83. Under Pressure

Last chapter…

We enjoyed a little peekaroo into Marketa’s past; it was a sordid tale of questionable parenting and substance abuse, with some arranged marriage thrown in for good measure…in any case, turns out she might be a relatively okay person who made a series of escalating poor choices, as opposed to straight up naturally evil.

Who knew!

Nerissa and her feisty (though possibly not lamia enough) offspring crashed onto the scene with some crocodile riding, elephant loving, not-lamia devouring good times; I’m sure we’re all wishing them good hunting, bc shenanigans.

What else?  Oh yeah!  Herbal substances were smelled by Pili…wow it was a sort of unintentionally druggy chapter, eh…we welcomed a new player to the game, one who likes herbal things and Pili’s smooth legs; stay tuned!

Onward!

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Artemis

‘Still zero bars,’ Artemis wasn’t sure how many she expected in the middle of the Goddess-forsaken jungle (okay, forest).

‘Like, one would be nice though,’ she sighed; mom would definitely be freaking out by now.

“Not like Aunt Holly doesn’t know where I am,” an excuse that for sure wouldn’t cut it with mom, but saying it out loud made her feel like less of a jerk for up and leaving a woman with some pretty serious abandonment issues.

‘She would have tried to stop me though,’ another excuse she fed herself, right along with ‘I don’t want to get her hopes up’ and ‘being proactive helps me process stress’.

The truth was probably closer to ‘I just need to get the hell away from all this BS’; mom’s crazy mood swings, the weirdly excited witches…that thing haunting her sister.

‘Also…’

“You’re a selfish little shit, aren’t you Artie,” she muttered as her eyes scanned the trees–being hard on herself always felt better than making excuses anyhow.

“We are all, sometimes, a touch selfish.”

“Oh, wow, hi?”  Where the hell…

“Good morning,” the woman’s smile seemed a bit on the ‘I’m lol’ing at you in my head’ side.

“You are lost, little sister.”

There was something familiar about her.  Creepy though–not like it mattered, basically everyone she’d ever met was creepy.

“Little sister, eh?  Do you belong to some sort of forest cult, or…?”

“All women are sisters; come, I will show you the way,” the stranger turned to leave, clearly expecting Artemis to follow…and totally dodging the question.

“The way to where exactly?”

“You would have found it in due time, of course,” came the woman’s second non-answer, “but you no longer have the luxury of time.”

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Cassandra

Cassandra Osiris stared out over the water without seeing.

Everyone she’d ever loved was gone.

Even standing outside under a clear blue sky, it was like she was back trapped inside that wall, shrouded in darkness.

Except this time, Pili wasn’t coming to save her.

‘I’ll never see him again.’

Or her children, her babies…all lost or stolen, and she was powerless to follow, eternally bound by a magical covenant she’d never asked for.

It wasn’t fair.

Trapped on this island with nothing but liars and thieves and monsters and anger.

Anger was her only loyal companion these days.

It welled up again–or it tried to?  She waited for the blinding rage to sweep over her senses, but didn’t manage to muster more than a mild buzz of irritation.

So, even the anger had abandoned her.

Pili’s abandonment had been one thing–though she would never accept that he’d left them willingly.  The creature’s words had cut, of course, as they’d been meant to, but, they were the words of a thief–a liar.

The loss of Selene was, perhaps, the hardest to bear of them all; now nothing more than a vessel for a parasite.

The anger tried again to resurface, but Cassandra was just so–tired.

Tired of mourning, and waiting.  Tired of lies.  Tired of being angry and confused.  But also, just plain tired.  She felt spent down to her very bones.  Maybe it was like the witches said, that Bastet’s shade had stolen vitality from her…but maybe it wasn’t.

Did it matter?  She was only a hollow shell of a woman anyways.

“There’s nothing left here for me,” brave words.

Maybe it was easier to be brave when you didn’t have anything left to lose.

Cassandra could be brave one more time.

The sand sunk deeper and deeper under the weight of her footsteps as she drew near to the water’s edge.

They were all liars here, every last one.

What else had they lied about?  The magic that had kept her a hostage for all these decades?  Probably; that is what liars did, after all, right?

Wetness seeped into her shoes, and the sunlight grew brighter, warmer.

Cassandra felt peaceful–she’d almost forgotten the sensation of it!  She didn’t need a boat to get off of the island, she was so light, surely she would float…

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Oberon

It was the third time in as many days that Oberon the Observant attempted to contact his less than entirely sane client–still nothing.

‘This woman tests my limited patience!’  And to think, he’d spent all that money getting a signal booster for his mobile; the cost of it would most definitely be reflected on the final invoice.

What could be so very important that it surpassed the task she had set him to?  Perhaps she was dead, she did, after all, willfully share her home with a vampire…this was clearly a woman who longed for death.

Her son.  Bah; a vampire was a vampire!  The creature had ceased to be her son when he had opened his eyes to undeath.  Oberon would see for himself what had become of her when he had disposed of the Sire…that he would need to end this son, also, there was little doubt.

Well, he could not delay any longer, lest he be discovered.

There was magic in this place, of that there could be no doubt; his talisman burned hot through his garment as it struggled against the barriers that surrounded the pale edifice.

Someone, or something, wished to remain hidden….there was no time to contemplate, only to pray that nothing more powerful than his known quarry lay ahead.

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Oly

‘This is bullshit.’

‘Watch that language young man,’ the Guardian tittered at his own cleverness.

‘Har har har, funny cock,’ Oly was in no mood.

How long had they been trapped here together now anyways?  It was impossible to tell for sure, okay, because dream stuff had wonky timelines.

The baby part pretty much flew by–and actually, it was a total hoot!  You probably wouldn’t think so, right?  Because babies are basically boring AF, BUT, whoa; trippy shit, totes recommend, 10/10 would do again.

Also you get to sleep a lot, and people shove boobs in your mouth (OP).

‘It’s just not getting better, okay? I thought we’d be outta here by now, but dude, seriously, I think I’m almost on the cusp of being potty trained already.’

Yeah, it’d been that long!  Also, don’t most kids know some words before they stopped filling their pants?  Was Oly, like…developmentally delayed?!

Not cool.

‘Not my department, sorry kiddo,’ as usual, the Guardian was no help, ‘hey, you wanna play ball? It’s stopped raining, they might let us go out–‘

‘You know I do, asshole!  Ball is my favourite!’  It totes was, too; damn that dog, and okay, so even when Oly wasn’t busy being Ollie, it was sort of hard not to be distracted by cool stuff, right?

But now it was EXTRA hard, holy crap.

Must be something about the dream, or like, being a toddler, or…who knows, but yeah, seems like every damn thing was just too hard to resist, and how the fudge were you supposed to stay focused when daddy put you in the splashy pool?!

Er–dream daddy.  Wait, no; worse…

‘I need to get out of here, this shit is getting way too real, you feel me cock?’

‘Not a question I thought I’d have to answer today…’

‘I’ve had enough of this waiting crap, I can feel myself slipping into the dream, and what if I never talk?’  Were there even kids who never talked?  Fkin probly, ‘so yeah, time for a new plan, you got any ideas?  Like, good ones…’

‘Did I not just suggest a game of ball?’  No damn help, this guy.

‘I know you know Things, you’re a Guardian, you gotta know a way out!’  He did gotta, right?  ‘So what’s it gonna take, huh?  My afternoon snack?  Maybe I accidentally drop half my supper on the floor tonight?’

‘Only half your dinner?’

‘Well frak, a kid’s gotta eat, geeze louise…’

‘It matters not, little Dreamwalker,’ chuckled the dream-cock, ‘there are not afternoon snacks, nor half dinners enough in this existence to sway me into shirking my duties.’

Oh, so that’s how it was gonna be, huh?

‘And what if I don’t suggest to the parentals that we get your ass neutered?’  Well, if honey don’t work, next is lemons.  Or was it vinegar?  Whatever.

‘You know, if I ever learn to talk, that is.’

‘Ah!  So it’s threats now is it?’  The Guardian sighed, ‘I admire your tenacity, witch, but I’ve no attachment to my various decorative appendages.’

Damnit, yeah, guess they’re not actually real balls–waitaminnit!

‘But what if they were real balls?  Then what?’  Could it even be done?

‘What do you mean?’  Suddenly the little cock looked super serial, ‘what exactly is it that you are offering me?’

‘Like what if I could find a way to bring you with…’

‘That, Dreamwalker, is another matter entirely.’

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Footnotes:

Man, so many cell phone problems this chapter!

Wow, Froot…it’s been a super awkwardly long time, and that’s all you have to say for yourself?  Err…Marketa’s dad made this chapter take longer because he kept trying to chat with Artie and her new friend (while wearing a shirt that exposed his nipples :O )

Yeah, it’s all his fault; blame that guy. 😀

Golly, hope everyone still remembers what’s going on (I had to cheat and read back a few) /walk of shame.

“Omg u guise!  I might be gettin’ outta here for reals!  So, like, HAPPY SIMMING!!”