Blooming Idolatry

Bugs

The kids voted to go get ice cream.

"It's cold milk that's sweet," Enna explained to me. This was one of the many things I had not learned during my time asleep.

"I'm not sure I want to try it." I doubted Enna's descriptions.

"You can have some of mine." She pursed her lips in concentration. "But only a little bit because it's my ice cream."

I counted the cracks in the sidewalk as we got further away from the school. The creamery was just a little over a half mile away, but it seemed to take forever. The anxiety bubbling up my throat made time stand still.

We had traveled back to the children's hometown after we rested. The failure against Leta was a constant reminder of my shortcomings. My thoughts berated me.

Failure.

Weak.

Enna could have died.

You should have stayed dead.

I tripped over air at the last one and landed in the purple front yard of a mid-century home. Its beautiful yellow front door was the last thing I saw before I ate dirt.

I spat out grass and coneflowers. It was a comforting taste. My power mixed with the earth.

I could feel the little zings of consciousnesses of bugs in the soil. Even the small had broken hopes. Taking a deep breath, I let myself focus on the failed dreams of the bees nearby.

Their colony had failed to protect their home, much like how I had failed to fully protect my cult. I sympathized with them and ran my fingers through the grass at my sides.

I registered my cult standing at a stop in my peripheral vision.

My power honed in on the cause of the bee's sorrow. Wasps. Wasps had killed their queen.

A breeze flitted by and with it came to the plan for their revenge. I fed it to the bees. With cautious wings, the remaining warrior bees took up the helm and followed through on the orders I gave them.

Once the bees reclaimed their hive, my heart warmed with confidence. This task was my first true success since returning to life, and it felt good.

I opened my eyes to see my cult playing in the flowers around me. Enna, my terror, lived up to her name. She was chasing Oliver and Ella around the yard. Kane was gazing off into nowhere.

"Alright, that was quite the trip." I dusted nonexistent dust off my pants from my seated position.

Kane shook his head at my outburst.

I jumped to my feet, took Enna's hand, and we started our way to the creamery.

The bells jingled as I pushed my way inside.

"You each get one serving of ice cream. Whatever that may be." I assumed since it was sweet the children didn't need a lot of it. I used my powers to persuade the shopkeepers to let them have whatever they would like. As I swiped my hand across the vision of the last human, I thought about the hypnosis I used on the children's parents.

I did not feel bad about it at first, but feelings of guilt have a way of weeding their way into my heart. They would not remember they had a child until the child was present. It made things simpler.

I pulled the teal and silver chair out with a screech. The checkered titles were not nearly as smooth as they appeared. Enna brought a bowl of white ice cream to the table. She had two black plastic spoons in her hand. The screeching of her chair sent another shiver up my spine.

"Okay, Sekie. Here's some ice cream." She held out one of the spoons with just a tiny bit of white ice cream on it. "If you like it, you gotta get your own."

I put the cold treat on the front of my tongue. It was so cold my teeth hurt, but as it melted, I could taste the creamy milk and vanilla.

"Do you like it?"

"It's okay." I lied to Enna. It was the best thing I had tasted since my awakening.

"Sekie, what powers do you have?" That's right, my powers were not visible. Of course, Enna would be curious about them.

"I can feel your lost dreams, and help you avenge them."

"What is lost dreams?" She was shoveling spoonfuls into her mouth.

"What do you want to be when you get older?"

"I want to tell stories." Her smile was infectious.

"You will be the best storyteller, my Enna." I paused to prepare myself. "But if your dreams never come true, they become a lost dream."

I could see the tears welling in Enna's eyes as she thought of a future where she does not get to tell stories.

"I will be here to help you make a plan," I promised. "We will find your lost dream, and I will help you get revenge on whoever stole it from you." My chest was burning with fury.

"Why help me?" Her bottom lip stuck out.

"Because you're my follower, and it benefits me as much as it does you." I swallowed the hard truth.

"Why?"

"Everyone has a soul, right?"

"Yep."

"Well, gods don't have souls. We have to leech what we call vis from the soul of our followers. Humans have no use for it, but create it in abundance. Beings like me, need it to keep our consciousness. In return, we help our followers. The larger a cult, the more powerful a god. The younger a cultist, the more vis their soul makes."

Enna's brows furrowed as she finished her bowl of ice cream.

"What's co-sci-ience?" She sounded out the word.

"It's like being awake."

"Okay, Sekie!" She hugged me and left the table to play with the other children.

I watched the children play for a while. The giggles of my cultists make a wonderful sound in the wake of Leta's possible appearance.

The smell of buttercups and dragon fruit permeated the shop. I scanned the room for my cult and came up two heads short.

Kane and Enna were missing.