Half-Bloods R • 2 : Growing Shadows

C • 18 : Hill of Verdant, Waters of Cerulean

Elizabeth and Animus stepped through her portal and arrived in the old town square of a desolate town that was once on the verge if becoming a city. The town hall had collapsed around a massive tree, a cracked white justice statue had fallen into the concrete below the building. Behind them, a row of buildings had given way to nature with only one building staying intact, a broken neon sign read Arcadia. On the walls were old cases filled with withered posters and movie times.

Wind pushed through the town square, sending a chill down Elizabeth's spine.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Animus groaned.

She nodded before looking up and down the street and spotting a lone coyote that stopped in its tracks when it saw her. They watched each other for a moment before the canine turned tail and ran off. She smirked as she and Animus made their way into the ruins of the Arcadia building. As they walked into a small lobby, weathered red carpet clung to their shoes, and barely standing before them was a shattered glass counter. Behind it, machines still held grotesque food that had rotten long ago and that filled the room with a rank odor.

"Man, this movie theater sure went through hell," she groaned.

Animus mumbled his agreement as he walked down a hallway and made his way into one of the screening rooms, Elizabeth followed quietly, wondering if he'd heard something.

Elizabeth couldn't help but gasp when when she passed through a torn curtain and saw what seemed to be a small enclosure of life in a decrepit theater. Trees sprouted out from beneath the floor and broke apart chairs, vines connected the the trees to the walls, to each other, and to the floor. In the back, a shredded silver screen hung from the ceiling, and at the back of the room, where the projector would shoot the movie were reddish vines crawling out of the broken window.

"Do you hear that?" Animus whispered, his eyes shifting around trying to lock on to something that kept moving.

Yet, Elizabeth couldn't see or hear anything and only shook her head in response when he looked at her.

"It almost sounds like"-

A thud came from outisde the deafening silence of the theater, they both spun toward the entrance and rushed out through the moldy curtains. Elizabeth activated her veils and dashed out the main door into the warm Texas winter daylight. Leaning against an old toyota SUV was Nathaniel, dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and wearing a pair of black sunglasses.

"Okay, Nathaniel, bud, I know I have amnesia, but you can't expect me to believe that this is what a dad should look like," Elizabeth laughed, beside Animus held back his laughter, chuckling into a fist.

"You kidding me? I used to rule the streets in this outfit, your mother really liked this outfit," he smirked.

"Geez, Nines, that's a bit much."

"Heh, is it? Sorry."

Elizabeth's spine itched in the silence that followed.

"Hey, why don't you show around? It where you grew up after all," she offered.

Animus looked at her, "Elizabeth"-

"Sadly, I don't have enough time for that, I'm only here on a quick pit stop, but before I go," he opened the car door, "I got a little something for you."

Laying down across the seats with her eyes closed and hands tied was Arva, her face and hair were all both caked in blood and dirt. She no longer wore the jumpsuit from his time in jail, and now wore a black tank top and jeans. Nathaniel dragged the traitor out and dropped her on the ground, jolting her awake. Despite being covered in blood, she had almost no wounds, and the only visible injuries on her body was a variety of greenish-blue bruises.

She growled and scurried at Nathaniel, "Traitor! I'll fucking kill you!"

He kicked the woman back down, "Hush already, you turned on your people first."

As soon as she hit the ground, she fell back asleep, and Nathaniel leaned back against the car, "I've had her shouting at me for hours, how about you take her off my hands?" He yawned.

He walked around to the driver's side as Elizabeth and Animus hauled Arva's unconscious body a few feet away. Nathaniel stepped in, closed the door, and opened the passenger door window.

"I know we didn't get to talk for very long, but thank you for coming. Here, a real gift," he tossed out a small device that Animus snatched out of the air with ease, "I'm gonna be busy for the next few months, but when I'm ready to meet again, I'll call you on that. Take care, you two."

He rolled up the window and drove off down the street. Elizabeth and Animus looked at the small device, it was a small black rectangle with a small blue button and a circular speaker. He handed it to Elizabeth, then walked over to Arva and hoisted her onto his back.

Elizabeth studied the small device for a moment and ran her thumb over the button. She looked up at the sky, large groups of clouds had gathered and partially blotted out the sun, it wouldn't rain for a while, but she could sense a change coming. A cold wind ran across her neck, forcing her to shiver.

An oddly cold winter was coming to Texas.