Page 34 of Fatality on the Field

“Iggy?” Slade says quietly as we all wait for the four resident demons to put the damn book back where we got it from so we can go back to the dorm.

Turning to him, I murmur, “What?”

“Are you worried the others will tell on you? ‘Cause I don’t think they will. I mean, I think we’ll have to share with the people who went to the zoo place, but they’re not going to, like, head for the Supenet or anything.” He pushes his glasses up in a familiar and endearing gesture that actually gets a smile out of me.

I sigh as I look over to see the Gemini twins and their mate chatting as they lean against the wall a short distance from us. “I’m always worried that it will get out and you know why. If my father finds out that I’ve been hiding this, he’ll do something drastic, and I don’t want to put that on our family’s plate. Your shithead relatives live an entire country away, you know? Mine are well within reach and operate in a much more covert fashion.”

The siren leans against me, his shoulder touching mine as he says, “Lady M and the prince will help, so will Lucas and the dragon. We all have shit we need protection from individually outside of our big, global problem, Iggy. No one is going to exclude you from the bond or let you get kidnapped.”

They will not be pleased that I hid it, though, and I’m just getting some traction.

“Okay, friends and furries,” the fabulous-looking demon says as they leave the room where we’ve re-deposited the book with the other demons. “That’s done, and we are ready to head back. I’m sure the others will head back by now, too, so we can de-brief and plan for what comes next.”

Zavida nods as he follows X, looking at those of us from the surface with a shy smile. “I’ll be working on the stuff to help connect us all for the rest of the break. Once it’s working, I can get the network deployed to make certain we’re all able to chat, share info securely, and update one another via mobile and sedentary devices.”

“Uh, so I need to make sure that you all know something,” I say as the Bay City folks and our Hell friends start moving away from the practice room. “What I did before is… it’s a big secret, and there’s an important reason for that. So we can share it with the others upstairs, but no one else can know. If even a whisper of it gets back to my family, it will go really badly for me.”

“There’s a problem with you having a little d in your background? Really?” Oriel asks as he frowns. “Man, you people are so fucking weird up there about shit. Why does it matter? Can’t we all just get along?”

That gets a laugh out of everyone, even Slade, but I shake my head. “It’s less about having demons in the bloodline—though they hate that, too—and more about their history of kidnapping, locking up, and using those who show the powers it gives to random descendants to further enrich the family until they’re drained to death.”

Slash stops at the head of the group, turning slowly to look at me. “That is what happens if demonic magic is revealed in a new child?”

I nod, wrinkling my nose as I shrug. “I’ll tell the stories upstairs so I don’t have to repeat them, but trust me when I say that I do not want to be found out.”

“Man, I thought the fuckers who adopted Reck and me and then sold him off were bad. I guess your natural parents are easily as bad or maybe worse,” Rogue mutters as we all start walking again. “Damn, we’re just lucky to be breathing, huh?”

The Gemini twins snort as they chorus, “Definitely, except for Archie.”

“Is he the only one without shitty parents?” Slade asks curiously. “Seriously?”

“Lucas has his Nana, but his parents are trash,” I reply. “I don’t know about the dragon’s, but it’s been made clear the prince’s father is a total fuckwad.”

Xerxes chimes in, “All of ours suck ass. Varying degrees, but none as bad as Jasper’s dad. And KK was abandoned to that shitty human system full of assholes.”

Huh. What an interesting common thread among us—all powerful, notable, and with terrible birth parents or bad fosters, or adopters.

“Maybe it made us all stronger than people who have had better support?” Damon says as he tilts his head. “That feels sort of ‘chosen one’, but it might be true, especially if the old bats we don’t discuss down here are part of constructing resistance to that evil committee we saw.”

I’m not comfortable writing us all into a mythological comic book scenario, but it’s not the worst theory I’ve heard so far.

“Well, regardless of all that, I have no problem keeping your secret, prof,” the crow demon says as he opens the door to the staircase. “All of us have our secrets, and those won’t come out until we need them, so why should yours? As long as you’re being truthful with your family, you should be fine. If you aren’t, I’d get it straight now because that woman is gonna stomp your ass.”

I chuckle as we all head upstairs together. “You’re right about that, and I probably deserve it after what I’ve done so far. But I’m trying now and I’ll keep doing so—which you guys need to get your royal on board with.”

Slade winks at me, smiling because I actually called someone out this time. “Iggy’s correct. Your girl is very nice and Morgana has taken her under her wing for sure.”

“You might be the ones getting stomped,” Rogue adds as she jogs ahead to grab the next door with a stubborn look. “I’d help her, and I bet your doc and that big animal dude would help. Angelo says he’s terrifying and super fucking old.”

“He is,” Zavida says as we spill into the lobby of the education building again. “And he likes KK a lot, so you’re probably right. Dank already blew up over people upsetting the new guy, so you’re spot on there, as well. Powerful friends, that one.”

Slash glares. “I, too, will defend the little demon, even if it means eating something unpleasant. Therefore, I am in agreement with your assessment. However, we can only go so far with our efforts to get the prince in line.”

“Truth,” X adds as we leave the building and head back to their dorm. “But I’m pretty sure it’s gonna get better soon. That whole incident in the arena changed stuff; we just didn’t have time to smooth it out before all of you were brought here. We’ll get it sorted after you go.”

I nod because I know our group has some things to go over when we get back to State U as well. “We’re all struggling with something—including you guys with a missing member and one in bird form. It’s important to work that out before our external enemies take notice of what we’re all doing, I think.”

We finally get to the steps of the building and trudge up in silence now that we’re within hearing range of random demons who could be lurking over the holiday. It occurs to me that we probably fucked up their celebration time, and not a single one of the demons seems as concerned as people would be on the surface if you messed up their Christmas. In fact, a group of demons just took everyone in, figured out how to get along, and fed us as if they weren’t remotely put out by the swarm in the slightest. It’s ironic, if you think about it.