The floating creature rose into the air, drawing Callum’s attention. He recognized it, at least he recognized its kind. What was one of the creatures that stood within portals doing here?
His eyes move from the creature to Melmarc Lockwood. It begged the question of what it was doing here with his potential protégé. Then his eyes settled on the only real threat in the room, whatever the interface said be damned. What was Madness doing here? Which, unsurprisingly, was more confusing than the fact that the Oath was wearing bright yellow pajamas with cute pink teddy bears on it.
The creature rose until it stopped, then hovered. Something in its expression seemed to darken, becoming foreboding. Callum braced himself for whatever would happen.
<> the creature declared, in an ominous voice. <>
Callum blinked as Melmarc and his older brother exchanged appalled look. It didn’t make sense but they looked as if someone had just revealed their secret.
“You cannot be in—”
Callum turned at the sound of the voice approaching the door and moved his spear immediately. It short forward by its butt and slammed the door shut. With one hand, he held the spear in place while people beat at the door from the outside, trying to get in.
“What the hell is—” His words died on his mouth at the sight before him.
Madness was already on him, taking advantage of their short period he had turned his attention to the door. Callum frowned, then braced himself for impact. He still remembered very clearly how hard Madness hit from their fight at the last meeting of the Oaths.
Before he was tackled, Melmarc’s older brother, Ark, slipped himself between him and Madness. Callum panicked. Madness tackled the boy, picked him up, and wrapped him in a bear hug. Then he started rocking him, bouncing the boy as if he was an infant crying and he was trying to calm him down.
“There, there,” Madness cooed. “The sky is there and letters are shapes hiding in plain sight.”
He continued to rock Ark who was already taller than the average man. Ark said nothing, did not, just allowed himself to be rocked. As for Melmarc, the boy let out a sigh of relief. Then gave the creature in the air an annoyed look. The creature returned the look with the same bland expression its kind always had.
<> it said in a voice that sounded excited. <>
Callum pieced things together very quickly. The creature calling itself Veebee was the visitor that had been summoned. Which meant that someone in the room was the [August Intruder]. It certainly wasn’t Madness, so that left two options. Melmarc or his brother.
Callum felt the spear in his hand budge. That was a bit interesting. Someone helping to push the door must have some high strength stat. Not that it was going to help. Any strength based Gifted not at least S-rank or above was going to have a hard time opening that door now that he was closing it.
Ignoring the door, he looked at Melmarc.
“Melmarc Lockwood,” he said carefully. “What’s going on? It’s been a few business days as agreed, and I come to meet this.”
The creature turned to him and the dots that served as its eyes turned into angry slits. Callum got the impression that it was frowning, displeased. The creature returned its attention to Melmarc and the look was gone.
<> it asked, sounding confused.
Did it just call me an it?
“He,” Melmarc corrected. “Why is he not bowing.”
Fuck. Callum’s jaw dropped. He’s the [August Intruder].
The creature, Veebee, lowered its head in chastisement. <he not bowing?>>
“Because people don’t just go around, bowing,” Melmarc said simply, then he gave Callum an awkward smile. “Hi.”
Callum raised his one free hand and waved awkwardly. “Hi?”
Madness was still rocking the boy.
“I think that’s fine,” Ark said. “You can drop me now, sir.”
Madness paused, gave the boy a curious look. “You did not want a hug?” He was smiling, but somehow the smile seemed to be twitching. It was almost as if he had a funny joke in his head and knew that he was not supposed to be laughing.
It was creepy. Then again, Madness was always creepy.
The door budged again. Callum pinned it in place.
Melmarc’s attention moved to the door. “Everything’s fine,” he called out. “Just a family visit and a guest. Very sorry for the disturbance.”
It was a moment before the budging at the door stopped. Slowly, very slowly, Callum lowered the spear. He hesitated to take his eyes off Melmarc and the creature just in case he was simply seeing things. Eventually, he did, looking at the door to finding no silhouettes fighting for entry on the other side.
Was that all it took? Melmarc saying that he was fine. Seemed like shitty security to him.
Madness stood beside Ark Lockwood now, looking very… expressionless. Apart from his lips that were twitching now, suppressing a smile, Callum assumed.
Melmarc looked around after a moment, like a host who just realized that he had not offered his guests anything to drink.
“Would you like to have a seat, Sir Callum?” the boy asked.
Callum shook his head. “I’m sure I need to stand for this.”
He could still feel the pain in the boy’s shoulders, but it was not as bad as it had been the night he had intruded on the boy’s pain collection.
“How’s the shoulder?” he added belatedly.
Melmarc looked at his shoulder and shrugged. “It’s been better.”
Callum wondered if looking at the wrong shoulder had been intentional on the boy’s part. In the end, he discarded the curiosity as unimportant and drew attention to what was important.
He gestured at Veebee. “How is that here?”
<> the creature said. <> It paused, stared daggers at Callum. <>
“Veebee!” Melmarc chided. “What did I say about killing?”
The creature seemed to sigh. <> it corrected. <>
“He’s not wrong,” Ark said, drawing Callum’s attention for a moment.
Callum opened his mouth to say something, to scold him for not knowing what he was talking about, when he realized something special. The boy knew what he was talking about. It was in his eyes. He knew what the creature was. He also knew what Callum was or who Callum was.
The question was how. How did…
Well, that’s a stupid question, he thought, eyes returning to Melmarc. If Melmarc was the [August Intruder], then just the way he and the other Oaths received notifications from their interfaces on matters regarding the [August Intruder], then it would be no surprise if the [August Intruder] received messages about them too.
In the end, Callum settled for making the conversation easier to deal with. “So you’re the [August Intruder],” he said to Melmarc, keeping his voice casual.
Melmarc looked at Madness. Madness was biting his fingers, not even looking at the boy.
“Just tell the truth,” a voice came from the boy’s phone. Callum had forgotten all about the phone in Melmarc’s hand.
Melmarc raised the phone, looked at it. “You sure?”
“He’ll be stupid if he hasn’t already put things together,” the voice replied. “Which he clearly has. Just tell the truth. You were going to do it anyway.”
“But mom would…”
“Mel,” the female voice cut him off. “Let me tell you something that’s going to come as a shocker for a good boy like yourself: Mom isn’t always right.”
Ark rolled his eyes. “You don’t say, Nin.” He clapped sarcastically. “Advise of the century right there. You should be a gurur. A wise teacher.”
“I know what a guru is, Ark. Don’t be stupid.”
And even though she clearly couldn’t see him, Ark stuck his tongue out in Melmarc’s general direction. A sigh slipped from the phone.
“Mel, dear,” the voice, Nin—Callum assumed—said.
“Yes,” Melmarc answered.
“Tell your foolish brother that he is in the presence of an Oath and should behave with sufficient decorum. In stupid boy language: tell him to put his tongue back in his mouth.”
Like clockwork, Melmarc looked at Ark and said, “Nin said you should put your tongue back in your mouth.”
<> Veebee waved at the screen. <>
There was a moment of silence, then Nin asked. “Is he, like, the baby stage of his race or something?”
Melmarc shook his head. “No, he just likes talking that way.”
Callum could not believe his eyes. How were the Lockwood brothers so calm? They were in the presence of two Oaths and a very powerful creature. It was almost as if this was their everyday life, which was supposed to be impossible.
Also, he wasn’t sure if Melmarc had realized it yet, but he was ignoring him.
Callum looked at Madness. He had a question on his lips, one from one Oath to another to help him navigate the current situation. Sadly, Madness was a different type of Oath, the kind that did not know how to communicate with other Oaths.
Madness sighed, then turned away. He gestured at an empty space in front of him. “Pain.”
“Yes,” Callum replied, skeptical.
“Would you like to step into my office?”
Callum paused. Madness had just communicated with him using more than two words, and the entire sentence made sense—even if the situation governing the sentence did not.
Still, he said, “Yes.”
“Good,” Madness replied. Then the air in front of him tore like ripped paper.
Wait. He can teleport?
Callum had to use his hand to close his jaw this time.
The thoughts were barely fully formed when he felt a force pulling him into the portal. His eyes darted around. Madness had not asked the children if they were willing to teleport, yet Callum saw the older of the brothers visibly being drawn to the portal. The only person that seemed unaffected by it was Melmarc.
Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone, ripped from the world and into the portal. It was almost as if he blinked. One moment he was in Fallen High’s infirmary, the next moment he was standing in a living room that felt very homely.
Like himself, Ark staggered out of the portal. Ark stopped after only four steps. Callum wasn’t sure how he felt about the fact that he’d stopped after taking two steps and the boy had stopped after taking four.
Madness walked out of the portal casually, scratching the back of his neck as if he was thinking about something. Melmarc strolled in behind him, seemingly unaffected by the effects of the portal.
“So that’s teleportation,” Ark muttered, sounding excited.
Madness looked at him. “Yes.”
“That’s so freaking cool.” Ark plopped himself down on one of the couches as if he owned the place. “I like it.”
Melmarc shook his head and walked over to another chair, a single seater directly opposite his brother, and sat down. “You can’t learn it, though,” he said.
“But I can learn spells,” Ark said, grinning as if he was winning a fight. “There are teleportation spells.” He looked at Madness. “Right?”
Madness seemed to draw himself up, as if trying to compose himself. “Teleportation spells,” he said carefully. “Are dangerous. You will learn them later.”
Ark nodded as if that was all the response he needed.
Callum watched the dynamic of the tree of them and wondered just how much time Madness had been spending with them for all three of them to be so free with each other. Madness was even taking the time to communicate. With the [August Intruder], Callum could understand. But why Ark? Was it because he was his brother?
<> the creature blurted out.
“No,” Melmarc said immediately.
Veebee cocked its head to the side, in what looked like a gesture of confusion. <>
“Nobody wants Ark learning reckless things,” Nin said from the phone. “He’ll just go get himself into trouble.”
“What’s a little trouble,” Ark smirked. “I can handle a little trouble.”
“No spells,” Madness said simply then turned to Callum. “You can have a seat.”
Carefully, Callum took the closest seat to him. It was a three-seater. He looked at the television, suddenly feeling out of place. This was somehow too much yet anticlimactic at the same time. A part of him had always thought that the way he would meet the [August Intruder] would be at another Oath meeting that would be called when Madness and his wife had finally decided to reveal them to the others. There would be a lot of conversations, then the [August Intruder] would walk in through the door… and it was not going to be a kid.
Callum figured out what was happening now. The interaction and familiarity between the three was completely unexpected and somehow overwhelming. That was it.
“So, you’re the [August Intruder],” he repeated now that he was sitting down.
Melmarc nodded. “I am.”
“I see.” Callum sighed, realizing that the action did not currently hurt his lungs and throat. “And you know that I’m an Oath.”
Melmarc nodded again. “I do.”
“How long have you known?”
“Since I met you at the interview,” Melmarc answered.
Callum frowned, something confusing coming to mind. “When you met Madness, all the Oaths were informed. How come you met me and none of the others were informed?”
“Because I didn’t want them to be informed,” Melmarc answered. Then he paused, sighed, frowned. “How I did it is a secret.”
He sounded as if he was correcting himself, which didn’t make sense. The first answer would’ve most clearly sufficed. Or was he one of those kids whose parents taught them that it was bad to lie so they always corrected themselves and told the truth?
He wasn’t sure how he felt about a naïve [August Intruder], an [August Intruder] that would not lie.
At least it beats having someone bad as the [August Intruder], he thought.
“So what happens now?” he asked, looking at Madness. “Are we going to have a battle here to keep you and your wife’s secret?”
Melmarc and Ark were suddenly alert. Very alert. Callum could feel it in how tense their shoulders were. Actually, Melmarc’s shoulders were tense, Ark’s shoulders were more relaxed in that way the shoulders of a person not new to violence does. In that way that says the battlefield should be his home.
And he’s so young.
But even beyond that was a new realization. A realization that hit Callum like a bullet train to the head.
They will die for him. He could not believe it. Why?
What exactly had gone on since Madness had met Melmarc that Melmarc and his brothers were ready to lay down their lives for him?
Even as his thoughts ran races around themselves, Madness sat down on the ground and rubbed his head, then, very gently, he patted himself on the head.
“You did good,” he muttered to himself. “You did good. She’ll forgive you.”
Callum blinked at that. Unlike most people, Ark looked at Madness as if he was solving a mathematical equation that he already had the formula to. Melmarc looked at Madness as if he understood what the Oath was saying.
Then, after a moment, Madness pulled out a phone. He simply reached into his pants and pulled the cell phone out. Not his pants pocket.
Callum did not want to even imagine where exactly the phone had come out of. He has a teleportation skill, he told himself for his mental sanity. It won’t be unreasonable for him to have a storage skill, too.
Madness pressed a button on his phone and put it to his ear.
“What’s he doing?” Nin asked from the phone.
Melmarc looked a little worried. “Calling the woman that chose him.”
Of course, Callum thought.
Madness never negotiated without War.
A man walked out of some corner of the room, forcing Callum to tense up as he looked at the man. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. He was also almost as tall as the boys. His eyes zeroed in on Veebee and he frowned.
“What the fuck is that thing doing here?” the man scowled, then he looked at Callum. His frown deepened. “Are we just letting anything into the house? For fuck’s sake.”
He threw his hands up in exasperation and walked back out the way he came before anyone could really react, mumbling something that Callum didn’t quite catch.
But he wasn’t surprised, he was too busy trying to figure out where he’d met the man before and why all the pain in his body had suddenly disappeared, usurped by one single feeling.
Fear.
It wasn’t some deep seething emotion. But it was there, a numb stroll in the back of his head. An instinctual fear, like a fear of the dark that you already thought you had overcome, like a child suddenly, for some reason, remembering that their father could crush their head in a single blow.
“Babe,” Aurora’s voice came from Madness’ cell phone. “Did you do what you wanted to do?”
“No,” Madness answered blandly, the mystery man treated as inconsequential, unimportant.
“Are you home?” she asked.
“For now.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
There was a slow moment of silence.
“Is there a problem, babe?” she asked. Callum almost felt bad about the worry in her voice.
Madness nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, panicked. “What happened?”
Madness looked up at Melmarc when he answered. “Pain is here.” Then he looked at Pain. “He knows.”
Aurora’s voice dropped. All the panic withered away like dead plants. When she spoke again, her voice was cold.
“Do you want to kill him?”
Madness’ eyes were on the Oath of Pain.
“Yes.”