Summer of the Lake House

Summer of the Lake House


Chapter 12: Deeper Down the Rabbit Hole

Thanks to everyone who reviewed: ReKKie, Madlodger, Magalina, Pivoine and Kizuna.

Unfortunately my cookie supply is running low. Instead I give you each a piece of the Broodwich!
Forged in darkness from hell's half acre, baked by Beelzebub, slathered with mayonnaise beaten from the evil eggs of dark chicken forces into sauce by the hands of a one-eyed madman, cheese boiled from the rancid teat of a fanged cow, layered with 666 separate meats from an animal which has maggots for blood. Bacon is extra because there is no swine evil enough to be sacrificed upon the bed of evil....and lettuce. Bed of Evil and Lettuce!
Haha, my little tribute to Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Mindless humor at it's best.

Dion's POV:


Death.

The word held so much horror and meaning in it but I couldn't seem to dredge up anymore horrified and shocked reactions. I think I was going through many stages of shock. All I could do was hold Jamie closer to me, clinging unconsciously to his abnormally warm body and that last remaining familiarity, and stare blankly at....whoever he was. Amenci, Death, I didn't even know anymore.

We looked at each other, expressionless, until it got awkward. Death turned away first, chuckling softly and scratching the back of his head. He didn't have that intense look and seemed much more relaxed after everything had been said. I didn't understand most of what he had said, I knew what he was saying but it was hard to wrap my head around it all. I was just confused and exhausted, I didn't have the will to plod through a history of the gods.

Death looked at me almost sheepishly. “I've burdened you. I forget you are only human, all this must be an overwhelming shock. I understand that.”

I didn't think he did. How could he? “Yeah, overwhelmed is the word. I have no idea what's happening. I just want things to make sense again. You fucking things are just popping out of the woodwork, aren't you? I didn't even believe in gods and magic and all this shit a few hours ago and now you just storm in and ruin my life without even a please and thank yout. Just look at what happened to Tyler, and now Jamie's sick, and who the hell even knows where Darren and Dominick are. I'll bet their laying face down in the forest somewhere just like these animals, aren't they?”

“No,” he responded softly. “Your friends are alive, I promise you that. And the little one in your arms is getting better as we speak.”

I looked down. It was true. As I watched the color was slowly returning to Jamie's face and his eye's were beginning to clear. He was far from normal but he was completely alert, looking back at me in a mild confusion as I gaped back down at him. “Jamie...h-how are you?”

His brows furrowed and he made a move to sit up. I helped him, though he was still weak enough to have to lean on me. It would have been embarrassing if he had tried to move away because there was no way I was letting him go but, to my surprise, he leaned further into me, clutching at my shirt and glaring at Death. It was a sign of how far we had fallen that we were forced to cling to each other that way, a desperate bid to hold on to the last bit of an upside down world.

Jamie barely tolerated me before, but here he was, sitting on my lap, head half buried in my chest and still quaking lightly from the remains of the fever and fear.

Death saw all of this and I could see he was deeply troubled. He almost looked guilty. “You needn't look so afraid. I know how this may appear, I must seem like a monster to you but I promise, the last thing I want to do is hurt you or your friends. My emotions got ahead of me and I apologize for introducing myself this way,” he gestured to all the death surrounding us.

“What do you want from us,” I muttered wearily.

He gave a small snort. “I WANT to leave you all here and go on alone...however, thanks to your stupidity that is not an option. I'm not sure yet if I am pleased or furious with you all but you certainly managed to put a dent in my plans.”

“Oh, for the love of god, just get on with it!” Shit, this guy loved to talk, he was like a child just babbling on and on and never getting to the point.

That earned me a dark glare but I think even he knew he was stalling. “Oh all right, though I doubt your going to like this any more than I do.” He took a long sip of tea as if to prepare himself. “It's not uncommon for my kind to sleep with humans but occasionally certain...anomalies take place, demigods, power transfers, sometimes death. Either way, intimate contact with humans and gods is always a game of roulette.”

I muttered a soft 'shit' under my breath. I didn't know what to expect but this wasn't sounding to good.

“Yes, 'shit' indeed.” He agreed, nodding slowly. “You see, in those final moments before I was sealed I was unable to release the souls of my comrades to the Underworld and they were sealed within me, unable to be reborn. I, regrettably, was forced to absorb the weaker ones into myself while the stronger ones went into a dormant state. I was planning on helping them find host but you boys took that into your own hands, the intimate contact and the pull of the living must have drawn them out one by one and into your bodies.” He took another long swallow of tea. The way he was drinking that tea made me think maybe he had slipped a little something into it. I almost chuckled at the idea of a drunk Death...almost.

I couldn't speak for a while. I wanted to but every time I began to open my mouth I just couldn't find the words. In the end it was Jamie who broke the silence.

“Your fucking joking, right?” He demanded, sounding much stronger than before. “Your trying to tell me I have some sort of-of thing in me? Like a freaking parasite?”

Death blinked Amenci's large eye's at us. “Such a child should hold his tongue. While 'parasite' is probably closer to the truth in your case, I would still advise you to watch how you speak of such a being. The one inhabiting your body was once a dear friend of mine and I will not have you belittling him to me.”

Jamie just didn't know when to shut his mouth and I quickly had to say, “He didn't mean anything, he's just scared.”

“No I'm -OW!” Jamie winced and rubbed his arm where I had dug my fingernails into his flesh. “Well fuck you to.”

I ignored him, getting back to the real issue. “So we all have...gods... in our bodies?” I asked Death uncertainly.

His little nose scrunched up in disgust. I didn't think he realized just how adorably ridiculous he looked. I'm sure in his real body he was a fearsome man but he just looked like a child playing at being a grown-up in Amenci's body. Not that I would tell him that.

“No, not at all. The people they were are long dead, what is left is the soul, the bare essence of who they were. I think you misunderstood me. Amenci and myself, our two different powers combined created...well, an effect similar to Rebirth. You aren't simply playing hosts until they can be reborn, your becoming them, as we speak I can feel Jarri's presence entwining with your own, and the others with your friends hiding in the woods.”

Well, that was just messed-...wait, what did he just say?

Slowly, Death turned his torso around, his cloak rippling like water around him, to look into the forest behind him. I squinted my eye's into the mass of brown, dead trees and saw a quick flash of something.

I couldn't believe my eye's.

“Come out, boys.” He called into the forest, voice carrying and lasting longer on the wind than was normal. “This cowardice is becoming tired.” Nothing happened and I could feel the impatience rolling off him in waves. “I said COME OUT!”

I shivered at the power behind the voice and wasn't the least bit surprised when Darren and Dominick slowly slunk out from behind the dead trees. At that moment I don't think I had ever felt such a stone cold hatred in all my life.

We had know each other for so long and the betrayal stung. I couldn't get the thought out of my head that they had left us to die and ran to save their own skin. We had been friends for years and I thought of them as my brothers but I guess brotherhood only went so far. Leaving Jamie and I to die while they hid in the forest like cowards. That was cold. I though, at least I had hoped, that years of friendship would amount to more than that.

Stupid me.

My anger settled like a ball of ice in my stomach. I wanted to do something, punch them, yell at the top of my lungs, cry, anything but sit in silence and watch the guilt on their faces as they came towards us.

The two of them sat around the little table, as far away from everyone as they could get. Death stared steadily at them, his expression unreadable.

“I know you heard every word I have said.” They both nodded. “So, it will take time, the little one being a rather striking exception, so expect many changes. Your lives are no longer your own, when you fully manifest what you are to be you will all have responsibilities, both to the Underworld and to all the gods as a whole. You will be, first and foremost, a slave to your respected Houses and a slave to order and balance. Any questions?” He asked, strangely subdued.

Nobody spoke, big surprise.

Death was about to open his mouth to speak when Jamie suddenly pipped up. “Um, yeah. You called the, uh, thing inside me Jarri?”

The grim face softened slightly when he looked at Jamie. He seemed to almost like him, or at least favor him over the rest of us. “Yes. Jarri ruled the House of Plague and Pestilence and was one of my closes comrades, one of my Four Horsemen.” He sighed, nostalgia shining through in every word and motion. “But those day's are long gone and we are only a shadow of a once proud and glorious past....but not for long.” He murmured. “Not for long.”

He left that mysterious quote hanging and gracefully stood up, somehow gathering up the table and tea set in one swoop and making it disappear into his cloak. “Come now, we have lot's to do. Preparations have to be made, people have to be visited.” He declared, gaining some of his chirp back.

We all rose without a word. There was nothing left to say. We all had questions, of course, but the time for argument and rebellion had come and gone. We knew without knowing quite how that we were dead to the world, our parents, friends, the whole community would wonder what could have happened and maybe hold out hope that we were still alive and would come back home safely. It would all be in vain. We could never go back. But before we left for good there was something I had to make sure of.

“Uh, Death?”

He turned to face me, lips quirked in amusement. “Death is my House, not my name. You may call me Azrael from now on, titles aren't necessary.”

Wish he would have told me that sooner. “Alright, uh, Azrael. I was wondering about Tyler...his body. I don't want anyone to find it, to see it like that.” Funny how quickly Tyler had become an 'it' to me, but I wasn't about to think of that rotting corpse as my friend. It was painful enough.

Azrael gave me a sympathetic smile. “Your little friend Jamie has already taken care of that. His outburst was powerful enough that by the end of the day not a single trace will be left, not of your friend or of any plant or creature.”

“But...I thought it was you-”

“Yes. I did the initial killings but since your friend didn't manage that in time he's completing the rest of the job. Everything will be swarmed over and broken down in a matter of hours, I am holding the worst of it at bay but your friend, Jamie, was in such close quarters with the body that it will have taken the initial force. You needn't worry, in the morning this will all just be a barren lake but life will return, sooner than you might think. By the time anybody thinks to search for you the lake will be back to normal and nobody will be the wiser, besides the ruined house of course. But I'm sure that will be explained away as a storm or some such nonsense.” He shrugged and turned away.

We all stared at Jamie until he exploded with a loud, “WHAT! It's not like I knew what I was doing.” He sneered at us all, obviously getting back to his old self which I wasn't entirely happy to see.

Nobody said anything and Azrael finally turned on his heel and strode into the forest. I half expected Jamie to pull away from me but instead he seemed to actually move closer as we walked. I don't know why but it gave me a strangely superior, cocky feeling, like I had just won some sort of prize. Wierd, but I just chalked it up to stress.

We crashed through the forest like a bunch of elephants, trying to keep up with Azrael's flowing pace. It was painfully awkward being near the other guys and I could feel the unspoken words that wanted to get out, all of us had something we wanted to say but none of us were willing to be the first to break the silence. I was fine with that, the only words I had for them was something along the lines of 'rot in hell you rat bastards'.

“We're here,” Azrael chirped, leading us into a tiny, cramped clearing, “I want you four to get into the circle.”

Circle? There wasn't any circle. I looked closer. I wouldn't have noticed it unless Azrael hadn't mentioned it. A circle drawn in tiny pebbles all around the clearing and the closer I looked I noticed tiny symbols drawn on all the trees around us. It didn't look like anything special but it must have been significant for us to be crowding into it.

I watched Azrael buzz around to every symbol and finally squeeze himself into the circle with us. His cloak caused more trouble than he did. The constantly flowing material just wouldn't stay still and it took all of us pinning it down before it was manageable, but not before I got a mouthful of the strangely liquid material. While the cloak may have looked cool it tasted disgusting, like cold oil. Not something I wanted to repeat.

“Keep close,” Azrael warned, “Make sure everything is in the circle, we don't want anything getting left behind.”

I tugged Jamie against me, wrapping my arm around his waist. He didn't resist. Ha ha, score two for me.

As I mentally cheered Azrael slowly rose his hands into the air and the ground pulsed beneath us as if we had been standing on a giant heart. That put a stop to anything I may have been thinking as the circle of pebbles and the symbols began glowing red hot. Though they burned it was cool in the circle but that didn't mean we didn't all flinch when they suddenly blazed and we were engulfed in a circling wall of bright orange fire.

I knew we were protected from the flames it's not easy to relax when surrounded by potential danger on all sides. In the end I was forced to close my eye's or risk screaming at Azrael to get me the hell out of there. Thankfully it was over soon and the wall dissipated, leaving an entirely different landscape before us.

“What the hell,” Dominick murmured.

I scowled at him (how dare he speak) but I was thinking the same thing. Where there had once been a dead, lifeless forest there was now an enormous, well lit cave that was so big I didn't think it was real. It was, of course, but the more I looked the more I realized this wasn't exactly a 'normal' cave. It could have been the massive roots waving from the dirt ceiling, or the small homelike setting in the far corner, but I think it was mostly the giant tapestry that dominated three of the four corners of the cave.

It was impressive, impressive in the way that the giant roots were as long as some sky scrapers and the cave could have easily housed a city in it's depths. But as enormous as it was every inch of it was warmly, almost invitingly, lit by some unseen source.

Darren was the first to make an intelligent question while the rest of us were gaping like idiots. “Where is this? Are we underground?”

Azrael nodded, moving away from us. He looked like he was searching for something. “This is the Hidden Room. You should count yourself lucky, not many people, even among the gods, come here. This is where the Moirae spin the Tapestry of Fate.” A wave of his arm presented the whole tapestry, a massive network of intertwined threads of all different colors that, for as big as it was, only just seemed to be revealing the beginning of a picture.

“The who,” I asked. I had never heard of the Moirae but they sounded important.

“The Moirae, you ignoramus. The Fates! Do you humans remember nothing?” He snapped sharply, looking disgusted at me. “They rule the fates of humans and gods alike and are probably the most important beings on this whole scrap of a world. When you meet the Moirae I expect you to show them the respect they are due. Understood?”

We nodded quickly. I was actually sorry for asking and made a mental note to not ask stupid questions again. These gods seemed pretty sensitive about the fact that humans were forgetting them and I guess I couldn't blame them for being a bit bitter about it if they were really as important as all that.

Both him and Raven, in fact, mentioned that. But if they were so great and important why didn't anyone remember them?

Azrael was still glaring at me when a voice cut pleasantly through the silence. “I thought I heard a familiar voice.”

We turned as one and were met with, for once, a good sight. A young girl stood unnervingly close to us as if she had materialized out of thin air. Vibrant green eye's took us all in but there was no curiosity in her expression. I got the strangest feeling she knew me and was looking into my soul, measuring me up.

The girl looked about sixteen and was easily as tall as Darren and I. Her face was full with high cheek bones, a broad forehead, full lips, and wide almond eye's. Her skin was the color of cocoa and glowed warmly in the light of the cave and though I couldn't see much of her body due to the thick, colorful skirts she was wearing I could tell she was no fragile, bone thin woman like I was used to seeing. This girl had serious curves and though she wasn't big or buff in any way I had the feeling she could take me.

Probably the coolest part about her was the mass of hair pulled up into two large buns on her head. It was cornrowed into hundreds of tiny micro braids and swirled into buns held together with intertwining ribbons of red and yellow and orange. The rest of the hair that wasn't in a bun hung down her back, to her waist, and was intertwined with the ribbons. I hadn't ever seen anything like that, especially not where I had come from, the most exotic thing we had there was the local goth kid and even then the only remarkable thing about him was that he dressed all in black. This girl was really different but I think I liked it.

Azrael grinned. “Clotho, it's good to see you.” He reached out to hug her, it was kind of funny to see them hugging, they didn't seem like the touchy feely type.

She laughed when they pulled away, staring Azrael up and down. “Your so short now.”

He snorted, clearly not amused. “Yes, well, I'm working on that. They went to extremes to hide my body from me, I have no idea where to even begin looking. But this body suits fine for the moment. I don't suppose you could-”

“No.” Clotho shook her head regretfully. “Not even for you, my old friend.”

Thin shoulders gave a small shrug. “It was worth a try,” he said, not looking the least bit surprised. “Oh well. Let me introduce you to all. These boys have inherited the Houses of the Four Horsemen. They are Dion, Jamie, Darren, and Dominick.” He pointed to each of us in turn. “And this is Clotho, the Spinner of Life, youngest of the three sisters.”

We all exchanged hello's and Clotho commented, “Your all fine young men. May you do your Houses proud. My sisters and I watch your progress with great interest.”

Azrael chuckled while the rest of us just sort of stood around uncomfortably. “I'm sure you do. Don't trust when she speaks in uncertain terms, the Moirae know everything, past, present, and future.”

“Quiet, you.” They both shared another laugh that I seriously didn't get before turning serious. Clotho straightened up and her eye's became suddenly hard. “We've been waiting many years for you, Azrael, I'm glad your here, truly. You can see what the world is becoming without the Dark Balance, can't you? People forget us, more and more with each generation, the humans and us are falling into decline, our Tapestry is out of balance. We do what we can but it unravels a little more every day. We can't do this much longer.”

Looking troubled, Azrael asked, “Has it become so bad?”

Cloth sighed and shook her head helplessly, sending her braids into a flurry of movement. “Worse. The gods of Light don't realize it yet but the Red Father has begun to stir,” she admitted reluctantly.

Azrael paled at those words. He looked almost sick. “We haven't got much time if that's the case. What of the Green Mother? She sleeps still?”

Clotho nodded and Azrael released a sigh of relief. “It's not something to rejoice about, it will happen eventually. Those fools don't realize what they have set in motion, not even my sisters and I can see the course this will take but we fear the worst.”

“Yes, to many were lost. What of the Underworld, how is it faring?”

“Not well. The River Styx is overflowing with the dead and more keep coming, Lucifer is left to manage it virtually alone. He's breaking under the pressure and leaving his duties unattended, three day's he spent away, preferring to toy with his slave than continue a lot cause. I fear he's losing the will to continue.” She shook her head, pressing her lips together severely. “You have to act fast.”

Looking all sorts of harassed, Azrael spat out, “I can't do anything without my body or my Scythe and as weak as I am now I don't dare challenge the Light in any way. I doubt I could get within a foot of Olympus without being spotted.”

“You don't give yourself enough credit.” Clotho murmured gently. “The Light have grown stupid and lazy since you were overthrown. They have been unchallenged for so long they believe themselves to be untouchable and all powerful.”

“Azrael has lost confidence in himself, my sister.”

I jumped as another girl appeared out of nowhere beside me. She gave me a chill down my spine and I wanted to get away but my feet seemed cemented to the ground. I settled instead for pushing Jamie behind me so he wouldn't be near her.

“Atropos,” Azrael said, bowing slightly.

She bowed as well and I got the feeling they knew each other very well. I took a closer look at the girl. She had a darkness around her, where Clotho was welcoming, Atropos was foreboding. A tall, severely featured Indian [1] girl with deep set eye's in a shade of sky blue that didn't seem natural against her dark features. Her thin lips were turned down in a severe frown and she held herself straight as a pole with her arms clasped in front of her.
Though her face and posture was strict her clothes and hair were as colorful as Clotho's. Her hair was curled around a gold circlet and fell to her waist in a slick black waterfall decorated with strings of gold and silver thread and her skirts, like Clotho's, had many slashed layers in all different colors.

“My friend,” she said, “you have more power than you would think and more allies than the Light would believe. Just look at all you have done in such a short time,” she waved her hands at the four of us.

Azrael sighed. “I know, but with the Red Father stirring-”

“Nonsense. Your feeling sorry for yourself when you should be clearing your head and thinking rationally. You know the Gods of Light, you know how they think and behave so look at it rationally. They brought you down, one of the greatest powers in Olympus and, what in their mind, was their most powerful enemy. What do you think they would do with your Scythe and body? Hide them in an old crypt maybe? Bury them underground? Lock them in a closet?” She sounded impatient. She knew, both her and Clotho knew exactly where they were, but they couldn't tell.

With a disgusted scowl Azrael crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels. “How should I know where they put them? Arrogant bastards that they are they probably put them on display in the Great Hall.”

Absolute silence. Clotho and Atropos both gave him a meaningful look.

Azrael's arms dropped to his sides. “No,” he burst out, “they wouldn't! They couldn't be that arrogant!”

The girls exchanged another look and I didn't miss the small smile that passed between them.

“They put my body on display!”

They nodded simultaneously and Clotho seemed to be suppressing a grin when she said, “The ultimate insult. They parade you around like a slaughtered lion, flaunting their victory in the faces of the Dark, mocking you. Can you possibly let them get away with that?”

I didn't think it was possible for Amenci's face to look so angry. The boyish face twisted into something ugly that made me distinctly uncomfortable when I remembered just who it really was in that seemingly weak, fragile body.

These Light Gods, whoever they were, had just slapped Death and laughed in his face. I almost felt sorry for them...almost.



A/N: Whew, ok, I managed to cram quite a bit into this chapter so I hope it doesn't seem fragmented or anything, but it was all for the sake of speeding things up a bit.

I finally got to write about the fates, I've been thinking about that for awhile and they are probably gonna have a bigger part because I really like them and want to develop them more.
Oh, and things are getting a bit heated up with Dion and Jamie but there will be more of that later, I have big plans for them, and for Tyler and Lucifer. Next chapter I'll finally be bringing back Amenci, it's been awhile. I can't wait. XD



[1] Atropos is Indian (as in from India) not to be confused with American Indian. Just thought I should clarify that.