The next day, something new happened, much to my amusement.
They-and by they, I mean the brown haired bitch and a bunch of the extras-were loading another cube into the basement. The thing was, it was in the vacant space that had operated as a window between Billy's and my cells. I had a scary new neighbor to contend with whom, sooner or later, would find out that I had aided to his capture. What peaked my interest, however, was that the cube that held him also held a corpse clad in black clothing and a clear, shiny, jacket.
"How are they going to get that out of there, without losing another seven men?" I mused to anyone who was listening, but no one was, since they were all watching silently as the new arrival hit against the walls of his cell and made the whole thing shake.
"Damn." Three out of four of us chorused, making the Juggernaut aware of our presence. The seven feet tall giant stared at us in confusion, for a moment, before resuming his rage filled pummeling of the glass. I knew what was going to happen, next, so I calmly waited while facing the hallway beyond my glass walls.
When the brown haired bitch I had recently found out was named Kalina appeared from down the hall, I stared at her with a truly dark demeanor passing over my face. I waited in a purely clairvoyant state, until she was standing directly in front of me. I appeared exactly as I hit the glass, taking no pleasure in her panicked expression, my own expression half way towards being enraged.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, curiosity peeking out from behind my mask of anger. She paused, a frown on her face as she indecisively thought to herself.
"Cyrus was...killed while he was capturing the twelfth ghost. He left me with a set of directions and I plan on following them." Setting aside my disappointment of not getting to kill him, just yet, I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion.
"If you've come here to ask me to sacrifice something else, you can go right back upstairs." I said neutrally, not allowing my emotions to show, despite the twisting I felt at my core. Kalina knew of my game, by then, her face only expressing a twisted grin.
"Oh, but I think you'll have no choice but to carry out this favor. Cyrus kept some items that used to be yours."
My gaze slowly turned to the wooden box in her greedy hands. Recognition instantly flared up in my mind upon looking at what used to be my jewelry box. I pressed my hand against the glass, wanting nothing more than to break all ten of her fingers and take my property back. My grandmother had given the box to me for my tenth birthday and I cherished it with all my being.
"What exactly do you plan on doing with that?" I asked dryly, fuming when she began to wind the music turner protruding from the back of the box, the music being withheld by the closed lid.
"I have a proposition for you, Iris. If you follow through, no harm will come to it; if not, then, well...It'll make excellent firewood, I think." I stared silently, my teeth biting down on my cracked lips, so that a trickle of vanishing blood rolled down my chin. I contemplated simply laughing in her face. If she broke it, I knew I would completely snap, but I also didn't need another member of the Black Zodiac wanting to rip me to shreds.
The Juggernaut looks like he'd do that to me, anyway, so I might as well let them get that corpse to its family. I reasoned silently, stiffly nodding with a miserable expression on my face.
"I hope you know that I hate you." My voice whispered quietly, but she was already explaining what I needed to do, my task being a simple one: I had to sing and, hopefully, distract the Juggernaut for long enough to let the extras remove the body from the cell. I assumed that she knew I had once taken voice lessons because Cyrus told her, but it the fact that yet another piece of my past had been revealed did not amuse me in the slightest.
"You won't destroy the box, if I do?" I questioned tiredly, mistrust shining brightly in my eyes as I did. All I wanted was to be left to my own devices and that was exactly the opposite of what Kalina was doing for me.
"Exactly."
"Then I'll be sure to personally throw you into your very own Inferno, if you do otherwise." I stated, cutting the conversation off and turning away from her, my form moving to the center of the cell and facing my target. I waited for him to pause through the less frequent beats on the glass, before beginning.
"Win dain a lotica
En val tu ri
Si lo ta
Fin dein a loluca
En dragu a sei lain
Vi fa-ru les shutai am
En riga-lint"
I stood still as the hits against the glass ceased and the giant turned his attention towards me, no true sign of emotion plating on his face, except for maybe confusion. I was surprised by how my voice's condition had remained exactly as it had while I was alive; except for the whisper of air and slight echo that came before and after speaking, of course. Keeping a smooth expression, I maintained eye contact with the Juggernaut while continuing my song.
"Win chent a lotica
En val turi
Si lo ta
Fin dein a loluca
Si katigura neuver
Floreria for chesti
Si entina
La la la la la la la la la, la la la, la la
Fontina blu cent
Des cravi esca letisimo
La la la la la la la la la, la la la, la la
De quatian
La finde reve"
By the time I finished the chorus, the bullet-hole riddled spirit was standing directly in front of the glass between us, the extras preparing to enter his cell. So very tempted to point it out to my captive audience, I continued singing, taking a step forwards as his eyes wandered to look to his side.
"Win dain a lotica
En val tu ri
Si lo ta
Fin dein a loluca
En dragu a sei lain
Vi fa-ru les shutai am
En riga-lint"
Letting the last note hang in the air, I smiled timidly up at the Juggernaut, silently hoping that he wouldn't be fazed by the sudden lack of bodies in his cell. The words I had formulated in my head were then interrupted as I was preparing to speak. Now what? I wondered mentally as both of us turned our attention on the Jackal, who was pressed up against the glass and was giggling more than loudly-just to irritate me, I was sure. Furrowing my brow, I merely cast him a sideward glance, not giving the mental patient the satisfaction of knowing he'd distracted me.
"You have something to say, Jackal?" I shot out impatiently, tapping my foot on the glass floor while he met my scornful look with a gleeful one.
"The family's all together, now!" I grimaced and rolled my eyes as the term he used.
"Good; you can be the crazy uncle. Now, shut up!" I yelled, still majorly pissed at him for mauling me. He did so but flopped down on the floor, staring at me with those unnerving blue eyes. I rose a brow; apparently, I had-more or less-proven myself by landing a few good blows at his face. My attention was easily distracted, however, when the giant shifted from the corner of my eye.
He had turned back to see why it had gotten so quiet and must have noticed the corpse missing, as his blank expression turned to a deep frown. My eyes widened slightly; he was scary, up close, even with two walls of unbreakable glass walls separating us.
"Hello," I said a little too loudly. "My name's Iris. That's Dana," I gestured behind me. "And Royce. And that, apparently, is our crazy uncle." Gesturing at the Jackal, I was half tempted to smile by the irritated expression the caged maniac was sending me. Did he really not think that I wouldn't try to irritate or, at the very least, poke fun at him? I had been the oldest child in my family; annoying others was my civic duty.
"I have a plan to get all of us out of here and continue with what we were doing, before getting stuck in these cells. You're welcome to join in, if you want, but we'll all have a task to carry out. How about it, um...What's your name?" I asked cautiously, a small smile brightening my face when his deep voice answered, somewhat quietly.
"Horace." I nodded in acknowledgment, just about to repeat my question, before the Juggernaut turned from me and disappeared from sight.
"Okay, you think on that, then." I awkwardly called after him, turning back towards Royce and Dana, a disgruntled look caught on my face. Dana moved forwards, gripping the large knife in her hand in apparent excitement.
"You've come up with a plan?" She asked hopefully, giving me a half smile as I nodded, in my own mischievous state of excitement. I settled myself at an angle mostly facing them while keeping my demeanor serious.
"The fact that all twelve of you are here reminded me of something. Cyrus needs something…else from a thirteenth member of the Black Zodiac. That means that, once that person arrives, the house will be locked up tight and these cells will start to open. And that means that Cyrus-wherever that scumbag is hiding-will have to be here, at the end. By then, we'll all be unrestrained and he will be out in the open." Some variation of a smile was on everyone's face; they all wanted a piece of my brother, it seemed, and I couldn't say I blamed them. I was determined to deliver the final blow, of course, but I was always willing to share.
I started explaining each of the roles they were to play. Dana was to herd whoever looked
capable to the control room. Royce was in charge of finding where in the Hell Cyrus was hiding and seemed a little disappointed that this didn't include much violence. I kindly added that he was free to take a swing or two at anyone who got in his way. This cheered him up and he began to take a few practice swings through the air. The Jackal's job was to keep everyone away from my cell, in which I was planning on keeping my jewelry box and whatever else I felt I needed to keep safe. I wasn't sure if he'd follow through, though, but I didn't know any of the other ghosts enough to trust them any more than I trusted him-which wasn't saying much, really. I did, however, send word down the aisles to request that the Great Child and the Dire Mother patrol the highest floor of the house. After some time of speaking amongst themselves, they agreed without much question, much to my relief.
"Hey, what about me?" A young sounding, temperamental, voice called out from the next hall over, making me smile slightly.
"You want to help too, Billy? Alright; do you know who Kalina is?"
"I hate Kalina."
"Perfect." I grinned happily, watching as Stone rolled in a circle around the middle of the room. "Your job is to make sure she stays out of the control room, for as long as possible, while I'm in there." I instructed, his demented child's laugh making me feel all warm and fuzzy.
"Easy." I nodded to him, my face softening a bit, before my walls went back up. I returned my gaze to the others, all of whom were jittery with anticipation. I remained quiet, though, thinking and rethinking about my plan to the finest details; we only had one chance and the pressure was on me to put in all together.
Ta-da! The action part of this story is about to begin! I promise that this won't turn into a song fic; I just needed a way to have Iris distract Horace. The song I used is "Sora's Song" by Yoko Kanno. Go look it up, it sounds really pretty. :D 'Til next week!
-Jess