Chapter 80
Killian sat on the floor next to Seri, while the Water Nymph scrolled through their lists of names. Ender was asleep in his nest, on top of his eggs, cuddling up with Skya. It had only taken a week and a day for Skya to lovingly nickname Ender Snakey.
He looked over at the Nymph when the man cleared his throat.
Seri smiled hesitantly, before setting the tablet aside. “I…”
“What is it?”
The Cryptid grimaced, before blurted, “I want you to help me find someone.”
His brow rose at that. “Who?”
“Well, less find and more possibly send in a rescue team.”
He smiled. “Again, who?”
“Emmet Finley.”
“Your old professor?”
“Yes. I wanted to bring it up sooner, but the first night we got here, we were just too tired, and then Ender gave birth, and it didn’t seem like the right time. But I just feel horrible for waiting so long, and I just—”
“Seri, just tell me what is going on. I’ll help however I can. Though, in terms of sending out a rescue, that’s going to come down to Ender, I suspect.”
The Water Nymph took a calming breath, before blurting out a whole lot at once.
He blinked a few times as his brain processed it all. “So, you’re thinking, whoever he was working for is now holding him prisoner?”
“I think so? He still hasn’t answered back…”
“Okay, let me text all that to Soren, and he will send it to the people in the Intel Center. We can go from there. I’ll also try to get a laptop I can use in the bedroom, and look into it myself as well.”
Seri sighed in relief. “Thank you. Severo was going to look into it, but then…what happened, happened.”
“No problem,” Killian said as he pulled his phone out and quickly sent off a very long text to Soren. He rolled his eyes when all he got was a thumbs up, before pocketing his phone again after letting it collapse back into a cube.
Killian shifted uncomfortably when he found Seri now smiling sheepishly at him. “What?”
“So…tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“Everything? Or rather, as much as you are comfortable with? Severo was rather…sparse on the details about what went down between you two and Ender.”
Killian snorted. “That’s probably because he doesn’t know all the details. I can’t imagine Cyrus is that open about our sex lives. And I can’t share much either, because a lot of it has to do with Ender, but I can say it started out of comfort.”
“Comfort?”
“He was hurting, and we were there. That’s basically it, for that first time.”
“And that led to the pregnancy?”
“Yep. Honestly, Cyrus, I get, as Fates have a rather high fertility rate. However, I’m not exactly sure how we managed it, considering both Sirens and Gorgons could fill multiple pregnancy books with all the complications they have.”
Seri giggled. “Life finds a way.”
“That it does. Anyway, once we knew, we came here and—” He snorted. “—found a chaotic mess, that’s what.”
The Nymph pursed his lips. “Chaotic fits, but mess… I don’t know, he seemed rather put together when I first met him. But then, I was also terrified, worried, and overly stressed, so I likely wasn’t paying that much attention.”
Killian smiled gently at the Cryptid. “No, I imagine you would have noticed. With how terrified you were, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had been hyperfocused on every detail, not knowing if you could trust them.”
Seri hesitated, before admitting, “You’re probably right.”
“I’m thinking, Ender is usually chaotic, but not so much a mess. The pregnancy was making him not only more chaotic than normal, but also a mess.”
The Water Nymph wrinkled his nose. “Ahh, yeah, the hormone shifts are not fun.”
Killian sighed. “I don’t know, Ender is…something,” he mused, before chuckling. “That probably explains nothing.”
“It explains enough,” Seri said with a smile. “How are you doing?”
“Me?” He frowned. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
Seri snorted. “Trying to deflect?”
Killian rolled his eyes. “No. And I’m fine.
Even with everything going on, being kidnapped and almost dying, the career change, how lost Cyrus is feeling, along with impending fatherhood and the addition of Ender in our lives, I’m not…
unhappy,” the Siren drawled, before chuckling.
“Though I probably should be with everything that happened.”
Seri just smiled at his friend, as the man questioned his feelings.
He could tell for sure that the Siren wasn’t just ‘not unhappy’. The man was very happy. Then again, even before Ender had come along, the Siren had looked rather happy in his life with Cyrus.
It wasn’t as if there had been something missing before. The two Cryptids had seemed perfectly content with just each other. And rather than being a missing piece in their lives, it was like Ender just added to their happiness, making it even better.
At least, that was how it read to Seri.
“It’s okay to be happy,” he said, after a moment of staying quiet.
“Doesn’t exactly feel right for me to be,” Killian groaned. “Fucking hell, I’m sorry your life has blown up again, Seri.”
Seri sighed, before quickly glancing back to make sure Skya was still asleep, and saying, “Just so you know, you are going to want to practice curbing your swearing, sooner rather than later. Because it’s not as easy to stop as it sounds.
But…yeah, it sucks. I’d rather not be on the run again.
But then, I suppose, we aren’t running, more hiding. ”
“Again, sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, it is what it is. I will say, I appreciate the horde of free childcare here though.”
Killian giggled. “I bet your mom is glad for the break as well. Skya is…energetic.”
“That they are. Though, I think, at the moment, Quill is giving my mother a tour. They were excited, and mentioned something about underground crops and a garden, I think?”
Seri still hadn’t taken much of a look around the place, as their tour had been delayed due to Ender giving birth, and again as people became busy, taking over whatever the Gorgon wasn’t ready to deal with yet.
“I haven’t seen either yet, even if I know they’re on level three. But more exciting than a garden, did you know there is a cavernous pool on level two?”
His brow rose at that. “Underground?”
“Mmhmm. A pool that is constantly filtered, with an added button to press in case you need whatever was done there to be erased right away.”
Seri’s face heated at the implication. “Nonsense,” he said with a giggle, before pursing his lips with interest and asking, “Where exactly on level two?”
Killian smirked.