At thirteen years old, Daisy St. James began training with her mother to join a secret branch of the Pentagon that investigates the occult: the Department of Supernatural Artifacts.
Now, on the edge of seventeen, Daisy is invited on a mission to rec...
The waterway eventually came to a new part of the labyrinth. Dr. Beaumont was struggling to catalogue it all, and Phoenix looked to Daisy, and to several adults— and Thomas— all of whom looked ready to kill him.
She placed her hand on his, looking him in the eyes, silently communicating that they would be alright.
She wouldn't let them hurt him, she just wouldn't.
"How'd he end up here?" Thomas snarled.
"Accident," Phoenix mumbled.
"Some accident," Dr. Rosales said derisively. He looked to Daisy. "How could you?"
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen." Everyone knew she wasn't just talking about Phoenix being there. "I was a lonely teenage girl with a rival who understood me and paid me more attention than any of my family and friends."
Arden and Gwen flinched at these comments, while Dr. Gillespie's face hardened, even more stone-like than before.
"And now, you're consorting with one of our enemies." Dr. Gillespie glared at Arden. "How long did you know?"
He shrugged. "It's not like she was subtle, jumping out of hotel windows and taking far too long during fights in closed spaces."
Daisy and Phoenix turned both bright red at this comment. But Daisy got to her feet, as the water drifted slower— towards a new platform, and a new part of the maze.
"We've got bigger problems than my love life," Daisy declared. She pushed the silvery-blonde strands of hair behind her ears, and stepped onto the new platform, casual as anything. She looked back to the others. "Well, are you coming?"
Phoenix was the first to accept her extended hand.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The new part was wider, made from gray cobbled stones, rather than the brown slabs of before. It was also shinier and harder. Yet they made their camp there, and had their backpacks drying over a fire, courtesy of Dr. Rosales, whose pyrotechnics thankfully had not been harmed.
"So, where do we go from here?" Dr. Winchester asked, looking to Phoenix.
"At least some physical restrictions," Dr. Beaumont said. "Bound hands or the like, so he's easier to manage. We cannot trust him."
"And I don't trust you," Phoenix shot back. His eyes lingered on Dr. Gillespie. "Some of you would try to kill a kid."
"Because we know what you're capable of," Dr. Gillespie said, meeting his stare. "Your fires— how many people have they hurt, or killed? How much have they destroyed."
He blinked, and looked away. "I don't know."
"I'm sure Olivia has a total somewhere in her office, for all of the agents of ARI," Dr. Gillespie sneered.
"Stop projecting what your sick agency does on us." Phoenix fiddled with the knob on a compass in his hands. "We're not trying to kill people."
"Really?" Dr. Gillespie arched an eyebrow. "You were about seven years old when the schism occurred. Maybe eight— my memory isn't as good as it was."
Lie, Daisy thought. She sat up, curious as to where this conversation was going.
"But I do remember that call, from your mother." Dr. Gillespie's voice was as cold as ice. "I remember hearing a gunshot, when the call was cut off— by your father screaming. She was going to save him. She was going to be a hero— because Dr. Dorothy Parker was the best of us. But she didn't. Your uncle killed his own brother and wife, and so many other good men and women that day. Then he stole their children."
"Then you know that this wasn't my choice!" Phoenix's eyes were blazing. "I never got a choice in any of this!"
"You could have chosen to use any of the tools at your dispersal to leave, you knew enough at seven to know that they were wrong."
Phoenix bit his lip. "You don't know what I do, about everything that happened before the schism."
Dr. Gillespie shook her head. "No, you don't. And you don't understand a goddamn thing about what your family is. What you are."
"And neither do you."
Everyone looked surprised as Daisy stood up. "I remember the schism, too. Do you know what I remember?"
The room went cold, and even the fire seemed dimmer, as Daisy looked around, avoiding Phoenix's eyes, avoiding Gwen's, avoiding Arden's.
"I remember that we were on the beach with Abuela Thea, and you were smiling." Daisy choked on her word, and tears started to sear at her ducts. Her hands shook. "You were laughing and smiling. For the first time since Dad died. You'd done that before, too. You wanted to be around me. You read stories to me, you played with me, and whenever you were home, you talked to me, taught me, tried to understand me. You were a good mom."
She could sense Phoenix reaching a hand up to hers, and she reached, too, without looking. Their hands fit perfectly together, shaking and all.
"You know what happened, then, on that beach?" Her voice rose with rage. "You got the phone call. You left— and I don't hold that against you. I knew, even as a little girl, that what you did was important. But you know what I also remember? What happened after."
Her voice echoed in the stone halls as her tears began to fall. "I remembered that you came home, and you wouldn't talk to me. Or the day after. At the end of the week, Abuela Thea confronted you, demanding that you become a mother to me again. I don't know what you said to her, but I remember that she said she loved me very much, and that she'd see me again soon. Then she left, and never came back. She never came back!"
Daisy's sobs held the moment still in time. "And you didn't either— you never were my mom again. I would have done anything— anything— for your attention. But you either didn't notice, or didn't care! And yes, there was Arden and Maggie— but they were the fun aunt or uncle. I needed a parent! They love me because they love you, because they loved Dad! I needed someone who loved me for me, unconditionally, as I became a teenager, as I felt like no one ever could, or ever would!"
Arden looked hurt by her comment, but said nothing.
Then, Daisy looked her mom in their identical eyes. "That was why Phoenix was able to honeypot me. And why I never stopped thinking about him. Because he cared— or at least did a good enough job pretending that he started to feel it himself. But you've got just as much to blame in all of this that I do. Because I never would have been that vulnerable little girl if you'd really come home the night of the schism."
Her words hung in the air, and when Dr. Gillespie moved forward, Daisy hoped that it was for a hug. She was greeted with a metaphorical slap to the face.
"You might want to rethink your alliance with that boy," Dr. Gillespie murmured. "You don't know the truth about what happened to your father."
"You told me he disappeared, during Operation AMBER," Daisy whispered hoarsely.
"He was murdered." Dr. Gillespie's eyes flicked to Phoenix. "Dr. Carter Abrams did it."