“A man like that would not take the death of his sister lightly.” Percy muttered, more to himself.
“Not at all. For the last seven years, Emmanuel Milos has been the shadow that has haunted my sleep. He and his crew have been hunting me and my family for years. Any time he got too close, or Dad felt our cover was blown, we would pack up and leave town. New names, new home, no life.”
“Seven? But you said you were twelve?” Hip asked.
I looked at him. He would be the one to notice the gap in time. “Emmanuel didn’t surface until after the trial. With everything that was going down, his face was all over the news. Thanks to him and his crew pushing drugs, a little girl had to kill four people. The public was out for his blood.”
Ajax shifted in his chair, looking uncomfortable. “I vaguely remember hearing about this. The news never released your name, but there was a wonder if you were going to survive.”
I gave a wry smile. "Ta-da.”
They didn’t seem to think that was funny.
I inhaled slowly. “The details of everything after that is a little complicated. I don’t think I can explain all of it now, but to make a long story short, we were in witness protection and then we sort of jumped the tracks. My father, having worked in witsec for years, knew the system, and he knew its flaws. He also made a lot of connections. Using those connections, he went through unofficial channels to set us up with new identities and new homes. His superiors weren’t happy with him, but it’s not like they could really find him after the fact.”
“What about Clint? Who is he, exactly, if you aren’t under official witness protection?”
“I don’t know all the details. Eventually, my dad struck some sort of deal with the higher ups. My dad could do things his way, and in turn he would hunt down every dirty cop in Emmanuel's organization. Clint is one of the few people in on it. Acting as a pseudo-handler in turn with passing information. But I honestly don’t know that side of things, never wanted to. Cal was actually the detective.”
I sat back and closed my eyes, trying to calm the jitters in my stomach. I believed I deserved some hot chocolate for my dry mouth and a nice cozy blanket for a nap.
“What should we do?” Theseus asked softly.
“What do you mean?” Jason replied.
“Well, we can’t just let this human live. He’s clearly still a threat to her.”
I cracked open an eye and peeked at Theseus. It was a surprise to hear such hostility from my sweet boy.
Hip was staring at Theseus in horror. “We can’t just go all 'avenging warrior’ and kill the guy!”
“Then what?” he growled. "Wait for him to come to us? Let him get close to her again? Fuck no.”
“I actually agree with Theseus. It would be better in the long run to rid ourselves of this human.” Percy said and signed.
My spine snapped straight. “You can’t just walk in and kill Emmanuel. He’s not some old man who runs a book shop and does crosswords on Sunday. He has literal generals and drug soldiers that we would need to get through, not to mention we would then be on the run from the moment he was dead.”
Percy pushed up his glasses and leaned forward. “What would you have us do? Atalanta, if this man shows up here, your life would be in danger. That’s not acceptable to any of us.”
“I didn’t tell you the truth so that you all would go White Knight and save me from the big bad villain of my story! I told you so I wouldn’t have to keep lying to all of you.”
Jason spoke up. “I agree with Atalanta. Picking a fight would be more dangerous than just holding down the fort and being careful.”
“I agree with Jason,” Hip said, much to everyone’s surprise.
There was a pregnant pause as everyone stared at him before the room exploded as everyone began to shout at each other. Lines were being drawn while I watched in horror as the hostility grew.
“I say we kill him.” Ajax grunted.
“Of course you would say that! You attacked a human for just upsetting her!” Hip snapped at him.
“SHE WOULD BE SAFER IF HE WAS GONE!” Theseus shouted, far louder than everyone else.
Jason let go my hand and pointed at Theseus. “She would be safer if we didn’t attack a drug lord and his fucking army!”
“He will find her here eventually, and when he does, not only will she be in danger, but the whole town would be at risk.” Theseus shot back.
Hip snorted. “As if a town full of supernatural beings couldn’t handle a bunch of dudes with guns.”
“Not everyone has your abilities, Mr. Clark. And not everyone in this town is a trained warrior.”
“It seems that there’s a problem with a very simple solution.” Came a new and chilling voice.
While we had all been so focused on arguing, Calder had taken it upon himself to stroll on in.
“That door was locked for a reason,” Percy growled.
All of the guys shifted in front of me, blocking my view of Jason’s uncle.
“I didn’t realize it was locked. I just thought the knob was rusty.”
“The door doesn’t have a knob,” Ajax muttered.
“May I ask what you’re doing here, Uncle Calder?” Jason, even in such a tense situation, kept with a respectful tone.
They trained him well, it seemed.
“I came to this public institution to read some good old American literature, and happened to overhear your little squabble.”
“And?” Theseus asked.
“Well, you have a Mer who’s in need of protection from some low life human. What better place to protect a Mer than with her own kind?”
“What are you saying, Calder?” Percy demanded.
“I am saying that we should bring Miss Atalanta back to the city.”
“That’s a good idea.” Theseus mumbled.
“Hell no,” Hip cursed.
Jason slowly shook his head. “Uncle, she can’t.”
“I disagree. She would be safest there.” Percy replied.
Ajax simply grunted.
The city? As in, what, the Mer city?
I peeked from around the broad shoulders of Ajax at Calder. His eyes narrowed, face turned up as if we were the gum under his shoe.
Red.
A shiver went up my spine and again I hid behind the guys, who had begun to argue amongst themselves once more.
“Percy, we can’t send her there. You know what will happen.” Jason tried to reason.
It was Theseus who answered. “She would be perfectly safe in the city. No one would dare harm her there.”
Jason’s head whipped around to look at Theseus. “It’s not all starfish and rainbows down there, Theseus. Don’t be an idiot.”
Percy looked pensive for a few moments, his mind clearly racing a mile a minute before answering. “It may not be ideal, but she would be safer from the human.”
“Percy.” Jason’s face had fallen into one of betrayal.
I could only guess that Percy knew what would happen to both of us if we went to the city.
My stomach coiled. I didn’t want to be a breeding machine any more than Jason did.
I fidgeted with my sleeves. “I can’t leave.”
“With all due respect, you don’t really have a choice.” Calder said.
“Of course she has a choice,” Hip snapped at him.
“She,” Calder spat out the word like one spat out shit, “is an undocumented changed female. As is our law, she must go before the council, to be documented and paired with a mate.”