Page 120 of Darkness

“Too risky.” A thought occurred to Morrisey. If he could travel between realms… “Who is there? Arianna?”

“Yes.”

Morrisey closed his eyes, wrapped an arm around Farren’s waist, and focused on Arianna, her hands-on-hips scowl, her bossy manner, her…

“What the actual fuck?” Arianna shrieked, falling backward onto her ass.

Morrisey opened his eyes to find himself standing in the middle of a living room, an assortment of travelers gathered around, seated on two couches, a few chairs, and others on the floor. Men, women, and even children. Wait. Some men and women were human, as were the children.

The human mates and spawn of travelers. Morrisey noticed traces of travelers’ auras blended enough to tell who belonged with whom. Interesting.

Jessa sat on a couch next to a man with a cat. She began a slow clap.

“How did you do that?” Farren demanded.

“Why did you do it?” Arianna snapped, allowing Farren to help her up off the floor. “You scared the ever-loving shit out of me!”

The remaining travelers stared at Morrisey with open mouths.

How had Morrisey teleported? Merely wished it so? “It’s hard to explain. Mostly, I focused on wanting to be where Arianna was. Here we are.”

The older man sitting by Jessa struggled to his feet, gray hair disheveled and stroking a fluffy white cat. “Not possible. Teleportation isn’t one of our gifts.”

“Maybe not.” Morrisey had a feeling a lot of what the elder shared wasn’t known to the lower traveler tiers. “But then, I didn’t know I couldn’t do it, so I tried anyway. I didn’t learn the rules of Domus.” Fuck, but he needed a cigarette. And a good, stiff drink. He cut the thought off before those things could materialize.

“He came here as a child.” Farren still had a hard time believing how well Morrisey had passed for human all his life. “That’s bound to have changed a few things. Plus, what do you call traveling between realms?”

“What are these rules? Is there a list?” Probably better not to know them. If someone said Morrisey couldn’t do a thing, he might never try. Oh, who the hell was he fooling? Of course, he’d try.

“Not written down,” Cat Dad said.

“Write them down. How many travelers are here?” They’d need to document travelers’ existence at some point.

“Forty-seven,” Jessa replied. “Those known to be travelers to the FBI. I’ve told those in hiding to stay put. There are too many to gather without drawing attention.”

Morrisey would address Jessa’s connection with Asher later. “Do we have a total census?” How many travelers might be here? Domus realm seemed almost deserted.

“No,” Farren answered. “I’ve contacted community leaders who’ll provide numbers, but you must understand they’ve been hiding for so long and are terrified for themselves and their families. Most won’t provide names.”

“Aliases work for now. How soon can we get those?” Morrisey didn’t say so, but he’d tried sending out his senses for travelers and found about a dozen outside the mansion during his captivity. With practice, could he sense them all? He didn’t want the role, but it looked like he’d be part of leadership after all. So many gathered around, waiting for his instruction.

Arianna raised her hand. “We can help,” she said, lifing an eyebrow at Jessa.

“Sure we can,” Jessa agreed.

“Do it. I want a list of every traveler and their situation, even if they don’t give their real names. Are they safe? Do they need help? I’m sure they all felt the realm fall. Did it hurt anyone?” Morrisey faced the rest of the room. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Morrisey James. Until recently, I thought myself human. Someone summoned me as an infant and forced me into a dying baby. I’m only starting to show powers you’ve known about for your whole lives.”

All eyes stayed riveted on Morrisey. He recalled the command from the elders: “Lead.” He continued, “I was in the home realm when it fell. The elders sacrificed themselves to save as many as possible.”

Murmurs went up among those gathered.

Disregarding the side conversations, Morrisey pressed on before he could lose his nerve or come to his senses. “I work for the FBI’s Alternate Entity Task Force, or rather, I did. I don’t know where matters stand with them. When the realm fell, they tried to round all of us up. We escaped. Now we’re on our own.” He noticed a human woman, sitting with a traveler man and two children. The future of the race. “Some of our kind see humans as lesser. They are not lesser, and neither are we. Our mutual survival depends on us building a solid relationship.”

Morrisey conjured up memories of Will and his Boy Scout leader's organizational skills. What would he do? "Each of you will have assigned tasks based on your capabilities. Not the tier system you were used to, but the actual skills you possess now and are willing to use. We need guards to secure the premises and scouts to find more places to hide. We need everything from cooks to security. See Farren Austen to arrange assignments.” Morrisey sought the older man. A name flashed into Morrisey’s head, along with a few facts. “Colm? You were a teacher, right?”

“I was a scholar.” Cat Dad didn’t ask how Morrisey knew. Good thing, too, for Morrisey didn’t know.

“Arrange for management of our group, funds, etcetera. Can I count on you for this?” Morrisey knew the answer before even asking.

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