Page 26 of Keeper of All

“Open your eyes, hon,” Mao said softly, not wanting to disturb the magic in play.

“It worked.” Ekon’s smile was brief, as he cautiously reached for the books. Mao braced himself. They had already gone through one explosion of grief plucking that first book out of the air.

This time, there didn't seem to be the same backlash. Whether that was because Ekon was shielding or because the books contained more benign topics. Perhaps the eternal fae just wanted some record of his thoughts to be kept. Mao didn't know, but he was the one who had convinced Ekon to trust his magic, so he was going to trust it as well.

Leaving Ekon to carry their camping equipment back to Mao's truck along with the journals, Mao got to work laying the explosives where they needed to be. He had already fully plotted out the area before he’d met Ekon at the bunker. For some reason—and it was barely visible to the naked eye—it was as though there was a natural divot in the ground around the edge of the bunker and then up behind it. It worked as a perfect outline for Mao’s explosives.

From what Mao could remember about the size of the bunker from the inside, by placing the explosives into the divot on to the top of the bunker—set into the hill—the explosion would push surrounding dirt and vegetation down, effectively burying the bunker and any contents that remained.

As he worked his way across the area on top of the bunker, Mao had a moment’s concern, and he glanced over to where Ekon was gathering the last of their things. “Do you think it's right to destroy the eternal fae’s living space?”

Looking up, Ekon flicked his hair back over his shoulder and tilted his head slightly. “I think it will be fine. If the magic here wanted to preserve that space, no amount of explosive is going to make a difference. The worst that'll happen is you'll cover it up, and it’ll stay like a magically protected time capsule.”

That made sense, and Mao laid the last of his explosives, checking all the connections a second time to make sure that nothing was left once detonated. Once he was confident everything would go the way he intended, Mao moved well back.

The way he had laid everything out, the indicators were that each explosion would be aimed at where the center of the bunker was. Mao felt this was the optimal way to basically cover the bunker up. The idea was that all anyone would see, after the explosion had occurred, was a pile of dirt. Hopefully, given the remote location, no one would be in the area looking to dig or mess with the site, and he was fully confident, as Ekon had been, that Mother Nature would reclaim her space in time.

“I need you to go back to the truck,” he said to Ekon once he was a safe distance away. Ekon, having cleared the camp site, was now hovering on the edge of Mao’s sight, hands in his pockets, as if he was worried that he would get in the way. “I’m always confident in what I do, but I rarely have anyone around as a spectator.” I don’t want you to get hurt.

“I can't do that,” Ekon replied. “I have to see this through. I have to see it for myself. Every file we went through represents a life, a life that was inexplicably changed in some way. Those people, living or dead, never stood a chance. I just feel like it's my job to honor that. I need to be here.” He flashed his eyes up at Mao and then, unbelievably, he grinned. “Besides, I trust you to keep me safe.”

No pressure then, Mao thought. Although he kept that to himself. It was really an awesome feeling to know that their bond had now fully cemented, and that they were so much more connected than they had been even after the claiming, but some thoughts Mao still preferred to keep private. Mao had always worked alone and preferred to do his jobs with no spectators—he even cleared his brothers away from any demolition he did. Ekon’s not my brother, and he has a personal attachment to this place.

Thinking about his brothers reminded Mao of Teilo and Nico, and an explosion they participated in that involved a place related to their capture and torture. Dithering for just a moment, Mao handed over the trigger device. “Do you want to do it?”

“I've never blown anything up before,” Ekon answered looking thoughtful, but he seemed pleased, taking the trigger that Mao offered him. “So, I just press the button just once?”

“Just once,” Mao confirmed. “That's all it's going to take. And then be prepared to cover your ears because this is going to get really loud for a few moments.”

“May all those souls find peace,” Ekon said softly, and then he deliberately pressed the button.

The explosion was loud, but only for a moment, as Mao had said. Then, instead of dealing with a cloud of dust and falling debris, Mao couldn't believe his eyes. It was as if the entire hill warped, distorted, pulled in on itself and then settled back… as if nothing had ever been there.

What should have been a mess of dirt and twisted plants was absolutely nothing at all out of the ordinary. Mao took a few steps closer, calling on his cat, scanning the area, thinking that the magic inside the bunker had actually stopped the explosives working.

But no. There was no sign of the door, no sign that a bunker had ever been there before. It was as if everything had just… disappeared.

“That seems very neat and tidy. Was that supposed to happen?” Ekon murmured, his gaze sweeping the area.

“An explosion site doesn’t look like that usually, no.” Mao frowned. The site really didn’t look right, but then it did—if that made sense. “Do you think we should go back and check that it’s all gone?”

Ekon shook his head. “It's gone,” he answered, brows tugging together. “I can sense there’s nothing there anymore, although I don’t quite know how that happened.”

“I haven’t got a clue either, but I’m not complaining. If the physical files are gone, they’re gone, and no one can use those notes to experiment on others in the future.” Mao let out a long breath. “How are you feeling?”

That was the other thing that Mao was concerned about. Ekon was tied to that bunker in a way through the eternal fae’s magic. There was always going to be a worry that Ekon could be negatively impacted when the bunker disappeared. Admittedly, the files weren’t gone as such, just moved to a different location and format, so the information was preserved. Would that make a difference?

“I’m all right,” Ekon said, nodding. “I feel good, actually. I think it’s because we did keep the files as such—it’s not like they’re gone forever. It’s only the paper versions that have been destroyed. I think it was the information that the eternal fae’s magic was trying to protect. Some of those papers were so old.” Ekon nudged Mao’s shoulder with his own, and Mao could feel his warm smile. “The eternal fae probably never thought about how the world would change with computer systems, and neither did anybody else who had been dropping off files to the bunker over the decades—fuck, centuries.”

“Imagine trying to keep up with technology. Keeping a generator fueled and private in a place like this.”

“Regardless, I think it's time we left,” Ekon stated firmly. “From what I understand we’ve got a long trip ahead of us, am I right? We are still heading to find out about my magic?”

“Yes, we need to go to Paraguay.” Mao turned, resting his arm on Ekon's shoulder, and brushing a quick kiss on his mate’s hair as they started to walk away. “I’ll call a friend for the use of a plane as soon as we hit a phone signal area again.”

“Don't worry about doing that.” Ekon chuckled. “The krakens let me use their plane to get here, and considering what we’ve done for them, they can let us use it one last time.”

“Brilliant.” And perfectly fair in Mao’s opinion. “I can leave the truck at the airport, and we can be on our way. I’m really looking forward to tasting Mom’s cooking again. I’ve had more than enough canned foods.”