All seated glanced at the table, even peering under it.
My lips pinched, trying to keep them from trembling. “Check in the cushions of your chairs.” I had wondered what the hell that remote went to the last time I was here.
They blinked at me for a moment, my first words to them, but they did turn in their chairs, doing as I had asked. I didn’t bother, since there wasn’t a lump in my white leather chair this time.
The man seated four chairs down on my left, cleared his throat, and pulled the remote from his chair’s depths. “Got it.” His eyes scanned my face. “You’ve been here before?”
“Of course,” I stated evenly, apparently he not having heard about my entrance here not too long ago in the Royal Hall.
His brows quirked, glancing down to my hot pink top, swinging to Leric’s and my joined hands, then back to my eyes. “You should stay longer this time.”
My lips lifted. “I’ll be here any time my One, or my people, need me.”
He held my gaze for a long moment, gauging me, before he dipped his head in a respectful manner, then handed the remote to Mr. Damon.
Leric’s voice in my mind. “Nicely played. And worded.”
Back at him. “Thank you.”
Mr. Damon hit a button on the remote, and I tried not to gape as an enormous thin computer screen descended behind the table, Elder Samson and King Zeller moving fluidly as it lowered from above them, easily repositioning themselves. Another button pressed and the screen lit with a map of the Temple, which looked nothing like Earth now. I knew this would confuse my Lajaks, so I would have to explain later we were in…a spirit space…within the ether. It was Earth, but like a smaller version, and Pangaea, when the continents were one, a step above, or even turned, depending on how you viewed it, a Mystical safe location reserved for the fifth Element, the spirit.
Little red dots showed on the map, and Mr. Damon stated again, “As I said, Cullo and Jeria,” names lit by the dots on the east coastline, “are rioting while Eski and Nosa,” two more dots lit, heading south down the coast with their names listed, “are on the verge.” He clicked the remote, and pictures of towns that reminded me of Greece were shown, except for the destruction and chaos pictured with spirits rioting, signs and graffiti left behind with the word “Chosen” written with slashes or daggers or even what appeared to be blood splashed over it. “The elite Guardians in those realms are dead, the cities completely overtaken, and the ones on Eski and Nosa are barely keeping things civil.”
When the screen went blank, I continued staring, having seen spirits dead on the street, my heart beating a crazy rhythm. “What is their true issue with me?”
Setting the remote down, Mr. Damon stated bluntly, “They believe you are the tie that will break the balance, since you have forsaken the Temple.”
I stared wide-eyed. “They cannot truly believe that.”
He nodded once. “They do.”
I ran a hand over my face, utter disbelief making my hands shake, Leric’s grip tightening on mine supportively, but letting me speak. “It would kill all of us. Including myself. How in the hell do they believe this?” I barely even noticed the instant quietness in my Lajaks around the room, the way every single one went predatory still.
“They are frantic with worry,” a lean, beautiful spirit woman stated simply, leaning forward at the far end of the table. “You are an unknown to them. All they have heard is that you are the Prodigy Elemental when you never should have been. You deny the Temple, live outside where it is safe for you, so many think you clinically insane. How far a stretch do you think it is they would think you the one to doom us all?”
My lips pinched into a thin line. “I am not the only spirit Elemental living outside the Temple, surely they are intelligent enough to reason that out.”
“But,” she flicked a finger at me, “they are not one of our Rulers.”
“So they’re angry, not just frightened.”
She nodded once, sitting back on her chair. “A dangerous combination.”
Leric’s free hand’s fingers tapped. “Do we know who took their fear and flamed it into violence?”
Mr. Damon shook his head. “We believe the elite Guardian overseeing Jeria was close to the truth, but she was killed before she was able to communicate with us.”
“Her friends. Her family. Anyone left alive in that area I want questioned immediately,” Leric stated simply, and instantly notes were being taken by his elite Guardian. “Dad, you’ll lead this investigation and report back to me directly.” His thumb tapped on the table. “I want two other elite Guardians named from the ranks. Send one to Eski, the other to Nosa, to assist the other two, their destinations eventually Cullo and Jeria.” More thumb tapping, and he growled quietly in his throat, a tiger sound, everyone freezing at the table, since this was proof positive I was exactly who I said I was. “And send in two damn troops of Guardians into Cullo and Jeria. I’m officially naming those two cities Dead Zones.” I was pretty sure no one at the table breathed. “The Guardians have my permission to use lethal force without charging. Anyone who is deemed a threat, are to be taken out.”
I swallowed, and asked through our connection, “Isn’t that a little…extreme?”
An instant growling push back. “Not if they are killing innocents on the fucking streets.”
Oh. My mind had been a bit pre-occupied still about their unbelievable issue with me. “How will you handle the press of this?”
“Shit…” He ran a hand over his face, and started speaking aloud, “And ideas for the press on this?” No one spoke, still appearing a bit shell-shocked about him calling a “Dead Zone”, and I made a mental note to look that up and see what it really meant. “Come on, people. Snap the hell out of it and give me your thoughts.”
The man to my left’s hands flexed then fisted, and he peered around me, stating, “Broadcast it through the papers.” Yeah, no television here, exactly why I had been surprised about the remote control. “Let them see what happens when they turn against their own kind like rapid animals.”
“I don’t agree,” another man on my right stated quickly, clearing his throat and running a hand through his hair. “For those who don’t know about it, it could only create an issue where none exists. And, for those who do know, they may believe the Chosen has…inflicted…the One with her,” he glanced at me nervously, his gaze apologetic before turning his eyes back to the man he was speaking with, “less than ideal views, since she does live in a harsh world she shouldn’t.”
I…let that one pass, because I agreed with his other points.
Leric didn’t, stating instantly, “It is her choice, just as we all have that choice.”
“And almost everyone thinks it’s crazy to choose as she did,” the man with the point I liked stated, gaining his confidence back. “She will have a lot of ground to gain, even in the cities not fighting.” He shook his head. “Word is spreading fast, so we do need to stop it some way.” His gaze raked over me. “Possibly change her appearance, then start making regular stops in the cities together, but in those cities where word has already spread, it’s like a poison that will simmer until it’s boiled again in their veins, and I don’t believe broadcasting it to the other cities,” a flicked narrowed gaze to the man next to me, then back to Leric, “is the wisest choice currently.”
Leric stated, “I agree.”
This produced a quiet smug expression from the man with a semi-valid argument.