Chapter 5
"What the hell do you think you're doing to MG's mom?" He said as he made his way towards Nia.
Startled she stumbled backward, nearly falling. Once she got a good look at his face however her confusion turned to into a somewhat malicious smirk. Her dreads were still in transformed into snakes and they all turned to face him.
"Today is not your lucky day." She said as she began to walk towards him. "Tell me where Landon Kirby is, and I'll make this quick."
"You're a gorgon right? What are you doing here? No one has activated a third artifact?" He replied, trying to get some answers of his own.
"I don't know anything about any artifact, I just need to find Landon Kirby. Now tell me where he is!" She nearly yelled, her snakes all beginning to hiss.
"Pro tip, whenever you threaten someone, make sure you can actually carry it out." Calling his phoenix fire to his hand, he felt the flame envelop them. Instead of a burning sensation, all he felt was a warm gentle caress as the flames licked at his skin.
Moving quickly from angry to shocked when she realized he wasn't turning to stone, she turned to run.
With a flick of his wrist, he launched one of the flames ahead of her, willing it to form a circle and keep her from escaping. As it landed there was something of miniature explosion that knocked Nia to the ground.
"Why did Malivore send you after me?" He asked as he slowly and methodically moved toward her until he had reached the barrier of the 5-foot-tall flame that surrounded her.
It took her a moment to stand, her frightened eyes darting back and forth trying to find a way to escape her burning cage.
Seeing no way out she turned to face him again. "Why don't my powers work on you?" She asked.
He retorted, "No, that's not how this is going to go. You answer my questions and them maybe I'll answer yours. So I'll ask again, why did Malivore send you after me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, all I know is that some guys from Triad Industries said if I didn't bring back Landon Kirby then they'd kill me and make everyone I loved, like, forget about me." She said quickly, imploring him to believe her with her gaze, her snakes having long since turned back into regular dreads.
"Well, you found him." He said letting the flames die down. "Now, where are you supposed to take me?"
"Wait you're coming with me?" She asked, confused. "Why?"
"Well, I need to find out where Malivore is being kept by a group of shady individuals and you're supposedly taking somewhere at the orders of a group of shady individuals. I highly, doubt it's a coincidence." He responded. "That being said, I can't go right now, give me a few hours and after the dance I'll find you. We'll head out then."
"No way, now that I know who you are I can't wait. I'm sorry but we need to go now." She said, her hair beginning to twitch.
"Really?! How did attacking me work out for you five minutes ago?" He groaned exasperatedly. He tilted his head to the side to as he saw Hope and Lizzie make their way to the clearing behind Nia.
He doubted they had heard him, but he had to think quickly before Nia noticed and ended up turning his girlfriend to stone.
"How about this, you free MG's mom and I'll go with you right now?" He told her, trying to appear willing to negotiate.
"Trust me, MG is better off witho-" She dropped to the ground, Hope appearing from behind her with a branch in her hand and Lizzie standing to her left.
"Landon?! What the hell is going on?" Hope asked with a non-insignificant amount of confusion coloring her tone.
"Well, how familiar are you with Greek Mythology?" He asked.
What followed was an interrogation session from Dr. Saltzman, Hope, the twins and MG regarding everything they knew about Nia.
He told them that she was after him and not an artifact, and that Malivore did not send her. Which while new information to them, was something Nia would probably tell them quickly enough once she regained consciousness.
MG had spent the most time with her and it turned out she was very familiar with pop culture and comic books, lending more credence to the notion that she was not a Malivore monster.
"What I don't understand, is why she didn't just turn you to stone when you confronted her after what she did to Veronica." Dr Saltzman said with a questioning glance.
"She tried… I guess phoenix are possibly immune to gorgons?" Landon replied, acting confused.
Hope took this opportunity to glare at him while saying "So you confronted her with no backup, why?"
"I didn't really think about it, I just sort of wanted to stop her from getting away." He said trying to disguise his growing resentment at her tone as embarrassment. Ever since the phoenix bloodline had been unlocked, he had become much quicker to anger.
It must have worked because she took the opportunity to give him another verbal lashing, "Need I remind you that we don't know how many lives you get, and that's not even considering that you might not be able to come back if you're STONE!"
He turned to face her, the anger having broken it's way past his attempts to corral it, "I held my own, in case you didn't notice!" He said sharply, cutting off whatever her next chastisement with a glare of his own.
"About that," Dr. Saltzman said, walking to stand between the two of them "how exactly did you hold your own? I'm assuming it has something to do with the scorch marks now present on the stone floor of the courtyard?"
"I think.. I think dying woke up the phoenix in me." He said, the best lies were hidden within the truth, so he'd give them some of the truth until he was ready to share everything, despite the guilt he was feeling begin to weigh him down. "Ever since then, I've been able to feel a fire inside of me feeding off my emotions. I guess when she started to attack me instinct took over and I called the fire out. Once it was out I could control it easily enough."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Hope asked in a more demure tone than earlier.
"I wasn't trying to keep it a secret, honest." He lied. "I've just been trying to practice my powers whenever I had a chance to try and get some control over them. I really did just want to surprise you."
Hope let out a sigh, "I thought we were going to be honest with each other. I'm going to go run a quick patrol to see if there are any other monsters around. I'll see you at the pageant, Landon. No more secrets, please." She said with a disappointed toned, as if she were scolding a child.
He made his way back to the courtyard after having liberated a few bottles of champagne from their cases.
Hope was right to be upset, he knew. As it stood he was still keeping secrets from her. The fact that she was in the right only served to make him more irrationally angry.
So here he sat, drinking and trying to come to terms with his decisions over the past few weeks.
At least until Penelope Park found him and swiped the bottle he was drinking from out from under him.
"Mmm, it's not bad." She said taking a seat and a sip from the bottle before handing it back to him.
"I don't think you've ever spoken to me before." He remarked.
"You've never had free booze before." She countered.
"Right. Makes sense." He said.
"So, what sorrows are we drowning?" She asked.
"Just questioning every choice I've ever made." He responded "Just found out some stuff about my family, and I wanted to keep it to myself for a little bit, you know? Something that was just for me, about who I am and who I come from. But maybe I should just tell her, if I've learned anything from Hope it's that honesty is the best policy."
This cause Penelope to spit take the champagne she'd just nearly downed.
"I'm sorry, but did you just put Hope and honesty, in the same sentence?" She asked, taking my confused expression as affirmation she continued, "You're all so blind to the hypocrisy of this place. You know what? Let me tell you how honest your girl is."
He walked in a haze, he didn't even remember putting on his suit. After being told that he had met his mother and lost not only her but his memories of her, he grabbed the champagne and drank almost the entire thing in three gulps.
But this was Penelope Park they were talking about, and she had a rather deserved reputation for stirring up trouble. He needed to find Hope and ask her if it was true.
As luck would have it he met her at the top of the stairs, shortly before it was their turn to be called.
He took his place beside her, and she turned to him.
"Hey, where have you been?" She asked concern quickly overtaking her expression as she continued, "Are you ok? Why do you smell like a bar?"
"Penelope Park told me that you are keeping a secret… about my mom." He struggled to get the words out. "She says that we met her and that I don't remember it, but that you do."
Turning my head to look at her, He watches as her face contorts in an expression of mild horror. He had his answer. That look was all he needed to see to know the truth. But something in him urged him to used his own hurt as a weapon. To stab the dagger of his pain as deep as it would go and then twist it.
"She's lying right?" He managed to ask. "Just tell me she's lying, Hope." He pleaded for a final time.
She said nothing, as if she was completely at a loss for words. He decided to continue, if she wasn't going to defend her actions then she would just have to wait until he finished his piece.
"You know, I wasn't always the most honest person, but… you were the one who taught me the value of being truthful." Pain and guilt intermingling within him. He had kept his own secrets from her, so he could forgive her that. But the way she had been using his lack of honesty as a weapon against him was further salt in the wound. Now it was his turn.
"And the truth… the truth is, I can't be here right now." He said as he rushed away.
