The Calling of Time

Long Dead Memories

“What’s the plan?” Horace was asking.

The three guardians sat themselves at the table, and I curled up as best as I could on the couch to listen.

“We need to get at Thanatos.” Jai placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward, chin in his hands. “We need a way into his fortress somehow.”

“How are we gonna do that?” Horace frowned. “He’s walled himself up in that old castle in Victoria, it’s as heavily armed as a high security prison.”

“That’s why we need a plan…”

Manda interrupted them. “I have someone on the inside.”

They both turned to her, and Jai said loudly, “What? Why didn’t you say that right away?”

She shrugged. “He isn’t a big honcho or anything. Just a soldier.”

Jai raised his brows at her, tilting his head to one side. “Uh huh, and how did you get in good with this soldier?”

Manda actually blushed, right to the tips of her ears. There’s something I never thought I’d see. I sat up a little straighter on the couch and watched her expression turn from embarrassed to defensive.

“I have my ways of doing things. It was necessary to get on the inside.”

Jai grinned. “By getting into his army fatigues?”

“That’s not the guardian way.” Horace didn’t look nearly so amused.

“And getting drunk enough to pass out every night is?” Manda snapped. Her cheeks were bright red. Horace didn’t say anything, but he got up abruptly, shoving his chair back. He stomped into the grimy kitchen just off the living room and yanked open one of the cupboards, grabbing a can of beer from inside. He popped the tab and took a swig, glaring at Manda the entire time.

Jai said hastily, “So that’s good. We have an in with someone. Now we just have to figure out how exactly to get in. Even if he lets us in the back door we can’t just waltz inside with Kali and the instruments….”

“Leave the instruments,” Horace drained half the can and set it on the counter with a crunch. “It won’t take long for them to catch up with her.”

“That’s insane,” Manda snapped at him. “It’s not an exact science, we have no way of knowing where or when the instruments will show up. They could pop up on the wrong floor, or outside, or two seconds after Thanatos has killed us all…”

“Do you have a better idea?” Horace rasped.

All three of them were quiet for a minute. “No,” Manda admitted. “No, I don’t.”

It must have killed her to say that. Her face was gloomy, and I stood up abruptly, annoyed with Horace for some reason. Manda was a spitfire before we’d got here, and Horace was making her sullen and defeated. I didn’t like it, I needed the vicious, warrior version of Manda.

“It’s the best we’ve got, right?” I said, trying to make my voice sound firm. Like I suddenly knew what I was talking about. They all turned to look at me and my stomach sank a little. I wasn’t fooling anyone. Well, maybe Horace. He still seemed to regard me with some kind of cautious respect. He reminded me of a kicked dog, and I felt bad. Like I’d been the one that kicked him.

“We leave the…instruments here. We sneak in, or this guy lets us in. What, in disguise? Can we pretend to be soldiers too?”

Jai brightened. “Yeah. Not bad, can we get our hands on army fatigues?”