The Return of the Gods (Children of the Sun Book 1)

Chapter 23

After helping Mel find the rest of the ingredients and figure out how to use the stove, Kaleth leaned back on the kitchen table and nursed his third cup of coffee as he watched the Eternal make one pancake after another. He was doing so with a ridiculous amount of skill for someone who had apparently never used any of the standard kitchen utensils. He even managed to successfully flip the pancakes without using a spatula most of the time. Seeing Mel cook in his armor was kind of hilarious, though, so much so that Kaleth had to pretend to cough once to mask his laughter.

"What the hell is—" Rayni started as she walked into the room, rubbing her eyes, but her confusion seemed to disappear as she noticed what Mel had been up to. "Ooh, pancakes!" She wasted no time grabbing five of them along with a plate and a bottle of syrup. She wasn't wearing the armor anymore, just the jeans and t-shirt from before, which made sense. Kaleth doubted sleeping in the Umbra uniform would be very comfortable.

He rolled his eyes as Rayni sat down at the table behind him, while Mel seemed completely unfazed by Rayni's bad manners. He even grinned as if he had received some kind of praise for his hard work. Perhaps Rayni's enthusiasm was praise enough for him, though, Kaleth mused.

"I'm sure she's very grateful. Rayni is just even more rude when she's hungry," Kaleth assured Mel, even though it was unnecessary. He'd mostly wanted to make fun of her.

"Hey!"

Kaleth just smiled at her and drank a bit more coffee in the smuggest way possible. Hearing Rayni's offended tone always improved his mood. Maybe that was the reason why Rayni pissed off everyone around her regularly. She always seemed disappointed when Kaleth didn't get annoyed with her.

A few minutes later Kara entered the kitchen, looking well-rested and as serious as always. That was until she focused on Kaleth rather than Mel—then she started glaring.

"You didn't sleep at all, did you?"

There was no point in lying, so Kaleth just shrugged. "I couldn't." Seeing the face she was making, Kaleth knew that the only way to avoid arguing about this was to change the topic completely. "However, I—I mean we—found out where Relioth took Nef and Nira."

He turned around and picked up the laptop from the table, opening it and showing the screen to Kara. "This is the only apartment building in Ghera that belongs to the government and is comprised of huge apartments. I've checked twice. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact apartment number, but I'm sure you'll manage."

"Why does it have to belong to the government?" Rayni asked. At least that was what Kaleth thought she'd asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

"Because Relioth would never pay for something with his own money if he could use someone else's. Especially if that something wasn't even for him," Kaleth explained, but even as he said this, he started wondering if he was wrong about this. He put his coffee down and showed the laptop to Mel. "Does this look familiar to you?"

The Eternal put about twenty pancakes on the table before coming over to Kaleth and studying the picture. "Maybe?" he said uncertainly. "Does it have a purple rooftop?"

Kaleth frowned and turned the laptop around to check. His eyebrows went up. "Yes, apparently." That was a strange choice of color for a rooftop.

"Then yes, it does look familiar," Mel added with a smile.

"Okay, assuming that you're right," said Kara, folding her hands, "what are you going to be doing while we go on a rescue mission?"

Kaleth groaned. He really shouldn't have implied that he wouldn't be going with them yet, but there was no going back now. "Relioth is scheduled to speak in front of the Citadel today at one in the afternoon, and I'm going to use this opportunity and shoot him." He closed the laptop and left it right next to the cup of coffee he didn't feel like drinking anymore.