Author's note- I do not own characters (except Lex) and make no profit. As always, much appreciation and thanks for my beta Valawenel.
Chapter 16, Junk Food and Big Decisions
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"Cassie! Are you okay?"
"You're back!"
"Miss Cillion, are you injured?"
"Cassandra!"
A cacophony of concerned voices filled the room. Cassie held up both hands palms out and stilled the other voices with her own, issuing a loud and firm, "Stop!" In the ensuing silence, she nodded and spoke. "I'm fine, really. Perfectly A-okay. "
"Cassie," Eve said, "that looks like blood on your clothes."
Cassie looked down at herself, at what used to be a fuzzy, pink sweater and at the suspicious red splotches that stained it and her tattered flowered skirt. "Damn. I used to really love this outfit. Um, yeah, some of it might be blood but really, I am fine. It's a long story. I just need a shower and change of clothes. Oh, and a pizza would be great. I'm starved."
"Pizza!" Ezekiel said, as he pulled out his cell phone. "Now, that's something I know just how to fix! Pepperoni and mushroom, right?"
Flynn Took Cassie's arm and helped her to her feet as Eve examined her for obvious injuries. Despite the stains, Eve could find no sign of any wounds.
"Stop, really, I'm fine." Cassie's protests were interrupted by Jenkins pressing a bottle of water into her hand. "Oh, thanks, Jenkins. Eve stop. Flynn! Everybody relax! I am not injured. Hey, Ezekiel, order extra pizza and some cheesy fries, too. Now hear this, everyone. I promise I will tell you all about it, but absolutely not before I get that shower. So, move on out of my way."
"Cassandra," Flynn said, "I really think we just need to make sure you do not have any injuries first. You could be hurt and not know it. You could be in shock."
"Flynn. You are standing between me and my bottle of shampoo. That is not a place you want to be right now."
Eve took Flynn's arm and eased him out of Cassie's path. "Wait…" he began to protest but Eve stood firm.
"I'm a Guardian. It's my job to protect and you appear to be the one in the most danger at the moment. Let. The. Woman. Bathe."
"Thank you!" Cassie said as she flounced from the room.
"Pizza's on the way!" Ezekiel said cheerfully.
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Jake turned the pages slowly, examining each chapter until he found what he needed. The first page of the chapter boasted a beautifully drawn picture of a large book which was open on a table top podium, and glowing like a miniature sun. Three men and two women bent over it, intently reading a page.
"I hope I am doing the right thing," Jake said, looking up at the old man.
Lex just smiled.
"Do you know? Can you see how the stories end?" Jake asked, though he did not expect to get an answer.
Lex looked away. "There is only so much I can do, and I have done it."
"Well, there might be one more small thing you could do for me."
"And what might that be, Librarian?"
Jake grinned. "I am going to need to borrow that pen and a piece of paper."
Lex chuckled. "You are quite the clever one, Jacob. It has been a sincere honor to make your acquaintance." He tore a piece of paper from his notebook and passed it to Jake along with the pen.
Using the book as a desk, Jake wrote a brief note in large block letters on the scrap paper. Placing the note and the book carefully on the ground, he unthreaded a shoe lace out of one work boot.
"This should do it. I gotta keep those idiots from doing anything else stupid," Jake spoke aloud though he somehow already knew before he looked up, that he was alone once again.
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The large table in the center of the Annex office served as a desk, a reading station, a meeting place and on occasion, a dinner table. This was such an occasion. The clutter of papers, books and artifacts had been cleared off and the table now hosted several pizzas, bottles of water, a tea pot and cup for Jenkins and a jumbo order of cheesy fries.
Freshly showered and shampooed, Cassie looked more herself. In fact, Eve thought, she looked great. Her cheeks had a rosy glow, her eyes sparkled and the dark circles they had all been noticing lately were gone. Despite the fact that her hair was still damp and she was dressed in jeans and a baggy T-shirt, Cassie managed to look terrific. And there certainly was nothing wrong with her appetite, Eve noted, watching the younger girl put away another slice with gusto. Then again, it had been quite a while since any of them had eaten and they all were devouring the food with enthusiasm.
Scooping up a generous portion of cheese laden fries, Cassie popped them in her mouth, chewed and swallowed before continuing her narrative. "So, then Apollo just shows up outta nowhere and stands there staring at me."
"Did he come back for the other Cassandra?" Ezekiel asked.
"No," Cassie said, "He knew she was gone. I think he kinda felt bad about it, though. Or at least as bad as a pompous self-centered Greek god can feel, anyway. And he did help me."
Eve looked up from her pizza. "Helped you how?"
"I don't know exactly. He said something about being a god of healing. He just touched me and all my aches and pains went away. I wasn't even thirsty anymore. Then he just went poof and disappeared."
Ezekiel and Flynn reached for the last slice at the same time and began a pizza tug-of-war. Eve used the distraction to seize the last of the cheesy fries. Jenkins, however, paused with his tea cup half way to his lips and looked thoughtful.
"Anyway. Enough of me. What are we going to do about Jake?" Cassie asked.
Eve didn't respond; her gaze followed Ezekiel. Having lost the pizza battle to Flynn, Ezekiel left the table and wandered nonchalantly over to Flynn's desk hoping to find a way to exact some revenge. He scanned the work area for something to pilfer or an idea for a good prank, but most of the desk was taken up by the relocated Book of Myths, still open to the chapter about Atlas. His thief's eye for detail locked onto the illustration that began all of this.
"Um, guys…"
Flynn gave Cassie a narrow-eyed look. "A plan, Cassie. We need to make a plan this time."
"I say we get right back in there and find a way to bring him home." Cassie said
"Oh, no you don't." Eve wagged a finger back and forth at Cassie. "There will be no more of that, do you hear me? No more jumping into books without a plan. No more rushing off without the rest of us. We are a team, Cassandra. Start acting like it."
"I never said I was going to go off without you," Cassie responded. "I just think we shouldn't waste any more time."
"Yo, guys." Ezekiel continued to try to get their attention but could not make himself heard over the raised voices.
Flynn stood and tried to take command. "We will figure out how to help Jake, and we are not wasting time. We do not even know if we can enter the book a second time. We need to research this and we will not be doing anything without a solid plan. Let's discuss this."
Ezekiel threw a hand in the air. "I have something to discuss."
"Discuss?" Cassie looked dismayed. "What is there to discuss and how long do you think Jake can last while we discuss what to do?"
"Cassie, you are not being reasonable," Eve said. "Let's not forget what happened when you last decided to take matters into your own hands."
"Speaking of taking matters into hands…" Ezekiel said.
"Miss Cillion," Jenkins was using his unhappy-with-his-students voice. "Col. Baird and Mr. Carsen are correct. Impetuous actions have already proven to be calamitous. A well-considered strategy would be the most prudent course of action."
"I have a prudent course of action, if anyone would care to listen." Ezekiel was now waving both arms in the air. "But nooobody listens. Nobody thinks the thief knows what he's talking about. Nobody thinks the thief has anything important to say."
Eve tried to make herself heard, but the simultaneous babble of Cassandra's protests, Flynn's objections and whatever nonsense Ezekiel was spouting over there drowned out her efforts. Jenkins thumped his tea cup into its saucer with a bit more force than necessary and the rattle of china added to the general bedlam. Taking a deep breath, Eve placed two fingers between her lips and blew a loud, shrill and very effective whistle.
The room was suddenly silent. Flynn, who was closest to Eve, winced and rubbed his ear. Jenkins poured himself some more tea. Cassie stood, red faced and arms crossed in a defensive stance.
"Now," Eve said in a voice as soothing as she could muster, "Does anyone have any thoughts on how we should best proceed?"
Ezekiel threw one hand back up in the air and pointed to himself with the other hand.
"Yes, Ezekiel?"
"We do nothing 'cause Jake's got this covered."
"What?" Cassie, Eve and Flynn said in unison. Jenkins continued to sip his tea but did raise one eyebrow slightly.
"What makes you think that?" Flynn asked.
"Well, for starters…" Ezekiel pointed to the open book, "Atlas is back in that picture and Jake is gone."
"That's great, oh my gosh, that's wonderful." Cassie smiled with relief.
Eve shook her head. "But that doesn't mean that Jake is definitely out of trouble."
"Eve is right," Flynn said. "We may still need to go in there after him."
"Nope. I told you. We shouldn't do anything because Jake has this covered." Ezekiel looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. "Why doesn't anyone ever want to listen to the thief? And not just any thief, either. The World's Greatest Thief. One might think that you would have to be pretty smart to be The World's Greatest Thief, wouldn't you? One might think that such a brilliant and talented person would be worth listening to but nooo…"
Eve closed her eyes, focused on her breathing and mentally repeated her mantra. I will not swat him, I will not swat him, I will not swat him.
"Mr. Jones," Jenkins said, taking another sip of tea before continuing. "If you could cease your litany of self-promoting descriptives long enough, perhaps you might allot a moment or two of time to opine on why you believe that we should do nothing and how you could possibly know that Mr. Stone has this situation in hand."
"I would be delighted to opine, Mister Jenkins, if I might have everyone's attention, please." Ezekiel smirked as he looked as each of them in turn.
Eve wondered if the others could hear her teeth grinding. I will not swat him. I will not swat him.
Apparently, Flynn actually could hear her teeth grinding. He leaned in close and whispered, "Eve, no hitting."
"I'm listening, Ezekiel," Cassie said. "Tell us why."
"Because," Ezekiel paused and swept a hand towards the book with dramatic flair. "There is a note tied to Atlas' leg that says so."
Eve blinked. There was silence for a moment before they all scrambled to crowd around the book and see the picture. Sure enough, Atlas was back, holding up the planet as before but scowling more than Eve remembered. And there was indeed a note. It appeared to be fastened to his tree trunk sized leg with a dark cord. Large block print covered the lined paper.
DO NOTHING.
DON'T COME HERE.
I GOT THIS COVERED.
SEE YOU SOON.
–JAKE