Chapter 2

Waking Giants

Mae's eyes narrow on the deer before her. "Uh… hi? I guess you're one of our fans, then."

She hums and shrugs. "Well, it's hard not to be. You all clearly have phenomenal musical talent, and a good respect for the occult. Sure, there's plenty of bands what overlap with that, but seeing one so young is interesting." She hums and chuckles. "I recognized Law from a few of the vlogs and edits on your channel, so when I saw he was so panicked, I just had to help him get here safely. Thought it better than getting cops involved and risk him running."

Bea nods as she peeks over Law's shoulder. "Thank you, so much."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Beatrice. Just what any good citizen should do. Now, I really should get going, but…" She turns to leave, then peeks back. "Well, I hope I'll with speak with you before your show next week."

"W-Wait, Sherry!" Law breaks away from Bea and steps back up to the deer. "Thank you. I… I-I was really panicking earlier. You're right, I... I wouldn't have gotten here safely if you didn't find me."

"Well…" She kneels slightly and ruffles his hair. "You ever spot me out there, I'm always available to talk. I need to get home now though, it's getting quite late. You should call your father and let him know you're safe." She pushes herself up and sighs. "I hope to see you all again soon. I'll be there next week, it's going to be a wonderful night. An outdoor show under a full moon? I wouldn't miss it for the world." She chuckles on her way down the hall and towards the stairwell stepping out of view around the corner.

Mae stares down the hall for a few moments, but eventually shuts the door and locks it, with the additional deadbolt. "That was… lucky, I guess?"

Bea nods as she hands Law her phone, with his father already dialed. "Y-yeah, it was. I guess that's one strange advantage of being famous. Not too hard to find help." She sighs in relief and drops onto the couch beside Law, holding him close as Jason picks up the call.

"H-hey, dad. No, no, I'm fine! Just kinda tired, and sore. That train was a rough ride, a-and the walk after was tiring... No, I'm not injured, nobody on the train gave me any trouble… Yeah, I-I guess I should tell the cops, huh?"

Mae huffs. "Fine, I'll call Aunt Molly, you can tell her directly."

"You get that dad?.. Ok, good… W-Wait, what? Here?"

Bea smirks and she peeks up to Mae, and Mae rolls her eyes as she dials Molly. Yeah, of course Jason's gonna move after an incident like this. Possum Springs is a cursed town anyway, and they've got the income to manage this now, so whatever.

"Hey, Molly. Yeah, I know you're on the clock, why else would I call ya at this hour?.. Yeah, it's about Law. He's right here. Can ya speak up for her?"

"H-hey, I'm fine! You can call off the search! I'll just be staying with Mae and Bea tonight."

"Ya get that?.. Awesome… Hey, no, none of that. Come out here and see one of my shows for once… I know you have the album, that's not the point… Ugh, whatever. Get back to work, Chief Chafer." She snorts and hangs up, shaking her head as she slides her phone onto the kitchen counter. "Ok, that's all handled."

"Y-yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, dad. Gnight." Law sighs as he hangs up. "… Ok. I… I'm dead tired. I really need to sleep this off…"

Bea nods and hops over to the closet, pulling out some extra pillows and blankets. "Sure you're ok on the couch?"

Law snorts. "Your couch is awesome, I'll be out cold in no-time."

"I second that." Mae yawns. "We should all sleep. In the morning, we'll get the guys and go out for breakfast, alright?"

Bea kneels and looks him in the eyes. "You don't have to tell us why you ran tonight. Really, you don't have to tell us at all, but…"

"I-I know." Law yawns and grumbles as he rolls over beneath the blanket Bae threw over him. "I'll tell you tomorrow, when my dad gets here. Too tired for it tonight…"

"Alright." Bea gives him another quick hug. "Sleep tight, little bro."

Law sighs in relief as Mae and Bea head for their bedroom, shutting themselves in.

Bea shudders as she leans against the door. "God, I should have known that shithole of a town would push him to do something that stupid."

Mae pulls Bea into her arms. "Hey… none of that. He's safe. We're all out of there, and he's getting out real soon. It's been a long day, so let's just get some sleep."

"… Wow…"

"What?"

"Just seeing how much of a mess I become whenever Law's involved really puts how attached I've gotten into perspective. I mean, somehow, you've got a more level head than I do tonight."

Mae shrugs. "Hey, when you're falling apart, that just motivates me to pull my shit together." She gently pulls Bea to bed and starts pulling her clothes off. "Now come on, we're both dead tired, and the sooner we sleep, the sooner we can get breakfast."

"There's the cat I fell for."

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Mae grumbles and slowly rises from the cold, hard ground. Upon opening her eyes, she finds the familiar soft neon glow and dark skies of a world she thought she left behind months ago. "Great. I guess this was just a matter of time."

She wanders the spectral streets with her hands deep in her pockets, following the sidewalk aimlessly. This normally bustling place is eerily empty and silent, her steps echoing endlessly off concrete walls and towers of glass.

Off in the distance, a heavy thud of some titanic spectral body shakes skyscrapers and produces a metallic rumble up into the endless heavens. Mae peeks to her left and into the sky to see an enormous black squirrel peeking at her from atop a building. "Uh… hey. You see James or the cat anywhere around here?" It locks eyes with her, but then slowly looks down the road towards the woods at the edge of town. "Cool, thanks. And uh, good to see ya again, I guess."

The squirrel simply nods and hops off the way Mae came, across the rooftops.

Returning to her trek, Mae soon finds the woods to be the source of this horrific stomping. Slow, plodding steps of some enormous beast in the darkness.

For a moment, another dark beast grips her attention. The cat sits upright, blocking the road on the way to the woods, eyes shining like the sun as they peer down upon Mae, unrepentant in having disturbed a deity.

"Little creature has returned. It stands victorious."

"SHE stands victorious."

"… She is in danger. A great and terrible power waits nearby. A power we cannot fight."

Mae's eyes narrow. "Did the goat get out somehow?"

"Our sibling remains contained. And yet they are not. But this is inconsequential."

"Ok, so you've got something else going on, then. Something… worse than him? Is it those huge bug things you showed me before?"

"In a few moments, they will be here. They are accounted for. They are inevitable. This is not." They lean down, closer to Mae, and their eyes… flicker. "This one makes my eyes uncertain."

Mae shudders and backs away at the implication. "Wait, YOUR powers are on the fritz? This thing's bad enough to make you guys freak out?!"

"We have known them, but they have hidden. Their power grows, and we cannot interfere. This monstrous existence could be the end of us, and of you." He leans in closer, getting into Mae's face just as a towering. Eerily glowing figure starts to rise above the trees in the distance. "You are still falling."

Mae wakes with a jolt as she hits the floor, one leg tangled in her blankets and the morning sun stinging her eyes through the slats of her blinds. "Uuuuugh… fffffucking Sky Cat."

Bea rolls over to her side of the bed and peeks down. "He's seriously back?"

"We need a band meeting, ASAP."

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"Ok, let me get this straight." Gregg chugs down some coffee and almost slams it on his counter. Normally, the boys' apartment was their go-to meeting place since the move, seeing as Angus is the best cook in the band. He's already got some pancakes and sausage going, and it smells like a salty slice of heaven in there. "Your personal demigod shows up again to give you a warning, and even he's scared of whatever the hell this thing is."

Law shudders a bit as they sip down some of their own latte, with a heavy load of cream and sugar. "S-Sounds like this is gonna get pretty b-big. Like, Black Goat Cult big."

Angus hums and narrows his eyes as he stares into the pan. "What the hell could be making their powers fail like that, though?"

Mae sighs and shakes her head. "Whatever it was, it was big, and… unnatural. I could see it over the rooftops and trees easily enough. It looked… split. Like there were cracks in it, but the cracks looked… dark. Like, abyssal dark."

Selma takes a sip of her own coffee, preferring it dark, with just a hint of hazelnut. "Mmm… sounds like an awesome album cover to me."

Mae waves her off. "Obviously, but we can do that for the next one after we deal with whatever the hell this thing actually is."

Jackie rubs her temples. "I honestly can't believe you've really been dealing with this kind of shit."

Bea snorts. "Yeah, well, that's what we get for apparently growing up in the town with the most fucked-up history on Earth."

Mae bites her lip and peeks about randomly, unfocused, but stern. "… I'm gonna head to the rails today, get some crusties passing messages around. If anyone sees Germ, they get his ass back here on the double."

"Good a plan as any." Angus dishes out a plate for everyone and sets down a small pitcher of hot syrup. "His visions will be pretty useful for this."

"If they work." Gregg cuts in with a mouthful of sausage. "If the gods are losing their powers in the astral world just being near this thing, then Germ might lose his too."

"Fuck." Mae facepalms. "How did I not think of that?"

Bea shrugs. "It's a good idea to get him in the loop on this anyway, if James hasn't already told him."

Law hums. "If James knows, we might see him around here soon, just trying to keep an eye on things."

"Great." Jackie flops back in her seat. "So now we've got to look for an indescribable horror and two transient supernatural birds. You guys can handle that, I'll just focus on setting up the Witchdagger opening gig."

Law almost snorts his coffee and coughs for a few moments. "W-W-Wait, Witchdagger?! You guys are seriously opening for Witchdagger?"

Mae grins and poses as she rises out of her slump. "Hell yeah we are! They even called and asked us themselves!"

Law almost squeals. "That show is gonna be the best night of our lives!"

Bea smirks as she peeks over to Mae. "Oh, I can think of a few better things down the road, but yeah. It'll be pretty damn awesome."

Mae leans over for a slow, gentle kiss. "Mmm… Well, we should all get moving, then." Mae digs into her pancakes. "I'll hit the rails. Someone should be on research."

Angus raises a hand as he stands over the stove. "I can handle that, already doing plenty, and this bit sounds interesting."

Selma hums. "I'll ask my poetry group if they've heard of anything interesting going on lately. A few of them are deep into the supernatural. If anything's happened, they'd probably have heard about it."

Gregg shrugs. "I've got my bartending gig tonight, I'll keep an ear out for rumors. Usually a couple drunks with loose lips and strange stories."

Bea hums. "Well, I need to stay here with Law for when Jason gets here, I'll see if that old horror buff has any news from back in the old shithole we can make use of. If the gods are unsettled by this, then James disappearing from there and the goat either getting more violent or suddenly quiet would be some huge red flags."

"Crimson." Mae chugs the last of her coffee. "Mmm... Ok, seems we've all got our plans, then. We should get moving." She hops out of her seat and kisses Bea again. "I'm off to the rails. Thanks for the food, Angus!"

Angus tips his hat. "Just what I do."

Gregg peeks back to him. "You've been playing more of that western rpg while I'm at work, haven't you?"

"It's a good time-killer, and we both you know you love me in a good pair of boots."