33. Take What You Want and Leave
Chapter thirty-three
Take What You Want and Leave
Nicodemus
“So, are we all ready for the ceremony this weekend?” Mom chimed as she joined us at our lunch table. She carried a tray of apple slices, yogurt, and an egg salad sandwich, which was her go to lunch most of the time.
“Hey mama,” I sang as I welcomed her with a kiss and hug. “We were just discussing our final picks, actually.”
“I can’t believe so many of my friends are going to be second-in-commands!” Xenobia cried as she squeezed herself in a huge hug. We all shushed her loudly, which made her giggle and hide her burning cheeks in her arms. “Whoops, sorry, I forgot it’s a big secret.”
“Don’t go blabbing to half of the Realm you dummy,” Praxis laughed as she flicked Xenobia’s nose.
Xenobia wrinkled it before sticking her tongue out. “Have some faith in me!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Xena,” I began, which made her turn to me excitedly. “I need your help with something, actually, if you don’t mind me stealing you in between classes.”
“I’m yours!” she promised with a beaming grin.
Seraphine came up behind her daughter and ran her fingers through Xenobia’s curls with a gentle smile. Xenobia knew exactly who it was and hummed happily at the gesture. “Don’t forget that you need to make a decision, too, my sweet. You’re a God the same as everyone else at this table.”
“I know, Mom, I know.” She brushed Seraphine’s hand off to swivel around and press her cheek to her mother’s stomach. “How is little baby Aurelia doing?”
“Aurelia?” I prompted.
Seraphine rolled her eyes. “Xena has decided I’m having a girl and has named her Aurelia, our little shining light.”
“What if she isn’t a Life Elemental?” Odysseus asked.
Xenobia shot him a demonic glare. “She is because I said she is!”
“Ok…” he said while rolling his lips.
I stole an apple slice from Mom and wedged it into my mouth before snapping to get Xenobia’s attention. “We’re burning daylight, kid.”
“Imma coming, imma coming!” she groaned as she shimmied out from between Seraphine and Praxis.
“Have fun you two!” Sebastian called with a wave.
Xenobia waited until we were in the main courtyard to run ahead of me and begin walking backwards so she could spew a dozen questions. “So, what secret mission are you taking me on? Are we hunting demons in the arctic? Freezing the polar icecaps? Sending a blizzard to Tokyo?”
“We’re hunting down Pandora,” I bluntly said.
Her smile faded to a thin line, and she slowed her pace. “Whoa, really? Without the help of the others?”
I chose my words carefully. “This is… something for our Earth team, so to speak. I’ll let the others in when I know we’ve got a concrete lead.”
“Our Earth team…?” She trailed off for a moment before realization slapped her across the face. “You’re working with Decimus, after all he did to you?”
“More or less.”
“Are you insane!”
“Shh, shh!” I covered her mouth with a deep scowl that she mimicked.
“Decimus is a lot different then before. Gehenna has, knocked some sense into him, so to speak. He’s been very trustworthy and honest, and considering I have to work with him for the rest of forever, it’s probably a good thing to bury the hatchet. ”
She wriggled free but kept up her glaring. “This screams bad idea.”
“You don’t have to help,” I said with a shrug.
Betrayal flashed across her face. “What, no, that’s not what I meant!”
“You’re either in or out, Xena. I’m not going to force you into anything you’re not comfortable with, but this is the path I’ve decided to take, so you’re either a ride or die or a crash and burn. It’s your choice. You’re nearing sixteen; I can’t treat you like a child forever.”
“I suppose not.” She glanced back at the dining hall before nodding once. “I’m in, but I get permission to get the others if shit hits the fan.”
“Granted.”
“Shake on it?”
I brought my hand up and slapped it with hers in our secret handshake, which ended with us pinky promising. “Let’s get going, detective. We have a mystery to solve.”
“I do like a good mystery!”
Decimus was sitting at a table in a coffee shop near Seattle, where he sipped an iced macchiato and flipped through pages of an old textbook.
Xenobia and I entered the shop and sat down as well, ordered two iced matchas, then pulled our notebooks free and set them on the table.
“Decimus: good to see you,” she said in a deep, trying to be professional but failing, voice.
“You too, squirt. Don’t be so formal,” he teased Xenobia, who blazed red.
“You look… a lot different. Not quite yourself, but not, like, not yourself, ya know?”
“This form is a little different then my original body, but it does the job.” He flexed his ring covered fingers. “It needs some tattoos and piercings to match my old self.”
“And a haircut,” she pointed out.
The two shared a soft giggle before Decimus got serious. “What’s our first step here?”
I unlatched my notebook and pushed my notes towards him. “I’ve put some feelers out with Magnus and Geneva for Ambermourn’s Shadows. They can’t hide forever, and if we find them, we find Ambermourn.”
“Don’t they have designated homes in the Shadow Realm that you can bust the door in on?” Xenobia asked as she plunged her straw into her plastic cup.
I shook my head. “They’ve all but abandoned their lives for the sake of their master. Shadows do that kind of thing. They are loyal to their master above all else, even the Grim Reaper. If Ambermourn commands them to disappear, then they do it, no matter the consequences.”
“Yikes. Remind me to not be a Shadow Walker.”
“You’d rather be that than a demon,” Decimus snorted.
“Touché.”
I laid out a map of Earth, which had red circles decorating the surface. The two leaned in closely to see what I had been marking, their eyes scanning the piece skillfully. “One would suspect that if we find Ambermourn, we find Pandora.”
A new voice entered the space between us. “Are we so sure about that? She could have slit his throat already and moved on to a new target?”
I whipped around in surprise to find Constantine standing in the entrance to the shop. His face and body were relaxed, though he was waiting for our backlash, and rightfully so. “What are you doing here?” I demanded sternly.
“I overhead you and big mouth in the courtyard and thought I’d stick my nose into this little plan you’re devising.” He nodded to Xenobia, who shrunk in shame when I gave her the evil eye for being too loud.
“That’s nice and all, but you’re the last person we want involved in this Pandora manhunt. I don’t want you anywhere close to her.”
“Why not?”
“Cause’ you’ll probably turn on us the second you get near her,” Decimus spat.
Constantine sighed deeply and shifted to lean on his right leg.
“Look, I know I did some fucked up shit, and that I chose the wrong side, but I’m with you guys on this one.
Ambermourn almost destroyed the entire world in just an hour: imagine what Pandora can do with even bigger reinforcements.
She’s going to completely demolish everything we worked for, and for what?
To have a big flashy castle to live in? Yeah, no thanks. ”
I ground my teeth loudly, but Xenobia was the one to center me. “Maybe he can be useful. You gave him his second chance after all, so let him have it.”
“You can stick him with me!” Petra entered the shop as well, swinging her arms loosely.
Her oversized cardigan was perfumed by a sweet scent that filled the space between us and soothed my nerves drastically.
“I can use someone on my team, especially if I have to hunt down all your old contracts. That is gonna take a Gehenna of a lot of time, and having a second hand would help tremendously.”
“It’s a thought,” Decimus said with a shrug.
I sighed deeply and brushed a hand over my face. “Fine, fine, but you better not breathe a word of this to anyone outside of this table, and so help me Gods if you try anything slick…”
He patted my back reassuringly. “I’ll behave, I promise. I’d rather be useful then cooped up all day at Odrikius.”
“Ok, so here’s where we stand.” Constantine and Petra took their seats while Decimus spun the map around so we could all see. “Nick has circled where we have old contracts still willing to help us. We can send word to each of them about out manhunt and hopefully come back with some steady leads.”
“Who’s to say they don’t relay information back to Pandora if they find her?” Constantine interjected.
“It’s a chance we have to take unfortunately,” I offered.
“What are Nick and I going to do?” Xenobia inquired.
Decimus popped the top on a pen and started drawing lines between each contract. “You two are going to check in with the contracts as well as hit any old locations she might have been lurking in. Constantine, you can give us ones we didn’t know about either, right?”
“Yes, absolutely,” he immediately answered.
Decimus nodded once. “Good, good. I’m going to send some of my lackeys out to try and lure Ambermourn towards us. He’s a Demon Hunter, right, Nick?”
“Yes, as far as I’m aware.”
“Then I’ll have to make a big mess to draw him out.” He sucked his teeth and snapped his fingers twice. “If we could just figure out her next move, then I would know where to place people…!”
“Knowing Pandora, she’s going to go for power. Since we destroyed her scepter, she has to either improvise and make a new one or go after another source of power to fuel her new elements. Does anyone know of anything that might give her extensive power?” Constantine asked hopefully.
“Nada,” Decimus and I replied simultaneously.
Xenobia had an odd look on her face as she was deep in thought.
Constantine raised an eyebrow at her, which made her finally speak.
“You know, I was thinking…” She pulled her necklace out from under her shirt, which was a piece Seraphine had made for her as a protection charm.
“The Original Gods have a thing for jewelry, right?”
“Endymion gave me this ring.” I held my hand up to show the group.
Xenobia took the ring from me and held it up towards the light. “Constantine, this is more a question for you than anyone. Did your dads ever make anything special? Any cool jewelry or special items that could boost power?”
“Well, I should think so. Endymion had a knack for tinkering with finer metals,” Constantine answered.
“Then we start there. Xenobia might be on to something.” I stirred my drink methodically as I thought to myself. “How we get this information without the others finding out is the key.”
“What about Seraphine? She gave you Endymion’s ring, right? So she probably knows about other sacred jewelry if it were to exist?” Decimus offered.
“She’ll rat me out to my mom in a heartbeat,” I sniffed.
“Then it’s my time to shine!” Xenobia cracked her knuckles and shook her frazzled locks out. “I know how to butter her up! I bet you she’ll spill the beans to me!”
“You really think you can handle this, shrimp?” I taunted.
She nodded eagerly. “You focus on finding Ambermourn’s Shadows while I take care of my mom. We’ll regroup tomorrow night with any new information we’ve found.”
“Sounds like a plan.”