Mr. Abara laughed. “Give the boy a break. Everyone’s business is their own. He got a reason, you got a reason, we all got a reason. Even if he don’t know all the details, he made it through the shield. He’s as much right to be here as the rest of us.”
“Thanks, man. I wasn’t ready for an inquisition,” I mumbled.
“Think nothing of it.” He clapped me on the shoulder so hard I nearly toppled over.
Our conversation faltered, interrupted by the whirr of a plane engine. I looked up and saw a small aircraft approaching the island, from the direction of Odysseus’s rocky Ithaca. All of us watched and waited to see if this would be another member of our expanding party. All the while, my mind raced with thoughts of these trials. What would they entail? I needed some damned sleep before I started running gauntlets and doing crazy things, but it didn’t seem naptime had been slotted into Erebus’s schedule.
The aircraft slowed as it came near. A door in the side gaped wide, and two figures leapt out before my heart had a chance to jump. Blanche gasped, while Oliver nodded his head admiringly. He’d probably gone base-jumping during his year abroad or something.
Parachutes opened and the figures careened down as they grappled with the pulleys steering their course. Melody and Luke’s entrance might have been impressive, but this was old-school impressive. James Bond stuff. As they neared the protective bubble, they sent out streams of Chaos, their mouths moving as if chanting a spell. I couldn’t get a good look at them, since they both wore jumpsuits and goggles.
Holes sparked and fizzed in the protective membrane above as it fought against this aerial attack. The holes made a small target for them to hit, and parachutes didn’t strike me as very precise modes of transport. I held my breath as they descended farther, almost reaching the crackling holes they’d made. A moment later, they sailed right through, only for the parachutes to catch in the holes as they quickly closed. The parachutists had let up on their Chaos onslaught, which gave the membrane a chance to repair itself at lightning speed.
The two figures dangled like marionettes. They writhed and wriggled to get free, but they were harnessed in tight. I lifted my palms to create a boost of Air. Luke seemed to be doing something similar. But there was no need. Whoever these two were, they didn’t need our help. In total sync, like those swimmers with the weird nose-clips, they delved into the pockets of their jumpsuits and took out matching knives. Slicing through the harnesses, they fell in perfect unison to the ground, where they rolled and jumped right back up as if it were nothing. I half expected a “ta-da” or a gymnastic pose to finish off the move.
Overhead, the empty harnesses swayed in the breeze.
“So cool,” Oliver said in an appreciative whisper.
As the duo removed their goggles and unzipped their jumpsuits, stepping out of the billowy fabric, I got a closer look at them. Identical twins of the female persuasion, with long, golden hair, olive complexions, and hazel eyes with a matching mischievous glint. Ugh… twins. It brought back memories of the Ryder twins. They might not have been identical, but they’d liked to mess with people by changing into each other. I hadn’t seen their rampage of mayhem through San Diego, but Harley had told me stories.
“What’s the matter? Have you—” the first twin said in an Australian lilt.
“—never seen two sisters parachute out of a plane before?” Number two finished off the sentence in the same Down Under accent.
Creepy…
“Twin sisters!” Melody grinned at them. “That’s fascinating. Apparently, magical identical twins have shared—”
The first twin cut her off. “I’m Shailene, and this is—”
“—Fay Basani. You might have heard of us,” the second one added seamlessly.
I wracked my brain. “I’m not sure I have.”
Both sisters shot me a withering look. “We’re the famous Basani twins,” Shailene went on.
“Superstars of the Sydney Coven.” Fay nodded.
“Responsible for the capture of ten percent of the monsters held in the Bestiary.” Shailene grinned at her sister.
“Travelers and adventurers extraordinaire. There’s no way you haven’t heard of us.” Fay shot me another withering look at the same time as Shailene. They just seemed to know what the other was doing.
I shrugged. “I don’t read much international news. I must’ve missed you.”
“I know who you are,” Melody chimed in. “I’ve read a lot about you. Is it true that you caught the first Selkies? I know you shouldn’t always believe the things you read, but it was such an amazing story that I really hope it’s true. It’s quite a feat, to wrangle with a sea creature and survive it. They should have the upper hand, in their own territory, so I imagine it’s very difficult to achieve.”
“You talk a lot, huh?” Shailene smiled.
“You must read a lot, too. Nice to see some articles made their way past Australia,” Fay replied. “Which ones did you read?”
Melody paused. “Magicals Weekly and their top thirty under thirty.”
Shailene looked smug. “That was a good one. Yeah, we were the first to capture Selkies and have them stored in the Bestiary.”
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” Fay added, right on schedule. “They’re slimy little buggers, and anyone who says different is lying. They might turn out all pretty on the shore, but they’re not pretty when they’re trying to escape.”
Fay and Shailene looked over the rest of us, their eyes lingering a bit too long on Luke and me. They turned to each other and whispered, matching smirks turning up the corners of their lips. They seemed to be forming judgments, and I didn’t know if they were the bad kind or the good kind.
Melody’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh, wow… I wasn’t expecting that.”
“The Selkie wrangling?” Fay and Shailene chorused in creepy unison.
“No… oh dear, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you really shouldn’t waste time on fancying Luke, Shailene. Or setting your sights on Finch, Fay. It wouldn’t be right for you two to go after unavailable guys.” Melody hesitated, apparently oblivious to the personal nature of the details she’d just spilled. “I mean, they’re not physically unavailable, but they are emotionally. Gosh, I hope that makes sense? Finch doesn’t like physical contact, and Luke… he isn’t interested. I’d hate for you to spend energy on them when there are other nice guys out there. I’m sure you have your pick, anyway, looking the way you do.”
Fay and Shailene stared at her in disbelief.
Wow… awkward.
“Melody.” Luke put his hand on her shoulder, and she blushed furiously.
“Did I do it again?” she whispered.
He nodded. “A little bit, yeah.”
It didn’t take a genius to realize she had Empath abilities. Given her role as Miss Chatterbox, I felt glad that my Shapeshifting spared me from being Empathed.
Everyone else’s abilities would be harder to gauge. I wasn’t at the SDC anymore, where you literally pinned the info to your special occasion uniform. These people’s behavior didn’t do much to expose them, either.