34. I’ll Listen to Every Secret
Chapter thirty-four
I’ll Listen to Every Secret
Xenobia
Mom and Dad were nowhere to be found today.
As I raced through the long hallways of Morgan Hall, all I could think about was how important my job was, and how I was going to pull this off successfully.
My stomach was in a knot as I knocked on multiple classroom doors, peeked inside, and groaned before moving onto the next floor.
“For two people who like to teach so much, you’d think they’d be in their dang classrooms! ” I snarled to myself.
As I sped by, Ptolemy looked up from a large tome he was cradling from his seat in the windowsill. He usually liked to study his Wind Elemental stuff in peace, so it wasn’t odd to see him by himself, but his presence did startle me. “Hey, Xena! Whatchya doing?” he chimed lovingly.
I smiled at his innocent tone. “Hey, Ptolemy. I’m looking for my parents, actually. Have you seen them at all?”
“Nope, can’t say I have.”
I looked over his shoulder at the book he was reading. The page he was on read, Particeps Potestatis across the top, and that made me blink in surprise. “What the heck are you reading, dude?”
“Oh, you know, nothing!” He slapped the book closed with a wicked blush. “Um, while you’re here, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something…”
“Hold that thought sweet cheeks!” I noticed Dad walking out of the library through the window and squealed happily. “I gotta run, but we can pick up this convo in my room later!”
“Oh, um, yeah, ok. How does seven sound?”
I flashed him a thumbs up as I walked backwards away from him. “Sounds good! See you then!”
“Yeah, see ya…” he whispered to himself, tucking the book under his chin as I teleported away. I didn’t think twice about his sad expression at first but kicked myself for it afterwards.
Dad jumped out of his skin when I teleported right in front of him. The papers he was holding scattered across the concrete, as did what was left of his sanity. I gasped in horror and flashed around to help him pick everything up before biting my lip in shame. “Er, sorry, Dad. That was my mistake!”
“It’s ok, little love,” he laughed as he centered himself. “Why are you just popping around campus today, anyway?”
“I was looking for Mom and thought maybe you two were together!”
“Your mother, eh?” He tapped his jaw as he thought about where she might be. “Did you check the arena? She was going over protocols for Nick’s new training schedule with Endymion earlier, so she might still be lingering there.”
Endymion and Mom in the same spot?
SCORE!
“I did not check there! I’ll go right now!” I kissed his cheek twice, which made him gleam happily. “Thanks daddy!”
“I’ll see you at dinner?” he reminded me.
“Of course!”
“Then off you go.” He gave me a tight squeeze before allowing me to whisk off after my mother, shaking his head to himself at how fast I ran.
“Ok, Xena, you need to chill. You are totally giving yourself away,” I said to myself, hoping my pep talk would settle my nerves.
Sure enough, Endymion and Mom were sitting on the bleachers of the Death arena with stacks of papers between them.
Endymion looked ready to rip his eyes right out of the sockets while Mom was droning on and on about something he probably didn’t give a damn about.
She had a knack for doing that, but I thought it was endearing that she was so passionate.
I crossed the dirt arena, panting wildly from running, and waved to the two, who waved back gingerly. “My sweet! What are you doing out here, beautiful?” Mom sang as she held her arms out.
I sat on the bleacher beside her and let her wrap me in her embrace, which was as warm and safe as it always was. “I was looking for you. I had some questions for an assignment that I thought you could answer. Endymion’s advice would be beneficial, too.”
“Me? Helpful? When do those words go together often?” he teased with a wink.
Mom and I rolled our eyes before she kissed my cheek softly. “We’re happy to help. What is your question?”
“Well…” I conjured a notepad and pen and tucked my legs up so I could write against them.
“Calyx wanted us to explore the topic of magic ruins and items. He said we should ask around and see if anyone knew of or had made something special to aid in their powers. Is there anything you two know of like that?” I lied through my teeth.
I hated lying to her so much.
She had been such a wonderful, supporting mother to me, even after we spent so many years apart, even though I wasn’t her biological child, and here I was throwing it right in her face.
I was ashamed of myself on an entirely new level but knew that I had to get this information whether I liked it or not, and however I could get it.
Mom looked to Endymion with an odd expression. It proved she knew something, that she wanted to speak but wasn’t sure of what to say, and she wanted his permission to do so. This was my first big break, as I knew whatever they were about to tell me was going to be incredibly important.
Endymion decided to answer for her. “Well, I have made quite a few trinkets in my time and passed them down to other Gods of Death to aid their powers.”
“Like what?” I innocently beckoned.
He rolled his lips as he recalled the items. “I made a ring for Nicodemus, a necklace for Seraphine, and a bracelet.”
“A bracelet?”
“It is very important,” Mom continued as she braided my obnoxious curls in her long fingers. “It has a one-time trick that can make or break an Elemental’s whole being.”
“And that trick would be…?”
Endymion stopped me. “I don’t know if this is something you should relay for a school project, Xena. This could be very dangerous knowledge to just put out in the world.”
I looked up from my notebook curiously. “You think anyone here would conspire against us?”
“Well, we’d like to think not, but it is a possibility,” Mom said unsurely.
I closed my notepad and folded my arms against my knees. “Then, humor me. I won’t put any of this information into the project, but now you’ve piqued my curiosity.”
“I don’t know, Xena…” he groaned while scratching the back of his neck.
I nudged him with my foot, which made him turn to me sadly. “Hey, I’m your half-daughter and a future God, right? Don’t you think you can trust me even a little bit? Just a tad?”
“She’s right, you know,” Seraphine said with a shrug.
Endymion glowed at what I said. “You still consider me a father, after all that has happened between Erasmus and I?”
“I mean, yeah, in a stepdad kind of sense.”
He laughed lightly and pinched my cheek. “Well, how could I deny that sweet smile?”
“I surely can’t,” Mom cooed with another kiss to my temple.
Endymion glanced over his shoulder to see if anyone was around before lowering his voice drastically. “The bracelet is a precious piece of jewelry. It has the ability to completely restore an Elemental being to the full power they were born with.”
“What…?” I gasped out.
Mom took over talking. “I was tasked with hiding the piece from prying eyes when I became a God. I have it hidden in Caelum, through a special door that only I can access.”
“Only you?” I pressed.
“Unless someone knew the door number, then yes, only me,” she confirmed.
I watched her braid another strand of my hair for a moment before asking my burning question.
“If something this important exists, don’t you think the others should know about it?
I mean, what if Pandora gets her hands on this thing?
We’re in deep shit, and no one would know why until it was too late. ”
“We keep it a secret for a reason. If only we know about it, then the information would be near impossible to travel.”
“You’ve never told anyone about this? Not Atlas, Ashlynn, Nick… not Dad? You didn’t write down anything about it or anything?” I asked.
Mom went to speak but abruptly paused. Her mouth contorted from a smile to a flat line, and she shot Endymion a cold, despondent look. “My journals…”
“Your what?” he popped.
Mom abruptly took my shoulders and spun me around. “Xena, my sweet, can you go find your father and tell him to come see me? I want to run something by him.”
I was hesitant to leave now that she had revealed so much, but I knew I would get caught if I didn’t play along. “Um, yeah, ok…” I stood and pulled my cardigan on better. “Sorry if I caused problems. I was only curious about some of the cool stuff you guys can make and do.”
Mom flashed me a worried smile, but a smile, nonetheless. “Don’t ever apologize for being curious. Let me know if you need any more information about your report, ok?”
“Sure thing. Love you, Mom.”
“I love you more, beautiful.”
I left the two whispering wildly to one another, knowing I was missing a big chunk to this story, but also knowing I had enough to go by for right now.
I spent the remainder of my day in the library.
I missed dinner with the Gods and, more importantly, my parents, who texted me a thousand times about my whereabouts.
I kept telling them I was wrapped up in my studies, and eventually, after sending a billion pictures of myself neck deep in tomes, they gave up and left me alone.
Mom’s comment about her journals got the wheels in my head moving, so I asked Benjamin to get me every one she had ever written that we had left from her days at Chandler.
He was able to scrounge up around seventy different copies, which meant I had a long night ahead of me, but it was worth it for the information.
By ten, my eyes were crossing from the ancient cursive and Latin I had been translating, a language I was still new to and had only roughly mastered.
My head hit the table with a loud thump, and an exhausted groan escaped me.
“Gods… you couldn’t have made this easy for me at all, could you, Mom… ” I whined.
A set of boots crossed the marble floor behind me. I was certain it was Benjamin coming to kick me out but was surprised when a cup of coffee hit the table beside me. “You missed our meet up, you loser,” Ptolemy innocently reprimanded me.