Portals (5 page)

Carter moved over to the other child. “Hi, I'm Carter Thulukan. What's your name?”

I sensed a pattern evolving.

“I guess we should have introduced ourselves,” I said. “I'm Fiona, but everyone calls me La Fi. My husband is known as Thulu, but his real name is Erik Thulukan. We humans have nicknames. So feel free to use those.”

Cream nodded. “Yes, we are familiar with nicknames.”

“Oh, good,” I said. I was glad I didn't have to explain the human convention of nicknames. “You've already met Parker.” I pointed to where he floated in midair. He nodded a greeting.

“The lovely young lady next to him is Jenna. And the furball is Sophie.” Jenna smiled, blue eyes wide with wonder, and waved shyly.

Cream said, “I'm known as Mirhen. My child that is missing is Tardren.”

Silver was next. “My name is Sahrok.” He placed the emphasis on the second syllable.

Burgundy said, “I am Barterian and my child,” he indicated the child with dark red hair and wings “is Parthiel.”

Once we were all nice and cozy and friends, Carter returned to the sofa and climbed up into my lap.

“You and your child see the dead humans. That is correct, yes?” asked Silver Sahrok.

“Yeah, we both see and hear the dead. We don't know exactly what other things Carter can do, yet,” I said as I smoothed Carter’s hair down and kissed the top of his head.

“This is unusual for humans, is it not?” asked Barterian.

“Very unusual.” I acknowledged. I wanted to ask questions and looked at the door to the study. It seemed to be taking Thulu a lot longer than usual. I turned back to our guests with a smile.

“Can all of your people see our dead?”

“It is assumed so,” said Cream. “However, it is not a topic that has been discussed.”

Okay, so they had the power to see the dead.

“And of course you can all fly?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” said Silver.

“That must be a lot of fun,” I said, a bit enviously.

“Fun? Yes, it can be a pleasant experience. Perhaps comparable to a human walking?” Burgundy was silent for a moment. “But 'fun' is not a concept Light Ones have experienced much in recent eons. As our need for energy has grown, our time spent in leisure activities has decreased.”

“Really?” I almost squeaked. No wonder this race was so somber. I felt sorry for them in that moment. With all of their thousands of years’ lifespans, what was the point if there was no enjoyment? With everything Gabriel had put them through, it sounded like they'd been turned into little more than automatons. If most of their time was spent siphoning energy off of other people's positive emotions, that didn't leave much time for anything else. That was pretty sad. I hoped the elves were able to cure them.

A change of topic was in order.

“So you said you had recently come to Earth? What do you mean by recently?”

I could see the three adults relax a little bit.

Silver answered. “We were one of the last groups to come through the portal. It was perhaps a few days before the portal closed completely. We were very ill when we came through and our children were dangerously ill. We are quite recovered now.”

The door to the study opened and Thulu went into the parlor. He came back with his soda and sat heavily next to me on the sofa. He looked tired, as if his session of finding took an enormous amount of energy.

“I was able to find your child's location. However, the address is somewhat troubling.”

I didn't like the sound of that. I frowned at Thulu as he took another sip of his soda.

“Your child is at the Grant Corporation in Chicago.”

I groaned, as I felt the blood drain from my face. Sarah Grant was a daemon and a friend of Jones's. However, she was erratic and could kill even faster and with less reason than Jones. And that was saying a lot because he could kill at the drop of a hat.

I could only hope she had not harmed the child. An escalation of the war between Light and Dark Ones was not something Earth needed right then. We sure as hell didn't need it spilling over into our world.

“What does this mean?” asked Mirhen.

I started to answer, but at that moment my phone sang to me. I held up a finger to Mihren. I picked up my phone from the table. It was Reo; apparently his telepathy or empathy had kicked in.

“Hey, Reo,” I answered.

“What's going on with you two?” he asked.

Before I could answer, Thulu, said, “Ask him to come over. And he might ask Sloane to come as well, if he can.”

I passed on the message and Reo said Sloane was still with him, so they'd both come back over right away.

Before I even had a chance to disconnect, the phone beeped, telling me there was another call coming in. A look at the screen brought a small smile to my face.

“Hello, Jones. I was wondering why you hadn't already called. We have a problem and could use your help. It's rather serious.”

And that velvet voice simply asked, “Car or portal?”

“Well, don't panic when you get here because there are Light Ones here. But I think portal would be best.”

A tiny sigh. “La Fi, I do not panic.” He ended the call.

Within seconds, the air in the family room began to swirl and a portal quickly formed. Jones stepped through. Since he was the one who had placed the wards on our house, he was able to circumvent them. Something that didn’t thrill me, but what can you do?

The Light Ones had risen to their feet as the portal formed. Jones took in the room, noting everyone. The tension in the room grew thick. I looked at Parker, significantly.

He nodded and said, “Hey, Carter, Jenna, let's go upstairs for a bit.”

Carter frowned, but Thulu smiled at him and said, “That's a great idea, guys. We have grown up things to talk about here.”

Carter sighed, but dutifully followed Parker and Jenna up the stairs, with Sophie trailing behind.

Jones, as usual, was impeccably dressed. The man was always a head turner, with dark skin and even features that could have easily graced a magazine cover.

He nodded at the Light Ones, who had moved in front of their two children. Their expressions were guarded, but not hostile.

“And what seems to be the problem?” His deep voice was pleasant, but there was an edge of threat underneath that I was sure escaped no one.

Thulu spoke up quickly. “These people hired us to find a missing child. I've found the child and he's at the Grant Corporation in Chicago.”

Jones frowned. “I see.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and moved toward the parlor.

We couldn't hear what he said, but his eyes were flashing when he returned. I couldn't see how that was going to be good news.

“She denies she has the child.”

Thulu shook his head. “The child is there. I'm certain of it.”

Jones looked at Thulu. “Oh, I am sure of it, too. What I am not sure of, is exactly who took the child.” He looked at the three Light Ones, before focusing on Mihren.

“Will you allow me to help retrieve your child?” Jones asked formally.

Mihren nodded solemnly. “We would be honored and very grateful for the great Dhavenbahtek to involve himself in this matter.”

I quirked an eyebrow questioningly at Jones. He stared thoughtfully into the distance for a few moments.

“Thulu, can you give me the exact coordinates, as you did with the relics?” Jones asked.

Thulu nodded. “Of course.”

Jones followed Thulu into the study while I waited with the Light Ones.

Last month, I'd been struck by the lack of Light One response. Even when Gabriel had been killed in front of their eyes, they'd placidly waited for new orders from Michael.

Now, with a missing child, I was struck by how little emotional response there was from any of them, including the parent. Although I wondered if that was a side effect from the enormous amounts of energy they now required. The parent certainly seemed more concerned, but I didn’t get the sense of panic I would from a human parent. I didn't dare ask if they used to be happy, fun-loving people before they evolved into what they were now. They might look like the conventional ideal of angels, but their behavior could be anything but angelic.

Thulu and Jones returned to the family room. They both looked grim. I looked at them expectantly, but Jones only shook his head.

“I have no choice but to go to Chicago and speak with Sarah Grant in person. I will return shortly with the child.”

I didn't like the anger I saw in his eyes. I didn't want to question him in front of the Light Ones, since I had no idea what he'd say. But I knew something was very wrong.

There was a sound from the kitchen. Jones had begun to open the portal, but stopped.

“It's probably Reo and Sloane,” I said, as I moved to the hallway to see toward the back.

“Sloane?” Jones said. “Excellent. Perhaps he will go with me.”

Reo and Sloane came in from the kitchen. Reo's hair was still missing its spikes, but his eyes were as warm as ever, and he looked much better than he had the night before.

In fact, he had his new air of contentment back. I realized that it had been missing last night. I completely attributed it to his relationship with Sloane.

Thulu had been right, as usual, and Reo had found his soul mate in Sloane. Both were empaths, which I bet made for an interesting relationship.

We introduced them to the Light Ones and brought them quickly up to speed. Jones asked Sloane to go with him to Chicago. Sloane agreed and Jones immediately created a portal, pastel colors swirling hypnotically. The daemon and elf stepped through and the portal snapped out of existence.

The rest of us simply looked at each other.

“Well,” I said, with a shrug, “now, all we can do is wait.”
And hope that child is okay
, I thought to myself. If the unflappable Jones was concerned, it had to be bad.

The Light Ones settled themselves back on the floor once more. Their children remained in the chairs.

I excused myself and headed upstairs to check on Carter. I guess all of his tromping up and down the stairs tired him out. I found him sound asleep on his bed and pulled a light blanket over him. You had to love a kid that put himself down for his own nap. Not that he did it very often. Of course, Parker might have had something to do with it.

There was no sign of Parker or Jenna. I went into my own room and closed the door before I softly called for them. They immediately materialized in front of me, Sophie trailing along, as always.

“Everything okay?” asked Parker.

I shrugged and told Parker that Jones and Sloane had gone to Chicago to retrieve the missing child. Since Parker knew all of the players, he figured out very quickly just who had the child.

“Okay, I got it.” Parker said immediately. “We'll just keep an eye on Carter. Let me know if there's something you want me to do, though.”

“I will. And thanks.”

They popped back out of the room, and I went back downstairs.

“– re-energizing. I could have sworn he was right beside me. He must have wandered off, but one moment he was there and the next he was gone,” Mihren explained.

How many times had we heard a human parent say those same words? The thought of something similar happening to Carter was enough to create a lot of sympathy for this immortal being. Even though he seemed to be rather stoic, I wondered if he was hurting inside. It didn't seem like the kind of question I could ask.

I moved over to the sofa and sat between Thulu and Reo.

Thulu put an arm around me as he asked, “Everything okay with Carter?”

“He put himself down for his nap.” I smiled and Thulu gave me a crooked smile, but his eyes were still haunted by whatever he had picked up before.

We tried to make small talk to take our minds off of what was happening with Jones and Sloane at the Grant Corporation. It quickly deteriorated into inane comments about the unusual rain in August.