Without any further interruptions springing up just yet, we left the Roundabout behind as Ehn instantly transported the five of us (himself, me, Percy, Eurso, and Cerberus) all the way to some sort of yacht that he had waiting. Yeah, like a yacht from the modern day. It looked completely out of place in this time period, but something told me Ehn had already made sure no one would notice. Or maybe the Bystander Effect would take care of that, who knew? Either way, we were standing on the rear--
Stern, ye addled landlubber!
Right, stern, sorry Fathom. She was with me at the moment. We were standing on the stern part of the yacht, on a deck large enough for both Eurso and Cerberus to stand comfortably next to one another with space left over for the rest of us. Yes, the latter was in his smaller form, but still, that was impressive. Together, we were all facing an island in the distance, where we could see a few native tribesmen out spearfishing. They were up to their waists in water, and some of them even looked directly at us but gave no reaction at all. So yeah, I was going with my first assumption that Ehn made the boat invisible or something. We might as well not have even been here at all as far as they seemed to be concerned. They also seemed pretty good with those spears.
Meh, the one on the far left is rushing his thrusts too much, I was informed by Fathom. He’s obviously new to all this, trying to impress the one in the middle by spearing the most fish. It’s making him sloppy. I bet that’s his dad, or some sort of father figure.
As she finished with that, the one she was critiquing managed to stab his spear through a truly impressively large specimen, bringing it up with a triumphant cheer. The others around him echoed it, patting him on the back. He then immediately turned to the one she had singled out as his father, and planted a big, obvious kiss right on his mouth. A kiss that carried on long enough for a blush to creep over my face.
Okay, Fathom allowed after a moment of somewhat awkward silence, I’m starting to think maybe I was wrong about their specific relationship. But now I kind of wanna go over there, cuz he seems like a fantastic kisser. And look at those sculpted--
Turning abruptly to face Ehn, I raised my voice. “So, yeah, let’s do this if we’re doing it. No time like the present--haha, get it, time travel, no time like the present!” My face was a bit pink, especially when Fathom made our eyes shift just a little to look at the shirtless Native guys in the distance once more. “We''re jumping forward from here?” She may not have been in my head, but from the soft snicker I could hear coming from Percy, she obviously knew what I was reacting to. Which only made me blush more.
If Ehn knew how I was reacting to the attractive guy, he didn''t give any indication of caring. Instead, he just gave a short nod. “Yes, we’ll be taking this vessel along with us. You may strap yourself in if you like, but it won''t be necessary. Not for this short of a trip.” His hand indicated the seats nearby, raising an eyebrow my way.
Somewhat curious if this was supposed to be a challenge, I shook my head, declining the offer to sit down. Still, I braced myself for the time jump as Ehn snapped his hand out like a magician and produced the large (it was almost the size of a basketball) glowing purple stone he was using to empower said jump. Part of me was rethinking that decision not to take the seat. But I wasn''t going to ask him to wait once he started activating that crystal. Instead, I reached out to put an arm around Eurso, simultaneously comforting the nervous raptor while using him to hold myself up just in case. Behind me, I could hear Percy reassuring Cerberus.
A few seconds passed as I braced myself, waiting for the spell to trigger, ready for that twisting, swirling sensation that would leave my stomach rolling, for the--
“There.” Ehn straightened up, the crystal disintegrating into dust before he brushed off his hands. “Right on time.” He smiled faintly at his own joke. “Quite literally.”
Blinking in confusion, I looked around uncertainly. The Native fishermen we had just been watching were gone. They’d vanished without me even noticing. In their place were a couple large sailing ships in the distance, almost out of sight on the other side of the island, along with some smaller boats. I could see people walking around over there. Not natives, European settlers. They were clearly getting things set up, carrying supplies back and forth and just--yeah, we’d jumped through time. It was so smooth I hadn’t even noticed it happen even though I had been bracing myself for it. Well that was a hell of a lot easier than the several-hundred-year jump back we’d done before.
While I was sorting myself out and realizing what had happened, Ehn gestured to the controls of the ship, and it immediately started moving, taking us toward the opposite side of the island from where those settlers were getting their new home established.
“Okay, so who is this important ghost we’re here to pick up?” I finally asked, watching the beach grow larger as we approached. “You said it’s someone very important, but you’ve been super-mysterious about the whole thing. I think I need to know who we’re here for if you expect me to recruit them. And maybe just why they’re so special that we need to go through all this. Is it about something they know?”
Ehn seemed to consider briefly before nodding. “It is about several things, but most importantly about what they know, yes. It’s about what he knows, what he’s seen. As for why he’s so special, you could say that he’s the patron saint of long journeys.”
“The patron saint of long--what?” I squinted that way in confusion. “Is there a European explorer known for long jour--wait it had better fucking not be Christopher Columbus. If it’s Christopher Columbus, I am not recruiting that piece of sh--”
“It is not Columbus,” Ehn interrupted. “You’re allowing your Bystander upbringing to cloud your assumptions, focusing too much on what sort of person their history would allow to be in a place like this. Expand your thinking, understand just how long certain people could have lived beyond what Bystanders believe. Think about who--
Oh my god! Fathom abruptly shouted in my head, almost making me reel in surprise. It’s him, it’s him, it’s gotta be him! Patron saint of long journeys, it’s totally absolutely him! She sounded like an excited schoolgirl right then, practically squealing.
Fathom, I sent inwardly with a mix of amusement and surprise, what sort of--
Odysseus! She was like a fangirl squealing out the name of a rockstar. It’s Odysseus! Make him say it, make him confirm it, please please please, hells yes make him promise we’re about to meet Odysseus, damn it, make him promise!
Unable to help the slight snicker that jumped into my voice, I acquiesced. “One of my sisters in here would like you to confirm that she''s right about this person being Odysseus. Like, the actual mythological Odysseus. Which I would be more surprised about, except for… well, everything that''s happened over the past two years. Including the fact that my grandparents are apparently best friends with Hercules. And have been since before they knew about anything supernatural. So yeah, sure, maybe Odysseus has his ghost here on the edge of Roanoke Island, why the hell not? But she''s really getting excited in here, which means it''s going to be super disappointing if she ends up being wrong. So would you please just confirm it while I brace myself for the squealing?" I ignored Fathom indignantly informing me that she did not squeal.
Ehn gave a slow smile, gazing at me for a thoughtful moment before inclining his head. “Your sister is correct.” Over the mental sound of Fathom very much squealing, he continued. “Odysseus lived up until quite recently, actually. I wanted to be certain we collected his ghost before there was enough time for anything else to happen to it. After all, he is quite the sought-after prize amongst certain Necromancers. It comes from knowing so much, from having so many secrets locked up in that head of his.”
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“And apparently we had to wait until he was dead to get to those secrets.” With those muttered words, I focused on the man once more. My voice was as firm as I could make it. “You know my rules. I''m not going to enslave him. I''ll talk to him, negotiate with him, I''ll find out what he wants and try to get that. But I''m not going to turn him into my slave just to get information if it''s not an emergency. I’ll use every other method we can. Every other fair method.” I knew there was a bit of hypocrisy to the idea that I would use harsher and more controlling methods when I was desperate enough, when enough lives were on the line. But I needed these rules for myself, flimsy though they might have been in some cases. It would have been far too easy to see myself going down an incredibly slippery slope into doing very bad things just because it was convenient. I had to at least try to maintain my line, my rules, as much as possible. Every rule had its common sense exceptions, but still.
Ehn, for his part, simply nodded. “Of course. I understand your methods and why you believe they are important. A large part of why I wanted you to speak with him is not simply because you have Necromantic abilities, but because I believe you can convince him that you are trustworthy. Sometimes that is something I struggle with.”
For almost five full seconds, I stared at the man while a whole encyclopedia-worth of retorts, most harsher than might have been strictly appropriate under the circumstances, ran through my mind. In the end, I settled for simply replying in as flat of a voice as possible, “You don''t say.” God, it was so hard to leave it at that, but I was pretty sure he took the intended point anyway. No need to push even harder.
Percy piped up then, sounding excited as she looked around as though expecting to see the ghost we were looking for any second. “Oooh! I can''t wait to see Odysseus again. The last time we met, he gave me a pet sheep!” She was bouncing up and down. “A boy sheep, a ram. I still miss him sometimes. Shyer was a very good ram.” Immediately after saying that, she turned to rub two of Cerberus’s heads. “And really great friends with the good boy here too! Cerberus misses him all the time.” From the mournful sound the mechanical dog let out, she was absolutely right about that. Even Eurso leaned in to rub his head against the one dog head that Percy wasn’t touching.
“Shyer?” I found myself echoing curiously. Maybe this didn’t really matter at all and we should’ve been getting on with the whole ghost hunt thing, but in that moment I cared more about Percy’s old pet sheep than I did about whatever Ehn’s plan called for now.
With a proud grin, Percy nodded. “Uh huh! His name was Shy-Yell. Like Chayyiel. I named him after her, and because when he bleated, it sounded shy at first. It was really quiet at first, like he didn’t want anyone to hear, then it would get louder and louder until you paid attention to him. Like this.” With that, she made a sound that was, as far as I could tell with my utterly novice ears, a very close approximation of a ram bleating, starting out very quiet and nervous before getting louder and louder.
Finally, Fathom piped up, sounding almost desperate at that moment. Okay, okay, she''s very happy about her sheep, that''s adorable. It really is. Maybe we should get her a new sheep for a present or something. Actually that’s a good idea, we should write that down. But there''s an actual legendary Odysseus ghost out there. Maybe we don''t care that much about what Ehn thinks, but I think it would be super fucking cool to talk to him! So can we please get on with this? Pretty please with cherries on top!
She had a point, so I smiled at Percy. “Well, maybe one of the things Odysseus can tell us when we find him is where to get another really good sheep to be a new friend.” With that, I turned to Ehn and gestured. “Okay, so where are we supposed to find this special ghost? And can we do it without being spotted by those guys over there? I don''t even wanna know what the Bystander Effect would do about them seeing a group of white people around when they''re supposed to be the first English settlement on this whole continent. I mean, would it even do anything about that? Or would it leave things alone and let us explain it because that’s not exactly a supernatural situation?” I trailed off thoughtfully. “You know, I said I didn''t want to know what I would do, but actually I do. Maybe we should go talk to them just to see what happens. Unless that would be changing the timeline. Wait, is that a bad idea? Would--”
Ehn gave an audible chuckle, interrupting, “If we do speak with them, we are simply other explorers. Not part of a settlement, simply three figures out exploring this new land. But for now, I doubt it will come up. Unless, of course, you wish to meet your old professor’s birth parents face to face?” He asked that part with a raised eyebrow, clearly asking if I wanted to see my great-grandparents without exposing that fact to Percy. Which actually made me feel bad. I didn’t like deceiving her. But she couldn’t find out that Dare was my grandmother. It was too risky. If we made it back to the present and her knowing that actually affected the protection spell keeping the Fomorians off Earth, and even broke it… yeah, it didn’t matter how much I hated keeping her in the dark. She couldn’t know. Not until we managed to do something about that spell. Which I was absolutely going to do. Dare wasn’t going to spend the rest of eternity without her own daughter knowing who she was. Mom and Dare were going to know each other, really know each other. Somehow, someway, I would fix that for them. No matter how hard it was to do. It wasn’t as though that would be the first time our family pulled off something that was supposed to be impossible.
“Maybe later,” I allowed, keeping my voice as neutral as possible. “It would be kinda neat to tell Professor Dare that I met her parents. I think she’d get a kick out of that.”
“Perhaps she would. As for how to find this ghost,” Ehn continued while turning to walk to the front of the yacht with a beckoning hand for me to follow, “we should be close enough to his burial spot now for you to find him with your ability.” The boat had come to a stop just fifty yards from the tip of the rocky beach on this end of the island. “He died a mere two years ago, from this point. Long enough for his ghost to have… settled into this area, but short enough that others have not been able to track him down to use for their own ends.”
“You mean before we can use him for our own ends,” Percy put in, her voice uncharacteristically sharp. “He was nice to me. I won’t let anyone else be mean to him.”
Ehn held up his hand placatingly. “As I promised Felicity here, I have no intention of forcing anything, or of… being mean, as you say. This is about negotiation, it’s why I wish for her to do the talking. And you, if you would care to put in a good word for her. As you say, he was nice to you. And you were nice to him. It might help if you were to speak up as well.”
From the look on her face, Percy wasn’t sure she trusted what he was saying, and I couldn’t blame her. But at the very least, she gave a short nod before turning her attention back to me. “Flick, can you sense anything?”
Moving right up to the edge of the deck, I closed my eyes and stretched out with my Necromancy sense. I felt it push over the waves and up to the beach itself. Slowly and carefully, my special death sense moved onto the island. It was sort of like spreading my arms, if my arms were as wide as a giant blanket or parachute, and also long enough to cover that whole island gradually. Maybe arms weren''t the best comparison, but still. I felt a buried, decomposing body in the ground and knew it was the right one. His body was right there, but of course, the body wasn''t what I was looking for. We didn''t need a zombie, we needed a ghost. But with my power touching the body, it wasn’t hard to sense its counterpart, the… spirit or whatever. It was on the opposite side of the island, watching the settlement as those new arrivals continued unloading supplies.
As soon as I touched that spirit with my power, he knew I was there. I did my best to present a sense of… invitation, of request for an audience. I asked him to come speak with us.
It worked, after a moment. I felt a sense of agreement, and withdrew my power. “He’s coming,” I announced, opening my eyes before transporting all of us over to stand on the island, near that unmarked grave. I thought that would be an appropriate place to meet.
Before long, that ghost presence filled the air, before forming into the man himself. He looked like an old man, standing about five foot nine, with a head that was almost bald save for wisps of very white hair. Interestingly, unlike most ghosts, this guy had color. He wasn’t just blue-whitish, or any other monochrome. He looked just like he probably had in life, aside from being partially transparent.
“Well now, what have we here?” He sounded curious, his voice bold as he looked around, taking all of us in before his gaze settled on Percy and Cerberus. “Persephone?” Now he sounded delighted. “What are you doing here?”
Exchanging a brief glance with me, Percy spoke up cheerfully. “It’s a good thing you’re a ghost and don’t have anywhere to go.
“Because that’s a very long story.”