Chapter 39 Sage
Lucian took one look at the texts and flung his phone across the room. The only reason it didn’t break was because he had some kind of military-grade protection case on it that even held up to vampire strength. And if Lucian was visibly upset enough to show it, then something was really wrong.
“What is it?” Khalid asked.
“Her burner phone does emojis. There’s nothing we can read. Everything is in emoji. I’ve got no idea what it says.”
“Mate, the only emoji you shouldn’t know is the squid emoji.”
“What does the squid mean?” Khalid asked.
Liam just smiled mysteriously and mimed zipping his lips. Did we really do all that for nothing? I sighed and plopped on the bed. The phone was supposed to tell us everything.
“It makes sense,” Mazen said. “Apep wrote in hieroglyphs. He would have taught them to Hemlock. Radames and Lola are both awake, so, technically, they should remember them. They are both eighteen or nineteen years old, so emojis are more familiar to them. They just used emojis like hieroglyphs.”
“Does anyone know hieroglyphs?” Ivar asked, glaring at Mazen like he was supposed to know.
Mazen was brilliant, just more in a street-smart way.
He told us he knew so much about Egyptian gods because he was trying to get away from gang life and got a job setting up exhibits at one of the museums. He said it was just lifting heavy shit, but he paid attention because he found it interesting.
I doubt he knew ancient languages. I wasn’t even all that sure Khalid did, and he seemed to know everything.
“We learn languages in school in Egypt, but not ancient ones. The only people I know that might know Egyptian hieroglyphs are Headmaster Mykene and Professor Kane,” Khalid said.
“Well, I happen to be a master of emojis. Haven’t you seen the group texts?” Liam asked.
“I blocked you after you kept adding me back,” Lucian drawled. “You kept sending me eggplants, tacos, and smiley faces with devil horns and I thought you were hangry.”
“I was trying to get an orgy started, you Muppet.”
“Then you should just say that. I thought you were expecting me to be your servant and steal from the kitchen.”
“Oh, hon,” Liam said.
“Let Liam try,” I said, handing him the device Lucian downloaded everything to.
Liam turned the whole thing upside down and stared at it for a minute. I really hoped he could do something because we had nothing.
“First off, this phone only has messages between two people and they go back two years and mostly stopped after they got here. We know the Egyptian school has everything this one does in terms of pools and has been closed for renovations for a few years,” Liam said.
“I looked around for people like me when I got kidnapped and woke up in a room full of white people,” Mazen said.
“It was just Radames and Khalid. Khalid looked just as freaked out as I did, but Radames seemed perfectly calm. After we talked a bit, I thought it was just because his father was strict and he didn’t show emotions, but if he and Lola somehow found the Egyptian school and fully explored it, he probably knew exactly what was happening. ”
“If they got there after the school was cleared of students, but before they moved anything out to start, it would have been clear it wasn’t a normal school. Most people want to hop in for a dip when they see a hot spring,” Liam said.
“We need to get Headmaster Mykene in touch with whoever is running the Egyptian school,” I said. “It wasn’t the pool at Ouroboros that woke them up. They’ve been awake and plotting for two years. They may have even been killing before they got here.”
“Except according to the flash drive Headmaster Mykene gave you, Lola was taken in Peru and Radames was kidnapped in Egypt. Maybe they aren’t lovers in this life,” Lucian said.
“There are a lot of smiley faces with horns in these texts, mate. You don’t text someone that emoji unless you want a ride,” Liam said. “There’re also loads of texts that he wants to put his eggplant in her taco. They are totally shagging.”
“Yeah, but she was also into fucking me and, apparently, she’s into the rest of the school, too,” Mazen said.
“Hemlock was originally a fairy,” Adrian said. “They aren’t monogamous. They are generally okay with open relationships as long as no one is sneaking around and everyone is honest. Most of the time, they like playing together.”
“Yeah, but Lola was never a fairy. She just has Hemlock’s memories from when she was. Radames and Apep were never fairies. Mazen, you know Radames. Would he be into open relationships?” I asked.
“I don’t know anything about him. Everything was a lie. He acted like sex before marriage was a one-way ticket to his Hell, but the eggplant emoji is universal. You can’t send one unless you’re smashing or want to smash.”
“You’re all weird,” Lucian said.
“Why don’t the people who speak emoji try to figure out what these texts say and the rest of you get with Headmaster Mykene about the Egyptian school?” Alexios said.
Ivar, Mazen, Ari, Alexios, and Adrian growled when they realized Iman was coming with Khalid, Lucian and me. Liam stayed behind because he had a better chance of reading the texts. I pulled him aside before we left.
“Try to break it up if Ivar attacks Mazen.”
“They might need to settle it with their fists.”
“I don’t think that would be good for Ari or Iman.”
“Will do, love. Lucian and Khalid better protect you while I’m in here trying to decipher the sexts between Forsaken Ones.”
“You know they will.”
“I do, but it makes me feel like they are trying harder if I threaten them.”
“Bye, Liam,” I said, giving him a kiss.
I wasn’t all that sure anyone could decipher anything from emojis, but I had a better feeling about talking to Headmaster Mykene.