Page 20 of Phoenix Chosen 2

“Unless you’ve somehow developed magic powers in the last five minutes, I have no idea what you could do to help us, Jeff. I appreciate it, but come on.”

“You know I’m into all kinds of paranormal shit, Tyler.”

“Yeah, you’ve watched every sci-fi fantasy movie on Netflix.”

“What kind of knowledge do you possess?” Kalistratos says.

“Trust me, it’s nothing useful,” I tell Kalistratos.

“It’s not about what I know,” says Jeff. “It’s aboutwhoI know. My connections.”

I laugh. “Who? The guys at the garage?”

“Hell no. I’m talking aboutonline. There’s a web forum I’m a member of that specializes in this kind of stuff. Cryptozoology, paranormal activity, metaphysics, lost civilizations, all of it. I’m talking hundreds of thousands of members around the world. Maybe someone would know something. It’s a start, right? You don’t have anything else to go off.”

Kalistratos retrieves the piece of paper with the symbol on it, and before I can stop him, he’s already showing it to Jeff.

“Perhaps a member of your cult could interpret this,” he says.

I groan. “Dammit, he’s not part of a cult.”

Jeff looks at the paper, and then takes a photo of it with his phone.

“Incredible,” Kalistratos says. “He’s captured a twin of the parchment in that magic stone.”

“Photo,” I tell him. “He took a photo, and that’s a cell phone.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Jeff says, standing up. “I want to help you, Tyler. Maybe it’ll make up for what a jerk I’ve been, even just a little.”

“Maybe,” I grumble as I usher Jeff to the door.

“Wait, wait,” he says. “Your phone got fucked, right? How will I reach you?”

“I’ll figure it out.”

I’m eager to get him out of the apartment. This entire encounter has me exhausted, and all I want to do is be alone with Kalistratos so we can figure out what the hell to do next.

9

KALISTRATOS

Tyler fills two cups with the same dark and fragrant soup he gave to Jeff and brings them back to the table. He looks weary and upset.

“We didn’t need to involve Jeff in this,” he says. “We’ve got enough on our plate as it is without having to deal with him. His ‘connections’ are just a bunch of random dudes who have way too much free time on their hands.”

“Perhaps. Or maybe his appearance was no accident.”

He gives me a skeptical look.

“Is it that far-fetched?” I ask. “Nelly was guided to find us through a vision from the Great Phoenix, right?”

Tyler rubs his eyes. “Yeah… I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. It’s clearsomeoneguided Nelly to us. But why don’t they just reach out to us directly?”

“I don’t know.”

He passes me a cup and takes a sip from his own. “I just really don’t want to have to deal with Jeff.”

“Yes. And that’s exactly why you must deal with him.”

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