Embers in the Dark

The Ferryman

Vu and Lugh pulled Arthur back as the ground swallowed up Lilly's spirit so he wouldn't fall in either.

"Let me go!" Arthur yelled.  "I have to get Lilly!"

"Arthur, ya canna go after her!" Lugh explained.  "She has tah find her own way home!"

"But she was just here, god dammit!  Somethin' was scarin' her!"

Vu and Lugh pulled Arthur back further and the Vietnamese man got in Arthur's way.  "Lugh, something way wrong here," Vu surmised.

Lugh nodded.  "Ya think?!"

Others show up around the three men and looked down at the gaping hole in shock.  "What the hell happened?" Cernunnos asked.

"Lilly screamed and broke the earth," Lugh explained sadly.  "For her tah accomplish that as a spirit?  That is...that is incredible."

"But what made her do that?" Brigid asked in shock.

"Somethin' was scarin' her," Arthur replied as he rubbed his face.  "I don't...I don't know how much more of this I can take."

Vu hummed before squatting down to start digging in the earth.  After a few moments, he pulled out the remains of a wooden puppet on strings.

"What the fuck?" Vu said as he examined it.  "Who bury puppets in ground?"

Arthur ran over and grabbed the puppet from Vu's hands.  "Can you make anythin' of it?"

Vu shook his head.  "No.  I look but I not see."

Adair came walking up to look at the wooden remains.  "This is definitely Carman's doing, and I'm willing to bet that these things are buried all over the property.  It's probably why we can't get the magic shield to work properly."

Arthur sighed and lowered his head.  "What do we do?"

"We uncover all the puppets, burn them and give the whole place a cleansing.  We leave no stone unturned.  Brigid," Adair said while turning to her sister.  "Let's go check the house.  No doubt there are puppets encased in the walls as well."

Brigid nodded and the two women unfurled their wings, Brigid's being the color of red and variants of brown.  As they got into the air, Arthur clicked on his blue bead.  "Everyone."  When people's faces hovered above Arthur's wrist, he cleared his throat.  "Folks, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask for your help once again.  I need you all to get to Darach ar an gCnoc and help dig some shit up.  We have puppets to burn."

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Lilly fell for what seemed like forever before finally crashing into a riverbank with a loud plop.  She didn't feel any pain but she let out a loud groan anyway.  As she raised her head to look around, there were people staring across the river.  There was no sun and there was no moon.  The sky was dark and full of black clouds, and lightning and thunder fought in the distance yet there was no rain.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked.

"We're in the Greek Underworld," O'Callaghan said behind her.

Lilly raised around to see the white wolf with a look of surprise.  The Irish woman had so many questions but she didn't know which one to ask first.

"Um...okay?" she said as she stood up and brushed off her clothes.  "How did we get here?"

O'Callaghan hummed as she looked thoughtful.  "I'm not entirely sure, but I would think it's for a reason," she surmised.

Lilly blinked.  "Wait, if you and I are here, where's Rose?"

"Uh...hmm."  Suddenly the wolf smiled.  "She might be here.  It would make sense since she is powered by Greek magic."