Jesse, Tulip and Lily had been talking for several minutes. Lily stared at TC, who was out like a light on the bed she'd been sleeping in before her time in the pit - snoring loudly. Jesse had told Lily that Cassidy was alive and safe. Before Lily could ask anything to do with Cassidy, Jesse assured Lily that he'd tell her everything about Cassidy, but first, there were bigger and more important things to get Lily up to speed on before Jody came up to the room.
Jesse and Tulip had explained how Tulip had misinterpreted a vision she had back when she was dead, causing Jesse to lose the chance to get Genesis from the Grail - that was when Lily had run out towards them. Jesse had been doing as Gran'ma had instructed, getting the Tombs ready to get up and running again, Tulip tried to do damage control, feeling as awful as she did about messing up their chance for Jesse to get Genesis back, tracking down a woman named Madame Boyd, the leader of the Boyd clan - she tried to explain the situation the Custers were in, but she wasn't having any of it.
Lily had told them what she'd done to make sure that when she got out of the pit, that Gran'ma and Jody were to believe that all she was keeping secret was Jesse's plan to escape Angelville, and not saying a word about knowing anything about Cassidy. Lily told them what she was able to do to TC just moments before, and thankfully, Tulip had already told Jesse days ago about what Lily was capable of doing since she'd seen it first hand days ago when Lily tried it out on Cassidy.
"Here." Jesse urged, handing Lily a plate of food, "Get this in you. You gotta be beyond starving." Lily let the facts sit in her mind for a moment before she touched base again, "So," Lily whispered, turning her head back towards Tulip, "This vision you had when you were dead. It was God." Tulip and Jesse nodded, and her brother spoke, "We saw him, remember? In New Orleans. The dog suit." He specified.
Lily nodded slowly, vaguely remembering, but if she was being honest, it was hard to recollect. She grabbed the bowl of soup in front of her, beginning to sip on it as Jesse spoke, "When I was tellin' you guys that the Grail took me to meet the descendant of Jesus Christ. Well when I met him he was doodling pictures and stuff.. and there were lots of dog - dalmatian - pictures." Jesse explained, "When I left you guys at the apartment back in New Orleans, I'd pieced it all together, but I didn't do a good job at explaining it to you guys."
"You didn't explain shit all." Tulip corrected bitterly. Jesse raised his brows and bobbed his head side to side, "No, I didn't." He admitted. It was clear the two of them had done a lot of talking the last few days that Lily had been in the pit. "That's why we're sitting here talking everything out. We can't miss anything. Anyways," Jesse continued, "The important thing is every time God's appeared, it's been in this... dog suit. A dalmation dog suit." He specified again.
"Same with my vision." Tulip added, "And I never knew any of that."
Lily looked back and forth from them, nodding slowly, taking a bite out of a soggy banana in front of her.
Tulip let out a long sigh, "I misread the vision completely." She groaned regretfully, repeating things that she'd already said minutes before but feeling really awful about it that she had to reiterate on it, "Really fucked things up for Jesse before he got Genesis." Lily stared at Tulip as she shook her head, her lips pressed tight a moment as her eyes welled up the slightest, "I meant to talk to you about this vision I had, and... and ask you what you thought but things just got so fucked up, I never found the time."
Lily shook her head, "Tulip, these things are really hard to understand... sometimes impossible." Her tired voice croaked, "I don't blame you for misinterpreting it, and neither does Jesse." Lily stated, looking to her brother, who swung his head at Tulip and nodded. He had been really heated in the moment where things got messed up, but it was true - he couldn't blame Tulip.
It was Jesse's turn to ask from the facts Lily had presented, "You said when you were doing that thing with TC.." Jesse started, his brow narrowing as he stared into his sisters eyes, speaking in a quiet whisper, "You said you saw the Devil... doing something with gran'ma?" Lily nodded with a glass of water up to her mouth, placing the glass down with an exhale - it felt so good to quench her thirst, but at the same time, it felt like she couldn't drink enough water, "Yea. I couldn't make out what they were doing but it was a necklace... it was a... it was..." Lily's eyes scrunched as she tried to remember the word.
At the same time, Jesse and Lily said the word, "Amulet."
"Yea." Lily said after, "The amulet. I don't know what it was or what it does, I got out of there so fast." Tulip groaned from the wall she was leaning against near Lily's side, "Jesus Christ. First we're dealing with God, now we have to think about Satan?" She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, "Can our lives get any more fucked?" Jesse passed her a warning glance, telling her not to jinx things. Lily looked up to Tulip, "This woman you talked about... Madame... Boyd?" Lily asked, "As in.. the Boyd's kind of Boyd?"
Tulip nodded another sigh escaping her, "Another thing I fucked up." Jesse sighed, "To make a long story as short as possible, Tulip went to her behind my back to try to find a way to break the blood contract spell gran'ma had on us." Jesse shifted his weight, taking a deep breath, "Well, Madame Boyd fooled Tulip, obviously. Convinced her to try and kill gran'ma. Which Tulip did. She tried. Then we had to make the Boyd's believe that Tulip and gran'ma's died just to convince them that Sabina's plan worked." Lily interrupted, "Sabina?" Jesse pressed his lips together and nodded, "Madame Boyd. Her name's Sabina." Lily raised her brows, trying to keep up, "Anyways-" Jesse continued, a little impatient, "I convinced Jody and TC to let Tulip live - convinced them that Tulip would help us get more souls rather than just sucking one out of her. We robbed Sabina's soul bank." With his head dipping a little lower, Jesse blinked a few times, "Wasn't enough, though. And now gran'ma wants the Tombs open again so we can get more innocent people in here for her to suck the souls out of."
Lily nodded simply, her head spinning, "Jesus Christ. How long was I down there, a year?" She shook her head, swallowing the food in her mouth, "I can't believe I missed you dying again, Tulip."
They were all relieved when a feeble chuckle escaped them all together at once. Jesse looked up to his sister again. He leaned closer to her as she continued eating at the food in front of her. With a groan, Jesse sighed once again, reaching up and tilting Lily's head to the side as he examined the hand mark on the one side of her face, "Even I felt that one." Jesse said softly, "I came in as soon as I felt something going on with you. Knew they probably let you out of there."
Lily chewed at her food and rolled her eyes, "She got real pissed when she tried to get into my head and I didn't let her." She stated. Jesse raised his brow, his hand still on his sister's face as he looked into her eyes, "Really?" Lily chewed at her food, nodding simply as she looked into her brother's eyes. With a sense of relief overwhelming him, Jesse exhaled - Lily was a good chance for a way for them to get an upper hand on their grandmother, regardless of the fact she didn't really know what she was doing, she was proving to be much stronger in many ways. As he examined how weak and tired his sister looked - being locked in the pit for days on end, starved in more ways than one - yet the fact was, she was able to resist the mental pry of their grandmother even in the diminished state she was in - and that said a lot.
"I'm sorry you ended up in there.." Jesse stated, "They knew throwing you in there would do worse for me than if I was in there instead. I know what it's like going through gran'ma's sick forms of punishment." Lily swallowed the food in her mouth and shook her head, "Don't be sorry. Wasn't your fault, Jesse." She glanced to Tulip quickly before she looked back at her brother, "It was no one's fault." Lily assured. Finishing what was left for the food, Lily took a sharp breath in and held it, "Jesse.." She started, before exhaling, "Cassidy. Can we please talk about Cassidy." She whispered, "Where is he exactly? The Tombs?" Tulip felt her heart break for Lily, the helpless and heartbroken look on her face wasn't something Tulip was used to seeing on her.
Jesse stayed close to his sister, moving his hand to clasp into his other hand as he leaned in towards her. The memory of what happened just a couple of days ago raced through his mind...
Two Days Prior
Cassidy was chained up underneath the house in Angelville. The first chance Jesse had, he'd gone down to him and unhooked him from the restraints that Jody and TC had set up, taking him outside. The whole time, neither of them said a word to each other. It was middle of the night and eventually they'd gotten to the end of the long, gravel driveway where the gate of Angelville stood.
Jesse threw a bag at Cassidy's feet, "Get outta here, Cassidy." He spat. With a disgruntled look on his face, Cassidy shook his head, "No, I shan't!" He barked back, to which Jesse skidded forward with a finger to his lips, "Shut your God damn mouth!" Jesse hissed, "You're lucky I even risked my ass getting you out of here while you still can."
With his face already turning red, Cassidy bit his tongue, trying his best to suppress his internal urge to yell, "I already told ye, I'm not leavin' here without-" "Lily's dead!" Jesse spat. His face was trembling, nearly purple as tears welled up in his eyes. Unwillingly, Cassidy felt his body jolt, not believing the words. Jesse's face switched from furious to mournful, his voice cracking with emotion, "She's dead, Cassidy." He repeated.
Jesse stared down, hoping that he'd been convincing enough to send Cassidy away without question. He sniffled, wiping his sleeve quickly against his face as he took a sharp breath in, "Get out of here." He muttered, turning back to the way they'd come from. He hadn't heard footsteps behind him, but when he glanced back briefly, he'd seen the faint image of Cassidy's silhouette still standing at the end of the driveway.
By the time Jesse had gotten back to the house. he couldn't see far enough down to know whether or not Cassidy was still standing there, but for the next two days - there hadn't been any trace of him, so obviously, it worked.
As Jesse remembered what he had to do days ago to ensure Cassidy made it out safely, he shook his head miserably. Behind him, Tulip fidgeted, knowing what lengths Jesse had to go to convince Cassidy to leave Angelville without looking back. "He's safe. Which is what's important." Jesse stated. Lily turned her head, her mouth dry as she choked the words out, "Out of Angelville?" She asked. Jesse nodded, "Out of Angelville." He assured - little did he know, that was not what Lily wanted to hear. With eyes that were dark and shameful, Jesse looked to his sister, "I promise, the first thing we do once we get out of here is go find him."
Lily felt her eyes begin to tear up, "Um-" She choked out. Tulip couldn't stand seeing the sudden brokenness overwhelm Lily, she leaned over to Lily, wrapping an arm around her, "Listen, we're gonna make sure we get to him as soon as we get outta here. Jesse's already got another plan sorted out." As tears streamed down Lily's face, she exhaled, her breath choppy, "I-" She didn't know where to start. Jesse hadn't a clue on Lily's reliance for Cassidy's blood, but Tulip did. Had she forgotten? "Lily-" Jesse cooed, "I'm sorry, It wasn't safe for him here. They were gonna kill him."
Lily looked up to her brother, "Jesse-" She choked out, "I'm gonna die without him." With his heart breaking for her loneliness, Jesse huffed grabbing onto his sister with emotional support - but Tulip suddenly felt an alarming realization take over her entire body once she heard the words come out of Lily's mouth. Slowly, she released her arm from around Lily, looking down on her. "What?" Jesse asked, looking up in confusion to the look of terror on Tulip's face. "Oh no.." Tulip shook her head, "Fucking shit!" She spat, "Oh no, Lily, I forgot all about that." Tulip clenched her head with her hands, squinting her eyes in frustration, "There's just so much shit to worry about, I'd completely forgotten." Jesse sat upright, "Forgot about what!?" He asked with sudden distress.
Tulip dropped her arms to her side, "Lily needs a dose of Cassidy's blood every day to survive." She stated. With his brow crinkled, Jesse leaned his head back, "What?" He rasped. "Listen," Tulip said hurriedly, "Back in Worthington, remember when we saw her guzzle back a bunch of his blood after her friend there died when Cassidy tried to save him?" Jesse nodded quickly, "Yea?" How could he forget, it was gruesome to watch, and after that Lily had blown up an entire building in the world's biggest tantrum. "Well," Tulip continued, "We think after that, her body built up a kind of... reliance, I guess, to Cassidy's blood. So she's been taking it every day or two or somethin' to keep up with it and make sure it doesn't kill her-" As Tulip went on, Lily felt her heartbeat in her ears, and it was hard to make out everything Tulip was saying, but she was thankful she was bringing her brother up to speed.
Inside, Lily was panicking. The back and forth banter of her brother and Tulip sounding almost like it was in the back of her mind. Lily could hear Jesse asking her questions every now and again, but she wasn't able to respond with the pace her mind was racing. Slowly, she turned her head towards the bathroom, seeing the shirt she had been wearing in the pit, it had been stained with Cassidy's blood. When she was in the pit, she sucked whatever she could out of it, what was left was useless. With her head moving the other way she looked to the bed in the room - glad to see that beside TC, there was still the towel and rags she'd placed down when she had first brought Cassidy into the room. She remembered cleaning it up and plugging Cassidy's oozing wound the best she could before shit had gone sideways. There was a lot of his blood in the bedroom - but was dried up, three day old blood going to work? And for how long could she last what was left?...
Or could she use it for something else?
On that thought, Lily turned her head to the dresser - the drawers were rifled through, but it hadn't been moved. She thought about her mother's notebook she'd studied as much as possible before she'd been tossed into the pit, vaguely remembering an entry or two about something that could potentially help her situation. Cassidy had said he placed it back after she fell asleep one night. It had to still be there, it could be the only way to save her life.
Slowly, Tulip and Jesse's words were getting faster and Jesse was noticeably disturbed by the topic of Lily's reliance to Cassidy's blood, but Lily's voice cut through their heated discussion, "I think I can figure something out." She croaked out. Tulip and Jesse stared at her. Lily knew she couldn't grab the notebook with the possibility that Jody may come in at any point. With a heavy sigh, Lily sunk her head into her hands, "Let me think." She mumbled weakly.
It was silent for several minutes, while Lily tried desperately to remember what to do. She remembered some symbols, but wasn't sure exactly which one she needed in this instance. With a huff, she looked up finally, "I need to look through mom's book." She whispered. Jesse and Tulip stared at her, she was completely drained and exhausted.
There was a lot on the table from all of them to process, but as Jesse had said, it was important that nothing was hidden from any of them, and now they had a new problem thanks to a situation that he had no idea about. Jesse stared towards TC - still passed out. Shifting on spot, Jesse let out a disgruntled huff, turning towards the bed, "Jody's gonna be up here before we know it, and it's not gonna look good with TC passed out like this." He groaned.
Lily cleared her throat, "When this happened with Cass he was nearly impossible to wake up - and he's a light sleeper, usually." Jesse stood up, moving to TC's side and shaking him, with no luck of waking him up. Tulip shifted on the spot she stood on, her arms crossed, "What if he says somethin' when he wakes up?" She asked. Lily shook her head - her eyes were low and her voice was strained, "I told him to forget before I told him to sleep. Just hoping it works." Tulip swallowed the lump in her throat, fidgeting nervously as she raised her eyebrow. Lily had surprised them this much, who was to say it wouldn't work?
Jesse looked to the side of TC, a bunch of liquids he had brought into the room and threw one on TC's face. Nothing happened. Jesse smacked the side of his face slightly, but got nothing but another snore from TC. Finally, Jesse plugged his nose, causing him to cut off his oxygen. Eventually, TC opened his eyes, jolting awake as he gasped for air, sitting upright on the bed. To Tulip and Lily, who listened and watched, it was actually a bit scary to hear how convincing it was that Jesse was furious, "What the Hell are you doing?" Jesse barked in TC's face as he tried to wake up completely, not recognizing where he was at first. TC looked startled, his eyes were wide as he stared at Jesse hovering above him.
Jesse lowered his brows, and his face was almost red as he spoke with a harsh bite, "Why the Hell are you sleeping in my sister's bed?!"
Tulip and Lily were on the other side of the room, watching silently as Jesse tried to manipulate the situation. They waited for TC to speak, but he looked too terrified to. Had he remembered all the things Lily had brought up and discovered? Their hearts were in their throats, hoping they didn't blow Lily's cover of her potential this early. TC's mouth gaped open for a second, waiting to see what he remembered, "I-" He blinked a few times, until Jesse leaned into his face, "Huh!?" He roared, to which TC jolted on spot, "I-I don't know." TC finally stuttered out.
A wave of relief consumed all of them in the room. TC didn't have a clue. Jesse kept his face in the distorted manner of anger it was in, "Don't let gran'ma or. Jody hear about you just fallin' asleep when there's so much shit to do." Jesse barked, "Get your ass in gear, TC!" Jesse smacked a hand on TC's back, pushing him off the bed as TC caught himself in a blundering stumble as Jesse continued on his heels, "We got lots of shit to take care of before customers start comin' to Angelville!"
In a startled whirlwind, TC ran out of the room with nothing to say. Jesse's shoulders finally dropped as he turned back to the girls, his eyes soft and familiar again, "I think he'll keep his mouth shut." Jesse assured. Tulip looked from Jesse to Lily.
Had it been Lily's power to tell TC to forget or was it Jesse's master manipulation over TC's emotions just now? The Custer's really were a force to be reckoned with when working together. Regardless of what the direct cause was, one thing was for sure - Jesse was right. TC wasn't going to say shit.