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Chapter 26: The Exchange

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

Sera glared at Circe, barely managing to keep herself from launching herself at the shade leader. She started mumbling under her breath. "Bauchus looses the brat and now I'm stuck with tracking her down... Morgana better have found that kid or we're going to loose our heads..." Sera gulped and turned to Nyx and snapped, "Well? What're you waiting for? We better find Morgana or we'll never hear the end of it,"

Nyx smirked and said, "I was merely waiting for you to stop whining... I would have been more than happy to start looking..."

Sera hissed at him and stalked off, cursing under her breath, "Idiots... I'm surrounded by idiots... If one isn't letting the captives go, another one wants to become human, and then another group of shades can't even preform the simple task of kidnapping a three week old child!" Sera made sure to raise her voice at that last part.

"You don't have to be snide you know..." Narcissus reminded her.

Sera whirled around and hissed again, "The hell I don't have to be snide! I don't see how you, or anyone else, can stand being at Circe's beck and call. And this entire mission, or whatever you want to call it, is ridiculous...

"And am I the only one who thinks that it's just coincidence that the kid just happened to get out when Bauchus was getting a bite to eat? And do you really think that he would have accidentally left the door unlocked? Please even Narcissus isn't that stupid... And that is saying something."

"What are you saying?" Nyx asked, barely intrigued.

"I am saying that I think he let the kid go... Or else made it easy for her to escape..."

"That's a rather harsh acusation for you to be making Sera." says Bauchus snidely stepping out out of a shadow next to the female shade. "But hypothetically let's just assume that I did let the little treat escape. That wouldn't bother you one bit would it? It's just a crimp in our beloved leaders plan. It wouldn't bother you at all if we didn't get our human bodies restored."

Sera narrowed her eyes and said, "No it wouldn't bother me, Bauchus... What bothers me is that Circe's making me chase after the little brats when you let them go!"

Bauchus only shrugged, "Well, if I had let them go... in a way, I'd have been doing you a favor." He smiled sarcastically, "Of course, I'd never do something like that. Defying Circe on my own would be like suicide. Unless I had some kind of... support...

"Oh and you might want to talk a bit more quietly. We shades have excellent hearing you know."

Meanwhile, Morgana was rounding the corner to go back to the terminals, she almost ran right into Nyx and Sera. Sera was fuming about one thing or another, as usual.

Morgana frowned with displeasure and tightened her grip on Sarah's arm.

"How dare he eavesdrop on me like that..." Sera hissed, "And of course I would like it if the plan failed... I just don't like being the brunt of Circe's wrath. It's all his fault, and he gets off scot free!"

"Then you would defy Circe?" Nyx asked, "You know Bauchus is right. It would be suicide to deter Circe away from her goals,"

Sera rolled her eyes and said, "You're almost as bad as Morgana! Doing whatever Circe says exactly as she planned... Do you have any idea how ANNOYING that gets? Just what do you want anyway? Would you really give up this life to become a powerless... mortal?" Sera shuddered at the final word.

Morgana felt her temper rise for the first time in what had to be forever. She may have loved Sera deeply, but the two were as different as night and day. Besides she did not enjoy being talked about behind her back.

"And if he thinks I'll help him sabotage the plan, he's out of his mind. I'd much rather stay alive than anything. Besides, he doesn't need to sabotage it anyway. It'll never work." Sera muttered.

"You hope," Nyx pointed out.

Morgana took that opportunity to emerge. Sera blanched at her sudden appearance as well as the way the shade's arm shook as she gripped the captive's arm like a vice. Then Morgana spoke through clenched teeth, "The plan will not fail Sera. If I have to stop Bauchus myself I will do it..." Morgana looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, "I will not allow myself to stay like this... I won't!"

Morgana was about to leave, but Sera was not about to let her go anywhere. She grabbed her lover's arm and hissed, "You may be happy with being Circe's lackey, but I'm not... You don't want to stay a shade, and I don't want to be forced to live under a tyrant like that for the rest of my life!" Sera growled.

Morgana pulled away from Sera and hissed, "Then do something about it... Or are you still to frightened of Circe to do anything but what she says?" Sera blanched and Morgana just shook her head in disgust, "And Bauchus ridicules me about being weak..."

Just then, Kodia arrived. Her quickly recognized Nyx, and he was soon able to guess that the other two women arguing with each other were his associates. He also noticed Sarah, and thanked the gods above that she was all right...

Kodia quickly went over his options in his head, and he soon found that there was only one. He emerged from his hiding place and explained that he had come alone... To talk.

Sera, not being trusting by nature, quickly checked the area to make sure that he was not lying to them. Once satisfied, she said, "So Kodia... What do you want to talk about?" she asks snidely, "And don't do anything funny or else you can kiss your butt goodbye.

Kodia did not take her threat lightly, but continued nonetheless. After all he didn't have anything "funny" planned. "Well I believe we all know why I am here. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that I want to see Sarah released unharmed. So, I propose a switch... In other words, you let Sarah go in exchange for another hostage.

All three of the shades are intriqued by his propsal. Sera folds her arms across her chest and asks, "And just who did you have in mind?"

"Me."

The shades are taken aback by this development. After they get over the intial shock, they exchanged a few silent glances... Finally, Nyx spoke. "Let us discuss this for a moment."

"You know Circe would be happier with the father of that brat Heion," Sera said.

"Well what about his ability to portal?" Nyx asked.

"Good point," Morgana added quietly, looking down at the child at her feet. The two of them appeared to be shocked by this new development, but for entirely different reasons...

Sera nodded and turned back to Kodia. "So how do we know if once we release this brat, you won't portal away?"

Kodia thought about it for awhile and then said, "I will allow you to drain me so I can not escape. So... Do we have a deal?"

Sera nodded, "Deal."

With that, Sera grabbed Sarah from Morgana's grasp and pushed her forward toward Kodia.

While Kodia and Sarah said their good byes, Morgana found herself lost in her own thoughts... She had never seen an act of self sacrifice before, and seeing this one had deeply shaken her... It touched her, and once again reminded her that she was different from the others... and yet the same.

It was killing her.

Sera nudged her as if to pull her out of her thoughts, "Come on Morgana. We have to drain this guy..."

"But Sera--"

"Are you going to go all weepy on me again now?" Sera snapped. "If you want to become human so badly, I'd think you'd be all for taking this guy..."

"I do want to become human, but--"

"No buts!" Sera hissed, "Now either you get in there and help me drain him, or I'll make sure Circe hears about your recent behavior... You need the energy Morgana. You can't survive without it. And if you really want to win, you need to get over whatever the hell is bothering you. Now come on!"

Morgana looked at Sera in shock and looked over to Kodia sadly. Then she sighed in defeat and stepped forward along with Sera and Nyx to drain his energy. As he fell Sarah ran away at top speed, fearing Sera would change her mind.

'Be safe child... Don't ever get mixed up with us again...' Morgana thought silently.

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