猪突猛進
English Translation:
“Charge headlong.”
~Japanese proverb
Horus
I'm tied to a chair.
Bannik’s pacing in front of me with Cassius behind him, still as a statue. The rest of the girls and the kids have been sent away.
I’m basically with nothing but angry immortals being stared at like I’m the plague, and nobody knows where Kit is.
“Let me at least try to find her,” I say.
Bannik’s answer is to kick my chair back. “You stole her bead!”
“Not on purpose!” I yell. “We just need to give it back!”
"Idiots,” Cassius growls. “All of you.” His normally pale skin pinks at his cheeks. “Did you take her?”
"Huh?” Alex asks. “Take her? Where the hell would he take her?”
“Take her where? McDonald’s?” Mason asks.
Ethan curses, Bannik joins in, and Tarek walks into the room and mutters, “He means sex, dumb and dumber.”
Timber follows in after him. “If he had sex with her, then she was vulnerable, maybe vulnerable enough that if he spoke an incantation, she was able to weasel her way through the eye he gave up to pull the bead.”
I jolt to my feet, the chair still attached to me. “And you didn’t think that was important information?”
The ropes burst free from my arms while the chair crashes into splinters onto the ground.
Timber holds out a hand and takes a sip of his coffee; Alex joins in, I’m suddenly held by two powerful gods in golden rope that burns every inch of my skin with every breath.
“Sit,” Timber commands.
I don’t.
He sighs and gives Alex a “help out” look. Alex rolls his eyes and snaps his fingers. A chair comes from behind while gravity forces me down.
Bannik takes a step backward against the wall.
"I think you’re scaring the fallen angel.” Mason yawns. “Okay, information. We need information. How can you get the bead back to her without going all dark and brooding on us?”
The room falls quiet. Not exactly promising.
"I never wanted it,” I say. “I just wanted her. I wanted her for an eternity. I don’t even remember taking it.”
Bannik pulls out a chair next to me. “She gave up her nine tails, right?”
My stomach drops. “Right. Which means she’s basically lost as a human right now and could easily die.”
"Killjoy,” Ethan mutters.
“Not what I was getting at, vampire!” Bannik slams his fists against the dinner table. It collapses onto the floor, all four of the legs shattered.
"And another one bites the dust,” Alex sings, earning a groan from Cassius.
Tarek kicks at the dust on the ground and grabs the remaining chair, flipping it around and straddling it. “Why the nine tails, big guy?”
A thick silence descends over the living room before Bannik answers. “If she has her nine tails, hell if she had two tails, she could pull the bead back in, only if it’s with someone who’s… mated with her.”
I gulp.
The room goes quiet again.
Alex raises his hand. “So I think the question is, did you two—”
"You didn’t hear them?” Timber laughs. “Why else do you think I left for ice cream?"
"I put on headphones,” Mason admits.
"I was watching Dateline,” Cassius grumbles.
“And I was out for a run while Bannik stewed in the backyard,” said Tarek. “He walked on your tomato plant, by the way, Timber.”
“Son of a bitch, Bannik!”
"I SLIPPED!” he yells.
"SILENCE!” Cassius looks ready to throw something. “So the way to solve this is easy, we’ll go with Horus to the Abyss, grab the tails and come back.”
"No.” Bannik’s hoarse voice sends chills down my spine. “He can’t just steal them back. He’ll have to earn them. And even if he can fight and win, the Abyss doesn’t let you go without the sacrifice. His, I’m sad to say, will be time.”
“How much?” I ask.
"For her? For us? A few weeks.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “And for me?”
"Nine tails equal three lifetimes, Horus. You’re looking at three hundred years at the very least.”
I stand, mind made up. I grab a piece of paper and start to write. Minutes later, I’m folding it up and handing it to Bannik. “Make sure she looks up from time to time.”
“You’re not going to say goodbye?” Timber asks. “To her? To any of us?”
“Why say goodbye when I’ll be back?”
“Terminator.” Tarek nods. “Classic.”
“How can you joke right now?” Timber lunges for him.
Tarek grins, his eyes flicker with blue. “Ah, we all have our reasons for doing what we do. Sometimes, we have to walk through the darkness in order to find our true light. Good luck, Horus. We’ll keep watch.” His eyes fall to Bannik. “It is, after all, what you do, isn’t it?”
Bannik pales. “What?”
"Watcher.” Cassius’s voice booms. “You watch. You do not look away from your purpose, from your being. Will you watch her?”
A tear slides down Bannik’s cheek. His whisper is haunting. “May I die if I close my eyes just once.”
“You did, though,” Cassius says quietly. “But now I wonder what will happen when the one who chose her, who watched her, is back?”
“What?” I ask.
Bannik shakes his head. “I watched the mountain.”
“Yes.” Cassius smiles sadly. “But before you watched the mountain, you watched a tiny innocent little fox fall into a river. You kept her safe when her parents died and when the last of those who loved her left—you made a pact with the heavens, and you finally chose.”
Tears stream down Bannik’s face. “What did I choose then if you’re so smart?”
Cassius waves his hand in front of us, a star shines so brightly down on Kit, she’s lying across the grass and reaches for the star, whispering, “I choose you too, pretty star. Keep me safe.”
The star shoots across the sky and places itself above her.
“Don’t you see?” Cassius sighs. “Things always come full circle. You, Bannik, before you fell, before you stopped watching, were her star. Why else would the Creator place you at her mountain? In Asia?”
Bannik falls to his knees and screams.
I squeeze my eyes shut. “It’s why she reached for your hand.”
Bannik doesn’t speak; he just stares at his hands as if they’re dirty like he doesn’t deserve to know even the good he did.
I sigh. “You have your job back.”
He nods his head and stands. “I won’t let you down this time. I will not fall.”
I believe him.
His shaky hand comes out to grip mine. I shake it hard. “Make sure she watches.” I shove the note into his hand.
And I take my slow walk to the Euphrates to descend into The Abyss.
This time, I didn’t choose my brother.
I didn’t choose me.
I willingly choose her, even if it means years of torture. I’ll stay, and I’ll endure. What’s three hundred years to her three lifetimes of not knowing what she was?
I smile as I walk.
And when I reach the muddy bed, I have enough power that I simply flick open the gated window and hold out my hands. “Kings of The Abyss—you have permission to imprison me.”
Chains drag against the ground, they get caught on rocks and objects. They get closer and closer.
Cold metal clasps around my wrists. “You are out of your time, god.”
"No.” I shake my head. “I think I’m actually exactly where I’m supposed to be.”