Phoenix Chosen (The Phoenix

Guardians Book 1) Ashe Moon

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 CONTENTS

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1. Tyler
2. Kalistratos
3. Tyler
4. Kalistratos
5. Tyler
6. Kalistratos
7. Tyler
8. Kalistratos
9. Tyler
10. Kalistratos
11. Tyler
12. Kalistratos
13. Tyler
14. Kalistratos
15. Tyler
16. Kalistratos
17. Tyler
Epilogue
Thank you for reading!
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 1

TYLER

W eird visions.
I’d blamed the six months of barely any sleep, working graveyard security at the plant, being around all those weird
chemicals. Those were always just flashes, though, like when I put up the toilet seat and instead of a bowl of water I saw a
night sky with a fiery bird streaking across it like a comet, or the one time when my kitchen cupboard became a window to
what looked like a temple straight out of that one movie my boyfriend always wanted to watch. The one with the ripped-as-fuck
Spartans. Ridiculously hot.
Dammit, Tyler Blackwood, I tell myself. You really ought to call them what they were—hallucinations. And you really
need to stop referring to Jeff as your boyfriend.
It doesn’t matter how many times we’d fucked, or the secret kisses he gave me when none of our friends were looking. He
was always “not ready” for the commitment.
It doesn’t matter anymore, though, because I’ve gone crazy. It’s the only way to explain what’s happened over the past six
hours—at least, I’m guessing it’s been around that much time. I don’t have my phone, a watch, or anything on me.
I look around the dark cell, which is no bigger than the bathroom of my tiny one-bed apartment. An inch of murky water
covers the mud floor. The walls are made of thickly woven branches, with tiny spots of light poking through. It smells like a
swamp—because it is a swamp. A swamp populated by frogmen.
Yeah. Frogmen. Huge walking, talking frogs wearing clothes and swords.
The door is made of heavy wooden bars, and I slop my way through the mud to peer outside. It’s afternoon, and though the
cell is tucked in the back of a large structure, I have a view of the middle of the frogmen’s village. A few of them are gathered
there around a huge pile of wood. I don’t have a very good feeling about what it’s going to be used for. It reminds me of when I
used to go camping with my uncle back when I was a kid, and the huge bonfire we would cook s’mores over. I feel like I’m
about to become the marshmallow in this situation.
Frogmen, the swamp village, this cell… All of it feels so real.
A thought begins to fill my head, and I look down and see the nervous sweat on my arms.
Maybe I’m dead?
Is this the afterlife?
The last thing I can remember from before I found myself standing alone in the middle of a forest was stepping off the bus
to get to work. The doors had opened, and again I was greeted by that wild hallucination of the fire bird coming straight at me
in a starry night sky. It felt like I was being picked up, yanked into the atmosphere like a fish being plucked from a lake by an
eagle. Maybe I was hit by a car or something. It’d been the usual sound of traffic, of music being blasted from the guy on the
corner’s stereo, of car horns and a plane passing overhead, and then, quiet. The wind blowing through trees, the gurgle of
water, the whirring buzz of insects, and a moment later, the frogmen surrounding me with nets and ropes like something out of a
Halloween horror show.
I slip my hand through the bars and feel around for the lock. It’s a strangely cut block of wood with a round keyhole. Maybe
I can pick it. I’d once spent a night shift binge-watching eight hours’ worth of lockpicking videos on YouTube. The things you
can learn at a low-risk security guard job.

There’s nothing in my pockets I can use, though. I’d had a backpack with me when I’d left the house, and it’d been on me
when I’d stepped off the bus. All my shit was in that bag—keys, a pen, my phone, hand sanitizer, even a lighter. If I had been
run down by a car, maybe it’d been separated in the impact. Or maybe you don’t get to bring your belongings to heaven.
But this isn’t heaven, is it?

A centipede writhing across the woven stick wall is a sure sign that it isn’t.
It makes no sense, but something in my mind is telling me that I’m not dead, that this isn’t the afterlife, and that I’m not
hallucinating. I’ve been taken, just like those airplanes that disappear in the Bermuda Triangle. I’ve been transported to another
world.
“You aren’t gonna have much luck trying to finesse that lock if that’s what you’re thinking,” says a voice from somewhere.
I jump and somehow manage to bang my forehead against the door. “Ow, shit!”
The voice chuckles from the darkness, and I realize that there’s another cell next to mine. I hadn’t noticed it when the
frogmen locked me up—I’d been too busy trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.
“Who’s there?” I say.
“Just another idiot who managed to get themselves trapped by the Erpetosi.”
“The urpay-what?” I bring my face close to the gaps in the weave to try and see into the neighboring cell, and I can just
make out a figure sitting in the darkness of the opposite wall.
“Erpetosi,” he says again like it’s something I should know.
“The frog guys?” I ask.
There’s a pause.
“Yes,” he says. “You’re not from Circeana.”
“Uhh… No. Definitely not.”
“How the hell did you end up in the middle of Erpetosi clan territory?”
I fiddle with the lock, but nothing about it looks like anything I’d seen in my lockpicking videos.
“Told you. You’re not finessing it,” the mystery man says.
“Well, I’m not going to sit here and wait to get turned into lunch for a bunch of frogs.”
“Lunch?” he says in an amused voice. “Someone like yourself will fetch a high price on the breeder’s market.”
I must not have heard him right. “Say again? Breeder’s market?”
“How does a young omega wander into Erpetosi territory without knowing the frogs trade in slaves?”
“Slaves?” I repeat, shocked. I press my face up to the wall in panic, trying to get a better look at the man in the cell. It’s
dark, and I can just make out the silhouette of his form. Both of his arms are up against the wall like he’s holding an invisible
bar behind his head. He’s shackled, I realize.
“Slaves,” he says. “You’re gonna be put up for sale on some breeder’s slave line, sold, and impregnated by the highest
bidder.”
Now I don’t know what to believe. He must be insane.
“In case you can’t tell, I’m kind of, like, a man,” I say. “No one is getting me pregnant, alright? Unless… Oh, god.
Frogmen…”
 My mind goes to all the sci-fi horror movies I’d watched with Jeff, with alien creatures bursting out from chests.

Jeff.
My heart lurches. If this is all as real as I know it is, then I’m a long, long way from home. A long way from him.
“You’re not an omega?” the man in the cell says. “You sound like an omega.”
“What the fuck is an omega, dude?” I demand angrily. “What the hell are you talking about? One moment I’m getting off at
my bus stop and the next I’m being marched through a swamp by a bunch of anthropomorphic frogs like I’m some kind of
backwater furry convention.”
I’d been in a kind of shell-shocked daze this entire time, and now everything was hitting me all at once.
I hear a creaking sound as the man leans forward towards the wall separating us. The restraints holding his arms to the wall
are made of some kind of fiber, like a braided rope. The shadows move across his body as he enters a spot of pale light, and
my heart does a flip as I see that he’s completely naked.
“What are you?” he says in a low voice that sounds suddenly cautious, like saying the wrong thing might catch him on fire.
“You sound human, but… Are you a soul reaver?”
He can’t see me through the tiny gaps in the wall.
“A soul what? Of course I’m human.”
I quickly realize that in a world with frogmen, it isn’t such a silly question. And if it needs to be asked, then what other
kinds of weird shit are there in this place?
Even though the light is dim, I can tell his body is extremely shredded. My mind again goes back to Spartans. I hate that I’m
staring.
“You’re naked,” I say dumbly.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m too dangerous, otherwise,” he says with a chuckle. “Or at least, that’s what our captors think about me.
Stripped me bare when they caught me. It happens sometimes.”
“Sometimes? How often does this happen to you?”
“In my line of work? Enough. What’s your name?”
“Tyler,” I said distractedly. “Tyler Blackwood.” My brain is spinning with everything being dropped on me, and peeping
through a hole at this gorgeous naked criminal splayed out against the wall like Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man isn’t making things
any easier.
“Tai…lar…” he says, like it’s the most exotic thing he’s ever said. “A very odd name.”
“Yeah? And what’s yours?”
“Kalistratos.” It sparkles on his tongue.
“Talk about odd names,” I say.
Kalistratos sinks back into the shadows, and before he can reply, a dark shape slinks past the front of my cage. I gasp. First
giant frogs, now giant rats? No—it’s not a rat. I relax as I see the two green eyes staring back at me, the pointed ears, the long,
swishing tail.
“A cat!” I say. “Hey, kitty. What are you doing here?”
The black cat turns away from me, and I see it’s carrying something in its mouth—a stick with its end twisted into a spiral.
 “Finally,” Kalistratos says. “Alyx, where the hell have you been?”

Through the gaps in the wall, I watch as the cat shimmies through the bars of Kalistratos’s cell, pads through the muddy
water to him, and scales his body like a mountain goat. It perches on his shoulder, and to my amazement, pushes the spiral stick
into the lock holding Kalistratos’s left wrist against the wall. It pops open, and Kalistratos quickly frees himself from the other
binds.
“Apologies,” a voice says. “I was delayed.”

I jerk my head back and forth, expecting to see someone else outside of the cell, a young man by the sound of it. But there’s
no one else here.
“Don’t tell me you were chasing birds,” says Kalistratos, rubbing his wrist. He steps forward into the light. Oh, he’s naked,
alright.
Then it dawns on me—it’s the cat. The fucking cat is talking.
“It’s not easy getting past a group of Erpetosi in the middle of broad daylight, thank you very much,” he says as he flicks
muddy water from his paws with disgust.

“Do you know where the map is?” Kalistratos asks.

“They have it held in a chest, along with their other plunder. Including your gear.”
“By the gods, I might make it to the phoenix temple after all.” He quietly unlocks his door. “Let’s go.”
“What about the omega?” the cat asks.
“What about the omega? We’ve got no time to waste.”
“H-hey! You can’t just leave me locked up in here,” I protest.
Kalistratos pauses with his back to me. His body is framed in the light. It’s the kind of physique that only men who do real
hands-on work have—cut, practical, and incredibly powerful. A guy who spends his day swinging around a hammer or an ax…
or maybe a sword. Just what does this guy do?
“Dammit,” he groans. “Alyx, keep watch.”
He sloshes through the mud to my door, and I do my best not to stare at what he’s packing down below. I immediately feel
guilty for thinking he’s hot, like I’m being unfaithful to Jeff. But, dammit, I need to remember that Jeff and I are not together, no
matter how badly I want us to be.
But I can’t help it… Even here, in this insane fever dream of a situation with talking cats and frog monsters and naked buff
guys, I’m still thinking about how much I want to be in a relationship with Jeff.
Kalistratos thrusts the key into the lock and frowns as he wiggles it back and forth. “It’s not opening.”
“Did you put it in the right way?” I ask.
“I know how to put in a key,” he mutters. “Must be a different one for your cage. Alyx, were there other keys?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Let me try it,” I said. “I’m a security guard, I know my way around a key.”
“Be my guest.”

I take the stick from him and push it into the hole. What the hell? This lock is truly unlike anything I’ve ever used. The key
doesn’t even seem to fit in like a normal key.
I jab it with the stick in frustration with absolutely no luck.
“Incoming,” warns Alyx.
 “Good luck,” Kalistratos says, and before I can say a word the two of them are gone.

I’m left there, staring blankly, all alone. The sound of large amphibian feet slapping through water echoes from outside, and
I can hear the croaky, guttural rasps of the frogmen’s speech.
They’re coming for me.

The frogmen are all about five feet tall, walk on two legs, and wear brightly colored clothing made from a fabric that looks
like burlap. Some of them have whiskers sticking out from their upper lip, kind of like a catfish. It makes them look like they
have mustaches. A few have swords hanging from their belts. There’s something about seeing my reflection in their huge, black
domed eyes that reinforces the reality of my situation. This isn’t a dream. You can’t see your reflection in dreams.
I blink blearily in the sunlight as I’m put into shackles and led along a marshy path out of their little settlement. I stealthily
slip the key out from where I’d hidden it in my waistband. No way am I going to be turned into some frog’s sex slave.
What the hell was Kalistratos talking about, anyway? I hadn’t misheard him. He’d clearly said that I was going to be
impregnated on a breeding line. I can’t get my head around it. Is that how these creatures work? Do they implant their young
into other beings like some kind of parasite? God. It’s too horrible to think about.
I have to get out of here.
“Faster,” the frog behind me croaks, jabbing me in the back with the hilt of his sword.
“Alright, calm down. It’s not easy to walk when your shoes are full of mud.” Right as I say this, the ground swallows my
leg up to the shin. I fall forward and get a face full of swampy muck, and the stick key falls out of my grip as the frog guards
haul me up to my armpits. I look down in a panic and watch as it gets trampled into the swamp as they pull me forward, and the
thick, sticky mud sucks one of my shoes off my feet.
Oh god, I’m fucked! I’m not ready to be a frog’s baby daddy!
A frog hops quickly through the mud, splattering me as it passes, and the procession stops. It’s speaking urgently to the
guard at the front.
“The other prisoner escaped,” I hear it say. “The cage was unlocked.”

“Secure the horde. Track him down. We promised delivery of an omega and an alpha, we cannot turn up with just one.”
“Yes, sir.”

I’m shoved from behind as we start again down the trail. The panic is really starting to set in now.
“Look,” I say to the frog behind me. “There’s been a mistake. I don’t belong here. I’m not an, uh, omega, or whatever they
just said. I’m an American. And I’m, like, late for work.” I feel like an idiot, but the words are kind of just tumbling out of my
mouth.
“Shut it, omega,” the guard snaps.
“You know what? Fuck you, Kermit!”
Panic has turned to a flash of anger, and what do I have to lose by getting the hell out of here? I jump out of the line and lose
my other shoe in the process, hopping through the mud like a deranged lunatic trying not to step on broken glass. It’s a dumb
idea, of course, but I can’t just do nothing. The frogs are on me in seconds, unhindered by the mud. Something smacks my
shoulder and sends me staggering forward, but before I fall, it yanks me by the shirt and nearly rips it from my body. I fall onto
my ass and realize one of the guard frogs just nabbed me with his fucking tongue. There’s a patch of slime dripping down my
back, and several stubby leaf-shaped blades are out and leveled at my face. I put up my palms.
“Easy now,” I say. “You need me, remember? You’ve already lost one prize.”
 “The traders don’t require limbs, do they boys?” the lead guard says to a cacophony of croaking laughter. “Just a working
womb.”

“You guys seriously need some glasses, or anatomy lessons, or something,” I say. “I’m. A. Man. I’ve got a dick and balls,
alright? And unless in this world a guy can get pregnant from his asshole, you’re making a big mistake and whoever is buying is
gonna be really disappointed.”
The frogs stare. One of them croaks loudly and his throat inflates like a green balloon. It’s odd that I’m able to read the
expressions on their faces, but I can. I see the smirks.
“This one forget he’s an omega?” the croaker says.
“He’s just talking nonsense thinking it’ll buy him time,” says another. “He’s trying to confuse us.”
“Or,” the lead guard says, “perhaps he’s not from this world.” A muted chatter goes out through the group. “He appeared in
the forest the day after the great firefly crossed the sky, did he not? And look at his clothes! They’re not like any I’ve ever seen
before.”
I try to throw my hands into the air, but they’re shackled together. “Exactly! That’s what I was saying! I’m not from here, I
shouldn’t be here, so you all should just let me go.”

None of them pay attention to me.

Suddenly, a very alarming thought crosses my mind.
What if men can get pregnant here?
“Sent by the heavens?” one of them says. “By one of the Great Lords?”
More murmuring.
The leader strokes his whiskers. “If that’s the case… He’s worth even more money!”
They all cheer. Slimy hands grab me and pull me back in line. I shout in surprise as someone pokes me in the ass with the
tip of their sword.
“Get walking, star man,” they say.
Star man. A David Bowie song starts playing in my head. Things are getting real. There’s no getting out of this. Terror
creeps up my spine, and there’s only one thing that I can think of at that moment—Jeff. God, I can’t believe I’m never going to
see him again. Never going to feel his hugs or laugh over stupid memes, or talk about the movies we hate… I miss him, that
idiot who isn’t even my fucking boyfriend. I want nothing more for him to somehow just appear and save me from this
nightmare.
“Oy, look!” one of the frogs near the front says, pointing up at a tree. “There’s a cat up on the branch.”
Sure enough, I see Alyx perched like a raven watching the procession with his green eyes, his tail swishing back and forth
below him.
“A snack.” The frog rears his head back, readying to unleash his tongue and snatch Alyx right off the branch.
Before I can shout a warning, the frog snaps forward. I wince as his tongue blurs through the air. It strikes the branch where
Alyx was just a moment ago, sending leaves fluttering down from the tree. Alyx has hopped away. The frog struggles—his
tongue is stuck to the branch.
The attack happens so quickly I don’t even register what’s going on until three of the guard frogs standing around me drop
to the ground with knives jutting from their backs. The rest of the group breaks into a panic, and the lead guard is shouting to get
them under control. The stuck frog is pulling on his tongue, eyes wide in panic. I shout in surprise as something bright flashes
past my face and severs the frog’s tongue in the middle. He stumbles and falls over one of his pals, croaking in pain. There’s a
knife stuck into the tree. I fall to my knees in the mud and try to make myself as small as possible.
Get me the fuck out of here!
 I know I should be running for it, but I’m terrified that whoever this new threat is will send a knife into my back the moment
I try to escape.

But then I turn and see Alyx is still perched on the branch. He’s licking his paw and watching all of this go down without a
care in the world. Kalistratos, I realize. That’s who’s kicking these slaver frogs’ asses.
Another one drops lifeless into the mud with a wet smack, and the rest scatter quickly. Only the leader is left. He spins
around, holding his sword out in front of him like a microphone. My heart jumps when he spots me crumpled in the mud. I try to
get up and out of his reach, but his tongue snags my arm and hauls me to him with shocking force. The edge of the sword is
pressed against my neck.

“Show yourself!” he croaks. “Or I’ll kill him!”

“Put down the blade,” I hear Kalistratos say, and then he appears in front of us out of the forest like a lion coming out of tall
grass. He’s no longer naked. Bummer. If I’m going to die here, having an eyeful of hot naked man would be the way to go. His
body is wrapped in a faded orange tunic that comes down to his knees and is bound up at the waist with a belt, and there’s a
kind of leather bandolier or satchel tied across his chest. How he managed to stay hidden in the intense green of the forest is
beyond me. It seems impossible.

“How about a deal?” says the frog.

“I don’t make deals with slave traders,” Kalistratos replies, and without slowing his pace, he draws another knife from the
bandolier.
Jesus Christ! The guy is going to get me killed. “Hold on!” I stammer. “I should get some say in this, right?”
“Fuck you!” the frog bellows, and he shoves me forward at Kalistratos—or where Kalistratos was.

But he’s gone. Vanished.

As I stagger around, I see the footprints impressed into the mud and Kalistratos appearing in front of the frog in what looks
like a plume of fire that appears and vanishes faster than I can blink. The frog doesn’t even have time to react. It all happens
even before I hit the ground. The cold flash of Kalistratos’s knife, a grunt of pain, and the sword falling from the frog’s hand.
“Phoenix…” the frog wheezes. Then it falls face first into the mud.

Kalistratos wipes his knife on the back of the frog’s tunic and sheaths it before coming over to me. He holds out his hand,
and I stare dumbstruck up at him. His eyes are startlingly bright, like the color of new pennies. This guy… He’s not human. It’s
not just the eye color or the teleportation shit, there’s just something about him. Like, an aura. I can’t explain it; I just know.
And there’s something more, a strange feeling I’ve never experienced before. He’s hot. But it goes so much deeper, and it
confuses the hell out of me. Where is this feeling coming from, and how is it something I didn’t even feel with Jeff?
I try to put words to it but come up short. I grab his hand, and he pulls me up. I’m suddenly aware of how absolutely filthy
with mud I am.
“T-thank you,” I stammer.
“Are you alright?” he said.
I touch the side of my neck where the frog’s blade was. There’s a thin scratch, but nothing worse. My heart is pounding, but
I find I’m able to get it under control. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in a life-or-death situation—I used to work security at a
gas station and had to deal with my fair share of armed robberies.
“I’m fine,” I say.
Alyx hops over, using the dead frogs as stepping stones. “We should leave, Kalistratos. Before more show up.”
 “Right.” He gives me a salute with his fingers. “Well, good luck.”

The two of them leave the path and start into the forest, and I hurry after them, slopping barefoot through the sticky mud.
“Wait, you’re not leaving me behind,” I protest.
“Well, you’re certainly not coming with me,” Kalistratos says.
“But you rescued me.”
He gestures to the cat. “It was more his idea. Just go back whichever way you came from.”

“Oh, okay, real easy,” I say. “I’ll just ask the damn fiery bird hallucination to come and haul me back to planet Earth.” I throw
my hands into the air. “Take me now!”
Kalistratos and Alyx both stop.
“What did you just say?” Kalistratos asks, looking at me. “Fiery bird?”
“I’ve been seeing this flaming chicken for weeks,” I say. “I had one more big hallucination and boom, I was here.”

The way he’s staring at me makes me feel like I just admitted my insanity, and I guess I did.
“Coincidence?” Kalistratos says to Alyx.
“When it comes to the Great Phoenix, nothing is ever a coincidence,” he replies. “The question is why.”
“Phoenix?” I say. “That’s what the frog called you, isn’t it?”
They ignore me.
“Better bring him to the hideout,” Alyx says. “I’ll go on ahead.”
“You’re leaving me with him?!” Kalistratos exclaims. “What if he’s a soul reaver in disguise?”
“You know you’ll just slow me down, Kalistratos,” Alyx says. Then he looks at me again like I’m the weird one here and
bounds away into the forest.

Kalistratos sighs and glances at me from the corner of his eye. He’s keeping his distance from me. What am I, radioactive?
“Mind throwing me a bone here?” I say. “What just happened? What the hell is a Great Phoenix and what the hell is an
omega?”
“Gods,” he mutters. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Not a fucking clue.”
“We’ve got a long walk ahead of us and plenty of time to explain. But first, we’d better get you some sandals.”
I’m still barefoot, ankle-deep in the mud. I’ve almost gotten used to it. Kalistratos backtracks to the dead frogs, and I watch
as he gathers materials off of their bodies. Soon he has several strips of leather and long laces cut from their clothes and
belongings, and using a thorn plucked from a nearby plant, he stitches it all together into a pair of sandals very similar to the
ones he has on. It all takes him less than ten minutes. I’m stunned. It’s a level of casual handiwork and craftsmanship that I’ve
never seen before. I put them on, but Kalistratos has to show me how to tie the laces. He kneels in front of me to do it, and I
feel like a dumb kid instead of a grown-ass twenty-five-year-old man.
As we walk, Kalistratos gives me a crash course on the differences between alphas and omegas, and it leaves my head
spinning. Gay relationships here are the norm, and what really breaks my brain is learning that alphas can impregnate omegas.
Yeah. Men can get pregnant. So the whole thing with the breeding line had nothing to do with some weird frog biology and
everything to do with weird biology in general.
Kalistratos insists I’m an omega. I ask him how he can tell, and he looks at me like I’ve asked how he knows the sky is
blue.

“Can you not see with your eyes that I’m an alpha?” he asks.
“I have no idea what I’m looking for, dude.”
“Dude? What is ‘dude’?”
I sigh. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”
“It should be obvious,” he says.
“Well, it’s not for me. We don’t have anything like it where I’m from. Not for humans, anyway.”
The strange thing is that I do feel something that I can’t explain. It feels like developing extra taste buds or a sixth sense, or
like going to the gym for the first time and discovering the muscles you never knew you had. And it’s more than just finding
Kalistratos to be attractive. It’s that aura I’d noticed before. I guess I’m able to put a word to it now—he’s an alpha, I’m an
omega. It’s biology in this world Kalistratos calls Circeana.
He can get me pregnant.
 2

KALISTRATOS

C ould this strange omega truly have been brought here by the Great Phoenix? His talk of visions of a flaming bird seems to
say so. So do his strange clothing, manner of speech, and clueless nature. But the most glaring sign is the comet that flashed
across the sky last night.
It’s all very bizarre to be happening right now, just as Alyx and I had finally managed to track down a map to the Great
Phoenix’s temple. And though I’m certainly no stranger to unexplainable encounters through my travels around the continent,
I’ve never met anyone like this human named Tyler.
Is he fully human, though?
He’s not one of the other clans, that’s for certain. He’s not of the Phoenikos, and yet…there is something about him that
feels like he does belong to our clan. Like there is a phoenix flame inside of him. He must be here because of the Great
Phoenix. His magic must’ve summoned Tyler to our realm. But why?
“What is this Great Phoenix?” he asks.
If he was brought here with phoenix magic, how can he not know this?
“All of the clans have a patron deity,” I say. “The Erpetosi have the Great Frog, the Hulaiosi the Great Wolf, and so on. The
Great Phoenix belongs to the Phoenikos clan. A grand bird of flames, the arbiter of rebirth and rejuvenation. His magic is the
most powerful of all the clans.”
“Wait,” Tyler says as he trudges along beside me. The ground is becoming less muddy—we’re coming close to the forest's
edge. “So those frog guys back there are part of the Erpetosi clan. You’re part of the Phoenikos clan.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then why do they look like frogs and you don’t look like a bird?”
“Because they don’t have to worry about staying hidden,” I tell him.
“And you do?”
“There aren’t many of us left. From what I know…none to bear the next generation, to regenerate us. Just a few scattered
alphas, threatened to die out. Our abilities have always been sought after, especially by those who believe we can grant eternal
life. It’s all bullshit. Some of us can manipulate time, but only in short amounts. We can’t turn back the seasons or reincarnate
the dead like the myths say. But that didn’t stop generations of hunters from trying to harness our powers… even at the expense
of our lives.”
“Jesus,” he says. Another one of his strange words. “So you stay in human form to hide? That’s awful.”
“Eh, it’s not so bad. Life is more enjoyable when you have thumbs.”
Tyler is silent for a while as we walk. I can feel him digesting all of this new information. It must be a lot for him.

“So, what about Alyx?” he says. “Is he from some kind of cat clan? Or do all cats here know how to talk?”
 “He’s Phoenikos, too. His abilities allow him to shapeshift into all manner of small creatures. Cat is his form of choice, for
some reason. Probably some kind of weird fetish, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

“And your abilities…” He trails off, thinking about it for a moment. “The thing you did with the frog. Teleporting. You can
play with time?”
“Very keen of you. I can alter time, but not for very long, and not frequently.”
“Awesome! Then you can spin back the clock and send me back to Earth!”
It takes me a moment to decipher his vocabulary. “I told you, I can’t turn back the seasons. If you were brought here by the
Great Phoenix, then we need to find out why.”
“Yeah, some explanations would be real nice,” he says as he waves away a fly buzzing around his face.
Tyler has mud caked into his rye-colored hair and his face is smeared with dried dark earth, which makes the gray of his
eyes shine like the moon on a cold night. Beneath the grime, his skin is a creamy white, and if not for his experienced physique,
I would’ve imagined him a noble person or someone who’d never picked up a heavy object in his life. I can’t pretend it’s not
alluring to me. There aren’t many who share Tyler’s ethereal features.

It all seems to be more evidence that he’s from a realm beyond ours. My mind goes to the old myths of gods and demigods sent
to Circeana from Mount Gaia.
“So where are we going?” he asks. “I hope nowhere important, not unless I’m good walking around in a muddy t-shirt and
jeans.”
“Muddy is good,” I say. “We don’t want to draw attention. It’s better if you look like a beggar.”
He tugs on the front of his garment unhappily. “What attention? We’re the only people out here. Aside from the frogs…”
“Not for long.”
The path winds back and forth up a hill. Nestled in the trees to our left is a small altar made of worn marble, draped in a
tattered purple cloth with a scattering of offerings set upon it. I stop in front of it.
“What’s this?” Tyler asks.
“A shrine to the god of travelers,” I say before grabbing a corner of the cloth and yanking it off the altar, sending the
offering bowls clattering across the cracked marble surface. I wrap it around Tyler’s shoulders like a cloak. “We move with
cover. If you’re here because of the Great Phoenix, then we don’t want anyone to find out. And your clothing is anything but
discreet, muddy or not.”
Tyler pulls the cloak tight across his chest, completely obscuring his garb beneath it. “Is desecrating a shrine to the god of
travelers really such a good idea?” he asks.
I shrug. “They won’t mind. They’re also the god of thieves.”
“That makes absolutely no sense,” he says.
“Come on, this way.”
We ascend the path to the rocky crest of the hill where a tall oak tree shades a view of the bustling town nestled in the river
valley below.
Tyler’s mouth drops open when he sees it. “Ho-ly shit. This is real. This is really real.”
“Aelonos,” I say. “Central trading hub of the region. Everything comes through here. You would’ve too if I hadn’t rescued
you from those frogs.”
“So now you’re taking credit for it?” he asks with a laugh, and we head down to the town.
 3

TYLER

T his place is a fever dream, and every minute that passes takes me further down the rabbit hole. I stare at the terracotta roofs
of the town bathed in afternoon sunlight and feel the warm breeze rushing through the valley. The smell of the town drifts on
it—a potent mixture of cooking, smoke, dust, and manure.

I suddenly remember a book on Greek history I used to love borrowing from the local library when I was a kid, filled with
incredible paintings imagining and recreating life in ancient Greek cities. That’s exactly what this place reminds me of. There’s
a large building at the center of the town lined with wooden columns that’s probably a temple, beside it is a spread of red and
blue canopies forming the marketplace, and clustered all around are smaller buildings and even what looks like a running track
with bleachers.
We go down the path that connects to the main road, busy with traffic. Kalistratos pulls the loose wrap of his tunic up over
his head like a hood and indicates for me to do the same. He grabs my arm and pulls me against him.
“Don’t stray from my side,” he warns.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I say. My heart is pounding. I peer out from beneath the hood and inhale sharply as a group of men
in wolf masks passes by us. Then I realize they’re not masks at all, it’s their actual faces. They’re seven-foot-tall werewolves
dressed in long tunics and equipped with curved swords on their belts. What are those called? Scimitars? Two of them are
carrying large packs and one of them gulps liquid from an earthenware jug. Some of it dribbles down the side of his jaw, and
he laps it up with a long tongue. But not all of them are so beast-like. I notice that two of their group look almost completely
human, except for a pair of wolf ears and bushy tails.
Alphas, I think to myself. They’re all alphas. Again, I don’t know how I can tell, but that muscle is getting stronger.
Kalistratos still has my arm in a tight grip.
“You wanna hold my hand while you’re at it?” I grunt at him.

He quickly lets me go. “Remember,” he says, “you’re an omega. And in case you still don’t fully comprehend how things work,
there are alphas in this town who won’t think twice about trying to take you. And for some, even an old cloak and mud to mask
your scent won’t keep your allure concealed.”
“Allure?” I say with a scoff. It’s not a word I’ve ever heard used to describe me. “You make it sound like I’m a piece of
ass that everyone wants a bite out of.”
But then one of the wolves snorts at the air, and he suddenly turns his head and looks right at me with piercing eyes. That
long tongue swings across his fangs, and I find myself grabbing onto Kalistratos’s arm.
I’m not a small guy. I’ve always felt pretty confident about handling myself. But here, I can feel with certainty that I am out
of my depth.
We walk faster ahead of the wolf pack and pass by a whole zoo of other creatures. There are plenty of humans, or at least
people who look like humans. Selling trinkets on the side of the road are giant ox-looking people with huge horns, silver nose
rings and long fur falling across their eyes like highland cattle. A group of tiger people in flowy togas bicker as they pass us in
the opposite direction. They seem to be arguing over something written on a long scroll. Then a baby’s cry cuts the air. A
family is organizing their baggage, and a pregnant mother is trying to soothe her baby. But wait, no. That’s not a woman at all.
It’s a man. A pregnant omega.
I can’t help but stare. He makes eye contact with me for a brief second before turning back to bouncing the baby.
“What, you thought I was lying?” Kalistratos says.
I don’t even have an answer. I’m just too shocked. Another alpha and omega couple passes us, and now I’m noticing all the
families around us.
I’m suddenly emotional, and for the dumbest reasons. I’m thinking about Jeff again and the life I’d dreamed up for us. A
wedding, a house, a family, a future together. I could always picture him as being a great dad. But the hardest lesson I’d ever
had to learn was the realization that just because something felt perfect didn’t mean it was perfect. My dream isn’t Jeff’s
dream, and it never was. He says he loves me, but he can’t commit. He just needs to work his shit out. That’s what I want to
believe. It feels too comfortable to give it up, and if there’s a chance I can get that future I’ve imagined, then I want to hold on
to that. And the sex… Phew. How could I possibly find someone better than Jeff?
I watch as an alpha picks up his giggling daughter and puts her on his shoulders, then leans over and gives his partner a
smiling kiss. The omega has a baby swaddled onto his back, and his belly is swollen with a child to come. The scene makes
my heart ache. How am I going to get back home?
Hooves pound the ground, and people make way as two gigantic horses stamp past us in the center of the road pulling a
wagon. The drivers are more of those Erpetosi frogs, and there are two rows of passengers seated in the back facing each
other, all with their hands clasped in front of them like they’re praying. Then I notice the chains.
“An Erpetosi slave wagon,” Kalistratos mutters from beneath his hood. “You might’ve ended up on one like it.”
As the wagon clatters away to the town’s entrance, I catch one last glimpse of the people imprisoned in the back. A few of
them are omegas, and one of them is pregnant.
“We’ve gotta do something,” I say angrily.
“What are we going to do, exactly?” Kalistratos says.
What can I do? It’s not like I can call 911. A cart full of slaves is normal here, and I have nothing—no weapons, no powers.
I’m just a guy.
A guy who knows a guy.
“You can do something,” I say “Stop time, throw your knives. You fucked them up back there in the swamp.”
“And this isn’t the swamp.” Kalistratos points ahead where there are two stone platforms on either side of the road, and I
can see there are armed guards standing watch.
I stew in my frustration. “This is just terrible. What kind of place is this that lets this sort of thing happen? Your world
sucks.”
Kalistratos’s bronze eyes gleam as he looks at me. “I admire your heart.”
We approach the town’s entrance and pass the guard platforms and two tall stone statues facing each other on either side of
the road, one of a human man holding a tray and the other a tiger man gripping balanced scales. Both are colorfully painted and
draped with blue and red fabric that ripples in the breeze. I stare up at the tiger statue as we pass, and a bird lands on top of his
head and drops a shit on it.

Aelonos is an overwhelming amount of stimulation. It’s not even that crowded of a place—I’ve worked security at county
fairs with more people walking about—but everything here is new. It’s like I’m being hit with a shotgun blast of different
smells every five seconds. There are spices and aromatics, incense, animal dung, grilling meats, and sewage. From somewhere
I hear a woman singing and playing a stringed instrument. Up ahead is a raised platform adorned with two columns and a green
banner strung between them, and up on top of it, a tiger man is in the middle of giving a passionate speech to a small crowd
below. What surprises me most, though, is the wolfman guiding a metal platform that looks like a small rowboat down the
street. It’s piled up with vegetables and is magically hovering three feet above the ground. I stop and stare.
How the hell?
I bend down and look beneath it. Yeah, it’s definitely floating. As it passes, I can hear a low repetitive popping sound
coming from inside of it, kind of like an engine.

“What is that thing?” I ask, glancing back.

“What? The flyer? Do you not have those where you come from either?”
“I’ve been waiting for flying cars since I was a kid and we still don’t have them yet.”
The smell of the most delicious barbeque in the world drifts over us, and my stomach rumbles so loud that I wouldn’t be
surprised if Kalistratos could hear it. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I have no idea how long ago that was. It’s late
afternoon here, judging by the sun. I’ve been running on straight adrenaline since the moment I found myself in that forest, and
it’s all catching up now. I can see the vendors cooking a huge, glistening slab of meat on a rotating spit. Next to it is a charcoal
grill lined with vegetable skewers, and loaves of freshly baked bread are being pulled from a stone oven.
“Hungry?” Kalistratos asks.
“Starving,” I reply.
“Me too. This way.”
He pulls me in the opposite direction of the vendors.
“Uh, Kalistratos,” I say. “Food is that direction?”
“We can’t get food without coin,” he says. “First things first.”
Up ahead is a tall marble building fronted by two large columns that stand like an imposing barrier, and though I have no
clue what the building is, I immediately get a bad feeling that we’re about to do something stupid.
 4

KALISTRATOS

T yler is clutching at my arm. It’s rather cute.

“What did you say?” he hisses, throwing back the hood. “The treasury?”
I pull the fabric back over his head. “Those Erpetosi emptied my purse when they captured me. I’ve got to refill it before
we go to meet Alyx.”
“So you’re just going to steal?”
“That’s right, and you’re going to help me,” I say.
Tyler stiffens nervously as we pass two armed guards, members of the Hulaiosi wolf clan who are posted at the front of the
treasury storehouse. They glare at us. One of them bares his fangs and snarls. I keep my head down so that the hood shades my
eyes. There’s a dirt path that goes up a hill next to the storehouse and I turn to follow it.
“I’m not going to help you steal,” Tyler says under his breath.
“You want to eat? Then you’d better help pay your way. Anyway, it’s better to take from the treasury than snagging food off
a vendor’s table. Trust me, they won’t miss it.”
“I was a security guard where I came from,” he says. “It was my job to arrest people like you.”
I grin and spread my arms. “Then arrest me!”

Tyler frowns at me, and I duck off the path behind a large rock.
“H-hey, where are you going?” he says, coming after me.
We’re on a hill above the storehouse covered in low brush, oak trees and large pillar-like rocks. I stay low, moving close
to the rocks, then check to make sure we’re out of sight from the guards and anyone up on the path.
“Up this tree,” I say, quickly ascending the trunk of an old oak. Tyler stands at the bottom, staring up at me.
“I’m not doing this,” he says.
“Hurry up, before someone sees you.”
“I’m not doing this,” he mutters, as he attempts to scale the tree. It’s slightly alarming how bad he is at doing it. I grab his
hands and pull him up.
“By the gods, even snakes climb better than you. Do you not have trees in your world?”
“Give me a break. I’m a city boy.”
“This explains nothing,” I say as I shuffle along the tree branch until I’m directly over the storehouse’s perimeter wall. I
grip the branch and hang, then drop past the wall and roll when I hit the ground.
 “I’m going to break my fucking neck,” Tyler says. “Jesus, I can’t believe this.”

He hangs from the branch but doesn’t let go.

“Come on,” I urge him. “It’s not that far.”
“Yeah, easy for you to say, since you apparently do this for a living. Shit, I’m slipping!”
“Shh!” I glance behind me. The path is clear, but if one of those guards decided to come around for a peek, he’d have a
clear view of Tyler hanging from the branch like a frightened monkey. The moment I look back at him, I have a face full of his
incoming crotch. He slams into me and I fall onto my back, nearly getting the breath pulled out of my lungs. He’s straddling my
neck and his thighs are pressed against my ears.
“Get off,” I say, but my mouth is pressed between his legs and it comes out garbled. If it weren’t for the threat of capture,
getting out of this position wouldn’t be so urgent.
We move to the wall of the building where we’re obscured by its growing shadow. There are a pair of high windows at the
rear, and I boost Tyler up. He extends his hand to me, and I sprint up the wall and grab hold of him. He manages to haul me up
onto the sill.

“We actually make quite a good team, you and I,” I tell him with a grin.
“I’m not a thief,” he replies, and we climb down a tall statue into the storehouse and quickly hide behind a stone altar
stacked with bronze and gold shields and helmets gleaming with firelight from the torches lining the walls.
The doors at the front of the storehouse are slightly ajar, enough that I can hear the guards talking outside. We’re all clear,
for now. I stand and walk about the room, taking stock of what’s around. Tyler hesitantly follows my lead and quickly becomes
enraptured by what surrounds us. Fine jewelry, masterfully crafted armor and weapons, bolts of silk and fine fabrics, and other
tributes given to the town council are all kept here, scattered in piles on the floor around the room. There are several shelves of
scrolls and records, and a chest overflowing with clothing. I pull out a tunic from the pile and hold it up to show him.
“If you want to get out of those muddy clothes,” I say.
“These muddy clothes are the only link I have to my world,” he replies. “No, I’m good.”
I shrug, toss the tunic aside, and begin to search the chests for the horde of coinage.
“What are you looking for?” he asks, opening a chest. “There’s coins right here.”
I glance at the piles of gold drachmae and shake my head. “Too conspicuous. I’m looking for silver. Smaller
denominations.”
All I need are a few stacks; enough to supply myself, Alyx and now Tyler for the journey ahead. I haul the top chest aside
and open up the one beneath it. It’s filled with bronze ingots.
“This one’s locked,” Tyler says. “Hold on. Maybe I can…”
He goes off and starts searching through the piles for something. I continue my hunt and finally find a cache of small silver
coins divided into stacks about a hand length tall wrapped in string.
“Fantastic,” I say, taking four stacks and stuffing them into my pouch.
I look over and see that Tyler is fiddling with the lock on the chest. He’s taken two silver hairpins and is poking them into
the hole.
“Oh, this is simple,” he says. “Nothing like that weird ass frog lock.”
I hear it click. “And you say you’re not a thief. Not even I have the skills to break a lock.”
“Sounds like you need yootoob,” he says, looking very pleased with himself.
“I need what? Speak plainly, dammit.”
 “Don’t worry about it.” He opens the chest and freezes.

“Tyler?” I say.
His hands clench the lid, and his wide eyes are locked firmly on what’s inside. He’s still as a statue, like he’s looked into
the eyes of a gorgon. Was the box hexed? Cursed items are rare, especially in a place like Aelonos, but not impossible. But to
my relief, he speaks.
“How is this possible?” Tyler whispers. “This shouldn’t be here.”
 5

TYLER

I tthan
feels like I’m hallucinating again. After everything I’ve seen and been through today, the fact that this should seem less real
shapeshifting animal men and phoenix magic is a little alarming. I stare at the rounded gray circle with its four silver
buttons on the lip and a scratched emblem that reads SONY DISCMAN. It’s cradled by a bedding of smooth fabric like it’s the
most valuable oddity in existence. I owned a similar model when I was in middle school, only in green.
“What the hell is that?” Kalistratos asks.
“Something that shouldn’t be here,” I say to him. I pick up the CD player and examine it. There’s nothing inside it; no disc
or batteries or anything, and there are no headphones. Then under the flickering torchlight, I notice a smudge of ink on the
bottom, near the label. What is that? Is that Sharpie? Someone’s name? It’s dark, the ink is smeared and faded.
Kalistratos grabs my arm. “Time to fly.”
The tall doors at the front of the storehouse creak and the growling voices of the guards grow louder. In a panic, I drop the
player back into the chest and slam the lid. Kalistratos pulls me into the shadows behind a shelf packed full of paper scrolls
and clamps his hand across my mouth. He’s holding me against his chest, and I can feel his warm breath on my ear. My heart
pounds hard.
The two guards prowl into the storehouse.
“Hear something?” one asks.
“Must be the rats,” the other replies.
The first guard drops onto all fours and sniffs at the floor. “Big rats,” he says.
Kalistratos carefully removes his hand from my mouth and points at the window. I nod. We move slowly, skirting along the
wall behind the treasure. The guards are now looking at the chest with the CD player in it. One of them splits off and goes
across the room to the opposite side.
“How easy would it be to pinch a few drachmae?” he says.
“Why drachmae when you can have yourself a new sword?” replies the other, picking up a gold-encrusted scabbard.
I take a cautious step over a helmet with giant bull horns. We’re getting closer to the window. How the hell we’re going to
get up there without being spotted, I have no clue. The only thing keeping me from freaking the fuck out is Kalistratos. I keep
looking back to make sure he’s there behind me. His bronze eyes are narrowed and focused and his face is as calm as can be.
He nods reassuringly at me.
It's odd how someone I barely even know can make me feel so comforted, but any port in a storm, I guess. And he was the
one who pulled me into this situation. I should be mad at his thieving ass, not comforted by it. His ass, though. The tunic he’s
wearing comes down to the thigh, and that means quite a view⁠—
With a loud squeak, a huge rat scurries out from the helmet’s faceplate and zooms right over my open-toed sandals.
I’m not afraid of rats. I think they’re pretty damn cute, actually. But turns out watching cuddly rats on my phone is a lot
different than having one the size of a cat crawl across your foot. The gasp comes out of my mouth without a chance for me to
stop it. Kalistratos freezes and we both drop behind the cover of a large vase. Amphorae? Those big jars with the black
paintings on them. The wolf guards snort and snarl—they’ve heard us, and now they’re hauling the chests aside and tearing the
place apart. Kalistratos grasps the hilt of one of the knives on his belt and a sliver of blade gleams like an opening eye.
“Use your powers,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “Can’t. I spent the rest of it rescuing you.”

You’ve gotta be kidding me. His powers have a refractory period?

“That’s fucking inconvenient.”
“There is a way to regenerate them quickly, but now probably isn’t the time…”
“How is now not the time?” I hiss under my breath.
“Aha!” one of the guards shouts as he flips a bronze shield. It tumbles across the floor and whirls around noisily like a coin
at the end of its spin. An entire herd of those huge rats goes sprinting in all directions.
“Snacks!” the other guard barks, and they both draw their swords and chase the rats out of the storehouse.

Kalistratos and I look at each other and sprint for the window. My climbing skills are a lot better when impending doom is
a factor. I’m up and over. I drop down the other side and tuck into a roll across the paved stone ground. Kalistratos is right
behind me. He helps me reach the tree branch, and soon we’re sprinting up the hill away from the treasury storehouse. I’m
laughing. None of it is funny, but I can’t stop. Kalistratos is laughing too. I feel giddy in a way I haven’t since I was a kid. I feel
alive.

Kalistratos places a silver coin at the edge of the table as the serving boy sets down a platter of grilled chicken, bread,
olives, sliced eggs topped with goat cheese, two small bowls of lentil soup, and two cups of wine. He takes the coin,
rummages through a waist pouch, and places change on the table.
My stomach growls audibly, and any thoughts of politeness fly out the window. I tear into the chicken. It’s plump and moist,
and a bit of juice dribbles down the side of my chin. I actually let out a moan.

Kalistratos bows his head for a moment, muttering something to himself, then digs in.
“What was that?” I ask. “A prayer?”

“Just a little reminder to the Great Phoenix that his clan is still here,” he says. “And hopefully, he’ll continue to support me
in my quest.”
“Tell me more,” I say, tearing off a bite of bread as I stuff olives into my mouth.
Kalistratos takes a sip of wine and stares at me. “First, tell me what that thing was that you found back in the treasury.”
I’d almost forgotten about it. “It was something from my world. Dammit, I should’ve taken it with me. The weirdest thing
about it was that it was old. Twenty years, maybe.”
“Then you are not the first to come here,” he says.
“Unless you guys have a Wal-Mart here somewhere,” I say, and he gives me a blank stare. “But if that is true… If I’m not
the first, then maybe that means there’s a way to get back?”
“Or perhaps whoever it belonged to is still here somewhere.”
“Jesus… Don’t tell me that.”
 “What is this cheesus you keep mentioning?” he asks, and I nearly choke on my wine.

“Jesus,” I said. “It’s like…how you say, ‘by the gods.’”

“Cheesus,” he says again. “I like it.”
“Anyway, if there’s another person like me here, maybe they’d know something. Even if it is that I’m completely stuck
here…” It’s not something I want to think about.
“You said the object was old. Twenty years? This person could be anywhere. Aelonos is a trading hub. People don’t stay
here long. They could be long dead.”
“Wow, Kalistratos. Thanks for the reassurance.”
He stabs a piece of chicken with his knife and rips off a bite. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have agreed to take you if I didn’t
already have a plan to get rid of you.”
“Slightly more reassuring, but a miss on the delivery. But go on.”
He leaned in and waited until the serving boy, who was bringing plates to a nearby table, was out of earshot. “Alyx and I
are searching for the lost temple of the Great Phoenix. And thanks to our froggy friends this morning, we finally have the key
piece we’ve been searching for.”
From the inside of his tunic, he flashes a peek at a narrow tube that I realize is a scroll of paper or papyrus or whatever it
is they write on here.
“What is that?” I ask. “Your shopping list?”
“A map. A real map. And if I can get to that temple and meet the Great Phoenix…” Kalistratos trails off, and the look in his
eye feels very far away, like he’s remembering something painful, something distant. Then the moment passes, and he smiles.
“He’ll be able to answer why you’re here. And hopefully get you home.”
Home.
I’m sitting here in the afterglow of the insanity of the day, happy to be alive with this amazing food in my stomach… and
I’m hit by a sudden wave of emotions that I’d subconsciously held back to deal with the chaos of everything else being thrown
my way.
It’s the realization, the true realization, that I’m stuck here. That there is no pinch-me moment where I wake up or a camera
crew that’s going to come out and tell me this was all an elaborate prank. And Jeff isn’t going to appear out of nowhere to take
my hand and pull me back. Maybe it’s for the best. Isn’t this what I wanted? Something to finally help me forget about him?

I fucking hate how much I can miss someone who could never come out for me and never made me their priority despite the
way we both felt about each other, the chemistry, and the sex. Goddamn, the sex. But dammit… I just miss him so much.
“Who is he?” Kalistratos asks.
Trying to play dumb is impossible. I’m just shocked he knew what I was thinking about.
“Ahh, just a guy,” I mutter, trying very hard to not let the emotions overwhelm me. I finger an olive, and when I try to pop it
into my mouth, it bounces off my cheek. A bird swoops in and snags it off the ground.
“Your alpha?”
“No,” I say firmly. “And that’s why this is so fucking stupid. He’s not my alpha. Even after five years of chasing him
around, spending so much time together, and being right for each other… He still says he doesn’t want a relationship.”
“Well, he sounds like a fool,” Kalistratos says, sipping on his wine.
“He just has some shit to work through or something,” I reply with a sigh. “It’s not his fault. He’s a really great person,
which makes it a lot harder to stay mad at him.”
 “Five years is a lot of time to spend being dragged around on a leash. You must truly see something in him.”

“I’m not being dragged around on a leash.” I slug back the rest of my wine and slam the cup onto the table. “It’s my choice.”
And isn’t that a depressing realization? I’ve been trapped in this situationship for half a decade, and it’s pretty much
entirely on me. Jeff was clear with me what he wanted from the very beginning and I was more than willing to go along with it.

We make our way out of Aelonos and Kalistratos doesn’t say much about where we’re going until the town is behind us and
the road is empty of traffic. The sun is dipping below the horizon, and the sky is painted in a vivid orange-purple. Birds whirl
overhead like fighter jets, chasing after insects in the waning light, and the smell of sweet grass and wild herbs surrounds me.
But I can still smell that damn swamp. It’s on me, in the mud caked onto my clothes and body. I’m uncomfortable as hell, but
absolutely set on my decision not to get rid of my clothes. Having tasted the food of this world and a little bit buzzed from the
wine, I feel like I’m quickly slipping further and further into this dream, and I need anything I can get to keep me anchored to
my reality.
It's hard when every direction I look there’s something that pulls me in deeper—like a strange stone monument on the side
of the road wreathed in wilted flowers, or even something as simple as the way the fabric of Kalistratos’s tunic falls across his
back as he walks in front of me.
He’s nothing like Jeff. There’s no way Jeff would survive in this world. And even though their builds are similar, I know
Kalistratos could snap him in half with one hand.
I don’t know how that makes me feel. I don’t even know why I’m comparing them.
We leave the road and head into the rocky hills. Kalistratos cuts a seemingly random route through the brush, to the point
where it feels like we’re going around in circles. I’m exhausted, but he reassures me that we’ll be at the hideout soon and I
don’t want to waste any energy arguing with him. So I trudge on, one foot in front of the other, following a man—an alpha—
who I hardly know and yet for some reason trust with my life.
The sun is now just a glowing band settling behind the hills, and the lights of the town are no longer visible from how far
we’ve walked. We’re walking without anything to light the way, but I’m surprised by how much I’m able to see once my eyes
are adjusted. Then I catch a view of a small animal perched up on a rock, silhouetted against the navy sky. Seeing a swish of a
tail, I realize it’s Alyx.
“We’re here,” Kalistratos says.
Their cave hideout is nestled into the giant rocks on the hillside and nearly impossible to see unless you knew exactly
where to look. The entrance is tucked behind a large boulder so that no firelight can be seen from a distance. It’s small but
cozy, and it doesn’t seem like they’ve been here for very long.
“Best place we’ve found yet,” Alyx says as he hops onto a rock so that he’s at eye level with me. “Close to town, well
hidden.”
“And you’re gonna like this,” Kalistratos says. “Just a few paces up the hill are hot pools.”
“Are you serious? I can finally stop looking like a fucking bog monster?”
“Follow me,” says Alyx.
He leads me to the back of the cave where there’s a narrow hole leading outside. Alyx quickly jumps out, and I scramble up
the canted passageway and emerge in an area just above the hideaway where a stream is flowing from a small outcropping
amongst the rocks. I can smell the sulfur.
“Thank you again for helping me back in the swamp,” I say. It feels very strange to talk to a cat, and even stranger to get a
response back.
“If you’re here because of the Great Phoenix, then it’s a good thing we were the ones who found you,” he replies.
 “Kalistratos told me you guys are looking for the temple. He seems to think it’ll be a way to get me home.”

“Well, at the very least, you’ll get some answers. The Great Phoenix’s powers are immense.”
“So you two are thieves, huh? Is that why you’re looking for the temple? Some reward? Treasure?”
Alyx looks back at me as he walks, and even though he’s a cat, I can see the flash of annoyance in his eyes. “We take what
we need from those who have more than enough to spare. And the only treasure we’re looking for is answers to questions, just
like you are.”
I remember the way Kalistratos looked back at the restaurant, that distance in his eyes.
“What answers?” I ask.
“It’s not for me to say,” he replies. “I’m here to support my friend. Anything further than that, you’ll have to get from him.”
“You guys are so secretive,” I say. “Sneaking around, wearing disguises, a hideout in the hills. You live as a cat. What
gives? This can’t all just be because you’re Phoenikos.”
“This morning you were nearly sold into slavery,” Alyx reminds me. “This world is dangerous, especially for our kind.”

We follow the stream for a while until we reach a small dark pool hidden amongst the rocks. I almost slip on the mossy
rocks and fall into the steaming water because I’m too distracted by the light show going on up in the sky. The stars are out, and
I never realized it was possible to see so many blanketing the darkness. They’re twinkling like the lights of the city skyline
back home, and what’s even crazier is the deep purple hue of a nebula or galaxy that shimmers through it all like a river. It’s
like those photos of the Milky Way, except even more vivid.
Alyx sits on a rock and cranes his head to look. His ears flick and he licks his paw. “The River Theoheles. Pathway to the
world of the gods.”
“That’s wild,” I say as I gawk, nearly slipping again. “Absolutely amazing.”
“These are the hot pools,” he says. “The small one is very hot. The one below it is much more manageable. Shout if you
need anything from us.”
After he’s gone, I finally rip off the makeshift tunic I’ve been wearing and toss it over a rock. I dip my fingers into the
steaming pool, and the stars ripple across the surface. Perfect. I kick off my sandals and peel the muddy clothes from my body.
My pants are especially tight—the fabric is encrusted with grime and they’ve shrunk enough to be classified as skinny jeans.
My god, the water feels good. It’s like a soothing balm on my entire body. I duck my head beneath the surface and work the
mud out of my hair, then slowly massage it off the rest of me. It’s especially thick on my legs and feet, all caked into my leg
hair. What a fucking relief. The last time a bath felt this good was after a week of working security for a festival out in the
middle of the desert. I swear I was finding sand coming out of me for months afterward.
I splash the hot water across my chest as I continue to take in that epic sight up above me, absently running my palms over
my skin. I reach my stomach and pause.
Where my abs were earlier, I’m now feeling a distinct belly. My first thought is it’s because of the incredible amount of
food I’d eaten for dinner, but that was already a few hours ago. I wasn’t like this this morning. I wasn’t like this when I got
taken prisoner—was I? Was there something in the food? Or the mud? Some bacteria or something that’s gotten me bloated?
I quickly stand. No mistaking it. My stomach is definitely bigger.
An insane thought rushes through my head, one that makes zero sense, and yet I somehow know it’s the truth. I can see those
men from the road outside Aelonos in my mind, the ones walking with their families, their pregnant bellies swollen beneath
their tunics.
My belly isn’t that big, but it’s the same shape. I can see it, even without a mirror, even with just the crazy starlight
overhead. I can see I have a baby bump.
 6

KALISTRATOS

“C ouldn’t you at least light the fire?” I say to Alyx as I ignite the candles around our hideaway with a touch of my finger.
He’s sitting up on the flat rock we use as a table, licking his paw apathetically. “I can see perfectly in the dark,” he
says.

“That’s great! Meanwhile, the rest of us are stumbling around.”

I drop the wrapped-up stacks of coins onto the rock table.
“Never get tired of hearing that sound,” Alyx says, and he bats at one of the stacks with his paw. “This is a good haul. But
hold on. You brought Tyler with you to swipe these?”
“Yes?”
“Is that such a good idea? Isn’t that, I don’t know, bad luck? Phoenix sent and all.”
I shrug. “He was hungry. How else was I going to feed him? And we found something in the treasury. An artifact from his
world. He may not be the only one here.”
I’ve become good at reading Alyx’s cat expressions. His eyes gleam with excitement. “Then he is a phoenix messenger,” he
says.
“I don’t know what he is, and I still can’t believe we’re taking him with us.”
“We have the map, and now we have him. It’s a good omen. We’re getting closer, Kalistratos.”
I take out the scroll that’s tucked securely into my tunic and carefully unroll it across the rock. After so many years of
searching, it feels strange knowing that the Great Phoenix could just be around the corner and that his knowledge will finally
give me the answer to the question that has haunted me since I was just a boy.
What happened to my parents?
Alyx pushes one of the coin stacks off the table, and I grab it before it hits the floor. “Cheesus. Stop being a cat, Alyx.”
“What did you just say? Chee...?”
“I don’t know.” I nod my head towards the back wall. “One of his odd words. He’s rubbing off on me. I don’t like it.”
“You said he was helpful.”
“He was helpful, but that doesn’t mean I’m eager to take him with us. He’s only going to slow us down, or worse, get us
killed.”
Alyx’s tail swishes slowly back and forth. “We Phoenikos need to stick together, isn’t that right? That’s why I’ve put up
with your face for so long.”
“He’s not Phoenikos.”
 “If he was sent here by the Great Phoenix, that counts.”

It’s obvious that Tyler is not from Circeana, but what he’s doing here and why is a mystery. Alyx seems certain, but he’s
always been superstitious. The only thing we have to go off of is a fireball in the night sky. Part of me is not even certain Tyler
was sent here by the Great Phoenix. Alyx and I have worked together for so long, just the two of us. Having to take care of
Tyler is truly going to be a problem. It would be so much easier to just take him to the nearest city where an oracle or diviner
can take care of him—someone with the qualifications to deal with an omega from another world—but I already know that I
would never let that happen. Maybe I just have a thing about strays, being one myself. I want to keep him safe.
Suddenly, Tyler’s voice reverberates through the cave.

“Kalistratos!” he shouts. “Alyx! One of you!”

I unsheathe one of my blades and dash for the exit passage with Alyx right behind me. Were we found? Someone after the
map?
When I emerge from the hole I find Tyler standing with the ragged shroud I’d pulled off the roadside altar wrapped around
his waist.
“What’s the matter?” I call.

He spins around. Starlight glints off his naked chest and the smooth mound of his belly. He looks at me with an expression
that’s locked somewhere between terror and utter disbelief. And I can’t believe it either.
Alyx’s tail puffs straight up. “You’re pregnant?!” he exclaims.
Pulled the words right from my head.
“I…I didn’t know! I can’t be!”
Tyler runs to us like he’s fleeing from a demon. I can see the panic coursing through his entire body.
“Careful,” I warn. “Or you’ll”—he slips on the wet rock, but I’m a step ahead of him and he falls right into my arms
—“fall.”
He looks up at me, and I’m caught by surprise by the tears in his eyes.
“I wasn’t like this before,” he tells me. “I don’t know what’s happening. Kalistratos, what the fuck is going on with me?”
“I think you’re pregnant,” I say. Perhaps it wasn’t the best answer I could give.
He pushes me away and disappears back into the cave. Alyx and I look at each other and follow after him.
Tyler is crouched beneath an alcove of candles, staring into the wall. I cautiously make my way towards him. He looks
possessed. Dead-eyed.
“Tyler,” I say. “It’s alright.”
“Cheesus, it’s not alright.” He stands up. His face is streaked with tears. “This shit is fucked up. God.” He looks down at
his stomach and rubs his hand across the front. “How can this even be possible? And more importantly, who the fuck got me
pregnant?!”
“Perhaps the one you⁠—”
Tyler furiously shakes his head. “No. No, Jeff didn’t get me pregnant. Kalistratos, we can’t get pregnant in my world,
remember? And Jeff and I haven’t… We’re kind of on a break. I mean, it’s not a break since we’re not even…” He groans and
crumples onto the ground.
His face is hidden in the crook of his elbow. I gently touch his shoulder.
“What am I doing here?” he says miserably.
“We’re going to find out,” I tell him. “We’re going to get our answers.”
 His eyes are soft in the candlelight, and his hair glows like a golden crown on his head. He looks at me, and it feels like
I’m seeing a different person from the man I first encountered in the swamp. It’s as though a shroud has fallen away to fully
reveal the omega he is. It’s a vulnerability in his eyes. Not a helplessness or lack of strength, but a softness that my alpha heart
immediately reacts to and catches me off guard.
Tyler drops his head despondently and sighs. “Kalistratos,” he mutters. “I guess I am going to need some clothing until mine
dries.”
I dig through our stash and find an old woolen chiton tunic.
“Hey,” Alyx says. “That’s mine.”
“I don’t see you wearing it anymore,” I say.
I hand the tunic to Tyler, and he unfolds the cloth and gives it a puzzled look. “How do I…?”
“Take this side, wrap it around you…”
Standing in front of him, I help guide the chiton around his body and show him how to tie the rope belt securely around his
waist. As I’m adjusting it, my hands brush against the subtle swell of his stomach. He inhales, and I pause. What was that? Heat
spreading through my fingertips? Was I imagining it, or did he feel it too?
From beneath the tunic, he drops the makeshift cloak from his waist and it crumples around his ankles. I step back to
examine him.
Tyler lifts his arms and turns around as he examines himself.
“Not bad,” Alyx says. “Alright. Because I’m not using it, you can have it.”
“It’s temporary until my clothes are dry,” Tyler reminds us. He grabs the front of the tunic and wafts it back and forth. “It’s,
uh, pretty breezy though.”
“You look fantastic,” I say without much thought. “Like you truly belong here.”
Tyler’s face turns red. “Don’t get used to it,” he says. “Seriously. I’m not ditching my clothes.”
I’ve not been around many omegas, especially not pregnant ones, and seeing Tyler like this is doing something to me. It’s
the way the chiton wraps beneath his belly that has my eyes captured. Its sensuality is unexpected. I can imagine how his shape
will change as the baby grows, and it burns hotly in my mind. I know it’s not something I should be thinking about, and I do
what I can to banish it to a dark corner of my mind. But I am an alpha. It’s only natural for me to react this way to him.
And the question remains—how in the names of all the gods and spirits is Tyler pregnant? Is this all the doing of the Great
Phoenix?
I make up a bed of grass and leaves for him and give him my spare cloak for a blanket.
“I’m sorry there isn’t something more comfortable,” I tell him. “This hideout is temporary and we don’t keep much.”
He nestles into the soft grasses and shakes his head. “I could fall asleep on a pile of rocks, I’m so exhausted. I know I ought
to be freaking the fuck out right now, but I don’t even have the energy for that anymore.”
“Get some rest. We’ll be leaving this place tomorrow morning.”
Tyler pulls the cloak up to his neck. “Kalistratos… I have no idea what would’ve happened to me if you hadn’t been there
today. So, thank you. I’m really glad you were chained up naked in that cell. I mean, not the naked part. God, I’m fucking tired, I
don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”
I laugh. “Sleep well, Tyler.”
 “Tell me you can read this,” Alyx says.

The map is simple, not much more than a collection of faded ink stains on the weathered parchment. I can make some
connections to the landmarks depicted from their shapes and the lay of the landscape. There is a snaking line that looks to be
the river Delos surrounded by the tooth-like Altair range, but there’s something about it that doesn’t seem correct, like it’s only
partially complete. What is most confusing, however, are the strange runes that flow across the map like looping threads. I’ve
never seen anything like them.
I stare for a while, but no matter how hard I look, no matter which way I turn the scroll, their mysteries remain concealed.
“I haven’t any idea,” I say.
Alyx spins around and starts furiously licking his inner thigh. He’s not happy.
“But look,” I go on. “These here must be the Altair foothills. And that means if we look south, we’ll find the swamps, and
thus Aelonos.” I slowly drag my finger in a line down the map from what I believe are the foothills, looking for something that
seems like a swamp, but I end up off the map and on the stone slab.
Alyx stares at me, his green eyes in slits. He had followed me on this quest with some reluctance. It’d been a year spent
risking our necks chasing this down this map, narrowly dodging phoenix hunters, bandit gangs and slave traders. Before I’d set
my sights on finding the Great Phoenix’s temple, he and I had a reliable thing going on moving between towns and cities
stealing from the fat treasuries or storehouses of the greedy merchants and slavers we tracked, always moving unseen and in the
shadows. It’d been that way ever since we were young, just boys on the streets of the great city of Athenos. But this has become
my mission. Alyx would say it had consumed me, but finding the Great Phoenix had been a seed in my mind for a very long
time.
 7

TYLER

“A lright, maybe the swamps aren’t on here,” I hear Kalistratos say. His voice echoes off the walls of the cave. “Perhaps the
landscape was different.”
“Swamps?” Alyx replies reluctantly. “How old does a map have to be for the swamps to not exist?”

“Anyway, I bet you these are the Altair foothills. We just need to make our way north towards them.”
“Kalistratos.”
“What?”
“Tell me, where is the Great Phoenix’s temple on this map?”
I roll over beneath the cloak blanket and pretend I’m sleeping. I can see their shadows on the wall. Kalistratos stares at the
map and scratches his head.
“It’s here somewhere,” he says. “I’ll figure it out as we go.”
“By the gods, Kalistratos,” Alyx replies.
“Hey, have I ever done us wrong?”
“Yes. Plenty of times.”
“And yet we’re still here.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“And now we have this new one to think about,” Alyx says as he walks to the edge of the stone table. “What if the Great
Phoenix can’t get him home? What if he can’t tell you anything about your family?”
Family? What is Alyx talking about?
“He will,” Kalistratos says. “He has to. Alyx, we’ve gone this far. We can’t give up. Not on our clan, and not on ourselves.
Especially not on Tyler.”
“And here I thought you were resistant to helping him.”
“He’s growing on me. He needs my help. I want to make sure he’s safe.”
I roll back over and pull the blanket over my eyes as my face grows warm and a gentle shiver runs through my body. My
heart is pounding. At first, it feels like I might be too excited to sleep, but the exhaustion soon overtakes me and I drift away
into the ether.

I don’t dream about Jeff. I don’t dream about anything, just a black void that swallows me whole like a great big tar pit. I’m
woken up by a rude beam of morning sunlight that lands right across my face and a strange rhythmic scratching sound. My first
thought is that the next-door neighbor is fucking around with my connecting wall again, and what words I’m going to have to
say to finally get through to him that I work late and can hear his shit. But then I open my eyes, and as I shield away the light
with my palm, I realize that I’m not in my bed, but lying on a pile of grass and leaves inside a musty cave.
I exhale quietly as a heaviness refills my heart. I’m still in Circeana. And after a night spent in this world, it feels more real
than ever that I’m not just going to suddenly wake up back on planet Earth. This is truly my reality now.
That scratching sound. I squint and see Kalistratos sitting on the ground on the other side of the cave with a bowl of water
and a flat stone between his legs. He cups water in his hand and spreads it across the stone, then swipes the edge of one of his
knives back and forth on it. Scratch, scratch.
His eyes are focused on his task, and he’s incredibly quick. He’s done it lots of times.
I know that I’m staring, but he thinks I’m still asleep, and this is a chance for me to get a good look at him. Every part of
Kalistratos looks capable and strong. He’s a man who has spent his life doing rough things. I can see it in his hands, which look
so powerful yet move with such precision and grace. He’s not massive like some of the guys at my gym, yet I know he could
effortlessly outmatch them all. I suddenly realize that there aren’t men like him back home.

Of course there aren’t. He’s not human. He’s a phoenix.

I can’t imagine what this really means. I’ve seen the frogmen, the wolfmen, and all the rest, but what Kalistratos and Alyx’s
phoenix forms could possibly look like is beyond my brain to comprehend. There’s that gleam in his eyes though, like there’s a
fire lit inside them. In the shadow of the cave, they glow slightly at certain angles like little flashes of molten metal.
What does a phoenix look like?
The first thing that pops into my head is Kalistratos turning into a red chicken. I snort quietly, and Kalistratos looks up from
his knives.
“You’re awake,” he says. “What’s funny?”
Now all I can see is him as a talking chicken. I chuckle to myself again. Maybe my imagination isn’t so bad after all.
“Nothing,” I say.
“Did you sleep well? You were mumbling. Something about this ‘Jeff.’”
My face flushes. “Are you serious? I don’t remember having any dreams…”
He smirks. “I’m joking. You were dead to the world.”
Thank god.
“Tell me about this man,” he says. “He’s not your mate, yet he seems to hold some power over you.”
I rest my head on my palm and stare at him. Where the hell did this question come from? “You really want to know?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, it’s complicated,” I say with a sigh. “We’ve been in this thing for a while now, like a half relationship.”
“Half?”
“Yeah. Like, occasionally I’ll go to his place and we’ll…you know. And he’s usually there for me when I need someone to
talk to. We’re just not actually together.”
“I don’t understand. Why not? He takes you to his bed and yet he doesn’t make you his mate?”
“Like I said…it’s complicated. He just doesn’t want a relationship right now. With me, at least. I don’t know. We’ve been
friends for a long time, and what we do have is really good.”
“This is acceptable where you come from?”
 “I mean… It’s not abnormal.”

Kalistratos mulls this over then thrusts his knife back into its sheath. He looks annoyed. “It’s damn unacceptable for an
alpha to have such little honor and commitment. He should’ve made you his mate.”
“Thank you,” I say with a huff. “Wish he was here to hear you say that.”
“I don’t know. If he were, I’d be tempted to challenge him to combat.”
I sit up. “Kalistratos. You wouldn’t kill him, would you?” I’m half-joking. Mostly I’m just amused—and a little bit touched
—at how offended on my behalf he is.
He smiles. “No. Just take a clip of an ear or something. A lesson in firm intention.”
“I’m learning a lot about you, I think,” I tell him.
“We Phoenikos take loyalty and commitment very seriously,” he says. “There’s no such thing as half measures—especially
when it comes to those we care about.”
“And is there someone in your life?” I ask, then add with a smile, “besides Alyx, I mean.”

“No,” he says plainly. “No one.”

Is that relief I feel? What the hell is wrong with me?
“Why not?” I’m trying to be casual about it.
“Because I couldn’t dedicate myself fully to a mate, not with the mission I have.”
“You mean stealing from the rich?”
Kalistratos crosses his arms. “Alyx and I do what we do because we don’t have much other choice. I’ve told you the kind
of world this is for members of our clan.”
“I know. I’m sorry. You’re talking about your search for the temple.”
He nods. “That’s where things have led me. I’m looking for my family, you see.”
“Your family?”
“Yeah. I’ve been looking for them for my whole life.”
“Your parents, you mean?” I say.
Kalistratos looks distant. “I never knew them. All I have is a collection of vague memories. And I was content not knowing
them—until the vision. I could feel them. The warmth and love and closeness... It had to have been my parents. That’s when I
knew I had to find the Great Phoenix and finally get some answers about where I came from. Where my family went. I feel
like… they might be out there, waiting for me.”
“Coming from anyone else, anywhere else, that would all sound completely insane,” I say. “But it kinda seems like that’s
just how things work here, huh? Visions. Gods. Fate. That’s all stuff that was lost a long time ago where I’m from.”
I sit up and stretch. My whole side is sore from sleeping on the ground. A bed of leaves is going to take me a while to get
used to. Then I realize Kalistratos is staring at me like I’ve grown a third arm.
“Your belly,” he says.
“Oh god, you don’t have to remind me. I almost forgot about⁠—”
I freeze as I rest my hand on my stomach, and frantically look down. It’s gotten bigger. Not dramatically bigger, but enough
that it’s way more than just the slight swell that it was last night.
“Is this normal?” I ask in a mild panic. “Is it supposed to be like this?”
 “How would I know?” he says. “I have no experience with this.”

I get out of bed and check my clothes, which are draped across a rock near the entrance of the cave. They’re dry, and I
move behind cover to change.
“If this b—” The word gets caught in my throat for a second. God, there’s a fucking child growing inside of me. “If this
baby keeps growing at this rate, it’s going to pop out of me like a fucking chest-burster alien.”
Oh, man. Thank god, I’m still able to button my pants.
“Alyx and I have a plan,” Kalistratos says. “We go north to Athenos. It’s the capital of the region.”
“Is that where the temple is?” I say as I pull my shirt over my head. It feels like I have a beer gut. All those hours spent at
the gym, undone.
“No, but it’s a big city. We can find knowledge about your condition. Hopefully.”
“Hopefully?” I say, coming out from behind the rock.
Kalistratos’s blank expression as he sees my outfit is almost comical.

“You look strange,” he says.

“These are my clothes,” I reply.
“You’ll attract every stray eye wearing those, you know. You’ll need to cover it.”
“I can wear that tablecloth from yesterday... Even though it smells like death and looks like a boarding house for fleas.”
Kalistratos laughs. “I have a better idea.” He picks up the cloak I was using as a blanket, and just like when he made me the
sandals from scraps of leather, he alters the cloak so that it fits me perfectly.
The fabric drapes majestically around my body and is all pinned together at my right shoulder. It flows as I turn and I can’t
help but feel like a kid playing on Halloween. I’ve always wanted to wear a cape.
“This works,” I say. “It even hides my belly.”
He smiles at me. Damn, is he handsome. It’s kind of ridiculous, actually.
“The road is clear,” says Alyx, appearing out of the morning sunlight at the mouth of the cave. “Are we ready to go?”
“We’re ready to go,” Kalistratos says. His only luggage is a cloth bag, which he slings over his back and ties across his
chest.
“Need me to carry anything?” I ask.
“Of course not. You’re pregnant.”
“Hey, I’m still capable. What about all of this stuff?” I gesture to the collection of things scattered around their hideout.
“No need. We’re never coming back here again,” he says.

The land is mountainous, cut with large boulders and rock formations that jut from the earth like fingers. There isn’t a great
density of trees, at least not like back home. Here it’s scrub, brush, oak, and olives, along with beautiful fields of multicolored
wildflowers and fragrant grasses. Every so often we pass a small stream crossing the road, and we stop and drink straight from
the water. I see eagles flying overhead, and deer roam in the distance. I can’t say I know a lot about nature stuff, but I’ve binged
every single David Attenborough documentary I can get my hands on, and this feels like I’ve been dropped in the middle of
one.
 Kalistratos and I stay on the side of the road, and Alyx walks off in the scrub out of view. The road isn’t busy, but it’s not
empty either. Travelers move by foot, on horseback, and riding those magic hover carts Kalistratos calls flyers. They’re a
mixture of human—or at least seemingly human—and beast-form people. It’s a little startling how quickly I’ve gotten used to
seeing them. The oxmen, tall and stocky in their human form with cow ears, tails, and some with thick brown beards, have set
up stalls all along the road where they sell supplies and food. Kalistratos stops at one and buys me a stick glazed with honey.
For some reason, everything here feels so much more real and vivid. The food is delicious, the water is crisp and
refreshing, the air is clean, and the people… The men are gorgeous.
Kalistratos is gorgeous.

Maybe it has to do with him saving my life, but it’s becoming really difficult for me to stop thinking about him. We walk
side by side with our hoods up so I can’t look at his face, but that doesn’t stop my mind from churning away. I know it’s crazy. I
barely know who he is. Am I just the kind of person who falls for whatever man gives me attention?
It makes me think about our conversation last night about Jeff. I know how ridiculous it is for me to have given up so many
years of my life chasing a maybe. Staying on the hook just because I want to believe that deep down inside, he wants to be with
me and just needs the time to realize it. That one day, he’ll come out for me. I’d always known I was acting like a fool for him
but was so spellbound by the good moments that I was willing to ignore it. It’s funny how in my head, I believed so completely
that Jeff was the only person who knew how to make me feel comforted. He knew how to talk to me, how to touch me, how to
put me at ease.
But, Jesus… Outside of those moments, did he ever really make me feel safe?
No, of course he didn’t. I could depend on him to give me his dick when we were together, but I couldn’t depend on him to
show up for my birthday. Or to visit me on the weekends, or to hold my hand in public, or hell, even kiss me.

Crazy, the lies we’re able to tell ourselves, and worse, believe.
Whatever I’m feeling for Kalistratos isn’t anything to take seriously. He’s my only support here. Naturally, I’d feel a little
taken by an alpha who saved my life. And killed slaver frogs. And fed me. And hand made me sandals.
Yeah, this is just a simple case of starry-eyed infatuation.
 8

KALISTRATOS

I can’t remember the faces of my fathers; they’ve been lost to the shadows of time. The memories of my time with them are
also clouded, just vague feelings of a gentle hand stroking my hair. I hold onto those feelings tighter than any gleaming
gemstone or piece of treasure. They’re all I have of the only family I’ve ever known.
Phoenikos know how to live alone. Every member of our clan I’ve ever met has shared that same sentiment. Solitude is in
our blood, it seems. Phoenixes can never get too close to someone without burning them. I’ve always been by myself. It’s
easier to maintain a careful distance, even from those I consider to be my friends. Alyx and I have worked together for years.
We’ve shared countless meals and trust each other with our lives. But the amount I know about his past could balance on the tip
of my finger. I’ve lost people before; not just my parents, but others I cared deeply about. But that’s just the name of the game,
living the kind of life I do. Nothing comes easily, and nothing stays around for long.
“Kalistratos,” Tyler says to me as we trudge up the rocky valley alongside the growing flow of the river Delos. “I’ve been
dying to know something. What does Alyx look like? I mean, in his human form.”
Alyx was far ahead of us, barely visible as he hopped amongst the rocks.
“Not my secret to share,” I say.
“Aw, come on. Give me something here.”
“Sorry. Even I’ve only seen him in his human form a couple of times.”
Tyler looks disappointed, but then he lights up again and asks, “Can you show me your powers, then?”
“What? No, I’m not going to show you my powers. Anyway, you’ve already seen them.”
“Hardly. I was kind of distracted by the threat of impending death. You said you can alter time, right?”
“I can suspend the flow of time for about thirty sustained minutes,” I say.
“Why just thirty minutes?” he asks.
“It’s what the gods decided. Every phoenix has different limits to the extent they can use powers. Alyx can shapeshift into
small, black creatures, and can hold that form without limitation. I can only manage mine for about thirty minutes before being
completely drained of energy.”
“Seems inconvenient,” he says. “So what happens then?”
“I’ll need rest. Sustenance. Or…” I trail off.
“What?”
“It’s not something to share. Not with an omega I’ve just met.”
Tyler balks at me. “Excuse me? After all that we’ve been through together? Come on, tell me.”
“Phoenix energy comes from one place,” I tell him. “And from that place, it can be regenerated.”
 He stares at me. “What are you saying? Like…sex?”

I nod. “The fire of life and regeneration.”

“That’s fun,” he says and then clears his throat. “So, uh, what about your phoenix form? When do I get to see that?”
“I’m not going to show you that. That is definitely not something to share with an omega I’ve just met.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve already seen everything else,” Tyler says. There’s a small smile on his lips.
“I’d rather you see that again than show my phoenix form,” I tell him. “My bare ass won’t get me into trouble. My phoenix
form could.”
“Okay, I understand. Then I guess you’ll just have to be a chicken in my head.”
“What?”
Tyler grins at me. “A red chicken. That’s what I’m imagining.”
“That is not what I look like,” I say as I climb up a large rock in the path. I turn around and take Tyler’s hands to help him
climb up.
“Well, I wouldn’t know,” he says. “To me, you shapeshift into a fiery chicken.”
I know he’s teasing me, but sometimes my pride gets the best of me. How can I not react in defense of my clan? We’re not
chickens.
I thrust my arm out in front of him and pull the sleeve up to my shoulder. Phoenix fire blazes from deep inside of my chest,
erupting through my body like a spiraling vortex of heat. In the span of a second, I take control of it like an acrobat flipping
onto the back of a charging bull. The energy wants to erupt from my grasp, but I will it into submission and bend it to my
command. The skin on my arm down to the tips of my fingers hardens into black, plate-like scales as my nails become obsidian
talons. Gold, crimson, and emerald flames swirl around my arm and burst into a drape of shimmering feathers. It’s only a
partial shift, just barely a glimpse at my full phoenix form, but even this is something I haven’t revealed to anyone in years.
Tyler’s eyes are so wide I can see the colorful glow of my feathers in the shine of his irises. He stares like a man seeing a
pile of precious gems. It’s a hunger I recognize. I’ve seen it before in the eyes of those provoked by the powerful allure of
phoenix magic. But then Tyler blinks, and the look is gone and replaced by pure awe, like the eyes of a child seeing the sea for
the first time. His smile is so pure, and it completely blows away the defensiveness I felt.
In a bright flash, the feathers are gone and my arm is human again. I quickly tug my sleeve back into place.
“Kalistratos!” he exclaims. “That was incredible!”
“Do you understand why we have to hide it?” I ask. “You felt it, didn’t you? The need.” I’m looking at him carefully.
“I felt something,” he says. “What was that? It was like…Frodo and the ring. I felt captured for a moment. Almost
hypnotized.”
“Only a moment?” I say. “You truly are special, Tyler.”
He looks pleased to hear me say this. I smile at him, and we continue to walk up the path. The Delos has widened, and its
waters froth over boulders and the limbs of bone-white trees washed down the valley from somewhere far upriver. The gentle
gurgle is now a roar. We come across a wash of rocks that have fallen across the path from the valley’s walls. This time, Tyler
refuses my hand and scales the rocks himself. I watch him carefully. I’m concerned about his condition—caring for a pregnant
omega is not a part of my usual set of skills, and I’m at a loss for what I’ll need to do if this mysterious baby continues to grow
so quickly.
Alyx is standing perched on a boulder, his tail swishing quickly through the air. He’s alert, waiting for something. I step
close to Tyler. I want him within reach if something happens.
“What is it?” I ask.
 “The earth grumbles,” he says. “I feel it in my paws.”

“Is it not the river?”

He scans the valley. “No. Footsteps, and not yours.”
“We’re not alone,” I say.
“Quite possibly.”
Hell. Showing Tyler that glimpse of my phoenix form could’ve given us away.
“I don’t see anyone,” Tyler says. “You mean someone is coming down the path?”
“No,” says Alyx. “Someone is following us.”
Tyler looks at me. He is thinking the same thing I am. I shake my head. “It’s not your fault,” I tell him. “I chose to show you
what I showed you.”
Alyx’s ear twitches. “What did you do, Kalistratos?”
“Nothing that can be helped now.”

“You showed him your phoenix form.”

“A glimpse,” I say.
“I’m sorry,” Tyler says. “I shouldn’t have…”
I shake my head. “We keep moving, and we keep alert. We may be able to catch them off guard if they don’t realize we’ve
caught their scent.”
The words have hardly escaped my mouth when a low rumble rises through my body from the rocks. The others feel it too.
Tyler grabs my arm and Alyx’s fur bristles along his back. It’s like we’re standing on the belly of a snoring giant. Rivulets of
pebbles begin to stream down the cliffside.
“Uhh, we shouldn’t be here,” Tyler says. “We definitely should not be here.”
The rumbling grows stronger. A rock the size of my head bounds down the cliff and cracks off one of the boulders in front
of it. It shatters, peppering us with shards of stone as the large remaining piece spirals into the river with a splash.
“Time to go!” shouts Alyx. “Follow me!”
He flies along the boulders, seeking out the safest route as more rocks begin to tumble down from the cliff. I grab Tyler’s
hand and we run. He’s fast, and there’s confidence in his footing. He doesn’t need my help to get up the rocks, but just before a
falling stone bounces right into him, I grab the back of his cloak and yank him to a halt.
“You’ll lose your nose,” I shout.
“Holy fuck!” he cries.
I can feel it—the buzz of sorcery in the air. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the work of our pursuer and not the
gods. A violent jolt nearly knocks us to our knees.
“Oh, no,” I groan as I see the boulders falling down the cliff like olives from a tree at harvest. “Alyx, fly!”
They’re huge, some of them the size of a cart. One cracks into two halves that dislodge an avalanche of smaller rocks that
all come pouring down the hill towards us. There’s a bright flash. Alyx has transformed into a raven, and he flutters to safety
into the sky.

I grab Tyler and wrap my arms around him as the shower of stones hurtles down on us.
 9

TYLER

I t’s a goddamn landslide.

Kalistratos grabs me as a million tons of rocks come hurtling toward us. I don’t have the space to feel flustered by the way
his arms wrap around me. I turn and hunch over, protecting my belly. All I can think about is how much flatter we’re all about
to be.

I’m slammed by what feels like the hit of a bass drum, just a wall of deep sound that reverberates inside my chest cavity
and makes my teeth chatter. It’s followed by nothing. Just silence. The roar of the river, the clatter and crash of the falling rocks
—all of it is gone.
Well, that’s it. I’m dead, then.
Except I’m not. Kalistratos still has his arms wrapped around me. I feel the warmth of his body, and then I realize I can
hear the soft exhale of his breath against my ear. His hands squeeze my arms.
“We need to move,” he says.
Gripping my hand, he pulls me into this silent world. All around us, rocks are suspended in mid-tumble. One is perilously
close to hurtling right into us, but it sits frozen in the air like it’s a part of some art installation. Kalistratos and I weave around
the frozen debris, and bits of dust and sand pepper me as they’re pushed aside by my face. I have to keep my eyes lowered so
that I don’t get the floating dust in them.
We clamber over rocks that hang several feet in the air. To my left, the river is frozen like a snapshot. The sun sparkles
through the frozen mist, flashing rainbows as I pass. A fish is hanging in the air mid-jump, mouth open, about to snatch a fly just
inches above the water’s surface. It’s beautiful as hell. If it wasn’t for the, you know, rain of death, I would’ve wanted to stand
and stare at it all.
Kalistratos’s muscles strain with exertion as we climb and run. It’s like he’s carrying a massive invisible weight on his
shoulders. Sweat pours from his brow, but he doesn’t stop until we’ve made it far beyond the rock fall, up to the safety of the
cliff edge overlooking the valley. And the moment we reach it, he collapses onto the ground with a grunt. My ears pop from a
sudden pressure shift, and the world starts turning again. The sudden onslaught of sound almost sends me sprawling as the tons
of rock crashes down in the valley behind us. Kalistratos gets back up onto one knee, breathing hard. The landslide thunders on
until the valley is filled with a haze of dust, and finally, the only noise is the dull roar of the river. Birds start to chirp again.
Alyx reappears from somewhere, back in his cat form. All three of us are silent and tense. We’re on alert mode, and we get
low at the cliff’s edge and watch the valley. If there is someone after us, then it’s only a matter of waiting until they come out to
check their handiwork.

A long time passes. The dust lingers in the air as small rocks continue to tumble down the sides of the valley. The
adrenaline is starting to wear off, and I’m starting to think about other things besides an invisible pursuer, things like being
rescued by a hot, olive-skinned badass with magic time-freezing powers. The way he’d shielded me under the armor of his
own back, how his powerful warrior’s arms had closed around my body… Holy shit. I’m usually the one doing the protecting,
not the other way around. Getting a little taste of that was way more exciting than it should’ve been, but I am not willing to let
this little flame of mine flare up into anything hotter. How dumb would I have to be to let my feelings get the better of me yet
again? I’m already tied up wanting an unavailable man back home; the last thing I need is for it to happen again here.
 But goddamn, it’s not easy.

There must be something wrong with me. I’ve been in constant danger and fear for my life since getting here, and I still
have a serious case of horny brain. I should be thinking about surviving this place, about getting home, not getting laid. But
every time I look at Kalistratos, I can’t help myself.
“Come on, show yourself,” Kalistratos mutters. “I know you’re out there.”
“Guys,” I say. “I know this sounds crazy, but… What if that was just a regular old landslide? I mean, look at this valley.”
Kalistratos looks uncertain. He exchanges a glance with Alyx, who looks…like a cat.
“I was certain I felt something,” Alyx says.
“I did too,” Kalistratos agrees.
“Yeah, the feeling of a metric fuck-ton of rock falling into the river,” I say.
We wait a little longer, and the only thing that shows up is a buzzard that circles overhead for a while before flying away.
Kalistratos takes the lead and the three of us quietly back away from the cliff. They’re still being cautious.

“We go off the road, then,” Kalistratos says. “It’ll add a day to our journey for those of us bound to two legs. Alyx, you go
ahead to Athenos and see if you can collect any information. Tyler and I will meet you there.”
With a silent nod, Alyx darts away through the scrub brush and takes back to the sky as a raven.

Walking off-road is more of a shitshow than I could’ve expected. I’m not much of a hiker to begin with, and as comfortable
as the sandals Kalistratos made are, they don’t have much support on uneven terrain. If only I hadn’t lost my damn shoes in that
swamp.

Kalistratos is being really cautious and both of us are moving slowly. Every so often, he pulls me aside and we stop under the
shade of a tree or a rock and just wait. He stares like an eagle at the way we came, almost unblinking, and only when he’s
certain no one is on our tail does he nod for me to keep going. Neither of us speaks. I can feel how tense he is. Maybe I still
don’t fully understand the danger he and Alyx face being Phoenikos.
After a few hours, he finally seems to relax. We stop under an olive tree, and Kalistratos passes me the waterskin bladder. I
take a long drink. My legs are still a little wobbly from the adrenaline rush.
“Thanks for saving my ass yet again,” I tell him as I pass back the bladder.
He nods, drinks from the bladder, and splashes some water onto his face. I hadn’t noticed how exhausted he is. His eyes
are half-lidded and fluttery, like someone who has come to the end of a marathon.
“Kalistratos?” I say, worried. “Are you alright?”
He leans against the tree and waves me away, nodding. Then he slowly sinks to the ground and sits at the base of the tree. I
crouch beside him.
“Hey. I can’t have my only guide here dying on me.”
“I’ll be fine. Freezing time for both of us, that took a lot more out of me than I—” He exhales slowly. Sweat dots his
forehead. “Dammit…”
“What do you need?” I ask.
“Just a rest,” he replies with his eyes closed. “A breather.”
I don’t like this. I’ve seen people in this state before when they’ve been out in the hot sun for too long and are on the verge
of delirium. The fact that Kalistratos’s condition changed so quickly scares the shit out of me. There’s no ambulance I can call
here, no doctor I can rush him to.

“Hey.” I shake him gently and his head lolls from side to side. He barely manages to summon the strength to look up at me
before slumping against me. I catch him by the shoulders and his face falls against the side of my neck. His breath is slow and
shallow. I carefully lay him down on the ground.
What do I do? It doesn’t seem like he’s in any danger, but what do I know about how phoenixes work?

But I do know a little bit. Sustenance. He needs food.

How the hell am I going to get him food?
It’s glaringly obvious how incredibly reliant I am on modern conveniences. I always figured I’d do just fine in a zombie
apocalypse. Apparently not.
I unclip my cloak and spread it out onto the ground, then somehow manage to get Kalistratos onto it. I slip his travel satchel
underneath his head. His chest rises and falls steadily—he’s asleep. Fast asleep. Not dead, thank God, but we might be here for
a while.

My stomach grumbles.
Great.
I unfasten one of Kalistratos’s knives and tie the sheath to my belt.

WHUMP.
The hare is practically a mile away when the stone hits the dirt. It stops to look back at me before hopping into the
underbrush. The little bastard is taunting me! I’ve been after him for over an hour, and I’m not going to let him get away. I can’t.
I pick up the stone again but stop before slinking after the hare. There has to be a better way to do this than throwing rocks.
Think, Tyler.
And then I realize that I do know a better way. Or at least I think I do. It’s not something I’ve tried in over a decade, ever
since those camping trips with my Uncle Carl. He’d shown me once how to make a rabbit snare. I’d tried it and managed to
catch a small rabbit, and vowed never to do it again. I’d felt so horrible about seeing that little bunny dead in the trap that I’d
completely pushed it from my memory.
I didn’t need much. Just a bit of twine, a few sticks, and patience.
Kalistratos was still out cold. I used the sleeve of my tunic to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then cut a strip off the end
of my cloak and twisted it up so that it became like a cord of rope and set the trap between two dense shrubs, a space I noticed
the hares would dart through to escape me.
I wait.
And then, finally, a hare appears.
You’re mine.

It’s not mine.

 I chase the hare into the trap, but it zips right through the little noose that was supposed to snag it by the neck.

“Argh! Damn you!” I shout as I sprint full tilt after the animal, throwing rocks and sticks and anything else I can get my
hands on at it.
It makes a sharp turn around a boulder and I slide after it, then skid to a halt. Sitting on a fallen tree is an alpha with striking
blond hair chewing on a strip of dried meat. The hare swerves when it sees him and dives into the nearby brush.
“An interesting strategy,” he says. “Going after rabbits with your bare hands never tends to work the way you want it to.”
I stay where I am. Habit pushes my hand to my waist, where my work belt would have my taser and pepper spray. Instead, I
find the handle of Kalistratos’s knife, and I remember how completely vulnerable I am here. But I also feel a strange
smoldering energy inside of me, like a feral defensiveness. I’m pregnant. I will do anything to protect the baby, even if it means
death. It flashes through my mind in a split second. I’ve never felt like this before.
He chews for a while, staring mildly at me, then chases the mouthful down with a swallow of liquid from a red gourd that
he has hanging from his belt. He gives me a warm smile and finishes the strip of jerky. There’s something about him that feels
oddly familiar.
“Who are you?” I say cautiously. “And what are you doing here?”

“Traveling, what else?” he says, and points in the direction of the road, down at the base of the canyon.
“Uh, right,” I reply. I begin to back away.
“I have the same question for you,” he says. “A strange omega dashing out from the wilderness.”
“I was hungry,” I say.
“So your companion made you chase after rabbits?”
Maybe it’s just because the sun is gleaming off of his bright hair, but he has a distinctly angelic vibe that is really
disarming. Were this home, I could easily imagine him up on a billboard as part of some boy band, or something.
“I never said I had a companion,” I reply.
Was that smart of me? Saying I’m alone out here? I mean, I might as well be, given Kalistratos’s condition. But it’s hard to
get used to the reality that I’m vulnerable here, and that most of my street-smarts and self-defense abilities from back home
don’t apply in this world.
“But I do have one,” I add quickly. “He’s an alpha.”
My face immediately goes hot after I’ve said this. Just trying not to get myself kidnapped.
“I bear no harm,” he says, spreading his palms. “You have nothing to fear.”
“After everything I’ve seen, I think I have plenty to fear. You stay right over there. I’m not afraid to use this knife.”
He laughs warmly. “Trust me, I know better than to test an omega’s talons. Especially when they’re expecting.”
My hand reflexively goes to my stomach. “Yeah, so back off.”
“I haven’t moved at all,” he replies calmly.
“Good, stay there. And no sudden moves.”
He eyes me contemplatively and reaches into his sleeve. I grab the hilt of the blade and draw it an inch out of the scabbard.
“Hey, what’d I say?” I’m using my big bad security guard voice, but it comes out a little deflated.
He pulls out a small package, a rectangle wrapped up in a green leaf and bound in string, and holds it up so I can see it.
Then he tosses it to me. The package smells a bit like barbeque—sweet, tangy and smokey—and I can feel the texture of the
dried meat through the leaf. My stomach immediately rumbles. I pull the string and unfold the package. The thick jerky gleams
with marinade and looks absolutely delicious. I’m way too hungry to try and be polite about taking his food. I quickly chomp a
piece. The meat is surprisingly juicy and tender.
“Thank you,” I say with my mouth full. “Um…”
“Airos,” he replies with a pleased smile.
“I’m Tyler.”
As I finish the piece of jerky, Airos takes another swig from his hip gourd and hops off the rock. His green tunic is long and
billowy and wraps around his body like Jedi robes.
“Share the rest with your companion,” he says, waving one hand in the air as he starts down the hill. “Get his strength back.
There are many dangers around the valley when night falls.”
I stuff another strip of jerky into my mouth and watch him go. He dips below the hill and is out of sight. I’m just perplexed
at the whole interaction, but thankful I have food in my stomach.
“Hey, wait!” I say, rushing to the edge of the hill. “Be careful if you’re going that direction, there was a⁠—”
The supermodel alpha is nowhere to be seen.

“—landslide.”
Wonderful. A new thing to add to the list of oddities—trail ghosts. Then I see something sparkling in the air like a leaf.
Except it’s not a leaf. It’s a feather—a large golden feather. It flutters down into my outstretched palm and vanishes with a
shimmer, like one of those sparkling fireworks.
That odd familiar feeling I’d gotten about the stranger suddenly clicks. I’d had that same feeling with both Kalistratos and
Alyx too; I’d just not been aware of it until now. Airos was a Phoenikos. I don’t know how I know this—it’s as weird and
nebulous as a gut feeling, only stronger.
But what the hell was a Phoenikos doing out here, randomly, in the middle of nowhere? Was he some kind of messenger
from the Great Phoenix? Was he even real? The package of jerky in my hand says yes, and the important thing is that I have
something I can give Kalistratos.
I hurry back the way I came—thank God I remember where to go—and find the olive tree where Kalistratos is.
“Kalistratos,” I say, kneeling next to him. “I’ve got some food. Hey. Yo.”
I push the strip of jerky to his lips. He responds to the smell of the meat and opens his mouth, but the jerky just wobbles
back and forth with his attempt to chew and then falls flat against his face.
“Come on. You need food, that’s what will get you back to normal. Chew, damn you.” I grab his chin and try again to get
him to eat, then pull back his eyelids and poke his cheek, but it’s no use. He’s out like the dead.
I plonk onto the ground beside him and chew impatiently on the meat. The shadow from the olive tree grows long across the
ground as evening approaches. Birds whirl overhead as a warm breeze whips over the rocks and is sucked into the valley. I set
the jerky onto Kalistratos’s chest.
“In case you change your mind,” I mutter, then go to rummage through his satchel for something I can use to make a fire.
Unfortunately, there is no box of matches or Bic lighter in there, but I do find a small leather pouch with a piece of flint
inside of it. I also find the map scroll. I take it out and unroll it, just to have a look.
What is this?
To my surprise, the map is covered in an ornate cursive script. The letters look almost like the English alphabet, but the
words they spell out don’t look like any language I’ve ever seen—not that I’m any kind of expert on languages. But it seems
strange to me that Circeana would share a writing system with Earth.
There’s plenty of wood lying around. I gather up a small pile and then, using Kalistratos’s knife, I work on splitting the end
of a stick into thin slices for kindling.

Maybe I wouldn’t do so bad out here, if only I could get the whole hunting thing down.
After a few missteps, I finally manage to get a fire going just as the sun is setting. The wind blows over the tops of the tree,
making its branches rustle and creak in ways that get my imagination racing. All I can think about now is what Airos had said
about there being dangers around the valley after dark.
If you’re real, and you’re listening, I think to the Great Phoenix, please wake Kalistratos up already.
I hear a strange sound coming from the direction of the valley, like a shrill howl, and my body tenses. Was that an animal or
just the wind ripping through the rocks? Hopefully the fire will deter any wild beasts… But what if it also completely gives us
away to anyone who wants to try to rob us? Too bad, we don’t have any treasure.
Just me.
I’m treasure in this world, and I will never get used to that idea.
I stare at Kalistratos, silently willing him to wake up. And then I remember what else he’d told me about regenerating
phoenix powers. The fire of life and regeneration. That’s what he’d said.

My eyes drift across his body, down to his crotch where the fabric of his tunic hangs loosely over his bulge. Goddamn. If I
ever make it back home, I’m gonna make it my life mission to make man skirts a thing. The toga is going to make a comeback,
baby.
I shake my head and quickly push away all the horny ideas filling up my horny brain.
Yeah, you wanna get filled up, don’t you?

I scowl at myself.
The howl sounds again as another gust of wind shakes the branches of the olive tree, and suddenly the idea of just… I don’t
know… reviving his ass with one of my soul-touching blowjobs doesn’t sound so awful. It’s a hell of a lot better than getting
eaten by whatever is making that noise. And God, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t turned on by the idea of sucking Kalistratos’s
dick.
It’s awful of me. I’m committed to Jeff. I shouldn’t be thinking about another man like that.

But why am I so committed to Jeff? Why am I holding on to something I know is causing me pain? Jeff has always loved the
attention and emotional energy I’ve poured into him, essentially free of charge. Yeah, he’s given me attention in return, and I
don’t doubt that he’s given me love, but when it all comes with limitations, then why am I torturing myself over it? Love should
be given freely, not just when it’s most convenient or most needed.
I lean over Kalistratos. His lips are parted slightly. He’s breathing softly, completely undisturbed by the wind and noise of
nightfall.
“This better do something,” I whisper, and lean in to press my lips to his.
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method is therefore not applicable in such cases, but is useful in
water examination.
Electrolytic Reactions.—Solutions of lead are easily
electrolyzed, and give a precipitate of lead at the cathode;
simultaneously the peroxide is produced at the anode, and the
reaction is acid. In nitric acid solutions Riche pointed out that the
whole of the lead is carried to the anode, and this is the reaction
made use of in the determination of lead present in the urine (see p.
172).
The presence of copper in an electrolyte regulates the
precipitation of lead oxide, copper alone being deposited at the
cathode, and at the same time the presence of a small quantity of
copper promotes the destruction of organic materials.

REFERENCES.
[1] Pliny: lxxxiii., 11, N.c.v.
[2] Stockhusen: De Litharg. Fumo, etc. Goslar, 1656.
[3] Tronchin: De Colica Pictonum. 1758.
[4] John Hunter: Observations of Diseases of the Army in Jamaica.
London, 1788.
[5] Meillère, G.: Le Saturnisme. Paris, 1903.
[6] Bisserie: Bull. Soc. Pharmacol. May, 1900.
[7] Houston: Local Government Board Annual Report, 1901-02,
supplement, vol. ii.
 CHAPTER II
ÆTIOLOGY
Lead poisoning of industrial origin rarely occurs in the acute form.
Practically all cases coming under the notice of either appointed surgeons,
certifying surgeons, or even in the wards of general hospitals, are of the
subacute or chronic type. There is no reason to suppose that lead
compounds are used more frequently by the workers in lead industries as
abortifacients than by other persons.
The compounds of lead which are responsible for poisoning in industrial
processes are for the most part the hydrated carbonate, or white lead, and
the oxides of lead, whilst a comparatively small number of cases owe their
origin to compounds, such as chromates and chlorides.
The poisonous nature of any lead compound from an industrial point of
view is proportional to (1) the size of the ultimate particles of the substance
manufactured, and therefore the ease with which such particles are capable
of dissemination in the air; and (2) the solubility of the particles in the normal
fluids of the body, such as the saliva, pharyngeal and tracheal and bronchial
mucus, etc., and the fluids of the stomach and intestine. An instance of the
variation in size of the particles of lead compounds used industrially is the
difference between ground lead silicate (fritted lead) used in the potteries,
and the size of the particles of ordinary white or “raw” lead. By micrometric
measurements one of us [K. W. G.[1]] found the average size of the particles
of fritt to be ten times that of the white lead particles. Further, direct
experiment made with equal masses of the two compounds in such a manner
that the rate of settling of the dust arising could be directly compared in a
beam of parallel light showed presence of dust in the white lead chamber
fifteen minutes after the fritt chamber was entirely clear. It is found as a matter
of practice that where dust is especially created, and where it is difficult to
remove such dust by exhaust fans, the greatest incidence of lead poisoning
occurs. The association of dusty processes and incidence of lead poisoning is
discussed in relation to the various trades in Chapters XV. to XVII. Fume and
vapour given off from the molten metal or compounds, such as chlorides
(tinning), are only a special case of dust.
The channels through which lead or its compounds may gain entrance to
the animal body are theoretically three in number:
 1. Respiratory tract.
2. Gastro-intestinal.
3. Cutaneous.
For many years most authorities have held that industrial poisoning by
means of compounds of lead takes place directly through the alimentary
canal, and that the poison is conveyed to the mouth mainly by unwashed
hands, by food contaminated with lead dust, and by lead dust suspended in
the air becoming deposited upon the mucous membrane of the mouth and
pharynx, and then swallowed. As evidence that lead dust is swallowed, the
classical symptom of colic in lead poisoning has been adduced, on the
supposition, in the absence of any experimental proof, that the lead
swallowed acted as an irritant on the gastro-intestinal canal, thus causing
colic, and, on absorption from the canal, setting up other general symptoms.
Much of the early treatment of lead poisoning is based upon this assumption,
and the administration of sulphuric acid lemonade and the exhibition of
sulphate of magnesia and other similar compounds as treatment is further
evidence of the view that the poisoning was considered primarily intestinal.
One of the chief objections to this view, apart from the experimental
evidence, is that in those trades where metallic lead is handled, particularly
lead rolling, very few hygienic precautions have ever been taken in regard to
washing before meals, smoking, etc. Although in these trades the hands
become coated with a lead compound (oleate), and the workers frequently
eat their food with unwashed hands, thus affording every opportunity for the
ingestion of lead, the incidence of poisoning is by no means as high or so
pronounced in these occupations as in those giving rise to lead dust, such as
the white lead industry, where special precautions are taken, and where the
incidence of poisoning is always related to the dust breathed.
Respiratory Tract.—In a report on the incidence of lead poisoning in the
manufacture of paints and colours, one of us [T. M. L.[2]] in 1902 laid stress on
the marked incidence of poisoning in the specially dusty lead processes.
Following on that report special attention was given to the removal of dust by
means of exhaust ventilation. With the introduction of precautionary
measures, the incidence of poisoning underwent a marked decrease, this
decrease being most definite in those industries where efficient exhaust
ventilation could be maintained (see p. 47). Experience shows that cases of
poisoning in any given trade or manufacturing process are always referable to
the operations which cause the greatest amount of dust, and where,
therefore, the opportunity of inhaling lead dust is greatest.
The investigations of Duckering[3], referred to on p. 203, show the amount
of dust present in the air in certain dangerous processes. His results clinch
the deductions made from general observation, that dusty processes are
those especially related to incidence of industrial poisoning. Ætiologically,
therefore, the relationship of dust-contaminated air and poisoning is
undeniable, and in not a few instances on record persons residing at a
distance from a lead factory have developed poisoning, although not
employed in any occupation involving contact with lead, aerial infection
through dust remaining the only explanation. The actual channel through
which the lead dust suspended in the air gains entrance to the body is,
therefore, of especial importance; one of two channels is open—gastro-
intestinal and respiratory.
The investigations of one of us (K. W. G.) on the experimental production of
lead poisoning in animals has shown conclusively that the dust inhaled was
far more dangerous, and produced symptoms far earlier than did the direct
ingestion of a very much larger quantity of the same compound by way of the
mouth and gastro-intestinal canal. There is no doubt whatever that the chief
agent in causing lead poisoning is dust or fume suspended in the air. That a
certain amount finds its way into the stomach direct is not denied, but from
experimental evidence we consider the lung rather than the stomach to be
the chief channel through which absorption takes place (see p. 81).
The following table gives a specific instance of the incidence of lead
poisoning in a white lead factory, and demonstrates clearly the ætiological
importance of dust. The increase in reported cases, as well as in symptoms
of lead absorption not sufficiently severe to prevent the individual from
following his usual occupation, was associated with the rebuilding of a portion
of the factory in which the packing of dry white lead had been carried on for a
large number of years. The alterations necessitated the removal of several
floors, all of which were thoroughly impregnated with lead dust. Before the
alterations were undertaken it was recognized that considerable danger
would arise; stringent precautions were therefore taken, and the hands
engaged in the alterations kept under special observation. Notwithstanding
this there was an increase in the number of reported cases, which were all
mild cases of colic; all recovered, and were able to return to their work in a
short time.
Table I.—Lead Poisoning in a White Lead Factory.
The figures refer to the weekly examination of the whole of the men. For example, if a man
was returned as suffering from anæmia on three occasions, he appears as three cases in
Column 7.

Year Total Total Cases Cases Cases of Cases of Cases of Blue Line
Number Cases of in Dusty in Other Suspen- Anæmia Tremor
of Poisoning Processes Processes sion
 Exami-
nations
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
1905 5,464 9 8 1 20 78[B] 249[B] 311[B]
1906 [A] 5,096 18 16 2 9 256 215 532
1907 4,303 4 3 1 6 62 81 38
1908 3,965 4 3 1 5 40 25 11

[A] Structural alterations in progress, including cutting up “lead floor,” saturated with
white lead dust.
[B] These numbers for the half-year only, the inspection being taken over in June,
1905.

Meillère[4] goes to considerable trouble to show that absorption of lead dust

by the lung is hypothetical; that it may take place, but that it is not a channel
of absorption of practical importance. He cites a number of opinions and
experiments by various observers on the absorption of lead through the
mucous membrane of the mouth, alimentary canal, conjunctiva, etc., and he
regards the absorption of lead as one peculiarly confined, in the majority of
instances, to the intestinal canal.
The usual view is that, in the passage of the respired dust-laden air through
the nose, the larger particles of dust are deposited first of all upon the
mucous membrane in the interior chambers of the nose; further, a second
deposit takes place on the posterior wall of the pharynx and in the throat,
where the eddies produced by the current of air inhaled through the nostrils
allow the finer particles to become more easily deposited. Finally, should a
small trace gain access to the larynx, it is said to be deposited there upon the
mucous membrane, to be subsequently ejected, and only a very small
proportion of the total may ever find its way into the lung.
In all arduous labour, directly the respiration rate rises through extra calls
made upon the muscles of the body, an increase in the depth of respiration
takes place; yet even under these circumstances Meillère and others incline
to the view that the dust is deposited on the mucous surfaces of the mouth
and swallowed. Experimental evidence is entirely opposed to these
suppositions. In the first place, unless particles of dust readily find their way
into the lung, it is difficult to understand how the lung itself becomes the site
of so much deposit of carbon, and of flinty material in stonegrinder’s
pneumokoniosis. The staining of the lung by means of carbon particles,
particularly in dwellers in cities, is too well known to warrant more than a
passing reference. Moreover, experimental work has shown that fine powders
suspended in the air easily reach the lung. Armit[5] has shown that the nickel
in nickel carbonyl poisoning gains direct access to the lung, and becomes
deposited there, the metallic particles being readily demonstrated in the lung
tissue itself. Further, the experiments (see p. 84) demonstrate that white lead
dust and other forms of lead dust definitely gain access to the lung, and thus
inhaled produce all the symptoms of lead poisoning in animals subjected to
the inhalation. White lead, litharge, or red lead, are not easily suspended in
water, and long-continued mixing is necessary to make a suspension. Great
difficulty is found in “laying” lead dust by water, as the following experiment
demonstrates: Five wash-bottles are arranged in series; in the first ground dry
white lead is placed, and the other three bottles are filled with water, and a
tube laid under the surface of the water in such a way that the air from the
first bottle must pass the whole of the water seals in each subsequent bottle.
In the last bottle is dilute nitric acid saturated with sulphuretted hydrogen. If
the series is now attached to an aspirating jar, and air drawn slowly over at
the rate of ordinary respiration, the white lead powder in the first bottle being
at the same time shaken so that the air is fully charged with finely powdered
dust, lead is quickly detected in the air passing through the last bottle of the
series, by the darkening of the solution. In this way the presence of lead dust
has been demonstrated after passing through four 2-inch water seals and 8
feet of ¹⁄₄-inch wet rubber tubing. Such an experiment negatives the theory
that all, or even a large quantity, of a finely divided powder becomes
deposited on the upper portion of the respiratory tract.
Particles of lead present in the air in industrial processes are exceedingly
minute, and even in ground white lead the average size of the particle is
under 1 μ. Finally, Tanquerel[6] and Stanski[7] succeeded in producing lead
poisoning experimentally by blowing lead dust through a tube inserted in a
tracheotomy opening. There remains, therefore, no room for doubt that the
lung is the pre-eminent portal for lead absorption, particularly in industrial
processes; from which it follows, as has been extensively shown in actual
practice, that the diminution of dust in workshops and factories by means of
exhaust ventilation is invariably followed by a diminution in the number of
cases of plumbism.
Gastro-Intestinal.—We have dealt with absorption by way of the lung,
and have insisted that such inhalation of dust is of greater importance in
giving rise to industrial lead poisoning than gastro-intestinal absorption.
Gastro-intestinal absorption can take place, and is by no means negligible, in
ordinary industrial conditions. One of the most interesting and important
confirmatory evidences of the absorption of lead by the gastro-intestinal canal
is to be found in the large outbreaks of poisoning in which water-supplies
have been contaminated, either at their source or locally. We have already
seen that electrolysis may play an important part in the solution of lead in
water, and also learnt from Gautier[8] that the carbon dioxide content of water
is not necessarily the sole predisposing element in the solution of lead. In this
connection an important case is described by Thresh[9], where water by no
means soft, but holding some 30 degrees of hardness, produced lead
poisoning in an isolated family. The water in question was distinctly acid to
litmus-paper, and contained a very high percentage of nitrates; the compound
or salt of lead present was therefore one easily absorbed from the alimentary
canal (see p. 86).
In all instances of water-borne lead poisoning the amount of lead present in
the water was small; but as such lead would not be removed by boiling, the
amount of water consumed per person from the contaminated source was
probably large. As the signs of poisoning did not appear until a considerable
time had elapsed, a much larger quantity of lead was probably absorbed than
would appear from the simple statement that the water contained ¹⁄₁₀ grain
per gallon.
A number of cases have been reported from use of diachylon as an
abortifacient, and the symptoms in these cases are invariably those which
occur in other severe forms of poisoning such as are met with in industrial
processes. In nearly every case colic was the first symptom, followed later by
paresis of various types—amaurosis, albuminuria, albuminuric retinitis,
melancholia, encephalopathy—and not a few of the persons succumbed. In
most of the reported cases abortion was produced, but in some, particularly in
one[10], three dozen pills containing diachylon were taken in a month,
producing acute lead poisoning, colic, and paresis, but not abortion.
In fifteen recorded cases of the use of diachylon, fourteen showed a lead
line, in many cases distinct and broad. This point has considerable interest,
as such a line cannot have been produced by oral contact. The drug in the
form of pills would be rapidly swallowed, and little opportunity afforded for
particles to remain in the mouth. Its presence, therefore, suggests excretion
from circulating blood of lead which has been absorbed in the intestine. The
blue line will be referred to again later (see p. 122).
Practically all cases of water poisoning and of swallowing of lead
compounds have developed colic. Further, colic is cited in all the early
recorded cases, even in the very earliest cases referred to in the historical
note, of lead poisoning; and as poisoning in those cases had invariably taken
place by swallowing the drug, it may be presumed from this association has
arisen the belief that lead must be swallowed to produce gastro-intestinal
symptoms. No attention has been paid to the fact that a few cases of definite
cutaneous absorption of lead from the use of hair lotions have been followed
by colic. Gastro-intestinal symptoms, therefore, can be produced without the
direct ingestion of the drug, and colic is a symptom of generalized blood-
infection rather than a localized irritative action on the intestinal mucosa. This
question, again, is more related to pathology than ætiology, and is dealt with
in that section. But mention may be made here of the fact that a number of
observers, more lately Meillère, have laid it down as an axiom that
experimental production of lead poisoning in animals gives no criterion or
evidence of lead poisoning produced in man industrially. Very grave exception
must be taken at once to such a statement. In the majority of experiments
quoted by Meillère the quantity of lead given for experimental purposes has
been large—much larger, indeed, than is necessary to produce small and
characteristic effects—and instead of chronic poisoning an acute lead
poisoning has generally been set up; and even where chronic poisoning has
supervened, the condition has as a rule been masked by the severer initial
symptoms. On the other hand, the evidence to be derived from comparison of
the various observations from animal experiments brings out with remarkable
unanimity the similarity of the symptoms to those produced in man, and, as
will be seen later in the section devoted to Pathology, experiments by one of
us (K. W. G.) have so far confirmed this surmise; in fact, a description of a
case of encephalopathy coming on after lead poisoning of a chronic nature,
described by Mott, agrees in practically every particular with the train of
symptoms as observed in these experimental animals. Certain slight
differences as to the muscles first affected are observed, but it is practically
always the homologous muscle (the physiological action of which more nearly
resembles the human muscle) which is the one to be affected in the animal,
not the anatomical homologue. Thus, for instance, in the cat the spinal
muscles, and particularly the quadriceps extensor, is the muscle which is first
affected through the medium of the anterior crural nerve. This extensor
muscle is one which only performs a slight amount of work in extending the
knee-joint, the amount of work being, however, disproportionate to the size of
the muscle. The extensors of the fore-feet ultimately do become weakened,
but it is the hind-limb upon which the stress first falls.
Attention has been given to the solubility of lead salts in gastric juices, the
majority of such experiments having been performed with artificial gastric
juice. The method at present in use, prescribed by the amended rules of
August, 1900, for earthenware and china factories, is based on some, if
slight, consideration of the physiology of digestion. The method described by
Rule II. states that the estimation of the quantity of lead present in the lead
fritt shall be performed as follows:
A weighed quantity of dry material is to be continuously shaken for one
hour at room temperature with one thousand times its weight of an aqueous
solution of hydrochloric acid, containing 0·25 per cent. of HCl. This solution is
thereafter to be allowed to stand for one hour, and to be passed through a
filter. The lead salt contained in a portion of the clear filter is then to be
precipitated as lead sulphide, and weighed as lead sulphate.
 This method has been adopted on the supposition that the solubility of a
lead salt in the gastric juices is the chief source of the lead poisoning in the
Potteries, and that the hydrochloric acid content of the solution determines,
for practical purposes, the quantity of lead dissolved out of a given sample.
The temperature, however, at which this estimation is made—namely, room
temperature—is one considerably lower than that of the body, and the
quantity of lead taken up into solution at this temperature is less than that
which occurs at the ordinary temperature of the body—37° C. Practically
twice as much lead is dissolved out of fritt at 37° C. for an hour as is rendered
soluble at the ordinary temperature of the room—about 15° C. Thomason[11],
who made some experiments in this direction, gives a figure of 2·35 lead
oxide dissolved at 15° C. and 4·54 at 37° C. In another estimation—a matter,
too, of some considerable importance—it was found that acetic acid dissolved
1·97 per cent, at 15° C., and 3·27 at 37° C. In lactic acid the figure was 2·28
at 15° C., and 3·53 at 37° C. It is therefore a low estimation of the solubility of
any substance by the gastric juices if the substance is operated on at a
temperature below that of the body.
The question of the solubility of a lead salt in the gastric contents is
important in view of the small quantities of dust swallowed; and in addition to
hydrochloric acid, other substances are also present in the gastric juice,
which is by no means a simple aqueous solution of the mineral acid. Further,
the gastric juice, except in cases of pathological type, is not acid in periods of
gastric rest, unless such acidity may be represented by the presence of
fermentative acids—acetic, lactic, and butyric.
The activity of the gastric juice on lead is directly caused by the quantity of
organic acids present in addition to the hydrochloric acid, and by the
presence of foodstuffs—(1) in the undigested and (2) in the semidigested
condition. In considering the absorption of lead products from the gastro-
intestinal canal, the normal digestive processes should not be lost sight of—
that is, the sequence of events which occur during digestion of food. On
swallowing food, no definite acidity is present in the stomach for fifteen to
twenty minutes, and even after that time the hydrochloric acid is only
commencing to be secreted. As digestion proceeds, and the whole mass
becomes partially dissolved, such portions as are in a soluble condition are
passed through the pyloric opening at intervals, and the whole contents of the
stomach do not pass straight through the pyloric opening as through an
ordinary straight drain-pipe. As each mass of food passes onwards through
the pylorus, it comes into contact in the duodenum with pancreatic juice, and
with the bile, these alkaline fluids rapidly change the reaction, and allow the
other ferments, trypsin, etc., to become active. As the mass proceeds
onwards through the intestine, the succus entericus also exerts its function.
Finally the fluid contents of the intestine are passed onwards through the ileo-
cæcal valve. During the passage from the pylorus to the ileo-cæcal valve, the
reaction of the intestinal contents undergoes variations, from an alkaline in
the duodenum or upper parts of the jejunum, to acid at the ileo-cæcal valve.
Practically no absorption takes place from the stomach itself; a small quantity
of water and such highly volatile fluids as alcohol may be absorbed, but the
main absorption is not commenced until the food has left the stomach; in fact,
the stomach contains no mechanism for food absorption. The work of
absorption of the products of digestion is carried on actively through the small
intestine until finally the materials have reached the large intestine through
the ileo-cæcal valve; water is then mainly absorbed, and albuminous fluids
and substances in solution to some extent, but the amount of absorption
which takes place is infinitesimal as compared with that of the small intestine.
These points in the physiology of digestion require to be taken into account
when discussing the absorption of lead salts in the gastro-intestinal canal.
When human gastric juice is obtained direct from the stomach in man, and
lead is submitted to its action, definite quantities of lead pass into solution;
and, curiously enough, in the normal gastric juice lead sulphate is as soluble
as both white lead and litharge. The following two tables give the results of
the estimation of the direct action of human gastric juice upon lead. The
particular point is that the juice was obtained by the stomach tube from
persons who had been given a simple test meal preceded by a twelve hours’
fast; the juice was therefore in a normal condition. The tests gave the
following results in the normal stomach:
Lead sulphate 0·080 per cent.
White lead 0·048 „
Litharge 0·040 „

In the second digestion, in which the analysis of the contents showed the
patient to be suffering from the condition known as “hyperhydrochloridia,” the
results were—
Lead sulphate 0·046 per cent.
White lead 0·042 „
Litharge 0·340 „

A very large number of experiments have also been performed for the
purpose of determining the solubility of raw lead glaze, and white lead, in
artificial digestions, the digestions having been made up in such a way that
they resembled as far as possible in every particular the ordinary stomach
contents. The type of digestion used was as follows:
Dry breadcrumbs 140 grammes.
Hydrochloric acid 5 c.c.
 Lactic acid 0·1 c.c.
Acetic acid 0·1 c.c.
Pepsin 1·2 grammes.
Milk 1,200 c.c.

Digestions were performed with this mixture, and in every case the digest
was divided into two portions; each portion was retained at body temperature,
with agitation for a couple of hours, and at the end of that time one portion
was submitted to analysis. The second portion was neutralized, sodium
carbonate and pancreatic ferment added, and digestion carried on for another
two and a half hours at body temperature. At the end of this time the
pancreatic digest was examined.
Thirty-five digestions were performed. When 1 gramme of white lead was
used—that is, 0·01 per cent., containing 0·75 per cent. of lead oxide—the
quantity of lead found as lead oxide in the acid digest varied from 2 to 3 per
cent., whilst the amount found in the pancreatic digest varied from 4 to 6·5
per cent. of the added salt. On increasing the amount to 12 grammes—that
is, 1 per cent.—the quantity returned in the digest only increased from 1·5 to
2 per cent. In other words, in the addition of larger quantities of material the
ratio of solubility did not rise in proportion to the quantity added. Where a
direct pancreatic digestion was performed without the preliminary digest of
the gastric contents, the amount of lead present in the digest was only about
0·2 per cent. of the quantity added; indeed, it was very much smaller than the
amount dissolved out after preliminary acid digestion—that is, if the normal
sequence of digestion is followed, the solubility progresses after the gastric
digest has been neutralized and pancreatic ferment has been added,
whereas very slow action indeed occurs as the result of action of the
pancreatic digest alone. Some experiments described by Thomason[12],
although carried out without special regard to the physiological question of
the progressive nature of digestion, distinctly confirm the point raised. Thus,
in a digest of gastric juice, milk, and bread, 5·0 per cent. of lead was
dissolved, whereas when pancreatic juice alone was used only 0·4 per cent.
was found to be dissolved, a remarkable confirmation of the point under
discussion.
The difficulty of estimating lead present in these gastric digestions is a very
real one, as, owing to the precipitation of lead by various fluids of an
albuminoid nature, it is difficult to determine the amount of lead present in a
given quantity of digest; moreover, in making such a digest, much of the
material may become entangled among the clot of the milk in a purely
mechanical fashion, and, in attempting to separate the fluid from the other
portion of the digest, filtration no doubt removes any lead which has been
rendered soluble first of all, and reprecipitated as an albuminate. An
albuminate of lead may be formed with great ease in the following way: A 5
per cent. solution of albumin in normal saline is taken, 0·02 per cent. of
hydrochloric acid is added, and 10 per cent. solution of lead chloride added
as long as a precipitate is formed. The precipitate is then filtered off, and
washed in a dialyser with acidulated water until no further trace of lead is
found in the washings. A portion of this substance taken up in distilled water
forms a solution of an opalescent nature, which readily passes through the
filter and gives the reaction of protein with Millon’s reagent, and the lead
reaction by means of caustic potash and sulphuretted hydrogen, but very
large quantities of mineral acid are required to produce any colour with
hydrogen sulphide. Lead which gains access to the stomach, either dissolved
in water or swallowed as fine dust, becomes in all probability converted first
into a soluble substance, chloride, acetate, or lactate, which compound is
then precipitated either by the mucin present in the stomach, or by the protein
constituents of the food, or by the partially digested food (peptonate of lead
may be formed in the same way as the albuminate described above). In this
form, or as an albuminate or other organic compound, it passes the pylorus,
and becomes reprecipitated and redigested through the action of the
pancreatic juice. A consideration of the action of artificial gastric juices and
the properly combined experiments of gastric and pancreatic digestions
suggest that the form in which lead becomes absorbed is not a chloride, but
an organic compound first formed and gradually decomposed during the
normal process of digestion, and absorbed in this manner from the intestine
along with the ordinary constituents of food. Dixon Mann[13] has shown that
about two-thirds of the lead administered by the mouth is discharged in the
fæces, and that the remaining one-third is also slowly but only partially
eliminated. This point is of very considerable importance in relation to
industrial poisoning of presumably gastro-intestinal origin, and consideration
of the experiments quoted suggests that the digestion of albuminate or
peptonate may to some extent be the basis which determines the excretion of
so much of the lead via the fæces. This alteration of solubility has no doubt a
bearing on the immunity exhibited by many animals when fed with lead, and
probably explains the fact that many of the experimental animals fed with lead
over long periods exhibited no symptoms of poisoning (see p. 85), whereas
control animals, given a far smaller quantity of lead by other means and
through the lung, rapidly developed symptoms of poisoning. A diversity of
opinion exists as to the effect of pepsin upon the solubility of lead. Oliver[14]
considers that the pepsin has a retarding influence on the solubility of lead in
the gastric juice, and Thomason’s experiments also support this view,
although it is difficult to see why the action of pepsin alone should be of such
extreme importance. There is also the complicating fact that other added
substances in the food may mask any direct pepsin factor that may be
present. Albumose and peptone rather than pepsin are to be regarded as the
more important substance physiologically in their reaction with lead, and it is
interesting to note that Schicksal[15] found that by exposing lead in the form of
white lead in a 1 per mille solution of hydrochloric acid in the presence of
peptone produced a greater solvent effect on white lead than did the diluted
acid alone, and the same effect was also seen on metallic lead.
Table II.—Schicksal’s Table.
Amount
dissolved
returned
as
Metallic
Solution. Substance. Time. Lead.

(a) 1·0 per cent. peptone 100 White lead, 10 3 days at 37°
- 0·1471 grm.
0·1 per cent. HCl c.c. grms. C.

(b) 1·0 per cent. peptone 100 Metallic lead, 4

- „ 0·0330 „
0·1 per cent. HCl c.c. grms.
(c) 0·1 per cent. HCl, 100 White lead, 10
0·0983 „
c.c. grms.
(d) 0·1 per cent. HCl, 100 Metallic lead, 4
0·0194 „
c.c. grms.
(e) Metallic lead, 4
0·3 per cent. Na2CO3 None
grms.
(f) 0·3 per cent. Na2CO3 White lead „
(g) 0·3 per cent. Na2CO3
- White lead „
0·5 per cent. NaCl

(h) 0·3 per cent. Na2CO3

- Metallic lead „
0·5 per cent. NaCl

The experiments referred to on p. 18 undoubtedly agree with those of

Schicksal. In addition to the presence of peptones, the effect of carbonic acid
must be also considered, as increase in solubility in gastric and pancreatic
digestions was produced when carbonic acid gas was bubbled through the
digest during the period of action. The whole question of solubility of many
materials in the fluids of the stomach and intestinal canal requires entire
revision, not only as regards lead, but as regards a number of other metals,
including arsenic.
The Mechanism of Lead Absorption.
—The final method of absorption of lead particles or lead solution into the
animal body remains to be considered. Experimental phagocytosis of lead
particles—as, indeed, of any minute particles of substance—suspended in an
isotonic solution, may be observed directly under the microscope. Lead
particles show no exception to the rule, and white blood-corpuscles in a
hanging-drop preparation, made by suspending them in an isotonic salt
solution and serum, may be watched englobing particles of lead, and by
appropriate means the ingested lead may be afterwards demonstrated. In
such an experiment, much of the lead absorbed by the individual corpuscles
rapidly loses its property of giving a black precipitate with sulphuretted
hydrogen, and has apparently become converted into an organic compound,
peptonate or albuminate.
In the section devoted to the Chemistry of Lead, it has been noted that the
colloidal solutions of lead are not precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen, and
that albuminates and peptonates of lead are presumably of colloidal form.
There seems evidence, therefore, that the direct absorption of lead takes
place by means of the phagocytes of the body, and that in them it becomes
converted into a colloidal form, in which it is probably eliminated through the
kidney and intestine, mainly the latter.
Further evidence of the englobement of lead particles by amœbic cells may
be gained if sections of the intestines of experimental animals are examined;
in the lymphoid glands particles of lead may be seen situated in the interior of
the walls, and even in the cells. It does not by any means follow that these
particles of lead sulphide present in the cells have been formed in situ; more
probably the lead has been converted into a sulphide in the intestinal lumen
itself, and subsequently taken up by the amœbic cells situated in its
periphery.
Another solution is possible—namely, that the particles seen in the
intestinal wall are particles of lead in process of excretion into the intestine
itself, and that the pigmentation of the vessel walls and cells is caused by the
staining of the particles of lead passing from the blood into the lumen of the
tube, which have been converted into a sulphide during their passage.
The localization of the staining in the large intestine, especially in the region
of the appendix in animals (cats), tends to support this theory. The large
bowel near the ileo-cæcal valve, the appendix, and even the glands in the
immediate neighbourhood, are found to be discoloured, and to contain lead in
larger quantities than any other portion of the intestine. In extreme cases the
whole of the large intestine may be stained a greyish-blue. The bloodvessels
in the mesentery in this region are also engorged. When, however, a salt of
lead, such as lead carbonate or lead oxide, gains access to the stomach, it
may be easily converted into chloride by the free hydrochloric acid present in
the stomach; and, in addition, should there be any chronic acid-dyspepsia
(hyperchlorhydria), particularly of the fermentative type, in which free lactic
acid and other organic acids are to be found within the viscus, small
quantities of lead swallowed as dust undergo solution and conversion into
chloride or lactate. The pouring out of acid gastric juice from the stomach
glands does not take place immediately after the first bolus of food is
swallowed, and it may be twenty minutes or half an hour before the gastric
contents have an acid reaction. During this time any lead salts previously
swallowed may become incorporated with the bolus of food and escape
absorption.
Lead in solution or suspension in the stomach which becomes mixed up
with the food, and at the same time subjected to the action of various
albuminous constituents of the food in addition to acids, causes an
albuminate or peptonate of lead to be easily formed, and as such can never
be absorbed from the stomach direct; practically no absorption takes place in
the stomach, and the presence of food containing albuminate precipitates any
lead in solution as an organic insoluble salt. The bolus of food impregnated
with small quantities of lead passes onwards to the intestine, where further
digestion takes place. As the mass passes through the intestine the action
gradually results in the reappearance of acidity, but at the same time a certain
quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen is produced, some of it from the
degradation of the sulphur-containing moiety of the protein molecule by
ordinary hydrolytic process and intestinal ferments, quite apart from any
bacterial action. A portion of the lead present in the chyme may be set free
again for absorption. The bile is said to assist in the solution of lead in vitro.
In experiments made by one of us, which are quoted later, it has been
shown that an isolated loop of intestine allows the absorption of a soluble
lead salt (chloride) when there is no food present in the loop. As the food
mass proceeds through the length of the intestine more and more sulphur is
set free, and an opportunity arises for the fixation of the lead as a sulphide,
but even as a sulphide it is slightly soluble. Probably, however, most of the
lead becomes absorbed long before it reaches the stage at which free
sulphur or sulphuretted hydrogen exists for the formation of sulphide. It is
highly probable that lead, in common with a number of other heavy metals,
including arsenic, is absorbed gradually in the upper part of the intestine, and
re-excreted in the lower. Such an hypothesis is undoubtedly strongly
supported by the remarkable staining of the large intestine and the ileo-cæcal
valve.
The exact mechanism of the absorption of lead from its compound with
albumin or peptone as a lead peptonate or albuminate is very difficult to state
at present; lead albuminate is undoubtedly insoluble in water or normal saline
and in albumin. The process of absorption, then, of the metal lead from the
gastro-intestinal canal is very closely related to the absorption of other heavy
metals, and the fact that animals after very large doses of lead salts
administered via the mouth show hæmorrhages in the intestinal wall, in
addition to hæmorrhages in other parts of the body, with occasional distinct
ulceration, suggests a localized coagulative action on the vessels in the wall
of the intestine as the probable origin of the ulceration. A consideration of this
problem of lead absorption from the intestine—probably only the minutest
quantity of lead, if any, is absorbed from the stomach direct—is one of
considerable importance in the prevention of such lead poisoning as is
attributable to swallowing lead. No work in a lead factory should be
commenced in the morning without partaking of food, because if food be
present the opportunities for absorption of lead are greatly diminished, and of
all foods the one to be recommended as the most efficient is milk, or cocoa
made with milk.
The absorption of dust through the lung is probably an exceedingly
complicated reaction, and Armit’s experiments with nickel carbonyl probably
give the clue. He found that in nickel carbonyl poisoning the volatile product
was split up on the surface of the lung cells, the metallic portion passing
onwards into the lung itself, to be eventually absorbed by the serum.
From the pathological and histological investigations described on p. 81,
and from the fact that particles of lead are very readily taken up by white
blood-corpuscles, we can conclude that absorption of the finer lead particles
gaining access to the lung takes place through the medium of these
phagocyte cells, as such cells are well known to exist within the alveoli of the
lung. The stored-up carbon particles found in the lungs in dwellers in cities
show that such transference of particles from the alveoli to the inner portions
of the lung trabeculæ is a constant phenomenon, and it is therefore easily
understood how rapidly any fine particles not of themselves irritant may be
easily taken up by the tissues. Once having gained access to the interior of
the cells, the particles subjected to the action of the serum of the blood in the
ordinary process of bathing the tissues by the exuding lymph—nay, more,
actual particles of lead—may thus be actually transferred bodily into the finer
blood-spaces, and so be carried forward to the general circulation. Such
particles as remain fixed in the lung will undergo gradual absorption, and the
constant presence of carbonic acid in the circulating blood brought to the lung
undoubtedly largely contributes to their solution, and there is no need to
presuppose the necessity of some recondite interaction of organic acid for the
solution of the inhaled lead in the lungs.
In the absorption of the substance from the intestine, it may go direct into
the blood-stream in a similar fashion through the lacteals along the lymph
channels, and so into the thoracic duct, and finally into the general circulation.
On the other hand, a certain amount, probably not an inconsiderable portion,
is taken up by the portal circulation and transferred direct to the liver itself.
Chemical analysis of the liver supports this view, as does also the
considerable amount of stress thrown upon the liver when poisoning has
taken place from the intestinal canal on administration of massive doses of a
highly soluble lead compound. According to Steinberg[16], excretion of lead
takes place partly from the liver by the bile. This is probable, but there is no
experimental evidence at the present time to support the view. If such an
excretion does take place, the form in which the lead is excreted is probably
one in which it is no longer soluble by digestive action. On the other hand, it
may be in so soluble a form as to become reabsorbed from the intestine, thus
setting up a constant cycle. But such a theory is one that would require a
considerable amount of experimental evidence to support it before it could be
relied on.
There is no doubt that, however absorbed, lead remains stored up in the
body in minute quantities in many places, and the close analogy to arsenic is
met with in the curious elimination of the metal by the fæces. Cloetta[17],
quoted by Dixon Mann, discovered that, although dogs were unable to take a
larger dose of arsenic than 0·0035 gramme per day without exhibiting toxic
results, they could nevertheless take arsenic in much larger doses if it were
given in the solid form, and he was able to increase the dose to as much as 2
grammes per diem without showing any toxic symptoms. Examination of the
urine and fæces showed that as the amount of urinary excretion of arsenic
diminished, so that in the fæces increased, and in lead poisoning, even in
massive doses swallowed in error, the amount of lead excreted by the urine
rapidly diminishes in quantity, although the patient may be still suffering from
the effects of lead poisoning. The experiments, also, quoted on p. 100
constantly pointed to the elimination of lead by way of the intestine, and in
practically all the animals that had suffered from chronic poisoning well-
marked dark staining of the upper part of the cæcum due to lead was
invariably present. This staining and excretion of lead of the large intestine
undoubtedly takes place in man. In a case described by Little[18], where
diachylon had been administered, the administration of a large enema
containing sulphate of magnesium came away black. A more detailed result
of the experiments and a consideration of the elimination of lead are reserved
for another chapter, but it is impossible to consider the ætiology of the
disease without some reference to the general histological channels of
absorption and excretion.
Cutaneous Absorption of Lead.—A considerable amount of
controversy has centred on the question of the absorption of lead through the
unbroken skin. It has been shown that such drugs as belladonna applied to
the skin alone may produce dilatation of the pupil; an ointment containing
salicylic acid spread upon the skin and thoroughly rubbed in is followed by the
appearance of derivatives of salicylic acid in the urine; mercury may be
applied to the skin, and rubbed in, in sufficient quantities to produce
salivation; and a very large number of other drugs may be cited, all of which
when applied to the unbroken epidermis with friction produce the
physiological action of the drug.
There is no reason to exclude lead from the category of drugs which may
be absorbed through the medium of the skin, and, as several observers have
shown, animals may be poisoned by lead on applying a plaster of lead
acetate to the skin. Amongst these experiments may be quoted those of
Canuet[19] and Drouet[20] on rabbits. Some observers, among whom may be
mentioned Manouvrier[21], have attempted to prove that paralysis of the
hands occurs more often in the right hand in right-handed people, in the left
hand with left-handed people, and from the various experiments showing
absorption of lead through the unbroken skin they seek to connect the lesion
of the nerve with absorption direct through the skin of the hands.
Many objections can be urged against acceptance of this theory. Lead
workers who are constantly manipulating lead in a state of solution with bare
hands do not appear as a class to be more subject to wrist-drop than do
persons who are exposed to inhalation of fumes or dust of lead; in fact,
incidence of paralysis and of nerve lesions generally is more severe among
persons exposed to prolonged inhalation of minute quantities of lead through
the respiratory tract. The greater the exposure to dust, the greater the number
of cases of anæmia and colic, whilst in other industries, as has already been
stated, where lead exists as an oleate on the hands of the workers day in and
day out for many years, paralysis and even colic are of rare occurrence; in
other words, persons especially exposed to the absorption of lead through
their hands show a much smaller incidence of lead poisoning of all types than
do those exposed to lead dust. Further, the pathology of wrist-drop and
similar forms of paresis tends to show that the nerve supplying the affected
muscles is not affected primarily, but that the initial cause is hæmorrhage into
the sheath of the nerve, producing ultimate degenerative change. The
hæmorrhage, however, is the primary lesion.

REFERENCES.
[1] Goadby, K. W.: A Note on Experimental Lead Poisoning. Journal of Hygiene, vol.
ix., No. 1, April, 1909.
[2] Legge, T. M.: Report on the Manufacture of Paints and Colours containing Lead
(Cd. 2466). 1905.
[3] Duckering, G. E.: Journal of Hygiene, vol. viii., No. 4, September.
[4] Meillère, G.: Le Saturnisme, chap. iv. Paris, 1903.
[5] Armit, H. W.: Journal of Hygiene, vol. viii., No. 5, November, 1908.
 [6] Tanquerel des Planches: Traité des Maladies de Plomb, ou Saturnines. Paris,
1839.
[7] Stanski: Loc. cit.
[8] Gautier: Intoxication Saturnine, etc. Académie de Médecine, viii., November,
1883.
[9] Thresh, J. C.: The Lancet, p. 1033, October 7, 1905.
[10] Ibid., January 5, 1909.
[11] Thomason: Report of the Departmental Committee on Lead Manufacture:
Earthenware, China, vol. ii., appendices, p. 61. 1910.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Dixon Mann: Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, p. 495. 1908.
[14] Oliver, Sir T.: Lead Poisoning (Goulstonian lectures). 1891.
[15] Schicksal: Die Bekämpfung der Bleigefahr in der Industrie, p. 38. 1908.
[16] Steinberg: International Congress of Industrial Hygiene. Brussels, 1910.
[17] Cloetta: Dixon Mann’s Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, p. 463.
[18] Little: The Lancet, March 3, 1906.
[19] Canuet, T.: Thèse, Paris, 1825, No. 202. Essai sur le Plomb.
[20] Drouet: Thèse, Paris, 1875. Recherches Experimentales sur le Rôle de
l’Absorption Cutanée dans la Paralysie Saturnine.
[21] Manouvrier, A.: Thèse, Paris, 1873, No. 471. Intoxication par Absorption
Cutanée.
 CHAPTER III
SUSCEPTIBILITY AND IMMUNITY
A large number of poisonous substances, among which lead may
be included, are not equally poisonous in the same dose for all
persons. It is customary to speak of those persons who show a
diminished resistance, or whose tissues show little power of resisting
the poisonous effects of such substances, as susceptible. On the
other hand, it is possible, but not scientifically correct, to speak of
immunity to such poisonous substances. Persons, particularly, who
resist lead poisoning to a greater degree than their fellows are better
spoken of as tolerant of the poisonous effects than as being partially
immune.
The degree of resistance exhibited by any given population
towards the poisonous influence of lead shows considerable
variation. Thus, in a community using a water-supply contaminated
with lead, only a small proportion of the persons drinking the water
becomes poisoned. There are, of course, other factors than that of
individual idiosyncrasy which may determine the effect of the poison,
as, for example, the drawing of the water first thing in the morning
which has been standing in a particular pipe. But even if all
disturbing factors are eliminated in water-borne lead poisoning,
differing degrees of susceptibility are always to be observed among
the persons using the water.
Lead does not differ, therefore, from any other drugs to which
persons show marked idiosyncrasies. Thus, very small doses of
arsenic may produce symptoms of colic in susceptible persons; a
limited number of individuals are highly susceptible to some drugs,
such as cannabis indica, while others are able to ingest large doses
without exhibiting any sign of poisoning; and it is well known that
even in susceptible persons the quantity of a particular drug which
first produces symptoms of poisoning may be gradually increased, if
the dosage be continued over long periods in quantities insufficient