Looking around the office, it was unattended and the emergency exit sign created an eerily green light everywhere else. Noticing a glass wall, the shadows that formed behind it were different from the cubicles around me so that's where I headed. By the door, an alarm code gave me the impression this might not be as easy as I had expected, so keeping my hood on and face hidden, I took myself inside and waited.
Nothing happened.
No weight sensors went off. No lasers sliced through me and daring to take a step towards one of the cabinets, still nothing. The Council really needed to upgrade its security. If I could just break in whenever I felt like it, so could anyone. Walking around the small room, it wasn't hard to find what I was looking for and taking the pair of white gloves near the scrolls, I put them on before touching.
One had been completely opened, and I recognised it from Heath's photos. Finding the drawing that I knew from the books that told my story, I couldn't help feel disappointed that the writing was actually just lines of tiny symbols and shapes I had no way of interpreting. There were other pictures too. Zeus was undeniable, holding his lightning bolts above his head ready to strike. I was far from being a historian but was pretty sure something wasn't right with this. Zeus and Co had come after Sobek's people, and I'm pretty the region this was found in, was around that time. Had they come earlier than our history tells us and if so, why the hell was I being thrown in with whatever this was?
"Oh, these look interesting!" Portia is suddenly there, inspecting the scroll from the other side of the table.
I scream, step backwards and have my sword raised in seconds before my brain catches up.
"You're here. Now you're here? What the-"
"Please Elise. I have the whole universe to deal with, not just one girl on one planet!" She clicks her tongue.
"Are you fucking serious?" I shout, forgetting where I was. "After all three of you showing up, being all cryptic with your doom and gloom act, and then, just nothing, now you rock up and tell me that?"
"Did you miss me?" She smiles.
"No! Maybe. Not the point!"
"You really can be so dramatic sometimes," She sighs, glancing over the paper. "What even is this?"
"I don't know. It was found in some old undiscovered tomb somewhere, middle east, I think. I heard about this," I point at my image, and she looks it over. "And had to come to see."
"Oh, it's nothing. It's not even that old." She picks at the paper, sniffing it. "It's actually quite new."
"Heath said he thought a genie left it, on purpose."
"Seems unlikely. Why would a genie do that? I'm sure they have plenty of other things to busy themselves with since the revolution they staged back in, oh when was it, seventeenth century?" Portia gave a little shrug. "If he said Jinn and you were simply not paying attention, they may have. Crafty little demons, though they have been extinct in this world for nearly as long as the genie has been free."
"There is so much there that I need to unpack, but instead I'm just going to ask you, what does this say?"
I tried not to get my hopes up. This could be what I had been looking for. A sign, a warning, something that tells us what is next?
"It introduces the God Killer. This is going to do nothing for your ego," Portia huffs. "Just tells them of the injustices you fought, the wrongs you righted. See, killing Zeus is therefrom paragraph four to seven."
"Who wrote it?"
She unfolds the edge of the page. "No idea. They didn't leave a signature."
"Anything else?"
"You know the rest. Just your numerous events, encounters, yadda yadda."
I grab the other one and unroll it, not carefully either since apparently these aren't even originals. It's half-filled out.
"It's not finished?"
"It would appear that way," Portia says after reading the next part. "This starts off with your allegiance to the Valkyrie. How peculiar."
"Peculiar?" I take off the gloves and throw them down. "Portia, you better have something more than peculiar to say"
"Like what?"
"Like where have you been?" I demand.
"I told you. Busy."
"It's been like, nearly a year! Not one hello or great job not losing your shit and closing that portal or Merry Christmas? You even skipped Olivia's birthday!"
"I meant it, Elise. I've been busy. I can't just come and go whenever I choose. Nieve and Adala, well there are rules. I know you aren't one to bother with those kinds of necessities, but they do exist for some of us."
She walked around the table, her dark eyes full of tears as her red lips were pressed tightly. Her chin quivered slightly as she reached out to hug me and I let her. Under my hands I felt her heart pounding; the sobs she tried to hide.
"Talk to me, please!" I let her go and she carefully wipes the corner of her eyes. "I just, I've missed you. Everyone."
"I thought you'd like the space?"
"I didn't think it would be this, permanent or instant." I shrug.
"I've missed you too." She smiles, yet it seems unnatural on her blank face. "I'm sure they all miss you as well."
"Have you seen them?" I hate how hopeful I sound.
Portia looks away, touching one of the scrolls as she walks away to one of the shelves. I know the answer without her needing to say it, yet before I can say anything she does.
"We had a disagreement. Essentially, I have been banned from their world," A bitter laugh escapes her. "Foolish King. He forgets I am now more powerful than even he. I am no longer his Seer or servant. Forgiveness will not be easily given."
"But you're-" Portia shakes her head.
"As for your friends, I am sorry Elise. I bring no news. Nieve forbids me to as she calls it, meddle, in their affairs. The third has been cursed for millennia, she will not see me suffer the same fate. Even this, I know she will not approve."
"That sounds really bad." My mouth feels dry, as a familiar touch of panic starts to sink in.
"I'm sure it will work itself out. These things always do."
I wasn't convinced, especially if she had found herself banished from their world too. Plus Apollo, Hades, and Artemis's silence still worried me. This wasn't helping to ease my own mind.
"What did you argue about?" I ask softly, hoping she'd confide and at least tell me something more than she seemed willing to do.
"Elise, I feel Nieve's rules should apply to you too. Do not meddle. It will end as well for you as it will for me."
"Did you see something?"
"No. And that never leads to anything good." Portia sighs, closing her eyes before coming closer. "I didn't, I wasn't, I came to see you while I could. Everything is as it should be here. I'm thankful for that and beg you to stay out of their business should you find yourself involved, again."
"What if Cain just-"
"Drop it, Elise. I forget myself. I shouldn't have said anything." She snapped. "They have all moved on, as I thought you had too."
"I have, but-"
"Good. No buts about it, Hunter." She clicked her fingers and we were back in her office at the Academy. "I miss this too. Everything was simpler here."
I was thankful my Dad wasn't around doing some late-night paperwork, as it probably would have scared him half to death if the pair of us had just shown up. Even thinking that made my stomach churn in that uneasy way it always did whenever it came to my family and my use of abilities around them.
"It was not simpler."
"True." She looked sad as she sat in the chair, her hands running over the edge of the desk. "Though, I wonder if it was all worth it."
"Do you really?" I ask, sitting on the other side of it.
Her frown deepened with disapproval, and despite not looking like Huntington now, I had seen that look on her face so many times before it didn't matter.
"You're right. I don't. I'm just feeling a little, homesick. That's all."
"You are always welcome here, despite what the others may say." I mean it. "Hell, even bring them along if it makes them feel better."
"Thank you." Portia sighed, soon standing and we walked around the sleeping Academy like two ghosts in the night. Each of us is lost in memories of another time; a comfort and a burden "You know this is how it should be, Elise. You are here to protect your people. This world. I am so proud of how far you have come."
We end up sitting on the roof as the sky starts to lighten with the sunrise and there is nothing more to say. I don't keep asking questions, because I know she won't answer or I'll get lies and half-truths. I am positive this is a set-up, and that this is her way of breaking the rules she has decided to follow. I'm back at the start again. A new game was about to begin and while I seemed set to play with the same gods and monsters as before, this time I am not just the human girl, the hunter. I am one of them too.
"I'm not sure when I'll be back, Elise." Portia frowns, the moment of peace leaving her as the sun lingers on the horizon.
"Tell them I say hi," I ask her sarcastically.
"I will, I'm sure it will bring much joy to hear from you." She answers back with the same tone. "Take care, Hunter."
And then I'm alone.
Within a second I'm crouched down beside Kara's bed, tapping the tip of her nose. One bloodshot eye opens, closes, and then struggles to focus on me as she groans and rolls over, pulling the blankets up as she does so. I jump onto the bed, laying down beside her.
"Go away. It's not even midday yet!"
"I know. But, wanna come to check something out with me?" I ask hopefully.
"No."
"I've got you a coffee, one of them frappe spice things from Starbucks you love so much!" I am soon holding the beverage, and slowly she emerges.
"Hand it over, and I won't kill you for waking me." She threatens, her voice like gravel.
"It's a tomb. Some demons, Jinn maybe, were there."
"Why are you so, energised, before the sun has even risen?"
"The sun is up, I watched it and now I just, want to go check it out. Please, Kara!" I beg.
"I hate Jinn."
"All the more reason for you to come along. You might get to beat one up?"
"Get out of my room and give me, thirty minutes." She orders.
"Twenty!" I call, doing as she asks. Not surprisingly, Eric is sitting at the bar with his laptop on, typing away. "Hey!"
"Hey yourself. It's, early. What are you doing here and surprisingly perky?"
"Waking up Kara to go on a Jinn hunt." I shrug.
"Gin? Elise, I thought you were trying not-"
I roll my eyes. "Like the demon, genie thing, Jinn. Not the booze."
"Oh right. Wait, what?" He puts down his coffee cup. "Why?"
"I wanna know where they got something from. Just a little check it out and go thing." I shrug.
"Idle hands do the devils work." He mumbles.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're bored. The drama is over. Now you're just going looking for trouble."
"Perhaps. But if someone is crossing between worlds, I want to know about it." I decide, leaving the more interesting details out of it.
"Justify it how you want, potato potata." Eric leaned back in his chair, looking a little too smug for my liking. "What did they have?"
"First look, ancient scrolls. Second look and opinion, it's actually someone writing about my life. I want to know where they got them from and why." I confess, not completely lying.
"So you've seen the Maiden? Did you pass their test after all?"
"I did, I think and how did you know that-"
"And now you are doing this?"
"You know Eric, I'm sensing a lot of hostility from you this morning. Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"
"To do that, you'd have had to have been in bed." He yawned.
"Still not sleeping?" I frown, sitting beside him.
"Same dream. That bloody witch that bound my powers is haunting me. I swear if I ever come across-" He stopped. "Nevermind. It's just not worth sleeping at the moment."
"Why not try and make peace with her?"
Eric laughed. "Gods I forget how young and naive you are sometimes."
"He tried it, once. She stripped him naked and dumped him in the middle of Times Square." Kara didn't hide her amusement.
"Thanks Kara." Eric growled.
"Poor cranky male." She patted the top of his head as she passed. "Now what madness am I letting you talk me into, Elise?"
"How about we skip the tomb and go for the witch?" I offer.
"For a second there, I thought you were serious!" Eric laughed, sipping his coffee.
"I am?"
"What's your favourite flower?" He asks, focusing on his laptop again.
"Um, peonies, roses, mostly ones that smell nice? Why?"
"I'll make sure you get them at your funeral."
"Oh, you're super fun this morning Eric. Wanna come with us? If the Jinn tries anything we'll just throw you at them and see what happens." I pout. "Is she really that bad?"
"Yes." Kara and Eric say together.
"Fine. Let's leave the witch alone!" I watch Kara spread an assortment of knives on the bar top making Eric cringe at the sight of them. "Oh, pretty!"
"Aren't they?" Kara looks at each of them lovingly, picking up a couple to strap to her leg. "They'll look even better with Jinn blood on them."
"Blood talk first thing in the morning. Must be a Monday!" Eric frowns, grabbing his computer to head down towards his room. "I think I'd rather risk sleep than whatever this is."
"Night sweetheart!" I call out, making him throw back a bunch of curses our way.
"He acts like it doesn't bother him, but it does. He's a mage. Magic is his thing. It'll be like, taking away your ability to fight." Kara whispers. "One day, we will find a way to get them back. But, not today."
"No, today, we get to live my Aladdin fantasy and-" I start.
"You have no idea what you're walking into to, do you?"
"Not the cave of wonders?"
"No. Sometimes I really, you know what. Yeah, Elise. It's going to be just like the cave of wonders." Kara smirks.
"I feel like you're lying." I pick up one of her knives only to have her snatch it from my hand. "Just looking!"
"Well, they're mine. Hands off." She snaps.
"Portia came to see me last night." I start, though it sounds more like a confession.
"Ah, explains why you're here so early. Did she put you up to this? At least now I know to be prepared for anything those assholes might come up with." Kara mumbles. "Maybe I should take my gold ones instead?"
"No, one of my Mums failed blind date attempts kind of did. They found some scrolls about me, only they don't know that cause it's unreadable, but Portia could so?" I shrug.
"Any idea why everyone has disappeared?"
"Cain banned her from his world, and she's taken a step back from our lives, so no. No idea what's going on." I admit.
"He can't do that. She's one of the fucking fates!" Kara scoffed. "So Jinn had scrolls about you and there's a portal to another world, but you don't know to which one, and you want to go check it out, right after the maiden pops up for a visit?"
"Yes."
"Doesn't smell like a trap to you, like at all?" She sighed.
"Maybe, a little, if I think about it. But that's why I came to you!" I smile.
"Well, at least you didn't decide to go alone."
She put her hand out and I put mine around it, taking us to the place I had found in Heath's notes from the council. The sun was high above us and looking around the vastness of the sand, I wondered if I came to the wrong place.
"Well, this is great." Kara looked around, shielding her eyes with hands. "What are we meant to see exactly?"
"Ah, I expected some kind of building, a pyramid or something?" The land was flat to the horizon where the brightest blue sky I'd ever seen took over. There wasn't a cloud to be seen or a tomb entrance.
"This isn't Egypt," Kara answered. "Is it?"
"No. It's meant to be near some lake. They had a storm a while ago and in the report, it said it washed away the entrance. This is suspected to be near where Babylon existed."
"This is all before my time on this Earth. I've never paid much attention to the history of your world." Kara shrugged.
"Honestly, same. Let me check." I got out my phone to find no signal. "Yeah, I got no idea where we are."
"Maybe see if you can sense the portal?"
"How?"
"With your powers," Kara said flatly.
"Oh right. I can do that." I don't sound as confident as I would have liked and shielding her eyes, Kara looks around again. "I can!"
"Hope so, I got out of bed for this."
Holding out my hand I close my eyes and try to ground myself as Ailin always instructs. Slow deep breaths, focusing on my own power that sprouts from my palm and out like a vine. I tune in to the magic, that spark of power as it reached out into the world around me and then I feel it as though I'm touching a mirror. It has to be the portal and I allow myself to bounce away from the tug of power it's radiating back at me.
"We're not far." I tell Kara and offering her my free hand, she takes it so the next minute we're sitting near a mound of rocks that have the distinct shape of bricks hidden among them. "Here. This is it."
Kara reads the signs up on the barriers around the opening. "Not sure what this all says, but keep out, danger, one is pretty obvious."
"Guess we're at the right place then. Ready to go into the cave of wonders?" I ask, shaking my hands as if they're wet which eases off the magic tingling in my palms.
"You watch way too much TV, but come on then tomb hunter, let's check it out." She smirks, easily climbing and jumping over the fence.
"It's tomb raider." I correct.
"Not if you're already a hunter." She pointed out.
Though as we start our walk through the sandy passages, full of stale, damp air I start to wonder why Heath was even out here. It was remote, from what I did remember of maps there wasn't much around the river and lakes in this part of the world. The scrolls weren't even a relic of some kind they'd even be looking for. When my family used to be really into this kind of thing, they always had an object or goal to find. So just what was Heath doing, and how much of a trap was this going to turn out to be?