We pull up to a hotel when Nalak suddenly grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me over the console of the car while he practically melts to the floor. I hear a plink! and tiny shards of glass fall on my back as well as on Nalak's head. He look at him as he breathes heavily in the floor, staring at the glove box.
"Nalak?"
"You almost got shot in the face... Oh my god... you almost go sh-shot in the face!" he says, hyperventilating.
"How did you know to pull me down?"
"It was a reaction..." He looks down at his stomach. "R, I think they've tracked us down already..."
"Can you let go of my shirt? I'm leaning really weird."
"If you sit up you'll get shot at again!" he whisper-yells.
"I'm going to crawl into the back seat so I can face you. Let me go for a minute."
Nalak finally lets go of me and I twist my body around so that it's not cramping up. I get in the back seat in the floor and look around the driver's side seat to look at Nalak. He has turned around and is leaning on the seat.
"So what do we do then? If this really is from the RDC then that means that they know what kind of car we're driving. We won't be able to get in to see Sakina if they know everything we're doing."
"I don't really know-"
"I can see you in there."
The two of us just stop and gulp, looking into each other's eyes to dare either one of us to look up and see who is looking at us. I take the chance and look up a little at the front windshield. I turn my head and sit up, prompting Nalak to practically faint.
"Hey... I know you..." I say.
"It's nice to see you again. Tell your friend we're not a threat." He says, pointing down at Nalak.
I go to tell Nalak that but I find he really did faint and is limp on the seat.
"Um... you scared him so bad he fainted."
"Sorry about that."
I get out of the car and hug the man in the comedy theatre mask as he hugs me back.
"I never knew you were one of them. You look creepy."
He laughs when I feel myself get picked up and spun around.
"Got ya!"
I yelp in surprise but get put down and put my hand on the hood of the car to stable myself. The man in the tragedy mask puts his hands on his hips and I can see the literal shadow of a smile under the downturn of the mouth in the mask.
"You're looking well." He says.
"Considering you scared the shit out of me and Nalak... What are you two doing here? Are you hunting me down? I mean... I never knew the two of you were Zannis."
"Mom never told you?" they say at the same time as they both turn their heads towards each other.
With their comedy and tragedy masks on, the motion is creepier than it probably should have been. I shudder but shake my head at the same time.
"Mom never mentioned it. I guess she didn't want us to ask questions. I mean, I saw your masks before but of course she said that you two were away in theatre school."
"She was always good at covering up this flaw of ours... Anyway, we have a safe place for you to stay."
"Sorry about almost shooting you." The tragedy mask says.
I point between them. "Which one of you is Rocket and the other Trident?"
"Hmm, that's a fun guessing game, isn't it?" the comedy mask says.
I roll my eyes at them. "It's like being a kid all over again..."
"We'll tell you when you're safe. I assume you were told about the issue at hand with the AlexGen kid and those Lithos?"
"Yeah, I was kind of there..."
"Yes, well, since she is no longer able to watch over you until the kids are safe,"
"We're on the case." They both said in unison.
"Ooooh. So that's what she meant..." I say, realizing what Sovnya was talking about was actually referring to Rocket and Trident.
"That's what who meant?"
"Sovnya."
"Oh, so you met her?"
"Briefly. She..." I can't finish my sentence, the ache of losing Javissa and Victor creeping back in my heart. "She said that someone else was taking over looking after me."
The two look at each other and I can tell they know what I couldn't say.
"Well, either way, we have a safer place for you until you can get in contact with your friend. Did you ever find out where she is?"
"We will be able to see her tomorrow night."
"Good. Take your friend and get in the back. We'll drive."
"I got the fatty." Comedy says, holding Nalak bridal style in his arms.
I make a face. "He's pregnant, not fat."
He looks at Nalak and turns his head. "Well I'll be..."
I roll my eyes and get in the backseat while Comedy puts Nalak back there with me.
*************************
We pull onto a dirt road and the bumps wake up Nalak. He sits up and rubs his stomach, smacking when he realizes we are both in the back.
"What's going on?"
"Hello." Tragedy says, turning from the wheel to look at him.
Nalak screams and presses himself against the back of the seat.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!!"
"These are my mother-brothers, Rocket and Trident... although I don't know which one is which with their masks on."
Nalak looks at them with skepticism and then looks at me.
"How do you know these are your mother-brothers? They could be the people after us... and considering they are taking us down a very suspicious dirt road in a town we know nothing about, I think that's pretty shady."
"We can prove it." Comedy says, sounding unsure. "But..."
"We can't do that. If they find out, we're screwed too."
"But we have to do something. I mean, Nalak is right. I don't mind getting in trouble if it can ease their minds a little."
"The whole point is remain socially anonymous."
"Well Ramey already knows who we are and I'm not hiding anything from them. I mean, think about if we were in their shoes."
"Well think about the fact that if it weren't for us and the others then they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. Our parents got careless."
Comedy looks at Tragedy quickly.
"Hetill erat practischlnwa dooccilfon Pa! Hijelle oterkonlek auxilium hetill!"
"Dantum net vocatje Mam." Tragedy snaps.
"Quodat wilunta eritord juserg." Comedy responds in a seethe.
"Dantum watid facere utu vowilo nosons naarad facere? Hetilllxe advertegen de wetiurius."
"Ikego kanpo houwen hetill quivoor utu. Quivoor quinvijfque minlte. Opud mist naarad habben heneos trouacia nosons plevollshon."
"Utulok teuo ivoge." Tragedy says stiffly as he grips the steering wheel tightly.
"Ramey erat meum ventus. Hijelle noonum dexterlzeib."
"Hijelle erat zessex." Tragedy spat.
"Maarsed etize nunc hijelle tireenlte de verbinding. Jebecro laten egiko proberen naarad odihou hemeum veilutum quivoor een weipau lalolnon... Hijelle habhee naarad trouacia nosons. Dingalilte wilunta mox veniko naarad lux quodat wilunta dirumpo hemeum; dingalilte utmei ga zuidian sumheelip snellnwa."
The car stops and Tragedy throws his hands in the air.
"Gah! Denifi. Binterius."
"Bedgra utu! Utulok de optihet!" Comedy says, leaning over and hugging his twin.
"Yeah, yeah..." Tragedy turns to us and I can see the smile under the mask. "Sorry about that. We're here. We can prove our loyalty to you inside."
They get out and leave me and Nalak in the car. When the door are shut, Nalak turns to me.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was not TMT."
"Nope... that was something else."
"I don't like this. This feels all wrong... I mean, they shot at us, Ramey."
"I know this doesn't make things sound any better but I have a really good feeling about them. This isn't like Triffin on the roof of the hotel or like when I thought overdosing (on accident) was a good idea. This is something else..."
Nalak still looks skeptical but I put my hand on his shoulder.
"I promise that if it looks like things are going wrong, I'll kill them, okay? I won't let anything else bad happen to us between now and tomorrow. Besides, I promised you a show before we went to see Sakina."
He still doesn't look convinced but we get out and head into the cabin that is by a small lake of some sort.
***********************
We walk into the cabin and Comedy is standing next to Tragedy as he sits in a chair.
"Lock the doors please." He says.
Nalak gives me the stink eye but locks the door.
"How much do you trust Ramey, Nalak?" Comedy asks.
"With my life... why do you ask?"
"Because only Ramey can prove we are not a threat. We can only prove this by doing something highly illegal." Tragedy says, looking up at Comedy, and I can see his own trepidation. "But if Ramey says we can be trusted, will you trust him?"
"Yes."
Tragedy breathes in deeply and nods to Comedy. Comedy does something to the mask and breathes in deeply himself.
"We're a little older, but I think you'll be able to recognize us better. You have only five minutes. Now."
Tragedy takes off his mask and I smile big.
"Rocket!"
Rocket smiles and I see Mom all over him. The red hair that's cut short and curly, the serious but also curious nature of his hazel eyes. True, he was older than when I last saw him (now that I think about it, it's been over ten years) but he was the same. Rocket puts the mask back on quickly and Trident turns to me.
"Did we pass the test?"
"Of course you did!"
"Uh, how come I've never heard you mention these guys?" Nalak asks. "I mean, wasn't that skeleton face girl related to you too? I could smell a similar scent on her... I can't smell anything on these guys."
"We were told to keep a low profile so we have lavender on us. Sorry." Trident says.
"To answer your question though, I haven't seen them in almost ten years. They came to visit once when I was little, a little after Matt was born, but we really bonded and kept in touch. They're the only ones from before Bal that I knew of."
"How is Bal?" Trident asks.
"Last I saw of him he was heavily pregnant."
"Pregnant? I thought he was Tradding." Rocket asks.
"He forgot to take his pill and ended up going into his swell. He and that girl broke up because she was angry he lied to her."
"I told him that was a bad idea."
"As much as this is great and all, why are you being shady with this Deliverance cabin?" Nalak asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
Rocket and Trident look at each other and Trident clears his throat.
"Sovnya was the one watching over you guys to keep the RDC from getting to you while you two ventured to the Badlands. When you two got held up at the hotel, she asked us to step in and try to keep you undetected. Believe me, hacking into the city sensors is pretty hard."
"Dad called her to do it since he couldn't be with you."
"But when Ansel ended up in the same place you guys were, Sovnya had a feeling things were going to get tricky with the Litho babies... and they did."
"You're an idiot, R." Rocket growls at me, crossing his arms. "I wish I could punch you."
"Hey, you have no idea about the reasons he did what he did and why it all happened. You might be happy with your Altered state but it's torture for him." Nalak growls.
"Do you think we like being torn away from our family and forced to wear these masks practically 24/7? Unlike most parents who are happy to ship off their kids to the Arlecchino when the harlequin ichthyosis starts displaying, our parents were devastated to see us go. They miss us and want us back home." Trident snarls. "And we don't like being this way. We hate these masks that we are forced to wear, we hate being Zannis, we hate that we had to grow up living the life of boot camp every day, learning how to kill and working our bodies to the max."
"Did you think we are this tall normally?" Rocket says unusually calmly. "We are given a serum that makes us grow taller to look more threatening. It hurts our bodies every second of every day. We are literally trained to keep the pain at bay. So, yes, we understand very well the hardships and tortures that befall our kid brother. Maybe not in the same sense, but we definitely understand the pain of being different. We're fucking Empty too, ya know... We long for kids too..."
Nalak turns away. "I'm... I'm so sorry..."
"Don't worry about it."
"Thanks a lot, Rocket, you made him cry." I growl, going over to Nalak. "He hasn't had his Nexenaf today."
"Don't mind me. I'm just having a moment..." Nalak says, trying to get his bearings.
"Anyway, the point is to get you to your friend's house and then get you to the Badlands with minimal detection."
"And then you'll escort me back home, right?"
Trident and Rocket look at each other.
"No... um... we are to make sure you don't go back home."
I bristle and feel a tantrum coming on. I haven't taken my medication either. But I breathe out and try to stay as calm as I can.
"I want to talk to Dad."
Even though I can't see Trident's mouth, his eyes are smiling.
"I can do that. Hand me your phone and I will make it untraceable. Yours too, Nalak."
"It will take a bit for him to do that. In the meantime, you two need sleep. We'll protect you and once you get with Sakina, we'll be in the background until Sovnya comes back."
"The cabin's bigger than it looks so there's three bedrooms in here. Pick any room."
Nalak's stomach growls and I look down at mine.
"We... haven't eaten."
"We'll order in."
"Hey uh-"
"No. Cat." I growl at Nalak.
He stiffens at the command and he hangs his head. "Damn it..."