Chapter one
"Steve!" a small child like voice called out to Steve as him and the rest of the warehouse agents were walking towards Leena's B&B.
"What―?" Steve couldn't finish as he was tackled by a little raven haired boy.
"Steve, I've missed you," the little boy cried into Steve's chest as Steve sat up from being knocked onto the ground.
"K-Kyle?" Steve stammered out as he looked at the boy's face.
"Friend of yours Jinx?" Pete chuckled. Steve ignored his friend's statement.
"What are you doing here, Kyle? Does Kevin know you're here?" Steve stood up holding the sniffling boy to his side. Before a response could be given the sound of people grunting and screaming were coming from the tree line nearby.
A few more grunts and a couple of screams later a tall guy emerged from the trees dragging a couple of bodies behind him. The guy had long raven black hair that matched Kyle's that reached past his waist. He wore all black but not in a gothic way just in the sort of way that it suited him. When he reached the group he hauled the two people onto their feet.
"Always know how to make an entrance don't you, Kevin?" Steve smirked as the raven haired man returned the smirk.
"Would you expect me any other way?" Kevin walked over to Steve and gave him a hug. "It has been too long friend."
"Indeed," Steve patted his friend's back before they pulled away. "So who are these?" Steve gestured to the two men still standing where Kevin placed them. One was dressed in all black like a clergyman and the other was dress in more casual clothes.
"The short one," Kevin referred to the casually dressed guy," I found sneaking out of one of the rooms on the second floor. And the other one attacked me."
"I came for the astral―" Kevin cut the clergyman off with a pointed glare. The two of them were locked in a staring contest for about a minute. They only stopped staring when the clergyman fell over unconscious.
"Oh god, what did you do?" Myka exclaimed as everyone, but Steve, gasped. The other guy looked ready to pee his pants, especially when Kevin looked at him.
Kevin took a couple of steps toward him and stuck out his hand, waiting for him to hand Kevin something. Within a second the guy had pulled out a few pieces of cloth and handed them to Kevin. He in turn turned and handed them to Claudia.
"Wait these are my underwear," Claudia almost screeched. "You little weasel; I should tesla you on the spot."
"Go for it, I already had my fun catching him." Kevin walked back over to Steve and grabbed Kyle off of him so he could hold him instead. An evil gleam sparked in her eye as she flipped her bag open and pulled out the tesla gun. She aimed and fired it at the guy and the guy fell down twitching.
"Better?" Steve looked at his friend who smirked as she blew the end of the gun.
"As much as I like the outdoors as the next guy my feet are killing me." Artie grumbled as he finished his trek to the house and disappeared inside. The others silently chuckled as they followed the old man inside.
"How did you find me, Kevin?" Steve asked when the two of them had sat down at the kitchen table after Kevin let Kyle roam around the house before warning him to stay nearby.
"The same way I found you when we were younger." Kevin smiled at the memories.
"Thought patterns again? I thought I told you to stop doing that." Steve smiled at him.
"It's hard to stop something that comes so naturally to you," the two of them laughed.
"Sorry to interrupt but could I talk with Jinx for a sec?" Claudia poked her head in. Jinx stood and walked into the den where everyone was seated talking.
"What's up?" Steve asked looking around at them.
"Who is that?" Artie asked with slight irritation dripping from his voice.
"Kevin, he's a childhood friend."
"How did he find you?" Artie asked again not even bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.
"I can answer that Artie," Kevin shouted from the kitchen.
"Can he hear us?" Claudia whispered to Steve.
"No, Claudia," Kevin shouted again. Everyone sat wide eyed staring at Steve.
"Why don't I bring him in here to explain everything to you?" Steve left and came back dragging Kevin, who was whining for his cup of hot cocoa.
"So you want to know how I found Steve even though I have not had contact with him since he got transferred," Kevin stated. "That is both easy and hard to explain. I am able to 'connect' to the thought pathways that all humans share."
"Um…thought pathways?" Pete questioned as he raised his hand.
"Thought pathways are the roads your minds take with their thoughts also known as 'train of thought'. Everyone has an entire elaborate wed inside their brain but this web also connects to other people without your knowledge. The entire human race constructs this huge, magnificently beautiful web of images, stories, ideas, and memories. I am able to tap into this and travel from person to person no matter how far away from me they are."
"So using this 'web' you was able to find Steve?" Myka asked.
"Yes, Myka. All I had to do was find someone that had seen Steve and from there I was able to find him. As it turns out also, I know about the warehouse also." The last sentence made every person in the room grow rigid except Kevin.
"H-how…?" Artie stammered.
"I got that tidbit from you Artie, seeing as you are the oldest warehouse agent here. I know about Claudia's past along with her wacky ideas," Kevin chuckled as a small blush crept across her face. "I also know about Myka and the huge amount of knowledge that she owns and Pete's comic book collection that rivals her knowledge." They both blinked at each other then turned back to Kevin. "But I know the most about Steve here, especially his most embarrassing secrets." Kevin wiggled his eyebrows at Claudia making her smile at him.
"Really now, like what?" Claudia scooted a little closer to him.
"If you offer him chocolate make sure it's the last piece or else―" Kevin was cut off by Steve's hand going over his mouth.
"Don't make me tell them what you did in our senior year," Steve growled out as he started to pull Kevin towards the kitchen. Steve removed his hand and grabbed the back of Kevin's shirt and dragged him the rest of the way.
"Rough, I like it," Kevin growled seductively. A deep red blush grew on Steve's face as smaller ones grew on everyone else's faces except Claudia, who whooped making Steve's blush deeper.
"Don't give that girl any more ideas. She's got enough as it is," Steve angrily growled at Kevin while keeping his voice down.
"She's just happy that she finally has someone that she can talk to like Myka and Pete. Besides I've brought a gift for you and Artie." Kevin said the last part as he entered the den followed by Steve.
"Gifts?" Pete perked up and looked at Kevin like a child on Christmas day.
"Yeah, just some things I picked up on my way here," Kevin said as Kyle came in dragging a bag similar to Claudia's but was a dull gray color. "Thank you Kyle," Kevin smiled as he watched Kyle crawl onto the couch between Myka and Pete.
"I don't want a knick knack," Artie grumbled.
"These are in fact not a common trinket." As soon as Kevin said that both Claudia and Artie's artifact locators went off.
"What the…five artifacts at once?" Claudia's words shocked all of the agents in the room.
"King Tut's eye of Ra and his staff of Osiris," Artie read off the first two.
"Hitler's razor, Tesla's infinite power generator, and Lazarus's blanket," Claudia read then looked at everyone else.
"Let's head out." Pete motioned to stand but was stopped by Kyle's hand on his thigh.
"Sit," Kyle quietly spoke catching everyone's attention.
"Kyle's right," Kevin rummaged through the bag and pulled out a staff along with a necklace.
"The eye of Ra and the staff of Osiris; How did you get these?" Artie gaped as Kevin handed them to him.
"Our trek through Egypt had us grabbing these two." Kyle spoke again.
"Did he just sound older then he looks?" Myka whispered to Pete which he nodded.
"And these two we got when we visited Europe," Kevin pulled out these last two from his bag and handed one to both Myka and Pete.
"What about the blanket?" Steve asked.
"I did say that I had a gift for both you and Artie, didn't I? Artie got four more artifacts and you get the blanket." Kevin smirked.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Claudia spoke up before Artie could grumble again.
"Don't think I don't know what happened to Steve a week ago." Kevin's voice grew an edge to it that made them all quiet down. "I know for a fact that Steve was dead for 259200 seconds and you only brought him back using that cursed metronome." The last part made Claudia flinch and look at the floor.
"Kevin calm―"
"I will not calm down when she used that metronome and put her life on the line along with yours again." Kevin yelled.
"What do you mean by that?" Artie questioned.
"The side effect of that cursed artifact is that the user, Claudia, and the one they revived, Steve, are connected. If Steve is ever hurt then the pain is shared between the two of them. That's why when you went to retrieve that birdcage Claudia kept complaining about a pain in her neck, no pun intended. Steve was the one that got attacked by the bird and scratched." Kevin huffed as he crossed his arms.
"What!?" Artie shouted looking between the two of them. Shock was evident on Claudia's face but Steve's face was pointed away from everyone and towards the ground. "You knew and you didn't share with the rest of the class because…?"
"Stand down Artie," Ms. Fredric stepped into the room silencing anymore arguments from starting. "Mr. Kevin and Mr. Kyle have both retrieved five artifacts before anyone had activated them and returned them here to us instead of using them for their own gain. The Regents have been informed about this new development."
"But we don't even know the power of the blanket yet," Artie argued.
"I am aware of that Arthur that is why the blanket will be locked in the warehouse for the mean time," She made a move to grab Kevin's bag but was stopped when Kyle stood between her and Kevin.
"I'm sorry but you are not allowed near my brother," Kyle stared down the old woman. Ms. Fredric ignored him and made a grab for the bag but was stopped when Kyle smacked her hand away. Myka and Claudia both gasped as Ms. Fredric pulled her hand back quickly.
"He did warn you. Besides I already know the power and drawback of this artifact." Kevin opened the bag and pulled out a brown cotton cloth. "First question, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Lazarus?"
"Revival," Pete quickly said earning all eyes on him. "What?"
"Now think about it for a second," Kevin waited a bit for the information to seep in.
"Are you telling me that that blanket brings back someone who has died?" Myka questioned.
"Yes and the drawback is that they have to be covered up with it along with their true love." A sad look flicked through Kevin's eyes but quickly was replaced by a cheery look. Claudia saw the look before it disappeared.
"But wait, if you wanted Steve to use that no matter if we found his 'soul mate' he was already revived by the metronome." Myka stated.
"This will take the place of the metronome and brake the link between Claudia and him," Kevin folded the blanket over his arms.
"Okay, but what will happen if someone that isn't his TL sleeps under that blanket with him?" Claudia asked.
"Nothing, it's just a simple blanket. It uses the person's grief of losing their love to activate the artifact."
"So do you know who he is destined to be with?" Pete asked with a smirk on his face. A light blush dusted Kevin's cheeks before he could turn away from the rest of the group.
"Kevin, she's gone," Kyle tugged on Kevin's pant leg getting his attention. Kevin looked at Kyle then around the room finding that Ms. Fredric had left. "Don't forget about the other side effect."
"Oh yes, that one." Kevin turned to the agents and rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "I forgot to mention that whoever sleeps with Steve they will become pregnant."
"But I thought Jinx was gay?" Claudia asked.
"I never said that it had to be a female. The two 'sleepers' don't even have to have sex. All they have to do is share the blanket one night." Kevin explained as his blush deepened. Without warning Artie got another ping on an artifact.
"No rest for the weary, let's go Myka," Pete huffed as he stood up, stretching his back.
"No, Kyle and I will take this one you guys need your rest." Kevin handed the blanket to Steve and grabbed his bag.
"It's Priapus's statue," Artie gave a questioning look to everyone who just shrugged their shoulders except for Steve.
"Priapus is the Greek god of fertility. I'd rather not continue on about him." Steve got a dark look in his eyes as he looked away, and then left to his room.
"We had to research about him before and we found some…interesting facts about him." Kevin tried to say delicately as Kyle snorted in laughter.
"Interesting? He's worse than Zeus with kids. He is the horn-dog of the gods." Kyle laughed as he left the room.
"Did he just say horn-dog?" Claudia asked.
"Yeah, he may not look it but he is really about five or six years younger than me." Kevin scratched the back of his head, then yelled after his brother as he left, leaving everyone with gaping mouths.