House of the Damned

The Trouble Begins

Four
The Trouble Begins

Those three days go by even more quickly than I would like. On the morning of the fifth day, I wake Michael up and toss the work uniform at him. I’ve explained as much as I could over the last few days and I just hope I covered enough.

“Cassandra!” Venus shouts, from somewhere downstairs.

I lock eyes with Michael. “I’ll be back. Be dressed by the time I return.”

He nods and I bolt, actually choosing to use the stairs this time. Venus is waiting by the front door.

“All hell broke loose and I’ve been called in to go referee some stupid argument that Pluto and Mars have gotten into. I’ll be back later. I expect the boy to be busy at work when I return. Also, it looks like things are going to get a lot crazier around here, so be prepared. I have a feeling this argument is going to escalate very quickly.” With an irritated glare at me, she turns and heads out the door, making sure to lock it behind her.

The demon of death and the demon of war in an argument? That can’t possibly end well. No wonder Venus was so annoyed.

I stop by the kitchen and update Emily on the news in the demonic world. “It looks like war’s going to break out, Em. Be ready.”

She nods a thanks and I duck out, rushing back up to Michael’s room. When I walk in, he’s having difficulty buttoning up his shirt. With a half sigh, half laugh, I go and button it for him.

“Okay, come on. We have work to get done.”

“You don’t have much patience, do you?”

“To have patience one must have time. I don’t have time, so I can’t have patience. Now, come on.”

He rolls his eyes as I drag him out the door and up to the third floor. We enter the first room and I pass him a mop and bucket. He starts in the far right corner and I begin in the far left one.

We clean until the floor sparkles and then we move on to the next room. Halfway through mopping this one, Michael asks, “What are you humming?”

I pause a moment. “I, uh, don’t know. Didn’t even know I was doing it. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I just wanted to know. I’ve never heard it before.”

I shrug. “It’s probably something my parents taught me, but I don’t know.”

We go back to work and I think about it. More than likely, it was the lullaby my mom used to sing to me. I have long since forgotten the words, but the tune will probably be forever in my mind.

Another room spotless and we’re onto the next. This room is rather like a library and needs more dusting than mopping. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Venus touch the books in here. They just sit on the shelf, collecting dust. I used to read the titles while I was cleaning, but that has long since ceased to be entertaining. Venus has a book on practically everything supernatural. From Angels to Zeus to everything in between. If it pertains to her job, she owns it.

Dusting completed, we go to the next room over. Our morning continues on like this, going from room to room, polishing furniture, vacuuming carpet, or otherwise cleaning.

The pair of us make it through almost all of the rooms on the floor when the sound of the front door slamming echoes throughout the house. I cringe at the sound, in turn receiving a strange look from Michael.

“She only slams the door that hard when she’s mad,” I explain.

“Ah.”

We fall silent and go back to work. An eerie quite falls over the house making me more nervous than ever. If feels like the calm before the hurricane hits.