Downcast

by Cait Reynolds

  "No, it doesn't," Katie Jones replied instantly but evenly. "Truth exists with or without human proof. It's only your awareness of the potential for truth but inability to grasp it fully that requires proof as a tool."

  She took a calming breath and continued, "Perhaps I can explain magic in Helen-like terms. It actually is quite scientific and stems from a few basic principles. Everything in the universe operates according to certain principles and has a certain energy inherent in it. Everything is also made up of some kind of building block—quarks, atoms, molecules, cells, et cetera. There's also the principle that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well, the basis of magic is the ability to move energy around, change the building blocks of things and to calculate and control the degrees of reaction. Some humans are born with a weak native ability to do this on a small scale. The actual biology of flesh and blood limits them, however."

  "Uh, hey, Katie J?" Zack had apparently finally finished eating and had come up for air. "I think we need to get back to the point here. We have an angry harvest goddess on the loose."

  "And, she’s getting closer," Morris mumbled, staring at his laptop screen again.

  Collectively, all our jaws fell open at his words.

  "What?" he asked defensively, catching our expressions. "Just because I designed a tracking app, based on meteorological variables while you all were having dinner, doesn't mean I'm not—"

  "Absolutely brilliant," Katie Jones finished for him, smiling brightly at him.

  It was on that warm and fuzzy note that every pipe in the restaurant burst, releasing a rush of water that instantly met up with the flash flood that had just broken down the doors.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  THE FIRST THING I felt was relief. A flash flood is a terrible thing, but this was so real and immediate that it made me feel blessedly normal after all the talk of magic, eternity, gods, and aliens. Not to mention the idea of my mother holding a million-year grudge.

  I was relieved, that is, until a huge wave swamped me, pulling me under for a moment, into a murky world of floating lo mein noodles and chopsticks.

  Haley's strong hands grabbed hold of me and hoisted me up out of the water. I spluttered and gasped, bracing myself against the sloshing water and drifting furniture.

  Everyone in the restaurant was screaming, and Morris was running for the kitchen, his laptop held high above his head, yelling, "Mom! Uncle! Hang on! I'm coming!"

  "The water's rising!" Helen cried, scrambling toward the door with long, wet lunges. "We have to get out of here!"

  The water was already up to my chest, and I couldn't agree more. I glanced back at the doors to the kitchen, even as I felt Haley start to drag me forward.

  "Morris!" I exclaimed. "Is he alright? His family?"

  "They'll be fine," Katie Jones replied grimly, her dark hair plastered to her face from the greasy water. "I'll make sure of it."

  She turned back and waded to the kitchen.

  Zack caught up to Helen and hauled her into his arms, slinging her onto his back, piggyback-style.

  Shards of glass from the windows and doors whirled around us like a pool of knives. I saw, up ahead, people bleeding as they tried to crawl through the jagged-rimmed exit.

  "Can you do anything about this?" I gasped to Haley, who helped me half-slosh, half-float through the grimy flood.

  "Water's not my specialty," he replied through gritted teeth, his eyes narrow and hard, like volcanic stone, polished bright by anger.

  He carefully pulled me through the wall of broken glass out into the street that was now full of dirty, rising water. Sirens and alarms filled the air, making my ears hurt.

  That was nothing, though, compared to the pain that came next.

  A deep, soundless hum filled the air, vibrating so intensely that it knocked every cell in my body out of place, leaving me feeling as if I was being torn apart.

  I collapsed in agony against Haley, who caught me and worked to keep my head above water. Through my pain-hazed vision, I could see that Haley and Zack were uncomfortable but that Helen seemed not to feel anything.

  "What's happening?" Helen demanded, pounding her fist on Zack's shoulder as she still clung to his back.

  “Get her out of here!” Haley yelled to Zack, who took off in a different direction with Helen still clinging to him.

  The hum became a thrumming that pounded through my body, leaving me shrieking as I began to thrash about in the water. I was being pulled into pieces, from the inside out, and the agony had turned bright white.

  I sensed Haley turning me and picking me up. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders. One of his arms came around me in an unforgiving grip, and the other struck out in a kind of half-swimming stroke to help propel us forward.

  His cold body eased the pain only a fraction, but enough for me to stay conscious and hang onto him. I panted into the damp skin of his neck, fighting off the prickly sensation of being sick, even as the pain sliced through my muscles and shattered my bones.

  I could sense Haley's unnatural strength and speed as he pushed through the water, racing to get me further away from the center of whatever that awful thrumming sound was. I felt the water levels getting lower as he went faster now, until we were somewhere on the very edge of town, in the parking lot of a dingy strip mall where the ground was barely damp.

  "How are you feeling now, princess?" he whispered against my ear, and a small shiver of pleasure made inroads against the receding waves of pain.

  "Better," I croaked. "What was that?"

  "I will explain in a minute. Right now, we need a vehicle. Unfortunately, the flood wrecked my car, which is a pity, because I really, really liked that car. This, however, will have to do."

  He gently set me on my feet and touched the lock of a beat-up Honda Civic. It clicked open as if the lock had just given up and given in to entropy.

  "Now, princess," he continued as he opened the door and eased me into the driver's seat. "While my powers give me some ability to release the tension of existence, or, in other words, pick locks, I have nothing to offer when it comes to hot-wiring a car."

  I considered the ignition for a moment. At least I couldn't make a zombie out of a car. What's the worst that could happen? I'd overdo the juice and blow up the car and us with it? Well, at least I'd be warm and dry then.

  Warily, I touched the tip of my finger to the ignition, imagining only the smallest spark of energy—which was hard because I had no clue what a spark of energy really looked like or any concept of how much it took to start a car.

  Nothing happened. I tried again, trying to picture a very, very tiny thunderbolt of life releasing from my fingertip.

  The engine roared to life, revving instantly all the way and sending all the dials into the red.

  "That will do," Haley said drily, but with a smile. "Now, move over, my love. I am going to take you to safety."

  Warning bells went off in my head.

  "This isn't the whole Hades kidnapping Persephone and trapping her forever thing, is it?" I asked nervously.

  Haley put the car in gear and sighed. "It could be, if you wanted it to be."

  "Um, I don't think I'm ready for that."

  "I didn't think so," he replied soberly, handling the car with a kind of brutal precision.

  "Where are we going?" I asked once we were speeding down the road, the smoky, twilight-wrapped mountains looming ahead of us.

  "Home."

  "I thought you said—"

  "It's a very human home, princess. Zack and I live there for the moment. These human bodies need rest and nourishment."

  He flicked on the heat, now that the engine was warm and not having a heart attack, and I thankfully snuggled into the dingy seat and relished the warmth. My body was aching from the pain and numb from the cold.

  For a few minutes, I let my mind just rest, paying attention only to the deepening shadows of the hills and the way the
pine trees pressed in on all sides. Soon, we drove into a mist. Ghostly wisps flicked over the windshield, and the pines only peeked through here and there.

  I had lost track of how far and how long we had driven. I only knew that my clothes had reached that half-dry, half-damp, stiff, sticky stage when my brain finally decided to reengage.

  "Helen! Morris!" I blurted out. "Are they okay? Crap! My bag and cell phone and everything are underwater at the restaurant."

  Haley smiled, his thin lips curling up like they always did when he was pleased with some sort of inner secret.

  "They are well enough," he replied. "Katie Jones and Zack will not let harm come to them. Zack and Helen will join us at the house as soon as they can commandeer a car, which might be a while, as Zack lacks some of my abilities."

  "Can Zack pick locks like you?"

  "No. He prefers to use his 'thunderbolts' to blow the locks out, which usually ends up destroying the entire driver's side of the car. He has no concept of subtlety."

  "Speaking of subtle, what happened back there? What happened to me?"

  "Yes." His eyes were as grim as his voice.

  "Well?"

  "That was your mother. She was near and was trying to call your energy, your essence, back into herself."

  "Can she do that? Is that part of the reincarnation thing?" It was best to pretend like I was talking about someone else, because otherwise, it was utterly horrifying to think about.

  "Yes...but not without consequences."

  "What do you mean?"

  "She was...trying to unmake you, to reabsorb your essence into herself. The immediate result would have been the ripping apart of your human body at an atomic level. The end result would have been the erasing of your existence entirely. There would be no more 'Persephone.' There would only be 'Demeter,' goddess of all life."

  Pretend it's not you, pretend it's not you, pretend it's not you, I chanted to myself, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat at the thought of my own mother doing something like this to me.

  "I guess it's a good thing we got away, then," I said shakily.

  "It wouldn't have worked in the end," Haley said quietly. "Your mortal form would have been destroyed, but your essence, your energy, is primary, not hers. You are the spark of new life. She is the growth of it. You are the first moment of the universe's existence. She cannot contain you because while you two are entwined, she was not the first to exist. You were."

  "Wait, you mean I'm her mother? No, that can't be!"

  Haley smiled. "No, you're not her 'mother.' It's more that together, you form a circle. You create life, she sustains it so that you may use it to create more. I am the balance to only you, though, for I am the overseer of the end of life. Death itself is a compelling force, an energy of its own. I can command it, but it is not the only thing at my service. Entropy, stillness, completion, darkness, cold, silence, I embody all those things. I will be the last living thing at the end of the universe, and then I will turn the stillness upon myself and be no more. I will complete everything that you began."

  I blinked against the hot air from the vents. Somewhere, there was the tiniest spark of understanding the whole picture. It was just a flash of a dream that was too big for my mortal brain, but I knew, in my soul, that every word he said was true.

  “What about birds,” I asked finally.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Birds. Like…ravens.”

  “Ah. Yes. I do have some ability to, shall we say, sway the intentions of certain animals.”

  “And the rat in the hallway when I was talking to Rob?”

  “You might have been talking, but that was clearly the last thing on his mind.”

  “You were jealous? Of Rob?”

  “How could I not be? I pursue you with everything I have, and all you did was run from me. He smiles at you one morning, and you smile back, talking and laughing with him as if you were old friends.”

  “I grew up with him.” Oddly enough, of all the crazy things I had heard in the last twelve hours, I was having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of a jealous Haley.

  “I know, but I had just found you after so long. I was desperate. I didn’t want to lose you to some infatuation. Not when I was so close.”

  “Well,” I said with a shy smile. “You won.”

  “All’s fair in love and war,” he quipped.

  One thing more occurred to me just then, and I smacked his arm.

  “You broke the boiler, too!” I accused.

  He shrugged and grinned. “I prefer the cold.”

  The mist fell away as we drove up a lonely hill in the darkness. There was a light among the trees, and I made out the dim shape of a house. Haley parked the car and helped me out, wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we walked up to the front door to what I now saw to be a modern wood cabin.

  "It looks like Zack and Helen are already here," Haley marveled. "This must be her doing."

  The front door was yanked open, and Helen stood on the threshold, looking freshly showered and wearing clothing I recognized as belonging to Zack.

  Before I could even blink, she pulled me inside and lunged at me, giving me in a crushing hug.

  "Thank God you're alright!" she gasped, releasing me.

  "I was worried about you, too" I countered.

  "So was I," she admitted, throwing Zack a glare. "It wasn't until I carjacked the Toyota that I felt like we had a fighting chance."

  I stared at her.

  "Carjacked?" I repeated. She shrugged.

  "You should have seen her!" Zack proclaimed. "She stuck her fist in her jacket pocket and jumped in front of a car that was driving away. She started screaming and banging on the hood and windows like a crazy person, threatening the people that she was going to do all sorts of horrible things if they didn't give her their bleeping car now."

  I continued to stare at Helen, who was full-on glaring at Zack.

  "She didn't let up," he continued. "She totally just kept up the crazy, even crawling up onto the hood and pointing her jacket pocket at the driver like she had a gun in it. In the end, they freaked out and ran away, leaving us the car with the keys in the ignition. I swear it was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen."

  Zack scooped her up in his arms, cradling her and announcing, "This girl is totally amazing."

  "Put me down, you overgrown Neanderthal!" Helen yelled, beating on his chest with her little fists.

  "Perhaps, we should leave them to it?" Haley murmured in my ear. "I believe we both could use a shower and change of clothes."

  I looked down at my grimy, stiff clothing. I was covered in dirt and debris, and I was convinced that some of the rice from dinner had floated down the back of my shirt. A shower sounded heavenly.

  I was about to agree when the air exploded with crazy yipping, and I got an impression of a thousand ears, teeth, and bulging eyes rushing at me.

  Only, the swarm veered off at the last minute to jump on Haley, who gathered them up in his arms, rendering them still enough that I could see he was actually holding three black Miniature Pinschers.

  "Man, I hate those dogs," Zack moaned, finally putting Helen down.

  Helen, who loved dogs, rushed over to pet them, and the animals crooned into her touch. I watched it all with a kind of detached amusement that went cold when I noticed that all three dogs moved in complete synchronization. If one leaned its head into Helen's hand, they all did. If another blinked, they all did.

  "Wait, what is going on with your dogs?" I asked, confused. "Or am I just seeing things?"

  "Well, they're not really used to being apart like this," Haley replied matter-of-factly.

  "Can your daddy tell us what he means, you adorable little smoosh faces?" Helen cooed as the dogs struggled in Haley's arms—in unison—to reach up and lick her face.

  Zack strolled over to stand by Helen, and instantly, three tiny heads shot out in his direction, teeth bared and growls rippling out of their little throat
s.

  "Whoa, easy boys!" he protested, holding up his hands defensively.

  "What are their names?" I asked Haley.

  "Slappy, Dopey, and Turd," Zack grumbled, making a face at the dogs.

  "Actually," Haley replied. "This is Cerberus."

  "Which one?" I asked, confused.

  "All of them."

  Helen paused in the tickling of the three little chins. She blinked, and the dogs yipped for more.

  "Oh," she replied blankly. "Okay. I guess it's not every day that a girl gets to pet the three-headed hound that guards the gates of the Underworld."

  Slappy, Dopey, and Turd whined their approval.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  I STARED AT HALEY with his armful of dogs.

  "Shouldn't they, uh, be bigger?" Helen asked, using both hands to deliver six ear scratches. "I mean, from what I’ve read, shouldn't it be bigger?"

  "Yeah, Katie Jones never really forgave Haley for calling her a crone a few thousand years ago," Zack volunteered. "When Cerberus wanted to follow us into this form, she decided that payback was a bitch."

  "Oh. Well, anyway, I think they're perfect," Helen said as the dogs scrambled—in unison—out of Haley's arms and into Helen's waiting ones.

  "Looks like you have a rival," Haley whispered to Zack with a smirk.

  Zack's shoulders slumped in defeat, even as he avidly drank in the sight of Helen.

  "Hey, Helen?" he asked, cautiously approaching her, despite the warning growl from Slappy, Dopey, and Turd. "Do you need to let your parents know that you're okay and that you're probably going to be here tonight?"

  "Hmmm? Probably." Her reply was muffled by hellhound kisses. "But, they might not even notice."

  "Even with the flood downtown?" Zack queried, surprised.

  "Probably not. Dad will be busy at the hospital, and Mom will be…uh, busy at home. My brother has his PlayStation. I’ll call them later and tell them I’m staying at a friend’s tonight."

  I was shocked when he didn't jump on the open door she left with the whole "friend" comment. Instead, he frowned and reached out to touch her shoulder gently. When she shrugged him off, as she usually did, he looked surprised again, but I could have told him that even if she deserved his pity, she didn't want it.