Night's Children: Acteus Reus
AN: This is a really short chapter. Sorry about that, but it was being a pain, and instead of torturing myself over an additional five pages, I decided to just leave it as is. It's a bit of a filler, but the experiences Imy's holding come into play later : )
Oh! Quick question while I'm at it, are the readers okay with having two side stories in a row? The first (maybe only) one is definitely Trysten's, seeing as I have it halfway done and am too lazy to refit it, and I was thinking after that I'd put in Ezra's side story before book five. If not, it can go after five as well. Doesn't matter to me, whichever you guys prefer.
Chapter Six: Practice Makes Annoyed Teleporters
The Next Day
"I'm very disappointed in you, Imy," Said Jimena as she glared at the teleporter who was sitting across from her on a sofa that had a few scorch marks in the upholstery, "You shouldn't use your abilities to escape from your room when you're grounded."
Imy sent her a glare of her own, "My parents wouldn't have let me come otherwise," She said crossly.
"Because you punched their longtime friends' only daughter in the face for absolutely no reason. I can see why you're feeling so betrayed," The mentor for the Daughters of the Moon said dryly, "Imy you know better."
"I had a reason. I don't see what the big deal is, I didn't even use my powers against her!" She argued.
"You shouldn't have lashed out like that in the first place, Imy. The Daughters of Selene are supposed to be pacifists, and not use violence as an answer for problems. Hostility is a tool of evil, and if you behave so recklessly-"
"She completely trashed all of our equipment and ruined our show," Imy responded bitterly, mad that Jimena was angry at her for something like this. "She had it coming."
Jimena's angry face smoothed into a blank, chilly countenance, "I hope when you come to your senses, Imy, you'll understand what you're saying and not act so childish," She chastised, "I know what it's like to be angry at someone, I was once a chola after allbut you have to understand that punching anyone isn't the way. It's not the way of the moon, and it shouldn't be your way as a human either."
Imy swallowed the retort on the tip of her tongue and settled for crossing her arms and huffing, "Whatever. Where is everyone?"
Jimena sighed, acknowledging that anything else she said would go straight through one ear and out the other, "Aria and Carlos should be coming home from Tianna's soon, and Tessa is picking Riley up at the library on her way here." A calculating look made its way to her eyes, "I am having serious doubts about sending you into Erebus, maybe you aren't as prepared as I thought you were-"
Imy, realizing that her actions had upset her mentor to that degree, quickly cut off her train of thought, "It will be fine, Tatum won't be at Erebus and I promise I'll behave!" She offered rapidly, not wanting to be a detriment to her team.
The Magna Mater stared down the girl, and then exhaled, "Only if you swear to get out if it becomes too much for you to handle," She said, eyes narrowing, "You seem to have a problem with that, Imy."
To prove her dedication, Imy swallowed down the hasty retort, and gave a nod instead, "Sure."
The door to the apartment creaked open, and in walked Aria, flanked on her side by Carlos.
"Hey mom," Carlos said, nodding a hello in Imy's direction, "Sup Imy?"
She gave a muttered hello, and tried to get a grip on her outrageously growing temper before Tessa arrived with Riley- everyone's favorite little empath. The girl who knew everything about everyone and didn't actually care for anything.
Imy blinked. Where had that come from? Riley's powers were sometimes annoying, true, but she almost never intentionally used them. Normally the emotions sought her out, not the other way around. And Imy knew better than anyone that just because Riley was a bit more withdrawn and introspective than the average person didn't mean she didn't care. Imy slowly shook her head, maybe she was seriously losing it. A bit of guilt filtered into her, ever since Tatum had arrived, she had been lashing out at Riley more and more. Perhaps she needed a break?
As if on cue, the door opened yet again and Riley hesitantly entered, followed by Tessa who seemed to be engaging the shy girl on yet another rant of her older brother's overprotective methods of parenting.
"And then he started smelling my shirt for smoke!" Tessa said, "In front of everyone! What kind of person does that?"
Riley gave her almost-smile, "Did he smell anything?"
Tessa exhaled haughtily, "Just clove smoke from my cigarettes, but he thought it was marijuana, I swear-"
"You shouldn't even be smoking," Aria piped up from her seat as she started to unstrap her high-heeled shoes, flexing her toes in comfort after they were off, "It causes cancer, you know."
Tessa snorted, "Okay, I'll quit my smoking and return to popping XTC and dropping acid. Will that work for you, Doctor Moore?"
Aria's face twisted into a repulsive look, "There' s no need to get agitated."
Imy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Aria was worse than Riley sometimes, constantly preachy and nagging. She thought she was so much better than everyone and quite frankly it began to grind on Imy's nerves-
Yet again, Imy found herself stopping her train of thought midcourse, a feeling of confusion overcoming her. It was true that she and Aria had gotten off on the wrong foot, and yeah, she was pretty preachy, but she was working on it. Aria only asserted her values on other people because she was trying to do what she thought was best for them. It was her own, admittedly warped, method of helping people.
What was with her today?
"Now that everyone's here, we should start discussing how we're going to handle this, and which areas you girls want to focus on more for practicing," Jimena said, taking authority over the unruly bunch of teenagers.
"What about me?" Carlos butted in, "Everyone seems to keep forgetting that I have powers too."
"Your abilities aren't something that can be honed with practice," Jimena explained to her son, "Natural evasiveness and quick reflexes are something that's built into your system, not an attachment like the others' powers."
"I still want to help," He protested.
A flicker of something dangerous caught in Jimena's eye, "Alright, you can be Aria's punching bag when she practices."
Carlos's jaw dropped while Aria snickered, "Mom, that's already the basis of our relationship!"
"You volunteered," Jimena said quickly, before addressing the other girls, "Any suggestions?"
"Our defense could use some work," Tessa suggested, shivering slightly, "I was practically powerless against Isaac."
"You mentioned something about your illusion malfunctioning?" Jimena prompted.
The blonde goddess nodded, "It only lasted about thirty seconds."
Tessa was such a disappointment. She had the coolest power by far, yet she didn't even try to get a handle on it. She didn't have the same amount of dedication as the others, would rather go out and get stoned off her ass than practice honing her birthright-
What the hell? Imy blinked feverishly, trying to clear her mind. Where was all this coming from? Tessa had her faults, but they were no greater than any of the others', and she was giving an honest effort into getting clean. Why had she even thought that?
"What I don't understand is the sudden cold you said you felt," Aria said, turning to face Riley, "Did you feel anything like that when Tymmie or Dorian messed with you?"
The empath shook her head, "No, the Atrox's presence was almost…comforting."
"Then we'll have to assume it's an outside influence," Jimena muttered, facing her son and the healer, "Do any of The Guardians have abilities like this?"
"No, although Wrath will be reborn so there's a possibility," Aria said, a tinge of fear in her tone.
"Then the most we can do is keep a lookout, if any of you encounter the strange presence I don't want you to antagonize it-" Jimena trailed off when she noticed one of her charges being a bit more spacey than usual, "Imy? Are you feeling alright?"
Imy, startled, shot up straight in her seat, "Me? Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." She faltered slightly, "Totally cool."
Jimena rose a brow, "You're sure?"
"Yep."
"Then why don't you give a suggestion for the Erebus situation," Jimena said, deciding to test the teleporter's attentiveness.
She blinked sluggishly, "Um, we should work on our defense."
The stillness that went through the room implied that was the wrong answer.
"Tessa already proposed that," Jimena said, "Have you been paying attention? This isn't something you can disregard so casually Imy." Her words were laced heavily with disapproval.
Imy slammed her hand against her face, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry. How about we do some one on one training, instead? We've been forgetting our own individual powers, and since there's a big chance of us getting separated at Erebus, we should learn how to function better as a one person team."
Jimena's expression became a level less severe, "You may have a point." Imy's face brightened, "But I still think it would be more productive if everyone fought together," Her face fell at having her idea shot down, "You were each given your own abilities, true, but they were meant to function as a system. Riley's powers to sense Followers, Tessa's to distract them, your teleportation to provide an escape, and Aria's gift to help any innocent bystanders who get involved." Jimena instructed, clearing her throat, "The heart, the mind, the spirit, and the body. Your powers are strongest together, and that's the only possible way you can grow."
"But what if we get separated? I was at Isaac's complete mercy last night," Tessa countered, siding with Imy on the argument.
"Each of you have abilities to defend yourselves, but I thought I had taught you at the very beginning of this that you were not meant to seek out Followers," Jimena said crossly.
Imy was the first to protest, "Then why did you send them out to Planet Bang at all?"
Their mentor exhaled, her nerves beginning to fray, "I asked you to go to Planet Bang to help those who were potential victims of the Atrox, not to seek out and battle the actual Followers themselves." Her dark eyes glinted, "I thought I had expressed the need for a defense only policy when serving as Daughters. Apparently some of you are forgetting this."
An embarrassed silence overcame the teenagers sitting in the room. Aria and Carlos shared a meaningful glance- the two had perhaps broken this principle rule the most, with their violent confrontation against the Guardians of Hades. Even though they had not instigated the attack, they still handled the situation far more aggressively than servants of Selene were supposed to.
Jimena cleared her throat, "But for now that's neither here nor there. What's done is done," She paused, deep in thought, "The only Daughter without a power that would allow them to defend themselves is Aria," She looked up, "Carlos, as a charge of Eileithyia you're supposed to work with Aria, correct?"
He shrugged, "If she's not being too bitchy-"
An abrupt jab to his ribs from the healer's elbow caused the rest of his statement to fall short, "I don't think she has a problem protecting herself." He muttered sourly.
Jimena was silent for another moment, a calculating look upon her features, "There should be two teams for this. Imy, since you and Riley are performing with Art and Zahi, you four will be in charge of assessing the threat level of Absinthe-"
"We're not sure if they're playing the same night," Imy pointed out, Riley nodding in agreement.
"Then talk to the stage manager at Erebus, other bands playing, get as much information as possible," Jimena said breezily, "Aria, Tessa, and Carlos will take crowd control. Since the Followers aren't familiar with Carlos-"
"Heh, yeah forgot to tell you about that," Carlos muttered awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck, "I kind of punched a Follower in the face last weekend."
A sour expression acquired on Jimena's countenance, "That seems to be happening a lot recently," She mumbled with a pointed glare in Imy's general direction, "Does he know you have powers?"
He shook his head, "No, he might not have even gotten a good look at my face, but better safe than sorry yeah?"
Jimena shook her head, "Fine. Tessa, Aria, and Carlos you three are to infiltrate the crowds at Erebus, find out who the main players are with each faction- Infidi and Incinti. See if you can discover if they're attempting a strike against us." A softness entered her eyes, "You three will be handling the more dangerous task, if you have any problems, your main objective is to get out of there safely."
"No sweat," Tessa said with a bit of smugness interlaced within her tone.
"We can handle it," Aria agreed, Carlos nodding beside her.
"I want to stress that you are not to engage any Follower in a fight, this is purely for information gathering purposes. To attack in a club overflowing with the Atrox's main henchmen is suicide. Are we clear?" She asked the group of five.
"Crystal," Chimed Imy.
"No maiming," Supported Tessa with a grin.
"I'll keep Aria from going psycho-ow! Damn it!" Carlos hissed, yet again rubbing his side.
"The only person I'll be abusing is Carlos," Aria said sickly sweet.
Riley just gave a half-nod.
Jimena smiled and stood up, "Alright then, let's go practice. I want Tessa and Riley to work with each other, and Aria with Carlos."
Imy rose an eyebrow in confusion, "Then who will I be practicing with?" Imy normally practiced her abilities with Aria, as the two of them had the more physically focused powers as opposed to mental ones like Tessa and Riley.
There was a hint of a smirk from the Magna Mater, "Me."
Imy tried hard to stifle her gasp of horror. Really, she did.
Jimena's smirk just spread.
OoO
Behind Jimena's apartment building there was an abandoned junk yard. The place was an area that was littered with trash, shreds of metal, and other eclectic objects and surrounded by a twelve foot tall wooden fence with barbed wire at the top. Jimena had explained to the girls that the junk yard had been acquired eight years ago, purchased off some bum greaser mechanic, and ever since then it had been the spot where she had taken all of her charges to practice. It was private, relatively safe, and more importantly hard to break into. The air outside was crisp, not exactly clean- this was Los Angeles after all, but pleasant enough and the six of them made their way down the three flights of stairs and out into the open.
Jimena took the lead, her fingers nimbly clicking into place the tumblers on the heavy duty padlock hanging on the entrance. It snapped open without any resistance, and the group sauntered inwards.
"How long today?" Tessa asked, a hint of a whine in her tone implying she wasn't keen on spending hours on end projecting illusions.
"Long enough," Jimena replied obtusely, spinning on her heel and facing Imy, "Alright, get going- just standard exercises today."
Riley was the first one to move, charging herself up as a gray energy collected and hovered over her in a perfect balance. Tessa was second, her expression intensely concentrated as an unrestrained golden aura hissed and cackled around her with no control.
"Just remember to breath in deeply," Riley instructed calmly. Riley's control when voluntarily using her abilities was impeccable, probably the best out of the four Daughters. However, the only problem was that occasionally the powers would activate involuntarily- making her extremely sensitive to others' feelings and influencing her own. Because of this, she was the ideal partner for Tessa. Riley could gauge Tessa's agitation and her focus perfectly, and could point out at what instances her emotions and power were functioning smoothly together.
Tessa, in turn, was the best partner for Riley as her rapidly changing powers forced Riley to be on her toes and to uphold the concentration on her own abilities for the duration of the exercise. Her power projected chaos, and it was a wonderful tool to teach Riley how to shut off her almost constantly working ability.
"No problem," Tessa mumbled as she pressed her hands together, eyes lightly shut as she tried some half-assed meditation routines to get herself serene and collected.
While the two mind manipulators were preoccupied, Carlos chose the moment to spring a surprise attack on his girlfriend. Aria, startled, gave a yelp and dodged nimbly at the last second, Carlos's fist punching through the air where her head had been a second ago.
The two were well situated for each other as well. Carlos and Aria had abilities that forced them to be specialists in evasion, and were the strongest based defense for the group. Aria was the recovery, and Carlos was the shield. By working together, it was almost a sure guarantee that they would top whatever enemy they came across without lifting a finger. After all, how does someone defeat an opponent that can dodge every single attack? Can recharge its energy and heal its wounds instantly? Not easily, and their best strength was that the two charges of Eileithyia could wear out their enemies long before they themselves grew tired. It was the ultimate pacifist offensive.
Imy watched the groups train, and bit her lower lip. Through her speculation, she was having an incredibly difficult time discovering how she exactly fit into the mold of this newly formed team. She didn't have a manipulative or distorting power like Riley or Tessa, and teleportation couldn't provide an adequate defense. She was just the easy way out of bad situations, a loophole.
She felt a bit of a sinking pit in her stomach at that moment.
"Imy? Are you ready?" Came the calm voice of her mentor.
Imy turned around and faced Jimena, and couldn't help but feel a bit of bitterness lodge in her throat. Even Jimena, who hadn't been a Daughter in twenty years, seemed to be a better attribute to the team than her. Jimena had experience, and an answer to practically everything. Imy's contributions, which were few and far between, were almost always shot down.
A tiny flare of anger surged within her, adding to her previous irritation with her teammates, "Sure." She ground out between grit teeth.
Jimena eyed her oldest charge, a bit of confusion filtering in her from Imy's more…aggressive personality today. Sighing, she inwardly wrote it off as agitation from the previous instances with Tatum and prepared herself for the training, somehow inwardly knowing this would be a long session.
OoO
Apologies again for this being so short! But the next chapter will probably end up being MEGA long so I think that's fair, neh?
Up Next: Erebus