“Gah!” I sit bolt-upright in bed, which is awkward because I’m actually on the sofa. There’s a large comforter draped over me which wasn’t there the night before. I suspect Summer.
“Oh!” says Daph. She about midway across the room, heading toward the front door. It’s still dark out. “Sorry, Alice, sorry! I really didn’t want to wake you.”
“Where are you going?”
She rolls her eyes. "Back home. This is silly. I just – I shouldn’t have dragged you into all this, I really apologize. I – look, whatever happened yesterday, it’s – I’m sure there’s –
“Daph.” I close my eyes, rub both temples. For a refreshing sleep, I sure woke up with a hell of a headache. “I talked with him.”
Her eyes widen. “Him? Wh-who --?”
“The Big P.”
Her eyes widen further.
“Dammit, Daph, don’t get the vapors. I need you focused on this.”
She takes a short, deep breath. Then another. I’m about to warn her about hyperventilation, when she takes a slow one next and sits in the wingback, at right angles to the couch. She nods sharply. Her body is tense, even sitting. “What – did he have to say?”
“Too much, and too much of it bullshit.” I glance around the room, half-expecting to see his little face tut-tutting sadly at me. “Look, three things: first, I convinced him, I think, to talk with you. Just talk, not arm-twist or guilt or command or anything like that. Let him make his case for what he has in mind for you --”
“I don’t want it.”
“I don’t think you will, but I think I convinced him that has to be your choice, not his. So that’s good.”
She nods her head a couple of times in quick succession. “Okay, that’s – wait, how did you talk with him?”
“In my dreams.” That sounds incredibly stupid, even as I say it, but she nods and accepts it without question. Presumably he’s pulled the same stunt on her.
“Okay, second: he’s going to be very convincing. He has a song and dance about saving the world, portents and prophecies, and it will sound like, well, maybe it’s not ideal, but maybe you should do it anyway. If you’re not careful, he’ll change your mind.”
“How can he do that?”
“Because you’re a good person, and you want to do good things for others, and protect them, and see that they’re well – like your coaching activities. You want to give back, even if it’s a bit of a pain, or requires some sacrifices of time and opportunity. Right?”
“Well, someone has to do it.”
“That’s what I mean. And he’ll use that sentiment directly against you.”
“He’ll trick me?”
“He’ll get you to trick yourself. I don’t think he’ll lie – directly. And --” I hesitate. “And, he might be right.”
She frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Look, Big P is a manipulative asshole, but – you do have power through him. And you can do good things with that power to help people. Like today. And I don’t know that he’s lying about portentous prophecies.”
“You think I should --”
“I think you need to listen to him with your ears open, your bullshit meter fully charged, and make a moral decision, not a convenient one in either direction.”
She shakes her head. “Alice, you’re confusing me more than he does. Do you think I should do what he says, or not?”
I roll my eyes. “Look, Daph, whatever choice you make, all I want is for you to make it for the right reasons. Make it fully informed. Don’t do it out of fear of what you’ll have to give up, or fear of what might happen to others. Make it for a positive reason.”
“What’s that positive reason?”
“That’s – kind of up to you. But it should probably start with ‘What I really want is to …’ and go from there. Duty, honor, comfort, life-long dreams, helping others – whatever it is, or whatever combo, you should do it. Let it guide you.”
She’s silent a long moment. “When do I have to decide?”
I shrug. “I figure he’ll probably visit you tonight, at the earliest.” I purse my lips. I really don’t want to do this next part. Really truly. But … I have no choice, none worth making. “What I really want is to” … be Daph’s friend in this_. And that means …_
“There’s a third thing,” I say. “Something else he’s going to tell you.”
Her brow furrows. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”
I shake my head.
A deep sigh. She leans back in the chair. “Okay, hit me.”
It was nice while it lasted. I try to speak as simply and straightforwardly as I can. I can’t face her, though. I look at the coffee table, at the TV remote. “My real name is Alycia Chin. I am the daughter of Dr. Achilles Chin, the terrorist. I’ve been --” My voice breaks, of all things, which sort of breaks my concentration .“I’ve done bad things, Daph. I have to be honest with you – but I’m … trying to be better. Not be my father. Be … a good person.” I shake my head. “But the Big P is going to tell you all that, all the gory details, to discredit what I’ve said to you.”
My eyes slip up to hers. “Because I’ve lied about who I am, and because of who I am in the first place.”
Her hands are clenched on the arms of the chair, but there’s no screaming, no hysterics, no fleeing from the room. There’s fear in her face, her body language, her breathing – but less than I’d expected. And …
… there’s no surprise, either? “You knew?”
“I … had a pretty good idea,” she says. I raise a brow. “Well, when we first met, I told you about the mysterious daughter of Dr. Chin who was supposedly this star-crossed love interest for Jason Quill, and I couldn’t believe you hadn’t heard about it. Aaaand, I had some time to think about your reaction, and how you came out of nowhere, and didn’t know the most amazing stuff – and, honestly, your name, really? – and you had one of the Suits at school, from AEGIS, and you talked about your daddy being such a dick – and then you were dating Jason, and it … well, it all made sense. Or sense enough. I – though it a maybe?”
Tā mā de, given all that I’m shocked the entire student body didn’t figure it out. Hell, maybe they have. “But – you didn’t ask.”
“Oh, God, no!” she says, throwing up her hands in mock surrender/distress. “That’d be – well, rude. Or dangerous. Or maybe both. Or, like, really awful if I was wrong. I mean, ‘Hey, are you the daughter of a murderous fiend who wants to take over and/or destroy the world?’ Really? That’s really not a cool question to ask. Especially at Gardner.”
My lips are pressed together. I shake my head slightly. “Why, then?”
“Why – oh, why was I friends with you?”
I nod, sharply.
“'Cause you’re fun, girl. And funny. And you seemed to need a friend. And whether you were just a stranger in our strange land, or an escaped criminal on the lam, or I guess maybe on parole … I just thought you maybe needed a friend. And --” She pauses. “Well, if you were a terrorist, too, maybe you wouldn’t hurt your friends, or maybe I could talk you down from it. But most of all --”
She stops, and I realize I’ve stopped breathing, because I have no idea what’s happening next. At last, I say, “And most of all …?”
“You’re … not evil.”
My brow furrows. “What?”
“Look, I know it’s crazy, but this thing I have from – Big P – this High Priestess package … well, part of it is sensing something wrong, people who are bad, or who are planning bad things. I mean, that’s how the whole thing at XXSports started off, right – my knowing that those guys were there, doing something … evil.”
I stare at her. “And … I’m not … ‘evil.’”
“Well, I mean, no more than most people. A bit sooty around the edges, maybe, but – I think you’re a good person, Alice – Alycia.”
“Use Alice. Maybe someone in school is still fooled.”
“Oh, I don’t think anyone else has guessed it. The only other person you spend as much time as with me is with that Leo groupie, one of the twins – Summer. She might have guessed.”
I nod. “Yes, I’ll be careful around her.”
“So, anyway, when I realized that, I figured, hey, Alice is fun to be with, and she’s hella smart, and she puts up with my other friends and can out-revolutionary even Marion. So … score!”
I blink. “Wait. You’re telling me that you know I’m not evil, that you can be friends with me and trust me … because of one of the gifts Palamedes gave you?”
“Um … yeah?”
I bark out a loud peal of laughter, followed by several more. Hoist on your own petard, god of “joy and freedom!”
Daph laughs with me, because that’s the kind of person she is. Which is fine, until I hear a door open in the hallway, and Leslie stomps out, wearing a long black nightshirt with a skull and crossbones formed out of a gear and cross wrenches.
She points at the clock on the mantle, and glares at me. “Three thirty. Ack emma. I don’t care if you’re Achilles Chin’s daughter or the big man himself in drag: Shut. The Fuck. Up out here.”
She throws a glancing glare at Daph, then stomps back to her room. The door does not close gently.
Daph cringes in an exaggerated manner. “Sorree!” she says to me, softly.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah. I’d say that’s a vote that we’re both evil.”
She snorts, then leans closer, pitching her volume down. “Look, I – I appreciate your telling me who you are. I mean, I can’t imagine, but I’ve done a few papers that touch on some of – well, the political side about your daddy, but that got into the crime stuff, too, and – I can’t imagine what it was like for you. But your coming out to me about it, doing it so you could warn me about the Big P. And being blackmailed by Big P because you were standing up to me, I mean, Jesus, girl, you stood up to a god? For me?”
I frown. “When you put it that way, it sounds sort of heroic.”
“That’s not half of it.” She reaches out, grabs my hands, gives them a squeeze. “I owe you one, Alice. I owe you a couple. And now I got some thinking to do, about Big P’s offer – um, are we calling him that because he’s aware when people say his name?”
“Maybe,” I shrug. “Or maybe it just makes him sound silly, which tickles my funny bone.”
She gives me a big grin, probably the best smile I’ve seen from her since this afternoon. “Okay, I gotta go. I think I don’t have to worry about that stuff, at least tonight. And I think I can handle Big P if he comes knocking.”
“I have another friend you should talk with. The ‘Leo Groupie,’ Summer. She’s … got a thing for butterflies, too. Maybe something you two might have in common. And she’s a lot better than me at talking through shit like this. You can trust her with your secret.”
“She always seemed a little – off. Not in a bad way, just --” She shrugs.
I shake my head. “I think you’d get along. I’ll introduce you.”
She snorts. “She’s not another daughter of a super-villain, is she?”
I hold up my hands. “You’ll just have to ask her.”
Daph gets up, and I do likewise, walking her to the door (quietly). “Oh, and I still owe you something more in sports bra shopping, before we were so rudely interrupted.” She cocks her head. “You’re not actually doing a martial arts class, are you?”
“Yyyeah, I think I’ve confessed enough for tonight.” I take her hands again. “You sleep well, Daph. And drive safely.”
“I’ve got a god watching out for me,” she cracks. “And,” she adds, “at least one angel.” She gives me a quick hug and thump on the back, and then she’s gone.
I step back over to the sofa, and fold up the comforter. I scribble a quick note of apology to Leslie and leave it on her coffee cup in the kitchen. Take a final glance around, then look upwards (if only because that’s how humans have taken to addressing gods). “See? I’m not evil. And I don’t want to be your enemy, either,” I say, softly. Then I add, “But do not fuck with my friends.”
Then I go down to the basement, and drop easily back to sleep.
Or that’s the plan. My phone buzzes as I descend the steps.
Your house guest’s issues are resolved?
I clearly have angels watching over me, too.
Not quite. The security video of your encounter at the sporting good store this p.m. was impressive. Even Amazonian.
Oh, wonderful. I’m sure that particular film clip will be stashed on any number of AEGIS computers for the rest of time. Though, to be honest, they have footage of me in my cell showering and taking a crap, too.
I trust the video will not circulating with the HCPD.
_Unreliable system. Lost the last three days of recordings. Overseas manufacture, never trust the stuff.
_Yes, those damned foreigners.
_La. Video actually did fail to capture the person as the shop who did all the heavy lifting, strangely enough. It looked like the film was fogged, except it’s not a film-based system. The clerk, who was unconscious, did remember a good customer there with a friend. Police went to said customer’s house to see if she’d seen anything, but she was staying with friends, her parents unaware of whom.
_Kids these days.
Is there anything in this that AEGIS should be aware of?
Just gods and portents and high priestesses and doom. Same as it ever was.
No.
Is there anything I should be aware of?
I wish I could trust Parker. I’d love for someone else to be able to help watching over Daph. But …
No.
Very well. You should be asleep. You have a midterm in US History tomorrow.
‘White people ruin everything.’ See, I studied.
Droll. Good night.
Then I drop easily back to sleep – a sleep of, if not the virtuous, then of the not-evil. And if I dream, I don’t remember it.
-fin-
author: *** Dave H.
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