‘I agree.’ Heret-Kau frowns. ‘What’s more alarming is that your ghostly beau is under the impression that we are in some sort of deal. Which makes her either a liar, or someone who has been lied to.’ She looks over to me for answers but I have no information to help her.
‘Either way, best we navigate this problem first.’ She swirls her finger in a flicking motion, opening up a portal between us. ‘And there’s no better time like the present.’
24
Waiting feels like torture. The gentle midnight breeze sweeps through the clearing, bringing with it the sound of crashing waves and a salty ocean scent. Leaves shuffle across the ground, silhouettes like small animals in the darkness. Guilt eats at my insides like a disease. A disease that I don’t plan on revealing despite my seeming solitude. Heret-Kau is watching, I’m sure. She prides herself on her ability to get under my skin, and the less tools she has to do so the better.
Two presences approach and my entire body tenses. One individual breaks away, deciding to linger on the outskirts of the forest, while the other ambles steadily up the path. Ambling is really not what I had hoped for, but typical nonetheless. Does she really not understand the direness of the situation? I was quite explicit in my letter; time is of the essence. It takes everything in me to not voice my growing frustration as a huff or tisk, there’s no way of knowing what might carry on the wind to reach her ears. Ambling or not, she needs to be here before Xander. The disease fastens its grip at the thought of what’s to come, burrowing deeper inside.
‘Charlotte,’ I say as she emerges through the trees. Relief washes over me. ‘What took you so long?’ A great deal of restraint allows me to omit profanities from the question.
She gives a large unconcerned smile, walking over. ‘We can’t let them become suspicious, now, can we? Plus, a lady doesn’t run.’
‘She does when she’s trying to run away,’ I remark, expecting a similarly jested retort. Silence. Charlotte appears momentarily hurt before concealing it with a polite smile. Ah, wrong person for that, I guess. Blinking the thought away, I concentrate on the matter at hand, forming an ice spear and inscribing the coordinates that I’ve been repeating feverishly in the back of my mind. ‘Look – either way, we need to get going.’ I glance up to see that she has not followed me and is still at the edge of the clearing, brushing dirt off her dress. ‘With haste,’ I continue, a little more firmly. ‘Like I said in my letter, I think they’re planning something. They want you out of the human girl.’
Charlotte strolls over, sighing. ‘I highly doubt it. The boy didn’t even notice I had left. I’ll bet he still lies, even now, unmoving on the couch in front of the television. Oh, Will, dear, you think too much of people. You’ll find that people are a lot less cunning than what you believe them to be.’
I don’t argue with her. She might’ve been right, if it wasn’t Xander. In fact, the moment she left through that back door, he noticed. The lingering presence is beginning to narrow in quickly. We don’t have much time. I need to activate the portal now.
Charlotte startles as I pull her by her wrist into the circle, clearly too assertively. I let go quickly. Misinterpreting my reaction as concern for her wellbeing, Charlotte smiles. ‘I can’t blame you, can I? Demons aren’t exactly known for their chivalry.’ I’m glad she thinks so because I’m about to get a whole lot less chivalrous. Footsteps crunch through the forest floor.
He’s here.
She slides her hand into mine as I stab the ice spear into the ground, turning it to activate the portal. As usual, the lines light up, connecting the coordinates together, a swirl tracing through the circle forming a beautiful blue pattern. Xander rushes out from the forest, red-eyed and honing in. Charlotte flinches, her terrified face glancing back at mine. I grip her hand tightly. Are we going to make it? We have to.
My teeth clench. ‘I’m sorry.’ But her eyes are glued to the demon boy running towards her.
Xander rushes into the portal at the last second, taking hold of Charlotte’s free wrist before the portal activates, sending all three of us transported to the white room. I barely have time to balance myself before the Goddess takes hold of Charlotte’s jaw. Metal chains erupt like striking serpents from the white tiled floor, entangling themselves around Charlotte’s limbs. She gasps, the reality of the situation only now dawning on her. Rage filling her face, she screams, thrashing violently against her restraints. Xander lets go, falling to his backside and letting out a sigh of relief. I slip my own hand out of hers but she doesn’t notice.
‘W-what the hell do you think you’re doing? Let us go!’ Her gaze reaches me, wrists free and complacent. There’s a few moments of confusion before my betrayal registers. ‘You…’ I look away. ‘You were a part of this,’ she groans, more a statement than a question. ‘What are they – you going to do to me?’
‘Since you want to know so badly, I’ll show you.’ Heret-Kau tilts Charlotte’s head back with a less than gentle use of force, her hand glowing a golden aura of light.
‘As part of a contract with the human, Siara, I gave one God’s promise. Possessing the girl’s body and encompassing her soul compromises this deal, and thus the promise. It is my obligation to correct this inconsistency and the potential risk it contains.’
‘B-but we had a deal!’ Charlotte spits, her face contorting with indignation. The Goddess ignores Charlotte’s plea and reaches her long claws into her head, screams filling the silent room.
After a few moments, Heret-Kau frowns. ‘Hm. She doesn’t lie. It appears she has made a God’s promise after all.’ The Goddess rescinds her claws, screams falling silent. Charlotte pants, her head fallen forward. Heret-Kau shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, dear. Your promise wasn’t with me.’
My stomach lurches. ‘What does this mean? Are you still able to proceed?’
Heret-Kau nods. ‘Yesss…’ The Goddess smirks, accentuating her serpent features. ‘It just means Siara will give up her promise.’ At my blank expression, she lets out a laugh. ‘Fate has a funny way of guiding you to be right where you need to be. If Siara hadn’t tried to run away from her fate, she wouldn’t have made a promise with me. If she had never made that promise with me, I wouldn’t have been able to save her. It all comes back full circle.’
With glowing eyes of gold, Heret-Kau peels Charlotte’s ghostly outline away from Siara’s body. Two rings of gold inscriptions dance in the space between them. Still holding Charlotte’s spirit in one hand, Heret-Kau takes one ring and lays it over the top of the other. A screeching sound fills the room as the two rings vibrate violently clashing against each other until they disintegrate to silence. The tattoo on Siara’s arm dissolves just as quickly. Heret-Kau releases a sigh of relief, turning back to face us.
‘The two promises have been annulled. After a short contemplative pause, she looks back to Charlotte. ‘Now then, what am I going to do with you?’ With a quick flick of her finger, Heret-Kau drags the greatly disgruntled spirit through a portal, kicking and screaming, a wide and genuinely unnerving smile plastered on the Goddess’ face, showing a pair of small serpent fangs I had never realised she possessed. ‘Will you just calm down? You’ll still be able to be with William, except now you won’t be killing a human in the process.’ The portal closes, leaving a few moments of silence and a cool chill.
The chains recede. The human body slumps to the ground, enervated. It contorts back into Siara’s likeness and I can’t help but hope it’s not as painful as it looks. With the portal reopening, Heret-Kau steps back through, rubbing her hands together to indicate a job well done.
Xander walks over, peering at her unmoving body. ‘Is it done?’
‘It sure is. Now, you know the rules, right, Xander? Tell them to me so I know you understand.’
I look down at Siara’s unconscious face. Colour returns as her chest begins to rise and fall. She’s asleep.
‘We limit our contact with Siara and no demon powers are to be used in her presence,’ Xander reports back, monotone. It took a lot of persuading to get him to agree to these terms to begin with.
‘Good,’ the Goddess says, patting a hand on Xander’s shoulder. ‘It will take some time for her soul to recover, which is why it is vital that she assimilates back in with humans. In her current state, she is all but a sitting duck.’ Heret-Kau’s focus turns to me, her pitch rising slightly. ‘Though we can never be too careful.’
It’s clear to me what she’s insinuating. ‘You want me to keep an eye on her, from a distance.’
She grins, sashaying over. ‘Only until she gets better, of course. Once she does, be sure to let me know and I’ll restore the memories and set everything right again. I’m sure the girl wishes for nothing more at this point. Finally, everything will go back to normal.’ The words take a few moments to comprehend, landing on me like bricks of lead.
Xander’s eyes light up, boldly clasping the Goddess’ wrist. ‘Can I help with keeping an eye on her too?’
‘I need your help with something else. There’s a few letters that didn’t quite make it to their recipient. I sure hope you can find a way to get it to them.’ With a swirl of her hand, Rye’s letter to Siara forms perfectly unscathed in the air, floating down into Xander’s hands. His body turns still, a combined mix of dread and mortification crawling across his face. For a being that can see all of humanity, she sure does tend to see things that people want to keep hidden.
‘How is–’
‘She’s fine,’ Heret-Kau interrupts. ‘Your lover is currently repenting for her sins at your lovely winter abode. You’d be delighted to know I’ve formed a new and better barrier around its outskirts.’ The Goddess opens a portal, the new cabin featuring perfectly inside as if it hadn’t burned down to embers just months earlier. She ushers Xander through before noticing my expression. She flicks her wrist and a separate portal opens up, the old manor staring empty and forgotten on the other side.
‘If you want to say goodbye to that place–’
‘No need,’ I say, taking a few steps over to Siara. Carefully, I pick her up. ‘I left that place a long time ago.’
Heret-Kau nods, changing the coordinates once again before following Xander through the original portal. It snaps shut behind her but not before the cool winter breeze sweeps through the room. We’re alone. Siara stirs.
The view of the townhouse ripples through the open portal in front.
