Andrew practiced his ability on Celindria from a distance for a few days. So far everything went fine. Now he hammered it on her and the Tritan she confronted in a cave, suggesting that neither look their way. He and Lucas hid on a higher shelf behind a collection of stalactites.
“Your stock is so remarkable.” The Tritan brushed an adorned lock from the First Progeny’s face. He wore human clothes. A deep blue velvet blazer the same shade as his complexion, white slacks, and a button up. The dark atmosphere and stalactites obstructed his view, but Andrew swore the Tritan hid a compression suit under his ascot. That’s right. Ascot.
With an ugly twist of her beautiful features, she scowled, “You would know.” Celindria wore a light shift open down the sides, held together by a belt on her waist. It was transparent. This made it more impressive when she produced a knife from nowhere and jabbed it at the Tritan’s throat. “How did she escape? You gave Nox the toxin I formulated, did you not?”
He clasped his hands behind his back and swept away, pacing to investigate a vein of shining rock in the wall. Left his back to her and everything. “Yes. It’s obvious now he refused to administer it.”
“Then the tool is of no more use to us. Eliminate him.”
He reached out and brushed the shimmer. “No doubt she’ll see to it herself.” He chuckled then. “And far more entertaining than anything I could devise.” His voice softened until Andrew barely heard him say, “She reminds me of you. Before all this,” he waved a hand at her, “power inflation.” Waves of creepy sliminess rolled off him as the unnamed Tritan made his way back to her. “Do you remember our nights together in the beginning?”
Lucas gagged softly beside him.
Andrew nodded in agreement.
“I remember thinking Nox’s prowess rivaled your own, and how sad that was for a creature as ancient and powerful as you.”
The Tritan lunged for her, hands ready for her throat.
Celindria scoffed some distance away, almost within the same instant. Andrew never saw her move. “Please don’t flatter yourself. The only way you’ll ever lay another hand on me again is if I’m unconscious like your other victims.”
“You don’t sleep any longer.” He sounded bereft.
“I figured you’d notice that.”
The man straightened his blazer and ascot. “Well, no matter. Another awakens to take your place.”
“Enough!” Celindria’s voice defied description in its abyssal depth. It rumbled in the chamber of his heart and took his breath away.
Andrew swallowed hard. Lucas gripped his shoulder, seeking or providing comfort. Or both. To his horror, the Tritan—a being at least several hundred million years older than her—fell silent.
Satisfied, she continued, “The course of events already shifts from the Probabilities. We advance with the current cascade. Have we begun the trials on the latest weapon?”
The Tritan resumed his pacing. “We have. The most recent development improved Seamswalking by miles, but nothing further than a city away.”
“Progress is too slow as I dally with other projects.” Her voice returned to normal. “I’ll soon offload the heaviest one to the new Progeny. It will allow more time for the priority ventures. Anything else to report?”
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He nodded as he spoke, “The girl. The redheaded one. I’m intrigued by the power you described. Can we sample it?”
“It will be done.”
“Excellent.” He clapped his hands together, startling Andrew. “I won’t be available to you for my next mission.” He sauntered over to her, careful to keep his hands behind his back. A breath from her face, he added, “But should you miss me, just recall our time together on Thailea.”
Celindria took a step back and vanished.
Like Sagan.
The Tritan chuckled the entire walk out of the cave.
It was a quiet trek back to their camp as Andrew and Lucas absorbed this recent development. In thirty minutes, Sagan would arrive there for the rendezvous. They had so much to tell her.
The Progeny leaned his arm on the rock wall and rested his face on it. “What did you take away from that?”
Lucas took a small knife and peeled an apple in one strip. An Icarus of many talents. He explained, “Celindria is some kind of arms dealer for the Tritans. And that, ironically, Nox was buying from them.”
“But what does she have access to that would create weapons exotic and powerful enough that Enki doesn’t already have?”
Lucas took a bite and chewed with a frown as he concentrated. His jaw clenched, and the vessels in his neck strained a little with each chew.
Andrew gaped. “How does someone chew pretty? That shouldn’t be a thing.”
The Icarus swallowed—yes, he did that pretty, too—and spared a cheeky grin at his lover. It disappeared fast. “Did you see how Celindria moved?”
“Yea, like Sagan.”
“As far as I know, in the Vast Collective’s history, only two people could do that…”
Andrew listed on his fingers. “Sagan and—”
“T.A.O.”
The younger man shook his head. “She’s dead.”
“Not exactly. Xelan told us she traveled through the Seam and never returned. He assumed she died given the uncertain life expectancy of a Progeny. But Celindria’s proof. All the Progeny assumed dead we can no longer assume are dead.”
“That’s all but Merit.” Andrew shook his head as he shoved away from the wall and paced. This was huge. And so very problematic for their side. Softly, he asked, “How could Xelan not know this?”
Lucas blocked his way. When Andrew stopped, the Icarus took his hands and gave them a gentle tug. “The Progeny were not prisoners. They were allowed to live their lives as they wanted without monitoring. In fact, Xelan fought the Tribunal for that very right. After the Vacating, he believed they went off with their children, their families.”
Andrew squeezed the gray hands in his. “So, who would keep up with them?”
They locked eyes for a moment as the horrific epiphany hit them simultaneously.
“We have to warn Sagan,” Andrew announced, grimly.
“Warn me about what?”
The two men spun around. Sagan popped out of thin air and stood right behind their tent.
Andrew threatened, “I’m getting a collar with a little bell.”
“Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” She snickered and came in for hugs. The relief on her face as they squeezed back seemed more intense that usual.
“Is everything okay?” Lucas asked, obviously noticing.
She beamed at them. “Rayne’s back.”
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly the cool thing to do, but Andrew immediately dropped a few tears. “Is she all right?”
“As all right as Rayne ever gets to be.”
Lucas clasped Andrew on the shoulder and stared at Sagan. Did he catch the tightness around her eyes, too? Like there was more to say?
She dodged eye contact and searched around the camp for a place to sit. “I have more to report. Lucas, are you familiar with Imminent?”
“A fable. Why?”
Andrew recognized the terror in the Icarus’ melodic voice.
She settled for a tree stump and rested her elbows on her knees. Her voice shook as she said, “Well, we caught a few of their agents, today. Batman and Karter did. Even commandeered a massive crawler for the good guys.”
Lucas hung his head. Andrew repaid the favor from earlier and patted his back. When he looked up, the man’s years showed in the weight of his gaze. “We have never needed Xelan more.”
Sagan clicked her tongue. “You can say that again.”
“Before we get into that,” Andrew started as he brushed Lucas’ hair from his face. “We need to tell you about Celindria.”
By the time they finished telling Sagan everything, she paced a rut in the rock while squeezing fingers in her short hair. She stopped and looked out over the mountain range. With her back to them, she said, “I know someone who might know where Celindria’s hiding the First Wave Progeny. They also know of Imminent. But neither one of you will like the someone.”