We Are Monsters | The Curse of Lykaon

Chapter 31 - The Summons

The first time I woke up the space was glaringly white and smelled of antiseptic, so I gave into sleep again, just missing the sound of a relieved sigh.

~

When I was next conscious of the world I was at a funeral, there were relatives present I hadn't seen since my parents' funeral. Two funerals, two coffins each. I think someone from my extended family came up to me. I can't remember.

I cried at the closed caskets because I didn't get to slip a coin in for the trip to Hades.

~

The next time I was sitting at a table across from Giannis, he was holding my hands in his and he was crying for forgiveness. I wondered what he was sorry for then faded back within myself.

~

I remember texting Lycius, but he never got back to me.

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Mother's last entry was about a sacrifice. I figured out what she meant but I had no energy to practice it. Not yet. I fell back asleep in someone's arms, in a room unfamiliar to me.

~

Martha was speaking, but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. A hand traced my shoulder, its rough pointer finger adorned a thick golden ring. Martha glared at the hand before she stormed out.

~

A door opened. A short figure peered around.

'Calix?' I said. No. Just someone's rotten kid.

~

I woke up late at night and watched over Giannis' sleeping form next to me. He was handling everything. I checked my phone on the nightstand. Lycius left me on read.

~

I read my mother's last entry under the stars. I felt stronger in mind and in body, it was probably the anger brewing. Giannis was actually a very sensitive man. I could tell his family didn't like me; I had no idea he had a brother. I stole a shovel and the sharpest knife from the Vlachos' kitchen. I started digging in their yard.

Giannis tried to stop me. I ignored him. He tried to hide the shovel I bought a new one. His parents gave up. Martha was summoned and she told me her parents were happy for her to stay at their place. I couldn't dig in their yard though. There were lots of arguments in Greek behind me as I stared at the pit, it was only three feet...

I could start again.

I turned around and looked between Mrs Vlachos who was happy to be rid of me, Giannis was not, and Martha who was ready to stomp his foot with her platform boot.

~

Trying to stay conscious of my environment when I was awake was difficult. Somehow harder than the venture of digging this new hole. I had yet to pick a new location and whenever I became subtly aware that I was alive and that this was my reality, I got a sharp stabbing pain in my chest. It was just the thought of Ari torn to chunks that made me want to run into Hades myself. However, this new piece in my mother's journal gave me new motivations, a new hunger for life. It wasn't enough to hold off the nightmares though.

I drove to the forest with Martha and parked awkwardly in the tree line trying to keep it vaguely concealed but with easy access to getting back on the road. I took a shovel from the boot of the car, and Martha held the journal. She was polite in not reading it.

'Martha,' I said not looking at her. 'The ritual starts when we enter with intent. You cannot look over your shoulder, okay?'

'What'll happen if I do?'