alright, so i put in a dream sequence in this chapter, in which Lily talks to her mother, and re lives the car accident, i don't know if you will want to skip the car accident bit or not but anyway one more chapter left until after may 22

Disclaimer: i own nothing! except Lily.

Chapter 36: Living With Choices

Lily stared around in the blackness not entirely sure what she was doing there.

"Hello Lily" Lily turned to look at the speaker, amazed to find it was her mother. Eileithyia known as Ella by her husband and children, stood tall and as beautiful as ever, her pail ivory skin standing out in contrast to the blackness that surrounded them both, her pretty heart shaped face more noticeable than before, her blue eyes, a clear reflection of Lily's. Her hair and Lily's, was hard to see in the blackness since it blended in so well. "You've grown" there was love and devotion in her mothers voice, and Lily felt silly at the tears that she felt in her eyes.

"Am I dreaming?" Lily asked aloud.

Ella smiled "no dear, your simply unconscious, this was the only way I could talk to you where you would see me."

Lily didn't know how she got there, but she was suddenly in her mothers arms, crying into her chest.

Ella stroked Lily's hair lovingly and said "I know sweetie, I know."

Lily looked up at Ella and said "I know the truth mom, I know who your mother is."

Ella looked sad but not surprised "I know, your father and I, we were going to tell you and James when we got home that night, but then the accident- I could have come to you in your dreams but I didn't know what to tell you."

Lily wiped her eyes and whispered "why didn't Juno tell me sooner?"

Ella's eyes filled with tears she couldn't hold, "because she was afraid of losing you sweetie, afraid you would leave her all alone again, she's lost so much and been alone for so long sweetie."

Lily bit her lip "mom, I think the end of the world is coming, and I don't know what I should do, I don't even know If I'm on the right side of all this mess!"

Ella smiled "remember what your father said? The only way to be on the wrong side of a war, is if you're fighting for a side you don't believe in" she stroked Lily's cheek "now here is my bit of advise for you, what ever you chose, what ever you do, your father, brother and I will all support and love you but whatever choice you make, make sure you can live with it for the rest of your life, however long it may be."

Lily looked into her mothers eyes and said "I miss you mommy, I miss you and Daddy and little James." She sniffled a little bit.

Ella sniffled as well "as we all miss you darling."

Lily hugged her mother tightly "I love you all so very much"

Ella squeezed her daughter "and we love you, never forget that sweetie, no matter what, we love you."

Ella then let go of her daughter "our time has run out darling, I don't know when we'll see you next , but we'll be waiting for you to come home"

"Mommy wait!" Lily cried not wanting her mother to go, she saw a flash of white and two other figures appered in the light and waved to Lily with Ella when she joined them

"We love you sis!" the 14 year old James called.

"We'll see you when you come home" Daniel Johnson said "we'll be waiting for you sweetie."

And then they were gone and Lily found herself dreaming of the horrible night when she lost her family.

She was sitting behind her mother staring out the window at the stars, her mother in front of her was asleep, as was her brother beside her, her father was driving, they were heading home, back to Santa Clarita from Disneyland, it was late, almost 12:30. Lily turned away from her window and looked ahead only to suddenly headlights right in front of them, the two cars crashed together in a head on collision, Lily closed her eyes and screamed as it happened, shards of glass went flying everywhere, giving Lily shallow cuts, she opened her eyes as silence fell, her Parents weren't moving at all, she couldn't tell what happened to the guy who hit them, but James, James was now awake and had deep cuts everywhere, he was crying and Lily held him to her murmuring that it would all be okay. She used her parents cell phone to call 911 she told them where she and her brother were and begged them to hurry, she tried to stop James' bleeding but it did no good, James was saying he was sleepy, and Lily tried to keep him awake, but he fell asleep, she tried to wake him up, but he didn't stir, by the time the doctors arrived her brother was five minutes dead, they tried to revive him but they couldn't, he had died from blood loss, she would live, she had no major cuts, just a few small cuts that needed stitches, the next day she and her grandmother, her fathers mother who was taking her in, were told what had happened, the man who had crashed into them, was drunk he had died instantly and there was no one else in his car. Lily heard a bloodcurdling scream of rage inside her head at this information and this scream got louder and louder, until it woke her up.

Dr. John Dee stood in the middle of the cellblock and howled his rage. Behind him, a ragged and filthy sphinx regarded him with an expression of distaste on her face.

Virginia and Josh came racing into the building and Dee spun around to greet them, his face contorted with anger. "Useless!" he shouted. "Useless, useless, useless!" He flung a pile of paper into the air and it rained down like confetti.

"What's useless?" Virginia said, keeping her voice calm, eyes trained on the sphinx. The creature flickered her tongue at Dare, who touched her flute. The tongue disappeared.

Lily watched this and snickered, she was in a cell with Niccolò she was rather pleasantly surprised to realize that, Billy was in a separate cell from them.

Josh picked up two pieces of a torn page and held them together. "These look like they're from an Egyptian tomb." He turned the page sideways. "They sort of look familiar. I think my dad may have had photos of something like this on the wall of his study."

"It is from the pyramid of Unas, who reigned in Egypt over four thousand years ago," Machiavelli said, he and Lily were in the cell directly behind Dee. Lily stood up and walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "They used to be called Pyramid Texts, but nowadays we call them ..."

"... the Book of the Dead," Josh finished. "My dad does have these pictures. Was this how you were going to awaken the creatures?"

Machiavelli, clutching the bars of his cell, smiled but said nothing. Lily smirked and giggled happily.

Virginia stood in front of Dee and stared into his eyes, using her will to calm him down. "So you tried to use the pages to awaken the creatures. Tell me what happened."

Dee jabbed a finger into the nearest cell. It was empty. Virginia stepped closer and discovered the pile of white dust in the corner.

"I don't even know what was in the cell-some winged monstrosity. Giant vampire bat, I think. I said the words, and the creature opened its eyes and immediately crumbled to dust."

"Maybe you said a word wrong?" Virginia suggested. She plucked a scrap of paper from Josh's hands. "I mean, it looks difficult."

"I am fluent," Dee snapped.

"He is," Machiavelli said, "I will give him that. And his accent is very good too, though not quite as good as mine." Lily smiled girlishly.

Dee spun back to the cell holding Machiavelli and Lily. "Tell me what went wrong."

Machiavelli seemed to be considering it; then he shook his head. "I don't think so."

Dee jerked his thumb at the sphinx. "Right now she's absorbing your aura, ensuring that you cannot use any spells against me. But she'll be just as happy eating your flesh. Isn't that true?" he said, looking up into the creature's female face.

"Oh, I love Italian," she rumbled. She stepped away from Dee and dipped her head to look into the opposite cell. "Give me this one," she said, nodding at Billy the Kid. "He'll make a tasty snack." Her long black forked tongue flickered in the air before the outlaw, who immediately grabbed it, jerked it forward and allowed it to snap back like an elastic band. She screamed, coughed, and squawked all at the same time.

Billy grinned. "I'll make sure I'll choke you on the way down." Lily was laughing at the sight.

"It might be difficult to do that if you have no arms," the sphinx said thickly, working her tongue back and forth.

"I'll still give you indigestion."

Dee looked at Machiavelli. "Tell me," he said again, "or I will feed your young American friend to the beast."

"Tell him nothing," Billy yelled.

"This is one of those occasions when I am in agreement with Billy. I am going to tell you nothing."

The Magician looked from one side of the cell to the other. Then he looked at Machiavelli. "What happened to you? You were one of the Dark Elders' finest agents in this Shadowrealm. There were times you even made me look like an amateur."

"John, you were always an amateur." Machiavelli smiled. "Why, look at the mess you're in now."

"Mess? What mess? I'm not in a mess." Dee's eyes started to dance wildly, and a giggle bubbled up from his chest. "You have no idea what I've planned. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, masterful."

"Your arrogance will be your downfall, John," Machiavelli said. He turned away from the cell door and lay down on the narrow cot. Lily leaned against the wall across from the cot standing up.

"I will kill the outlaw," Dee said suddenly. "I will feed him to the sphinx."

Machiavelli remained lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Lily said nothing, she didn't want Billy to die, but they all knew what was at stake if Dee got hold of what he wanted.

"Do you want me to do it?" Dee screamed at Machiavelli. "Do you want me to kill Billy the Kid?" He leaned against the cell and looked in on Machiavelli. "What! No last-minute attempt to save your new friend?"

"I can save Billy and condemn thousands to death, or I can condemn Billy and save thousands," the Italian said quietly. "What do you think I should do, Billy?" he called out.

The outlaw stepped up to the bars of the cell. "When I went to school-which I did for a bit-we were taught a saying that really stuck with me. `It is better that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.' "

Niccolò Machiavelli nodded. "I like that. Yes, I like that very much." Then he turned his head away from Dee. "You have your answer."

Dee Paused for a moment before saying "I wonder, if it were Lily's life at stake if you would say the same thing" Machiavelli made no moves and Lily smiled "you know better Dee, don't make idle threats"

Dee looked at Lily "I never thought you would turn traitor Lily, Niccolò and the Kid maybe, but you, you were so mindlessly devoted to serving your elder, what happened?"

Lily looked at Dee and said "I got a slap in the face of reality Dee, and I realized, I was fighting for the side I didn't believe in"

Dee smiled "the Kid is your friend too Lily, don't you want to save his life?"

Lily looked at Dee "I do want to save his life, but not at the cost of thousands of others Dee, get on with it already!"

Dee spun back to the sphinx. "He's yours."

The creature's long black tongue snapped out and wrapped around Billy's throat, pulling him in hard against the bars. "Lunch," the sphinx rasped.

A single pure note rang out in the cellblock, and the sphinx collapsed into an ungainly heap on the floor. "No," Virginia breathed.

Billy crashed back into his cell, both hands holding his neck, which now had a solid red stripe around it. He was gasping for air.

Dee was speechless with rage. His mouth kept opening and closing, but no sound came out other than a hissing breath.

"John, be reasonable," Virginia said. "I've known Billy a very long time, and we have had some great adventures together. He's as close as I have to a friend. When he dies, which he will, sooner or later, because he can be so stupid," she added, glaring at the American immortal, "it should be with a degree of dignity, rather than being fed to this ... this thing."

"Thanks," Billy wheezed.

"You're welcome. And you owe me."

"I'll remember."

Virginia turned back to Dee. "I'll make a deal."

"For what?" he demanded.

"For Billy's life," she said evenly.

"Do you forget who you're dealing with?" Dee snarled.

"Do you?" she asked softly.

Dr. John Dee drew in a deep shuddering breath. He took a step backward, hit the heavy bulk of the sphinx and sat down hard on the ground at her feet. A strong musky miasma swirled around him. "A deal ...," he coughed.

"A deal."

"What can you offer me?"

Virginia twirled her flute in her fingers, the sudden movement sending a quartet of notes rushing through it. They hung heavy on the air.

And then movement rustled through every cell.

Dee shot to his feet. He darted from one side of the cellblock to the other. All the creatures were stirring. "You can do this? You can awaken them?"

Virginia twirled her flute. "Of course. Usually I put things to sleep, but the same song, reversed, brings them awake again. This is obviously nothing more than a simple Somnus spell."

Josh stepped away from Virginia and peered into the nearest cell. Something with fur, feathers and scales lay curled in a heap. But even as he watched, a shudder ran through it.

"Virginia," Billy said urgently. "Don't do this."

"Shut up, Billy."

"Think of the people in San Francisco."

"I don't know any of the people in San Francisco," Virginia answered, then paused. "Well, actually I do, and I don't like them. But I do like you, Billy, and I'm not going to allow you to end up as lunch for some raggedy lion-monster-thingy."

"A sphinx," Machiavelli corrected her. He was standing at the bars again as was Lily. "Mistress Dare," the Italian said carefully. "I absolutely applaud you for what you want to do for your friend. But I urge you to think of the bigger picture."

"Oh, but you are mistaken, Italian," Dee said quickly. "Virginia is thinking of the bigger picture. Aren't you, dear?"

Virginia smiled. "The doctor has promised me the world," she said quietly. "In fact, he has promised me all the worlds."

Lily whispered "Gina, don't do this! Dee is crazy and he will turn on you, he turns on every one Gina!"

Virginia smiled at Lily "he won't turn on me."

And then she put the flute to her mouth and the scent of sage wafted through the cellblock as a beautiful, delicate and ethereal melody bounced off its walls.

Josh felt Clarent tremble in time to the music, vibrating and pulsing to the ancient rhythm. And then Durendal, still strapped to his back, started to throb against his flesh like a heart.

And Josh felt a terrible hunger, accompanied by a ferocious rage, burn through him. It washed through his body, until a red mist actually drifted across his eyes, and he was looking at the world through a film of crimson. His aura blazed, the gold touched with streaks of bloodred. Sparks crackled off the cell bars, spitting, hissing off the metal, crackling in time to Virginia's eldritch music.

And then all the creatures in the cells came awake.