Judith:

The hill by Fifth and Way was in an old park. It was a pretty long walk and I was sure our parents would worry about us, but still, I had to find Jezreel.

I opened the envelope and pulled out three items. First, a card with a strange poem on it. Second, a matchbook. Third, a small piece of paper. The paper instructed us to read the poem, and then burn the card.

I was about to read the card when Jaden grabbed it from me. "I know this poem!" he glared at the card. "Do you know what this is?" I shook my head. "It's a trickster god calling card... Kyle and Jessica told me about them."

"So? Did you not tell me that Xao is a trickster god?"

"You don't understand, Xao doesn't use his power. They told me that it's dangerous, that tricksters always do more harm than good. Besides... this... this is the calling card of Darius. He tried to get Jessica to cut off her own arm in order to grant her wish and when she didn't comply, he later tried to kill all three of the Tracers."

I sighed. "So tis a trick? This Darius then, he can not help us... can he?"

"Well..." Jaden looked like he was very nervous, eyes going back and forth between the card and me. "I mean he can... according to Xao... He said he wasn't exactly sure how it works but... well Xao used to be able to do whatever he wanted within, REALLY REALLY broad limits.."

I grabbed the card back from him. "If he really can help then-"

"Don't do this Judith..." Jaden said, almost seeming to plead with me.

I read the poem. "Worlds apart, worlds together, stand aside or burn forever." I then struck a match and burned the card.

"No, no, no..." Jaden whined. To my left, Jaden's right, a black plume of smoke started to form as the earth under our feet started to shake. "Judith, I think we should run." A powerful light showed out of the smoke and seemed to shoot out in six directions.

The light vanished and the smoke began to fall. As it did, we both looked at a young man, older and taller than us. He had on a black formal suit with well-shined shoes and a red tie. He also had a large black top hat and seemed to half lean on a formal cane, one with a top shaped like the head of an eagle. The teen grinned at us.

"Not how I pictured him but- yeah- let's go!-" Jaden finally grabbed my hand and started pulling me away, myself finally feeling the urge to run too. As we turned and started to pick up speed we suddenly ran right into a chest and fell on our backs. We looked up to see that same strange teenager.

The teen chuckled and then spoke. "Judith and Jaden I presume." My eyes then fell upon the sheathed sword resting in his belt. "I'm a teenager and a pharaoh. This means I'm naturally faster than you and I can speed my movement via my command of electricity... do I really need to tell you two this?" He backed away from us a little bit. He then clasped his left hand over his face, still leaning on his cane, and seemed to mock imitate something. "Oh dear Judith, it's Darius, that evil trickster god Xao told me about!" He cocked his head and looked at us. "About right?"

He smiled, then continued. "Well sure, Xao and I aren't exactly on the best of terms. In fact, as far as he knows, I'm either dead, in a coma right now or I've been knocked into a mental handicap. Wrong on all guesses. Though I do have to tip my hat to him." Darius bowed, took off his top hat, and turned so we could see the top of his head. On the top of his head in the back, he was bald with a large red spot that looked hideous, even as the boy's natural skin color was red. "The blast he hit me with was so bad, my friend Seth had to make a deal with someone just to save me. And even then, pharaoh medicine, advanced as it is, can't undo everything. The medicine left this scar and bald spot that will never go away." He chuckled. "The outfit a bit much? I got the hat to cover the scar, the cane to help me walk at first and ya know... well ya know, sometimes ya have to just roll with things."

"What are you doing, gloating?" I asked. "Tis not like you have won anything."

"Please," Darius said, shaking his head. "I could kill you both in a breath and there's not a thing you can do about it." I opened both my hands and allowed my finger blades to come out, getting ready to take a stance to fight this freak. That's when Darius drew his sword so quickly I could have missed it by blinking once. One instant the blade was in his scabbard, the next it was at Jaden's throat.

"NO!" My claws retracted and I shoved Jaden to the ground, getting between them. "What do you want?"

Darius shook his head and put his sword back away. "Lost enough friends have we?" I did not respond, just looking back at Jaden nervously. "I know what happened. What really happened. Do you want to know?"

Jaden grabbed my hand again. "No, we don't want anything to do with you." Again he tried to pull me away.

"I can tell you what happened to Raymie," Darius said. Jaden stopped mid-step. "I mean, you know he died, but you're not curious how or why?" Jaden looked back at him, obviously still scared. "Do you want to know?"

"Is Jezreel alright?" I quickly asked.

"Now that all depends on what you mean by, "alright"." Darius looked off into the sky, leaning on his cane. "I mean, she's alive. But she's not going to stay that way for very long," Darius smiled at me as I froze, staring at him. I then started to glare. He leaned back pointing at himself. "Oh don't look at me like that. I'm just an observer. I still keep my eyes on my former best friend Xao. Thus, one of the various bugs I had placed on him, was flying around outside Jaden's house when the shooting occurred. I didn't make anything happen. I was just watching the show." Darius spun around, chuckling to himself. "Oh, and what a show it was. A tragedy that could bring a tear to anyone's eye." He stopped spinning. "None of you had any idea what was going to happen. Heck, I didn't even know." Darius sat down on the grass. "Have a seat, let me tell you what happened." Jaden and I remained standing.

He continued. "Have it your way. There they were, that blonde annoying white girl, Sarah along with your friend Jezreel and his friend Raymie. They were having a jump rope competition. I think the blonde was winning but I really didn't keep score. Up pulled a white van and two men got out. They grabbed Sarah and Jezreel, talking about how a black kid wouldn't fetch as much money. Now Raymie, he was having none of that. He grabbed a pocket knife and ran at those men. The one holding Sarah then shoots him twice and turns his gun on Sarah, telling Jezreel she better cooperate. They were then loaded into the van, and they all drove off."

I looked back at Jaden, who just stood stunned listening. "He... he died defending his friend. See it... it-"

Darius laughed and seemed to almost fall over backward. "Died defending his friend? Are you serious? He took a one-inch pocket knife to an armed kidnapper. He may as well have committed suicide! If you ask me the little dipstick got what he deserved." Jaden pulled back his fist and screamed, running at Darius. However, the pharaoh got up and zipped out of the way, Jaden tumbling down the hill a small ways. Darius then turned back to us. "Oh this really isn't fair," he said, laughing again. "Really I didn't go to all this trouble to fight what looks like a couple nine-year-olds." I was pretty sure he meant that as a slight, guessing our ages down a year, but I decided to push past that.

"Then what do you want? Where are Jezreel and Sarah!?" I yelled at him.

Darius cocked his head side to side, looking over at Jaden, who was now glaring at him through the tears, streaming down his face. "Oh, Sarah is fine. Well... all things considered anyway. They were taken by an underground corporation called Jacobson. Jacobson is a human trafficking ring. Sarah will be sold as a slave to... someone, I don't know who. However, you see the leader of Jacobson, that would be Tyrin, is a pharaoh like myself. Tyrin is on the run from the law and he doesn't want to be on the run from the banshees and werewolves too. His men are generally normal people, they don't know about the societies, but Tyrin does."

He got up and spun, deliberately turning his back on us, probably trying to egg on Jaden. He then continued. "When he learned that his men killed a werewolf boy and kidnapped a banshee girl well- hmmm- you can imagine how that went over." He looked back with a grin. "If the werewolves prove what Tyrin's men did, they'll go after him with full force. Normally the werewolves don't track pharaohs all that well on earth, but after this, breaking up Jacobson would be darn near priority number one. Course, the werewolves would need a witness to take serious action against a pharaoh, a citizen of one of their allies. Legal stuff and all gets in the way if you ask me. However, well Jezreel was right there and saw everything. She'll testify to what happened... well if she's dead and buried in some random place... probably not." I froze. He turned back to us, leaning on his cane, grinning at me. "You getting this? When he found out, someone had rescued her before he could do anything, but my sources tell me that for some reason her rescuer didn't stay with them and now she and Sarah are being pursued. In fact, I've got a live feed. I had a couple of my bugs follow them. I knew this stuff would be useful. I can show you."

Darius took a small black device out of his slacks' pocket. It looked to be the size and shape of a notepad, but it had a flat plastic screen. The device turned on and a series of images that looked somewhat like buttons showed up on it. Darius pushed them and they seemed to interact when he did. It was weird, to say the least like it was activated by touch. Finally, a color image showed up on the screen.

The image was of a large empty building. The building was actually incomplete, as you could see its metal framework, but only a few actual floors, walls, and ceilings strewn about. The image on the screen moved like there was a camera mounted on something that was flying. Finally, we saw a part of the building that had large stone walls and a desk just pulled out from their corner. Behind that desk, I saw Jezreel crouching down.

"Jezreel!" I shouted.

"My guess is Tyrin will find her in that room eventually," said Darius. "And I'm also gonna guess you want to save her before he does right?" I just stared at the screen, watching my friend as she sat with her back to that desk, every so often looking over it, checking for something. She looked so scared. "I can get you and Jaden into that room too."

"With a mob boss about to arrive as well?" I asked. "If you can bring us to her can you not just bring her to us?"

"Where's the fun in that?" He looked at the screen. "You want back up? How about Kyle, Jessica, and Xao? How about I get all five of you right into that room? You can beat Tyrin together and have an adventure getting home."

Jaden looked at Darius, still looking very afraid. "You... you don't think we're gonna beat Tyrin do you?"

"You can just watch her die," was Darius' only response.

Jaden started looking around as if trying to find something. "Well... well it doesn't just work like that. You're a trickster god. You can't just give us something. You have to make a deal. We have to give you something first, then you can give us what we want. That's what Xao said, trickster gods, make deals-"

"You want a deal?" Darius interrupted. He smiled. "I can make any terms I want. That envelope in your hand Jaden." He looked over at Judith. "Judith, give me the envelope in Jaden's hand, and that shall be our deal. Once the envelope goes into my hand," Darius held out his hand, "you, Jaden, and the Tracers will all be around Jezreel. You'll all be together, right in that room."

I looked back at Jaden. He looked back at me. "Judith I- this guy is bad! Xao warned me about him." I put my hand on the envelope, however, Jaden held it tight. "Don't make a deal with this guy, he wants to kill us all."

"But if we were there we could save her," I said. "Give it to me." We both looked at the envelope and then back at the open hand of Darius.

(***)

Xao:

This was becoming a terrible visit, a nightmare even. Really I had been looking forward to returning to see the Reigns. Allen had been such a good guide to Kyle and Jessica when they first came to earth, and he'd been pretty nice to me as well. Course at the time Jaden had just been a cute little kid.

I had wanted to catch up with Allen, but Jessica was more interested in Jaden and his friends, and so was Kyle, and lately, I had just been tagging along with those two. And then... reality just came crashing down on all of us.

Kyle and Jessica were already having to think about what to do with Kyle's parents, but adding to that the death of a child and having to see good friends in pain, my heart went out to them.

The Tracers were like my new family after I left the trickster gods, Kyle and Jessica my siblings.

Now we all sat in Allen's living room after Jessica had confided in him that they needed to speak to him about our problems. Jessica, myself, and Kyle sat on a couch together, Kyle between us. Allen sat across from us in a cushioned chair. Allen started the conversation. "I'm very sorry that your visit had to come at a time like this."

"That's not what this is about," Kyle replied.

Jessica continued. "We were contacted by Kyle's parents. They're wanting to send a stronger guard to accompany us on this planet."

"I see. Well thank you for informing me," said Allen.

"So what should we do?" asked Kyle.

"What do you mean?" Allen asked back. "I don't imagine there's much you can do, is there? I mean, I'm your official case handler on this planet, but I don't think this constitutes me being replaced. Even if it does, Kyle you're the president's son. You're important but you don't call the shots do you?"

"Actually I have a lot more authority than you might think. I'm old enough to make decisions for myself, even if I am treated like a child back home. If I make demands of my servants, they have to be obeyed. Only special orders from my father and mother can supersede my own. If I order the guards to get back on their ship and leave, they will need to obey. Course... guess that would just start a cycle, they come, I make them go, then they come again..."

"Why would you do that?" asked Allen.

Kyle continued instead of answering. "Furthermore, if I request my parents never contact us again, nay, if I demand it, telling them I would rather swallow my own tongue than speak to them ever again... I am considered old enough to declare independence from them. If I do, they'll have no authority over me anymore."

Allen looked at Kyle, cocking his head to the side. "Why would you do that?"

"You can't think of a reason?" asked Kyle. "They presided over mass murder. Who knows how many innocent gargoyles they killed."

Allen leaned down to look at Kyle. "Kyle, you realize the Purge wasn't exactly just mass murder. Almost two hundred fifty years ago, the gargoyles really did attempt to annihilate the other secret societies and take over the kingdoms of earth."

"Some of them did," Kyle replied. "One gargoyle nation did that. And the Pharaoh nation, my nation..." Kyle bit his lip saying that. "My nation declared a war of extermination, searching for all gargoyles living anywhere in the world, to kill all of them. Two hundred and fifty years ago the most advanced nations on earth were lucky to have cannons and the gargoyles weren't much different. My people had space ships when we came to fight. We didn't fight a war we conducted a slaughter."

Allen nodded. "Well for one, you need to stop saying "we" as if anyone in this room had any say in something that happened two hundred and fifty years ago. Even Xao isn't old enough to have been involved, though I guess he was alive."

I nodded. "I was. I still couldn't walk and my brain was still developing, but I was alive."

"You also need to understand that war is never a pretty thing. In hindsight your father and his commanders could have made better decisions, in fact, I would have preferred they did. But at the time they really did think all gargoyles were the same. Maybe now they regret what they did."

I looked at Kyle. "He's got a point. Hindsight is twenty twenty and all. Maybe our people have learned better, or maybe we could spread the word over time."

Kyle looked back at me with lowered eyebrows. "Who's gonna listen to an earth native who's barely ever had contact with gargoyles anyway and a couple kids who haven't even hit puberty yet? Xao have you ever even been to the homeworld?"

"Well no, but will the people back there really care if I'm from there?" I asked.

"Folks back home call pharaohs who live on earth for their whole lives, hermits," Kyle replied. "You live on earth, most of your associates aren't even half your age. Half the people I knew back home assumed that would drive a person crazy."

Allen hummed quietly to himself and looked off to the left.

"What?" asked Jessica.

"I have to be honest," Allen said. "I haven't met too many pharaohs that seem to be all there living here on earth. In fact, Kyle, you're the only one of sound mind I've ever met."

"Hey!" shouted Jessica. "Just because I added butterflies to my part of the rabbit for seasoning, does that mean I'm crazy?"

"The fact that you're even bringing that up... I'm not sure what that means," Kyle said with a slight smile.

I looked at Allen. "And me?"

"Oh yea, a guy who lived eighty years making deals with complete strangers, that's sanity for you."

"Harsh," I replied.

"Glad to see you guys joking around again," Allen continued, smiling himself.

"I decided it would have been bad form yesterday," said Jessica. "I wanted to be there for Jaden."

"Well I thank you for that," said Allen.

Kyle shook his head. "In any case, nobody I know on the homeworld ever acted upset about the Purge."

"It would have been like trying to find someone who feels sorry for the Nazis," Jessica added.

"Well... I know what I would do," Allen said.

Kyle looked at him with a crooked smile. "You know what you would do if you found out your parents conducted a mass murder and your entire country approved and they even lead you for most of your life to think it was justified? Enlighten me, I think that's a pretty obscure situation, what would you do?"