A strange quacking noise woke Alice out of a very deep sleep that night. She startled awake, heart beating in her throat, and cast a look over at Altair. He was just a lump under the covers in the darkness. Still asleep. The noise came again from out in the living room. It sounded like an aggravated duck. Immediately the plastic duck phone that sat on the side table beside the couch came to mind, and Alice threw off the sheets and slid out of bed, feeling confused. As far as she knew the duck phone wasn’t even plugged into the wall. So how on earth is it ringing…er…quacking, Alice thought.
She tip toed out of the bedroom, careful not to wake Altair, and pushed the door open. The living room was lit only by faint moonlight that filtered in through the window, and the shapes of the furniture looked like black shadows in the dark. For a moment the room was silent and still, and she jumped when the phone quacked again. Alice was just reaching for the light switch on the wall when a shape she had presumed was part of the furniture shifted slightly. Alice froze, adrenaline rushing through her body, making all her muscles tense at once. The shape moved again, flowing forward this time, straight toward her, moving faster than humanly possible. Alice screamed just as something crashed into her hard, knocking her to the floor. She felt the back of her head strike the hardwood. Pain shot through her and started up a throbbing rhythm immediately, and even in the darkness little bursts of light exploded in front of her eyes. Alice thrashed violently against whatever was pinning her to the floor. Whoever it was was far heavier than her, and kept her down with little effort. A firm hand was suddenly over her mouth, cutting off her air, keeping her from screaming. A voice hissed in the darkness behind them,
“Keep her quiet.”
Panic and despair shot through her. There were two of them. What did they want? The one on top of her hissed back, “Shut up. I’ve got her down.”
A woman’s voice, deep and demanding. It rang alarms in Alice’s head. She recognized it. She decided to try to bite the hand over her mouth and scream for Altair. Before she could even attempt to do so, the woman on top shifted, something flashed in the moonlight - metal - and then Alice felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder, so intense that she shrieked, muffled behind her captor’s hand. Tears burned in her eyes. Biting pain as the woman yanked something away from her.
Did she just stab me?
Light suddenly flooded the room, blinding Alice. She blinked furiously, hearing someone shouting, a man’s voice. And then there was an awful shriek and the weight on top of her was gone. Altair appeared to be grappling with a woman nearly as tall as him. She had long dark hair and feathery wings that stretched nearly the length of the room. As they struggled her wings flapped frantically, creating a miniature gale. A lamp flew off the nearby table and shattered with an ear splitting crash. The second woman launched herself at Altair as well, howling in wordless rage.
Now she recognized them.
Alice took a deep breath, wincing at the pain in her shoulder, and yelled at the top of her lungs, “Alecto! Megaria!”
The two fury sisters froze for a split second, which gave Alice time enough to reach up and grab a handful of magic. She cast it at the two of them, quickly weaving a binding spell to hold them in place. They struggled against the threads with twin cries of outrage and protest.
Altair, looking angry and disheveled, untangled himself from the first woman, “What the hell is all this?”
One of the sisters, Megaria, Alice suspected, glared at him, still trying to wiggle out of the spell she was caught in.
Alice frowned at both of them, she was holding her shoulder tightly, pressing the opposite hand into it. It burned. She didn’t want to look down and see how bad it was, “And just what are you doing here? Why did you try to kill me?”
Altair looked dismayed, “Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”
Alice nodded, holding up one hand as he moved to go to her, “I’m okay. She missed.”
Alecto actually had the nerve to look insulted, “it was dark.”
“Why did you stab me?” Alice growled.
Megaria shrugged, or at least tried, as much as the threads would let her, “It’s nothing personal. We’re contract killers.”
“Nothing personal?” Altair snarled, “you stabbed her!”
“Wait,” Alice said sharply, “you’re contract killers. People hire you, right?” Goosebumps were starting to spread across her skin. The panic that had slowly been ebbing away was returning in full force.
“Right,” Megaria said cheerfully, as if they were discussing something totally run-of-the-mill.
“So, who took out the contract on me?” Alice nearly shouted it, “who wants me dead?”
Alecto shook her head gravely, “Tsk, Alice. You should know we can’t give out client information. It’s all strictly confidential.”
Alice growled and waved one hand at the furies. The threads around them suddenly began to tighten, and the sisters both shrieked.
“Owch!” Alecto howled, “you’re crushing my wings!”
“Who was it?” Alice ground her teeth together and bore down on the threads harder, pulling them tighter.
“Alright,” snapped Megaria, “we would have told you.”
Alecto added, “it’s not like we’re really that loyal. Hired killers and all.”
“Tell me who,” Alice’s voice trembled as she worked to control her anger, “tell me now.”
“It was Athena,” Megaria said carelessly, “you know, goddess of wisdom and warfare and all that?”
All she could hear was her heartbeat in her ears. Her stomach gave a lurch and she felt sick, “you’re sure you weren’t sent here for…for anyone else?” She meant Shakra of course, but she wasn’t about to tell them, just in case.
“Nope,” Alecto said, “she said she wanted to test you.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Alice said, shock making her voice rise in pitch, “test me? What exactly does she mean by that?”
Megaria shrugged, “She wanted to see if we could kill you.”
“That’s our best guess.” Alecto said.
Alice was about to ask something else when there came a pounding on the door to the hallway, “You’ve woken up the others,” she told the furies.
Megaria actually gave her a sympathetic shrug, “sorry, like we said. It’s nothing personal. Strictly business.”
“And now that we know we couldn’t kill you, we’ll just be on our way.”
Alice shot them a narrow look over her shoulder, “We’ll see about that.”
When she opened the door Azura was standing there in a white nightgown, her hair was disheveled and curly and her eyes were wide, “Oh thank goodness, you’re alright. I heard you scream!”
“I’m alright,” for the first time Alice became aware that she actually felt a bit dizzy. Azura’s face went white, “Alice, what happened? Your shoulder!”
“I think it’s just a scratch,” she mumbled, “here, help me with these two.” She turned back to the living room, hearing Azura say, “I should really have a look at…oh!”
Azura stopped upon seeing Megaria and Alecto, and her face grew dark, “it’s you two.”
“Athena sent them,” Alice glared at them, “how did she know anyway? How did she know where I was? And what does she want with me?”
The fury sisters both shrugged, and Megaria said, “sorry, we didn’t ask her any questions. That isn’t part of our job.”
Confusion and anger were fighting for dominance now, and Alice bit her lip hard, trying to sort it all out in her mind. Why was Athena interested in her? She was after Shakra, not her. It didn’t make sense. And how could she possibly have learned they were in Jasper so quickly? Well, the woman was a goddess. She felt that familiar sinking sensation in her chest. Again, she felt like she was in way over her head.
What is it with gods anyways?
“Here,” Azura pulled a couple of threads down from the ceiling, weaving an simple pattern together and wrapping it around Alice’s shoulder. Alice shut her eyes, feeling it burn and tingle as it knitted the flesh back together.
Azura said pointedly, “luckily she had such bad aim.”
Alecto looked put out, “Honestly, I didn’t have much to work with here…”
“Yes,” Alice snapped, taking a step towards them, “I’m terribly sorry the lighting wasn’t right for my assassination. Next time I’ll be sure to hand out flashlights!”
“Well there’s no call to be snarky,” Alecto shot back.
“Give me one good reason why I should just let you walk out of here,” Alice dropped her voice and stepped closer, anger making her chest tight, “why shouldn’t I use my magic to hack off your wings? I could do it you know. It would take a long time, and it would be terribly painful for you. But it would be quite easy to do. You both deserve it.”
The fury sisters had fallen silent. They were both paper white, and Alecto was blinking furiously.
“Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to kill me by sneaking into my house at night?” Alice hissed, “she disappeared. I don’t even know where she went. She just ceased to exist. It’s something the magic did. She’s probably trapped somewhere for all eternity. Alone. Helpless. Nobody even remembers her.”
Megaria was shaking her head frantically, “We weren’t actually going to…”
“Shut up,” Alice said firmly, “let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to turn around and release you from this spell. But if I ever see you again - and I mean anywhere, in a coffee shop, or at a fancy dress party – I’ll clip your wings like a pair of budgies. Do you understand me?”
Both woman nodded, eyes wide.
“Very good,” Alice snapped. She started to spin on her heel and then turned back abruptly, startling both of them, “by the way. You can tell Athena hello for me.”
She turned and marched away into the kitchen, releasing her hold on the spell. Behind her she could hear the flurry of wings and sudden movement as the woman raced for the window. Trying to ignore how much her hands were shaking she filled the beat up iron kettle in the sink and placed it on the stove. Tea would make things better. A philosophy she had no doubt picked up from Azura.
“Alice?” Altair’s footsteps were heavy on the kitchen tile as he entered, without saying anything else he came up behind her, and she found herself wrapped up in his arms. She was still clutching the handle of the kettle tightly, and he gently pried her fingers off it. She breathed deeply, relaxing a little, and he released her, standing back and turning her around to examine her face, “you’re alright?”
She rubbed her shoulder and glanced at Azura, who was standing in the doorway, “I’m alright. Is Shakra still in your suite?”
Azura nodded, “I told her to stay there until I figured out what the noise was.”
“I’m glad you did. I don’t know if they knew she was here, I don’t know if Athena knows…” Alice trailed off and mumbled, “I don’t know anything.”
Azura turned, “I’ll go get Shakra and we’ll talk about this over a cup of tea.”
The kettle began to whistle, and Alice pulled it off the burner, “Azura?”
Her mentor paused in the doorway, “Hm?”
“The duck phone. It’s not a phone is it? I mean, not really.”
A small smile curved one side of Azura’s mouth, “No, not really.”
“Something of Aunt Ruby’s design?”
Azura only smiled and turned away, her night gown sweeping the floor as she left. Alice sagged against the stove as Altair began to pour the tea into mugs.
“Thank god for the duck phone,” she said.