10. As I Awake #2
“Well, I think. I got to know her a bit better than I expected, but there’s room for more conversation for sure.” I sat beside Dad and poked his cheek twice to gain his attention. “What are your thoughts on this, oldie?”
“I like Isadora,” he retorted, eyes still fixed to his paperwork. “She’s disciplined. Odessa is reckless, chaotic, and much like her mother. I don’t think we need a repeat of that.”
“Isadora is fragile, though. She says she wants the job but also talks about wanting freedom from being a demon. I wonder if it would tie her down too much...” I added with a scowl.
Dad flicked his gaze to me finally. “Do you think she is too fragile? We don’t want someone who is going to quit in a few years because they feel caged by responsibility.”
“I can’t quite tell. She follows Odessa like a lost puppy. I think, without her sister, she would flourish, honestly. She’s much livelier when she’s on her own.”
“Hmm...” Dad tapped the edge of his clipboard as he pondered a response. “Odessa is controlling, and I don’t like that. Then again, we need a ruler who is. Evris, who do you like better?”
“Me?” she popped in between bites of a croissant.
“You’re a ruler of Gehenna, aren’t you? Every opinion matters to us,” Dad reminded her.
She set the pastry down and dusted her hands off on her pants.
“I think Isadora would be easier to work with, sure, but Odessa is much more confident. You need to be strong-willed to run that kind of Layer, especially the deeper ones. Then again, Aloysius was quite timid when he got here and look how well he does. Maybe Isadora is a better option.”
“I take it you haven’t solved this Layer dilemma yet?
” Decimus asked as he came into the room.
With his new form, he looked quite similar to his Elemental self when he was alive, give or take the all-red eyes and his hair being a bit longer.
He didn’t have the tattoos his original body had, but he had begun accumulating new ones to make the body feel more homely.
I was yet to see his full demon form but was happy I didn’t have to right now.
“We’re discussing it now, actually,” I replied as he sat beside me and stole an eclair from the center of the table.
Having him so close made chills run through my body, but I bit down on my tongue to keep myself in check.
Dad noticed me clam up and nudged my leg to give me a bump of confidence and remind me that he was there if I needed him.
I appreciated his support and leaned back into him for an extra dose.
“I like that spunky little brunette, the one with the beauty mark on her upper lip… Odessa, I think,” he said as he broke the eclair into three pieces. “She’s got some fire in her!”
“Of course you like the one with the temper issues,” I snorted with an eyeroll.
He flicked a chunk of his snack at me. “Cram it, Freckles.”
“On a serious note, we need to make a decision. They're waiting on us, and so is the Layer. We need someone to take over, asap, to relieve some of the stress on us. Dad, what’s your vote?”
“I pick Isadora,” he said firmly as he stirred cream in his coffee. “She’s obvious to me. I like how she handled the task. She was very collected, unlike her rabid sister.”
“I agree,” Evris added, stealing lumps of sugar for her tea.
“Do I even get a say?” Decimus moped.
“Yes, you do... unfortunately,” Dad hissed bitterly at the end.
Decimus shrunk under his comment and cleared his throat.
“I like Odessa. She’s fiery, and a lot like her mother, which is what the Layer is used to.
The Layer needs to have someone compatible to who ruled it for centuries.
They don’t like change, so introducing such a harsh contrast to their environment is going to be jarring. ”
“Valid point,” I commented before rolling my lips loudly.
“Honestly, I like Isadora myself. I see what Decimus is saying, but I feel like Isadora is sounder of mind and temper. I know demons aren’t supposed to be ‘nice’ but I wouldn’t call her nice.
She’s more, collected. She doesn’t fall to temptation, and that’s a huge requirement for me. ”
“Then that’s all there is, then.” Decimus stretched his long limbs before flicking my forehead. “Mind sliding me her digits? She’s cute as a button, and I’d like to help her get acclimated to the job,” he wagged his eyebrows, “in all ways.”
“You’re a pervert,” I scoffed, but he only laughed lightly.
It was kind of nice to get along with him for the first time in a while.
He did have a decent personality beneath the murderous anger and seeing him happy after what Pandora had done to him was a relief.
It made me a little more confident that we would work well together for the centuries to come, as we were now both confined by our roles in the universe, which meant we needed to coexist peacefully.
Aloysius and Peregrine, always together it seemed, entered the Inn next, their attire just as dated as the last time I saw them. They were handsome enough, though, and took their seats like butterflies fluttering down onto a flower petal. “Gentlemen: nice to see you,” Dad welcomed them.
“And you, your godliness,” Peregrine replied gently before waving to me with his spindly fingers. “It is nice to see you as well, our godliness-to-be.”
“Thank you for joining us for this task.”
“It will be nice to have all our Layers filled once again,” Aloysius sighed as he, too, stole one of Evris’s buttery croissants. “I am growing tired of the chaos of this task.”
“You’re telling me,” Beatrix barked as she stormed into the room. She ripped a chair free and fell into it loudly, the legs squealing from how she threw her weight into it. “If you pick Odessa, I swear to the Gods above-…!”
“Relax, relax… we plan to pick Isadora,” I confirmed to her immediate relief.
“Isadora? My radius lucis?”1 Peregrine fondly chimed.
“You two are close?” I inquired as Elias took a seat as well. He blew Evris a kiss, and chuckled when I shot him a side-eye for his flirtatious behavior.
“Oh, she spends much time in my Layer. She’s followed me around her entire childhood! We have similar mannerisms, you see. She is delicate, a beautiful flower, but my does she have room to blossom.”
“I felt the same way about her,” I assured him warmly.
Phillip was last to enter the room, and the moment he did, the energy shifted immediately.
His new form was, much like Decimus, close to his original body, with his short white hair like a fluorescent headlight against the dim lights of the Inn.
He was, for better lack of term, handsome, but the weight of his cruel acts against my father still made the room fester with undeniable awkwardness.
Dad didn’t bother looking up to address him as he sat as far from the rest of the table as possible, tucking his legs underneath firmly.
He brought a hand up to hug himself, as he, too, could feel the tension choking the room.
I decided to be civil, as he was my choice after all, and my burden when I would take over the Realm. “Phillip: you’re looking well. Are you acclimating to your new body and Layer?”
“I should say so,” he answered respectfully. His eyes fell on Dad, who was unbothered by our conversation, before he turned back to me. “I hope I’m doing my job well enough.”
“Nothing’s burned down yet,” Dad acidly spat, trying to crack a joke, but his tone was far from funny.
Phillip nodded once before letting his arm stiffly fall. “Have we decided which twin we are going to hire yet?”
“We’re going to vote once the girls are here.”
As if on cue, both girls entered the Inn, and their energy reverberated through the room.
It was jarring to say the least and made me tighten up with worry about how Odessa would take the news.
“I take it you’re ready for us?” Odessa chimed as she bounced up to us, her sister trailing behind her.
Isadora had a firm scowl cemented over her pretty face, but she smirked a little when I winked at her.
“Ladies, please, have a seat,” Dad offered.
Each girl sat in their respective spots, and once they were settled, Evris offered them something to snack on.
Isadora was far too nervous to eat, but Odessa did take one of the chocolate eclairs and munched on the edges passively.
No one could deny Evris’s cooking, even when nerves were high, and even I knew that.
Dad set his smoking pen down and folded his hands on his clipboard.
“Your trial brought interesting results. Nick and I were able to see your strengths and weaknesses well, we believe, and have used them to make our selection. We do value the input of our other rulers, so we’ll hear their votes out first before moving forward. ”
“Oh boy…” Odessa grumbled as Aloysius began the ring of voters.
“I choose Isadora. I like her calm nature, and her dedication to her work.”
“I agree. Isadora is a much better fit,” Peregrine interjected.
“Of course those prunes would pick you…” Odessa snarled under her breath, but the two rulers were not fazed by her comment.
“Well, I like Odessa,” Decimus stubbornly said, even with our prior conversation.
“I do as well,” Phillip peeped cautiously.