Chương 63: Shirley’s got a Secret

"Alex, how sure are you that this will work?" Elena asked, her eyebrows furrowing with concern.

"Well," he began, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'll be honest, I really have no idea," he said, "the science behind it seems solid, based upon what we know about interdimensional travel. So, in theory, it should work, but…"

"There's always a but, isn't there?" Elena huffed, shaking her head.

"But, I would have liked to have tested it out before activating it," he said, coming up and rubbing her shoulders.

"It's not like we had a slew of options here. It was no assistance or…" he paused, thinking of a good way to phrase it, "I wanna say iffy assistance." Elena leaned back, enjoying the knots being worked out.

"I don't want to risk losing Regina, she is a high value asset. I think she may be critical moving forward to stop Blackwood." Alex stepped back and twirled Elena's chair to face him, "I know. That is why I decided to try out the emergency portal with her. Do I like it? No. Am I certain it will work as intended? Hell no," He sighed.

"But the alternative was to leave her stranded in a realm we know little about with a couple of fairies we know nothing about. We have barely had time to gain any intel on that realm or its inhabitants." Elena sighed.

"That's not entirely true, Alex."

"How do you figure?" he asked, taking the seat next to her.

"One of those fairies is Seraphina, the one we suspected had the prophecy child?" he asked, knowing the name sounded familiar.

"Yes," she said.

"The same Seraphina that showed up at least a couple of dozen times in the intel we got from Blackwood's office. The one we tried to approach Friday but got there two minutes too late to talk to her. This may give us an unexpected opportunity to get some answers, provided the emergency portal works the way we think it will."

"Blackwood must know something about her too." Alex said.

"We confirmed it was his agents that stormed the house. I felt terrible knowing that all our agents could do was high tail it out of there when they set the house on fire."

"What did they think they would accomplish by torching the place?" Elena asked.

"Nothing like making an announcement that you are in danger, run... run fast… run far," she said, shaking her head.

"We couldn't risk compromising our operatives by stopping them, Elena," he said, flatly.

"There is only so much we can do. Stop beating yourself up over it. Thankfully the house was empty."

"I know, Alex, I know." She sighed.

"I just want this to be over, but I'm afraid it's just beginning."

"We still have so much work to do if we are ever going to stop him. I'm afraid he has too many tentacles around all the right people to accomplish much of anything," she said, turning her gaze to the overhead monitors. This was so much easier before he figured out the portal tech. Now that he has the ability to travel to the other realm, I'm afraid of what he will do with it." she said.

"He could become unstoppable."

"You think he is planning a takeover of that realm as well as ours?" Alex asked, considering the implications.

"Now that he knows of its existence, what's to stop him, Alex?" Elena said.

"Once he finds out that the fairies hold the keys to all the other realms, what's to stop him from just moving from one realm to another in his quest for dominance and control?" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"We're here to stop him, Elena, or at least try to. At the very least, we can make it a little more difficult for him," he said half smiling.

"I just hope Regina makes it back in one piece with the fairies in tow," she began, then turned away from him.

"I would hate to see her arrive with a piece over there and a piece there," she said, pointing randomly through the room.

"I'm hoping that they arrive in separate pieces, I don't know if we would be able to pull them apart," Alex said half smiling. She slapped his arm playfully.

"You're terrible, Alex." She snickered.

"So, what other intel have we been able to gather?" Alex asked, pulling the chair up to the desk.

"Not much. It's not like we can insert ourselves into their operations. I don't think any of us would pass as a fairy. It's been difficult gathering what little intel we do have," Elena said, disheartened, then perked up.

"If Regina is able to smuggle Seraphina and Celestia out, we may be able to learn more. We could end up with some valuable assets on that side. It's hard to say." She said, taking a deep breath and blowing it out. She stood up and leaned against the center console.

"Okay, so we know they surprisingly speak the same language that we do, so there is no language barrier. Their writing is a little different though. We know they live longer than us and age very slowly. We know they have family units similar to ours. That their technology in some ways is better, but in others, years behind," She said matter-of-factly.

"We are almost positive that they did have the prophecy child in their custody at one point. Our intel suggests that the child died, but I'm not convinced that is true," Elena said, turning to him.

"Why?" Alex asked, his eyebrows raised.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm not holding anything back." She smiled.

"It just doesn't ring true with me. I don't know if I just don't want to believe it or if there is truth to it. If the prophecy child died, then all hope is lost, Alex," she said, with deep sadness in her eyes.

"Well, my recent data shows that you may not be wrong," Alex said, giving her a glimmer of hope.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, intrigued.

"We know, and the data confirms, Seraphina, Celestia and a child used their portal system to go to another realm," he said.

"What data?" Elena asked, becoming increasingly perplexed as she folded her arms.

"Oh, that's right, you were off making goo-goo eyes at Regina. We figured out how to hack into the fairy teleport system. Shirley was quite helpful." He smiled smugly.

"Who the hell is Shirley?" she asked, becoming more confused.

"Not a who, but a what. Spectral Harmonic Interstitial Realm Linking Ethereal Yield, Shirley for short. It's their teleportation system." He laughed, seeing the confusion on her face.

"I don't even think the fairies know what Shirley stands for anymore," he said, shaking his head.

"Anyway, she told me that Seraphina, Celestia and an infant went to the Elven Realm moments before we arrived," he said, watching Elena's face.

"Elven realm?" Elena asked, wide-eyed.

"Fairies and Elves, what's next? Dwarves?" she scoffed"I think there may be more realms than we ever anticipated, but that is a conversation for another time and place," he said coolly.

"Focus Elena, will ya?" He snickered.

"Anyway, as I was saying. But when they came back from the Elven Realm…" he paused, for dramatic effect.

"The infant they had with them was not the same as the one they left with," he said, slapping the desk.

"I think our little fairies stashed the real baby somewhere and came back with a substitute." Elena looked at him wide eyed.

"Clever little fairies now, aren't they?" Elena asked, impressed with their ingenuity.

"I don't think I want to know how they came up with a dead baby, but making it appear deceased is probably the best way to protect it. No one will be searching for a dead baby," Elena remarked.

"I don't think that the fairies are aware that the teleport system on their end scans and records its occupants. It can tell you, who was in the transport, where they came from and where it went. Shirley is quite the chatterbox once you butter her up, you just have to know the right buttons to push."

"Alex, I don't think that came out the way…" she shook her head, "never mind," she said realizing it was a trap and she wasn't going to go there.

"So, what else did your new girlfriend have to say?" she asked, playfully.

"Our conversation got interrupted when they shut the entire system down, she hasn't made a sound since." Alex said, regretfully.

"I guess now all we can do is wait for Regina to come back, hopefully in one piece, with the fairies," she said, turning back to the screen.