“Cross, don’t…” Job began.
“Oh, please.” Tessie rolled her eyes. “You think I don’t
know
that Job’s friggin’ perfect? That I somehow
missed
it?”
Job tried again, even though they were completely ignoring him, now. “I’m not perfect, but…”
“Exactly!” Cross continued righteously. “He’s perfect, Quintessence. So why are you trying to dump him?”
Job raised his voice a bit to get their attention. “Stop.” He wasn’t overjoyed that Cross was glowering at Tessie, but it was nice that the boy threw in with him so quickly and defended him like that. Plus, Cross had called Job his uncle out loud and in public. That was actually sort of sweet. In fact, it was more progress in thirty seconds than Job had made with Cross in the past two hundred years. All thanks to Tessie. “Cross, I appreciate the support, but don’t swear at my Match, please.”
Cross grunted. “You want me to get Nia to come talk to her?”
“That’s thoughtful, but…”
“Hello? Can I interrupt the male bonding?” Tessie snapped. “Cross, this isn’t about me not wanting Job as my Match.”
Job smiled at that gratifying news.
Tessie shot him an irritated look. “Shut-up.” She muttered, even though he hadn’t said anything. Her gaze flicked back to Cross. “Look, it’s dangerous, okay?
I’m
dangerous. People will attack Job to get to me. I’ve seen it happen before. Do you really want to risk Job’s life, just so he can be with me? Seriously?”
Cross’ expression compressed into a worried, aggravated sort of frown. “Job?” He turned to look at his uncle. Apparently, Cross now had elected himself the mediator of their dispute.
“She’s my Match.” Job shrugged. “Would you part with Nia because she was frightened that you’d be hurt by the Water House’s enemies? Just let her walk away from you because of Chason or Parald?”
That was the right card to play. The Water House had a lot of enemies. Cross nodded sagely. “Good point.” He glanced back down at Tessie. “Job can take care of himself.”
“You’re both idiots.” Tessie declared.
Cross made a face and looked back to Job. “I really think Nia should talk to her. Your Match doesn’t like me.”
“No, I really don’t. But, that’s irrelevant.” Tessie agreed distractedly. “Job.” Her hand came up to fiddle with her necklace. “You’re -like- blinded right, now. But, if you give it a little time, you’ll get that I’m right. You don’t want to get stuck with a screw-up like me for a Match.”
“Yes, I do.” Job shook his head. “And you aren’t a screw-up. You’re…” He trailed off as a strange sensation gripped him. A blinding headache caused his vision to swim and hot/cold flash seared his insides. Job squeezed his eyes shut in pain.
“Job?” Tessie’s voice went high. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.” The words were automatic and Job struggled to focus. “It’s nothing. I just… Tess, you aren’t a screw-up. You’re the center of my life.”
His tone sounded normal to his own ears, but Tessie must’ve heard something that he didn’t. She stopped trying to get away from him and moved forward, instead. “Honey, are you sick?” She reached over to grab his arm. “You look pale, all of a sudden.”
“Sick?” Cross latched on to the word and Job saw concern flicker in his mercury gaze. Elementals didn’t get sick… except for the Fall. “Job?” He moved forward, too, his hand gripping Job’s wrist feeling for a pulse.
Job knew why he did that. Every surviving Elemental would have. The first symptoms of the Fall had been a racing pulse and icy skin. “I’m not sick.” Job ground his teeth as another agonizing spasm went through him, but managed to keep his expression calm. “Cross, stop that. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.” Tessie’s tone grew even more alarmed. “You think I can’t tell that you’re in pain? You think I can’t see it on your face? You just got through sayin’ we’re magically connected Matches, remember?”
“We are a Match.” Job agreed. Trying to convince her of that was still his primary objective. Nothing else really registered high on the “important” scale by comparison.
“Your pulse is too fast.” Cross met Job’s eyes and the concern reflected there shifted into dread. “Job?” He said it more urgently this time.
For a second, Job saw his nephew as a small, skinny boy, again. He hadn’t been there for Cross as a child, but his nephew still needed him. “It’s okay.” He soothed. Tessie was feeling at his forehead and, for the first time ever, Job tried to pull away from her touch. He didn’t want her to feel the fever he suddenly felt burning inside of him. “I’m fine, Tess.”
“Stop saying that!” She snapped. “Cross, he’s sick.”
“I know. I know.
Shit!
” Cross looked over his shoulder and spotted Nia talking with Melanie, safely out of the range of the infection. “Okay, we’re gonna jump him. Right now. Before anyone sees.”
“I’m…” Job felt his knees buckle. He staggered, trying to keep his balance.
“Job!” Cross and Tessie bellowed his name together, both of them lunging to catch Job before he fell.
“I’m fine.” Job insisted, even though Cross was supporting most of his weight and keeping him upright. Tessie let go of him and Job panicked. “Tess, don’t leave.”
“I’m not going to leave you, you idiot.” Tessie came around his other side so she could get a better hold of him. “Oh, God, just… What’s
happening?
What’s wrong? This isn’t normal for Elementals, right?”
There were too many Phases around for the others not to notice Job’s condition. Job could hear voices raised in frightened questions as Cross and Tessie pulled him away.
“Fuck, no, it’s not normal.” Cross ground out. “It’s the fucking Fall, only in fast forward.”
Job wanted to argue with that but, he couldn’t. First of all, he was having a hard time staying conscious, so arguing about anything seemed like a colossal effort. And secondly, he had the horrible feeling that Cross was right. He knew what the disease looked like. He’d seen if play out, again and again. Job was feeling all the symptoms, only instead of taking several days they were all hitting him at once.
Tessie’s breath came out in a wheeze. “The Fall?” She whimpered. “No.
No
, it can’t be that. It’s gone and Job’s immune.” Job felt her fingers dig into his arm. “Job?”
“We’re jumping before anyone else sees him and freaks out.” Cross put-in. “I don’t want them trying to kill him to stop it from spreading or something.”
“They wouldn’t…” Job began.
Cross cut him off. “Hell yes, they would! Things went crazy during the Fall. They tried to kill me for being immune, they’ll try to kill you if you’re suddenly
not
.” He turned to Tessie. “Job said you could jump anywhere, right? Can you take him with you? Get him home?”
“Yeah, I can take him.” Tessie’s words came out in frantic, choppy pants. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going for a doctor. Freya, of the Cold House.”
“Doctors won’t help and you can’t jump to Cold House alone.” Job tried to focus on his nephew even as his body began shaking with chills. “Dangerous.”
“I’m fine.” Cross didn’t seem to notice the irony of using Job’s assurances back on him. “I have a lot more control of my powers since I Phazed with Nia. Just… Please, Job.” He got right in his face. “
Hang on
.”
Damn.
He was going to let the boy down, again.
Job could feel it coming.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered, because he wouldn’t have another chance. “For not being a better uncle to you. I love you very much.” The words seemed simple, now. He should have said them long ago. “I’m very proud of who you’ve become.”
Cross blinked rapidly. “I love you, too. You’re the only father I’ve ever had. Don’t you let go or I’ll kick your ass.”
Job felt himself smiling even through the pain.
“Cross?” Nia called. “What’s wrong with Job?”
“He’s sick, baby! Stay back. I’m going for Freya.”
“Sick?”
Job could hear the worry in Nia’s tone as she came closer. He wasn’t sure that he believed that Cross could jump to the Cold Kingdom safely, but he had other pressing orders to give while he still had the strength. “Shouldn’t let anyone near me if I’m sick. Don’t know who’s immune.”
“Shut-up.” Cross and Tessie chorused.
It occurred to Job that the two people he loved most in the world were beginning to talk in synch and that wasn’t such a good thing.
“Cross, watch Tessie for me.” Job commanded, moving on to his biggest worry. Even in his current state, Job knew this disease wasn’t natural. Not at all. It seemed like the Fall, but it was different. And the last time an unnatural illness struck it was because of the Heath Tablet. The safe money bet was on Kay being the Typhoid Mary of this epidemic, too. Kay could come after Tessie next. “Protect my Match after I die.”
“You’re not going to die!” They shouted together.
“Job, if you die and leave me, I’ll kill you.” Tessie vowed. “I mean it.”
Job tried to answer her, but he was overcome with coughing fit. “Promise, Cross?” He got out, instead.
He wondered if Parson had felt this when he was dying on that beach; this bone deep fear that no one else who be able to guard Tessie and the whole universe would suffer. Not just because she held the Quintessence, but because she brightened up the world just by being in it.
“I promise.” Cross’s grip tightened on his arm. “I promise you, Job. I’ll protect her. Okay? Now, stop wasting time, cause you’re
not
gonna die.”
“Damn right.” Tessie wrapped her arms around Job. “Hurry.” She hissed at Cross and jumped Job back to the Earth Kingdom.
And this secret should by no means to escape us, namely, that the elements by
themselves and without the quintessence could not resist any disease.
Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus- “The Fourth Book of the Archidoxies”
Kay was to blame for this.
Tessie
knew
that getting close to Job would destroy him. She
knew
that she was making him a duck in a shooting gallery by caring about him. And
still
she hadn’t protected him from her sister. She hadn’t gotten away from Job fast enough and Kay had somehow targeted him.
God, this was all her fault.
If she lost Job, she’d never recover. She wouldn’t even want to. The world would be a terrible, empty place.
And it was all her fault.
Tessie wasn’t great at pinpointing an exact location when she jumped. She always accomplished the basic stuff, like how
not
to wind up in the middle of another person or on a table or something. But, she usually couldn’t do Gion’s precision perfect landings.
Amazingly, this time she
did
, though. She aimed for Job’s bedroom and she hit the dead center of it with no trouble, at all. Tessie’s own powers always made jumping itself effortless, but this level of control was new. Very new. It had to be Job’s energy connecting with hers.
The Phase-Match.
Shit. That damn Match would kill Job, and still Tessie felt the comforting strength of it helping her.
“Job.” She half dragged him to the bed. “Honey, we’re here. Lay down.”
He collapsed onto his mattress, his body shaking with chills. Vivid green eyes, dulled with pain, fixed on her. “Not your fault.” He whispered as if reading her mind.
Or maybe he was just correctly interpreting the tears running down her cheeks. Tessie wiped at them and shook her head. “Just be quiet and keep breathing, okay? Let me handle this.”
His impassive face shifted just enough for Tessie to read his concern. “No, don’t handle anything. Stay away from her.” He broke off in another coughing fit and somehow managed to mouth the word, “Kay.”
“I know it’s fucking Kay.” Tessie bit off, trying to keep her voice steady. “Here, honey.” She pulled the beige comforter up around him and touched his hair. She could feel the heat of the fever coming off of him in waves. “Let me take care of my sister. You just hang on.”
Job didn’t look reassured by her words. “Tess.” He murmured. “Don’t.” His eyes drifted shut. “Just…”
Tessie got right in his face. “Are you my Match, Job?”
His gaze flashed to hers, again. “Yes.” The word was unequivocal even through the stifled coughing.
“Then, don’t abandon me here all alone.” Tessie was still crying, but she tried to sound like a hard ass. “Kay took everyone else I ever loved. Please don’t let her steal you, too.”
Love.
Tessie blinked as she understood what she’d said.
She loved Job.
Shit.
He really was her Match. All these feelings were really real.
She loved Job.
A strange sense of absolute rightness settled over Tessie at the realization.
She’d known this guy for three days and she was about to screw-over the entire universe for him. Because, without Job in it, the universe wasn’t worth anything to her, anyway.
Job’s mouth curved slightly and his eyes drifted shut. “Love you, too.”
“I know.” Tessie pressed a quick kiss to his mouth and moved away from the bed. Her eyes scanned his spartan bedroom. “Job, where did you put…?” She glanced at him and realized that he’d passed out.
Shit.
Tessie’s heart was beating way too fast and she tried to calm down. He would be okay. She could fix this. Because she had something that Kay wanted a lot more than Job’s death.
The Tablet of Justice.
Oberon had given it to Job, so it had to be around here someplace. She’d find it and trade it to Kay. Fuck the fate of universe. Tessie wanted her Match and if that meant giving the Justice Tablet to her evil sister, so be it.
Tessie began systematically ripping apart Job’s neat and tidy, neutral colored bedroom. A mahogany dresser stood against the wall. She hurried over to it and yanked the drawers out one at a time, haphazardly dumping the contents on the floor.
Shit.
Where would he have put it?
“What are you doing?” Nia suddenly demanded. “What the hell is going on?”
Tessie was so distracted that she hadn’t felt the telltale surge of power when all three members of the Water House jumped into the room. Job must’ve had a standing invitation for Nia, Ty, and Tharsis, because the Earth Kingdom’s barriers didn’t even ripple as they arrived.
Tessie spared them an agitated glance. “Have you seen a box around here? Small and mirrored with white writing on it?”
“What are you talking about?” Nia scowled at Tessie as she headed over to the bed. “Where’s Cross? What’s wrong with Job?” She laid a palm against his forehead and swore. “Oh my God. Thar, he’s burning up.”
“It’s the Fall.” Ty’s eyes cut over to Tessie. “Or something too much like it.” Her lips pressed together as if visions of the plague were crowding into her head. Rumor had it that Ty had almost been killed by an angry mob during the Fall, so her memories were worse than most. “We need to do something. We can’t lose Job.”
“Oh my God.” Nia repeated in horror. “Job?” She crawled onto the bed so she could shake him. “Job, wake-up.” Her voice broke. “Job, please open your eyes.”
He didn’t. Job wasn’t asleep. He was unconscious.
“What happened to him?” Tharsis glowered at Tessie. “Where’s Cross?”
“He went for a doctor.” Tessie’s hands were shaking. Where was the fucking Tablet? She stumbled over the debris on the floor and raced over towards the closet. “It’s my sister. Kay. The Khaos. She’s trying to kill him.” The words jumbled together in quick bursts. “Kay found a way to target Job with some strain of the Fall. I don’t know how. Just help me find the box!”
“What box?” Nia shouted. “What the hell…?”
Another gigantic explosion of power and Chason, of the Magnet House appeared. The leader of the Reprisal blew past the Earth House barriers and swept into the room. Job’s energy sustained most of the Earth House. With Job fading, the kingdom’s defenses weren’t nearly as strong as usual and Chason was very, very powerful.
After seeing him in Job’s memories, Tessie vaguely processed that Chason was so much thinner and harder, now. The streak of dark purple in his dark hair exactly matched the color of his eyes. His uniform was as gray as his complexion. Gaunt and tired looking, he seemed like a different person than the younger man who’d voted to Banish Parald.
Tessie had been so scared of Chason finding her. Now, he standing six feet away and she didn’t give a damn.
“What the hell are you doing here, Chase?” Tharsis moved to stand in front of Ty just in case Chason made a grab for her. Anybody who got their hands on Ty got a weapon against Parald and there was nothing Chason wanted more than to strike out at the Air King. To destroy the man who’d released the plague and had killed his Match.
“Is Job dying?” Chason demanded, not even looking at Ty. “I got fifteen calls in the last two minutes saying that Job was…” He trailed off when he spotted Job on the bed. Something like horror flashed across his face. “The Fall.” He backed away from the bed. Not to get away from Job. More like to escape his own memories of the disease. “Parald brought it back. He really did it.” Purple eyes swirled with something like madness. “That was
my
idea.”
“What?” Ty gasped.
“Job isn’t going to die!” Nia shrieked.
“It should be
Parald
who’s dying. That would have been
just
.” Chason focused on some far off something that no one else could see. “Job’s too good. I knew that the Air Phases would kill him.
Amnesty
did this.”
“Why are you here, Chason?” Tharsis kept Ty behind him. “Do you have a ‘get well soon’ card to deliver?”
“I don’t like Job, but I respect him.” Chason’s jaw ticked. “If Parald can kill Job, then he can kill anyone. And Parald doesn’t get to kill anyone else. He’s taken too much goodness from the world. I won’t have it.”
“It wasn’t Parald.” Ty watched Chason over Tharsis’s shoulder. “Not this time. It was the Khaos.”
“Khaos?” Chason blinked, rapidly, as if coming out of a daze. “Like from
Get Smart
?” It was such a bizarre reference for a hardcore solider guy to make at that moment that Tessie realized that Chason really, genuinely was crazy.
Not that it mattered.
Nia clamored off the bed and headed for Tessie. “Look, you’re the Quintessence. Do something! Cure him! Job said you didn’t have any powers, but…”
“You’re the Quintessence?” Chason’s eyes latched onto Tessie.
Tessie ignored that. “If I knew how to cure him, I’d have already done it!” She bellowed back at Nia.
Job had racks of immaculate black suits and pressed white shirts in the closet. Tessie ripped them from hangers, looking for some sort of safe or shelf that might hold the Tablet. Piles of expensive fabrics were stomped under her feet as she raced through the rows of clothing.
“Wait.
You’re
the Quintessence?” Chason demanded, again. He marched over to her and the expression on his face that was almost… disappointed. “
You
?”
“I
hold
the Quintessence.” Tessie scraped a hand through her hair and looked around for another place to search. “I don’t have any powers. If I had any fucking powers, I could
do
something. I’m useless.” She met Chason’s eyes. “You wanna try to kidnap me, do it later, okay? Right now, Job’s dying and I’m useless.
So, help me find the box!
” She screamed the last part at a volume even Chason seemed startled by.
The news that Tessie wouldn’t be able to help him in his mass suicide mission seemed to throw Chason off balance, but not as much as her flash of pure rage.
His dark eyebrows soared upward.
“Find the box. Alright. Alright.” Tharsis obediently bent down to peer under Job’s bed. “Mirrored with white writing, you said?”
“Yes.” Tessie nodded in relief that at least someone had been paying attention. “Yes, about this big.” She made a shape the size of a Rubik’s Cube with her hands. “We need it.
Now
.”
“Why?” Nia started helping Tessie toss Job’s shoes aside two at a time. “What’s it do?”
“It’s one of the Tablets of Fate. If I have it, I can trade it with my sister for Job’s life. I
know
I can. Just hurry.”
“The Tablets of Fate?” Chason repeated. “Those are just a legend.” He frowned at Tessie as if he was still trying to comprehend her status. “You’re the Quintessence, but don’t have any powers? How is that possible? I don’t feel any energy coming off you. Not really, but…” He trailed off and studied her closely, taking in her genuine panic and undeniable mostly-human-ness. He sighed. “You’re not lying. You
are
useless, aren’t you? Shit.”
“Imagine how I feel about it.” Tessie retorted.
Another surge of energy and Teja, of the Fire and Cold Houses appeared. Word of their honorary leader’s condition must’ve been spreading through the Elemental ranks like an inferno. Teja hadn’t even been at the Mayport Beach courthouse to see Job collapse, but she’d apparently gotten the news and immediately jumped to the Earth Kingdom to see him for herself.
“Where’s Job…?” Teja’s hazel gaze settled on Chason. “You son-of-a-
bitch
.” The blast of Cold hit Chason with the force of a whiteout blizzard, driving him back into the wall. “Is this your fault?”
Despite the circumstances, Tharsis snorted in something like amusement. “That was nice. Thanks, Tej.”
“We don’t have time for this.” Nia shouted. “Stop it, both of you.”
Teja didn’t even seem stained by the amazingly concentrated display of power. Instead, she stalked forward, looking like a movie star even in a vintage letterman sweater. The large crimson “O” at the bottom edge of it was the same color red as the streak in the Fire Phases’ hair. Teja’s periwinkle streak cut through her dark curls like an accusation, forever marking her as different from the rest of the Fire House. No matter strongly they claimed her and how vehemently she resisted her Cold Phase heritage, Teja was part of both Houses.
“What are you doing here, Chase?” She asked icily. “You take a step towards Job and I swear to Gaia…”
“Nobody’s touching Job.” Chason broke free of her hold and fixed Teja with his flat purple gaze. “You use you powers on me, again, and I’m gonna retaliate against
you
, though. I promise you that.”