“That was us,” one of the remaining fire fae said. “We saw him. We heard him talking to himself. We tried to get him away from the crowd…”
“I was here,” Bijarki added. “I had some of my guys help pull him to the edge.”
Bijarki was in charge of Luceria’s guards. His incubi and succubi soldiers were fierce and always prepared for the worst. They’d seen hell come undone more than once before, so they had the experience and the knowledge required to fight back and reduce the loss of life, where possible. Still, even they were startled.
“Then a fight broke out, yeah, we heard that,” Raphael said.
“It took me a few seconds to spot the dangerous element,” Taeral added. “When I did see him, I made my way through and pushed him out. His hands were already bright orange and glowing. I knew it was only a matter of time.”
“You did well,” Ben reassured him. “You saved lives.”
Sherus and Nuriya reached Taeral, both of them checking him from head to toe. “Did he hurt you?” Nuriya asked.
Taeral shook his head. “He only hurt himself…”
“I think it’s time we call an inter-world GASP meeting,” Serena cut in, still holding her precious Isabelle. I didn’t even want to know what was going through her head at this point. “I, for one, can’t take this anymore.”
“Besides, I just got word from Persea,” Phoenix added, magi-tech phone in his hand. “It’s happened elsewhere, too.”
Goosebumps popped all over my arms, as the hard reality set in. One more celebration ruined, though, fortunately, without loss of life—other than the guy who blew up, of course. Something was wrong in the In-Between, and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.
Serena was right. This was no longer a one- or two-man or even a local job. GASP had to step in properly and put together an investigative crew. I already knew what that entailed. Leads had to be chased again. Old witnesses re-interviewed. Crime scenes re-analyzed. We had to put all our resources forward for this.
Bring it on, I thought. I was more than ready to do my part.
Amelia
The next morning, GASP held a major council meeting in our base on Mount Zur. The fire fae incidents had gotten out of hand, and we needed to take serious action before anyone else got hurt—I, for one, agreed with that.
I wasn’t used to so many agents in one room, but I took it as a new experience. I’d attended enough parties and dinners to take some of the edge off, already. Mom stayed back in Luceria to help Serena with Isabelle, while the rest of the Novak family came to the meeting. Dad and I represented the Novalik side of the clan.
The largest conference room had been picked for this. It held up to a hundred people around one ginormous glass table. Microphones were embedded into its glossy surface, and speakers were mounted on the walls around us. That way, anyone who spoke up was heard by everyone else.
Derek and Sofia were at the head of the table. Ben and River, Rose and Caleb, Victoria and Xavier, and Lucas and Marion sat next to them. Aiden and Kailyn, Field and Aida, Bijarki, Draven, Jax and Hansa, Jovi and Anjani, Phoenix and Viola, Harper and Caspian, and Sherus and Nuriya were also present. From Neraka, Fiona and Zane had joined us. From Strava—Douma and Dmitri, Amal, Amane and Ridan, and Raphael and Herakles. Scarlett and Patrik, Aisha and Horatio, Riza, Avril and Heron, Corrine and Ibrahim, Arwen and Brock, Taeral, Kailani and Hunter, Lumi, and the Daughters of Eritopia had their own seats at the giant table, as well. I was surprised to see Eva. I knew she’d joined GASP recently; I just didn’t understand why she’d been called into the meeting and seated next to Draven, too, out of all people.
Everyone else had to manage GASP’s other operations and look after the babies, while we discussed the issue at hand. I was just thankful I hadn’t been dragged into babysitting duties.
I felt as though I were a tiny little ant, sharing the spotlight with legends of The Shade.
They’d all vanquished dangerous enemies. They’d all been through most of the motions before, and they knew how to tackle these problems. Though unprecedented, they were still problems—and, to every one of them, there was always a solution, I thought.
Once everyone was settled, the small screens placed in front of each seat lit up. Phoenix held the small remote control that ordered them all to flash from one image to the next, presenting a full report to all attending members. I loved the level of organization and attention to detail that had gone into this stuff. It soothed my inner nerd.
“I’ll get right to it,” Derek started, then looked at Raphael and Herakles. “You two were more active in assisting the local GASP base in the investigation. What can you tell us, so far?”
Raphael cleared his throat, then straightened his back. I found myself staring, but, thankfully, no one paid attention to me. “The symbols carved into the fire fae are cause for concern. They’re a repeating pattern,” he said.
“They mutilated themselves, if I remember correctly,” Derek replied.
“That is correct. The palms, the feet, and, as of yesterday’s incident, the cheeks, too,” Raphael confirmed. “We don’t yet have any info on what the symbols mean. We cross-checked with everything in our database, including what Lenny and Nevis found in that small Stravian village before the Blackout, just to be sure, but there was nothing. No match. Then again, the images we have might not be accurate. The skin was pretty damaged after the explosions, and no one got a chance to really analyze yesterday’s assailant.”
“His name was Pond,” Taeral interjected. “Pond Merfin.”
“Thank you, Taeral,” Derek replied with a soft nod. “What do we know about him?”
“Lieutenant in our Royal Guard. Like Myris Fenn,” Taeral said.
“What about Jaffe Fenn? And the… How many were there at your crowning ceremony again?” Field asked, checking his own notes.
Taeral seemed under a lot of pressure. Anger bubbled beneath the surface, judging by his clenched jaw. I could tell that this issue affected him deeply. These were his people going off and killing others, not just themselves.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, as if gathering his thoughts. “Four at my crowning ceremony. Three, then a fourth afterward. They were all military. Jaffe had just been accepted into the Royal Guard. The youngest fae to be granted such an honor.”
“Okay. Do we know anything about these people? Any affiliations with rebel or aggressive groups of any kind?” Derek asked. “I know we normally have peace across the worlds, but, at a local level, there are always insurgents or marauders trying to fight against a system they perceive as their enemy. It’s been like that forever.”
“Tell me about it.” Draven said. “We still have rebel incubi struggling to stir up trouble on Purgaris, to this day.”
Sherus leaned forward. “All the royal guards are thoroughly vetted prior to their appointment. They undergo heavy and intense training, and multiple psychological assessments in between,” he said. “We didn’t get any red flags from any of those involved.”
“Then how did they carve themselves up and scream about the end of days?” Lucas replied, his brows pulled into a stern frown. “Why were they talking to themselves? And how the hell did they manage to turn themselves into lethal bombs? There were no explosives found anywhere.”
“We don’t know yet,” Taeral replied, his tone clipped. “All we know is that others heard Myris and Jaffe rambling. But no one took it seriously. They could’ve just been having a bad day—or at least, that was what the witnesses thought. These behavior disruptions don’t come into focus until after the event, I’m afraid.”
Herakles raised a hand, drawing attention to himself. “I suggest a bigger investigative team,” he said. “I think we should go over everything again. Every witness. Every blast site. Every damn toe and piece of rubble left behind. I doubt these events will end anytime soon, unless we find the source.”
Derek nodded in agreement. “It’s why we’ve gathered here today. To appoint an investigative team, and to make sure each of its members represents GASP’s interests. We need to be careful about how we proceed, because Calliope and the Fire Star are not the only places where these explosions happened.”
“We do know they all involve fire fae,” Sofia said. “And we need to make sure we tread carefully now. We can’t risk any form of discrimination against them.”
