Blooming Idolatry

Geese

Kane explained his plan to corner Leta.

All we had to do was find an Elementary school without any marked children. Which was hard. Way too hard for a country as large as the modern-day United States of America.

It was after the one hundred and twenty-third school that I began to question Kane's credibility.

"Are you sure you know what the heck you're doing?" I gently let go of a child with a buttercup flos divus. The thought of the god associated with those flowers induced a cringe. God of children indeed.

"Not really but you've been convinced enough to follow me." Kane smiled indignantly.

"After this school, I'm taking over. This plan is a waste." I borrowed Enna's favorite pout for a bit.

We continued to search the school, my cult in tow. I had fashioned a walking rope before leaving the children's elementary school. It was necessary because my little terror likes to wander off.

"Alright, headcount!" I knew I'd be two short. Enna and Ella are partners in crime.

Using the flos divus and bond with my followers, I searched for them. My heart raced in my throat, my steps grew quicker with each second.

What if I'm too late and Leta takes them?

My thoughts ran circles around my possible failure. The recently waxed tile tapped under my feet. No wooden door remained unopened. Crude art blurred through the brick halls until I came to a halt in front of a set of double doors.

Bright lights and rubber-infused dragon fruit seeped through the crack where the doors met. The school gym seemed all too small and large at the same time. My focus lay on two cowering figures.

"Sekie!" Enna screamed with her arms outstretched to me. A fissure opened along my sternum. Tears raced down her face so quickly I couldn't tell which won or lost.

A glowing white band of power held the two girls in the center of the gym. Words were written in dainty script on the floor in front of them like a red herring.

God of Broken Hopes.

A reminder of who I was. The fissure in my chest widened. I fought my way through my waterfall to Enna and Ella. I pulled on their constraints fruitlessly.

My strength gave up on me. The girl's frightened faces taunted me with scenes of my dead followers until the blurry sight of Enna had morphed into a corpse.

Faded jade eyes and a bloated smile. The cruel face of the man who killed them all glared at me.

I bellowed my anger at the man. My nails ripped at his flesh.

"Sekie, stop!." He said to me with clenched teeth. I grinned at his pain. The crack in my heart mended a little more with each strike.

"Sekie," followed by a tiny sob. "You're hurting us." I shook my head to clear my confusion. It wasn't the voice of the man who had wronged me. It wasn't his face that stared at me. All scared eyes and tears.

"My Enna." I choked. I looked down at the blood under my nails where I'd been gripping Enna's waist and the band of power so tightly. A tug on the glowing rope had it dissipating in a flourish of petals. I cradled my Enna against my chest and soaked her shirt.

Words wouldn't come. I'm unsure how much time passed but when I tugged on the bond with my cultists, I felt only two souls connected to mine.

One faded as I sat beside her. The waning of a bond left an empty feeling behind, even as I fought unseen power for control of Ella's mark. I reached a standstill, half of her flos divus remained my purple coneflowers, the other violets.

It wasn't a win. But it was better than the loss I suffered.