Chapter Seven #2
“What does Lily think happened?” Killian pressed.
He was a little startled at how disconcerted Marcus seemed.
Marcus was always impeccably dressed, never at a loss for words, and seemed like he had endless knowledge about everything.
But what had happened to Bréagha had definitely sent him for a loop.
“She thinks that Bréagha is something more than just a Sentinel and that the phoenix bonded to her physically, not just her soul.” Marcus finally said the words out loud, softly, almost reverently.
“Physically? Like a close encounter of the third kind?” Bréagha asked.
“Wouldn’t it be like the fifth or sixth kind?” Aiden asked, brows furrowed like the answer was the most important thing right now. Bréagha grinned.
“Maybe. We should probably think about this. Third kind is actually coming into contact, right? Like you met the pilot. The fourth is abduction, while the fifth is experimentation. Sixth would be possession?” Aiden nodded along with Bréagha while Roz, Marcus, and Killian looked at the pair like they’d truly lost the plot.
“What. Are. You. Two. Talking. About?” Killian finally interjected as Aiden and Bréagha started debating the different levels.
“You know…aliens.” Bréagha laughed at Killian’s face.
“You’ve never heard of aliens, have you,” scoffed Aiden, seeing their confusion. Bréagha whipped her head around, groaning slightly at the pain that shot through it, but Kat’s concoction must’ve been working because she didn’t feel as much pain as she had before.
“What Americans call immigrants?” Marcus looked proud that he had figured it out, then frowned when Bréagha and Aiden cracked up.
“Oh man. Marcus, I needed that. What Americans call immigrants. That’s awesome.” She wiped tears off her face from laughing so hard. Aiden decided to take mercy.
“Aliens are what people on Earth call extraterrestrial beings from space, beings from other planets besides Earth. We like to believe we aren’t alone in that infinity of space.
” Marcus brought a notebook from his back pocket and wrote down what Aiden had just said to look up later.
He didn’t spend a lot of time learning about Earth’s pop culture topics.
Maybe he should join Colin and his Sentinels during movie nights.
“They probably saw someone from one of the other realms and mistook it for some space person. Like how they think you’re Odin,” offered Rozengwyn from her spot next to Bréagha’s bed. It was Aiden’s turn to whip his head around.
“Wait! What? You’re Odin? The All-Father?” he managed to gasp. Marcus groaned.
“No, though Sentinels are usually the ones to go to the different realms, sometimes someone from one of the other factions go to help. And though we all try to keep a low profile when we leave the Garden, sometimes it doesn’t all go to plan.
Sometimes our acts are witnessed, and humans are amazing at creating explanations for extraordinary events.
Sometimes those explanations make us gods.
” Marcus looked utterly sheepish as he answered Aiden.
“Who else has inadvertently become gods?” inquired Bréagha, fascinated by this turn of events.
“Drago is Thor!” Roz volunteered.
“Lily, I believe is Freya and Athena,” Killian piped in. Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I think we all are gods, somewhere,” He admitted. “Donegal gets immense joy from it.”
“Mind officially blown,” stated Aiden as he sat on the foot of Bréagha’s bed.
“Anyway, let’s move this conversation back where it needs to be,” stated Marcus.
“What does it mean if she bonded with a Phoenix physically?” Killian was more than ready to continue that conversation. He didn’t want them to find out who he was.
“It means that Lily thinks that she can physically turn into a phoenix. Or at least have some physical attributes like catching on fire and surviving,” explained Marcus, glad for the change of topic.
He looked down at his little notebook again.
“We aren’t completely sure which or to what extent.
Like if she can fly or now can be reborn if she’s fatally injured. ”
He glanced up when there were no follow up questions or comments from the others. They were all looking at him with a series of different looks from incredulous to concerned to absolutely uncomprehending.
“Like a were-phoenix? Lycan-nix?” Bréagha asked. Killian rolled his eyes.
“There’s no such thing as were-phoenix and lycan-nix isn’t a word.”
“Well, what would you call whatever it is that he just said?” Bréagha asked. Killian ran his hand down his face and tried not to growl at her insanity but the grin on her face told him he didn’t quite succeed.
“We’ll have to do some testing once you are well enough to,” Marcus responded, sidestepping Bréagha’s question.
“Lily is still doing research, and we’ll let everyone know as soon as we find anything else.
We were both really worried and I needed a break, so I wanted to swing by and check in with you. ”
His assessing gaze swept over Bréagha. “Have you noticed anything since you woke up?”
“I don’t seem to have any scars or freckles. Oh, and the big ass tattoo on my back that wasn’t there before.” Bréagha gestured to her back and Marcus moved behind her to see what she was talking about. He leaned closer.
“This certainly wasn’t there last night. Didn’t you have a different tattoo on your shoulder?” He moved the hospital gown just a little to where he thought he remembered her tattoo being last night. Her skin was flawless except for the phoenix.
“Yes! It was an awesome one too! It was the Tardis Van Gogh style with sunflowers. Aiden got it for me when we turned 18. Wait, Aiden do you still have yours?” Bréagha turned to her friend and watched as he moved his shirt to check and sighed when he nodded.
“Yep, still here.” Killian, who was standing right next to him, looked over and saw a blue box surrounded by flowers.
“You voluntarily got flowers tattooed on you?” Killian couldn’t help but ask. Aiden grinned.
“I lost a bet. If I had won, she would’ve had to get a Dalek or Galifreyan script. I lost so I had to get the Tardis Van Gogh style with sunflowers,” answered Aiden.
“Are you speaking English? What’s a Dalek and what is Galifreyan script,” questioned Killian, but Marcus cut in before the conversation could get off the rails further.
“It seems like during the Soulbinding, you did indeed, change physically, which leads us to believe that you, at the very least, have physical attributes of the phoenix. Seems like you’ve been reborn without the scars of your past.” Marcus wrote this down in his little notebook as well.
He also made a note to start adding more pop culture training for the Sentinels; besides the action films he knew Colin favored, couldn’t hurt.
“Okay then. I’m going back to the stacks and will add this to our list of things to look for.
” He put his notebook back in his pocket then walked over to Bréagha.
He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
She looked startled and he smiled. Foster care didn’t come with a lot of affection, but she would get used to it.
He glanced over at Killian and sighed. Maybe not.
That boy was born and raised in the Garden and was still prickly.
“Take care of her Rozengwyn, and I’ll check in again tomorrow.” Marcus said his goodbyes then left the room, eager to tell Lily what he discovered.
“Okay. Now, Bréagha, how do you feel? Any better than when you first woke up,” inquired Kat, as she walked back in the room with an arm full of clean clothes. Bréagha looked inwards and took note that her muscle soreness was just about gone, her head felt much better, and her throat felt fine.
“I’m much better Kat, thank you.” Her throat may feel better, but it still sounded like she’d spent the previous night screaming, which she guessed she had.
“Throat still sore?” questioned Kat at the sound of her still husky sounding voice.
“No, my throat feels perfect.” Bréagha looked down at her scarless legs and huffed. She had earned each and every one of her scars. “This isn’t permanent, is it? Like my new skin?”
Kat glanced at her and frowned. “I can’t say either way.
This isn’t something any of us have ever heard of, let alone seen.
We’ll have to wait and see. You are more than welcome to go to your new cottage and rest. I’ll check on you tomorrow.
” She made a few more notes on Bréagha’s chart then left the room, leaving Roz with the three Sentinels.
“Ready to go?” She waited for the nods before she created her portal.
She couldn’t teleport three people in and out instantly, even though that was a lot easier.
Aiden helped Bréagha up and out of the bed, then through the portal with Killian following behind closely.
Roz looked around the room to make sure nothing was left before stepping through herself.
She had a feeling she would have to stick pretty close to this Sentinel.