Notes-This really isn't that important in this story, but I am ignoring the whole Penance was Monet and Monet was her twin sisters and now they're reversed thing because it's annoying and stupid and I used to like Penance before that. Also 'Cania and Jono are an item and Chamber has his face back(I'll go into those later). And I'll explian the "girl who isn't a girl".
* *-indicates telepathic speech.
As always send feedback to RhiannonAZ@aol.com. Please.
#50:You can't be in this game without picking up a ghost or twelve.
#51:Never look back. That way you don't see all the ghosts following you.
The Rules Of Arcania/Tears Of A Forsaken Past:
Ghosts Of A Forsaken Past
by
RhiannonAmaris
Ghosts Of A Forsaken Past
by
RhiannonAmaris
I sat at Star's kitchen table and sipped at coffee that was more accurately caffeinated cream and sugar. Ayianna had just cleaned up the mess from the kids milk and cookies. Her sister was out on a date with some rich American. I had fought with my step-father (nothing new there) and my dad was probably out of town. I hadn't been able to find him at least, as usual I could almost say.
So I had decided to visit my former teacher, the Master I had been apprenticed to in the Guild. Who had roped me into baby-sitting her sister's kids. Not that I minded that much. The triplets were sweethearts, unlike myself at that age. My cousin Romany assures me that I had been "hell to put up with", to which her little brother Pete (who I had... let's be honest here, who I hero worship and has taught me more than a few of my bad habits) had added, "And ya still are." Those bad habits include attitude, intentionally bad grammar, smoking (even though he always takes away me fags), getting into fights, rebelling against authority figures, and sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Though, to be honest, I could have inherited most of those (except the fighting) from my dad.
But anyway, Christina, Robbie and Orion are, comparatively speaking of course, angels. As always I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I usually scorned anyone younger than myself, even those my own age or a bit older. My best friend Jono, Star's kids and Romany's daughter are the only exceptions to that rule. Christina toddled over to me. "Read story, Auntie Cania?" All of them were amazingly intelligent and articulate for their age. There are times that I think it's almost scary. My dad says that I was the same way, but he's a bit biased. It's odd though, I'm barely twelve and I'm 'Auntie Cania'.
There was no way I could say no to those huge red on black eyes. "Sure thing, luv." Only the Guild calls me Arcania Constantine, even my dad still calls me Jane. I managed to get him to tell me what he would have named me once.
Some small and far off part of my brain is confused, quietly it says, "What do you mean still calls me Jane? What do you mean were?" The tiny inner voice is easily ignored.
I sit down on the huge overstuffed couch that you sink into with the children snuggled against me and I begin to read "A Home For A Bunny" to them. I knew the words by heart, I've read it to them so often. I feel a sense of... deja vu that has nothing to do with the familiar words. "A home for a bunny, a home of it's own. Under a rock, under a stone..." It's dull, but in a comfortable, homey sort of way. I finished reading to them and Ayianna and I began to try to herd off to bed. Then the doorbell rings.
She goes to answer it and I keep trying to get the kids to their bedroom. That small, questioning part of me is screaming in warning and terror. I continue as if it wasn't there. All of the sudden it's like there are two of me, one acting and the other watching and trying to tell the first something which is completely ignored, like when you're yelling at the actress in a horrer movie and the the tart still opens the bloody door. Ayianna opens the door and there is a monster behind it. He as horrible as any nightmare, but I know he's real, even as that detached part of me tells me I'm in Dream's realm. The rest of me doesn't know of Dream or the Endless.
The monster is a man, a mutant. He's huge, at least seven feet tall, weighs only God knows how much, all muscle, and... he has claws. Creed, Sabertooth. I had heard his name whispered in Guild counsels in fear and awe.
He laughed insanely and sneered at Ayianna. "Star ain't here? You gonna tell me where LeBeau is then? Or his woman?" Her cold glare was the only answer he recieved. "Too bad for you frail." Then the nightmare begins in earnest. He pushes his way past her and spots Chrissy. "You're your daddy's little girl, huh.", he says to her before he lashes out at the red haired, red eyed child with his huge, powerful, clawed hand. Blood is everywhere.
I try to get the other kids as far away from him as I can, to get them behind me. They're screaming in terror, the poor angels... The split and the unreality is greater than ever, and the far off part of me tells me that this all happened a long time ago. He throws her aside and ignores her. The monster moves towards me and the children.
Ayianna steps in front of him. She looks like an avenging fury. "No. Leave. Now." Both of them knew the words were hollow, as did I. But niether she nor I was going down without a fight. If we were lucky we might even take him down with us.
"That's really funny frail. I think I'm gonna enjoy this." Then they were at it. I couldn't understand what was happening. For all her skill Ayianna was no match for Creed's savagery. As much as she tried to give me a chance to get the kids out, there was no way around him. Sabertooth got bored and gutted her. Then he turned towards me.
"Wrong place at the wrong time, huh little girl.", he growls at me.
I push the button on a tiny metal cylinder that unfolds to become a full sized Bo staff and draw the dagger that was given to me when I made Master. "For you maybe.", I reply with bravado I don't feel. Keeping my mouth shut never was one of my talents, I'm a Constantine after all. My only thought was to distract him, to somehow give the kids a chance to get away. I was terrified beyond belief and for the first time in my young life I knew I was mortal. It was amazing that I managed to keep my terror out of my voice.
Creed only laughed. He could have killed me then and there, but instead toyed with me. I fought with all my might and I could barely touch him. To him I was nothing more than a slight annoyance, like a fly. I had tiny, shallow little wounds and my clothes were being shredded. Sabertooth was playing with me, like a cat with a mouse. I managed to cut him with my dagger once, a deep gash that would have brought anyone down. It healed in seconds. I could barely keep moving, I was injured so badly, but I fought on. For some reason I began to sense everything that Ayianna, the kids and Creed were feeling. The children's terror, Ayianna's desperation, her life-blood seeping out of her and Creed's sadistic pleasure.
He got bored with me and turned towards the children, who were huddled in a corner. I plunged my knife into his back, over and over again, but had no effect. After a moment it seemed to annoy him, though and he slashed at me. I lay there as he killed the boys and Ayianna's lifeblood spilled out onto the carpet. Then he wrote obscenities on the walls with our blood.
After a moment I realized that Ayianna and Orion still breathed, but they would be dead within an hour if they didn't die in the next few minutes. I was in much better shape than either of them. I crawled to the telephone and dialed the number of Star's cell phone. "Star... don't come... oh, God they're dead... He's-"
The monster came up to me and backhanded me. I felt my jawbone break, and was amazed that I could still feel anything. "What you think you're doing frail?" I screamed in defiance and pain and something in me snapped. I took all the anger, hurt, pain, my own and that I was absorbing and everything else and pushed it at him. He let out a roar and lashed out at me. His claws slashed my chest and even more blood seeped out of me, what little of it that was left. He laughed and turned and left.
I became aware of a tall, pale, black haired woman. She was dressed in jeans and a tank top, both black as night, and wore a silver anhk. Her skin can only be described as a "whiter shade of pale" and her eyes were bottomless. I had seen her once before, in the hospital when my mother died of cancer two years before. All of a sudden Robbie and Christina stood next to her, though they still lay prone on the carpet. They shimmered, like my mother had. At that moment the door opened and someone I didn't know came in followed by Star. I heard the man speak before he entered and saw the room. "What was that call about, you never did say..." His voice stopped short as he saw the room and he tried to keep her from seeing it.
She saw all the same. I don't think she believed it though. She didn't say a word. Star wandered to Christina's body and began to cradle it.
At that moment my father walked in, followed by a girl, a street kid, about my own age. For some reason I knew she wasn't human, nor was the woman in black.. "Star, Janey left a note saying she was coming over here, did she..." He fell silent as he saw the blood splattered room. "Oh bloody hell..." And then he saw me. "No. Please God, no."
I knew that the woman wearing the anhk was Death. The other, the girl, was something unknown to me. A strange sense of release came over me. "So much for the Grim Reaper.", I thought then realized I had spoken out loud when a faint harsh sound that was my own voice reached my ears. She smiled at my warmly and laughed. Her laugh was beautiful, warm and intelligent, it reminded me of my cousin Romany or my Gran. All this happened in a second or two, but it seemed forever to me.
My father saw Death and his eyes went wide. "No.", he whispered. "Don't you dare take her from me."
Star stared blankly into space and kept shaking her head. After a moment she realized that Orion and Ayianna still breathed. She looked at them, eyes darting from one to the other and she shut her eyes in pain. She kissed her sister's brow, in farewell it seemed. "I'm sorry. Forgive me." Then Ayianna stood with Death and the other two. Star went to Orion and took a vial out from around her neck. She held it to his lips and made him drink and he slept.
I looked at Death and smiled at her. "I'm ready.", I whispered, even as my father grabbed the girl who wasn't a girl and pulled her towards me in desperation.
"It's not your time yet, dear."
"But I want to talk to you..."
"We will, many times in the future. But your time is a long way off."
My father had taken my knife and bared the 'girl's' arm. He slit her wrist and held it over my mouth. She stood as if nothing had happened. The other man ran at him and tried to tear her away, but her father just knocked him away. The fact that my dad had knocked the other man out seemed weirder than the liquid that was being poured down my throat. My mouth filled with the taste of blood, ambrosia, and brimstone.
Death picked up Christina and took Ayianna's hand after she did the same with Robbie. "Come on.", she told them softly, "It's time to go." They glanced back at us and turned to walk away. I saw their backs receding for a moment before they vanished.
For a second the girl whose blood flowed into me didn't look like a short, grubby, half insane street kid with dirty mouse brown dreadlocks, but tall, beautiful, with strawberry blonde hair and clear gray eyes- And wings that at one moment like an angel's only black, and the next a pale pearl gray like a dragon's. I felt as though I was burning. I didn't care.
Then there was someone else in the room, a girl akin to Death, though I didn't know how I knew that, who looked stranger than anyone I had ever seen. She had wild red hair and wore rag-tag clothing and was impossible to describe. Her eyes were like a window to a black starlit sky. A small bulldog followed on her heels. It looked more sane than she did. I felt myself slipping into insanity. Then the dog talked.
"Do leave her alone. Your sister should be coming for her soon enough.", he said gently. It's voice was distinguished.
His mistress's was far different. "oH nO, She'S oNE Of mINe. mY SisTeR jUSt LeFT. i kNOW thEsE THiNgS. wE'Ll hAve sO mUcH FuN." She spoke in colors. "bOTh oF ThEm aRe MiNe. i wANt tO gO LoOkiNG fOr bUtTErFlY dRagONs!" She furrowed her brow. "oR wAS iT DraGOn BuTTerFlIeS?" She shrugged happily.
"Delirium," the dog said, a bit sternly really, "I think you should leave this one alone." He said casting a look towards my father.
"wHY?"
"Her father did your brother a favor once."
"tHe ONe wITh ThE gaRdEN?"
"No, not Destiny, Morpheus."
"oH. sHe iS MinE, ThOUgH. i WoN'T kEep HEr fOr lONg.", Delirium chirped at my dad. All of a sudden her face lit up. "mY bROtHeR wITh ThE GaRDeN tOLd mE AboUT hER ONcE. i dON't rEmEMBer wHaT hE sAId, dO yOU dOGgIe?"
"Yes, he showed you her part in the book.", he answered patiently.
"oH. i dON't KNoW wHat i'D dO wIThOuT mY SmARt, PrETtY DogGIe."
Just before everything went fishies a raven flew into the room, waking me up and reminding me that I was in the Dreaming.
The first thought I had when I woke up was, 'Thanks Matthew, I owe you one.' The next was, 'What the hell is everyone doing in my room?'
That one I apparently said out loud.
Frost, Jono, and all of the girls' dorm was around my bed, staring at me. Which pissed me off a bit. I mean they were watching me sleep. That's a bit disturbing, except for Jono(Hey, I watch him sleep). But then again, I would have thought that anything was disturbing, I was so on edge. This dream always does that to me. I hadn't had it in months, though.
St. Croix glared down at me and announced, "You have woken the whole school. Perhaps you should learn to control your shielding better.", and marched out of the room. I could have killed her. That was the first time my shields had 'leaked', either way I might add, in several years. I have to have strong shields, I'm an empath that occasionally ends up in Hell and fights demons on a regular basis. You better believe I have good shields.
"Ya'll all right?", Husk asked insincerely. I would have known that even if my shields hadn't worn so thin. She doesn't want Jono, never really did, but still acts as if I stole him from her.
"Yeah, I'm fine." As soon as I answered a telepathic voice rang in my head.
*I would venture to disagree Miss Constantine.*, the White Queen told me, and she was very much the White Queen at that moment. After a short pause she continued, less regally, *I know you've been through a lot Arcania... If you want to talk about it...* Emmie's really a nice gel. I never could see why everyone thinks different. Then again I'm so used to defense mechanisms that I've never really noticed them. She can be a bitch at times, but that's just a survival instinct.
*I'd rather not. Thanks fer the thought though Em.*
She nodded at me solemnly, and ushered all the others, except Jono, out of the room.
"Luv are you all right? The stuff you were sendin' out was terrible.", his voice was full of concern. "Wot's wrong?" He was worried sick.
"I just had a bad dream... about some stuff that happened a long time ago... I'm fine..." My voice trailed off.
"Luv?", he asked softly.
I buried my face in his chest and began to sob.
I usually don't cry.
I've grown used to my ghosts.