Chapter Twenty-Three
“Ten minutes,” Jackson warns from his command post at the dining room table. He’d decided that after last week’s rocky start, we needed to formally regroup, and somehow that’s translated into turning the entire meal area of his apartment into our war room.
By the looks of it, he’s also come ready to cauterize some of the more significant bleeders that were causing friction between him and his younger brother.
Because there Zeus and Apollo sit–shoulder-to-shoulder, identical tablets and glasses of whiskey at the ready.
Something I must try to wrap my head around—both the adopted monikers and the biological connection.
The resemblance really is fucking uncanny, though. And not just in the dark swathes of hair, blue eyes, and sharp jawlines—it’s in the way they wear their dual mantles of leadership.An echo in the carriage of their shoulders, in the way twin gazes sweep across their team. Checking in and then double-checking again.
Dotting every I and crossing every T .
And I find having double that steadiness to rely on soothing.
Whatever it was, it’s given me the first glimmer of hope that we might make it through this in one piece.
Hermes sits in front of a pair of borrowed monitors, furiously bolstering firewalls and sorting out ping issues for each of our newly encrypted connections to the various Imperium networks and databases.
In contrast to Hermes’s manic energy is Sabine. Something is off with her today, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. Her complexion seems paler, there’s a wane pull to her cheeks, as well as a subtle blue bruising below her eyes. Perhaps she hasn’t been sleeping well.
Though I don’t think many of us have been, to be honest.
Especially after hearing her so blithely explain the story behind her scar.
We had spent almost seven years collectively wondering just what the fuck happened to Sabine Winters. After she had disappeared without a single trace from our lives, one day in December.
I have no memories of anything before the accident.
A passing comment for her, and yet a colossal bombshell for us.
I force my gaze away from her, wrestling with the compulsion to run my knuckles over the phantom pain in my chest.
The only restless members of our group seem to be the three Enforcers—taking turns cleaning their weapons and stalking through the apartment like caged animals.
All in all, there’s still a lot of work to be done, with neither party able to rely on the safety net of our employers like we had in the past. But no matter the nature of the next task, we were at least more ready to dive in than we were during our first attempt.
I glance back down to the tablet in my hand, calmly swiping through various camera feeds.
Now that the secret seems to be out between Sloane Walker and my brothers, I’ve been interested to see what her movements look like around the Academy. So far, either she’s gotten really good at detecting my blindspots, or she’s been spending an inordinate amount of time off-campus.
Either way, she’s become somewhat of a ghost this last week.
“Get ready,” Apollo calls, right before Zeus’s phone flashes and the Herald’s chime fills the space.
The two of them immediately lean their heads together, taking in the announcement.
“Okay, this is what we have,” the older Grayson calls out.
I look down at my own screen to find a forwarded copy of the broadcast.
〉〉〉〉 START OF ENCRYPTED MESSAGE
〉〉〉 THE TWELVE LABORS OF SUCCESSION
〉〉 TRIAL II
〉 The beast with many heads rises with new growth
├ TASK: DISCOVERY
├ TARGET: THE LERNA CORPORATION
├ AFFILIATIONS: Confirmation Required
├ LAST KNOWN LOCATION: Themis
├ DEADLINE: 23 hours, 59 min from digital receipt of message
“Fuck, yes ,” Hermes cheers with an enthusiastic fist pump. “ Team Discovery ,” he crows, holding up a palm for me to high-five.
I only quirk an eyebrow at him. While I’m relieved to see a positive trend upward in his mood today, he knows as well as I do that he’s not getting any kind of skin from me.
Unperturbed, he turns to address the rest of the room, “Shit’s my jam ,” he assures us.
I roll my lips inwards at the heated looks both Sabine and Dionysus shoot in his direction as his narrow hips continue to wiggle in his seat. I also don’t miss the way both Graysons pointedly avert their eyes back down to their screens.
“Sabine?” Zeus calls out. Hermes spins back to lock on his screens, fingers poised over his keyboard.
Sabine’s head is tipped back against the couch cushion behind her. A small crease forms in her brow as she gathers her thoughts.
“LERNA’s a bit of a point of contention for the Imperium. The Arbiter likes everyone to live and work happily together, all neatly wrapped up with an affiliation bow,” she explains, pulling herself up a little on her seat. “If a citizen or an entity doesn’t wish to formally declare for either the North or the South, they can promise to serve both Sovereignties equally—and declare themselves Neutral instead.”
“And LERNA’s Neutral?” Ares asks, gruffly.
“Not exactly ,” she continues with a small lift of her shoulder. “All entities are also required to both publicly register any assets, as well as disclose details of ownership and incorporation. Everything from the shareholders to the board of directors down to their janitorial staff.”
“So what’s the issue?”Apollo asks. His fingers lace together on the tabletop as he unconsciously leans toward her.
“The problem is LERNA’s not just a simple umbrella corp, it’s more like multiple ghost subsidiaries in a trench coat, masquerading as a multinational conglomerate.”
“ The beast with many heads ,” I murmur and she nods.
“And not knowing exactly who ’s behind LERNA would rankle the Arbiter to no end,” Zeus supplies, knowingly.
“Exactly,” Sabine agrees. “I know from personal experience that following the trail on any of their public-facing companies only leads to a shell company. Which leads to another dead end of a registry notice and so forth.”
“It says last known location: Themis,” Apollo muses. “Do we have listings for all Underworld businesses operating in Themis?”
I shake my head, and my best friend shoots me a quizzical look. “They were at the Symposium,” I say pointedly.
“Most likely,” Zeus agrees, giving me an encouraging smile. It’s warm and my spine pulls straight.
“ That ’s why it says Themis,” Sabine repeats, nodding again. “It’s technically No Man’s Land, so they could technically operate there, but I doubt the Arbiter would allow them to do so from right under her nose like that.”
“Of course, that would be too fucking easy,” Dionysus quips, beginning to dismantle the same exact handgun for the third time today.
“I hate riddles,” Hermes whines loudly.
“What happened to Team Discovery? ” Sabine teases him.
“Give me something tangible to find or a virtual barrier to breach. Just don’t ask me to think logically,” he grouses, and I can’t help the soft smile that pulls at my cheek.
Because I fucking love riddles.
“And Dürerca, Inc ’s a bust as well,” Hermes announces, slamming his chair back.
He stalks off towards the kitchen.
He’s not the only one who’s frustrated. We’re all starting to fray at the seams.
We sent the Enforcers out of the apartment at about the four hour mark, unable to stand their frustrated energy any longer.
Eight hours of slamming our heads against a wall made of LERNA’s non-existent boards of directors and forged stakeholder meeting minutes, and we’re no closer to discovering anything.
Eight hours of me surreptitiously watching every blink and every muscle twitch that Sabine makes. I’ve given her a wide berth. Keeping her as far from my personal space as possible. I need to conserve my focus for the task at hand and her proximity is a focus drain at best.
I don’t want to be the reason we forfeit a second Labor.
Flexing my fingers, I flip the tablet back over, hoping that taking a break from staring down the same nine words for hours might grant me a much-needed fresh perspective.
It’s the same jumble of words.
The beast with many heads rises with new growth.
The beast. Many heads. Rises.
The beast rises.
Many heads rise.
Rises with new growth.
The beast rises with new growth.
New growth.
“What would you consider ‘new growth’?” I throw at the room, voice tired. My chords aren’t used to the constant stretch of use but I was determined that if I could speak up during discovery I would.
“Expansion? Evolution?” Apollo replies from his new spot on the couch. Both he and Zeus had migrated there shortly after Dionysus, Ares, and Morales had left.
“Inflation?” Zeus adds, without any real conviction.
“What about... literal growth?” I ask, running a finger along my brow.
“Like, a seed? Sapling? Sprout?” Apollo starts listing.
I blink. Then blink again. “And what does all new growth have in common?”
“Dirt?” Hermes asks helpfully, his blond curls flying as he skips back in from the kitchen, a red popsicle between his lips.
“No, it's usually what?”
“ Green ,” Sabine suddenly calls from across the room. My eyes instantly jump to hers. There’s always a magnet pull that has me finding her no matter where she is in the room.
“Green,” I agree, locking my gaze on hers. “ The Green Knight, ” she mouths, and I nod.
A nauseous bubble of relief pops.
“You think the Green Knight was behind LERNA?” asks Zeus, rising from his seat.
“Not necessarily,” Sabine replies, staring straight ahead as she no doubt turns over what she knows of the fallen Sovereign.
“Rises with new growth ,” Apollo blurts, emphasizing rises.
I nod, excitement growing that he’s picked up on my line of thought.
“Rises?” Zeus questions.
“As in rising from the ashes.” I clear my throat before I continue. “LERNA’s setting up shop in Maker’s Bay. Moving into the void left by the Green Knight.”
Zeus spins in place at my words, a finger pointed directly at Hermes, where he’s practically bouncing in his seat, waiting for instructions.
“Hermes, pull up a property search for the city of Maker’s Bay. I want a list of all recent real estate purchases, including any still in escrow. Line it up against utilities and zoning permits for commercial properties,” Zeus commands. “Hades, go through business registrations, focusing on the newly incorporated.”
“Going back how far?” Hermes asks for us both.
“At least four months, anything that’s been listed since the Green Knight’s death.”
The only sounds then are the sounds of fingers flying across keyboards and the tapping of my stylus.
“Okay,” Hermes announces, finally. He swivels his monitor so that we can all get a visual comparison between our two sets of search results.
“There’ve only been four properties with commercial ordinances purchased inside the city limits in Maker’s Bay, inside of the last sixteen weeks.”
“And the companies?” Zeus prompts.
I turn my own screen around, pinching to zoom in on the table of data for them. “One of the properties was bought and then leased by an established property management outfit, but the other three are all new entities. There’s Hagden & Sons, Ltd , a Finis, Inc. and a Red Brick Co. ”
“Who’s on the paperwork?”
“ Hagden & Sons is registered to a Bill Hagden, Snr. Finis, Inc , to an Agnes Day, and Red Brick belongs to a Peter Farrow,” I read out.
Sabine frowns, staring straight through us all while scratching at her temples like the words are itching at the back of her skull.
“Can you repeat those?” she asks, and Hermes reads them out once more.
“Flick them through, please. I need to look at the list of words. Something about the sound is throwing me off.”
Her screen lights up with the attached email and her eyes fly back and forth across the screen. Over and over, until I see the moment the light goes off for her. “ Finis, Inc ,” she exclaims.
I look back down at my screen, reading the business registration information again.
FINIS, INC.
61 New Circle Way, Maker’s Bay, GA 30000.
Agnes Day.
Something in the sound is throwing me off.
That’s when I see it. Or rather hear it.
“Not ‘Agnes Day’ , ” I groan. “ Agnus Dei .”
Zeus straightens in his seat. “ Agnus Dei ?”
“ Lamb of God ,” Apollo murmurs.
“61 New Circle,” Sabine emphasizes. “61. Six. One.”
“What’s the significance of the numbers?” Zeus asks urgently as he stands, voice rising with the movement.
“ And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, ‘Come and see’,” Sabine recites, “Revelation 6:1.”
“Registered August first. It’s a closed corporation, too. No board of directors,” Hermes cuts into to confirm, eyes skimming his screen again.
“ Finis ,” I rasp, the final piece of the puzzle clicking into place. “The end. The end times. Book of Revelation.”
“The Book of the Apocalypse,” Apollo muses with his brows raised.
“No wonder the Arbiter’s pissed,” Sabine says with a grin. “The answer to her question is The Four Horsemen .”