Something Wicked This Way Comes

Chapter 7

"Where do we even find Nimue?" Jim demanded, pacing. It was a little later, everyone else had petered out of the room, leaving just the Guardians of Arcadia. And they'd all congregated in a more private room to discuss what to do. "How are we supposed to know where she is!"

"Jim," Douxie said softly, grabbing his arm to pull him to a stop. "We'll figure it out. Stop worrying."

"We have five weeks," Jim said, whirling around to face his brother. "Five weeks! It might take us that much time to find her! Time we don't have."

Douxie pursed his lips. "I understand, Jim. Trust me. More than anyone, I understand. But pacing around the room and whinging isn't going to help."

Jim's expression crumbled and he sighed, drawing back. "You're right. Sorry."

"Chances are," Douxie said. "We'll find Nimue in some sort of body of water. That's a place to start—"

In the corner of the room, Douxie's phone pinged with a notification. He turned, brows furrowing. He picked it up, and when he saw what it was, his heart stopped.

"Shit."

Jim looked over his shoulder, brows furrowing at what he saw. "25.0000° N, 71.0000° W?" He looked puzzled. "What is that?"

Douxie swallowed, tried to breathe, then swallowed again. His hands were shaking, he noticed. He hadn't been to that place in centuries. He didn't exactly have fond memories of it.

Carter put a hand on Douxie's arm, gently rubbing it to soothe him. Douxie would never say this out loud, but he was sort of relieved it was Carter's right hand and not his left. The idea of cold metal on his skin right now was not comforting. "They're coordinates, Jim." He answered their king. "Latitude and longitude."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock," Jim rolled his eyes. "I know they're coordinates, I meant where do they go?"

"And who sent them?" Claire piped in.

Douxie took another breath and closed his eyes behind the memories of pain, trauma, and lost friends. "The Bermuda Triangle," he said softly. "That's the name the mortals gave it."

He knew everyone was staring at him. He wanted to hide from those looks, tell them he was absolutely kidding and bury the unknown number in his list of deleted contacts and never think about it again. But he couldn't.

"The Bermuda Triangle?" Steve asked, arms crossed over his chest. He snorted. "Yeah, okay. Try pulling the other one, dude."

"I'm not kidding, Steve." Douxie said, turning to face them. "Another name for it would be Monstrorum Mare. The Sea of Monsters."

Steve blinked, seeming to realize Douxie was absolutely not joking. "Oh."

Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "Who sent it?"

Douxie sighed. Of all the people who would have sent him this, there weren't many. Will didn't have a phone, so the chances of him sending Douxie an electronic text was slim to none. He relied on messenger ravens, mostly. Henry was much more likely to send Douxie a text, but he lived closer to Arcadia and would not have been as cryptic. The person who sent this wouldn't have time to be clearer in the text. They would have had just enough time to send the coordinates before their cell service was cut off. This wasn't a clue; it was an S.O.S.

"Pan," Douxie said, looking at Carter. "It was Pantelis. He's in the Sea of Monsters, and he's asking for our help."

A flurry of emotions flew across Carter's face before he settled on mildly pissed off. "I fucking told him- ugh!" Carter pinched the bridge of his nose. "I swear to the gods that kid never listens."