Chapter 39 Stay Seated
At the sound of shouting, and an all too familiar screeching, hissing noise in the distance, Soren’s hand froze on the tablet he’d been about to pick up. Sighing, as he heard the sound of running feet, he stood, following the noise to the commotion.
Kore stumbled out of the doors that led to Ender’s chicken coop. Blood trailing down the right side of the man’s temple, and there were feathers of various colors in his white-blond hair.
“It’s time, right?! Please!?” The Electric Elemental pleaded as he grasped onto his shoulders almost desperately, while others rushed out through the double doors.
Knocking the Cryptid’s hands off, Soren shooed Kore away without a word, before taking a deep breath and pushing past the doors into Ender’s chicken paradise. Inside, he could only stare in exasperation at Ender in all his horrifying glory.
His little brother was in his Gorgon form, which meant his snake coils were snapping and hissing in all directions, and his legs were gone, the lower half of the man’s body now a white snake tail.
He knew for a fact that the scales continued up from his abdomen and along his sides, but the man’s chest was covered by a white T-shirt, with the bottom of it stretched around his rounded stomach.
The jeans he was wearing had no doubt been destroyed when he’d transformed.
On Ender’s head, amongst the hissing snakes, stood Red Herring Jr., the…
well, he wasn’t sure what the current count was.
Either way, the Rhode Island Red was looking mighty fierce, as if she was a queen watching over her minions.
Five of the menaces were currently chasing after Quill, who appeared to be doing all he could to avoid the fuckers.
While the rest of the flock were pecking at the seven life-like statues, or rather the seven petrified members of Cryptid Means that Ender had decided to turn to stone.
One of whom happened to be Kaisa, the youngest of the Manticore triplets.
Chickens and frozen people aside, what he found more concerning was the presence of Zenny. The eight-year-old was currently hugging Ender, his eyes wide, looking concerned, or possibly unsure of what he should be doing.
“ENDER, I AM NOT TRYING TO EAT YOUR CHICKENS!” Quill screamed.
“LIES!” Ender hissed. “ATTACK, MY CHILDREN, ATTACK!”
Soren’s gaze flicked down as a particularly ornery chicken named Billina neared. He made a warning chirp when the little shit went to peck him. The older hen wisely backed the fuck up. “That’s what I thought,” he said with a snort.
His eyes did a sweep of the scene once more, before he sighed again. Yep, it was time…but first… “Quill, stop playing with the chickens and get the fuck out of sight!” he snapped.
“PLAYING! WHO’S PLAYING?!” the young Fate dramatically screeched.
He rolled his eyes. “Kid, you are over seven feet tall, and more than two hundred pounds. One of them weighs probably as much as your foot. A little peck is not going to kill you!” Soren’s gaze flicked down to Zenny. “Zenny, come here, carefully.”
The Cupid grimaced. “I don’t think I should.”
“He’s not going to hurt you.”
Zenny frowned. “But he may hurt himself and others.”
“Kid, now is not the time to make yourself his shield. Come here.”
When Zenny slowly unwound himself from around Ender, the Gorgon’s gaze flicked down to him with a frown. But as the Cupid made his way over to him, Ender didn’t do a damn thing…until he ushered Zenny out the door and out of sight.
“ZEN-ZEN STEALER!” Ender burst into tears, pointing at him. “Attack, my children, attack!!”
Soren rubbed his temples with a groan, a headache sliding home as the chicken on Ender’s head hopped off, and took a collective step towards him with all of the others.
It’s going to be a long day, he thought as Quill used the moment to make his escape.
Cyrus looked up from his paperwork, frowning as he listened to the sound of a phone ringing. It deepened when he realized it was his emergency phone. Pressing the index finger of his right hand to the front of the small box hanging from his neck, it unfolded into a full-sized cell phone.
Eyeing the unknown number on the screen for a moment, he answered, “Hello?”
“Long time too fucking soon.”
“Soren?” Cyrus blinked. “What is that noise?” There was an awful hissing, screeching sound, and was that clucking? His brow rose as the noise grew distant.
“Never you mind that. I am going to give you an address, and then you and that Siren of yours are going to pack a shit ton of your things, preferably soft things, and get your asses to said location, without ringing any alarms or informing any of your relatives of where you are going.”
“And why would you…or rather we do that?”
“Because you lucky sperm donors one and two, have knocked up—”
“—my Boss.” Soren frowned when Cyrus remained quiet. “Hello? Earth to Cyrus!?” He pulled his phone from his ear, and feathers sprouted instantly across his skin as fire shot out around him, his rage instantaneous on seeing the call had disconnected.
Cyrus stared wide-eyed at the crushed phone in his hand, his heart feeling as if it was trying to burst from his chest. He flinched when his normal phone started to ring. Dropping the now destroyed bit of technology, he rushed to answer.
“DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD JUST HANG UP ON ME, YOU ARROGANT SON OF A BITCH!?!” Soren roared in a southern accent that was as thick as Ender’s.
“I…” He tried and failed to explain himself, his brain still reeling from what the man had implied.
“Oh, do you have an excuse?!” the man drawled sarcastically, his accent still just as thick.
Cyrus took a shuddered breath, before managing to stutter out, “I-I broke my phone.”
“YOU—” He heard air whoosh out of the man. The Harpy took a few breaths more before speaking again, the accent gone. “I…see.”
Swallowing hard, he slowly asked, “Are you…sure?”
Soren scoffed. “Been sure for almost three fucking months now. Congrats, fraternal twins with two different fathers.”
His eyes widened further. “I…I need to, uh… I need to sit down.” Cyrus shook his head. “No, I am sitting down…”
“Yeah, you sound so very with it. Inform the Siren, pack, and wait at your house. I’ll send the address.
Remember, bring a lot of shit with you! Make sure it’s soft, possibly worn.
May also be good to bring more to wear, but I suppose it really all depends on what you two plan to do with this bit of information. ”
Cyrus set his phone down with a shaky hand when the call ended, swallowing again as he stared blankly at the wall for a moment.
Oh, fuck…oh, fuck. He had to…he had to…tell Killian.
“Ugh, Soren, you fucking bastard, why the hell didn’t you call him?! Leaving me to…”
Oh, fuck, oh, fuck… He stood with a gasp, knocking his chair over along with shit off his desk as he did.
Cyrus stumbled back when his head swayed.
Pregnant… Ender was…pregnant…
Killian looked between his screens, his brow raising high as his door was slammed open. It rose higher as a pale, terrified-looking Cyrus stumbled in, barely stopping himself from falling while hurrying to close the door.
“Is… Did they find out?” he rasped softly.
It had been quiet, and so far, there had been no repercussions from what Cyrus had done to save him. Well, aside from the man still not being able to read his threads.
Cyrus swallowed hard and shook his head, his eyes remaining far too wide and worried.
“Then…what is it?”
“Y-you should probably sit down.”
Killian blinked. “Cyrus…I am sitting down?”
“Right! I should sit down.”
As the Fate appeared to be swaying on his feet… “Yes, you probably should.”
Cyrus stumbled a few more times, but managed to pull out the chair and sit in front of Killian’s desk without falling. And then the man continued to sit there, saying nothing.
“Well…?” he asked with a stiff smile.
“I…um…could you give me like…ten minutes?”
“You want me to sit here for ten minutes?”
Cyrus cleared his throat. “You could…work, I suppose?”
Killian stared at the Fate, who was shaking, very pale, and starting to sweat. His fiancé was clearly freaked the fuck out, but at the same time… Well, he had never been the most patient person. “You’ve got five,” he said sweetly.
Intending to go back to work, he spun his chair towards the right floating screen, but no sooner had he turned, when Cyrus blurted, “Ender’s pregnant.”
Killian’s fingers froze above the holographic keyboard, his eyes widening more and more as the words fully registered in his brain. Slowly turning back towards the man, his own wide gaze meeting the Fate’s. “What did you just say?”