Page 36 of Gates of Tartarus

Below, and across the small indent between the cliff faces, a group of boys, like wild wolves, appeared from nowhere, leaping and yelling at each other, running full tilt towards the cliff edge and, without pausing, flung themselves off, one at a time, whooping and screaming in happiness. Deo and I started in surprise, then watched silently, the boys’ chaotic, untamed emotion echoing with a strange keening sound off the rocks and ocean. It pulled at me, made me want to throw off gravity for a moment, to fling myself off the edge like the laughing group below, to feel, for just a second, what it felt like to be weightless.

Deo watched the boys through almost jealous eyes, then turned to me, and studied the longing on my face with a hungry expression. The alarm on his phone buzzed softly, letting us know it was time to turn back. As we stood up together, Deo pulled me into him, and I froze, awkward against him, unsure of what was happening, of what the right response was. Quietly, so quietly I almost couldn’t hear him above the crashing waves below, Deo bent his head to my shoulder and whispered, “This. This is happiness.”

I pulled back to look at him, but either he misinterpreted the gesture, thinking I was pulling away from him, or he regretted what he said, because he turned quickly to grab a thermos from his pack, and when he passed it to me, all traces of our quiet camaraderie were replaced by our normal, well-worn friendship and partnership. It was still a wonderful morning, the hike back filled with laughter and teasing, but, like our legs hanging off the cliff, it had felt for a moment like we were on the edge of something enormous and powerful and epic, and instead of making the insane, crazy, chaotic choice to leap and see if the waves lifted us or smashed us on the cliffs, he had pulled back to safety, and I had to respect that.

“I wish,” he says softly, still studying my hands, “I wish I could have jumped. Off the cliffs. You know? But I couldn’t. Not then. I’d like to do that hike with you again sometime. If you’d want to.”

“I’d like that,” I say quietly. “When all this is done.”

He nods decisively. “When all this is done,” he echoes. “I’m going to make some changes after this, Kailani. I promise you.”

“Open that detective agency or something?” I say lightly, the weight of the moment becoming crushing.

“Or something,” he answers cryptically. “Let’s get you to the ferry. It’s getting ugly outside.”

I look out the window, frowning at the ominous sky, and my stomach growls like thunder. Flushing, I press my hands to it, but Deo grins and takes my arm. “Right,” he says. “Food first. How long has it been since we went to…”

He looks at me thoughtfully. Guessing what I want to eat is a favorite game of his. He’s so proud when he gets it right that I don’t have the heart to tell him when I’m hungryanythingsounds good.

“... Burgers?” he asks. “Cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes at Luke’s?”

“Ah! Yes!” I clap. “How’d you know?”

Grinning, he flings his arm around my shoulder and squeezes. “It’s you, Kai. Of course I know.”

And we walk out of the precinct together into the rain, laughing and running to his car together, kicking puddles at each other and feeling the ash of the day wash away.

Do You Like Piña Coladas?

Friday, 9 November – Maela

Of course, Seef and Emlyn want to know all about my meeting with Elizabeth Cole. They’ve even switched our schedule around, so I’m meeting with the two of them before Seef and I have training. Emlyn ended up having to work late last night, so he wasn’t there to hear me bore for Britain about Elizabeth and Gaia at dinner. I think Kavi’s and Jorge’s ears are still ringing.

I’m gratified to see both men eager and waiting when I stroll breezily into the office. Usually, I’m the one floundering and scrambling to keep up, and I like the heady little sensation of holding all of the cards. I smile cheerily as I settle into the armchair. “Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Seef grunts. “So. How’d it go?” He’s looking a bit rough this afternoon, not in a “bit of rough, phwoar,” sort of way, but more like he didn’t get a lot of sleep. His eyes are shadowed, and the scar on his left cheek seems somehow more pronounced.

I look at Emlyn and beam. “Any tea? I’m parched.” He shoots a quick glance at Seef, whose face darkens, and turns an admonishing, but amused, gaze upon me. “Of course. Seef, cuppa?” Seef shakes his head curtly, as Emlyn gets me tea. “So, Maela, how was the meeting with Elizabeth Cole? What did you two talk about?”

“Thanks, Emlyn.” I take a sip of tea and pout. “No biscuits?”

“Maela!” Emlyn gives me the gimlet eye, and I sigh. “Fine, fine! We had a good meeting. She brought me up to her office and told me about Gaia. And about Kailani, when, really, I would have expected to hear about her from you. After all, how do you expect us to work together if we only know the bare minimum?”

“We told you what you needed to know,” Seef barks. “Wedohave a duty of confidentiality.” He shifts restlessly in his own chair, hard, I’m glad to see.

“If we’re to be a team, then we have to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, our personalities, what makes us tick.”

“We know what yours are: airiness and insubordination.”

Oooh, he really got out on the wrong side of the bed, didn’t he? “And yours are arseyness and incivility, but nobody’s perfect.” Seef glowers and opens his mouth.

“If we could get back to the meeting with Cole,” Emlyn interjects.

“Right. Well, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted: she told me about Kailani and the Gaia Foundation. Oh, and she wants me to come work for her when this case is done.”

“What!” Emlyn sits straight up in his chair. “I hope you told her ‘no’.”

I shrug a little shiftily. I kind of feel bad now for having even considered it. “Weeell…” I really want to stick a finger in my mouth and nibble on a nail, but Seef might mock me, so I settle for winding an ankle about the chair leg.