Exit to the Right ??

Justin and Matis hadn't been waiting for Hel outside the Tortoises' headquarters when she had left it. She had called them then and there. But neither man had answered the phone. After having waited a bit longer for them to appear, she had moved on to the Maison's mansion and had watched from outside as team-leader and Chairs had settled into the library to drink. Why read books when you can do skeet shooting with your brain cells?

When it looked like depleting the Maison's wine cellar was what the honorable council intended to do for the rest of the night, Hel had gone to check on her regular job of grooming the Tree. It had to be done. As it was, she had already left it alone for longer than planned. But even well on their way to being hopelessly drunk, she hadn't liked to leave the group unobserved. While picking leaves, and trimming the edges of the crown, Hel had checked her phone for a sign of her AWOL reinforcement. The longer it took, the more colorful her curses had become.

The moment her phone finally rang, she barked into it, "For all the saints and sinners, what keeps you so long?"

There was a pause. Then, Justin grumbled in reply, "We are at the headquarters. I truly feel like a ghost in this building. No one is here, and Matis is in a mood already. It was hard enough to drag him here. Where are you?"

Hel huffed. She was known for her temper. It was the thing humans once told stories about, at night around a fire, to scare each other. The wolf at her feet sensed that someone had triggered it. Garmr growled. She reached up and scratched him between his ears as a reward for his exhortation.

"I left the headquarters hours ago," Hel replied in forced calm as she threw a last glance at the sickled spirits that she had provided with new orders. The women to whom the spirits belonged, were asleep and wouldn't have any recollection of their work for Hel. She saw to it that they in return had pleasant dreams. At least this part of Hel's staff was working smoothly.

The same couldn't be said about her chosen team at the investigations. She had known that Matis and Justin weren't at their best. She had known before she had went to their cottage, before the rest of the Hunt had alerted her. Not the complete extent of the problem, but the recurrent floods and cumulative lightning were hard to miss.

The truth was that she hadn't known what to do other than giving them time. Other Hunt members had been puzzle pieces for her; either they had fit in or she had returned their essence to the Tree. Being some of the best, both ways they could be useful, what limited her qualms about the amount of power she had over them.

It was different with Matis and Justin. They had become more than some bricks to strengthen the Tree's defense. They were family, the kind she loved. It had left her helpless.

Until the rumor had come around. She hadn't thought much of it at first. She had actually laughed about it. But the trinity had reminded her of her father. And that's when it had hit her. While time wasn't helping Justin and Matis, preoccupation with helping someone else they liked, a job in which they would have to function together, might. So, she had spun a tale to get them moving and had gone through the necessary motions herself.

She couldn't have known that the rumor would lead her to what could turn out to be a real problem. It didn't change why she had called upon Justin and Matis in the first place. To help them and find out what was going on only meant for her to work harder to keep her temper in check. She had called on Garmr to work as a sensor for when she slipped.

Cautioned by him, she took another deep breath and explained, "The Tortoises' council felt like celebrating the day's successes. Or, David felt like it and invited everyone over to Boris. Before they had left, David announced in a press conference their intent to use their prolonged stint in charge to set up a referendum on the exit. That means that the plot is afoot. I've messaged you all this, with the request to meet me at Boris' house. Do you ever check your inbox?" Hel didn't need Garmr's reminder to know that the last bit had sounded too testy.

"I didn't really have reception all the time," Justin countered. "Not to mention that I have been a tad busy finding Matis and convincing him to come with me."

"Ordering me. Forcing me." Matis interjected. Justin must have the phone run on speaker that Hel could hear him so clearly.

"Oh shut it now," Justin choked him off.

"I see Matis isn't the only one in a mood," Hel interfered. "I can only advice you to get your professionalism back while you haul your ass over to the Maison mansion."

"Or?" Matis challenged.

"I trust you know by now what is at stake for you," Hel snapped. Garmr pushed his big muzzle into her shoulder and barred his teeth. She patted his flank and wished, she could take the words back. But they were out.

And Matis jumped at them. "If that's how it is going to be, maybe a clean, fast cut would be the best for all of us."

Well, she had earned that by uttering the threat to begin with. All she had meant it to be had been a wakeup call. It had worked with Justin. It had put him into gear. How should Matis know however, that she hadn't meant it the way it sounded? His sister was known to take everything literal.

Hel sighed through her nose. She needed another approach. "Listen," she said in a Garmr approved voice. "The song of truth in my blood is out of tune. It's just a ripple, an undertone that isn't resonating with me. It is strong enough that I feel it. It is like something is crawling all over me, a premonition. This is bigger than I first assumed." Everything with some substance would be bigger than she first assumed, but she wouldn't tell Justin and Matis that. She added however, "I'm not pushing you for spite."

"I take it that this is then not Flo's doing. So, go and ask Daddy for help."

"She can't," Justin bristled.

"If it's not his prank –," Matis insisted stubbornly.

"- when it might well be a trap set up for him by one or all of those whose feet we stepped on lately and pissed off royally – your parents, Flo's dad and all those, they have under their thumb," Justin completed the sentence for Matis. "Do you really think they would let matters rest now that they have lost all their children - their heirs - at once? One kiss and they understood? They retaliate. That's their language. Flo is their most likely target, next to yourself."

While Justin panted into the phone after his little, passionate speech was finished, Matis was silent. Hel imagined him frowning, though she couldn't be sure. Maybe he pressed his lips together and looked away as if this would allow him to ignore the situation in order to remain rightfully sulky.

In Hel, Justin's words had stirred fear. The men had no idea how much of a threat for all of them a threat against her father was. He was the creative chaos to her mother's knowledge. Together they were the main weapons that humankind possessed to keep the Immortals in check.

"Do you have found proof that the honorable Duch-pack is involved or are these once more conclusions from rumors?" Matis ask. He still sounded petulant, but Hel could detect something like genuine interest wafting in the back of his voice.

Duch-pack. Hel had always liked that name. "We haven't found proof of anything," she admitted, and couldn't help to add, "Not least because you two were preoccupied otherwise, and were not investigating as I had asked you to do repeatedly." Garmr's bark at her sounded like a sigh. Hel could almost see him roll his eyes.

"Would it suddenly be a problem for you to go up against your parents?" Justin inquired. Hel looked at Garmr as if to say 'see, I'm not the only one' while Justin continued, "Have your feelings changed on that account too?"

"None of my feelings have changed," Matis burst out. "Nothing has changed."

"You want to try this again, darling?" Justin countered.

"Hel, we are over there shortly," Matis informed and cut the call.

Hel looked down at Garmr. "Am I doing the right thing? Or should I let them go?"

The wolf licked her cheek. Love couldn't be wrong.