Spades and Angels

An Independent Storm

Lolita

I don't tell the others about the meeting with my old 'friends' the day they came to talk to me. Threaten me to be honest. Nor do I say a word about the conversation I had with Connor. Connor, Talon, Scar and Hawk. Not wanting to burden them with more problems than we can handle.

But it bugs me. It bugs me because of what Cora said when we parted. The threat seemed to be linked up with the whole Project Aphrodite mess that we aren't certain if Riv's involved in or not. Some of the guys thought that she could be and others were not sure. Me? I was on the fence since she fitted the Aphrodite profile that Mads had shown me he and Riv found. The one that pointed to her possible link to the unidentified alias.

"Are you sure you aren't this unnamed Aphrodite?" Mal asks one day when we're talking about what's going on. All of us were seemingly stuck where what happened was piling up. "Riv?"

My friend sighs, "No. No, I can't be and I'm sorry for that Mal. I am. Maybe it is me, maybe it's someone else." She sighs but the sound is angry. Not afraid but angry. "I just wish I knew how it fitted in with the whole triangle situation."

"Triangle?" Pey sounds confused but I get it. Seeing that Mads did as well from the resigned expression he's wearing. Pey glances between the two of us with a frown until something must have clicked. "Ah you mean the Mads-Lo-Connor triangle. The Connor corner includes the Spades as a group just as the Mads corner includes all of us. Well all of us besides Lo since she has a corner of her own as she's switching between. Moving from point a to b."

"Spade to Angel?" I ask, seeing Pey nod with a firm expression. "Ok so how does that fit into the whole chess game analogy since I know Connor and he's no king? The Morovoz-Castillo family is. As a unit."

"With you as the transitioning queen," Riv mumbles. I shrug, mind occupied on what Cora had said as she, Jessa and Nova left the day we spoke. Her words haunt me in a loop. Sticking with me.

I wouldn't be so sure and I'd watch your back Artemis, before they find you and reunite us. Why maybe even Aphrodite can join in when you find her because I know you know where she might be. I'll see you soon, we all will.

Could...could they be our missing aliases? The previously unidentified Hera, Demeter and Athena? I-I couldn't be sure. And then there was what she said about reuniting 'us'. What 'us' was she referring to? The group of supposedly anonymous people beyond the aliases? The Spades as a whole? Something or someone more? I-I just couldn't and still can't tell even with how many times I've thought about it.

And then that last worrying two sentences. I'd watch your back Artemis before they find you and reunite us. Why maybe even Aphrodite can join in when you find her because I know you know where she might be. I'll see you soon, we all will. Whatever the three of them had been referring to it involved me and, if we were right, Riv too. But reunite us for what? And were we right in thinking Riv is the missing piece?

"Lo?" Hali taps my shoulder and I jump in surprise since I'd been lost in my head. Trying to puzzle over what I'd heard before sharing it. "You doing ok hermana?" She watched me, concerned, for a second before at least a shred of my guilty conscience must have shone through when she suddenly looked more worried. "Something happened?" I give a resigned nod then, seeing no more point in hiding it. "Lo what...what happened? When did it happen?"

"Not too long ago," I mumble, ashamed for hiding it. "It was the day we all took apart." I give Mads a look then since he knows what day I mean. He nods. "The...the day we all took apart I got cornered by Connor. Connor, Scar, Talon and Hawk," Someone, I think Mads, gives an angry whistle and I sigh, "I'm sorry I-I know I should have said something I just needed...I needed to try and make sense of it as best I could. Not that I got very far."