Chapter Fourteen:
"Anybody want a slice of apology cake?" asked Artemis slyly. Minerva suppressed the urge to back hand him. The entire gang was there. Holly, Mulch, Butler, Juliet and Minerva, Qwan, No1 Doodah and Johan sat around the large dining room table, waiting to be briefed. Esmeralda had been hesitant to allow so many people to know about her, but in the end, she relented under Artemis' pressuring. It should be noted, it was right around the time that Artemis slipped Aspen ten dollars to keep asking Esmeralda, 'Can they please come?' without stopping. Aspen now lay sleeping upstairs in Artemis' room.
A chocolate cake sat in the middle of the kitchen table. The words, 'I'm Sorry' were written in white icing on the top of the cake. Artemis shot Minerva one of his patented smirks. Her response came in the form of a butter knife scratching in the words, 'I Hate You' and scooping up the apology to transfer it to her mouth. She shot a venomous glare, like only the French could muster up, at Artemis and the entire table laughed. Esmeralda smiled.
"Remarkable," said Qwan. "A whole new world of magic. It'll be interesting to study."
"You won't even be able to remember the words white magic at the end of all this," said Esmeralda curtly. "Let's focus on why we're here. We won't be able to track Quill so the only option left, is to wait. And watch. We're going to have to spread out and watch for any signs of large summonings or large spells. We'll be split up into teams and each team will be assigned a continent to watch."
"What 'signs' will we be looking for?" asked Holly.
"You'll know them when you see them," answered Esmeralda. "I think the large dark clouds gathering over one spot and the feeling of reality being twisted out of shape will be a dead giveaway. But you'll only be able to notice these signs if you're in the vicinity. Which is why we need to spread out."
"Say one of the teams finds Quill…what then?" asked Mulch.
"None of you are to engage in a duel with Quill," said Esmeralda firmly. "I'm the only one who can take him out. Your magic and technology are play things to him. Am I understood?"
Murmur of agreement.
"I'd like to apologize to you all, for causing all of this. It's my fault this is all happening. I'm begging you not to do anything heroic like try to stop Quill on your own. It would cause me no end of grief if one of you were hurt trying to clean up my mistake." Esmeralda stood up and bowed to them all. "Please accept my apology."
Artemis took a bite of his slice of cake. "Esmeralda?"
"Yes?"
"Were you the one that killed twenty-three people?"
"No, but…"
"Were you the one that decided to bring about an Apocalypse?"
"No, but…"
"Then shut up and eat cake."
Esmeralda smiled as Artemis pushed a plate of cake towards here and the table laughed and conversations broke out. It was amazing how the group could act so casual about going off to save the world. Maybe after the first four or so times, the novelty of it all wears off.