Anything but Ordinary (12 page)

‘The element of surprise,’ said Denny with grim humour. ‘I see.’

‘But Tamar is still …’ began Cindy.

‘It’s strange,’ said Stiles shaking his head. ‘But the one inhabiting Tamar was cast out shortly after she left here.’

‘How do you know
that
?’ snapped Denny.

‘Leir is telling me, we can hear their thoughts.’

‘“
We
”
again,’
thought Denny. Stiles had talked like this the last time. It had been unnerving then too.

‘Cast out how?’ he asked.

‘I do not know, it was not her. She had no idea of its presence.’

‘So, she didn’t come home because …?’

‘We don’t know
what
her reasons might have been,’ said Cindy. ‘Don’t jump to conclusions.’

Denny looked mutinous but kept silent. 

‘How many others have been affected?’ Cindy asked, and Denny realised that he should have asked this himself.

‘Many,’ said Stiles enigmatically. ‘Sorcerers, Witches, Necromancers. All humans with extraordinary powers. There are more than you think.’

‘Me?’ asked Cindy nervously wondering if she wanted the answer to be yes or no. 

‘Indeed,’ said Stiles.

‘I’d have preferred no,’
thought Cindy.

‘But no longer,’ he added, to her relief.

‘So, let me get this straight,’ said Denny. ‘We have all been acting out of character because we have been possessed by the spirits of the Tuatha de Danann. Who wanted to use our bodies in some great battle that’s coming up, is that about right?’

‘You have not been
possessed
,’ corrected Stiles. ‘You have been
inhabited
. The spirits are not
making
you do anything – as yet. But you may have been prey to subtle influences that have exacerbated your behaviour. Perhaps you were even aware of them on a subconscious level, and it made you behave in certain uncharacteristic ways. I cannot say.’

Denny looked at Cindy. ‘Oh, I think we’ve been acting in
very
uncharacteristic ways at times,’ he said

‘Of course, an inhabitation can adversely affect your moral centre,’ said Stiles. ‘The Tuatha have a different set of moral values to humans, perhaps equally valid perhaps not. But their influence would probably be felt. You might follow an impulse toward behaviour that you would normally restrain in yourself out of a sense of morality or shame. The Tuatha do not understand shame.  Perhaps that is what you mean?’

Denny nodded. ‘I think that
is
what I mean,’ he said.

Cindy looked at her shoes; she was scarlet with embarrassment.  

‘But the original impulse toward that behaviour would have been your own,’ added Stiles.

‘All right, all right,’ said Denny testily. ‘There’s no need to hammer it home. We get the picture.’

‘Well, said Finvarra suddenly, ‘now that we have got all that out of the way. What about this wretched war that’s coming? I mean I thought all you hero types would have been all over that one.’

 ‘That’s right,’ said Denny with no apparent sense of irony. ‘What’s the deal with that, anyway? You said the world would be swept away. By whom? Who
is
this enemy that they’re all so afraid of anyway?’

But at that moment, the damn gauntlet fell off.  Stiles gave Denny a blank look. ‘What are you talking about mate?’ he said.

Denny groaned. ‘Oh hell!’

~ Chapter Seven ~

 ‘I
t’s Armageddon,’ said Denny flatly to the others now assembled in the study.  Cindy and Finvarra, of course, already knew.  Dawber, Stiles and Hecaté, by reason of their being absent, (either in body or at least in Stiles’s case, in mind) when the revelations of Leir had been made, did not. 

‘What –
again
?’ said Stiles and Hecaté in unison.

‘Hey, what do they mean,
again
?’ asked Dawber nervously.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ advised Cindy. ‘It’s par for the course around here, it’ll all be sorted out in the end, you’ll see.’

‘We need Tamar,’ said Denny. ‘You,’ he pointed to Dawber, ‘can you get me into this agency or not?’

‘I-I can try.’ stammered Dawber.

‘When?’

‘Er
… now?’ asked Dawber uncertainly.

‘We’ll leave in an hour,’ confirmed Denny.

‘That’ll give you time to make your peace with God before you go. I would.’ said Stiles wickedly.

‘
Jack
!’ said Hecaté in a shocked voice. ‘That was
not
kind.’

‘We’ll try to find out about these animal abductions while we’re at it,’ said Denny apparently not hearing this exchange.  ‘But our first priority is to find and retrieve Tamar, okay?’

‘Okay, sir,’ said Dawber reflexively and without apparent sarcasm.’

Denny raised an eyebrow. ‘There’s no need for that,’ he said.

‘Now, how can we find out who else has been “inhabited” by the Tuatha? Any ideas?’

‘I’m not putting that sodding gauntlet back on,’ said Stiles.

‘No one’s asking you to,’ said Denny shortly. ‘I doubt it would help anyway. Leir clearly didn’t want to tell us any more than he did.’

‘But without his help, how can we hope to track down the others?’ said Cindy.

‘There is more than one god in this room,’ said Hecaté unexpectedly. ‘I shall try to sense their location.’

‘Good,’ said Denny. But I need a backup plan. Anyone?’

‘We’ll come back to that,’ he said, when no ideas were forthcoming. ‘The other thing we need to do is find out who the enemy of the Tuatha is and how much of a danger he – or she poses. Also, when they are expected.’

‘That sort of research is usually
your
thing,’ pointed out Cindy.

‘I’m going to be busy.’ said Denny. ‘Give it a try, it’s not hard.’

‘I’m no hacker,’ said Cindy, ‘but I suppose I’ll do my best.’

‘I’ll get you started,’ offered Denny.

‘Investigation is really more
my
area,’ said Stiles. Clearly wondering why this detail had been palmed off on Cindy.  ‘Oh,
I
get it, you don’t know if you can trust me.’

Denny looked awkward. ‘You and Cind work together,’ he said coming to a decision.

‘And what shall I do?’ asked Finvarra expectantly. 

‘Oh, er,’ Denny floundered. ‘Well …’

‘He is the distant kin of the Tuatha,’ said Hecaté. ‘He shall also see if he cannot locate their whereabouts. I shall show him the technique. It may well be that he shall have more success that I. he is closer in nature to them than I am.’

‘Okay, good,’ said Denny recovering his poise. ‘That’s a good idea. He gave Hecaté a warm smile.

‘We also have a wedding to arrange,’ she said suddenly. ‘Armageddon or not, some things are important. Too often do we put our lives on hold for these things and what is the result? Unhappiness, disruption, dislocation. Do not argue with me Denny.’

‘I wasn’t going to.’ he said. ‘I think you’re right, but everything’s already arranged – except the bride.’ he added
sotto voce
.

‘
You
are taking care of that.’ said Hecaté crisply. 

‘Wedding?’ said Dawber. ‘Oh my god,
yes
. I remember. All those dress fittings.’ He looked at Denny compassionately.  ‘For what it’s worth, I reckon she’d turn up anyway. No one would go to all that trouble over an outfit, if she didn’t intend to wear it.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ said Stiles slapping Dawber heartily on the back and Denny remembered Stiles himself saying much the same thing recently.

They all looked at Denny. ‘So, why hasn’t she come back yet?’ he challenged.

Everyone looked at the floor.

‘Right,’ said Denny. ‘Let’s get on with it.’

* * *

They had come by car, there being no way to teleport to an unknown location, and Dawber had lost his way several times to Denny’s ill concealed chagrin. However, they were now standing in a large aircraft hangar, which Dawber insisted was the right place. Denny was sceptical.

‘Okay, how do we get in?’ he said.

‘I swiped this from Agent Rook,’ said Dawber, holding up what looked like a security card.  ‘They’ll read it and bring us in. I just hope Agent Rook is out at the moment, otherwise … ah, here we go.’ A bright red light beam shone out, and Dawber immediately waved the card in front of it. There was a loud beep. ‘Confirmed,’ said Dawber. ‘Be ready to fight in case there’s anyone in the control room,’ he said.

‘I’m ready,’ said Denny grimly.  And then they were brought inside.  

It was the most horrible sensation Denny had ever experienced – since the last time he had experienced it anyway, which had been quite recently. 

‘Who the hell
are
these people anyway,’ he said when they arrived in the control room which was, fortunately, empty.  He sounded frightened.  He was.  He had a feeling of being trapped that was so strong he was close to panic. 

He looked around the room, frantically seeking a way out, while Dawber watched him curiously.

‘The way out is there,’ he said pointing to a door. 

‘No,’ gasped Denny, ‘that’s just a way further in. This whole place is one big trap,’ he said. ‘Can’t you feel it?’

Dawber shrugged. ‘We should go, before they find us in here,’ he said.

Denny pulled himself together. ‘Right,’ he said. But he could hardly believe that Tamar, of all people, would have chosen to stay here. Not her, not
here
. Of course, it had been specially designed to prevent escape. He was not even sure that he himself would ever get out. Perhaps Dawber had been wrong; perhaps she
was
trapped here, just as he feared
he
was. He felt his throat tighten. ‘Don’t panic,’ he admonished himself. ‘You’ve got out of worse situations.’

 
But the truth was he had not. No one
ever
had – not without outside help. That was kind of the point of a Djinn’s bottle. 

It was massive inside, much larger than Tamar’s bottle had been, but he knew that theoretically her bottle
could
have been this large inside if she had wanted it to be. A horrible thought struck him; this could not
be
her bottle, could it? No, that had been destroyed.  What did it matter
who’s
bottle it had been. The result was the same; no one got out from the inside. Someone outside had to be pulling the strings on this operation.  He was going to find out who it was and shove the bottle down his throat. The thought made him feel a little better. 

‘Where’s Tamar?’ he said to Dawber. 

‘Team Alpha control room, probably,’ answered Dawber. ‘This way.’

Denny followed him cautiously down an endless corridor.  They passed several people, none of whom took the slightest notice of them. This was not too surprising. Evidently, there were hundreds of people here, and no one could be expected to know them all. Unfamiliar faces were probably not unusual, and the chances were that there had never before been a security breach here.

The Team Alpha control room was deserted, and Dawber shrugged helplessly. ‘There’s always the cafeteria,’ he said. ‘Or we could wait here. They’re bound to come back eventually.’

‘Here’s better,’ said Denny. ‘Less people, but … let’s have a look at the canteen then. We can just see if she’s there and then maybe wait for her outside.’

It was not much of a plan, as Denny was painfully aware, but there was nothing better, and it was probably pointless anyway. There was no way out of here even if he did find her. He realised that he just wanted to
find
her, no matter what happened next. He just wanted to
see
her,
needed
to see her, to tell her he was sorry.’

His thoughts skidded round in the midst of his despair. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said. ‘How did you escape from this place, anyway?’

‘I just gave Rook the slip when we were on surveillance,’ said Dawber. ‘I thought I told you.’

‘Yeah, that’s right, you did,’ said Denny suddenly subdued.  ‘So, why did you take Rook’s card, then? Surely you didn’t think, back then, that you’d be coming back?’

‘Oh, no, I didn’t. The truth is I never expected to get away from Rook.  If he hadn’t gone for a leak, I’d never have gotten away. I took the card to escape from
here
. I don’t have one. Only senior Agents have them.’

‘So, we
can
get out of here?’ said Denny.

‘Of course we can. You don’t think I’d’ve come back if I couldn’t get out?’ He shuddered.

‘Thank Odin,’ said Denny; apparently never noticing what a strange thing this was to say. 

‘What’s that room?’ he said as his attention was drawn irresistibly to a large plain oak door.

‘It says on it,’ said Dawber. ‘That’s The Director’s office.
Don’t
go in … ah shit!’

Denny had not, in fact, just blithely walked into The Director’s office. He had merely pushed the door slightly ajar and was listening to hear if anyone was in there. Someone was.  Denny could hear voices.

‘Don’t bother looking for her,’ said a deep voice. ‘She wouldn’t have done this if she hadn’t worked out how to beat the isotope tracking. But she’ll come back. This was just something she had to get out of her system.’

‘We’re terribly sorry Director,’ said a female voice. ‘She just disappeared. I never saw such a thing before.’

‘Well, she was a Djinn,’ said another voice, this time male.  ‘We should have been prepared for this.’

 ‘No, I don’t blame any of you. This was foreseen, but not how, or when it would happen,’ said The Deep voice again. ‘You can go now.’

Denny dodged back as the four people filed out of the room. Dawber was hiding in a handy alcove.

Denny dragged him out. ‘We’re leaving,’ he said tersely. ‘She isn’t here,’ he added before Dawber could ask any questions.

* * *

Tamar woke in the glass room. Her eyeballs hurt.  ‘Oh no, not again,’ she thought.

But it was not the same this time. For one thing, this time she remembered how she had got here. She had made her own way back – she was certain of this.  She had teleported back to the aircraft hangar and waited for them to bring her in, and that was all she remembered.  So why …? She struggled up onto her elbows and looked around the familiar room dispiritedly.