Chapter Seven

Sophie was pacing. She knew she was doing it, she knew she was annoying everyone, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.

Cathy had come back a while earlier, but all she could tell them was that everyone had been fine when she dropped Mark off. She'd gone to her room a while ago, quietly shadowed by one of Scarlett's team. Tara had also disappeared; Sandra was doing something in the kitchen. Scarlett and the last member of her team were reading through some of the old records, pretending not to watch her.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" she asked, lifting the window blind again.

"Not used to being left behind?" Sandra asked, coming in with a tray of sandwiches. Scarlett took it from her, smiling, and passed it to the boy beside her.

"No," Sophie admitted. "How do you do it?"

"With difficulty," Sandra told her. "Come sit down, I want to look at that shoulder again."

Sophie followed her to the table, accepting the sandwich Scarlett offered her. "It really feels fine."

"Better safe than sorry. You Seekers never pay enough attention when you're injured."

"We don't usually have time," Sophie said ruefully.

"Yes, Lok has a few extra scars this time," Sandra agreed quietly.

"He will keep throwing himself into things," Sophie said.

"Still? I thought you'd have cured of that by now," Scarlett said teasingly.

"If anyone was going to cure him it would be Zhalia. He listens to her over us, sometimes."

"Why?" Sandra asked, taping the bandage back down.

"Oh, since Australia. She really got hurt protecting him, and she didn't have to. And when she defeated Klaus to come back to us…he really trusts her now."

"They're back," the boy said, pushing the books aside to clear the table. Sophie jumped to her feet, watching anxiously as they came in. Dante, still wet, Zhalia with Cherit on her shoulder, Mark looking absolutely exhausted…

And Lok. Sophie threw herself at him, hugging him as hard as she could before letting go and turning quickly away.

"You're back," she said lamely, wishing her blushes weren't quite so visible.

"Tell us what happened," Scarlett said, taking pity on her.

"Did you find Holkan?" Sandra released Lok, pushing him back a step so she could look him over. "You're soaked, all three of you. Come in here next to the fire."

"Why do you have a fire in August anyway?" Lok asked, settling on the edge of the table.

"We found Holkan," Dante told Sandra, ignoring the fire debate. "There was a pretty strong spell defending him; your ancestor was strong."

"Speaking of." Zhalia tipped three amulets onto the table. "At least one of these belonged to your uncle."

"I wouldn't," Lok added when his mother reached for them. "They're pretty screwed up; Aidan and Laura really lost it there at the end."

"This is Nivaine." Zhalia separated out one of the amulets. "Aidan didn't invoke his, and we haven't had a chance to look them up."

"Where are Aidan and Laura?" Scarlett asked.

"Believe it or not, the police showed up." Lok winced as his mother began towelling his hair. "Ow, Mom. I guess we were a bit more obvious than usual."

"Laura totally lost it," Zhalia continued. "Mark got her amulet away from her. He was really good."

"So when the police got there, she was raving about Titans and powers and yelling 'gortaigh' at them." Lok took the towel away from his mother, glaring at her.

"Mark defeated her?" Sophie repeated.

Mark quietly held up the Holkan amulet. "Dante gave it to me."

"He Bonded and invoked Holkan at the same time. I didn't think you could do that," Lok said cheerfully.

"What about Aidan?" Sandra asked.

"We got his Titans away from him. He tried to go back to Laura but she attacked him." Dante pulled off his coat, sitting beside Lok. "When the police arrived, he backed our story that Laura was dangerous; he said he'd heard the noise and come to see what was happening, and we backed him." He glanced at Scarlett. "Keep an eye out, but he shouldn't be any more trouble. He's seen what power does. I don't think he'll want any part of the Organization, if they do come through."

"I'll keep an eye on him, Dante," Scarlett promised.

"Good. Now." He turned to look at Mark, still lurking by the door. "Mark."

Mark jumped. "What? Yes." He pulled off the two amulets, holding them out.

"No." Dante waved him down. "That's not what I want."

"What, then?" Mark looked nervously around the group.

"Join the Foundation," Lok said, as though it was obvious.

"What? I…what?"

"Dante, the poor boy's in shock," Sandra scolded him. "Mark, come and sit down."

"I'm alright," Mark said faintly, letting her tug him to the couch. "Join the Foundation? I tried to kill you guys."

"Not very hard," Sophie pointed out.

"No, but…"

"Hey." Zhalia leaned forward to catch his eye. "I was on their side when I tried to kill them. And I came a lot closer than you ever did. Take the offer."

"If I…if I say no…"

"Deachtaire and Holkan are yours now no matter what. We'll trust you not to misuse them." She didn't look up when Dante inhaled sharply. "But the Foundation can teach you so much more, show you how to use them properly, teach you new powers and new abilities. You can do some good to make up for everything the three of you did."

"I don't…I need to think about it."

"You'd be working for Scarlett," Dante told him. "She's the Foundation's lead representative in this area. Lucky for you, though, she doesn't hold a grudge."

"I remember Bonding with my first Titan," Scarlett said. "It was confusing and scary, and I knew what was happening. I can't imagine having it happen by accident."

"I Bonded with Kipperon by accident and under fire," Lok offered. "If the Organization had tried being friendly instead of shooting at me, I might have gone to them instead of Dante."

"I…Organization, I don't…"

"It's too late for this," Sandra said firmly. "Now, we've enough rooms for everyone but you'll have to double up. Scarlett, you're sleeping with Cathy, yes?" She divided up the rest of the group, assigning them beds or couches, and got them moving. "You can talk to the boy tomorrow," she said when Dante tried to resist. "Let him think about it for a few hours. He's worn out."

"It's no good arguing when my mom makes her mind up, Dante," Lok told him. "I'd give up gracefully if I were you. Mom, where's Tara?"

"Your room. She went up an hour or so ago. Poor girl was exhausted. She's really not cut out for this."

"No," Lok muttered. "She's not."

***

Sophie followed Lok quietly upstairs, ignoring the smirk Zhalia threw at her. Tara was curled up on top of the blankets on Lok's bed, fast asleep; one arm was wrapped loosely around a stuffed bear, but she let it go without waking up when Lok tugged lightly at it.

"It's cute," Sophie murmured. It wasn't, really; 'well loved' would have been much more accurate. 'Falling apart' could have applied, either.

Lok nodded, staring at it. "When I was eleven we went to a carnival. First time our parents had let us go out on our own like that. I decided I was going to win the best teddy there to celebrate."

"And you won that?" Cherit asked, settling on his shoulder.

"No. I couldn't hit the target. The guy felt bad so he gave me this little keyring thing, fluorescent yellow, really horrible. Tara carries it now. She won this."

"She told me that she used to think she'd marry you," Sophie said quietly.

"Yeah. Well, who doesn't want to marry the boy next door at some point?"

"Did you want to marry her?"

Lok looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time. "That's a long time ago, Sophie."

"Months."

"Lifetimes." He touched Kipperon's amulet. "This is my world now. I can't turn my back on that."

"No one's asking you to," Tara mumbled.

"I thought you were asleep," Lok said, but he didn't sound surprised.

"I could tell, what with the talking really loudly right over my head." She sat up, taking the bear from him. "Why would you even think about leaving your friends, Curly?"

"After the night we had, you want to fight that side of the argument?" Lok dropped next to her; she threw a leg over his lap, shifting until she was leaning comfortably against the wall.

"I'm not signing up with the Foundation to fight evil Titans. Do you hate me?"

"No!"

"Then why would you think we'd be upset at you? You made a commitment and you're following through. Why would we be angry about that?"

"Because you…I hate when you do that."

"How do you do that?" Sophie added.

"I'm smarter than he is. You should be able to do it, too."

"Modesty, Tara," Lok protested.

"You have to admit, she's good," Cherit pointed out.

"I don't have to admit it where she can hear me." He smiled when Tara looked at him, though.

"I'm really ok, Lok," she said, suddenly gentle. "Promise. I can't join you, but I'm not going to try and hold you back, either. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," he murmured.

"Eathon would be proud of how good you are."

"You think?"

"Of course he would." Sophie sat carefully on the end of the bed. "How could he not?"

"Zhalia said I could be the best in our generation," he said slowly.

Tara leaned around him to look at Sophie. "Can he?"

"It's true he's very talented, and he has a lot of power."

"Wow, Sophie, if I didn't know better I'd say you liked me," Lok said with a grin.

Sophie tossed her head, looking away. "Of course, I'm far more powerful than he is."

"Of course you are," Lok agreed, rolling his eyes for Tara's benefit. "That must have been you throwing Rassimov around like a rag doll."

"That was impressive," Sophie admitted.

"Excuse me," Tara said politely, "but power depends on how much you practise, yes?"

"Yes," Cherit agreed. "Practise gives you more control over your magic."

"But you can't make more talent. So it seems to me that more talent and less power is better than the other way around."

"Mark is like that. All instinct." Lok disentangled himself, going to open the window.

"It's raining," Tara protested.

"So? You're inside. And it's really warm in here."

"Such a considerate host."

He made a face over his shoulder, fixing the window open and coming back. This time he sat a little closer to Sophie.

"Think Mark will accept?" he asked after a minute.

"I think so," Sophie said thoughtfully. "He really loves his Titans, anyone can see that. Joining the Foundation will help him with them."

"Mark's going to sign up?" Tara asked. Her eyes had drifted closed again, but she still sounded relatively awake.

"Dante asked him to join up. He hasn't decided yet."

"Get your mom to talk him into it. No one ever says no to her."

"Yeah." Lok slumped down on the bed, propping his hands behind his head.

Sophie started to protest…he was on her foot…but he wasn't really that heavy, so she didn't bother in the end.

***

When Sandra checked on them half an hour later, Lok and Sophie were tangled together, asleep, and Tara was propped against Lok's back, reading by the light of the moon outside. Cherit was curled on one of the pillows.

"Tara, dear, there's a spare couch in my room," she whispered.

"No thank you, Mrs Lambert. We're fine here."

"Try and get some sleep."

"I will."

Sophie opened her eyes when Sandra closed the door. "Tara?"

"Hmm."

"Are…never mind. Do you have enough room?"

Tara sat up, studying her. "I told Dante if he hurt Lok I'd make sure he paid."

"Did you? But Dante would never hurt Lok."

"I know. But Lok needed to hear me say it. If you hurt him there'll be trouble."

"I would never..."

"And you could hurt him far worse than Dante could."

"We're not…" Sophie lowered her head, praying it was too dark for her blush to show up. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Uh huh," Tara agreed. "Lok's like my little brother, and my best friend, and my other half, Sophie. He's klutzy and immature and he never thinks things through..."

"Love you too," Lok mumbled into his pillow. Tara grinned, motioning Sophie to wait; Lok sighed, shifting and settling back.

Tara counted under her breath before nodding, gently pushing Lok's bangs off his face. "He's asleep again."

"How can you tell?"

"He's never done that to you? He did that to me all the time when we were younger."

"Little brother," Sophie said suddenly.

"Yeah. You have a brother?"

"No. I have a bodyguard."

"Not quite the same thing, but close enough, I suppose." She could hear the smile in Tara's voice. "Do you trust him?"

"With my life."

"That's sort of the point," Lok slurred.

"Still asleep?" Sophie asked softly.

"He's really hard to wake up when he's this tired. Unless something's seriously wrong. He's got this instinct for it."

"Yes, I've seen it."

"He's the best person I know." Tara looked up, catching her eye. "That's what I was going to say. Clumsy, and careless, and never thinks first, but the best person I know. I'd trust him with anything, for any reason. But I can't follow him now, not where he's going. It's your turn."

Sophie watched her for a moment. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "If it weren't for the Foundation, he'd have come home."

"He did come home. He's home now. And in a few days he'll go off with you guys again, globe trotting, and you'll take care of him, and he'll be back. There are worse ways to spend your life."

"Why're you awake?" Lok asked. He sounded more awake this time, but Tara was still carding her fingers through his hair; although he tended to simply ignore her when she rubbed his arm or hung out of him, he didn't usually let her near his head.

"You drooled on my pillow," Sophie said sweetly.

"Oh." He rolled over. "S'ry."

"Sure."

Tara grinned suddenly. "Hey, Curly?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Tomorrow we should take Sophie fishing."

"Yeah, 's fun."

"And then we could bungee jump."

"Uh-huh."

"And you could cook dinner."

"Fine."

She grinned over his head at Sophie. "Try it, it's fun."

"Well, I always wanted to try out Kipperon. Maybe you could unbond with him, Lok, and I could try."

"Anything you say."

"He won't remember tomorrow, unfortunately," Tara said, "but he will have this weird feeling he's forgetting something."

"I'll have to remember that." Sophie smiled, pushing Lok off the blanket. "Goodnight, Tara."

"Night, Sophie."

***

Lotus: I find using legends that I'm familiar with sounds more realistic to the readers than using ones I've just looked up five minutes before. Plus I *like* our legends over here in the Emerald Isle. :)

Kali: Wow, glad you're enjoying so much! One more chapter to go...

Phoenix: Hi! Glad you liked the true legend of O'Donnell. Because I forgot to say it earlier, Holkan is the Russian version of a centaur.

Evil Tree: Thanks! I was a little worried about Tara, but everyone seems to like her pretty much, so...