2. The Debt that I Owe #2
“Should we ask him to leave?” I croaked.
Seraphine stood gracefully, but with a burning anger that perfumed from her.
“I believe so.” She guided me towards the check-in, where Zephryine was chatting with representatives from her Realm in delight.
She paused when she saw Seraphine and I approaching.
“Zephryine? Was there an Ambermourn on the roster for this evening?” Seraphine asked, peering over the podium at Zephryine’s check-in list.
“Ambermourn?” Zephryine popped, flipping through the pages of her clipboard wildly. “No, no Ambermourn… why?”
Seraphine looked back to the grand room, where sure enough, there was no sight of Ambermourn anywhere.
She ground her teeth and held her hand out to me.
“Give me his card.” I did as she asked. She burned the card immediately before laying a hand on the small of my back.
“Do not speak to him again. I will handle this.”
I answered in a confused tone, “I… yes, sure…”
“If you’ll excuse me…” she darted down the steps and toward the window Ambermourn had been smoking at, her long white hair dancing after her as she moved through the room.
“What was all that about?” Zephryine asked.
“I wish I could tell you…” I breathed back unsurely.
Dinner was served finally, a simple mix of long-stewed meats, potatoes, and an assortment of vegetables.
I didn’t have much appetite and ended up picking at the tender short ribs on my plate with a scowl.
My mind was buzzing after that weird encounter with Ambermourn, and since Seraphine had yet to come back, I was worried this was deeper than I thought.
Odysseus busied himself with his own meal for a while, but eventually, he laid a hand on my shoulder and leaned in to whisper, “You look tense. Something on your mind?”
I shrugged. “Lots of interesting characters tonight is all. I wonder what they think about us, how they feel about us as Gods-to-be. I’m trying to get a gauge on the room is all,” I lied through my teeth. It was a half-lie, but I didn’t need anyone else worrying about the Ambermourn thing.
“Hmm, I see what you mean.” He sipped his wine and set the glass down carefully. “I haven’t heard negative things per say, but that means nothing. I’m sure they’re discussing us right now, picking us apart like vultures.” He cringed at the thought.
“Way to calm me down,” I snorted, which made him laugh softly.
“My vines haven’t heard anything bad… yet, anyway,” Sebastian added as he spun a tiny green vine around his fingertips.
“Those things can echo-locate?” I questioned in awe.
He kissed a leaf on the vine before sending it back through the room.
Odysseus and I craned our heads as we watched it slither under a table of representatives from the Water Realm.
“Something like that. It’s a little murky, but I can read the vibrations of voices through their feelers and decipher messages. Neat trick, eh?”
“You surprise me more and more every day,” Odysseus chuckled.
Endymion appeared from seemingly nowhere and tapped my shoulder. “Hey. I wanted to apologize about earlier, with the girls. They’re a bit overwhelming but have good intentions. They’re mourning their mother, believe it or not, and don’t know how to handle their emotions.”
“I’m not offended. Though, how many rogue daughters do you have running around?” I sniffed with a raised eyebrow.
Endymion rolled his eyes gently. “Not many. Icheiris was mainly an experiment.”
“Father of the year,” Erasmus barked as he passed by, which made Endymion’s eyes narrow as he attempted to bite his tongue.
Odysseus and I did share a chortle at Erasmus’s comment but tried not to laugh openly in Endymion’s face. “I see you two are getting along well tonight?” Odysseus sarcastically commented.
“Swimmingly,” Endymion sneered.
I patted his back gently. “Why don’t you find someone you know to stick by, if you and Erasmus are butting heads so much.
I’m sure Calypso or Esen would like your company, or maybe an old friend…
?” As I said this, I caught a glimpse of Seraphine’s white hair brushing through the back doorway.
I trailed off mid-sentence as I watched her hurry through the room, her Shadows dissipating with nods to her as they disappeared.
I noticed she was dragging Dad with her, who had a look of horror plastered across his face, and this made me set my fork down immediately.
“Something is going on…” I breathed, mostly to myself, before ghosting towards the hallway they skittered down.
“Way to leave us hanging!” Odysseus called after me, shaking his head to a laughing Griffin and Praxis before allowing Endymion to join their conversation.
I moved through bodies fluidly at first, but grew tired of bobbing through the crowd, so I morphed into a shadow and darted into the dark spots in the room to chase after the two.
I was able to bounce between the shadows cast by curtains and dinner carts until I found them tucked into a corner by the doors leading towards west campus.
Dad was trembling as Seraphine shook him once, her eyes wide as she tried to convey her message clearly. “Atlas, he’s gone, I swear. I searched every inch of this building for him. The only thing left of him was that notecard.”
Dad spoke in a jittery tone, his teeth actually clattering when he forced words through them. “He got close to Nick, too close. I can’t-… Gods, I wish I had noticed sooner!”
“What matters is that he’s gone, and we keep it that way.
I plan to look into where his card said he dwells and make the message clear that he stays gone.
” Seraphine wound her arms around Dad tenderly.
“I promise, my sweet, I will not let him get close to you or Nick again. I needed to tell you what happened, so you were aware is all.”
Dad took a steady breath before nodding shakily and leaning into her embrace. “You’re sure he’s gone? Like, gone, gone? I don’t think I can keep it together if I run into him tonight.”
Seraphine slid his bangs behind his ear. “Long gone. My Shadows are guarding the entrance to the Realm, too, to be safer than sorry. There are so many people here tonight… he probably snuck in with someone else as a plus one.”
“Looks like we need to find out who this guy is, and fast. We might have a new threat beyond Pandora to be concerned about,” I thought to my Shadows.
“I was thinking the same thing…” Claude grumbled in return.