“The kids are the same ones we saved at the motel all those years ago when we were on the run with Calan. We saved Sophie from being a soul eater.” I went onto pass on what we’d learned about how they’d found us and what we’d learned about them this morning.
Phillip’s face had screwed up into a concentrated frown. “Did the girl destroy the evil entity?”
Krystanfinally looked at me.
“We don’t know,” I said. “Something we should ask her when she wakes up. But there was a woman involved.Shehad been stalking the aftermaths of the creature, or she isresponsible for it in some way, we don’t know.”
“She could be a demon herself,”Krystansaid.
I didn’t contradict her in front of Phillip, but it was highly unlikely. She just wanted something flesh and blood to pound the shit out of because whatever we faced in that alley was something we couldn’t fight andKrystandespised being helpless.
“We tracked her to a motelroom,and she was there last night. We think she gotaway,but we haven’t had a chance to try and find her again.”
Phillip nodded and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen from his pocket. “Give me the information,and I will put our people on it.” Phillip would never say,but I got the impression he essentially ran the Order of Veritas now. They were a well-organized, well-funded machine thatwas starting to remind me of a secret government agency. Except the CIA and FBI hadn’t been prepared for thesupernatural shitshow that hit the world. For a minute, I wondered if those agenciesdidn’t answer to the Order of Veritas now because they had a lot of power and information about the Stygian and the events of what happened. I wouldn’t put it past them to pull a power move like that. Phillipwas a good guy, but he knew the importance of positioning.
Krystanand I told him all we knew about the woman.
“Your turn,”Krystansaid, looking expectantly at Phillip.
“As promised, I took Gregory to my contact who helped rehabilitate hismind.It was not easy, but as you can see, Gregory is in control of his faculties once again.”
Gregory leaned back in hischair;an arm laid across the scarred wooden table. To anyone else, he might have lookedrelaxed,but he shared the same build and stature as Calan. As a Chevalier, I knew that a Knight of the Light was never truly relaxed. At any moment, Gregory could spring up like a lion and take a swipe at whatever danger neared.
I wondered if they had given him a physical boost because not only was Gregory’s hair and face less grayed, but he looked moremuscular. Sitting around for so many years had to haveatrophiedhis body somewhat. But I bet he could land a more solid punch than me.
Krystaneyed Gregory with suspicion. “What do you remember?”
Gregory spoke slowly. “I remember the day a Master of the Order came to the house. Emma had already moved in with you, and I made sure to keep no evidence of her presence in the house. No pictures ormemorabilia. Anything like that was in atrunk, buried in the yard.When Emma came to visit, I would dig up the trunk and put her clothes back in her closet and her pictures on the wall. When the woman came to the house, shebelievedI was by myself.She said I had betrayed my Order by leaving. She didn’t know about Diana or Emma.”
Gregory had fallen for Diana who was from the Order of Spiritus andthey’drun away together. Together they had Emma. Diana had also been recaptured by theSpiritus,but Emma broke her out and was reunited with her mother. She’dlearned abouther parentsforbidden relationship and why they chose to live in the mountains of Colorado, keeping to themselves as much as possibleto give her a normal, sheltered life.
Phillip stepped in. “She essentially crossed all the neural pathways in his mind, leaving it a jumbled mess. But fortunately, by using magic, she left aprint of what she did that my source could work through backward.”
“What?” I asked.
Phillip turned to me. “To put it in the simplest most condensed form, Ilsa left what you would call an internet history of everything shedidso my source was able to go back through it one step at a time to carefully undo what was done.”
“Sohe’s completely okay now?”Krystansaid with a glance at Gregory who was also intently listening to Phillip.
“As I told Gregory,” said Phillip,“we can’t be sure the process was one hundred percent perfect. Hopefully the repercussions of any mistakes would mean nothing more than a forgotten memory or motor function like trying to tie his shoes.”
Krystanturned to Gregory who held his hands up. “Tied these boots myself this morning, no assistance needed.”
“Yes,” Phillip confirmed, “looks like ifanythinghas goneamiss,we haven’t detectedityet and hopefully nothing will go wrong.”
“What do you remember afterhaving yourmind melted?”Krystanasked.Her fingers clutched the edge of the table, and I thought of all thetimes she’d snuck into his roomtochat with him in the middle of the night. Had she confessed she waspregnantto him and was worried about him knowing? Who knew what other secrets she had toldhim?
Gregory’s eyebrows gathered. “Not much to be honest. It feels like I’ve woken up from a dream I barely remember.Therearefaces and places I remember but theyblend,andthey don’t makemuch sense. I rememberedpulling out of the fog when I saw Emma attacked by someone with powers. Someone fromLuxisno doubt. I remember getting shot, but not much after that.”
Krystan’sgripon the tableloosened.
Gregory looked at all of us. “If that woman finds out I have come out of the lunacy she put me in, she’llreturnto finish me off. TheLuxiswillstop at nothingto make sure they rule with an iron fist.”
“Ilsa,” I said. “She went by Master Ilsa and she was a masochistic,who liked to mess with people’s heads. When she got a hold of Emma, she brainwashed her pretty good, but Emma was smarter and broke through the hold somehow.”
Gregory stiffened. “They got Emma? Where is she? Is she okay?”
The table went silent. None of us knew where to start.He’d missed so much. The Order ofLuxiswas nearly exterminated, Ilsa was dead,butEmma was gone, Diana too. I wasn’t even sure if Phillip had explained his relation to the situation. I could easily see him telling Gregory as he came out of the fog that he was a friend and leftit at that.
