Guardian of the Earth House (5 page)

Tessie hadn’t spent countless lifetimes protecting herself to let that happen.

She stiffened slightly as Job loomed over her.  “I had nothing to do with any feelings being created. 
I
sure don’t feel anything.  So, I guess it’s your problem.”

“You think so?”  Job leaned down, bracing his hands on the arms of her chair and caging her in.  “Well, I have bad news, Quintessence.  You’re not staying in my house unless you get rid of this feeling that you don’t feel.  Period.”

Uh-oh.  He was serious.

Tessie’s mind raced.  “Yeah, but…”

“Remove it or leave.”  His sounded completely inflexible.  “I don’t appreciate you coming into
my
home and trying to manipulate me.  I have waited over a thousand years to feel Phazing.  Do you actually think you can use my desire for a Match against me?  What sort of creature
are
you?”

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

This had backfired.  Why did Job have to be such a pain in the ass?  “Alright, honestly, I’m not sure what just happened.  It might’ve seemed like Phazing, but…”

“It didn’t feel
like
Phazing.  It
was
Phazing and that’s impossible.  You are not my Match.  I’m not meant to have a Match.  You’re not even an Elemental.  So, you did something unnatural.”

Tessie could read between the lines of that.

She wasn’t good enough to be his Match.

Maybe, she sort of agreed with that assessment, since he was the world heavyweight champ of power and she couldn’t even find her remote control most days.  And she certainly didn’t for a second believe that she was Job’s one-and-only.  But, Tessie knew that
she
hadn’t done anything to create that energy storm.  It was all Mr. Wonderful’s fault.  Job wasn’t going to accept that this was his screw-up, though.

Tessie needed time to think.  “I’m sorry.  Really.  But… I’m not exactly sure how to undo the…
thing
that… I did?”  She was making this all up as she went along, so it came out sounding like a question.  She tried to cover by earnestly nodding.  “Yeah, see, it was meant to be permanent.  I’ll need some time to reverse it.”  That actually seemed sort of reasonable.  Maybe it would appease him.

It didn’t.

“Permanent?!”  Job’s voice went positively arctic.  “I don’t want to be stuck with you permanently, so I suggest you try harder to fix this. 
Now
.”

Tessie stifled a wince.  “I will.”  Pure desperation had her reaching for the powers that always eluded her.  “Um…” She tried to harness anything that might work, even though she knew that her limited energy hadn’t started this mess in the first place.  Maybe, if she just pretended to do something, it would work like a placebo on him.  “Is that better?”

“No.”

Shit.

“Um…Well…”  She bit her lower lip and tried a new tactic.  “Are you
sure
you feel caring?  Because, you don’t
look
like you do.  It could be your imagination.  Think about another girl and see if that helps clear your head of me.”

Job’s eyes narrowed.  “This is ridiculous.  You have no idea what you’re even doing, do you?”

Tessie blew out a sigh.  “No, not really.”  She admitted.  Unwilling to blow her cover, she went with yet another approach.  “I think because you’re an Elemental, my vast powers are working differently on you.  You should try doing something on
your
end to fix this.”

“I don’t have a Phase-Match.”  Job bit off the words.  “If I did, she would be the center of my life.  I looked for her for more years than you can imagine and now she’s just a perfect image in my mind.  I won’t allow anyone to tarnish that.”  He pushed away from the chair as if he didn’t want to be near her.  “I’m not sure what happened, but it needs to be undone, understand?”

Tessie understood.

Job, Elemental extraordinaire, didn’t like having a kind-of-human bartender for even a
fake
Match.

Asshole.

“Explain what you did.”  He prompted when she remained silent.  “I know more about Phase-Matches than you do, maybe I can figure out how to stop it.”

Tessie almost spitefully refused, but what would be the point?  This could be her escape hatch.  Job could fix the problem himself and everything would be okay.

“I was sitting here.”  She grudgingly began.  “And then the room shook.  That was you.”

“Right.  That was me.”  Job nodded.

It was
all
him, the bastard.

“What next?”  Job pressed.

“I felt your powers hit mine.”  What little power she had, anyway.  “And then… I don’t know… they kinda connected a little bit.”  Tessie made a back and forth motion with her hand.  “It was like you were inside of me or something.  I think your energy –like-- uh…” she cleared her throat, “caressed me.”

Job just stared at her.

Tessie glanced towards the door, again.

“What else?”  He sounded hoarse.

“Um…”  Tessie squinted.  “Well, it felt sort of nice.”  Total understatement, but she wasn’t going to compliment the jerk.  “And then you stopped and started freaking out at me.”

Another long pause.

“That’s it?”  He finally demanded.

Tessie wracked her brain for more.  “I think I said something like ‘Oh Gaia’ at some point, if that helps you any.”

Job kept staring at her.

Tessie rubbed her palm against her pant leg, again.  “So, you can fix it, right?”

“You had to have done something else.”  He was back to the headshaking thing.  “You
have
to be using some kind of power to sustain this.”

“If I am, I’m sure not noticing it.”  She told him, honestly.

“Neither am I.  Why wouldn’t I notice that kind of energy being used?”  It sounded like an accusation.  “What did you
do?
”

Tessie was getting kind of sick of his attitude.  “Look, I’m the Quintessence and you’re not.  I’m a Divine super-being and you’re just an Elemental.  You should be nicer to me.”

Job really wasn’t happy to hear that pronouncement.  “If you’re a Divine super-being, why are you trying to hide from puny Reprisal Phases at my house?  Why do you need the protection of
just
an Elemental?”

“Oh, fuck this.”  Tessie was done.  “Parson said that you’d help me if I ever needed you, but he was obviously high.  I’ll deal with this mess by myself.”  She got to her feet, grabbing her backpack.  “If the world ends, again, don’t blame yourself.  Genetics probably played a big part in making you a jackass.”

“Parson, of the Wood House?”  Job frowned as if he didn’t like her exit plan. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

“I think the phrase, ‘Hell yes!’ was pretty much created to answer that very question.”

His brows drew together.  “You haven’t fixed the caring feeling, yet.”

“Oh, get over it, already.”  She paused at the door to scowl at him.  “Listen, I have nothing more to offer you.  That’s the truth.  I don’t know what happened.  Whatever the connection thing is, it’s gotta be coming from you, now.  Maybe it’s –like-- some sort of psychosomatic response to all that energy bouncing between us.  It’ll fade.  I’m sure of it.”

“But, what if it doesn’t fade?”  Job stalked closer to her.  “I need to know where you are.  These feelings feel real and I’m going to be… unsettled if you just vanish.”

“Wow… I so don’t care.”  Tessie shrugged.  “I mean, newsflash, but aside from the Phazing part, I don’t really like you, pal.  You’re kinda mean and I’m having a rough enough night as it is.  Truthfully, I was having a better time hanging out with Gion.”

Job froze.  “I see.”

Tessie hesitated.  Had she upset him?  It was hard to tell, since his expression stayed the same.  But, Job went stiff, so he was either angrier or hurt.  She didn’t like thinking that she’d wounded him, even if she did hope never, ever to see him, again.  “I’m sorry.”  She actually meant that.  “It’s my fault.  I know that.  I’m a screw-up and I drag other people into my disasters.  I shouldn’t have come here.”

Job’s hands went behind his back, military “at rest” style.  “Why were you with Gion if the Reprisal’s after you?”  He asked, ignoring her apology. “The Reprisal hates Gion even more than most of the rest of the Air Phases.  They blame him for the Fall.  It’s not safe for you to be near him.  Besides which, he probably wants to kidnap you and use your powers for himself.”

“The Reprisal blames everyone from the president of the United States to the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for the Fall.”  That didn’t exactly answer Job’s question, it that was all willing to say.  Tessie turned to leave.  “Don’t worry.  I can handle Gion.”

“You should stay the night, at least.”  Job offered.  “It’s late.  In the morning, we’ll make sure this connection between us is gone and then you can figure out what to do next.”

Tessie paused.  She wanted to get away from Job.  The protected feeling she got around him made her feel off-balance, since he obviously disliked her so much.  And he’d really hurt her feelings with his insistence that she wasn’t good enough to be his precious Match.  Even if she
wasn’t
, he didn’t have to point it out, the moron.

On the other hand, Tessie was fairly certain that the Earth Castle was safe from Kay.  Her sister wouldn’t be able to get to her in Job’s kingdom and neither would any stooges she sent.  Kay was powerful.  Incredible powerful. But, Job’s powers were different than hers and even she had rules.  Sure, her sister’s only hobby was trying to get around those restraints, but Kay still couldn’t directly attack the Earth Kingdom.

Kay held the primordial Khaos.

Not the modern, human, chaos of disorder and butterfly’s flapping their wings to cause hurricanes.

Khaos.

The oldest force in the universe.

The primal void.  The absence of Elements.  Formless, empty destruction.

Tessie held the “everything else” in the universe.  The Quintessence.  She balanced the spaces between the Elements, so that they could all exist in harmony.  Kay held all the nothingness.  The Khaos.  Her goal was to rip all the Houses down and let Khaos swallow the world.  She wanted to erase everything that challenged her own power and that meant she had to find Tessie.

The Earth Kingdom wasn’t exactly an inconspicuous place to hide out, but at least it was fortified by Job’s barriers.  Plus, Tessie had nowhere else to go.  Maybe Job was right and she should just swallow her pride.  Maybe if Tessie gave it one night, she could come up with a new plan.  One that didn’t suck.  She could put up with Job for a few more hours if it meant feeling even a little bit safe.

Tessie wanted to feel safe more than anything else in the world.

Her fingers twirled around the silver chain at her neck.  “You’re not going to do anything weird, right?”  Tessie met Job’s eyes.  “If I stay, you won’t try to exorcise me while I sleep to break whatever spell you think I’ve cast on you?”

Job looked shocked that she’d even suggest such a thing.  “No.  I won’t harm you.”

Tessie made a face, not really believing him.  “Right.  ‘Cause you care about me, so much.”  She snorted, again.  “Just bear in mind that I can turn you into a hedgehog with the power of my thoughts and we’ll be fine.”

Lies, lies, lies.  She was so good a lying.

Job got that stiff look, again.  “Shall I show you to your room?  I’ll make sure that it has a lock, if you want.  Maybe some garlic to hang around the windows and holy water to bathe in.”  He swept towards the door, without waiting for a response.

Tessie rolled her eyes at his sarcasm and followed him upstairs.

Damn Elementals.

By dint of scrambling, climbing, struggling, among the spires of the gigantic cathedral, he had

become a mixture of monkey and mountain-goat, like the boy of Calabria who swims before he can

walk and takes to the sea as if it were his native element
. 
Not only did the body, but also

the mind of Quasimodo seem formed by the cathedral.

Victor Hugo- “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”

“Even for an Elemental, this is an unbelievable show of incompetence.” Kingu glowered at Gion over the width of the library table.  “How could you have missed her?  You were in Tessie’s fucking house and she
still
got away?”

Gion glanced up from his human psychiatry textbook.  “Yes, she did.”  He agreed, calmly. “It was unfortunate.” He went back to his reading, a yellow highlighter standing by in one hand.  “At least, I got
that
close to her, though.  Tell me, when’s the last time you even saw the Quintessence?  Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, wasn’t it?”

“You’re useless. 
That’s
the point.  You’re whole species is useless.”  Kingu snapped.  “For all we know, the Reprisal has Tessie right now.  Have you considered what Chason could do if he gets his hands on her?  He’ll destroy us all and, unlike you, I have plans for the rest of eternity, Air Phase.”

“Using that logic, the fact that we’re all
not
destroyed, yet, means that Chason
hasn’t
captured her, correct?”  Gion carefully highlighted a section on posttraumatic stress disorder.  “Congratulations.  You’ve solved your own conundrum.”  His index finger skimmed along the book, noting the symptoms of PTSD.  “Did you need anything else or were you leaving?”

“Gion.”  Kay’s voice was a distilled, sugary concoction of pure gentility.  “Don’t be that way.  We know you did your best.”  She sat down in one of the chairs next to him at the long library table.  “No one is blaming you.”

“That’s very comforting.”  Gion turned the page.  The words “panic attack” jumped up at him in bold font, “a possible side effect of extreme emotional and physical stress.”  He sighed and reached up rub at the headache throbbing behind his temple. His icy gaze took in the words: flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, memory loss, feelings of suffocation, hopelessness, helplessness, guilt, social isolation… The list covered the entire page.

Gion’s jaw clenched.

Son-of-a-bitch.

“Is something wrong?”  Kay’s violet blue eyes flicked to his book, trying to read the words upside down.

“No.”  Gion closed the textbook with a slam and a none-too-subtle “fuck-off” glare.  He wasn’t the friendliest Phase on the block and having Kay hovering over him just brought all his anti-social tendencies to the surface.

Kay adopted a dismayed expression at his attitude.  Eyelashes fluttered, a dainty frown pulled at the corners of her mouth.  With her circa 1955 polka dotted sundress and Grace Kelly in
To Catch a Thief
blonde beauty, she looked like a confection of magnolia blossoms and feminine promise. A walking, talking male fantasy.  The girl you could take home to your mother, but who still knew how to have a real nice time once the bedroom door closed.

Gion detested her.

Granted, he detested basically everyone alive or dead, but Kay reached a depth of hatred and disgust all her own.

Gion didn’t like people, be they human, Elemental or other.  He spent a lot of time in the Air House library, because no one else ever visited it.  The building was usually a dusty, quiet refuge in an uninhabited section of the kingdom.  Sometimes, Gion even slept there, just to avoid the Phases at the Air Palace.  He didn’t appreciate Kay entering his normally private space.

Maybe he had PTSD, like Ty, of the Water House apparently did.  God knew, Gion disliked crowds.  And most of his memories.  And explosive violence was listed as one of the possible symptoms of the disorder.

He felt pretty damn explosive, at the moment.

Thus far, his research was frustrating and displeasing.  Having Kay and Kingu invade his library and interrupt his work, just sent Gion’s perpetually bad mood spiraling downward.  The two of them creeped Gion out.

And it took a hell of a lot to creep out Gion.

“You can be so touchy, Gion.”  Kay wore little white gloves and she folded her hands in her lap, tea party style.  “Kingu and I just want to ask you some questions. This isn’t an inquisition or an attack, for goodness sake. It’s about Tessie.  You know how important it is that I find my baby sister.  I haven’t seen her in ages.”

“Touching.”  Gion stacked the textbook in a pile of other human medical tomes and settled back to watch whatever show Kay was about to put on.  “I can see the Christmas card photo of the two of you embracing, now.  Hopefully, someone will have a camera handy to snap a quick shot of the reunion, before you rip her head off and feed it to him.”  He nodded towards Kingu.  “So much better for the scrapbook.”

“You should have respect for your betters, Elemental.”  Kingu’s red gaze glowed.  “We are not the pitiful Phases that you’re used to dealing with.  Mother and I are Divine beings.”  He sat next to Kay, his gigantic frame dwarfing hers.

Elementals looked exactly like humans.  Tessie looked exactly like a human.  Kay looked exactly like a human.  But, Kingu had a certain reptilian countenance that was slightly grotesque.  He could’ve gotten on a subway and
passed
for human, but he would’ve drawn pitying stares from the other passengers.  Or frightened ones.  He towered over even the Elementals and they were generally larger than humans.

Looking sort of like a dragon was just one of the hazards of being born through unnatural energies to the primordial Khaos.

As far as Gion could tell, Kingu didn’t have any real powers of his own.  Or, if he did, no doubt his loving mother made sure to block them somehow, so he’d never pose a threat to her.  Kay underestimated the monstrous freak, if she thought that kept him completely under control, though.  Gion could feel the restless frustration in Kingu, just looking for an outlet.  The guy was big and ugly, but he wasn’t stupid.  In fact, Gion strongly suspected that Kingu was the smartest of his enemies.  No one else seemed to notice, but those weird crimson eyes saw far too much.

Divine being or not, the guy was pain in the ass.

“We were worshiped by the ancient Babylonians.”  Kingu insisted.  “Until their stories were lost and changed.  Mother and I were gods to them.”

“Yes, but you were terrible at it.”  Gion reminded him.  “Really terrible.  They gleefully killed you off in their myths.  And, who can blame them?  I mean, where did you actually lead your people, again, Moses?  They were conquered by Alexander the Great and then…”

“At least, I
had
people.”  Kingu interrupted.  “What the hell have you ever had, Gion?  Nothing.  Your name will vanish forever when you die and no one will mourn you.”

Gion instinctively glanced at the stack of books and then away, again.  “I don’t need to be mourned.”  He murmured.  “I’m already feared.”  The headache throbbed at his temple and he resisted the urge to rub at it, again.  Kay would pounce on any sign of weakness like a shark scenting blood in the water.

“Boys, please.”  Kay held up a gloved hand.  “This isn’t getting us anywhere.”  She let out a ladylike sigh and batted her violet eyes at Gion.  “Just help us understand what happened at Tessie’s house today.  You came so close to acquiring her.  Explain what went wrong so we can fix it for next time.”

“There’s nothing to explain.  The Reprisal arrived and spooked her.  She jumped into the Elemental realm.”

“Where in the Elemental realm?”  Kay demanded.  “Which kingdom?”

“I couldn’t trace her jump.”  Gion said, truthfully.  “Hence, the me
not
following her and capturing her part.  See how all the pieces fit?”

“Useless.” Kingu repeated, scathingly.  “Fucking Elementals.  We’d have been better off sending an antelope to find her.”

Gion ignored him.  He kept his icy blue eyes locked on Kay, watching as she weighed his answers.  Gion was a suspicious guy by nature, but Kay took untrusting to its artistic height.  She wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him.

“Some people are saying that you let Tessie get away, Gion.”  She finally reported.  “That you want her for yourself.”

“That seems self-defeating.  If I wanted her for myself, why would I have let her get away?”

“Because, the Reprisal showed up and spoiled your attempt.  You’d rather not have her at all, then let her fall into their hands.”  Kay shook her head, sending her pale blonde curls swinging.  “
I
know you’d never be so greedy and dumb, but a lot of Phases are saying that you’re just biding your time.  You really don’t have the best reputation in the Elemental world, you know.  You do terrible things, sometimes.”

“Well, I had a rough childhood.”

Kingu didn’t appreciate that answer.  “Mother spoke to Parald about your disappointing performance.  You let Ty, of the Water House escape the other day and now Tessie, too?  You’re not usually that sloppy.  He’s allowing you to be shadowed until Tessie is found, just in case you’re up to something.  Which, obviously, you
are
.”

Gion’s hand tightened on the edge of the table, at Kingu’s knowing smirk.

Gion had known this was coming from the moment he walked away from Ty at the police station.  For years, Parald had been pressing him to kidnap the girl and bring her to the Air Kingdom.  Parald’s obsession with his ex-Match grew stronger all the time.  He wanted Ty under his control.  Instead, Gion had cut his own deal with the Water Queen:  Ty’s promise of some favor in the future, in exchange for Gion helping to save her cousin.

Gion had let Ty go free and there wasn’t really a satisfactory answer as to why.  At least, nothing that Kay or Parald would accept.  In the long run, it was worth the attention it drew.  But, Kingu was right.  Gion wasn’t usually that sloppy and everyone knew it.

“Oh Gion, I feel just terrible about this.”  Kay laid a palm over her heart.  “You know I do.  But, it’s for your own good, as well as mine.  What would happen if you found Tessie and then some nasty little voice in your head told you to try and get the other Tablets for yourself?  They could have
anything
written on them.  All sorts of dangerous incantations and predictions, the ultimate powers of the universe…

“The secret recipe for Coca-Cola.”  Gion added, supremely bored with the whole idea of those stupid Tablets.  “The missing minutes from the Watergate tapes.  The answers to Mrs. Johnson’s eighth grade geometry quiz. 
Anything.
”

Kay’s rosebud lips pressed into a straight line.  Something moved behind the pretty, pretty princess façade.  Something vast and terribly blank. “You shouldn’t be so nonchalant about the Tablets of Fate.”

The Tablets of Fate.

Dear God.

Every time Gion heard that name, it just sounded more ludicrous.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.  The headache was trying to blossom into a migraine and all the Babylonian melodrama and hyperbole wasn’t helping to stop it.  If Kay said anything about sending Conan the Barbarian off to search the Temple of Doom somewhere in Smurf Village for the damn things, then Gion would have to severely hurt someone.  It was times like these that he wished human medicine worked on Elementals, because he needed an aspirin.

But it didn’t work.

No matter what Ty and her bottle of anxiety pills seemed to believe.

“The Tablets of Fate are omnipotent.”  Kay continued.  “Indestructible and supreme.  They lay out the destiny of the world and, whoever gets all of them, can
control
that destiny.  We must find them, Gion.  For all of us.”

For all of them.

Translation:  So that Kay could use the Tablets to enslave and/or destroy the universe.

What a bitch.

“Uh-huh.”  Gion didn’t actually care about those stupid Tablets.  Controlling the destiny of the world seemed like a colossal pain in the ass, in fact.  “We’ll figure out where Tessie’s hiding.”  He assured Kay, mainly just to shut her up and get her to go away.  “Your sister’s good at blending in, but she’s in the Elemental realm, now.  Thanks to the Fall, we have a real lack of crowds that she can get lost in around here.  We’ll flush her out.  It’s all part of the game.”

Kay’s eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of the Fall, apparently searching his words for something more than his usual mocking sarcasm.  She evidently didn’t like whatever she saw in his expression, because her pageant queen smile held a gleam of menace.  “Be careful, Gion.”  She warned, sweetly.  “I’d hate for you play that game too deep one day and lose everything.”

“Didn’t you hear your little boy, Khaos?”  Gion’s mouth curved, tauntingly.  “I don’t
have
anything to lose.”