Forged by Greed (38 page)

“Sorry. But I hope Pen isn’t your daughter.” Jatred was back on the
wall, climbing.

“Has it ever occurred to you Pen’s not half-black?” Tyrrell raised
one eyebrow. “Because if she was
my
daughter,
she would have to be, right?”

“Right. Sorry, sorry.”

“Your ex-girlfriend, Jasmira, is half-black, you know,” Tyrrell
added quietly.

Jatred paused, and then leaned away from the wall, his arms extended.
“I don’t even remember how she looks. Is she half-black?”

“Yes. Her mom was from Ethiopia.”

“Must be very pretty then.”

“You thought so.”

“And you?” Jatred grunted. He was high up, getting close to the end
of his climb.

“I think she is a very nice kid. You’re almost at the pitch. Hurry
up.”

Tyrrell felt the ground under his feet roll. He looked down, his
eyes opened wide, and then up at Jatred.

“Jatred!” he shouted with his mind. “Earthquake! Hold tight, son.”

He planted his feet apart to keep his balance. The air filled with a
grinding noise. Small pieces of rock rained down at him. Tyrrell ducked his
head between his shoulders, as a bigger nugget hit his helmet.

Jatred held onto the wall, his body pressed flat against it. His grip
was not secure enough, and he felt his fingers slipping from the rock. He
gritted his teeth in pain when a piece of stone hit his shoulder. A few smaller
ones bounced off his helmet. Another piece struck him at the nape of his neck,
cutting into his unprotected flesh.

Jatred lost his footing and fell off the wall again, yelling in
frustration. Tyrrell belayed him immediately. He strove to stay upright on the
shaking ground. Jatred bared his teeth. He felt the stinging pain in his neck
and warm blood seeping through the back of his t-shirt.

“Jatred, get down! Now.” Tyrrell yelled. “Use a
descender. Fast.”

“I’ve got the rescue eight.”

“That will do, son. Use it.”

Jatred fumbled in his belt. He unclipped the
descender and, with a speed never seen in humans, wove the rope through it. Pieces
of rock kept falling, shattering on the quaking earth. Jatred slid down his
rope, as if in a fast elevator. His feet slammed into the ground. He tumbled
down, unfastening the rope from his harness.

Tyrrell unclipped his end of the rope. He rushed
to Jatred. Together, they scurried away from the rock, staying clear of the
trees. Their eyes darted from side to side. One of the trees, no more than five
yards from them, toppled down. It hit the two others. Several large branches broke
off of them. The tree smacked the soil beneath with a terrifying clamor.

Both men shouted and backed in the opposite
direction. They dropped to the ground, scanning the area in search for any immediate
danger.

“Why is it still shaking? It’s been over two
minutes.” Jatred yelled over the grinding noise of the earthquake.

“I don’t know. This is weird. All those disasters
happening at once all over the planet. This must be the ten-thousand-year mark.”
Tyrrell shouted back. “Remember what Bogdan’s parents told you? The destructive
powers of the Universe are unleashed.”

“Yeah, but they said it will be later… in
December. Something to do with the solstice?”

“
Winter
solstice.
Andy Tornwood also said that nobody knows for sure. The Amulet goes back and
forth between the Races every
one
thousand years, right during the winter solstice. But the
ten
-thousand-year mark is a different story. Obviously, there is no
data from the previous occurrences.”

Another tree fell, uprooted. It took a smaller one with it to the
ground and squashed a large shrub in its path. Both Shifters turned their heads
to watch. The earth continued to sway, narrow gashes opening in the soil
between the trees.

“Look at that.” Jatred pointed to the splitting dirt. He scooted
back on his butt.

“Stop. Don’t get any closer to the wall,” Tyrrell bellowed. “The
rocks are still falling.”

Jatred froze and looked behind him. Pieces of granite continued to
rain down from the wall. A few thin cracks appeared in it, slowly traveling
upward.

“The rock is cracking. Uncle?”

Tyrrell fixed his eyes on the wall that Jatred had climbed only a
short while earlier. Instinctively, he moved in front of Jatred, as if
protecting him from danger.

Two long crevices appeared in distorted bulge that protruded from
the rock. They ran parallel for more than thirty meters, zigzagged toward each
other, and met right below the small ledge. Another crack ran between them,
connecting the first ones in a strange geometrical shape. Huge chunks slid away
from the wall, falling forward and tumbling onto the ground with a rumbling
thud. They broke into smaller pieces. A cloud of dust momentarily veiled the
destruction from view.

Tyrell grabbed the back of Jatred’s blood-stained shirt and pulled
him to his feet. They ran parallel to the wall, away from the crumbling rock.
Another large tree fell across their path. It bounced as it hit the ground. They
yelled in terror, halted, and frantically looked around for the best path to
escape. The woods in this immediate area were sparse, but the trees grew tall,
their trunks thick.
 
The space between
the trees and the granite wall wasn’t wide enough to provide much safety. Tyrrell
swore and pulled Jatred down to the ground, between two newly-formed gashes in
the soil.

Jatred heard Tyrrell’s voice in his mind, “Listen, this must stop
soon. We’ll be fine.”

“I know.” Jatred clenched his teeth.

Right then the grinding noise and the shaking ceased. The Shifters
gaped at each other, their eyes wide.

“Is it… over?” Jatred asked cautiously, looking around.

Tyrrell slowly got up. “It seems to be over. Let’s get out of here.
The back of your shirt is bloody. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

                                               
CHAPTER 43

Human World, November 18,
late afternoon.

Tyrrell glanced at the screen of his phone. His nostrils flared, and
he inhaled deeply.

Jatred turned to look at him, noticing Tyrrell’s clenched jaws.
“What is it?”

Tyrrell dropped the phone to his lap and looked straight ahead at
the road in front of the moving car. His hands clutched the wheel, the skin
over his knuckles tightened. He was silent for a few heartbeats. His eyes
flicked momentarily to Jatred and back to the road.

“What?” Jatred sounded impatient.

“A friend is at the hospital. Her best friend, Estelle, got hurt in
the earthquake.”

“Who’s Estelle? And who’s your friend?” Jatred made an exasperated
face.

“Estelle is a Summer Shifter. She’s been badly hurt. Kaliope just
texted me—”

“Whoa! Wait a minute.” Jatred interrupted, turning to face Tyrrell. “
Kaliope
texted you?”

Tyrrell glanced at Jatred, his features composed. He didn’t offer
any comment, despite Jatred’s expectant expression. After a few silent moments
Jatred leaned back in his seat, smiling.

Tyrrell glanced at Jatred again. They both burst into laughter at
the same time.

“No, it’s not what you think, you goofball,” Tyrrell finally managed
to say. “We’re friends; very good friends. There is nothing romantic between
us. Not even close.”

Jatred eyed him suspiciously.

Tyrrell shrugged. “You can believe what you want. Kaliope is a
faithful wife and a great mother.”

“And you’re just such a good friend, for old times sake?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Tyrrell said in an indifferent voice.

Jatred made a sarcastic sound and rolled his eyes.

“I’m surprised the text went through. The lines were down when we
tried to call before, remember? Anyway, we’re going to stop at the hospital. I
want to see Estelle,” Tyrrell announced.

“What? Just say you want to see Kaliope, not Estelle.” Jatred shook
his head and gave a small laugh. He obviously enjoyed taunting his uncle about
his female friends, and Tyrrell seemed not to care.

“I hope the hospital is intact after the earthquake,” Tyrrell said.

“Which hospital are we going to?”

“Saint Andrew, of course. Where our Shifter-doctors are.”

Jatred looked at the side window. “It was freaky down there.”

“Yeah. We are lucky to be in one piece.”

Half hour later they found a parking spot about fifty yards from the
small hospital. Security and police officers directed the car and pedestrian
traffic in the parking lot and around the building. In a few spots the pavement
had split into long gashes. Otherwise the immediate area didn’t look anything
like the other places in the broken city that Jatred and Tyrrell just managed
to drive through.
 

“This is weird,” Jatred commented.

“What is?” Tyrrell asked.

“It almost looks like this building is standing on some kind of an
oasis. The mess from the earthquake stops right a few feet from the walls… you
see?” Jatred pointed to the broken pavement. “Nothing there.”

“The Goddesses’ protection. This is the Shifters’ area. The
Goddesses shield us from the Universal powers.”

“What?” Jatred stopped in his tracks.

Tyrrell sighted and turned to face Jatred, his dark face composed.
“I am almost certain that this earthquake,” he gestured around, “is the effect
of the ten-thousand-year mark. And so were all the other weird natural
disasters in the last few days. I’ve spent a good deal of time discussing this
with the Tornwoods. They are the experts, after all.”

“So the Goddesses can protect just one building, but the rest goes
to hell?”

“Something like that. I’m sure they tried to protect a lot of places
at once. Their tactic is, most likely to defend as many of us as they possibly
can. But there are thousands of Shifters of both Races all over the world. Hard
to be everywhere at once, even for the powerful Goddesses.”

“That’s just stupid.” Jatred kicked a piece of broken pavement. It
flew straight ahead and hit an overturned STOP sign. “Let’s hope our house is
standing.”

“It should be fine. After all Crystal knows that the most important
item is hidden in there.”

“The Amulet,” Jatred finished Tyrrell’s sentence with his mind.

The hospital was crowded with patients and the medical personnel.
Nobody paid them any attention, despite their torn, muddy clothes, and faces
and arms smudged with dirt. They asked at the front desk where they could find
Estelle, and were directed up the stairs. Walking hurriedly, they kept looking
around, taking in the busy atmosphere and noticing a few minor signs of the
earthquake. Small spidery lines were edged into the paint on the walls.

 
“How old is this place?”

“Over one hundred years or so. Old by American standards.” Tyrrell
shrugged.

“It’s so much smaller than any hospital I’ve ever seen.” Jatred
followed Tyrrell off the staircase and into a hallway lined with a few hospital
beds.

“Yeah, it used to be a military hospital years ago. Doctor Bigbee
and his partners bought it, renovated it, and got the place running as well as
any other medical facility. But it’s more of a clinic than a full-fledged
hospital. As you can see they are having a hard time accommodating all the
patients today.”

Jatred grunted. “Why did so many people come here? Can’t they go to
Swedish or Virginia Mason? Those are large hospitals with way more doctors than
this.”

“Must be the proximity. After all we are right downtown. But then
again, the other hospitals might be damaged. I don’t know. This one has
Crystal’s protection.” He walked to a door at the end of the hallway, knocked
quietly, and waited.
 

A few seconds passed before they heard soft footsteps inside, and
the door opened slowly. Kaliope Stephanopoulos peered from inside and pressed a
manicured finger to her lips. She let them into a very small room and quietly
closed the door. Her copper hair was pulled into a thick pony tail at the nape
of her neck. A few loose strands escaped from it, and she pushed them behind
her ears.

Tyrrell opened his arms and drew Kaliope to his massive chest. She
didn’t protest, but clung to him instead. She started to cry. Her whole body
shook from sobs, her face buried in Tyrrell’s shirt.

“I was so scared. It all happened so quickly,” she whispered. “Penelope
wasn’t with us and I… I couldn’t get a call through to her.”

“Shh. You’re fine; that’s what matters. Where is Penelope?” Tyrrell asked.

Kaliope stepped out of his embrace and sighed deeply. “She’s here,
at the hospital. She was able call me just a few moments ago. But she’s not
hurt,” the woman added quickly. “Just hit her head. Fortunately nothing
happened, just a few bruises and a bump on her head. Oh, I wish Penelope had stayed
here with us. But there is no talking to her. Such a rebellious child. Well, an
adult, after all.”