Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten – The Plot Thickens (Finally)

Neal shook his head once more, “I’m sorry, Sigh. He’s not here; he’s gone out to the city for the day, checking over the archives in the main building.” Sigh scowled, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Jack was avoiding me.” Neal sighed, “I’m sorry, Sigh, I don’t know what to tell you, but that Jack’s taking the whole new mess we’ve gotten ourselves into very seriously and Jack being Jack, he’s going to research himself to death as much as is humanly possible before we get hit with the thing, so we’re not winging it.” “Yeah, and I understand that. It’s just that I kind of miss seeing him.” She told him with a look of resignation on her face. “Anyways, I just thought I’d check and see if he was available.” She checked her watch, “I have a class soon, so I’ll just grab a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria before it.” “Okay,” Neal stared worriedly after her, something was off about the latest addition to the Barker family and he had a niggling feeling that it had something to do with his sometimes idiot of a cousin. He’d see about mentioning it to Jack later on. For now unfortunately they had larger fish to fry. Neal grimaced at the sea reference, it hadn’t been intentional, but he had a feeling that with what they were dealing with, the evil alien penguins and all, it wouldn’t be the first such reference. Knowing most of the staff, once they were briefed in on this thing, they’d make sure of it. Sea jokes, ocean metaphors, bad puns, and the whole gamut. He shook his head as he turned back to some of the admin work he was doing. The next few days promised to be interesting, but then again they always were.

Sigh was a bit out of sorts; mostly it was because of the stress of the upcoming midterms and also the new job that she had accepted had turned out to be far more than she had ever dreamed. But even with all of the amazing wonderful things that she had seen during her short time with them already, there was always a price. In her case, it had been some of her sanity (not that she had had too much of that to begin with or that she really regretted losing any of it) and also the whole marriage things that was entangled with the whole prophecy and possible world ending thing. She finished doing some of her admin paperwork and then her cell phone rang. Apparently they were standard issue for Center personnel and she’d been told her had to accept one. Otherwise she’d have continued in her blissful cell phone free state, she actually kind of hated the stupid things. It was inexplicably irrational, she knew and she was fully aware of all the positive qualities they had, but she still hated them. Jack had had to order her to get one, and she’d only really given the number out to a few people, which was why she was quite surprised to have it ring while she was gathering up her things to leave for the day. She checked the caller id and was surprised to find that her cousin, Riordan was calling. “Hello Ri. How did you get this number?” “I have my ways, little cousin. I just called to see how you were doing since we last talked.” Riordan’s strong voice came over the line. She sighed once, then immediately regretted it. “What’s wrong?” her cousin’s voice sharpened, “Little Sigh!” There was a warning note in his voice. Finally she capitulated, “Ri, I have a problem.” “This problem wouldn’t happen to be six foot tall with sandy blond hair and blue eyes would it?” Sigh rolled her eyes, “Jack’s not exactly the problem, part of it, yes, but not the entire problem.” “Little Sigh.” “It’s a long story, see, but not one I particularly want to tell over the phone.” “Little SIGH!” Riordan almost shouted into the phone. “Yes?” “Meet me at O’Darlings. Bring Jack.” “Why? So you can gut him first?” Sigh asked archly, knowing full well the somewhat unfriendly disposition the males in her family had towards those who dared to try and ‘make nice’ with the unattached females in the family. “No,” her countered calmly, “I need you to bring him because I need to ask him something and whether or not the gutting takes place will be *entirely* up to him.” She let out a deep breath, “ I’ll be there, Ri. I can’t promise about him, Jack’s got a lot on his plate right now.” “Anything short of saving the world is unacceptable.” Riordan stated in a matter of fact tone. Sigh snorted once, “Try the universe…See you shortly.”

Sigh quickly got her things together, and after speaking quickly to Zhann left the pit. “Something’s not quite right,” Upid muttered as he watched her leave. Kriss nodded, “You might be on to something there, Upid.” She turned to her keyboard and tapped a few keys. “Looks like some family issues, do we know where Neal and Aden are?” Upid spoke up, “ Neal and Aden popped out for lunch half an hour ago.” “Did they say where?” “Nope, just some pub that Aden’s family owns.”

It was by sheer happenstance that he looked up at just the right time and saw her. He watched as she greeted a tall redheaded man and then as they took a booth in the back of the restaurant. He motioned to Aden and pointed to Sigh and the other guy. Aden’s eyes got large, “That’s her cousin Riordan…but that doesn’t make any sense, he’s supposed to be at sea!” Aden hissed in a low tone. “Something’s a bit fishy here. First, Jack disappears off the face of the planet and don’t give me that ‘studying the archives excuse.’ I called down there myself, he isn’t there,” she said as Neal shot her a disapproving look. “So first that and now this. What by St. Lalla is going on here?”

“Let’s find out,” Neal said as he surreptitiously took something from his pocket and casually placed it on the table. He fiddled with it for a second and then all of a sudden, he could hear Sigh’s and Riordan’s voices, clear as day. “Alright Little Sigh, spill. What’s going on?” “First off, Ri, I wanted you to be one of the first to know. I’ve made my decision.” Neal shot a questioning look at Aden whose eyes had gotten huge as she listened. She mouthed to him, ‘I’ll explain later.’ Rolling his eyes, he nodded and then focused on the other conversation. “You have?” Riordan’s voice was uncertain. “Yeah,” Sigh breathed, “My name’s going to be Barker, Ri.” Riordan choked on his water, “You… you… what? Explain that, Little Sigh.” “Only on the ship’s oath that you won’t breathe a word on this to *anyone* especially my mum, Ri.” Riordan sighed heavily, “You’re evil, and ye know that, don’t ya, Little Sigh? Pure evil. Alright I give my most solemn oath that I’ll never tell what ye are about to tell me to a single soul that don’t already know and excepting in cases of terrible necessity. Will that satisfy?” “It’ll do.”

Neal listened to Sigh explain in a roundabout way about the feast day and what had happened. There was a long moment of silence when she finished. “Ri, say something,” Sigh pleaded. “Oh Little Sigh,” was all that he could say before he broke out into laughter. It took him a couple moments before he was able to compose himself. “That’s hysterical, oh it fits, it does.” He wiped his eyes and smiled at her, “Ai, I never thought I’d see that day, Sigh, where you were old enough to realize that it had to be like this.” Sigh nodded, “I love both my parents and don’t want to lose either of them. Like you said, it was the only way and Jack is a good guy. But it gets better.” Riordan’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh no, the Delaphaine curse?” Sigh nodded “It strikes again and boy how it struck this time.” Back at the other table one of Neal’s eyebrows had quirked up and he and Aden had traded looks. “The Delaphaine curse?” He whispered to her. “It’s not what you think.” She whispered back.

Riordan signaled the waiter, “Hold that thought, little coz.” He said as the waiter walked up, “Mike, a double shot of wiskbaugh if you please I’ve a feeling I’m going to need it.” The waiter nodded and quickly brought his drink. “Alright Little Sigh. Hit me.”

“Not only have I chosen my name, Ri, or rather had it chosen for me in a way, but there is also a prophecy of sorts entangled in all of this. An apocalyptic sort of prophecy.”

“Oh no,” Riordan remarked, tossing back his wiskbaugh and signaling for another. “Can ye tell me what it is?”

“As far as I remember it, Spice wine or whatever it was that they gave us was pretty potent. Anyways it goes something like this, a girl of ancient name shall become Queen and she will take a King and together they shall rule our world and their son shall rule the galaxy. At least that is what I remember from it.”

“Your comment about the universe suddenly makes more sense. What are you are into, Sigh? Your mother suspects something, but she’s played this one close to her vest.”

Sigh arched an eyebrow, “From you even? That is a surprise, Ri. I figured she would at least have confided in you. After all, she is grooming you to take over the family business.” “That’s merely hearsay, cousin, but no she hasn’t confided in me. Not with this at least,” Riordan told her with an arch look.

“Interesting.”

“You’re not going to say anymore than that, are you?”

“Not at the moment, no.”

“Fine. Keep your secrets. Are you going to finish those fries?”

Neal fiddled with the device once more and then slipped it back into his pocket, “Well that was enlightening sort of.” Aden nodded, a distant look on her face, “Yes, yes it was.” “So do you have any light to shed on this, Aden?” His companion shook her head, “I....I need to think about it a while, Neal.” He nodded, “I’ll grab Sigh when she leaves; you go ahead and leave if you need to.” She gathered her things and then left. Neal paid their tab and then waited outside the pub for Sigh to come out.

After the lunch at the pub and the startling revelations that had come up, Neal was more certain than ever that he needed to have a word with his cousin. But first he wanted to speak with Sigh, this family curse sounded awfully familiar, much like the one he and his cousins all knew about. The Barker family curse was legend and it never struck in the same way twice. Oh, there were oftimes similar characteristics between stories, but never the exact same circumstances in the exact same ways. It was far too coincidental and if there was one thing that being a Barker in this sort of job taught you, was that there were no coincidences and this latest information could very well turn out to bite them in the arse when they least needed it.

Neal caught up with Sigh just as she was getting ready to go home. “I’ll drive you home if you like. I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” Sigh nodded and followed him. They got into the car and then he dropped it on her, “ So tell me about the Delaphaine curse?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. Sigh smirked, “ So there *was* someone there watching me, I thought there was.” “Actually it was completely by accident that we happened to see you in the pub.” “We?” Sigh asked, a smile hovering around her lips. “Aden and I,” Neal growled out, “ Now answer the bloody question.”

She sighed, “Alright, pretty much it’s like this. The Delaphaine curse is mostly because of my great great great grandfather Josiah Delaphaine and how he had a Chinaman serving under him on his fleet ship, the Xerxes’ Treasure. Basically this Chinaman at the end of the voyage told my thrice great grandfather that he wished him luck in all his ventures, and that he would lead as interesting a life as was possible for a man in his position. Unfortunately as you’ve probably guessed this was a mixed blessing, because an interesting life is not necessarily a safe or pleasant one. Apparently this mixed blessing was not just restricted to my thrice great grandfather either; it has since been passed down to all of his descendants. And now it strikes again, first the prophecy and the wedding and it’s just all too much. You can trust Riordan, he won’t tell anyone; he values his own skin too much for that.” Neal nodded, “So I gathered. Where do we go from here?” Sigh turned to him, “Well we go back to my grandparents house and you wait while I throw some things into a bag and then you are going to take to wherever the frack my husband is. I need to speak with him, urgently.”

Somewhere in the Southern U.S

After having exhausted the archives on two different planets not counting this one, Jack had finally gone to the one place he knew he’d get the answers he was looking for. He’d left this place for last. For good reason too, he hadn’t been back here since…since Ruth had died. Great Gran Barker had a reputation for seeing and knowing more than was usual for a person of her age. Her little hunches were always spot on too, eerie in the way they seemed to fulfill themselves just the way she said they would. She’d told him when he’d introduced Ruth to her that they’d be happy but that it would be short lived. She never said why though and after that, he’d not darkened the door of this place since, until now. She would know what he needed to find out and if in the unlikely event that she couldn’t give him the information he needed, then she would definitely know where he could go to find it. Sighing once, he walked up the porch steps, “ Hello Gran.”

Back in Maryland

“But Darling, I had really hoped you’d be here with us for the holiday.” Lyssa Scott said as she helped Sigh pack hastily. “I know Gran, I’d hoped I could too, but something at…work has come up and it’s very important that I go. I’m sorry.” Sigh said as she grabbed some clothes out of a drawer. “Does this have anything to do with the twitchy lad downstairs?” Her grandfather, Colwyn wanted to know. Sigh smiled wryly at him, “Neal’s my ride, Grand, and he also works with me. Other than that, it’s nothing like what you might suspect.” Colwyn nodded, lips quirking up in a half smile, “Just be careful,” he told her as she finished packing and made her way downstairs. She hugged both of them while Neal put the duffel in the trunk of the SUV. Colwyn held her close for a minute and whispered something into her ear that made her chuckle before waving goodbye as she got into the SUV and took off.

“Oh Colwyn, she’s heading straight into danger, isn’t she?” Lyssa said as they stood there watching the car drive off. “I believe so, Lyss, why should our granddaughter be any different from the rest of the family?” He replied, eyes twinkling. “What was it that you said to her just as she was leaving?” she asked him. “A simple truth, love, I told her that good fighters make bad husbands.” “Oh, *Colwyn,*” Lyssa said, half despairingly. Colwyn looked as his wife of thirty years, “Don’t worry, Lyssa, she’ll be alright. She’s got her parents’ ability to land on her feet, no matter the trouble she’s in.”

Sigh waited until they were out of sight from her grandparent’s house before dissolving into almost hysterical giggles. Neal shot her a worried glance from the driver’s seat. She waved off his concern, “I’m alright, Neal, my grandfather just told me something funny, likely also significant, knowing him.” “What was it?” Neal wanted to know. She told him and then burst into giggles again. Neal furrowed his brow, he’d heard that phrase somewhere else, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember where. “So how long is it going to take us to get to where Jack is?” Neal thought for a minute, “At least sixteen hours if not more.” Sigh nodded, “Okay, well since I’m not in the remotest bit tired and I’m assuming since this is a company car, it’s not bugged by anyone but us, shall we catch each other up on where everything stands at the moment?” “I’m game.” Neal replied.

Kriss sighed; the recruiting efforts to rebuild what they had lost two years ago were coming along at a decent pace. Better than what the analysts had initially predicted for them and still well within their budget, all good factors, but she had this niggling feeling that something was not right. As part of Jack’s advisory staff, she along with the others had been warned that something was coming for them. As far she knew though, the only people who knew more than that was Neal, Upid, and Jack. She’d had her suspicions though with some of the things that Jack had asked her to look for. Pablo was often prone to muttering things when he thought no one was listening and some of the things he muttered defied all realm of human sense. Nothing new for them, the Center dealt with things that defied the realms of human sense all the time, but this was something more than just their mark one mod zero standard alien from another planet coming to visit Earth. The biggest sign of everything was that Upid had gone from bright green to a green lightly rimmed with dark purple, which in his particular species’ culture meant that he was, for lack of a better term, stressed. This did not bode well. It took a great deal for one of Upid’s race to become stressed. Upid being stressed made everyone else stressed, it was a vicious cycle of stressedness.

Back at the Barker residence in the Deep South

Jack gritted his teeth together. Nana Barker hadn’t told him a thing, save for the fact that he’d get his answers soon and that he had important business to settle before she would tell him anything.

That really should have been his first clue about what was about to happen. His second clue should have been all of his cousins and aunts and uncles had started to arrive. Bringing food with them, which was a sign that they intended to stay a while, which again made no sense unless his important business had something to do with the entire (just about) family being there to witness it. However, Jack was frustrated enough that none of this even occurred to him. At least not until the SUV pulled up.

As the doors of the SUV opened, Jack was suddenly very very aware of everything around him. From the fact, that save for a few members that were out of the state, his entire family was camped out on his great- grandmother’s front lawn to the fact that said great-grandmother was contentedly humming away in her kitchen. And also that the nine millimeter Beretta that he distinctly remembered having issued to his newest member was pointed directly at his cousin and second in command’s temple. His newest member who incidentally also happened to be his…wife, the wife that he’d disappeared on for two weeks with no word, he belatedly realized as he watched the two of them walk around the side of the SUV. He also remembered just who his wife was related to and for the first time in ages, Jack cringed. This had shot straight past awful and gone directly to horrifically bad. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some of his other relatives tensing up as if they were preparing for a struggle. His mind whirred, trying to find a way out of this that didn’t involve anyone getting shot. Just then, his great-nana’s humming stopped, “Is that my newest great-granddaughter in law out there?”

Everything froze.