CHAPTER 8: TOUGH TIMES DEMAND TOUGH TALK
It's daunting, to say the least, being surrounded by these damn castles with little to no chance of getting past them.
God, or whoever's up there, I was supposed to be one of your apocalyptic Witnesses. Well, I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to be Witnessing right now. Maybe if I had access to the archives and all the lore contained within...except I don't. The only remotely lore-like thing I've got access to right now is this stupid map that isn't helping any of us.
Although...maybe one of these castles might actually have some much-needed information? It's a long shot, and I told the others in no uncertain terms we shouldn't set foot in any more strange places tonight. But we might have to, just to see if there's any way out...
...wait a minute.
"Joe?" I nudge him to get his attention. "Are you seeing that same little red light?"
"What?"
I point at one of the castles surrounding us. "There, above the door. See it? One of these things is not like the others."
He tilts his head. "Huh. How'd I miss that? Good eye."
"Come on." I beckon Nikki over as I approach the door with Joe right behind me. Then I grab the door's large wrought-iron knocker and use it for its title purpose, waiting with bated breath for another creepy-ass robed guy to come out and offer to eat our memories or whatever. While we wait, I see something else that really catches my eye. The red light changes to bluish-purple for a moment, and a sigil shines on the door's surface until the red light comes back. I only have to stare for another ten seconds before the color change happens again, and I realize what's happening. The bluish light is a black light, and it's illuminating a hidden symbol written in one of those UV-sensitive invisible inks.
The symbol is a bird of some kind, and that triggers something very recently filed into my long-term memory banks. "Joe, when I asked you who had Crane the first time," I say slowly, "you called them 'the Roosters.'"
"I did," he says. "For some reason, the rooster is the Church of Atropos symbol. I'm not sure of the significance either."
"I don't know much about Atropos," Nikki muses, "but I don't think she'd be associated with roosters anyway, right? I mean, roosters are male."
"Some mythological figures were pretty into gender-bending, weren't they?" Joe asks.
I shake my head. "I can only think of one, and Loki's not Greek."
Finally, the door opens, and a voice Joe and I both know all too well rings out. "I should've known you two would be down here! Dammit, whatever happened to 'Team Witness?'"
Judging from the look on his face, Joe's heart has stopped just as much as mine.
He stretches out his hand tentatively. "D-Dad?"