well have been awarded the same status as you. And the Knights would be delighted to have another healer. You know how precious they are, after all. I could easily pull a few strings and have Alia assigned to the Ravens.”

I turned to my sister and said, “Ali, would you please give me a moment alone with Cindy?”

“Why?” Alia asked aloud.

“Just get out,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Addy!”

“Out!” I bellowed, telekinetically shoving Alia off of my bed. Alia stood up and glared at me for a second before stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

“That wasn’t very nice, Adrian,” said Cindy.

“Oh, come on, Cindy! Alia isn’t old enough to–”

Cindy cut across me, saying harshly, “How old is old enough?!”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Thoroughly,” Cindy replied dryly.

I gave her a disbelieving look.

Cindy chuckled. “After you helped Terry ambush me at her party, did you really think I wouldn’t have my little revenge?”

“Oh yeah?!” I said, my tone rising. “What if I said yes to Alia?!”

Cindy started laughing for real now. “Adrian, I’m not some stupid reporter that you can scare with a bluff like that. I know you too well.”

Cindy was, of course, right. That Alia couldn’t join the Raven Knights and come with us would be entirely my doing. I glared furiously at Cindy until she stopped laughing.

“You see?” Cindy said lightly. “Giving my permission was easy. You would never let Alia go with you.”

“Of course I wouldn’t!”

“Why not?” Cindy asked with a shrug. “Alia would go to the gates of Hell with you. In fact, you’ve both practically already been there. So why won’t you let her join you?”

I stared down at my knees. “Well... because...”

Cindy filled in the blank, saying, “Because you could not bear to see her hurt. Just remember that you are asking your little sister to endure something that you yourself couldn’t.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said quietly.

I sighed heavily and looked up at Cindy, whose expression had softened, returning to her peaceful norm. She said to me gently, “I’ll go make sure Alia is okay and smooth things out for you a little, but you’re the one who’s going to tell her that she can’t go tomorrow.”

Cindy left the room, leaving me sitting on my bed alone and frustrated. I knew I should go find Alia and apologize, but that put me in the even more awkward position of having to somehow make it up to her without consenting to her impossible request.

Alia returned to our room at her bedtime. Cindy hadn’t come to tuck her in, which I assumed was deliberate.

Our eyes met briefly, and I could tell that she had been crying.

“I’m sorry,” I said awkwardly, walking up to her.

Alia didn’t say anything, but quietly wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back and held her for a while, and then picked her up and carried her to our chairs by the window.

“Sit with me for a minute, Alia,” I whispered.

We sat for several minutes, silently looking down at the city below. I understood that my sister was upset with me for much more than just shouting at her or pushing her off my bed. I wished there was a fair way to do this, but there wasn’t. The best I could do was sit with her until she was ready to talk to me again. The quiet did me some good too.

“Addy,”
I finally heard her say,
“why can’t I come with you?”

“Because, Alia...” I began, desperately trying to think of a better reason than that she just couldn’t.

“It’s not fair! Cindy didn’t want you or Terry to go on missions, but she still said you could. And she said I could go too, so why can’t I?”

Clearly, Alia had the logical argument on her side.

“Cindy only told you that you could go if you had my permission because she knew that I would never give it. If Cindy thought I’d say yes, she wouldn’t have. You do understand that, don’t you?”

“But she did say yes, Addy. And you said that if I had her permission, I could come with you.”

We were beginning to talk in circles. I decided to try a different approach.

“Alia,” I said gently, “Cindy’s birthday is coming up soon. You’re finally nightmare-free after that horrible fight on the boat. Your life is about as normal as you can hope for right now.”

Alia nodded slightly.

I raised my eyebrows. “And yet you want to come with me and get shot at again?”

Alia gave me a toothy smile.
“You promised you’d protect me, Addy.”

Wrong approach. I was obviously terribly overrated, and I should’ve known that I couldn’t scare her. It was time to shelve the tact.

“You’re right, Alia,” I said. “I promised I would protect you. Well, this is me protecting you! You’re staying here with Cindy!”

“But Addy–”

“No buts! I may be the world’s worst big brother, Alia, but I’m still your brother, and I’m not going to let you come with us and get hurt!”

Alia scowled at me, but at least she didn’t pull away when I put an arm around her shoulders.

“Besides,” I said, finally thinking of a better excuse, “who’s going to take care of Cindy while we’re gone? You know she’s always in danger from the Angels. I’d feel a lot safer going if you were here looking out for her.”

“What could I do?”
scoffed Alia.
“I can’t fight.”

“Terry seems to think otherwise,” I countered, smiling. “But one thing you definitely can do is carry this for me.” I removed my tracer band and passed it to her. “You know how it works, right?”

Alia nodded, lightly running her fingers over the large round button on the tracer band.

I said, “If anything happens, you call the Knights for Cindy. You make sure she stays safe. Cindy protects all of New Haven, Alia, but she’s our mother first, and I want you to promise me that you’ll make sure the Angels don’t get near her again.”

“Okay,”
Alia said softly as I helped her wrap the band onto her right wrist.

The Velcro band was too long for my sister’s wrist and hung loose at the end. I carefully levitated a pair of scissors from my desk and cut the band down to the right length. I figured I could replace the band when I got the tracer back. Or, better yet, I’d ask the Knights to give me a new tracer so Alia and I would both have one each.

“I’m not just saying this to keep you home, Alia,” I lied like a kid’s watch. “I’m serious. Keep her safe.”

“I will,”
promised Alia.

The chances of the Angels ever getting to Cindy again were next to nil. Alia, who was usually very good at spotting my attempts at deception, seemed to buy it though, possibly because it had only been two and a half months since Cindy had been abducted.

I caught Alia stifling a yawn. “Time for bed, Ali.”

Alia changed into her nightgown, and as I tucked her in, she asked hopefully,
“Will you be back before Cindy’s birthday?”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m going to miss you, Addy.”

“Me too,” I said. “I don’t know how I’m going to get to sleep without you mumbling into my head at night.”

Alia laughed a little, and then whispered,
“I hope you come back.”

I realized that she meant come back at all.

“I’ll come back, Alia,” I said reassuringly. “Tell you what, you hang on to this too.” I pulled my amethyst pendant over my head and hung the cord on one of Alia’s bedposts. “You know I’ll be back for it.”