Double Deal

Chapter 7

Samuel Ross walked into his office at work. He had finally finished his paperwork from the last case and finally got around to the information that Ajax had got from Lola. On his computer, he opened the database, and entered Mei Morgan. A couple of people popped up, but he found the picture correlating to the one sent out. He clicked on her name.

Sam scrolled through her information. She had gone to Roman Community College. He wrote that down on a sticky note pad. He’d probably had to get a subpoena in order to get her records from the school. Sam looked at the paper again. Lola’s last name was Reeds, right?

He quickly typed her name in but found something odd. There was only 1 Lola Reeds who lived in-state that showed up, and Sam was pretty sure that Lola wasn’t an 87 year old woman. He thought maybe he spelled her name wrong, but nothing he did made Lola’s image show up.

Sam pulled his phone out and put the phone up to his ear.

Zephyrus poked his head out into the cavern looking for a way to reach Lola. “Ajax, do you see the pile of junk that leads up the side of the wall?” He asked.

Ajax saw what Zephyrus was talking about. “Yeah, why?”

“The plan is for me to fight the bugs while you go up and untie Lola,” Zephyrus said, “You go along the wall and get there, and be quiet,” He added.

“Okay,” Ajax said.

“Go, I’ll give you a head start before I head out as a distraction. Please hurry.”

Ajax took off, carefully watching where he stepped. He was trying not to step on any of the eggs. He reached the pile of junk. Ajax carefully but quickly made his way up, getting closer and closer to Lola.

Ajax was about halfway up the pile of junk when suddenly…

His phone vibrated, then proceeded to ring. He quickly shut it off, but the damage had already been done. The queen looked over at him as Zephyrus smacked his forehead. The queen screeched, and the boulders turned blood red.

Zephyrus finally ran out. The queen saw him, saying, “I should have known,” before screeching again.

Instantaneously, the bugs burst from their eggs. “Keep going!” Zephyrus said.

Zephyrus pulled his stele out and twirled it around his fingers. It turned into a double edged sword, almost as long as his arm. He swung, cutting at least 5 of the bugs at once.

Ajax saw him start fighting, so he continued to climb. Suddenly, his foot broke through the junk, pinning him there. Ajax had to try to pull his leg about 10 times before it finally came loose. Ajax quickly scurried up the rest of the junk to Lola. When he reached her he saw that the chains were welded together. Ajax turned and saw that bugs started to climb towards him.

Ajax quickly examined Lola’s chain and started to pull it off of her. Ajax constantly turned to see how far the bugs were. He had almost freed Lola when the bugs had gotten too close to ignore. Ajax pulled a piece of lumber from the pile of junk and held it like a baseball bat. He smacked whatever bugs were close enough.

Zephyrus was struggling to kill the bugs. He saw that they had started to reach Ajax too. He scowled. He hated doing this because it always made him pass out afterwards. After one fell swoop, he killed all the bugs within reach before sticking his sword into the ground and turning it.

It was suddenly surrounded by a blue fire. Zephyrus waited a second or two before pulling the sword back out. The blue fire spread across the floor before Zephyrus had even gotten in his previous stance. It killed the bugs that were within a 100 foot radius, giving Zephyrus enough time to run to Ajax, killing all the bugs that led to him. He was breathing hard when he reached Ajax. “Hurry,” Zephyrus told him before jumping off the side, back to the rest of the bugs.

Ajax turned and finished untangling Lola, fixing her on his back as he carried her down the pile of junk.

Zephyrus continued to fight, absolutely exhausted. He was honestly just surprised that he was still awake. He’d only done that before twice, and both times he instantly passed out. Ajax managed to reach Zephyrus before he passed out. “Come on, let’s get out of here before the building collapses,” Ajax said.

Zephyrus nodded smally before turning towards the exit. “You’re not going anywhere,” The queen said, “You will never see the light of day again!”

The queen screeched once more. All the bugs stopped attacking Zephyrus and Ajax and started to go to the pile of junk. They piled on top of each other heading for the ceiling. “They’re going to try to collapse the building. If they do, they’ll cave in this hole and take us with it,” Ajax said.

Zephyrus nodded before saying, “Run!”

Zephyrus and Ajax ran down the hallway they entered, both of them feeling the building shake. “Run faster,” Zephyrus said.

But Ajax was holding Lola on his back, so he was having a little trouble. They finally reached the stair leading up to the basement doors, but dust was already starting to crumble from the ceiling. They got outside as the top of the building began to cave in. “We have to get outside the fence!” Ajax said, running.

The building came crashing down, creating a sinkhole, just as the boys (and Lola) reached the fence. Zephyrus turned and shut the fence door. They were both out of breath. Zephyrus stumbled, “Come on, let’s get going,” He said, pulling out a coin and flipping it onto the street. Moments later the black cab pulled up, and they hopped in.

Zephyrus looked as though he were about to sleep, his head bobbing every few seconds as they drove to Ajax’s house. They were there within a minute, and Ajax practically dragged Zephyrus inside with Lola on his back. “What is up with you?” Ajax said, putting Lola down on the couch.

“Nothing,” Zephyrus said.

Before he even finished his sentence, Zephyrus crumpled to the floor.

Ajax sighed and closed his eyes, picking Zephyrus up off the floor and dragging him over the couch. “The… potion,” Zephyrus said in his sleep.

Ajax ran downstairs to the basement and saw that the potion had turned green. He ladeled some of it into a vial. He brought it upstairs to Lola. Ajax opened her mouth and poured the potion in. He sat down on the coffee table, waiting. A few moments later, Lola shot awake, gasping for air.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Ajax said.

Lola let out a shuddery breath. “Wh-what happened? The last thing I remember was when I was at work in the locker room. How did I end up here?” Lola asked, looking around.

“It’s a long story, but what matters is that you're safe,” Ajax said.

Lola sighed, her mind still on the note she got. “What’s bothering you?” Ajax asked.

“It’s fine,” Lola said.

Whoever sent her the note said that she had three days. One of those days was already gone because she had gotten bit. If she didn’t tell Ajax and Zephyrus, she’d get outed. And she was finally starting to consider them her friends. What if telling them… made them not want to look at her the same way. She hated when people took pity on her. That’s why she never told anyone about her childhood. No one except Kharis. Kharis just wasn’t the type to do that to her. She understood and didn’t treat me any different, Lola thought.

“Lola?” Ajax said, wondering if she had heard his question.

“Hm?” Lola said, snapping out of her thoughts.

Ajax bit his lip, hesitating. “Never mind,” He said, “If you want, you can go upstairs to my bed and lay down-”

“No, it's fine. I think I should just head home. Kharis is probably worried,” Lola said.

“Are you sure? I think that you should at least take a nap before you go anywhere,” Ajax suggested.

Lola hesitated. “Okay, yeah.”

Lola stood up and went upstairs to Ajax’s room and laid down, almost instantly falling asleep.

Meanwhile, Ajax sat on the couch across from Zephyrus, thinking. Something was bugging Lola, he just couldn’t figure out what.

Zephyrus woke up 3 hours later, Lola long gone. His head was hurting. He sat up, Ajax just staring at him lost in thought. “Are you okay?” Zephyrus asked.

“Hm? Yeah, sorry I didn’t realize you had woken up,” Ajax said, snapping out of his trance.

“Uh… okay,” Zephyrus said, raising an eyebrow.

He suddenly remembered, his eyes opening wide, “The potion, did Lola-”

“Yes, Lola is fine. It’s you I’m worried about. What’s with the blue fire?” Ajax asked.

Zephyrus sighed, “It’s a long story.”

“I have time,” Ajax responded.

Zephyrus gave him an annoyed look. “Well, if you must know,” Zephyrus sarcastically said, “Some people can turn their stele into an object to help them fight. I am one of those people. However, twisted humans don’t have a stele because they don’t have magic. No one has the exact same weapon. Mine happens to be a sword. The only downside is that it takes all my energy from me, hence why I passed out.”

Ajax looked at him in shock. “There are more people who can do that? Can I do that?”

“Probably not,” Zephyrus said simply.

“Why not?” Ajax asked, offended.

“Calm down, it has nothing to do with skill. All it has to do with is luck,” Zephyrus emphasized, almost sarcastically.

“Why?” Ajax asked.

“I don’t make the rules. Sorry. Sometimes it is tied to trauma though,” Zephyrus said, before realizing he probably shouldn’t have.

“Trauma? What trauma have you been through?” Ajax was concerned.

A look of fear flashed into Zephyrus’ eyes for a quick moment, before disappearing. “It doesn’t matter,” He said harshly.

“But-”

“Either way, if you want to be able to do anything, you have to learn spells. We’re going to practice all night until you master at least the 5 basics, okay?” Zephyrus cut him off, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

Zephyrus stood up, and headed for the door. Ajax wondered what trauma he had gone through. The look of fear in his eyes was definitely there, though he was obviously trying to suppress it. Ajax followed him out the door, stele in hand.

Samuel Ross was in a rush to get home. He quickly hopped in his car, not even realizing that the door was unlocked. He put the key in the ignition and started driving home. About halfway home, the engine started to fail. Sam quickly pulled over, sighing. He was in the middle of nowhere. There was no one around to help jump start the car. He was about to get out when a white cloth appeared over his face, beginning to choke him. “Sorry Sam, but you’re not allowed to go home just yet.” A voice purred.

Sam looked in the rearview mirror as he slowly started to pass out, his eyes filling with fear as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Ajax and Zephyrus stayed up all night, and by morning they were exhausted. It was only 7am, so Ajax looked around for Sam. “That’s weird.”

“Huh?” Zephyrus asked, half asleep.

“Sam isn’t here. He never leaves before 7,” Ajax asked.

Zephyrus turned and looked at him. “And… he’s not here?”

“No,” Ajax said, walking into Sam’s office.

There was a yellow sticky note on the desk, written on, but it definitely wasn’t Sam’s writing. He’d seen it before… on the body of Mei Morgan. Ajax filled with fear. The note said:

Oh, how lovely to see that Favonius

isn’t on his high horse anymore, and teaching poor little Ajax.

I’ll make sure to say hi to Sam for you.

P.S. Tell Lola she has 2 days.

Zephyrus followed after him. Ajax could barely think. “Ajax? What’s wrong?” Zephyrus asked, seeing the note in his hand.

“Someone broke in last night while we were practicing and watched us,” Ajax said, “They took Sam.”

Zephyrus’ eyes opened wide, “Let me see the note.”

Ajax handed it to him. “Who’s Favonius?”

Zephyrus’ eyes filled with fear as he read the note. There was only one person who called him Favonius. “They’re doing it to taunt me. Damn it,” Zephyrus said under his breath.

“Eh?” Ajax said.

“Favonius is the name of the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Zephyrus,” He explained.

“Roman?”

“Yes, why?”

“That’s- that’s weird. This case has been strictly following Greek mythology, why suddenly bring Roman into it?” Ajax said.

“Because this isn’t from your case,” Zephyrus said simply.

“That’s not possible.”

“Why?” Zephyrus asked, knowing who had written the note.

“Because that’s the handwriting of the serial killer,” Ajax said.

Zephyrus’ face filled with shock. “That’s… not possible.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because, there is only one person who has ever called me Favonius because they know I hate it, and I have never met Tom before,” Zephyrus said.

Both boys stood in the living room, looking at each other confused.

There was a sudden crash

Ajax walked back to Sam’s office, but Zephyrus was gone. “Zephyrus?” Ajax called. There was no response. Ajax looked round the whole house before turning and heading for the basement, unaware of what awaited him down there..

Zephyrus had accidentally passed out, and when he woke up, he was no longer in Ajax’s house. “Damn it,” Zephyrus said, standing up.

Zephyrus waited, looking around at where he was this time. Sometimes when he involuntarily passed out, he teleported. Normally when it happened, something bad was about to happen. Zephyrus actually recognized where he was. He was near Holly’s. He left the alley and was walking down the street when he walked past an alley and heard a muffled scream. He quickly jerked his head towards the alley. It was dark. He quickly made his way down the alley and saw nothing out of the ordinary. But he had just heard...?

He turned around and took a step back in surprise as a body fell from the roof. Zephyrus quickly looked up to see a shadow disappearing from the other building. Zephyrus ran over to the body. It was a girl, probably the girl he heard scream. Her stomach was carved, saying: Lola has 2 days.

Zephyrus stumbled away from the body, in shock. He had to get back to Ajax. Zephyrus ran out into the street and took a coin from his pocket and flipped it onto the floor. Immediately the taxi pulled up.

Ajax ran upstairs to find Zephyrus walking back into the house. “Where did you go?” Ajax asked, though it was more of an exclamation, “I thought someone kidn*pped you or something!”

“Yeah, sorry, it's a, uh, long story. What’s that?” Zephyrus noticed the folder in his hand.

“WHen you disappeared and I couldn’t find you, I went to the basement, and I found this,” Ajax held up a file.

“What is it?” Zephyrus grabbed it.

He opened it and found 5 records. The first was of Samuel Ross. Then there was Lola and Ajax’s. There was a name he’d never seen before, Mallory Jenkins. Then, behind everyone’s, there was his: Zephyrus “Favonius” Grace.

“What are these?” Zephyrus said.

“Death records,” Ajax said.

Zephyrus looked at him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“They have dates for DOD, but they’re all different. Mallory Jenkin’s Date of Death says today,” Ajax showed him, a chill running through Zephyrus’ spine, “We could possibly still save her-”

“She’s already dead,” Zephyrus said.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked, bewildered.

“I just saw her dead body before we came. Someone knew where I was gonna end up, because they killed her right in front of me,” Zephyrus said.

“And you didn’t see who killed her?” Ajax asked.

“No, they killed her on a building above an alley and tossed her body down. They carved into her body, ‘Lola has two days,’” Zephyrus said.

“Like the note from earlier.”

“All this means is that whoever filled out those death dates is trying to show us that they’re serious. That on those days, they will stop at nothing until we’re dead,” Zephyrus said, examining the papers again.

“You’re uncle is the next one to die,” Zephyrus said, “in a week.”

Ajax furrowed his eyebrows. His uncle was his only family left, of course he didn’t want him to die. “Who’s after Sam?”

Zephyrus looked through the three remaining papers. “I am,” Zephyrus said, “And you and Lola have the same date of death, the day after mine in 2 weeks.”

Ajax frowned. There was no way it was real. And by all means, he was not gonna let any of them die.

Zephyrus had an idea to had written the death records. He told Ajax about it. “I have to tell you this,” Zephyrus said, sitting down on the couch.

Ajax sat across from him. “When I disappeared right now, it’s because I passed out. And sometimes when I involuntarily pass out, I teleport to a place where something bad is about to happen. I can’t prevent it. I have to watch it happen. It..”

Zephyrus hesitated. “It’s my curse.”

“Curse?” Ajax raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

“You asked last night what trauma I had been through to have gotten my sword. Well, the answer to that is-”

“My sister.”

Ajax sat in silence for a moment, barely able to wrap his mind around what Zephyrus was telling him. “Your sister caused your trauma?” He said skeptically.

“Look, there's a lot to explain but I can’t tell you everything right now. Basically, my sister is terrible. Some might say evil. When she was 18, she dated someone named Dexter. Dexter is the son of one of the most well known blackmailers in the magic world: Daz. They get dirt on you that you don’t even know could be used against you. My sister wasn’t dating him for love or any bull crap like that. She dated him purely to use him. When Dexter found out, he wreaked havoc against me and my family. He wouldn’t let my sister leave. He-”

Zephyrus took a breath, “He would beat my sister, leaving her with bruises and scars everywhere. As a way to deal with the pain, my sister… did it to me. She’d cut my arms and tell me that if I ever told my parents she’d kill me. She… traumatized me. It became a routine for her. Every other night she’d come into my room and beat me or kick me or cut me. Anything you can think of that would cause pain. Eventually, my sister snapped at Dexter. She had been planning it. She would hide a pocket knife in her pocket and when he turned away after beating her, she would stab him and kill him. Well, her plan backfired. She managed to stab him in the side of his stomach, but he stopped her immediately and broke her ankle. In retaliation to my sister stabbing him, Dexter dug up some dirt on some people, and… and, he forced them to murder my parents. Then he moved onto me. I became his servant. He made me get a good position in the Ministry and had me go around and date girls, and every little thing I learned about them, I had to tell him everything. Holly was one of those girls. But, I cared about Holly more than any other person I had been with, so I lied to Dexter. Dexter found out, and he let the ministry find out what I’d been doing. I would have been put into prison if you hadn’t tried to learn magic. Instead, they gave me a second chance and put me on probation. If I screw up anything,”

“They’ll kill me,” Zephyrus said.

Ajax listened in horror to what Zephyrus said. “So, what made you bring this up?”

“There’s only one person who has ever called me Favonius,” Zephyrus said, “My sister.”

Ajax thought about all the facts of the murder case. “So somehow, your sister is connected to Deiros Momus.”

Ajax sat thinking for a good couple minutes, before asking Zephyrus, “And what happened to your sister?”

“After Dexter broke her ankle, she disappeared. Right after Dexter exposed me to the ministry, he was found dead in an alley, with the initials ‘A.G.’ carved into his back. Astraya Grace. She is now using Dexter’s name as an alias since his death was hushed by Daz. But Dexter today-”

“Is your sister.” Ajax finished.

“Why is Daz so notorious?”

“He can control some of the monsters, and the majority of the humans in league with the monsters. He causes fear in people because of that.”

Ajax thought about everything Zephyrus had told him.

“This is gonna sound crazy, but hear me out,” Ajax said.

Kharis stumbled into her apartment. She had just gotten back from the bar, where she had a couple drinks. Now she was tipsy. She set her keys down on the small empty table, shutting the door and locking it. She turned around, walked towards the living room, gasping in fear before the feeling quickly dissipated. “Oh my gosh, Tom. You scared me,” She said walking into the kitchen.

Tom was standing in the middle of the living room in the dark. “Is Lola in her room?” Kharis asked him as she opened the fridge looking for something to eat, but he didn’t respond.

He had a blank look on his face. Her drunk mind slowly began to piece things together as she slowly stood up straight. The desk by the door had been empty. Lola’s keys weren’t there, which is where they would have been had she been there.

Kharis was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t register the sound of movement behind her. “Why are you standing in the dark-” Kharis started to turn around but felt a hand move over her mouth and she screamed.