Cleaning up a crime scene takes a long time. Already, the ME’s office and the Crime Scene Unit set up portable plastic barriers so that no one could see what was happening on the other side. The ME and the CSU had to collect all the body parts, and then clean up the gallons and gallons of blood. The blood would go to the Medical Examiner’s office to be analyzed and the bodies would be taken there to quite literally, be put back together.

Bill observed the proceedings to ensure himself that things were going as they should. He watched as human remains were located, photographed, tagged, and bagged. Conventional body bags were ineffectual because none of the parts were large enough to warrant using them. But, they were used anyway. It was a little disconcerting to see humans reduced to the size of a gallon size freezer bag. Even the long bones were shattered into much smaller pieces.

In contrast, items of clothing were all perfectly intact. Just like the inside of the car that Eli and I saw outside of Williamsburg. The clothes were collected, too, carefully tagged and photographed. The clothing kept a great deal of the parts together. It would make putting the puzzle back together somewhat easier. Wallets were found so that positive IDs could be made. The parents of the boys had yet to be informed. I didn’t envy the people who would be assigned that task because the story had already made national headlines. Outside, the world became a tangle of vehicles from every news agency in the country. I wondered how some of them managed to get here so fast.

The four girls and the witnesses all left the scene with their parents or other people who were present for moral support. Even the theater manager left the scene when the district manager showed up. Jessica left with her grandmother, the CEO trailing behind the two of them like he was a lost puppy. Jessica hugged me and told me she would call me to let me know how she was doing. She put my phone number in her cell, hugged me again, and left the theater without looking toward the glass entrance doors.

Cap hovered close to Bill as if he were afraid that Bill would attempt to tell everyone what he knew. But, I knew Bill would keep his head. I moved a little closer to Cap so I could touch his mind. Capstone Hayden was logical and analytical in his thinking. He sought the truth, the real truth, and not the perceived truth. He was a good cop. As I suspected, he was worried that Bill would start talking to the press or to the FBI. Cap kept his mouth shut and allowed Bill to supervise the removal of the bodies.

There was little conversation going on as the people dressed in HazMat suits carefully gathered the bodies. Most of the police and FBI who were present an hour before watched, but no one said very much. Occasionally, a cop would retch or gag and they would immediately leave the area so as to not vomit on the scene. All it would take was for one of the MEs to find something that someone recognized, such as a kneecap or a heart, and the disgusting noises would begin again. Most of these people had never seen anything remotely like what we were all observing today.

When they started cleaning up the blood, we knew all of the larger pieces had been found.

Cap motioned for Bill to approach him and he spoke quietly. “So who did this? He would have to be a pretty powerful psychic to pull this off.”

“He is that. Cap, we think this is a preliminary to what he has in mind.” Bill’s voice couldn’t be heard two feet from where he stood. Two of the FBI agents eyed Cap and Bill, obviously curious about what they were saying.

“And why do you think that? This seems like a pretty wild and bad thing to do. I can’t imagine it getting worse.” At least Cap was listening.

“Cap, it will get worse. We think we know what this guy is up to.”

“Who is it?”

“Better you don’t know. Cap, listen. This is the worse bad guy there ever has been and his psychic powers are formidable. I don’t know if the four of us can stop him. I just know we are going to try. I can’t tell you any more than that. Just suffice it to say, I know things will get worse before they get better. But, I promise you, they will get better.”

Cap nodded and then asked, “Do you need a free hand?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Ok. Stop by the station when you are done here and I will make a good show of taking your badge. That’ll get the FBI and the Mayor’s office off your back.”

“Thanks, Cap.”

Capstone Hayden looked directly at me and said something that shocked me to my roots. “I met a lady a few years back. She had long shining white hair and her skin almost sparkled. Not like that guy in the movie, but rather with a kind of glow that made her look almost like she was covered in moonlight, even during the day. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen until I met you and your friend with the red hair. She said her name was Artemis.” He paused, gauging my reaction. “She claimed she was one of the ancient goddesses. Can you imagine that?”

I nodded, slowly, but said nothing.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Cap grinned at me and said, “I thought so. This bad guy is one of you?”

I nodded, again. Then, I asked. “How did you know?”

“Like Artemis, you are almost too beautiful to look at, Mighty Athena. And he is even worse,” Cap said pointing at Eli.

I smiled, shyly, almost embarrassed that he called me beautiful. I answered the question in Cap’s eyes. “He is Helios and he is Ares,” I told Cap pointing at each one, respectively.

“Athena, Helios, and Ares. If you three are having a hard time catching this guy, I don’t know what ordinary human police can do. You’ll stop him?”

“That is the plan,” I told Cap.

“You’ll take care of Bill?” Cap asked me.

“Yes. We will take care of him.”

“Hey, Cap, come on,” Bill said. He sounded like a whiny little kid whose Dad didn’t trust him.

“Don’t you know what you are up against?” Cap asked Bill.

“Well, sure I do.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” Cap turned to me, again, and then said, “Who is it?”

“Phobos.”

Something crossed Cap’s face and I saw in his head. Cap was with my sister, Artemis, talking to her about a hideous crime that involved the rape and murder of several barely legal girls in Los Angeles. They discussed Phobos and Artemis refused to go against Phobos by herself. Cap pleaded with her, arguing that she was a goddess and immortal. She dismissed him. It was a small quick memory, but it was a strong memory.

“That was in LA, twenty years ago. Now, the bastard is here.” He looked at me and then asked, “You aren’t going to back down, are you?”

“No,” I said and I knew it to be true.

Then, something changed on his face and he said aloud, “Stay away from crime scenes, little lady. You aren’t a cop. Let the Police and the FBI handle this.” Almost immediately, the FBI agent was in earshot and I realized what Cap had done. He wanted the FBI to think he was pissed off at all four of us. The smug look on the Agent’s face told me that Cap had succeeded. Cap wasn’t finished. “I will see you downtown in an hour,” he said to Bill. “No excuses. Just be there.” Bill nodded and then Cap added, “Now, all of you, get out of my face. Get away from my crime scene.”

Cap gave us the ammunition we needed to leave. There was nothing more we could do at the scene, anyway. As we walked to the side door of the theater, I glanced over my shoulder. Cap was talking to the FBI agents and gesticulating furiously, toward the front door and the carpet near his feet. He definitely wanted the attention away from us. The FBI agent didn’t even glance in our direction as we walked out into the bright sunshine.

To get my SUV out of the parking lot, Aaron and Bill directed news vans and cars out of the way while Eli slowly backed the vehicle up. We were near the street before Bill and Aaron climbed into the SUV.

Aaron was saying, “He takes your badge and you won’t be informed of the next crime scene.”

Bill argued, “Yes, I will. Cap wants this guy stopped. He will call me.”

“But, he won’t help,” Aaron said.

“And just what do you think he could do, anyway, besides getting himself and possibly a lot of other people killed?”

“It just seems like he is giving up.”

“Aaron, by taking my badge away from me, I don’t have to strictly follow the rules. I can bend them a lot more or even break them. I can do anything that is necessary to stop Phobos. I don’t want to keep explaining it to you. Why is it so important to you that I keep my badge?”

Aaron slammed the back door of the Blazer and then said, “It’s not important. It’s just... cool.”

Bill didn’t say anything for several seconds. He burst into a big laugh. I laughed, too, because Aaron’s comment was so ludicrous. Eli stopped the SUV so he could wipe the tears of laughter out of his eyes. There have been studies relating to the positive effects of laughing. Laughter is one of the best stress relievers in existence. Even though the laughter in the SUV had almost an hysterical edge to it, it was strongly needed by all of us to help us cope with what we had witnessed inside the mall.

Bill continued to laugh and slapped Aaron on the thigh with his hand. Aaron laughed even harder at his own joke.

After the fit ended, Bill asked the question I think we had all been dreading. “So, what will Phobos do next?”

None of us answered him. We looked at each other, but no answers were forthcoming. I couldn’t begin to guess what he was up to. Eli started the SUV moving, again.

“The only thing I do know is that we should have several hours, or maybe even a whole day before he tries anything again,” Eli said.

“How do you figure?” Bill asked him.

“What he, or they, did... blowing apart those bodies... would take a lot of psychic energy. It takes time to recharge after a huge expenditure like that. I mean you can do a lot of little magics right in a row, or you can do a great big one. But, then you have to recharge. You have to eat, you have to rest. Bill, just our little jaunt to Eastover with the four of us working together cost all of us a great deal of energy. The first thing we did afterward was to eat, remember?”

“So we get a reprieve? How long?” Bill asked.

“No more than a day,” Aaron said.

“So how do we make good use of this time?” Bill asked.

“Practice,” Eli said.

“Practice, what?” Bill asked.

“We have to learn how to better combine our own psychic abilities. We have to learn how to kill someone with just our minds,” Eli said.

“Whoa! Wait just a minute. I’m not practicing on anyone, you got that?” Bill said.

“Bill, back down. We don’t have to actually kill someone. We just have to know that we can do it.”

“I don’t think I am going to like this part, am I?” Bill asked.

“It could be a lot of fun to learn how to do this stuff,” Aaron said. “Imagine the fun you could have stopping a fleeing felon by tripping him... when he is six blocks away.”

Bill’s look was thoughtful.