“That was before one of Them started killin’ us off,”
The splash of water echoed through the warm night air as we passed by the pool surrounded by its black metal fence, but neither the laugher nor the humidity could prevent the chill that crawled along my skin. Her words hung in the air like a poised knife at my chest. The only them Aunt Jo used that voice for were the damoines—the evil spirits that fled from the jar Pandora opened. Pandora had actually existed when men were still dumb and thought the gods would do anything for them. She’d probably felt honored to be chosen by the gods. They rained gifts upon her and had even raised her up to be the wife of a titan. Oh course, Zeus had known what he was doing when he’d given her the jar. Like I said, he was an ass. She’d given into to her curiosity. Ever since, mankind had to deal with all those evil she’d unleashed Of course, Zeus hadn’t stopped there. He decided that mankind were worse with these spirits and sent a flood to destroy humanity. The flood devastated the world, but a few survived. Pyrrha, Pandora’s daughter, endured and swore to rid the world of both the evil daimones and the gods themselves. After all, gods who don’t give a shit for people shouldn’t rule. This was the woman I descended from and, of course, my family is just crazy enough to keep this plan going for centuries.
I finally found my voice. “How is this new?”
Aunt Jo gave a disgusted snort. “Now they’re invadin’ our safe homes. We lost contact with the Millers from up North.”
“Why doesn’t the Pyrrha handle this? She’s supposed to be our leader.”
Aunt Jo snorted. “You still got something against your Aunt Dahlia, eh?”
“That’s not the point,” I said. “She’s supposed to be the one who protects us.”
“That’s what’s she tryin’ to do, Cassi girl. That’s why yer comin’ home now.”
“So, what? She’s going to fit all the pandorans in her house? Have them camp out in her yard?”
Aunt Jo turned to stare at me. “You know that as her niece you have priority.”
“But everything is fine here. I’m safe. I have a school full of people.”
“You think that will stop Them? They possess people, remember? It could be yer best friend back there. There’s somethin’ off about her.”
“It’s not,” The tang of grilling meat wafted past my nose and twisted up my already knotted stomach even more.. “You said up North. That’s not even close to Dallas.”
“And we got planes. Yer safer at home,” she said. “‘Sides, it’s time you accept yer fate like the rest of us.”
The rubber handles of the wheelchair bit into my palms at my tightening grip and as I stared at an ant crawling across the concrete. It must have lost its way from its nest. It was free to roam the world, unlike me. The muggy night air grew thick. My family was cutting my time short. I was supposed to have four years away from it, away from the training, the fighting, and the nightmares. Well, the nightmares had never left, but my freedom had muted them. My mother’s glazed eyes flashed in my mind, her soft smile twisting into something sadistic.
“You promised I could graduate,” I whispered.
“Well, the Pyrrha is payin’ for this. She can pull you out. And there’s a need.”
“Do you even know which one it is?”
Aunt Jo shook her head. “We just have the disappearances to go on.”
“So, you all could be overreacting. I mean, this isn’t exactly a safe lifestyle in the first place. What if they fell to the resonance?”
“A whole family of five?”
I gulped. That was a lot of us. Still, if they had found a god instead of a daimones, it was possible. In order for us to return them to the jar, we had to absorb their essence. Their essence left a resonance, and echo of the old being that tainted our being until we imprisoned the being in the jar. It was possible to do this with a god we came across as well; after all, it was because of Zeus and his ilk that we were in this mess. The gods held a much stronger essence and could actually possess us.
“Still,” I said. “We don’t have to panic yet. I’m staying.”
“Oh, no.” Aunt Jo glared at me. “I’m not goin’ home empty handed.”
“Please. This year is really important to me.” I gave her my wide eyed look. The tears welling up in the corners were actually real.
She stared at me for a few minutes before sighing with a shake of her head. “Fine. But you better not make me regret this by gettin’ killed.”
I beamed and wrapped my arms around. “Thank you.”
Aunt Jo looked up at the gloomy haze of the sky. “Don’t thank me yet. Somethin’s brewin’ here, and it tastes dark and bitter.”
Chapter 5
I stood up and slammed the game controller on my vacated spot. Across the television screen, winner scrolled over Batman in the background. I turned back to Serenity with a grin.
“Best three out of five?” she asked.