Guardian of the Earth House (26 page)

“Try it.”  She snarled, heading over to Job’s bed.  “You crawled into your self-pity a long time ago and destroyed everything inside of you that I gave a damn about.  So, come at me.  I dare you.  I can put you out of both of our miseries.”

Tessie barely registered the fighting.  She gave up on the closet and headed over to the antique highboy set between a pair of floor to ceiling windows.

“You have no idea what it is to lose a Match.”  Chason bit off, still glaring at Teja.

“Boo fucking hoo.”  Teja sneered back.  “Sell it to somebody who can’t still smell the bodies burning, you self-indulgent bastard.  And now you’re trying to destroy the world and my family along with it.  You’re lucky that I think you’re too much of a nimrod to ever succeed or I’d have already killed you.”

Chason’s jaw tightened.  “God, I can’t believe that two separate Houses could possibly want you around.”

Teja flicked him off, her attention on Job.  It only took her a second to size up the situation.  “He has the Fall.”  The words were emotionless, but there was something horrible lurking behind them.  “I told him that it was pointless rebuild.  We passed the marker.  We’re too close to the end, now.”  Teja shook her head back and forth as if denying the entire situation.  “I can’t do this, again.  I can’t watch this happen, again.”

Something about Teja’s words seemed to get through to Ty and pushed her beyond her own memories.  The Water Queen slipped past Teja and sat down on the edge of Job’s mattress.  “This illness has to be different from the Fall.”  Ty began systematically checking Job’s vitals. “Job’s immune to the Fall.  If it’s different, maybe there’s a cure.”

“The Tablet’s the cure!”  Tessie insisted.  The box wasn’t in the highboy, either.  She’d dumped out every drawer and they were all filled with nothing but socks and underwear.  Her desperate gaze fell on Teja.  “Oberon gave Job a box.  I saw it in his memories.  Do you know where Job put it?”

“His memories?”  Teja focused on Tessie.  “Who are you?  Job’s Match?”

“Yes.  Where’s the box?”

“I don’t know.  Why?  It’s just a stupid paperweight.”

“It’s one of the Tablets of Fate.”  Nia volunteered.  “Apparently.  Help us find it.  We’re going to trade it for Job.”

Of all the things that Teja had been expecting them to say, that seemed to be the dead last.  The corner of her eye crinkled into a skeptical, “Are they all on drugs?” sort of squint.

Chason crossed his arms over his chest.  “Even if this ridiculous fairytale was true, do you
really
think that handing the ultimate power in the universe over to someone who’s trying to kill Job seems like the best plan?”

“
You’re
trying to kill Job, genius.”  Tharsis reminded him.  “What do think will happen to him, and to all the rest of us, if you end the universe?  Huh?”

“Well, I’m not going to end it today.”  Chason glowered over at Tessie as if she was directly responsible for the hold-up.  “And I don’t want anyone else to destroy it
first
, so I hardly see the point in giving an incredibly powerful weapon to Job’s enemies.”

“Who the hell asked you?”  Tessie resisted the urge to deck him as she passed by.  “Everybody just concentrate on finding the Tablet.  Where else would Job have put it?  His study?”

“I’ll check.”  Tharsis headed of the door.  “Chason, come help me.”

“No.”  Chason snapped.

“Help or get out!”  Tessie roared.  “Job’s my Match, so I’m queen of this House, right?”

Nia nodded.  “Yeah, that’s how it works.”

“So, you look for that box or you leave my kingdom, dipshit.”  Tessie didn’t have the power to back that up and they all knew it, now.  But, that didn’t stop her from standing toe to toe with Chason.  “The Tablet of Justice can do God only knows what.  It’s lightning in a bottle.”  Tessie jabbed a finger at him.  “If you don’t start helping me find it, I’m gonna find it
myself
.  And if Job doesn’t make it, I swear to Gaia, I’m gonna use the Tablet against
you
.  Understand?”

Chason’s impassive face shifted slightly.  Tessie couldn’t read his moods, like she could with Job, but she knew that Chason was reacting to something that she’d said.  “Very well.”  He turned and headed out the door, Tharsis right behind him.

Satisfied, Tessie went back to searching the wrecked bedroom.

She was rooting through Job’s nightstand when Cross appeared.  Job was the most powerful Elemental in the world, but Cross supported the entire Shadow House by himself.  His energy slammed into the room like a Mack truck.

He had a woman with him.  The periwinkle streak at her temple marked her as a member of the Cold House and there was a doctor’s bag in her hand.  She had to be Freya, the greatest healer in the Elemental realm.

From the tips of her practical brown shoes to the top of her subdued blonde hair, she looked like a boring study in practicality and high achievement.  The kid who aced the spelling tests in school and spent her free time reading ahead in all the textbooks.  She was actually pretty, if you looked beyond the Marian the Librarian wear, though.  Especially her eyes, which were a stunning shade of hazel.

In fact, they were the exact same shade of hazel as Teja’s piercing gaze.  Teja was part of the Fire House and the Cold House, so it seemed likely that Freya was her relative, on her father’s side.  That might have been interesting, if Tessie had the time to give a damn.

Teja saw Freya and she promptly cursed.  “Oh perfect.  That’s just what I needed.  Saintly cousin Freya’s here to save the day.”

Freya didn’t look so thrilled to see her, either.  “What are you doing here?  Shouldn’t you be off setting forest fires or something with your minions?”

“Oh, I’m here waiting for the estate sale.”  Teja sneered.  “Once Job dies, I have my eye on the bedroom furniture.”

“Job’s not going to die.”  Nia and Tessie loudly chorused.

Freya’s lips pursed disapprovingly.  “You have a very morbid sense of humor, Teja.  It’s a completely inappropriate way to deal with your feelings.”  Her words were rapid and filled with the rhythm of someone who liked to talk. A lot.  “I really don’t understand what possess you to say something like that right in front of Job.  I mean, he can’t hear you, but…”

“God, you just never shut-up.”  Teja interrupted.  She pointed at Job.  “He’s going to
stay
in that damn coma just to escape listening to you, if you keep it up.”

Freya made a face at her cousin and moved towards her patient.

“Nia, I told you to stay away from Job.  He’s sick.”  Cross shot his Match a frustrated look even as he leaned down to kiss her.  “How’s he doing?”

“Not good.”

Since Tessie had already explained the Tablet plan enough for one day, she let Nia have the honors this time.  Giving up on the nightstand, Tessie pried open the storage compartment under the window seat and started digging through the blankets.

Freya got to work on Job, while Nia told her Match about the Tablet.  It didn’t take Cross long to get behind the idea.

“A
box
?  Fine.  Whatever.  I don’t care what it takes, Job’s surviving this.  So, you guys keep searching in here and I’ll try the other fifty-six rooms.”  He went charging out.

“Why would Oberon have one of the Tablets of Fate?”  Teja muttered to no one in particular.  “He never explained what it was.  I thought it was just a keepsake or something.  My grandfather loved keepsakes.”  She stared off at nothing for a moment.  “One of the last things he did was give me that box and ask me to take it to Job.”

Freya shot her cousin a sideways look.  The Cold House and the Fire House were notorious enemies, so Freya certainly seemed like she wanted to add some comment.  Instead, she took a stethoscope out of her bag and held it Job’s chest.  “He’s having trouble breathing.”  Freya swallowed.  “Patients with the Fall were all like this towards the end.”  Freya let out a tense breath as if remembering all the Phases that she hadn’t been able to save.  “This isn’t the Fall, but it’s very, very close.”  She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know what to do.  I couldn’t stop the Fall, either.  I never know what to do.”

Teja glanced at her.  “No one could have stopped the Fall.  Don’t be a martyr.”

Freya didn’t respond to that, probably because it was impossible to tell from Teja’s tone is it was a reassurance or an insult.  Instead, she cleared her throat and began checking Job’s temperature, again.  “I’m actually surprised that he’s holding on.  I’ve never seen anyone survive past this stage for long and this strain seems particularly virulent.  It’s moving
so
fast.  He’s stronger than the other Phases who I treated with the Fall.”

“Job’s powerful.”  Nia whispered.  “Even unconscious, his energy will anchor him to Tessie for as long as possible.”

Tessie could feel Job’s energy against hers and she was doing her damnedest to hang on.  No one had the power that Job possessed.  He
had
to survive this.

“Tessie.”  Ty said suddenly.  “I looked for you --For the Quintessence-- for a very long time.”

Tessie shot the Water Queen a baffled look as she dumped an ancient quilt onto the floor.  “Yeah, I know you did.  I laid out all the clues for you to follow.”

Ty nodded vaguely.  “Your blood.  It was... special.”

“I’m a real special girl.  Does this have a point?”

Nia slanted her a warning frown, obviously not liking Tessie’s impatient tone.  Ty spent her life protected and cosseted.  It was amazing that the kid hadn’t snapped years ago and flung herself against the bars of her gilded cage in search of freedom.  Tessie would have gone nuts.

“I always have a point.”  Ty assured her, keeping her attention on Job.  “I remember it so vividly.  Hours and hours of research.  Following your tracks through the human blood supply.  Miracles.”

“What?”  Tessie demanded.  They didn’t have the time to reminisce.  Job was looking worse by the second.  Oh
God
.  She was going to lose him if she didn’t find the Tablet soon.  Tessie could feel the knowledge like a lead weight on her chest, suffocating her.  How could she get the box and make the deal with Kay fast enough to save him?

“Miracles.”  Ty repeated softly.  “That’s what it seemed like to me.  It’s how I found you.  The people who got your blood were healed.”  Ty’s turquoise eyes fixed on Tessie.  “Person after person with horrible injuries and they received your blood and they just… got better.”

Tessie blinked.  Her mind racing.  “Really?”  She’d known that her blood was different, that it would raise flags and catch the Elementals’ attention, but,
heal
people?  “No friggin’ way.”

Nia froze at her cousin’s words.  “Yes.”  She latched onto the idea.  “Ty’s right.  That’s what we need to do.  Freya, we need to give him blood.”

“Job isn’t bleeding.  He doesn’t need a transfusion.”  Freya argued.  “We have no idea what that could do.  Cross said that this woman is the Quintessence, so she’s not even an Elemental.  She’s an entirely different species from us.  It could put Job in more danger.”

“More danger than being dead?”  Teja challenged.  “Because, I know what the Fall looks like and so do you.  You just said it yourself:  Job’s going to die real soon.  We don’t even have time for the box. 
Do
something.”

“This will work.”  Ty insisted.  Her expression glowed with confidence that seemed out of place on such a shy little wallflower.  “It won’t hurt him.  I’m sure of it.  We need to give Job a transfusion of Tessie’s blood.  It will save him.”

Tessie hesitated for a beat, considering the consequences.  Her wild gaze went from Job’s pale face to Ty’s resolute one and she nodded.  Ty was the smartest Elemental.  Tessie had always known that.  A scientist.  And the Water House loved Job.  If Ty said it would work, Tessie would go with it.  She’d try anything.  “Yeah.  Okay.  Let’s do it.”

Freya’s eyebrows compressed.  “We haven’t even done blood typing.  I don’t think that we’ve really considered what could…”

“I’m his Match.”  Tessie interrupted.  “If I say we do it, then we do it.  Get a fucking needle or I’ll just slice my wrist open, but this is happening. 
Now
.”

“I like her.”  Teja reported to the room at large.

Freya’s lips flattened into a thin, unhappy line.  “You’re risking Job’s life.”  She informed Tessie.  “Do you understand that?”

Tessie winced.  “What choice do I have but to try this?”  Her voice broke and tears started falling, again.  “Do you have another option?  Because, I will literally do
anything
to help Job.  Tell me to set myself on fire and I’ll do it.”

Freya briefly closed her eyes.  “No.  I don’t know what else to try.”  She sighed in defeat and then slowly nodded.  “Alright.  I’ll set it up a transfusion.”

There is surely a piece of divinity in us, something that was before

the elements, and owes no homage unto the sun

Thomas Browne- “Religio Medici”

Only one person in the universe had Tessie’s cell number.  She always kept the sparkly blue phone on her in case of emergency, mostly because a certain annoying jackass threw interminable, lecturing fits if she forgot it. So, when it rang to the
Jaws
theme, she knew exactly who was calling and was ready to give him hell.

Tessie fished the phone out of her pocket with her free hand and answered at a near yell, without even double checking the caller ID.  “Why aren’t you here
doing
something, you asshole?  I’m going out of my mind and you’re just as useless as ever!  Parson should have drafted a garden gnome rather than…”

“I’m being followed and I don’t want to lead him to you.  Believe me, Isaacs paying you a visit will only make your day worse.”  Gion interrupted on the other end.  “Is Job alive?  Everyone’s going crazy, saying that he has the Fall.  How is that possible?”

“Kay’s how it’s fucking possible!”  Tessie bit off.  “And, yeah.”  She swallowed.  “Job’s alive.”  She moved closer to her Match and rested her head against him so she could feel him breathe.  “And he’s going to
stay
alive.”  She glowered up at Freya as if the doctor might gainsay her.

Tessie was stretched out on the bed next to Job, watching her blood flow into him via a clear tube connecting their arms.  Freya stood next to the mattress monitoring Job’s progress with a thoughtful frown.  Over the last ten minutes, Job’s color had returned and his coughing had all but vanished.  Freya wasn’t even scowling at Teja, anymore.  Instead, she watched Job with the intensity of a CDC scientist analyzing a patient through a germ-proof, spacesuit.

“He’s improving.”  Freya allowed, correctly interpreting the challenge in Tessie’s glare.  “I’m hopeful that he’ll regain consciousness soon.  That would be the best sign and would make me a lot more confident.  Right now, his respiration has improved and his pulse is better.  The fever’s still there, but he’s showing signs that the chills are...”

“Is that Freya?”  Gion talked right over her diagnosis.  “God, she never shuts up.”

Tessie had noticed that, too.  But, if Freya healed Job, she had a free pass to yak on and on forever, as far as Tessie was concerned.

“Who are you talking to, Tessie?”  Ty asked quietly.  She stared at the phone and Tessie had the weird feeling that the Queen of the Water House knew exactly who was on the other end.

“Ty’s there, too?”  Gion’s voice grew harder.  “Is Job contagious?”

“He’s
fine
.”  Tessie insisted, ignoring both their questions.  “Look, I’m busy here.  I’m gonna call you back.  As soon as Job wakes up, I’m comin’ to the Air Kingdom and we need to make plans.”

“What?”  Half the room chorused in astonishment.

“Oh Gaia,
why
?”  Gion groaned.  “Is Parald’s home really the
best
honeymoon destination that you can think of?”

“I’m gonna get the Health Tablet from my sister, so she can’t come after Job, again.”  Tessie continued ruthlessly.  “I know that she targeted him through me.  She must’ve done something with that damn Tablet.  She must’ve
known
that he was my Match.  And this is the last time she attacks someone I love.”

“Finally noticed that Job was your Match, huh?”  Gion taunted.  “Brilliant deduction.  Explain to me why you don’t put that amazing brainpower into
not
getting close to someone with a mutant version of the Fall?  Or not allowing
other
people near him?”

“It was just sent for Job, alright?  He’s the only one sick”

Freya nodded in agreement and checked Job’s wrist, again.  “Everyone else seems immune.”

“Oh, they
seem
immune.  That’s very encouraging.”

Tessie ignored his sarcasm.  “Look, you’re gonna help me get the Tablet, Gion.  So, stop whining and be ready.”  She hung up before he could answer and went back to watching Job breathe.  She could sense his energy getting stronger and the connection between them strengthening as he improved.  He was going to be okay.  Nothing else could happen.  It would kill her.

Tessie felt like she was
willing
her blood to heal Job.

“You really think that
Gion’s
going help you do something?”  Teja arched a brow.  “Because if he agreed to lend a hand, it’s the equivalent of Hannibal Lector saying that he’ll help solve your FBI case.  He’s gonna end up wearing some guy’s face like a mask, while you get attacked by moths, fall into a pit, and die.”

“Jodie Foster didn’t die in that movie.”  Ty muttered, her attention on Job.

“Gion actually called you?”  Nia squinted skeptically at Tessie.  “Gion with the cape, Gion?  Or is it just a more common name than I imagined and there’s a different,
non-
evil Gion involved in this mess?”

“Gion’s not evil.”  Tessie glanced over at Ty and remembered Gion reaching for his sword to protect her from Parald in Job’s memory.  “Trust me.  He always seems like an asshole, but he’s not always what he seems.”

Ty adjusted her cat’s eye glasses and didn’t look convinced.

Job made a sudden gasping sound, his eyes snapping open like window shades.

“Job?”  Everyone called in unison.

He gave a cough.  Not a rattling rasp of a cough like before, but like someone just waking up and trying to clear their throat.  “Tess?”  He focused on her, obviously trying to process what was going on.  He looked around his decimated bedroom like he had no idea where he was.  “You okay?”

Tessie started laughing at a semi-hysterical pitch and leaned over to kiss him lavishly.

Nia covered her face at the sound of his voice, trying not to cry in relief.

Freya made a “hum” sound and leaned over to check Job’s pulse, again.  “This is a promising sign.”  She reported in case they hadn’t guessed that on their own.

“God, honey.”  Tessie laid her free palm on Job’s cheek and leaned over so she could meet his gaze.  “Don’t scare me like that!”  She shifted so she could hug him and felt tears welling, again.  “God, you scared me so much, you idiot.  I love you, but if you do that, again, I’m gonna smother you in your sleep.”

Ty’s mouth curved slightly.

Job lifted his hand so he could touch Tessie hair.  “I’m fine.  I love you, too.”  His attention flicked from Tessie, to Nia and Ty, to Freya, and then over to Teja.  “Why are you all in my bedroom?  And why are all my belongings dumped on the floor?”

Teja glanced around the upended drawers and scattered clothes.  “We were robbing the place while you died.”  Turning back to Job, she regarded him with a perfectly straight face.  “But, damn.  If you’re actually gonna recover, then I’m out a new bedroom set.”

*****

“This is pointless.”  Chason muttered.  “The box isn’t here.”

Chason wasn’t even sure why he was in the Earth Kingdom.  Job’s constant disapproval bugged the hell out of him.  The guy thought that he could
reason
Chason out of his revenge.  Like if he just said the right sad and understanding words, Chason would forget all about the death of his Match and forgive Parald.  Like he’d disband the Reprisal and stop the fighting.  Like he’d suddenly give a shit about
something
beyond his need for vengeance and his quest for utter silence.

It was never going to happen.  And if Job would just accept that, they’d all be a lot better off.  Job was a patronizing pain in the ass.

Still, when he’d heard that Job was sick, Chason had dropped everything and instantly jumped to the Earth Palace.  He’d almost… felt something.

Since the Fall, Chason only felt rage.  There had been a brief anomaly when Cross, of the Shadow House stabbed him through the chest and Chason was stricken with something like sorrow over all his failures.  But, overall, there was nothing left inside of him now except his anger.  Chason couldn’t even feel grief over his Match or remorse over his plans to end the world.  He certainly didn’t
care
about anything, anymore.

But, when he heard that Job was dying, there had been some kind of emotion inside of him.  It had reminded him of the panicky sensation he’d experienced when his father had unexpectedly passed away the decade before.  Chason had resented the hell out of his father’s unbending, militaristic ways.  When he was a boy, the sterile, disciplined order of the Magnet Kingdom had felt unbearably oppressive.

Chason had wanted his world to be so different.

But, when his father died, Chason had been cast adrift like a boat that had lost its rudder. 
Not
being his father had defined him; had given his life clear boundaries and purpose.  Suddenly, everyone had looked to Chason for leadership and nothing made sense without his father there to oppose all his plans.  The idea of a universe without Job’s condescending, “I know what’s best for everyone,” nagging felt equally wrong.

Especially, if Parald was the one to try and steal Job’s life away.  Parald had already stolen far too much from the world.

So, Chason had come to the Earth Kingdom.  But, the last thing he’d expected to find was a freaked out, completely powerless Quintessence, claiming to be Job’s Match and screaming like a banshee.  He’d been searching for the Quintessence for so long.  To find out that she was as useless as a human was atrocious.  A major blow.  Chason had run scenarios through his mind, wondering if she was lying about her lack of powers.  But, really, he knew just by looking at her that she was telling the truth.

Chason had always been able to spot bullshit quickly and accurately.  And, more importantly, her energy was just a strange, low-grade bubbling that in no way seemed all-powerful or Divine.

The girl had been telling the truth.

But, she also seemed to be telling the truth about the Tablet of Justice being real.  Lightning in a bottle, she called it.  Chason was heartily sick of questing after legendary objects of shock and awe.  He wasn’t a man given to bedtime stories about magical doodads and lost treasure.  Chason was a pragmatist, with his feet firmly planted in this shithole reality.

But, the word “Justice” whispered in his mind like a promise.

Justice: The one thing that he’d been after since Mara’s death.

Justice for his Match.  Justice for the Fall.  Justice against Parald.

What could that Tablet really do?  If it was real, could it somehow balance the scales?  Could it actually give Chason justice?

And where the hell had Job put the stupid thing?

He and Tharsis had ripped apart Job’s study looking for it.  They’d also taken all the books off the shelves in his library.  They’d even checked in his kitchen cupboards.  And still they’d come up completely empty.

“It has to be in this house someplace.”  Tharsis opened up the doors of Job’s entertainment center and swore when he saw nothing but stereo equipment.  “Do you think he has it in –like-- a safe or something?”

“I don’t know.”  Chason looked around the chaotic mess of the living room.  “We could rip out the walls.”  He didn’t have a problem with tearing apart Job’s house if Tharsis wanted to.  Generally, Chason didn’t do well with teamwork, but he was willing to go along with the kid for the greater good.  Although, it did feel sort of weird to be calmly talking with Tharsis.

The guy hated him.

Not surprising, since Chason had so recently kidnapped his twin sister.

Friction was inevitable

“Yeah.”  Tharsis nodded, studying the dimensions of the room as if looking for the first place to swing the hammer.  “I’ll find some tools and we’ll…”

“Job’s awake.”  Cross skidded into the room.  “Thar…”  He trailed off when he spotted Chason.  “What are you doing in my uncle’s house, you son of a bitch?”  His voice went dark with Shadows.  “You stay the hell away from my family or I’ll stab you, again.  And this time, it’ll fucking be the
last
time.”

“I heard that Job was your uncle.”  Chason mused.  “Interesting.  Good manners
do
skip a generation, then.”

Cross flicked him off.

Tharsis ignored them, focusing on the one part of the conversation that actually mattered to him.  “Job’s awake?”  He headed for the door before Cross even started nodding.  “Is he okay?  What about the box?”

“Forget the box.  He’s coming around without it.  He’s getting better.”  Cross started out again, Tharsis hot on his heels.  “Come on.”

“So, what happened to cure him?”  Chason demanded, following them into the foyer.  “How can he possibly be awake?”

“Just get out!”  Cross pegged Chason with a “back off” glower and headed upstairs with Tharsis.  “Job’s better, so you can stop circling like a vulture.  Just go back to Mordor and brood some more.  Plot to abduct other Phases’ Matches.  That’s what you
really
excel at, ya bastard.”