“The guy who drops whenever a Hermessi’s around would think so,” Herakles replied, stifling a hearty laugh.
“I don’t drop,” Fallon muttered, lowering his gaze. “I’m just… slightly susceptible. But I’m getting it under control.”
“How are you doing that?” Sofia asked. “Because Derek and I were actually wondering if it would still be a good idea for you to tag along with Taeral’s crew, given the previous Hermessi-related incidents.”
Fallon sighed. “Tebir came to see me after he spoke to you.” That got our attention. He hadn’t said a word about this until now. “He taught me a few tricks, in case a hostile Hermessi tries to take over. He practiced with me, and I’m confident I can hold my own, if push comes to shove.”
“I’m curious. What tricks, specifically?” I replied. “And why did Tebir want to help you?”
“Concentration and breathing exercises. Turns out, I’d been in such awe of the Hermessi’s presence that I’d literally failed to control myself,” Fallon explained. “I understand now that my body is mine, and that I can keep it, no matter what. Unless someone pulls the cut-and-spell thing on me. Then I’m screwed.”
“That applies to me, too,” Taeral said. “Risk of the job, these days. Well, I’m glad you’re sorting that out on your own. We were ready to stand by you, either way.”
Fallon smiled. “Thanks for that. Oh, and to answer your second question, Amelia… Tebir is genuinely trying to help us. The Earthly Dimension is relatively pure and free of the ritual mentality. He knows that, if Brendel wins, her poison will spread out, and it will affect Earth, too. That alone is enough reason for him to make sure all the cogs in our machine run smoothly.”
I nodded slowly, downright impressed. Given the abuse that the humans had inflicted on Earth over the years, I’d have thought Tebir to be eager to wipe them all out, if he could. But, truth be told, the planet had come a long way since, and GASP had played a significant part in its progression.
“So, what did you agree on with Tebir?” I asked Derek and Sofia.
“We’re doing it,” Derek replied. “We’re preparing a mission to Yahwen. It will take a while to put together, though. Recruiting alone will be tedious. We’re focusing on jinn and witches, but we’re trying to be as secretive about it as possible. Most of GASP won’t be aware, just to be sure. The Hermessi might be eavesdropping in the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension, so we’ll have to be careful.”
“Then there’s the logistical side of things, and organizing an efficient method of transportation,” Sofia said. “Chances are that there’s no access to Yahwen’s pink water from our side, so we’ll have to use the interplanetary spell. Phoenix is currently mapping out the entire solar system—and Yahwen, in particular—to find us potentially less dangerous points of entry.”
“This will be followed by the preparation stage and the actual extraction. We’ll need diversions to draw the Fire Hermessi guardians away, while the jinn will pop right into the building, immediately sedate the Hermessi children, and teleport them away, where another interplanetary spell will be waiting to take them away,” Derek continued. “It’s an ample mission, and every second will be crucial to its success, but Tebir and other rogues will help us along the way, with whatever we might need. And, since the children will be brought here, we’ve already arranged for the fae sanctuary to be moved to Calliope.”
“Because you want to minimize hostile Hermessi interference on Earth,” I said. “And not give them the opportunity to, say, spy on us and find out that the children are here. Okay, got it. Well, if you need us for that, we’ll—”
“No, you focus on Thieron,” Derek replied firmly. “Leave Yahwen to us. We need you all to help Death retrieve her scythe.”
We all nodded in agreement. Our hands were already full, and it was only going to get worse for us. I took several deep breaths, just to keep the anxiety from building up inside me. Raphael’s hand covered mine on the table, and I looked at him. A sense of determined tranquility came off him in tender waves, and I welcomed its soothing effect. One second of losing myself in his gaze—that was all it took to temper me. Amazing.
“Now, back to your Cerix mission,” Sofia said. “Tebir gave us the location of Earth’s pink water cave. It’s deep in the Amazon jungle. You’ll use it to get to Cerix, since an interplanetary travel spell would be too flashy. The local Hermessi will be expecting you.”
“As long as we have the Devil’s Weed on us, they’ll have a hard time sensing us,” Lumi replied. “And if we use the invisibility paste at least until we get to Emperor Tulla, they definitely won’t see us coming.”
Herakles smiled. “Gotta say, it feels nice to be on a planet where none of the Hermessi are trying to kill us. I’m going to miss The Shade.”
“Rest assured, your absence will be felt, as well,” Sofia replied. “Medina has already been notified of your arrival. The emperor knows, as well. They’ve arranged a secret wing in the imperial palace of Silvergate, just for you. The Cerixian scholars are already digging through the archives for information on Cerix’s most ancient sights, to help you narrow the search for Eirexis.”
“Emperor Tulla asked me to tell you that he looks forward to seeing you all again,” Derek added. I couldn’t help but smile. I kind of missed the guy and his sharp wisdom.
“There are GASP agents already present on Cerix,” Varga chimed in. “Will we be working with them in any capacity?”
Derek and Sofia glanced at each other for a moment, then shook their heads. “We decided it’s better if you don’t cross paths at all. The local Hermessi surely know about them, and they’re likely to be keeping an eye on them, in case they meet with you. We’ve actually reassigned them to a military outpost in the Hadeen Domain for the entire length of your stay there, just to make sure the Hermessi are focused on the wrong part of the empire.”
“That sounds more than reasonable.” Taeral sighed. “Though I would’ve loved some extra GASP help.”
“I’m afraid it’ll be too risky. You’re better off on your own,” Sofia said.
“It’s fine,” Lumi replied. “We’ll handle it. Besides, the Hermessi cult is extremely well positioned on Cerix. Chances are they’ll also focus on the GASP agents as they move to Hadeen, giving us a safer window to go in and do what we need to do.”
I’d almost forgotten about the Cerixian fanatics, which the Hermessi had bestowed with elemental abilities. The walls had ears in the empire, and we needed to be extremely careful. However, this second visit to Cerix wouldn’t catch us unprepared.
On the contrary, we’d geared ourselves up for pretty much any scenario, insane and murderous Reapers included—though the odds of us running into another Yamani were minimal. All the madness we’d survived up to now had taught us a lot, so we were going after Eirexis with much more knowledge than before.
My only hope was that Taeral’s scythe would actually help us, once we got there. The last thing we needed was to waste time in all the wrong places—if a Reaper’s weapon could guide us closer to Eirexis, then our mission had a 70 percent chance of success. Without it, we were stuck with a measly 30 percent, and that was nowhere near satisfactory, given what was at stake here.
We got up and put our equipment on, while Derek gave Taeral the coordinates for Earth’s pink water hole. I braced myself for what came next, surprisingly energized by the prospect of a future with Raphael. I’d had enough of Brendel’s ritual nonsense. I needed some love and peace in my life, and Raphael seemed like the Perfect candidate.
Herakles
After we said goodbye to Derek and Sofia, we made our way to the southern beach, the farthermost edge of The Shade, from where we’d teleport across the ocean and onto the Latin American continent. Riza had done some Earthly travels over the years, and she could get us close enough to the pink water cave.
We hadn’t spoken much since last night, when we’d gone back to our own treehouses. I’d left the dinner table with a sense of bitterness stuck in my throat, but it had dissipated by morning. My own failure in pursuing Riza’s affection had cost me dearly, but it had yet to kick me out of the running. I still had a shot. However, I really needed to up my game a little. What continued to astonish me was that I’d never had trouble with the ladies before, yet Riza had reduced me to a bumbling mess.
Raphael had been so blunt in his date request to Amelia, so sudden and unexpected, that I’d felt like I’d somehow been left behind. As if my feelings for Riza had been part of some kind of competition between the Perfect and me. As if he’d reached the finish line with Amelia before I’d had a chance to take my relationship with Riza to a more concrete level. How foolish of me, to think that his strategy would work for me, too. How silly of me not to think this through…
Fortunately, Riza was still here, stealing glances at me. In fact, something had already changed between us, albeit subtly enough to pass unnoticed. I felt energized to try harder, to do something and get past this invisible wall that had always seemed to be in front of her—a sensation that Varga had described as “first romance jitters,” and which I’d yet to fully understand. I’d met my share of Faulty ladies during my early years on Strava, but none of us had ever considered relationships. We’d been too busy serving and worshipping Ta’Zan.
After he’d kicked me out, however, I’d begun to wonder what it would be like to fall in love with someone. Upon meeting Riza, the possibility had become better outlined, to the point where my body reacted to her, my very soul grew and swelled inside me, desperate to touch hers. However, my usual self-confidence had scampered away from the moment she’d first smiled at me, and everything I’d known to be true about myself around women had suddenly been reduced to dust and distant memories of someone I no longer recognized. I simply couldn’t operate like the old Herakles. My courage was definitively missing. Riza had inadvertently flipped a switch inside me, and I had no idea how to fix that.
By last night’s dinner, I’d contemplated kissing Riza more than a dozen times, and I had, indeed, been working up the courage to reach out to her and tell her how I felt. Alas, my ego had gotten the better of me, and I’d found myself embroiled in this childish competition with Raphael, one I’d somehow initiated myself, in which we competed to see who made more progress with his potential soulmate first.
The Amazonian jungle surrounded us. Its thick and lush greenery dazzled me for a moment. I could barely see the purplish evening sky, as trees stretched outward, tall and rich in foliage. The moon rose somewhere in the distance, but the sun’s own light had yet to vanish beyond the western horizon, causing this peculiar celestial color. Multicolored birds squawked from above, perched on twirling branches as they looked down on us. Growls rippled from the darker depths of the woods—great beasts that had retained their territories here, along the elbow of the Amazon River. In a way, it reminded me of Strava. In another, it was an astonishing opposite, for the creature I’d been then and the creature I was now were incredibly different people.
Even the circumstances differed. Back home, I’d been fighting against Ta’Zan, embittered by his rejection. Here, I was waging war against the very elements that had saved us from Ta’Zan, for their objectives were far worse. And in the midst of this insanity, I’d fallen for Riza, the amethyst-eyed jinni, providing me with the most compelling reason to survive it all.
A quick slap on the back of my head derailed my entire train of thought. It crashed violently, and I turned to see who’d hit me. Raphael stood to my right, grinning like the absolute jerk that he could sometimes be. Riza was in front, carefully analyzing the area, while the rest of the crew had moved closer to the water.
