Sunny - Mona Lisa Eclipsing

“A much smaller threat, indeed,” the Queen Mother said, smiling slightly.

“Plus,” he shrugged, “the people here need me. It’s no big deal for me to take my sister’s place.”

I added, “Thaddeus and Aquila have been pretty much overseeing all the business affairs without any input from me. As you saw from our tithe, we’ve been doing pretty well. He might as well have the official title to go along with the job he’s been doing.”

The Queen Mother smiled. “Ah, yes, the title. What shall it be, for the first Basking male in our history?”

“Well, you can’t call me a Queen, that’s for sure,” Thaddeus said, grimacing.

I grinned. “What, you don’t like Mona Thaddeus? It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

My brother shot me a quelling look.

The Queen Mother raised a hand to her lips, hiding her amusement. “I think in this matter we shall stay within tradition, nontraditional though it may be.” At her nod, Lord Thorane drew a small case from the overhead compartment. Inside was a gold medallion chain similar to the one Amber wore.

At Lord Thorane’s command to kneel, Thaddeus dropped to his knees before the Queen Mother. With graceful economy of movement, she took the heavy medallion chain from the case and slipped it over his head. “By the power of the moon, our ancestral planet, I hereby bestow upon you the title of Lord Thaddeus and assign you ruler of the territories of Louisiana and West Mississippi, recombined back into one whole land. Hereon, thereafter, all courtesy and respect are to be granted to you in accordance to your status by the laws of our High Council. May our Mother Moon always shine upon you. May her light always be your guide.”

Thaddeus rose, dazzled by the brief ceremony despite himself.

It would take a little while before he started to feel not just the physical but the nonphysical weight of that medallion necklace, and all it represented.

Lord Thorane, then Amber, embraced their new brother, the only three living Monère males with that rare elevated status.

“If you have any questions, call me,” Lord Thorane offered generously. “For now, we must hasten to depart.”

“That reminds me—my gifts before I leave you guys,” Thaddeus said, grabbing the three shopping bags Chami passed to him. Opening one, he handed three boxes to Lord Thorane. “Here, my lord, these are for the Queen Mother: I bought three disposable cell phones with prepaid minutes, which will expire in sixty days. Here’s yours, sis,” he said, passing the second bag to me. Inside were six boxes exactly like the ones he had handed Lord Thorane.

“This last bag is for the rest of you guys: Amber, Dontaine, and the Morells. Everything’s labeled with your names. I bought this stuff while you guys were packing. Thought it’d be safer if you swapped your old cell phones for these new ones. I paid for everything in cash, that way no one can trace your accounts back to Louisiana. The phones already out of their boxes are for your daily regular use; each has a hundred prepaid minutes on them.”

“I didn’t think of that,” I said, handing him my old phone.

“It’s amazing you guys were ready to fly out to DC less than three hours after deciding to radically change your lives, and everyone else’s in the world. You’re not alone, sis. Don’t forget that.”

After collecting all the old phones, he handed everyone a sheet of paper with all the new numbers, including the three new cell phones he had bought for himself.

“I used initials for everyone,” Thaddeus said. The Queen Mother was QM. I was ML. “For the disposable phones, and I really do mean that—they’re only meant for onetime use—I labeled each phone respectively as number one, two, three, four, five, and six. You should use the phones numbered one, two, and three in that order. For example, Lisa, if you need to call the Queen Mother, you use the cell phone labeled number one, place your call, then deactivate your phone after you’ve finished talking to her. Same with her.”

He demonstrated by removing the battery and the small SIM memory disc from his own cell phone. “Throw away the phone and battery, and crush the SIM card. They won’t be able to trace the call or pinpoint the Queen Mother’s location that way. The next time—let’s say the Queen Mother needs to call you this time, Lisa—she uses phone number two, and both of you destroy your SIM cards and throw away your second deactivated phones as soon as you’re done talking. Use numbers four, five, and six to call me. And here’s the name and address of the hospital where they took Jarvis and the girl,” Thaddeus said, stuffing more sheets of paper into my hands, “along with a listing of hotels and motels nearby. Also some lawyers in the area specializing in criminal law. You’ll probably need a lawyer to get Jarvis out of the cops’ hands if he’s still at the hospital, if you decide to go about it the legal way.”

“Cops? Why would cops be there?” I asked. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Other than fly out of a nineteenth-story window using wings, which he then transformed back into arms. All captured nicely on late-night news. Cops will be the least of it, sis,” Thaddeus said. “You’ll probably have FBI, maybe even Homeland Security swarming around, wanting to take him into custody.”

I felt a sudden urgent need to be off, instead of being grounded here on the runway.

“Almost done,” Thaddeus said, reading my tense expression. “There’s a list of three large law firms I found in DC specializing in public law and policy, and American Indian law—the closest thing I could think of to our situation. I don’t know if these firms are the best, just what I could find quickly on the Internet.”

“My smart and brilliant brother,” I said, impressed by his foresight. “I think all the brains went to you.”

“Then you must have gotten all the guts. Go rock the world, sis,” Thaddeus murmured, hugging me good-bye.

Over his shoulder, I exchanged a nod with Chami, passing my brother’s care into his hands.

“My thanks as well, Lord Thaddeus,” said the Queen Mother, wearing a pleased smile. “One of the most practical gifts I have ever received.”

My brother ducked his head with embarrassed pleasure.

The Queen Mother handed Thaddeus a small business card. “Call this number and speak with my man, Raiden. He’ll help you transfer things over into your name.”

With a final wave of thanks and farewell, Thaddeus and Chami departed the plane.

Less than ten minutes later, we were airborne.

“ AMOST UNUSUALLY intelligent and gifted young man,” the Queen Mother observed as our small jet lifted into the air.

“Yeah, Thaddeus is special. And he has good people watching him but . . . can you do what you can to keep him safe?” I asked.

“You have my word. Next to you, he is perhaps the most well suited to helping us bridge our two worlds.”

“I’ll be using my real name, Lisa Hamilton. Will they be able to trace that back to him and Belle Vista?”

“I do not know. Raiden will work quickly to eradicate your name from all records and scrub as many memories as possible before you bring the news of our existence to the public. By the way, when do you plan to make your announcement?”

“Today, after I secure Jarvis.”

“What about on your end? Any acquaintances you made that will lead back to your brother?”

I shook my head. “No, only a few people at the new high school in Louisiana, when I registered Thaddeus there, but they may not remember me; my hair’s a different style and color now. And Thaddeus has a different last name than mine.”