smoldering embers erupted into flames. “I told you. I'm in control. Listen to me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Shannon demanded. “Why send me here? For – companionship? What the hell gives you the right to decide that?”
“Torturing Ben was getting old,” he wriggled his fingers, and the fire turned an electric blue. “It's been, what? A hundred and some odd years of watching him... day in, day out. It was fun for a little while, but it's high time I mixed it up.”
“So you just watch me all day?” Ben backed away. “You haven't anything better to do with your time?”
“Please, don't flatter yourself. You're not that important,” the man fiddled with the ring on his thumb. “This realm expands far beyond the borders of this town. There are other settlements out there. Some are far better. Some are much worse. I could easily pick you up and transport you to one chock-full of serial killers. But no... That just wouldn't fit your story.
“I've heard your sadness. Your anger. Your frustration. I've seen you pound your fists into stone walls. I've witnessed you lying in bed for weeks on end. And yet not once in over a hundred years have you had the gall to step a foot outside after dark. Then this woman comes, and on her first night she goes out and rescues a little boy. Shannon, you've got too much style for the likes of this coward... which could make things interesting; I'll admit.”
“Do you actually have anything important to say?” she asked.
He laughed. “I knew I chose you for a reason.”
“Chose me?” she looked over at Ben. “Why does he keep saying that? Do you have any idea what he's talking about?”
“You might be a high-strung ball of neurosis, but you fight,” the man continued. “In life, you pushed through your difficulties, even if you had to do it half-drugged out of your mind on mood stabilizers and antidepressants. Without all that pesky brain chemistry holding you back, you thrive.”
“That's the best back-handed compliment anyone's ever given me,” Shannon scowled. “And I went to a public high school.”
The man's face darkened. “Yes! Keep up that spunk. You're going to need it, especially if you continue trying to wake my souls.”
“You have the audacity to call them your souls?” Ben said, dumbfounded.
“I had a claim to them!” the man snapped. “I was saving them! That damned Aspasia... Now I have to hunt for them like a common demon.”
“Are demons a thing?” Shannon whispered to Ben.
He shrugged noncommittally.
The man rolled his eyes. “You'll do well to stay in my good graces. You may have been able to make a life for yourself on earth, but here in death, I'm the boss.”
“Then tell us who you are,” Shannon said.
“You have absolutely no idea, do you?” he laughed. “You don't remember me plucking you out of your body. You don't remember what I said to you.”
Shannon kept silent, paralyzed in fear. The man adjusted the white rose at his breast, his legs splayed shoulder-width apart as he stared her down, eyebrow raised and mouth twisted into a half smile.
“You chose to come with me. You both did.”
“He's lying,” Ben warned.
“Well, this is interesting,” the man put a hand on his chin. “I've never heard this from my subjects before. But then again, I'm a laissez-faire god for the most part.”
No. He wasn't a god. That was impossible. No god would be this imbalanced and conniving, right?
“I'm taking Sato with me,” he continued. “He doesn't belong here now that he isn't just another ghoulish child. I have another town that's full of children. Think Lord of the Flies. Should be interesting to see how he interacts with everyone.”
“What the hell is wrong with you? He's a freaking kid!” Shannon pushed Sato behind her. “You're not taking him.”
“Relax,” the man said. “They're already dead, so it's not like they can kill each other unless I let them, and I'm not that cruel. Honestly, the children seem to have a lot of fun with it. Perhaps I should have said Neverland instead.”
Shannon fought back angry tears. “He's staying here. End of story.”
She grabbed Sato's hand and backed away. Ben stood in front of the man, blocking him from the boy.
“Oh, come on,” the man grumbled. “I thought you were smarter than this. Where are you going to take him? You've got a six acre radius to work with.”
“He's not coming with you without a fight,” Ben put his fists up.
“Well, look at Mr. Bourgeois here,” the man moved forward. “Please. I'd kick your ass even if I were human. We've had a nice conversation, but I'm done with this banter. Give me Sato. Now.”
Shannon picked the boy up sprinted into the bedroom. Keeping her eyes straight ahead, she swung open the door, slammed it behind her, and bolted it.
“Stay here,” she placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. He stared at her, wide-eyed and confused.
“I know, dude. Just hang on. We'll –”
“You'll what, exactly?”
The man had appeared right behind her though the door was still shut.
“You think a locked door can keep me out? What part of the word 'god' did you not understand?”
“Get. Out.”
“Do you have any idea how easily I could literally crush your soul?”
“Where's Ben?”
“Probably still confused by my disappearing act.”
The doorknob rattled for a moment, and then Ben's footsteps disappeared.
“Never mind. I guess he's running away,” the man laughed. “I wish I could say I was surprised.”
Ben appeared at the bedroom window, and with a flick of his hand, the man slammed the shutters in his face. Smashing through the thin wood with his elbow, Ben tumbled in and fell unceremoniously over the desk. The man stepped out of the way and let him crash to the ground. Ben recovered quickly and brushed the splinters from his clothes.
“Get out of my house,” he growled.
The man crossed his arms over his chest. “Where do you get off thinking this is your house? I built it. I built this whole town. This whole world. Without it, who knows where you'd be? You were a lawyer, Benjamin. A lawyer who took on some shady cases in his day. I saved you from hell.”
“I'd take hell over this any day,” Ben said. “Leave, or you'll regret it.”
“You're so dramatic,” the man stood silent for a moment, pondering Ben's words. “You know, I've grown really bored of this town. And with you. I'd gladly send you all to hell if I could. However, since that's not an option, I'll have to give you the next best thing.”
He put a hand on his boutonniere and snapped his fingers. The desk and bookshelf erupted in flames. Sato screamed and scampered toward the window, but the man grabbed him by the shoulder and held him in place. Ripping the boy away from him, Shannon pushed Sato behind her protectively. Ben threw his comforter over the shelf and tried to smother it, but he only managed to catch the blanket on fire. Holding the inflamed quilt in his hands, he swung it at the intruder.
“That feels nice,” he pulled the blanket away from Ben and stroked the flames. “I have to admit, I really wish I'd made this world warmer. It's just so dry and temperate. Oh, well.”
“How are you –”
“It's almost as though I can control the fire,” the man bit sarcastically. “Just like everything else in this world. Use your brain, Shannon. My world, my rules. There's nothing you can do about it. I'll be taking the boy now. Enjoy writing from scratch, Ben.”
The man snapped his fingers, and Sato disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the thin, wispy smoke that enveloped the town from the woods beyond. He moved to snap his fingers again, but paused before they clicked together.
“You know what? I think you've gotten a bit too comfortable in this little flat. In this whole town. It's boring. What if I just burned it to the ground and
started from scratch? I've spent too much time and energy trying to salvage it.”
The man moved his hand across the room, and the flames licked across the floor and spread to the walls, engulfing the building in fire.
“I'd get out if I were you,” he said. “Just because you can't feel it burning doesn't mean it won't consume you.”
With a second snap of his fingers, the man disappeared into thin air. Paralyzed, Ben stared at his bookshelf in shock. Shaking himself out of it, he grabbed the thickest volume and tried to put the fire out.
“Drop it! Didn't you hear him? If he's controlling this, don't you think he could catch either one of us on fire at any moment? It's a lost cause. We need to get out of here!”
She led him back out the window, making sure he climbed out first. They backed away as flames consumed the house. In the short time since man had started the fire, it had trickled to the two flats next to Ben's. She looked around hurriedly. He had set the other houses ablaze as well.
“How many people are inside?” Shannon asked.
Ben rushed over to the next home and flung the door open, Shannon close behind. An elderly woman sat at a desk furiously scribbling on a piece of paper. Taking the inkwell pen from her grasp, Ben placed her hand in his.
“Come on, Mrs. Curtis. You can finish writing Jack later.”
After some coaxing, they managed to get the woman to stand up. Shannon helped Ben guide her out of the house and to the town square.
“Where should we take her?” Shannon asked.
“The church won't burn.”
“I'm not so sure about that.”
“Let me rephrase
Awakening: Part 2 of the Hinterlands Series Page 2
