My hands turn jittery, and I shake my head.
“Pell, are you okay?” Harpoc gives me a concerned look.
I’m about to have a heart attack, why wouldn’t I be okay?
“Did you record all of the secrets I read?”
He smiles. “I did.”
OMG. And no, not him.
“How old are you?” The question spills out, and I hold my breath.
“I was created at the foundation of the worlds.” He says it plainly, like it’s no big deal, just a simple fact about himself, no different than saying, “I like purple.”
My hand flies to my mouth.
Shit! I’ve been eyeing him up and down, thinking lurid thoughts about him.
Nice going, Pell. You didn’t rob any cradle; you robbed the old folks’ home.
Ew… I rub the condensation on my beer.
He predates all the beings we’ve been chasing.
He leans over and nudges my arm. “Pell, that doesn’t make me old and decrepit.”
My face warms. He knows where my thoughts go.
“I’m ageless, time has no meaning for me. In the grand scheme of things, I’m but a child.”
A child! Ah!
“You’re not helping.” My face is burning.
Harpoc cracks up.
“So all of those hundreds of scrolls… you knew each and every one of… and hid…”
The immensity of the thought pummels my poor brain, but I have to hear him confirm or deny.
Harpoc gives a half-hearted shrug as if it’s something that happens in the course of an average day for him. “As I said, I handle the secrets of the most powerful.”
“From time immemorial.” I can’t begin to fathom it.
“Something like that.”
Silence falls between us for a full minute while my mind attempts to wrap itself around the facts, “attempts” being the operative word.
At length I ask, “Why did you finally decide to tell me about yourself? It’s not like I haven’t asked you a million times before.”
“Yes, you are persistent, my little harpy.” He winks and tingling erupts in my stomach.
Get a grip, Pell.
I’m trying.
“As it happens, I told you because you showed you trust me, with your very life. That’s a rare gift to give another, and I don’t take it lightly.” He pauses, like he’s debating whether to say more. “The fact that you grew to trust me that deeply, so quickly…” He shakes his head like he can’t believe it.
Relief has made him looser than I’ve seen him, perfect for what I really want to know, if I can just get myself together. I mean, it’s not like some god reveals himself to me every day.
“If you’re the god of secrets, does that make you the top dog?”
He smiles. “I’m hardly a canine, but yes, I am in charge.”
“Of all the secrets, of every realm.” I press even though I’m about to choke on the immensity of it.
“Yes, Pell.”
All. Every. Whoa.
But that admission does more than wow. I’d wondered if he plays a part in the double standard that allows politicians and others to live above the law. It seems I have my answer, and I’m none too happy about it.
Don’t get bogged down, Pell, find out more.
Right. Right.
I refocus, forcing a lightness I’m not feeling. “So you’re saying there’s a sophisticated system that manages secrets?”
“My domain is critical for every civilization to exist. If not for the Empire of Secrets, chaos would reign.”
He said that before, at Atitamos’s. I fiercely disagree, but I’ll keep quiet for now. Getting the facts out of him is more important.
“How many realms do you manage secrets for?”
“Every one that exists. A few you know of, most you don’t because they aren’t in this galaxy.”
My jaw drops again. Getting the facts, indeed. “I knew you were… different, but I hadn’t… well, expected, like you’re literally out of this world.”
He snorts.
“Where’s your empire?”
“Why? Would you like to visit?” Somehow he looks hopeful, and I’m not sure how to take it. Me? Go visit some alternate galaxy or dimension? My mind is officially going to explode with the immensity of it all.
All I really care about is stopping the double standards politicians enjoy and molesters get away with in my little world. “The thought intrigues me,” I say, covering.
His eyes sparkle at that.
He can’t be serious. I’m just an unemployed earthling who until this morning thought the Milky Way was da bomb.
He tripskipped, Pell. You can’t believe he’s from this dimension.
I know, I know, he’s a freaking god.
“Explain to me how ‘sealing a secret’ works,” I say, circling back to my original question.
Harpoc stretches and grabs his drink from the end table, then resituates himself. “When a being does something that he or she wishes no one knows about, the empire goes into action. A representative pays him or her a visit and determines whether the being wishes to seal that secret for time and eternity, in exchange for payment of some kind.”
Aka, Zeki’s fifty percent fee. I make a mental note to ask him what the sphinx, Zephyr, and Midas paid, as well as Foutsey. I barely suppress a growl.
“I manage the secrets of the powerful. My lieutenants coordinate the ranks of those less powerful.”
I furrow my brow. “I’ve done a thing or two I wished no one knew about. No one’s ever shown up to make that offer to me. I’d probably have taken them up on it.”
Harpoc runs a hand up and down his thigh.
“What gives?”
He looks at the floor. “You're a special case.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
His jaw clenches. “Let’s leave that for another time.”
I give him my best frown. Another secret? Somehow it feels like everyone on the planet has access to this secret magic except me. Why? Why have I never even overheard anyone refer to it?
