The Phoenix Series

Chapter 2

2

That was five years ago.

After our first meeting, it was months before I saw him again. I was beginning to think I’d been slipped something that night when he popped up. We always had a good time, after I got over the shock of him appearing behind me as I did the dishes or crawling over the end of the couch as I watched a movie. In the last six months, his visits had become more and more frequent and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had taken to sitting in my room at night while I slept which was okay but he made a wet sucking noise when he breathed. It either gave me really strange dreams about a wet-vac and a mud puddle or woke me up. That was what I was dealing with now.

“Okay, Sid.” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. “This is the third night this week you’ve been here, even after I asked you not to. It’s not like you, Sid.”

I looked at him. “What is going on?”

Sid sighed. A deep, mournful, tired sigh. With his eyes averted, he crawled across the carpet and climbed onto the bed beside me. His grey eyes met mine and he spoke quietly, barely a whisper.

“The Archer is looking for me.”

“The Archer?”

“Please! Please keep your voice low. The names Travel. Please, Phoenix.”

I had never seen Sid so desperate, fear came off him in waves. Up close I could see that parts of his face were dry. His hands were more whole than I had ever seen, which meant he hadn’t been moving very much. I lowered my voice.

“Who is this guy?”

“He is one of The Guards.”

I’d learned over the years that sometimes Sid can be cryptic and to just go with it. Things have a way of explaining themselves.

“Why is he looking for you?”

“Because I did not tell The Guards that I’d found…” He hesitated. “That I’d found something.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

“He will hurt it, he will destroy it.”

In all the conversations I’d had with Sid he had never told me about the other species in The Void. He’d told me what it looked like, briefly, and that there were other Minions like him, but nothing else. Every time I pressed him he would subtly move me into another of his fantastic tales. I’d always thought of him as a survivor: yes he’s small and moist, but I thought he could handle anything. Yet here was Sid, sitting on my bed looking frightened. I did the only thing I could think of, something I’d never done before, but he’d never come this close to me before. I gave him a hug.

His eyes were down so he didn’t see me move. The moment my hands touched him he went into a terror.

“Nooooooo!” He moved like lightening off the bed and threw himself against the wall. “No! You cannot touch me! Now they’ll know! They’ll know where I am! They’ll know everything!” He threw his head frantically from side to side looking for an escape.

“I must go. I must go. Far away. Maybe that will throw them off.”

“Sid! I’m sorry. I…” His face was suddenly inches from my own.

“My Lady.” He hadn’t called me that in years, what was going on?

“Sid, call me Ph…”

“No!” His hand hovered just inches from my mouth and I was silent.

“The names Travel.” He softened. “My Lady. Keep your Secrets.”

The oath fell from my lips like it was yesterday in a voice not completely my own.

“Siddhartha, I will keep my Secrets.”

“Thank you. I must go before he traces me here. I will be back when I can.” He shuffled away from the bed and disappeared.

I was stunned. What the hell had just happened? I lay back on my pillow and tried to dissect Sid’s words. Who was The Archer, and what was it that Sid had found? He said The Archer would ‘hurt it’ which probably meant whatever it was, it was alive. Sid had only ever talked about his time in my world, could this thing come from somewhere else? And why would Sid hide in my room? If my Light was strong enough for him to spot all those years ago wouldn’t others have seen it?

These questions chased each other through my brain until, as the sun broke over the trees, I drifted off to sleep.