9. Kalistratos

Tyler fills two cups with the same dark and fragrant soup he gave to Jeff and brings them back to the table. He looks weary and upset.

"We didn't need to involve Jeff in this," he says. "We've got enough on our plate as it is without having to deal with him. His ‘connections' are just a bunch of random dudes who have way too much free time on their hands."

"Perhaps. Or maybe his appearance was no accident."

He gives me a skeptical look.

"Is it that far-fetched?" I ask. "Nelly was guided to find us through a vision from the Great Phoenix, right?"

Tyler rubs his eyes. "Yeah… I guess I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. It's clear someone guided Nelly to us. But why don't they just reach out to us directly?"

"I don't know."

He passes me a cup and takes a sip from his own. "I just really don't want to have to deal with Jeff."

"Yes. And that's exactly why you must deal with him."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know what it feels like to leave important things unresolved. It becomes a door in the back of your mind that invites ghosts that sit on your shoulders and torment you forever. Trust me, Tyler. Close this door while you have the chance."

Tyler stares down at the cup in his hands, his expression hard and tense as he considers what I've said. "This is so dumb," he groans. "I put my feelings for him behind me. I'm so fucking over it. It just makes me wonder what I was even thinking, devoting so much of my energy to him. Why does having to deal with him make me feel so damn uncomfortable?"

"Because your feelings for him may have changed, but you are friends. And the things you shared as friends aren't easily forgotten. It's simple to cast someone aside when you believe they've only ever done you wrong. But you know that's not the case. You don't need to make him into an enemy."

Meeting Jeff, I could see he was not a wicked person, though it was easy for me to believe so based on the stories Tyler had told me about him. He was just a man with his own host of faults. I didn't necessarily have to like him, but he'd tried to protect Tyler, and that was enough to convince me he was an ally.

I smile. "I must say… Jeff is certainly not what I expected."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I would've thought the man who you'd been so enamored with would be more of, well, an alpha. And more handsome. You must've been very desperate. Or"—I inhale sharply—"his dick must be massive."

Tyler's laughter fills the room. "Oh my God, Kalistratos. Seriously?"

My smile broadens. "Which one is it?"

He shrugs and sips from his cup. "We have a saying here… A little of column A, a little of column B."

I nod. "Of course."

I sniff the cup of dark soup. It has a rich, earthy aroma, unlike anything I've ever smelled before. Warm. Inviting. Something this fragrant must be delicious?—

I take a drink and immediately spray it across the table.

"Cheesus, what is this foul brew?!"

Tyler laughs even harder.

"I don't understand why I require more clothes," I say, watching as Tyler digs through the drawers of his garment chest.

It's the morning, and Tyler says we must venture out to find one of those magic glowing stones he calls a foan.

"Are these not acceptable?" I ask, gesturing to the tee shirt and jinnshors.

He pauses and stares at my body. "I mean, I have zero complaints about you looking like you're walking around in your underwear. Others might not be so into it, though."

I shrug. "I think it looks rather nice."

"Like I said… zero complaints from me." He swats my bulge with a grin. "But we definitely don't want someone calling the cops on you. Here, try these sweatpants on."

"Sweat… pants?"

"Don't worry, they're clean."

"You have a strange world filled with strange things, Tyler," I say.

The sweaty pants are tight and restrictive on my legs, and it feels like they want to burst off of my body.

Tyler is holding back a laugh. "Jesus, I guess I skipped one too many leg days."

"Is this correct?" I ask, looking at myself in the mirror. "Are these acceptable? I can hardly move."

"They'll have to work for now. They're the stretchiest pants I have. Here, put this hat on. And wear these."

He hands me a piece of headwear in a similar style to what I'd seen Jeff wearing the day before, along with a black mask-like thing. I place them over my eyes and find I can see through them, although it is very dark.

"That's upside down," Tyler snorts, then flips them over on my face.

"What is this called?" I ask.

"Sunglasses. They'll help disguise you. Remember… there are eyes everywhere in my world, always watching and always listening. You've gotta be careful about that."

"What do you have in the way of weapons?" I ask. "I'm naked without a blade on me."

"Unfortunately, you're gonna have to get used to feeling naked," he says as he slips his arm around my waist and kisses my cheek.

"Really? Nothing?"

"My weapon at work was a heavy-ass flashlight and a can of mace."

"A mace sounds perfect."

"No, no, not a mace. Mace. It's like a defense spray."

"I see. Like a squid's ink?"

"Uh, sure. Like a spicy squid." Tyler opens his drawer and gets out a small pouch made of hard leather. "Here. You can have this pocket knife. Though you could hardly call it a knife compared to what you're used to…"

I open the clasp on the pouch. Inside is an object about the length of my palm that appears to be crafted out of a red stone paired with steel. It is incredibly light. Tyler takes it from me and, using his fingernail, flips out a thin blade from its side.

"Amazing," I say, trying it myself. "This is incredible!"

Tyler's face brightens. "There's more too, like, uh… This one is a bottle opener. This one is a screwdriver. And here are scissors."

As Tyler would say, my mind is blown. I've seen delicate metalwork, but nothing like this.

"This is a king's gift. I don't deserve this."

"Oh, yes you do," he says, closing my hand around the knife. "I bought this thing for nine dollars at Wal-Mart and you deserve every single cent of it."

"I would like to wear it close to my chest," I say. "So I can access it easily if I have to."

He digs through his things and finds a boot, from which he removes the laces. "Uh… here. How about this?"

I cut the cord to size with the knife, then braid it into a necklace connected to the leather pouch. Tucked safely against my chest beneath the tee shirt, the weight of the small package brings me a sense of comfort. I'm ready.

I wasn't ready for this at all.

We enter one of the giant roaring kah beasts called a baz, and its belly is filled up with people. Tyler takes my hand and leads me through the crowd of sullen-faced passengers like I'm a helpless blind man in danger of getting plucked of all my drachmae. I suppose that's exactly what I am here, and I don't like it one bit.

With a pained roar, the smelly beast lurches forward. I'm thrown off balance and nearly smash an old man in the face with my elbow. Tyler pulls me along, and we fall onto a pair of hard chairs. It seems that everyone around us is holding one of those glow stones, and they are completely entranced by them. No one is paying attention to anything or anyone else. No wonder Tyler was so helpless when he arrived in Circeana. It turns out I'm no blind man at all. Even the most unskilled Athenosian thief could empty the purses of just about every person here.

Through the scratched and cloudy window, the world rushes past us at startling speed. The smaller kah beasts swirl around us like a school of fish, constantly flitting back and forth, nearly colliding with us. It's a chaotic dance that I have to turn my eyes away from, for I'm in danger of embarrassing myself with a startled shout. How we've managed to not collide and destroy everything in our path seems to be some miracle of the Gods.

Passengers leave and more enter. A man standing next to us looks at me, and I stare back at him from behind my dark eye mask. He seems to have little white snails in his ears. Many people do. Very odd.

"What are those?" I ask Tyler. "Is it jewelry, or a parasite?"

Tyler looks and laughs. "Those are earbuds."

I wrinkle my nose. Ear bud? Some kind of fungus?

Then I notice a little face peeking at me from between the chairs in front of me. I tilt my head to look. The little girl does the same, and then waves. I smile. It seems some things don't change, no matter what world you're in.

No one else is paying attention. I discreetly show her my hand, then with a flourish of my fingers, grasp a red feather out of the air. Her eyes widen. I shake the feather, and it vanishes with a poof of sparks. She shakes her mother's arm.

"Mommy! He's a magic man!"

"Shh, don't bother the other passengers," the woman says and turns her daughter around.

"Do you want kids?" Tyler asks me. "Er, I mean, not with me, but in general."

"Why not with you? You're my mate, aren't you?"

His face turns red. "Yeah. I dunno. I never thought about it. I already have one pregnancy I've gotta worry about, right?"

"And that baby will be our baby," I tell him.

At first, he looks surprised, and then he smiles at me. "You think everything will be okay when we get back? I'll still have the child?"

There's worry in his eyes, and I can tell it's much deeper than he's allowing me to see.

"There's a reason for that child," I tell him. "You were chosen, remember? I'm your guardian and I'm going to make certain that you're pregnant when we get back."

Tyler laughs. "Uh, maybe we should talk a little quieter…"

I look around and see several people staring at us like we're insane. "What?" I bark, glaring back at them. They all look back at their glow stones.

"Yes," I say to him, "I do like the idea of having a little Kalistratos following me around. After all, no one ever suspects a kid. They're the perfect partner, besides a cat."

"Kalistratos," he scolds. "Seriously? You want a kid just to be able to steal shit?"

"Well, not just steal. They'd eventually be able to fight beside me, and probably get me out of a pinch."

"You're joking!" he says with a laugh. "You're terrible."

I think about his question further. It's not one that anyone from Circeana would ask. To have children is simply part of the course of life. If there is a desire to mate, then that choice comes with the possibility of a child. Life begins. Life ends.

Of course, for a Phoenikos, things are a bit more difficult.

"Truthfully, I'd always assumed I would never mate," I tell him. "Because I always believed that if I were to mate, it would be with a Phoenikos."

"Really? Only a Phoenikos?"

"That's what I believed."

Tyler considers this for a moment. "It must be hard, right? Given what your clan faces. Everyone is hiding. If you don't know a community of Phoenikos, then how would you meet another one? It's not like you guys have dating apps. And how could you trust anyone who isn't Phoenikos?"

I nod. "Indeed."

"Heh." Tyler slips his arm through mine. He looks very pleased with himself.

I raise an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"I must be one sexy-ass human. Or… Don't tell me it's just because I'm Phoenix Chosen."

I snort. "How do you say it? ‘A little of column A, a little of column B.'"

Tyler laughs and elbows me in the arm.

The baz shudders and slows its speed, and a strange, throaty voice fills the air.

"Bakerville Plaza Mall," it says, sounding like the muffled whisper of an eidolon from beyond the mortal realm.

Tyler grabs my hand and stands up. "This is our stop."