Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One) (18 page)

25

If You’re Reading This

Thursday, February 9th

PATRICK

M
y second trip to The Embassy went much better than the first; I actually listened to Nualla this time and kept my eyes firmly shut until we were all the way in. I still had absolutely no idea why we were here, but I knew it couldn’t be bad. For starters, Nualla had a huge grin on her face instead of well, kicking the crap out of me for keeping things from her.

We rode the elevator up to a different floor than before and walked down another long hallway. I was seriously beginning to wonder just how many hallways they could possibly fit into this building, when we stopped in front of a door with an impressive biometric hand reader panel that looked straight out of some futuristic tech movie. Though it seemed a bit moot since the door was wide open. By the ease with which Nualla walked in, it made me think she had been here a lot; unlike the agitation she had shown on the way to the Grand Council chambers.

The room was one of those stark white spotlessly clean tech rooms except for the massive amounts of electronic parts covering nearly all the available surfaces. There was also a large array of flat screen monitors displaying wire frame models of God only knew what. It felt as if we had just walked onto the set of some Sci-fi movie.

A tall blond guy in a white lab coat stood in front of a strange but impressive set of equipment. He was built similarly to Shawn, but not quite so broad-chested and looked to be in his early twenties. The guy’s hair was a tangle of wavy pale blond that swept into his eyes and curled out away from his face at his jawline making him look more like a movie star than a tech geek. I almost would have believed that he was an actor in one of those medical dramas if it wasn’t for the fact that he was wearing a navy blue shirt with the statement
Don’t Blink
, a pair of faded jeans, and bright red All Star high tops.

His head snapped up as we approached and a wide smile spread across his broad square-jawed face. “Hey, Nualla.”

“Hey, Travis,” Nualla greeted him in a friendly voice.

Since everyone else here seemed to only call Nualla “Arius” or “Arius Nualla,” I guessed the two of them had to have some history together.

Nualla slid onto the edge of the table next to him. “
So
…do you have it ready for me?”

The guy, Travis, smiled wider as he leaned forward, his dark black-blue eyes shining. “Did you ever have doubts it would be?”

“
Really
?” Nualla asked, clapping her hands together in excitement.

He nodded.

“You’re the best, Travis,” Nualla squealed as she threw her arms around him.

He let her hug him a second longer before taking a step back and saying with a bow, “Why thank you, my dear.”

From their body language I was beginning to seriously wonder just what
exactly
that history was.

Travis turned around to lean against the table next to Nualla. “
So
…is this your human?” he asked, gesturing to me with his head as he nudged her with his shoulder.

Nualla leapt up from the table and ran over to grab my arm. Pulling me forward she said with pride, “Yep! This is Patrick.”

“Hi I’m Patrick, Patrick Connolly—or I guess it’s Galathea now, isn’t it,” I said with a slight smug smile to Travis.

An emotion I couldn’t quite place crossed his face before disappearing. “I’m Travis Centrina and
this
is my lab,” Travis stated proudly, standing a little taller as he gestured to the array of equipment.

“Travis designed a lot of the cool things you see in The Embassy. He’s a genius, really,” Nualla stated as she slid back onto the edge of the table, kicking her feet back and forth through the air.

“Oh really, like what?” I asked, looking around the room; it was a little hard to tell what anything here actually
did
.

“Well like the door, the lobby illusion field, even that Blue Card you’re wearing around your neck,” Travis answered, ticking things off on his fingers.

“You mean that
thing
that nearly made me puke?” I asked without really thinking.

“You didn’t shut your eyes, did you?” Travis said with a self-satisfied smirk as he slid back onto the edge of the table next to Nualla.

“No he didn’t,” Nualla said with a small playful smile.

“I did
this
time,” I mumbled to myself. I didn’t like them being so close; didn’t like the feeling it caused to raise up inside me. It was bitter like acid rolling through my veins.

After a few moments of slightly awkward silence Nualla asked Travis, “So where is it?”

“Oh, it’s right over here,” Travis said, leaping to his feet and trotting over to a work table on the other side of the room. He picked something up and turned around with a huge grin. “Tada,” he said, holding out something that looked straight out of a steampunk movie. The glasses were sturdy brass with odd blue lenses that seemed to be glowing faintly.

“Are we going to a steampunk convention or something?” I asked. I seriously doubted it, but it was the only thing that came to mind.

“No, but it
will
help you see where we’re going,” Nualla answered as she slipped back off the table and moved closer to Travis to get a better look at the glasses.

“Where
are
we going?” I asked, looking back at her.

“It’s a surprise,” Nualla answered with an even bigger grin.

“Okay Patrick, put these on—” Travis said, handing me the glasses. “—and read that chart over there.”

I looked at where he was pointing; the letters were something weird like the writing on Nualla’s necklace, Daemotic, I think it was. “Sure,” I said, taking the glasses and sliding them on. “No problem,” I said in a slightly sarcastic voice.

When I put the glasses on, I didn’t expect to see much of a difference; but I was utterly wrong. The words that had been no better than a child’s made up writing before, were now in plain English. I slipped the glasses back off and the letters went back to
gobbledygook
. Slowly I slid them back on again, not taking my eyes off the chart. The minute the lenses crossed my eyes the letters began to dance into different forms. This time I actually kept them on long enough to read the message.

If you can read this, you will

probably be dead in a few minutes.

“I can read it!” I said excitedly and turned quickly to face Nualla. But when I caught sight of her and Travis I fell back into the table behind me. Whatever field they naturally created to conceal their true form was gone. “I can see you!” I said in shock.

“Well
yeah
,” Travis said, looking smug.

“No I mean I can
really
see you.”

Nualla looked at him, folding her arms. “
Travis
.”

“It was all or nothing honey.
You
asked me to make something that would allow him to see it. I can’t separate out our illusions, you know. It’s kind of a package deal.”

“You could have
told
him first though,” Nualla said, poking Travis in the chest. “I’d prefer him not to die of a heart attack, you know.”

She continued glaring at him until he rolled his almond-shaped eyes and put his hands on her shoulders. “Look, I’m
sorry
, okay Nulala?” It must have been a pet name, but Nualla only looked more annoyed instead of less when he said it. Nualla glared at him even more and surprisingly instead of looking concerned a crooked smile spread across his lips.

“So how do I look?” I blurted out abruptly.

Nualla turned her attention back to me, and a wide grin spread across her face. “You look really cool, actually.” She moved closer and pushed the hair away from my eyes. I just stared at her dumbly; now that I could see her for what she was I was powerless against her eyes. “Patrick?”

“Hmm…” I answered in a daze.

Nualla put her hand over her eyes and I snapped back to reality. “
Frak
, I forgot about the eyes.”

She turned to look at Travis, but he just shook his head. “Sorry Nualla, I can’t do anything about that.”

She looked back over at me. “Sorry Patrick. I’ll pick up some sunglasses or something on the way.”

“You’re taking me somewhere only meant for daemons, aren’t you?” I asked excitedly.

“Yep,” she answered with a huge grin. The second I looked at her eyes I was lost again.

“Hey Nualla, your dad said he had something he wanted to talk to you about before you left,” Travis said, a hint of a smile on his lips. He probably found the eye thing to be unbelievably hilarious.

“Oh really, what about?” Nualla asked as she looked back over at him.

“I don’t know, he didn’t say.”

“Okay then, I’ll be right back,” Nualla said as she walked to the door.

“Oh Nualla,” Travis said raising his voice a bit. “Your dad doesn’t
actually
know about the glasses. So do me a huge favor and don’t mention them to him, okay?”

“Will I get in trouble for having them?” Nualla asked, crossing her arms under her chest.

“Possibly,” Travis admitted sheepishly.

She sighed heavily before walking out the door. “Thanks, Travis.”

“Anytime, darling,” he said with a slightly mischievous smile.

Nualla reappeared a second later and pointed at Travis. “Promise you won’t break him while I’m gone.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Travis promised holding up his hands palms out.

“
Sure
you wouldn’t,” Nualla said, rolling her eyes before disappearing out of view again.

We sat in silence for a few minutes before Travis leaned against the table next to me and said, “You know if you hurt her I’ll kill you, right?”

“Yeah,” I said without looking at him. Silence hung in the air only broken briefly by the occasional noises of others outside or the beeping of machines. “You know if you try to take her from me, I will kill you, right?” I said in a serious voice, finally looking over at him.

“Yep. Wait,
what
?!” he sputtered as he leapt away from the table to glare at me.

“I may be blind half the time, but I’m not stupid. There is, or
was
something between you two once.”

Travis slumped into a chair and crossed his arms, looking away from me. “That ship has already sailed.”

“You
sure
about that?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Hey Patrick, I’m not sure if anyone has told you or not, but we pair off for life,” he said before finally meeting my gaze. “And she already married
you
. It’s a done deal. Unless you give me cause to get rid of you, there is really nothing I can do about it.”

“You wanted to marry her didn’t you?”

“Yep,” Travis answered, leaning back to look at a poster plastered on the ceiling above him.

“So why didn’t you ask her?”

He let the chair snap back up and glared at me. “Because
I
, being a sensible person, was waiting until after she at least got
out
of high school.”

“Oh, right,” I said sheepishly.

Silence returned, and I let my eyes wander around the room again. When I looked back at Travis he had his head resting on the back of his chair as he swung it back and forth. I recognized the gesture instantly; it was exactly what I did when I was thinking about things. Or more often than not, beating myself up for things that I had done, or
hadn’t
. Apparently, I wasn’t the
only
one who had been in love with her and had done nothing about it.

I hated to admit it, but it could have just as easily have been him who had ended up with her instead of me. And if I didn’t find a way to fix my current predicament, it would be him who got to be with her in the end. It was stupid really; why should a little piece of paper matter so much? As far as I could remember, the words I had spoken in the chapel had been truthful. The fact that I wasn’t an adult didn’t make those words—that oath—any less real or true.

Suddenly I had to know what Travis thought. I turned to him and asked rather abruptly, “Is it the paper or the oath to you?”

His head snapped up in my direction. “Huh?” He looked more than confused, and I realized I had basically started a conversation that was halfway through only in my head.

“Marriage; is it signified by an oath or by a legal document?”

Travis slumped back into the same position. “Oh um—the oath,” he answered then a moment later his face turned toward me again. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” I answered, looking away. I didn’t know what else to say, and Travis sure as hell didn’t look like he wanted to talk; so we sat there saying nothing.

After what seemed like hours, Nualla all but skipped back into the room. She stopped dead when the tension hit her and asked in a cautious voice, “Everything okay boys?”

“Peachy,” Travis replied, looking over at her.

“
Right
… “ she said in a less-than-convinced voice. “So Travis, anything I should know before Patrick and I head out?”

“You shouldn’t let him wear the glasses too long; don’t want him frying his brain,” Travis said, though he didn’t sound concerned in the least.

“Anything else I should know?”

“He’ll probably be really nauseous when he takes them off; so make sure he’s sitting down so he doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Anything
else
?” Nualla asked, starting to sound a little bit annoyed.

Travis bit his lip and stood up quickly from the chair. “Yeah,
this
,” he replied and in one swift motion he had his hand behind her head, pulling her face to his lips.

Nualla let him kiss her for one dazed moment before she pushed him away. “What the
hell
—?!”

I rushed him but Nualla threw her arm out, blocking my way. I screeched to a halt just before she clotheslined me.

“Care to explain
that
?” Nualla asked, raising an eyebrow at Travis.

Travis looked her dead in the eye, opened his mouth then clamped it shut again. His hands balled into fists so tightly his nails had to be digging into his palms. “I would
love
to Nualla, but it wouldn’t do either of us a damn bit of good,” he stated through gritted teeth. And then he walked out the door, shoving his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. “Oh and Patrick, don’t lose those or we’ll have to kill you,” he called over his shoulder.