Chapter Eight

"That's the thirteenth one," I sighed, plopping down on a bench and looking down at the list I'd made of all the warehouses we'd checked in the area.

So far, they were all dead ends. Nothing, but duds owned by private companies or branches of small companies. I didn't quite understand it, but it didn't matter because none of them belonged to the Mother and none of them housed my brother.

It'd been two days since I arrived in Atlantis and I was still empty handed.

"We still have three more," Keros assured me as he took a seat beside me, leaning forward with his arms on his knees, "Don't surrender now. We're so close." I looked at him, wondering where that optimism came from, how he could have more hope than I did about the situation.

Gods, thank fuck for Keros, I found myself thinking as I watched the way the sunlight hit his dark hair, highlighting the lighter strands whipped into his ponytail. He was a godsend. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have had a starting point. Without him, I would probably be wandering the streets aimlessly, lost and confused. Thanks to him, we had some kind of lead, vague though it was, and I even had a place to stay.

The past couple nights I'd been sleeping in Keros's room. I felt bad booting him out and onto the sofa downstairs, but he assured me it was fine and he was comfortable on the sofa bed downstairs. I expected Blaine to put up a fuss the second night, but he was surprisingly supportive of me sticking around and was thrilled to have an extra mouth to feed.

"I need someone around here who appreciates my food," he told me that morning, "This family doesn't give a shit what I do for them."

"That's a lie," Keros snorted, "I appreciate you."

"I appreciate you more," Holly challenged. Keros glared at her and Ayo snorted a laugh, choking on his omelette while Cerberus just burst out laughing.

Once again I felt that helpless hunger for more domesticity, for normalcy, and I wanted to share it with Thirteen so badly I ached inside. It only ruined the sensation of family for me. I couldn't feel comfortable, couldn't feel safe, until Thirteen was back at my side.

Until then, I felt like a piece of me was missing.

"Let's take a lunch break," Keros said, sitting up now and turning to face me, "Maybe a break will give us an opportunity to step back and re-examine the situation." I nodded solemnly and rose to my feet, following Keros down the street and back into the city. It was a short walk back and immediately we were met with the sounds and sights and smells of the city. From the sweet floral scent of the jungle to the smell of warm bread and sizzling meats, from screeching monkeys and the rustling of leaves in the wind to voices everywhere, music playing from shops.

It was still such a shock to compare this place to the compound.

This place was exotic and fun and exciting. The compound was so sterile and staunch, rigid. Even outside the compound, there was an air of falseness. Like, even the landscape was nothing more than a backdrop built by the Mother to make us think the world was at peace because of our work. When the world outside was so much more than just silence and the colors black and white. The real world was a rainbow of activity all the time. Things were always happening, always moving, always alive.

I loved it here. Despite the ridiculous heat, which wasn't so bad now that I'd caught onto the attire of tank tops and shorts, Atlantis was a true wonderland of life. There were so many different kinds of food to try, so many words I had yet to learn, so many mannerisms. Things like spicy curries, the word for romance, which was miarosnia, and the fact that people kissed each other on the cheek here like it was no big fucking deal when back at the compound that'd get you punched in the throat. There was just so much to learn, so much to see and do. I loved the idea of life from being in Atlantis. The ability to explore everything and learn new things. I wanted more of it.

And starting with the food wasn't a bad start.

We found a cute little mom and pop shop that sold an Atlantean staple called zyros, which were little wraps made with flatbread, sliced meat, and sliced vegetables, like onions and peppers, mixed with a green sauce. It was heavenly and filling. Plus, we could walk around and eat them since they were generally wrapped in parchment paper.

"I'm glad you seem to be enjoying Atlantis," Keros commented as we walked and I looked at him.

"You're not Atlantean," I pointed out. Keros shrugged and looked down at his zyros, but there was an odd look in his eye, like he knew something I didn't. I wanted to ask what it was, but there was a sudden burst of music up ahead and we looked up to see a street display of dancers twirling and dancing in ribbons of red and jingling gold coins dangling from thin gauzy dresses.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Performers dressed in religious attire," Keros replied, making me raise an eyebrow, "Atlantean priests and priestesses wear red and gold to represent Atlantis and her King. The leopard pelt is rare, though, as they're the King's sacred animal. Killing one could result in immediate death. But this one was probably from one that was already dead. If a dead leopard is found, it's pelt is blessed by priests and used in sacred rituals, like the dance they're doing. It's a dance to bring prosperity and joy to the King and his Consort."

"Is the King's consort just called his consort?" I asked. Keros nodded.

"He doesn't get the Queen or King title. Simply Consort. But he does get a lot of power with the position. He can pass laws, with the King's permission of course, and hold special festivities and holidays, create religious rituals, a whole bunch of things."

"So he's the one who turned his birthday into a holiday?"

"Pretty much. He loves festivals, though, so there's a lot. Right after this one is the Yule festival, then there's the Christian Christmas. And that's just this month. Next month is the New Year's festival, the Honor Death festival..." His voice trailed as he considered how many there were and I couldn't help, but laugh.

Supposedly the Consort was almost as evil as his husband, yet he liked to throw parties in paradise?

"What?" Keros asked. I shook my head.

"It's just... I was raised to be wary of the King and his Consort," I said slowly, trying not to give away the fact that they were my genetic carriers, "I was told they were evil demons that killed anyone who angered them." Keros's face screwed up.

"Uh, yeah, I mean, if you're Atlan," he said, making me frown curiously, "The former king. Otherwise, Akin wouldn't hurt a fly and Hannibal is just... He's intimidating, but he won't kill you for no reason. They're actually great people. They've even babysat me before." I choked on my food and coughed to get my breath back. Keros raised an eyebrow.

"Who told you they were evil?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter. They were obviously wrong." I think. I hoped. I hoped Keros wasn't just a special case. Because, if Keros was right and the King and his Consort weren't bad people... They'd be perfect guardians for Thirteen. They were already technically his parents, and yeah sure mine too, but I was defective. Once they realized it, they wouldn't want me anywhere near them. They were the King, and his Consort. They were royalty. They wouldn't want anything fucked up anywhere near them.

But Thirteen had a chance. He had a shot at happiness. What if he found his perfect family with them?

I really hoped Keros was right, that they were good people. For Thirteen's sake.

We finished our lunch and got to work on the next warehouse, which was technically on another island, but it was so close to the main island that it was connected by a bridge. We crossed the huge bridge and onto another smaller island that was mostly reserved for businesses, so it was mainly people rushing around to get to work after lunch, or people still on their lunch breaks eating at little mini cafes.

We found our warehouse on the other side of the island, but it was too easy. The warehouse stood out to us according to a large shipment of weapons, but once Keros entered, it was quickly confirmed that they were a small weapons company for private collectors for antiques and not actual usable weapons.

Frustrated, we moved on.

"This one is on the main island," Keros said, looking down at the map on his phone, "It's in a quiet little valley on the other side, though, so it'll take a few hours to get there if we walk." I chewed at my bottom lip, not really keen on the idea of teleporting, but wasting time wasn't an option.

"We can teleport," I said at last. Keros nodded and reached out, touching my shoulder and teleporting us from the side island to the main island. We appeared in a small opening in the jungle, but it spun around me the moment we landed. I almost fell to my knees, but caught myself on a tree.

"You really don't like teleporting," Keros murmured as he watched me catch my breath. I cleared my throat and straightened.

"It just makes me sick, not used to it," I admitted under my breath. Keros nodded, then looked up with a frown.

"This actually wasn't where I wanted to land," he mused, "I was hoping for the main gate, but it looks like there's a divergent spell on the place."

"Divergent spell?" I asked. Keros nodded.

"It's a spell that catches teleporting infiltrators and sends them to another place. It's not really common because it takes a lot of magic," he admitted, then looked down at his phone with a scowl, "And it looks like the map just crapped out on us." I tensed. Now that was suspicious. It had only happened at one other warehouse, and that was a warehouse that focused on security measures for other companies, so it made sense, but why this place?

"What's the warehouse info again?" I asked. Keros frowned at his phone, did some tapping, then did more frustrated tapping.

"Wifi's out," he stated, "That's weird. There should be coverage everywhere according to my plan, so I don't know what's going on."

"That's suspicious," I said. Keros nodded grimly, tucking his phone into his pocket.

"From what I remember, this warehouse is a storage location for XXX Corps. They produce steel for construction companies in several realms. They came up as a red flag because they had a suspicious amount of food being delivered, which wouldn't make much sense for a storage location that should have only a dozen workers, not the amount that matches the food intake, so something's going on. They flew under the radar because they claimed they were getting involved with another industry and hiring more workers. Something about it doesn't seem right and the fact that the wifi is cut out and there's a divergent spell just makes this even more suspicious," he explained. I nodded in agreement. I looked around to see if there were any cameras in the area, and sure enough, there were several mounted in the trees around us.

"Hey," I said, pointing to one of the cameras, "Security." Keros looked up, then frowned as he approached one.

"They're not on," he said. I scowled, confused by that as I approached one of the cameras, then turned to look at Keros.

"We need to find a gate somewhere," Keros said at last, "Something's not right." I nodded. Together we turned and headed through the trees toward the last place we'd seen the warehouse on the map. Sure enough, there were cameras hidden in the trees to watch, except every single one was turned off. There was no blinking light, no connection, nothing.

There was a break in the trees ahead. We stepped out onto a gravel path and looked down about several dozen feet to see a gate... with bright red police tape stretched across the entrance. Alarmed, I bolted for it first and heard Keros jog to catch up with me. The police tape clearly read military investigation. Military investigation?

Movement out the corner of my eye had me snapping around to see a uniformed officer coming out of a small booth by the large iron gate.

"Excuse me," he said, "This is a military investigation sight. You're not authorized entry."

"Lieutenant Officer Keros," Keros said, flashing his badge and the officer saluted him and he did the same back, "What's going on here?" The officer glanced at me, then at Keros with a frown.

"This sight is closed off to the public due to a recent military raid. This place showed up on the scans as suspicious, so a raid was launched and revealed a possible trafficking scheme," he explained, making Keros's eyes widen in surprise.

"Trafficking?" I asked. Keros nodded.

"It's when people try to sell other people," he said, making me stiffen.

"That's a thing?" I demanded.

"The world is insane," the officer agreed grimly, "But thankfully there was only one victim we could find and he was escorted to the Royal Hospital. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch any of the bastards alive. They had some kind of suicide thing set up. They all--"

"Bit down on something and died," I stated, feeling a cold dread pool in my stomach. The officer stared at me.

"Ah, yes... How did you know that?" He asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Is this it?" Keros demanded. I nodded, swallowing compulsively now as I looked past the gate at the gravel road that disappeared into the jungle.

"We need entry," Keros said, earning a look of bewilderment from the officer, "It's important. I have someone who may be related to the victim." The officer hesitated at that, earned another stern glare from Keros, then sighed.

"I'm only telling you this because you're close to the King," he said firmly, "Otherwise, I could seriously lose my fucking job over this... The raid was conducted three nights ago. The King led the raid and the moment they broke in, those fuckers starting burning shit like crazy and then biting down on what looked like their own teeth and just seizing up and dying. The only thing is, there was a kid there."

"A kid?" I demanded. The officer nodded.

"Some kid came out of nowhere and jumped the King," he admitted, making me choke and grab Keros's arm for support. Rae had specifically told me not to fight the King, that the results could be lethal and here this guy was standing here telling me that my little brother had fucking attacked him. I felt like I was going to faint.

"He attacked the King?" Keros asked for clarification. The officer nodded.

"But he was just a little guy, so he was easily apprehended. They figured he was probably in shock, didn't know what was going on, so they sedated him and took him to the Royal Hospital to be treated for trauma. The only evidence we have right now is the kid."

Thirteen, I realized in agony. That was Thirteen.

"It's my brother," I managed, turning to Keros, who looked at me, "He's my brother, Thirteen."

"We'll go to the Royal Hospital right now," Keros started, but the officer shook his head.

"He's not there anymore," he said, then grimaced as he looked around, then leaned in close to us, "And you didn't hear it from me, but supposedly the King and his Consort took the boy in and he's living with them."

"He's living with them?" I choked out. Keros looked at me.

"It's alright, Seven, he's not hurt, I can promise you that."

"Can you?" I demanded. Keros looked at me helplessly, like he wanted to convince me otherwise, but knew there was probably no way.

"You should probably go meet them," the officer said, "If you really are the brother of the victim. Who knows what kind of trauma was done to him while he was there? Trafficking is deadly. I've seen grown men crumble under what they do to people." Keros nodded grimly, then reached out and used his arm to guide me away from the gates.

"We should really go see Hannibal and Akin," Keros said, making me look at him in alarm, "I can promise you that he's safe with them, but you should probably see for yourself."

"What if they hurt him," I managed, "Or me? What if they find out and--"

"What'll they find out?"

"Nothing, I can't say," I responded shakily. Keros sighed in frustration, but he didn't press.

"Alright... How about we head back home then? We can go see them tomorrow morning," he offered. I hesitated. I wanted to go see him in that instant, but Keros had a point. I didn't feel right. I felt nervous and terrified and stressed all at the same time. The thought of Thirteen being alone with them... I wanted to be with him, right now, but I didn't want to scare him either. And according to Keros, Thirteen was safe with them. He seemed really convinced of it too.

If he was safe where he was, he could wait another day, right? It wouldn't hurt him... Right?