Apocryphal Family Tree: The Rough Draft

Lenny Summons a Cat

Lenny says Key and Andi can visit her, at the house, during her watch, so they can try the Heaven door. Lenny texts Hopper about it so that she can at least have back-up. Lenny thought Hopper would be mad but Hopper races upstairs to get all the goods on this story. Hopper's there when Key and Andi appear in Winnie's bedroom and she gets real quiet.
Lenny gestures to the closet. Andi's eyes get big and she lets go of Key's hand. They both walk toward the door.
"It has to be ironic that it's in the closet," Key said.
"Or some other meaning. Not everything is ironic," Andi said.
They shut the door behind them and were in there for only a minute before coming back out. Lenny's mind raced about what could be wrong. Did the door not lead to Heaven for them?
"It's a pocket universe inside this one. That's why it was so hard to find," Key said.
"You're like me!" Hopper said. "I thought so when you ported in here."
Andi and Key looked at Lenny.
"I feel like this is a Bookshop conversation. Tomorrow? We can go over the particulars."
Andi and Key ported out. Hopper left. Lenny went about her caring duties. Hopper came to relieve Lenny and Lenny went to bed. When she woke up, and after tea, she texted the group chat that was apparently Key and Andi. The response wasn't nearly as frantic as yesterday. Lenny had finished her breakfast before Andi responded that they could meet now at the library, if they wanted. Lenny went to see Hopper and she said she was ready to go. They used the magic key. They walked out of Lenny's room and into the lobby at the library.
"I've been searching for Heaven for millennia, ever since Andi and I became serious. I couldn't figure out why I place we knew existed was so difficult to find," Key said.
"Wait, you can't just think of what you want and then port there?" Hopper said.
"Is that what you do?" Key asked.
Everyone went silent.
"Would you mind if I take your blood?" Hopper said. She's so awkward that it's charming. She struggles with the smoothness thing so visibly that you end up being like here let me help you get this over with. "We've been trying to crack what makes me jump, so to speak. And having samples of other people who can do what I do but different and also not me from another universe would be great. Also I haven't been able to crack the whole travel with a partner thing and that'd be dope. Also you don't seem to need to have your clothes connected to you to travel with them."
"Travel with my clothes? With a partner? So you can wish yourself to a universe where humans don't exist but when you do you'll be alone and naked?" Key said. "I honestly don't know if I'd rather keep my ability as is or trade it for yours. Not that I get a choice."
Key sat back in her chair. Which I just noticed was a wheelchair. She was not in a wheelchair last night or when I summoned her. I wanted to ask but it's legit none of my business, she doesn't own me anymore of her life story then what she gave me to convince me to take on this whole find me Heaven thing.
Key sees me noticing her wheelchair and waits for me to make a decision about what kind of person I'm going to be. I decide to go with not an asshole.
The rest of the night is a mix of trading stories and really getting to know each other. Finally, I ask Key the question that's been on my mind.
"How do I summon for real?" I ask Key. "You obviously know how."
"Have you ever gotten a call in the middle of your day that you weren't expecting and you know it will take hours to handle or you could just ignore it?" Key asked back.
"Sometimes it's a really important phone call and you can't ignore it," I say. But I get her point. It's not something to do lightly. And thus far I have been. Even if the people I've been trying to summon are humans, they exist somewhere else and are being themselves and I'm calling them away from all that. But what Key said to me about family trees and such got my brain whirring about what we have today when family trees are broken. When someone on purpose cut off large branches and then planted the cuttings of them far away from the original tree and the each other. A sister could have been sold on the islands while a brother was sold in Brazil, and the mother sold in the United States, and the father sold in England. Maybe that's why everyone is a cousin, they really could be distantly related to us during the lineage that was stolen from us.
But I decide that when I try to summon one of my supernatural jailed as a deity ancestors, I'll put more thought and time into it that the running into walls approach I usually take. I wish when everyone told me no summoning they'd explained why and not in terms of "it's dangerous" because life is dangerous. You can get pulled over for driving while Black and get shot for matching the world's vaguest and most prolific description while reaching for the license and registration they asked for. And the murderer gets away with it and hailed as a hero. So when that's life, it's not shocking that the label dangerous holds such a small meaning.
After a few hours, we all head home. I feel much better about this decision. It was a good one. I'm pretty sure it's not the pity I felt seeing Key in a wheelchair that's helping with this feeling of relief. But I'm not quite sure and I probably can't be.
Days turn to weeks. We're a little over a month away from Winnie's feast and the Winnie watch has relaxed. Her internal and external wounds have healed to the point that we don't need to regularly watch for any complications like blood poisoning or seizures. Even though Winnie can come back from anything, if her body is unwell it heals slower and delays her return.
No longer having stay up and watch over Winnie's recuperating form, I start figuring out who to summon. In our backyard we have water. In the homestead backyard we have water and a graveyard. Even though I want to make the call to our ancestors on purpose, I don't care if I get Death or a mermaid. If I'm being honest, I want to get both. I know I won't have another chance to summon anyone once Winnie is back among the land of the living. At least I won't have a chance for a good long while.
Nor usually comes to Winnie's for a few weeks before the feast. Because she's the family scribe and she wants to get the texts ready. She's kinda pissed that she's the family scribe and I'm the family hero and now I'll be at the feast and apparently I'll have a role to play that previously she'd been stepping in for. It's definitely one of those things that I don't know how to make her get over her shit. Because I definitely need her. And she doesn't really seem that hellbent on dying, even if now I know how to avoid it.
I travel to the homestead to see why Nor hasn't shown up yet after I try to summon Mami Wata and Bast. I bring a bag with me that has offerings of edible and non-edible varieties and money and candles and crystals and other communication mediums. I'm not bringing out the Ouija board if I can help it but I'm also pretty eager to try. Try and fail fast. And I'm assuming at this point that I will fail again and I want to try a few more times before Winnie puts a stop to my experimenting.
The last time I was here I clocked a cabin closer to graveyard than the manor. I picture that doorway in my mind and stick the key in, turn, and open the door. This will no longer have me crossing most of the yard with ample opportunities to be seen or get caught.
I walk to space where the homestead where a small stream run along side the graveyard. It is not a small stream because climate change is causing us to flood the land with water that used to be solid and it's been raining heavily. I put down my bag and take out some of the edible offerings in my bag. I collect dirt from the grave of one of the former apprentices. I leave them a candy they'd mentioned missing. I get back to my bag with the goofer dust and I add it to a glass bowl. I pull out the candles and light them. I pull out the rest of the edible and non-edible offerings. I lay them out in a semi-circle that arcs around me between the raging stream and the graveyard, alternating between edible and not. I start praying out loud. Not shouting but not the usual whisper either. I'm not comfortable calling it chanting even though I do sometimes repeat phrases multiple times. I'm also not sure why I decided to go offscript this time instead of finding something a priestess or mambo had already written.
I go on and on. I lose track of time. I'm not speaking so loud that I can't hear the rustling of the grass and splashing of the water. My eyes are closed but it's dark and not well lit where I am. I don't open my eyes when I first hear someone approaching me. I don't want to be stopped from trying. Not yet. Something small hits my skin and there's a hiss from a cat. I open my eyes and do not scream when I see the snake as big as my thicc ass thigh sidled up next to me on the stream side. There's a meow and I look over to my right and there's an all black cat with green eyes. I then have to decide: are these the deities I summoned or did these they send these two creatures? Either way I'm certain I summoned these two creatures, which to me says that I got it right and we're definitely related to Bast and Mami Wata.