‘Time for what, Gran?’ It happens soon after this, I remember. Great Gran pulls me in close, whispering in my ear. I don’t need to move closer to know what she says.
‘They’ll come soon,’ she says, a hand raised to my cheek and a kiss placed on my forehead. ‘I’m sorry, my sunshine. I never meant for it to be you.’
I wipe the tears darting down my cheeks. I haven’t been called that in so long. My past self shakes her head, confused. On cue, the monitor starts to alarm. A pulling sensation drags at my body. Nero looks over to me.
They’re bringing you back.
‘Who is?’
The demons. We need to go now.
‘Just a little longer,’ I hush at Nero. ‘They can wait a little longer. I only need a few moments more.’ I want to see what happens next. Why did she suddenly turn on me that day? What did I do wrong?
No, now, my lady.
Great Gran’s eyes flick over to our direction. I follow her gaze down to the small black cat at my side. A gasp rushes out my lips. How can that be? This is a memory; she shouldn’t be able to see Nero. The tugging feeling intensifies, bones aching as I force them down.
‘No,’ the old woman spits. ‘How dare you come here!’ Siara stands, stunned, trying to fathom the yelling. This scene is all too familiar. The nurses start piling into the room urgently.
‘What, Gran? What’s wrong?’ The young girl takes hold of her hand.
We need to go now, Master.
‘Get away from me!’ Great Gran shouts towards us. Nero flinches, his hair standing on edge.
I turn to Nero accusingly.
It’s not me, my lady. I’m not doing anything.
All this time I have been mistaken; she was never yelling at me. She was yelling at something, someone else.
Everything falls silent.
A long tone stretches throughout the room.
William
‘Oh, look, it’s my favourite problem child,’ Heret-Kau says irritably, closing off an orb and walking back behind her desk to scribble something manically. ‘Believe it or not, William, dear, but I do have other responsibilities. My existence wasn’t created from the pure essence of the universe just for you and little Xander here to beckon it at will.’
‘I need your help.’
Her pen snaps, orbs and scrolls falling from their respective piles. They clang to the ground, causing a solemn sigh to escape her lips. Brows narrowing on the tremendous amount of work that lies before her, she refuses to give me the effort of looking up. ‘You always need my help.’
‘Yes, but this time it’s urgent. I don’t know where else to go.’
‘What could be so important that you summon me like some common spirit?’ Heret-Kau’s snake eyes pull up, narrowing immediately on Siara’s frozen body. ‘Oh, William, what have you done?’
Xander springs to my defence quickly. ‘It wasn’t him – it was Marxel, he–’
‘She’s not dead,’ I interject.
Heret-Kau brings her long fingers to her temples, massaging them slightly. ‘Well, she sure doesn’t look very alive. Why is the girl frozen, William?’
‘I didn’t know what else to do.’
She groans. ‘What you should have done was what we discussed the last time we spoke.’ A fury grows in her eyes. The ornamental sticks in her hair chime with warning, like that of a rattlesnake threatening to strike. The sound echoes throughout the large open room. ‘How is it that she is still involved with us, William? I thought I made myself clear.’
I look away, refusing to meet her glare. It’s unnerving how many times she has repeated my name since we arrived.
Sniffling erupts from my right. ‘If this is about using demon abilities near Siara, it wasn’t Master. It was m-me. I-I’m the one you should be mad at,’ Xander blubbers, fear apparent in his wide child eyes. Heret-Kau peers back to me, an eyebrow raised.
An uncomfortable pang of guilt rings through me. ‘No, Xander, this isn’t about that.’
Xander stops sniffling. His head tilts.
‘Apparently, we are not all on the same page,’ Heret-Kau chides, glaring daggers in my direction.
‘I’ll explain it later, Xander.’ I turn back to the Goddess, laying Siara on the ground in front of her. ‘Please.’
She looks away from the human’s frozen body. ‘Why should I? You directly disobeyed me, and this is the result. Why should you even care? You have no reason to be invested in whether she lives or dies now.’
My insides churn. Is this some sort of test? Surely, she jests. I’m too exhausted to keep the panic from seeping through. ‘No. You have to save her. It’s your job.’
Heret-Kau’s eyes narrow. ‘My job? My job is to manage the affairs of demons and nurture them into the afterlife, not to save dying humans and especially not to clean up your messes at your whim. I am a God, William, or have you forgotten? I don’t have to do anything.’
All air escapes my body. ‘She can’t die. Siara… she… this isn’t how it was supposed to be. It’s my fault. She doesn’t deserve this–’
