17. Beautiful People Ugly Souls #2
I wait a few moments to see if Levi will send anything, but I tell myself not to let it affect me when there are no more thought bubbles.
Knots and Lynx still don’t have phones, and I make a mental note to remedy that when I get a chance.
Grabbing Reaper’s attention, we head out through the ballroom balcony and into the warm, fresh air.
Halfway down the stairs, Reaper darts in front of me, stopping me mid-step, making me reach out for the arm rail. My sight wavers, making my world spin.
“Whoa.” I reach down for the step behind me and feel Reaper's tail wrap around my arm, guiding me down to the step. “Thanks, baby.”
Once I sit down, chills rip through my body, causing uncontrollable body shakes, and my teeth start to rattle. Reaper crawls between my legs and nuzzles into me, trying to warm me up. Even his long tail wraps around my waist, as he whines and his flames rise higher.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” I try to soothe him.
“It’s just the side effects from the God’s Trumpet.
It will go away soon enough… I hope.” It takes a few minutes of petting Reaper and letting his fire warm me before I’m ready to move on.
Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone outside when I came out here to witness my moment of weakness.
I continue down the stairs and out to the quad. The only way back to the school is the portal by the Ever Woods. The Leaders have temporarily restricted the use of the Nova portal in the basement since they found that special room Emer and her goons have been using.
I’m not complaining. After the whirlwind of the meet and greet, Dad is right; I need some fresh air.
The atmosphere outside isn’t much better than the one inside the ballroom.
Night has completely fallen, and there’s a thickness in the air that wasn’t here earlier.
The moonless night has a few stars, but it’s nothing to help guide my footsteps.
Thankfully, the lamps are lit, giving off a soft yellow glow, but I don’t think they go all the way to the portal.
Either way, I’ve been here long enough that I know my way there.
Who could forget my first time going through that gate and tumbling into Zeke’s arms?
Watching Reaper’s antics of tripping over his own tail, I find myself giggling as he brings me a stick to throw.
“You goof,” I laugh, bending down and giving him quick scratches. “You can have anything you want for protecting your mama tonight.” I give him a quick kiss on the snout. “I’m so proud of you,” I tell him before taking the stick from him.
I throw the stick ahead of me and off to the side as I continue to walk, and my mind wanders as Reaper lets out a bark and takes off after his prey for the night.
How did Dad get mixed up with Elverson, and is it really over between them? Could he easily pull on his strings and turn him against us?
Reaper comes tumbling back over his abnormally long tail, and I chuckle as I take his slobbered stick and throw it once again. It makes me smile seeing Reaper’s flames as he races across the grass toward my throw.
I hope everyone came out with better information than I did tonight. All I learned is that L.A.M.B. is backing us; I’m clueless about where we’re going, and students are already disappearing before the event has even started. Great!
Reaper comes back with his stick, and without even thinking, I pick it up and send it flying once again as we come up on the fountain where I first met Moni. Instead of heading toward the covered bridge, I move to the left and across the grassy expanse toward the portal.
What was up with King Elverson, and what’s his endgame? Damn, I wish JP had been around; he could have at least read his or Emer’s mind. Well, attempted it at any rate.
Reaper’s happy yips pull me back to the present long enough to grab his stick and send it as hard as I can, just as I come across a section of the path that seems darker even though the lamps are lit.
Maybe I should have stayed longer or tried to engage more with the King to figure out how the hell he plays into this or what all he knows about his daughter and her evil ways. I swear she really doesn’t fall far from the damn apple tree. Her roots are as rotten as they come.
A few lamps above me start to flicker and go out, and an uneasy feeling comes over me, making the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Where’s Reaper? There’s no light, and Reaper always gives off light.
“Reaper?” I call out, trying to keep the panic out of my voice as I turn in circles trying to spot my personal torch, but there’s nothing.
No sign, no bark, or spark of my baby.
“Reaper!” I yell, not caring about how I look. The first thought that hits me is that King Elverson somehow got his hands on my baby, and I’m prepared to start a damn war myself if he even hurts one flame on his body.
“Oh, he’s a little tied up at the moment,” a slightly familiar masculine voice mocks me from the shadows to my left. Spinning, I immediately draw my weapons as I take in my first true vision of the real Boogey Man of all the Realms.
“Let me guess,” I say to the shadows where a faint cherry glow of a cigarette resonates a foot taller than me.
If I were in a different lifetime and had to guess, I would assume he was simply smoking, but this is Purgatory, so nothing is ever what it seems. “Cain.” I’m surprised by the way my voice remains even.
“Yes, little mouse, in the flesh,” he states as I hear him walk toward me.
I reach for my magic and feel it slip through my fingers as I try to pull up my shield.
Slow acting, my ass, you fucking blue devil. “You will still have your powers.” How about NO powers, Murmur. This isn’t even close to unreliable; it’s like it’s not even here.
Next time I see Bez, I’m requesting a BLUE sheath for my next set of weapons, and I’m willing to help skin Murmur to get it.
That is, if I live that long.