The Child of Light and Shadow

Shatter

MARCUS

"I see." That's the only response he gets. Patrick spent half an hour explaining everything that happened, from the betrayal of Ozymandias, to the liberation of the devils, to the disappearance of our king, and that's all she has to say to him? I'd pegged her for a cool customer from the go, but I didn't exactly expect none of this to faze her. "Was that all?"

Pat just stands there, clearly perplexed, if the amount of blinking he's doing is any indicator. "Er... yes?"

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

"Telling you?" The woman gives him a cold look, finally peeling her gaze away from the paperwork on her desk. The Apostle clears his throat, and sticks his chest out, trying to seem as manly as possible. "T-Telling you." I can't help but snort at the stutter, to which he responds by poking me with his elbow.

"Look, lady," I start, taking a step forward. The two men flanking her put their hands on their daggers, so I immediately step right back. "Look, ma'am, I realize this story sounds far-fetched, but your country is in danger. Ours might have already fallen. At the very least, the capital was destroyed, and that's not something just anyone can do. All of the Apostles were present, and they couldn't do anything about it. Just one of them came close to killing six of us, only failing because a literal angel fell from Heaven and saved our asses. You need to take this seriously."

"It doesn't," she replies quietly. Excuse me?

"Beg your pardon?"

"It doesn't sound far-fetched. In fact, it reaffirms the story we've already been given."

"Someone else was here?" Patrick asks abruptly, ignoring the glares the two guards are giving him. "Who was it? Did he look like me?" Ah, so that's it. Definitely doubt that. If Dex and the others were going to come here, they would've come out of the Doorway after us. Unless they're able to cause temporal distortion, I mean. Hope not. That would really mess up the whole "we need to hurry up or the world will forever belong to the most evil being who ever lived" thing we've got going on.

"No," the woman answers, bringing Pat's hopes crashing down.

"Who was here, then?" I ask. "Only someone from Valhalla would've known." I think. I mean, I guess it could've spread to the other countries, but that would be a big downer, and I refuse to be negative in this situation. It's bad for your health.

"Classified," the woman says. "You've given us no information of value. You will be permitted to stay here as citizens, but you will not be given accommodations or jobs. Finding jobs will be your responsibility."

"We don't want to live here," Snow hurriedly says. "Can you find Jonah?"

God damn it, kid. At least let us keep some secrets for ourselves.

"Jonah?" the woman echoes, looking at the kid with mild interest. "Who is Jonah?"

"No one," Patrick says.

"A friend," I lie.

"He's so cool," whispers Snow with stars in his eyes.

The woman stands up, presumably to seem more imposing, but actually just reveals how short and frail-looking she is. I bet we could take her and her guards. "Shall I have you questioned separately?"

"Jonah was supposed to come with us," I tell her. "But we were under attack at the time, so something must've gone wrong." I wonder if they're even alive.

"And where exactly were you when this happened?"

"A village of djinn," I reply. A hint of honesty tends to lower people's guards down. "The attack happened right in front of a Doorway."