Chapter 57

“Are you saying that the fae are real?” The suit and the Colonel were deadly serious, and Anna rolled her eyes in frustration. But it was on now. She was done with these fools.

“Clearly you weren’t issued a sense of humor. Maybe you should see the quartermaster about that. Jerry, are you back there? We need a sense of humor up here.” From behind the one-way glass, Jones suppressed his laughter with a snort. Jerry was the God of bureaucracy and just about every person in the military had prayed to that fuck head at least once.

“That’s what you’ve been stuck babysitting?” One of Jones’ guards asked quietly as they watched the exchange unseen.

“Not that she’s wrong, that guy is a dick.” The General added under his breath.

“Ha!” Jones gave a soft bark of amusement. “You should see her older siblings. This one’s a veritable kitten.” Then they quieted for a few seconds. Jones had gathered from the facial expressions on the other’s faces and the way they grimaced at the interrogator they were watching that they did not like that man one little bit. He added thoughtfully before settling in to enjoy the show, “I should have told you guys to prepare popcorn for watching this. Snow Cone’s gonna teach him what’s up.” In the room, the questioning continued.

“This is a serious matter, Miss Wattkins. It is a crime to lie to the government about or hide magical capabilities. The individual in the suit has gotten a hold of classified technology. You need to cooperate with us.” No. She didn’t need to cooperate with them. They were doing something illegal themselves and she wasn’t going to give an inch now that she knew what was up. Not only were these guys dumb, but they were not the people who should have been doing this if it had been justified.

“Tells us about project Snow Cone!”

The young Elementalist leaned back in her chair, holding it suspended and rocking on the two rear legs with her feet braced against the table. Then she very deliberately and slowly, while looking the interrogator dead in the eyes, brought both her hands together. Her fingers laced together, and her palms rested against one another. Lastly, she bowed her head and closed her eyes gently.

Anna’s face smoothed with serenity.

“What are you doing?” It was the suit asking. Anna could tell the two interrogators’ voices apart and she opened one eye with a slight smirk. The Colonel looked slightly concerned, as he should have.

“Praying to my godfather.” Her innocent reply was sweetly saccharine and confident. Despite her apparent confidence, the suit chuckled cockily.

“The AMD is too high for the Angels to see into the city.” He looked around and gestured to the empty air. The lack of an immediate response from her prayers and the suit’s words emboldened the Colonel.

“No one’s coming. Please cooperate and answer the questions.” No sooner had he spoken than the ceiling dissolved into light and an angelic voice echoed down from above.

“Anna, I’m kind of busy. Is this important? I thought you were safe already.” There was a cacophony in the background. A multitude of voices arguing querulously. A sharp shrill female voice pierced the sound.

“Don’t you run off. The boy is going to be our hero. The Greeks haven’t had a hero in centuries.” The protest was followed by a gusty sigh from Michael.

“You got one of the kids already. You can’t just keep poaching heroes off of my warlock. She’s not a crutch for you to limp your heroes through trials with.” Well shit. There was stuff going on with her mom among the divine pantheons. As interesting as it sounded, Anna had to interrupt and get Michael’s intervention.

“I’m in an interrogation room without a legal guardian, and I don’t think the people who took me have told anyone important that they did it.” Michael suddenly descended out of the glowing light in his heavenly armor. It was a white and gold version of the armor that Kyle had been wearing earlier, though Michael’s was less technological-looking and more ancient. He positioned himself next to his goddaughter and glared menacingly at the men interrogating Anna.

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“Normally when I appear before mortals, I tell them to be not afraid. Your answer to my first question is going to determine whether I say that to you also, or if something else happens instead.” The suit had jumped back from the table, his chair clattering on the floor. The Colonel was stunned into the stillness of a statue.

“But, but, but you aren’t allowed to interfere in the affairs of mortals.” The jerk in the suit protested ineffectually.

“I’m allowed to answer prayers,” Michael replied with a toothy grin. “Now,” Michael pulled out a chair to sit down. “Please get me whoever’s in charge. Who’s the big boss? I want to talk to…” he nudges Anna to prompt him for the right name.

“General Wickers.” The teen whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“Ah, yes, General Wickers.” The angel was just settling in for a proper session of intimidating the mortals when another angel looked down through the glowing hole in the ceiling.

“Michael, you can’t just leave in the middle of Arbitration, especially not one that you called for.” The Colonel squeaked as Lucifer peered down at them with one of his demons next to him. The demon’s nightmarish features contorted in a perpetual snarl beneath dark horns contrasted with Lucifer’s angelic beauty.

“Oh, hey Anna, how’s my favorite god-niece? Are…” The beautiful angelic features frowned like his brother’s as he took in the scene below. “Are you in jail?” He turned to speak to someone beyond the sight of the people in the room below. The shrill voice was still speaking, and Anna was catching bits and pieces of the conversation.

“See, we should be able to turn Jim Thafesh into a Greek Hero because Michael doesn’t even care enough to stay through the arbitration he – ”

“Hey!” Lucifer interrupted the argument. “Did you three bitches do this to Anna to distract Michael during the arbitration?” Lucifer’s accusation finally prompted the Colonel to speak.

“Mister Morningstar?” The Colonel squeaked in confused terror. Finally, another entity poked its head over the edge of the portal to the divine plane. It looked like a woman, but her age shifted from young to old and all the ages in between. She held a golden thread in her hand and was staring at it quizzically.

“What are you talking about? We did nothing. Anna’s fine. She’s supposed to be waiting for her brother to retrieve her from the…Anna dear. What are you doing here?” The Greek Fate looked between the thread in her hand and the girl below in surprise. “Mortal.” Addressing the Colonel her voice took on more authority than the shrill whine she’d used when arguing with Michael. “What are you doing? You are interfering with the natural affairs of Fate.” Turning to speak with someone behind her, the Fate called for backup. “Sisters, some mortal took advantage of the Fates’ absence during arbitration to bully Anna.”

“Who’s bullying Anna?”

“Who’s bullying Anna?”

Who’s bullying Anna?”

A chorus of divine voices rang out. They echoed and shook the room as the shimmering faces of divine beings filled the hole above and looked down upon the mortal menacingly. Both interrogators shrank back against the one-way mirror in terror. Then a louder voice called out deep and powerful above all the others. It reverberated throughout the building and the suit sank to his knees.

“Who’s bullying my god-granddaughter?” A booming thud sounded, shaking the building. Then another. And another. Heavy footsteps coming towards the portal.

“It’s okay, Dad,” Lucifer shouted over his shoulder to the giant deity that was still some distance out of sight. “I’ve already got him on the list.” The footsteps paused, then boomed a retreat.

“Not unless he makes it to my realm first.” Another voice called out and the darkly handsome Hades poked his head over the portal and peered down as well. His long lashes framed eyes simmering with anger to see who needed torturing.

“Oh, yeah. Totes. I’m putting him into the pool with the standard shared custody agreement that all us punishment afterlife deities worked out for people who bully Anna.” Lucifer grinned and held up a hand.

“Sweet.” Hades high-fived Lucifer’s waiting hand and gave the suit and Colonel a nasty smile from behind his sunglasses. The acrid stench of urine filled the room as Anna realized that one of the dumbasses had pissed himself. Lucifer and Hades' malicious grins widened.

“Okay.” A new voice came from above and out of sight beyond the edges of the portal. The sound of someone struggling through a press of bodies was punctuated by a couple of grunts of effort.

“Why has arbitration been interrupted? Michael, you can’t just leave in the middle of a court proceeding. What are you all looking at?” A red-headed man in a suit poked his head over the portal, blinking his eyes as they adjusted to the difference in light. When his eyes finally focused on Anna, they opened wide in surprise. “Is that a minor being interrogated without a legal guardian or representative present? Do you need legal representation, Miss?”

Michael’s smile broadened as he looked from Nicholas to the interrogators.

“This is Nicholas Everstone, Heaven’s attorney and legal representative of the divine pantheons.” In the observation room chaos reigned. The Brigadier General had immediately sent his subordinates running for ways to cover his ass and justify his actions when Michael first arrived. From their position in the observation room, the observers hadn’t been able to see the portal to the divine realm. However, they’d heard everything.

Now, he stared transfixed at the Archangel Michael, because after the angel had introduced Heaven’s attorney, he had changed his focus to the general. He could see through the mirror and knew exactly who was there and who was responsible.