Paranormal Chaos by Joshua Roots

Author:Joshua Roots
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Flight

“With the monster dead, Theseus claimed his prize in Ariadne. Together they set sail for Athens.”

—The Legend of Ariadne

“This is a travesty.”

“Understatement of the century, Dad.”

“Humor is uncalled for right now, Marcus.”

My ears burned with embarrassment. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”

He sighed heavily into the phone. “Me too. I’m just...stunned.”

“I think everyone is. Hell, I’m still reeling from it myself.”

“How’s Steve?”

I glanced at the booth where my friend was staring into an enormous mug of coffee. “Still in shock.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s going through at the moment.”

“Me neither.”

“He’ll be okay. This wound will heal. Not anytime soon, but eventually. The ache will always remain, but one day he’ll wake up and the stabbing pain in his chest will have subsided.”

I watched the waitress offer him more coffee. The horns never moved. After a moment, the lady walked back behind the counter.

I pulled my gaze from Steve. “I hope you’re right.”

“You recovered.”

“I didn’t violently lose a parent.”

“No, but you did lose friends at a very young age.”

“It took years for me to mend physically. Even longer emotionally.”

“But you did mend. Steve’s hardy. I have faith that he’ll get through this. He can’t do it alone, though.”

I rubbed my eyes, still unable to erase the image of Europa dead on the hallway floor. “I’ll be there when and if he needs me. Anyway,” I said, getting back to the issue at hand, “we need cash so we can get back to DC. This place has a substation, so you can wire us the money.”

Everything—my wallet, sat phone, ammo and food—was still in my backpack at the Minotaur hut. Only the generous nature of a truck driver had gotten us from the middle of nowhere to the diner.

“They still have those?” Dad asked.

“Apparently.”

“Why not let Devon reach out to the Canadian ambassador to speed your entry into the States?”

“I’d prefer to fly under the radar. Steve doesn’t think Makha will waste resources hunting us down, but something about the swiftness of this whole thing smells bad. I’d rather be overly cautious. Best to use the back door while his attention is elsewhere.”

“Back door meaning the Underground.”

“Yes.”

“Ah.” He sounded like he hated the idea, but at least he didn’t question it. Instead, his voice was muffled as he spoke to someone on his end. “Okay, your mother will send you funds.”

“Ask him if he’s eaten,” Mom shouted in the background.

“Please tell her I’m fine,” I said before Dad repeated it.

He laughed softly. “So how long till you get home?”

“If all goes well, a couple days at most.”

“Devon wants to meet when you arrive.”

I swore under my breath. “So this is how it ends, huh? Years of trying to overcome my childhood mistakes, only to get drummed out because of something none of us saw coming.”

“You don’t know that yet,” he replied. “The Elders will meet soon and I have no doubt your future will be one of the many, many topics of conversation.”

“I won’t hold my breath.”

“How about having some faith before assuming the worst.

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