sᴇʟғɪsʜ~ʟᴇɢᴀᴄɪᴇs {slow updates}

NINETEEN

"What is this place?" Landon asks as the three of us now wander into a warehouse, "A warehouse owned by my employer. Stores all the supernatural objects they've confiscated over the years."

"Think you mean former employers. 'Cause busting us out is gonna make for a pretty awkward performance review." Landon says making me laugh slightly. "If you're worried about them following us, don't be."

"Okay, well, if it's here, how are we gonna find it? This place is a haystack."

"Figure it out, little brother. Your family's counting on you." Clark says as I sigh and put my hand on him so I could lean on him. "Don't look at me like that, I'm tired and still in this stupid dress and heels."

"You could take the heels off." He suggests making me scoff, "and walk around barefoot? That's barbaric no thank you." I say also siphoning unnoticeable amounts of magic from him before turning to Landon. "Hurry up Landon I'm counting on you too."

***

"When am I getting that change of clothes you promised? You know if you're gonna keep me hostage I demand better conditions." I say as we Stan around waiting for Landon to find the stupid chalice.

"Being the hostage you're not really in a position to be making demands are you?" He asks making me shrug, "I'm not gonna stop."

"I found it. So let's get out of here." Landon says rejoining us and handing over a chalice. "Not much of an indestructible artifact, is it?" Clark asks after dropping it and allowing it to smash , "This was a test to see if you were really on my side."

"Which I'm obviously not."

"You're a good liar, Landon, but you're not great. I knew you didn't recognize the chalice, but I figured it'd be fun to see how far you could take this. While we're telling the truth, I'm never helping you find the artifact, whatever the hell it is. I'm guessing you already did. When you took the knife and the urn, did you even realize what you were doing at the time, or was it unconscious? Check your pocket. Let's find out." Landon reaches into his pocket and surprise surprise he pulls a knife out of it.

"Oh Landon." I sigh knowing things were not going well for us.

"Uh, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Landon asks as Clark starts pulling out chairs, I don't question it and take a seat immediately. "Well, I'm taking a load off in the chair Lincoln was killed in. The guards here say they see his ghost sometimes."

"Are you insane? I just activated the last artifact, which means that a monster is no doubt barreling its claw-footed way here as we speak." Landon says panicked. "Oh, I'm counting on it. And when it arrives, we're gonna give it this. That whole Triad facility will be on high alert, so either you and I fight our way through an army to toss this thing in the pit, or let the monster do it for us." I really didn't care, that sounded like less work for me so I was in for now.

***

"You got what you wanted. Why do you still need me?" Landon asks as the three of us sit around. "I don't need you. Daddy does." Clark says making me snort as he continues, "you're the golden child. The one he was trying to create, remember? The perfect son. The one who could create the new bloodline. Because of you, he'll be able to launch the species."

"I'm seventeen. I'm not interested in, like, procreating or whatever, okay? Especially if it means I'm spawning an army of evil minions."