The Cost

by R. W. Holmes

  “Very impressive” Emily said with her friendliest smile. “Let me tell you what Shay can do: Shay can go out and reveal anyone hiding themselves by fae magic. She can also hide the rest of us, so if you want to get off of Enterprise Island, we're your best bet.”

  Gael looked to Kennedy, but found his peer looking back and just as concerned as he was.

  “This sounds an awful lot like a trap from our point of view” he said to Emily.

  “Ah, I suppose it does...” Emily murmured awkwardly. “I guess we'll just have to sit here until you do trust us, then. We certainly can't let the Fae kill you.”

  “What about the greater threat of demons emerging into the world again?” asked Gael. “Everyone seems pretty convinced that's enough of a reason to kill us so far.”

  Emily's smile began showing hints of a scowl underneath. “Shaylee is a princess” she said bluntly. “She's from a family that constantly opposes The Fates, those being the families that run the Fae, and apparently that's just as good a reason for me and her to be killed too.”

  Gael shrugged, unimpressed, and wisely said “You're not the only way for us to get out of here, and that means we have no reason to take a chance on you two. Thank you for dealing with more of the Fae, and we're not your enemies if you're not ours, but I think we're gonna have to ask you to leave.”

  Emily pursed her lips and nodded. “Okay” she replied, clearly a little annoyed. “I'm not going to fight you over it, but I'm not leaving Enterprise Island either.”

  “Why?” asked Gael.

  “Because you're making a mistake” Emily said seriously. “And if I'm not here to help you, then you will die. You will die, Gael Walsh.”

  “That's kind of a rude thing to say” said Kennedy.

  “I like them” Zinerva said next.

  “You like everyone” snapped Gael. “Maybe if they give us some space without trying anything funny we can be friends later, but right now them showing up is just a little too good to be true.”

  Emily and Shay eyed Gael thoughtfully as he finished speaking, but came to the same conclusion without so much as speaking a word to one another.

  “Yes, well, I hope you say that when I show up next” Emily said as she and Shay turned to go. “If you don't, it'll be because we didn't get there in time.”

  “It was nice to meet you all” Shay called back politely. “I hope you all escape safely.”

  The door shut behind Emily and Shay, and Gael turned to face the others expectantly.

  “Not gonna lie,” Kennedy said immediately, “This is tough. Like, I wanted to trust her, man. And that made me think I couldn't.”

  “We'll send Cypress out again to confirm that another two people were killed before we do anything else” replied Gael. “And if it turns out that it's just Jacky left like she says, then we'll find Emily again and talk about dealing with Jacky together instead.”

  “Hey yeah, that's pretty fricken good” said Kennedy. “Cypress, you game?”

  “I adore the outside world” Cypress replied honestly. “Humans are endlessly entertaining.”

  Gael looked to Zinerva last, who quickly hopped over to him and snatched his computer away.

  “I get to be cooped up less once we leave this place, right?” she said as she went back to the bed.

  “We all get to be cooped up less” Gael confirmed grimly. “I have no idea what we're going to do, though.”

  The third ship scheduled to arrive at Enterprise Island that night did so with a silence that unnerved the island's space traffic control staff with frightful efficiency. They had, through over a combined one hundred years of service, never seen a single ship arrive without a few cheery words from the pilot.

  With daily tales of ship failures and people being sucked out of airlocks from somewhere in the universe such silence was a very rare thing to see, and rarer still because, when a ship was docking, the communications from the ship's pilot remained open to the space traffic controllers.

  That was to say, no one on the ship was making any noise either. Only the dull, throbbing, clunking, and clanging of the ship's machinations came through, as if to say the ship was completely devoid of all life. But when it docked and the space traffic controllers checked the port camera, they found at least eight people in dark clothes stepping off. All of their faces were hidden beneath wide-brimmed hats, and most of them walked with a hunch that almost gave the illusion of a monstrous gait in their walk.

  They stepped out of the port, spoke with a security officer who had been dispatched to investigate the mysteriousness with which they'd arrived, and then were sent on their way after nothing legally wrong with them could be found. The security officer, though, was then called in to the space traffic control office for further questioning.

  He arrived to a site of computer terminals, monitors, and a pair of grizzled old man who ran the station. The terminals allowed access to every facet of Enterprise Island, and in fact let them 'fly' it to some degree, while the monitors displayed information on Enterprise Island's systems, as well as whatever celestial phenomena may be taking place in the solar system. The grizzled old men who ran it all, though, looked far too concerned for something so trivial.

  The security officer's look of concern was far greater, though.

  One of the grizzled men stepped forward and shook the officer's hand, before saying, “Howdy, I'm Greg. This man here is my friend and colleague Kevin.”

  “I-I know who you two are” the security officer replied sheepishly.

  “Right, and you're... Justin! Excellent” Kevin said as he leaned forward and read the officer's name tag. “Justin, do us a favor. What the heck was all of that nonsense down there with those weirdos who just showed up?”

  “Honestly, sir?” Justin replied awkwardly. “I think there was something wrong with those people. Their skin was all clammy, and some of them had these eyes were all bugged out. The ones that weren't hunched, I wanna say their eyes were normal, but they looked fucked in the head.”

  Greg nodded and looked to Kevin, who returned his own nod.

  “Call the EPD” he said to Justin. “And have them keep an eye on our new guests. Did they say anything about where they're from?”

  “No” said Justin. “All they said is that they were here to-,”

  “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”

  Greg, Kevin, and Justin all turned their gaze to the intercom. It was still open, still hooked up to the newcomer's ship, and still broadcasting everything in the cockpit aboard.

  Greg reached out and pushed the transmit button the terminal beside him and said, “Sorry, what was that?”

  “A prayer” replied the ship's cockpit, his voice raspy, and irritated with being overhead. “This line is now being closed.”

  “You don't have control over th-,” Kevin started, before finding the intercom silent. “How the hell did he do that?”

  “It's a custom model ship” replied Greg. “We'll have to report them for illegal ship modifications.”

  “So, uh, should I get back to my job now or what?” Justin asked from the back of the room.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry about that” called Kevin. “You go ahead and let yourself out.”

  Justin nodded and turned to the door. When he opened it, he found one of the people from the ship, wide-brimmed hat turned down to hide his face, waiting for him.

  “Hey!” snapped Justin. “You're not supposed to be up here!”

  The man tilted his head back and smiled, his bug eyes beaming with a malice that immediately forced Justin to take a few tentative steps back. As the man stepped inside and closed the door behind him, both Greg and Kevin began to take notice, and suddenly, they and Justin were filled with an inordinate amount of terror from the trepidation hanging in the air...

  Going out on to the college concourse was considerably less fun for Cypress the second time around, mostly because he never got to. Instead, he found the college's exit to the concourse was
sealed off by several security officers. A small, disappointed crowd had gathered to demand the right to leave, but their complaints fell on deaf ears and loud mouths that kept insisting the concourse was now a crime scene for a pair of recent murders.

  “Yeah, we hadn't considered this happening either” a familiar voice called from behind.

  Cypress turned around, and was surprised to see Emily and Shay standing off to the side.

  “I can tell when people are lying” he said to Emily. “I knew you weren't, but I think this locking down of the college will be enough to satisfy the others. I believe they'll want to see you again, then.”

  Shay smiled back up at Cypress and said, “I've never met someone with a handsome voice before.”

  “No” Emily said as she protectively ushered Shay behind herself. “She is the Flower of the Fields, and you will not be the one who takes her purity!”

  “Purity?” Cypress queried confusedly. “I'm sorry, I don't understand.”

  “I'm a virgin” said Shay. “I imagine they don't have many of those in hell.”

  “No, we don't” said Cypress. “And they're boring. I have no interest in squealing, non-reciprocating lovers who think their naivety is a gift to the world, nor do I care for the infamy that comes with 'plucking' the Flower of the Fields.”

  “You're a demon,” Emily said accusingly. “Why would I trust you?”

  “Because I've also been ordered to remain chaste” replied Cypress.

  “Oh...” Emily muttered sheepishly.

  “In the future, don't insult my attempts to put your mind at ease” growled Cypress. “Or you'll stop getting them, and be left in the dark instead.”

  Shay stepped forward and held up a hand to Cypress. “I'm ready to go see Gael, Kennedy, and Zinerva again.”

  Cypress's grim demeanor brightened instantly, and he stepped forward to accept Shay's hand. “Right this way, princess” he said politely.

  Emily was left to watch; concerned, horrified, and relieved all at once; as Cypress led Shay away. 'Oh God... Why do demons have to be so strange?' she thought concerned to herself.

  Moments later, Cypress arrived back at the dorm with Emily and Shay in tow, and the three joined Gael, Kennedy, and Zinerva for a discussion their combined dilemma of being trapped demanded they have.

  “I'm back” Cypress said as he let himself in.

  “That was fast” said Kennedy.

  “They're not letting anyone out of the college” explained Cypress. “On account of the murders.”

  “What murders?” asked Gael.

  “You know what murders” Emily said as she and Shay followed Cypress inside. “Also, we're trapped on campus with you. We've underestimated Academy's Nine's lock down procedures.”

  “You can get out though, can't you?” asked Gael. “You said you could get us off of Enterprise Island, but you can't get yourself out of the college?”

  Emily frowned indignantly and said, “We'd need someone to draw the guards away even if Shay did make us invisible. I don't think leaving someone behind is a proper plan.”

  “Cypress” said Gael. “What do you think?”

  “I've thought she was honest from the start” replied Cypress. “But she did kill other people, and they aren't us.”

  “It'd be pretty damn clever for someone to kill some poor sap to help bolster their story” replied Gael.

  “And War said they were clever” agreed Zinerva.

  “But these two aren't cruel” insisted Cypress.

  Kennedy stood up from the table and stepped over to Cypress's side. “Okay buddy,” he said encouragingly. “What do you know? Tell us about Emily and, uh...”

  “Shay” said Shay.

  “Yeah, he” said Kennedy.

  Cypress shrugged and went to sit on the bed beside Zinerva.

  “Emily is a guilty soul convinced she has to protect Shay for reasons unknown” Cypress said immediately. “I'm imagining she feels responsible for something terrible happening to someone who depended on her at some point in her life. A sister, perha-,”

  “Okay, that's not relevant!” snapped Emily.

  “Regardless, her sense of morality is disgusting” continued Cypress. “From a demon's perspective, at least. She would sooner cut off her own hand than severely harm someone she thought was innocent.

  Shay, on the other hand, is a trickster.”

  “Sounds about right for a fairy” said Gael. “Right? Or am I mixing that up with something else?”

  “Nah man, you've got it” agreed Kennedy. “All the fairy tales make the 'Fae' sound like tricksters.”

  “Yes, well, she lives an act” said Cypress. “She's extremely wise and aware of what's going on around her, but pretends to be naive and uses it too lure in the sorts of people that would take advantage of others. Like Emily, she shares a great joy for punishing the wicked, and I imagine the games she plays with people will quickly turn deadly if she feels it's justified.”

  Shay laughed and clapped her hands in delight. “No one ever gets me right on the first try” she said excitedly. “Do you go deeper, or is it just the surface level?”

  “I can go very deep” replied Cypress. “But my instincts are telling me that knowing too much can be just as damaging to trust as knowing too little. After all, your actions make you appear strong, but your fears speak the truth.”

  “Oh, but I insist” said Shay.

  “Shay, no, let's drop it” Emily chimed in nervously. “They've gotten what they've asked for, alright? There was no reason for this incubus to know those things he knew already. Let's not play with fire.”

  “Truth be told, you're actually naive” Cypress replied to Shay, his lips curling into a malicious smile. “You're terrified of humans, too. You flaunt the benefits of being worldly, but lack any capacity to be worldly yourself.”

  Emily nervously bit her knuckles as Shay's smile began to fade, and Gael, Kennedy, and Zinerva suddenly felt like they were about to watch a train crash.

  “You're not very likable, either” rasped Cypress, his voice now booming and becoming increasingly menacing. “This is because you're vapid, vain, and vacuous. Until you were summoned by Emily, you had no friends, and if it weren't for the fact that you two were stuck together, she would have abandoned you like anyone else who'd stuck around beyond your generically 'endearing' first impression. You both know this, but say nothing, because losing her would destroy you. You were very lucky too, by the way. Emily's life has led her to develop a uniquely pathetic coping mechanism: the more damaging an inescapable relationship is, the more love she invests into her dependent tormentor, so that she can tolerate living miserably.”

  “Cypress, Jesus Christ, stop already!” screamed Kennedy. “I think you've said enough.”

  Cypress looked over to Kennedy confusedly for a moment, before looking back at Shay and Emily. Shay's empty, distant expression was plastered upon her tear-stained face, and Emily's cheeks had turned so red with rage that she looked on the verge of a murderous rampage.

  “You son of a bitch” spat Emily. “You knew she was biting off more than she could-,”

  Emily stopped as Shay suddenly and without warning bolted from where she stood and made for the one place she could to hide: the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind her, and the sound of its lock clicking into place pierced the air.

  “Well that was fucked” Zinerva said with a scowl. “I usually laugh at someone when they get picked on, but now I just feel bad for seeing it.”

  Emily hurried over to the bathroom door and began knocking on it.

  “Shay?” she called. “Shaylee, come on. Don't listen to what he said. He's a demon, remember? He twists things until they don't resemble what they really are anymore. That's what corruption is.”

  “Hey, if it's any consolation, I think we trust you now...” Gael muttered pitifully. “Is, uh, is Shay gonna be okay?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know!?” blared Emily.

  “Every
one, come on” Kennedy interjected knowingly. “Life is complicated. People fight and get upset all the time, you know? We'll all get over it.”

  “No, I can see my mistake now” said Cypress. “I'm hated forever now.”

  “You're an idiot, Cypress. That doesn't mean we hate you” replied Zinerva. “You really are insufferably stupid, though.”

  Emily groaned and turned back to the bathroom door, but found Zinerva's smaller form pushing past her before she could knock again.

  “Hey, Shay?” Zinerva said as she knocked on the door. “Stop hoarding the only hiding place, alright? I don't want to be around the rest of them either right now.”

  Emily's frustrations reached a peak she'd never thought possible as Zinerva batted away any attempt of hers to get back to the forefront of the door, until the sudden sound of something unlocking caught her off guard. The door opened, if only for a moment, and Zinerva was allowed to sneak inside before the now-stupefied Emily could react.

  “H-Hey!” she shouted languidly. “Shay! Please...”

  Within the bathroom, Shay looked to Zinerva from her seat in the bathtub and said, “Tell her to go away. I don't want to be around her right now.”

  “She doesn't want you right now” Zinerva called to Emily.

  “I need to think” added Shay.

  “She needs some time to think!” Zinerva added as well.

  Outside of the bathroom, Emily could do little but stagger back and slump into a seat at the table. Her expression was helpless, and her eyes bore the frustrated pain of someone being forced to deal with tantrums she felt were not only unjust, but ungrateful as well.

  Kennedy inched over to Gael's side and whispered, “What do we do?”

  “Well, Zinerva got in there” Gael whispered back. “And... Fuck, I don't know man. Keep Cypress from going off like that again.”

  “I can hear you” Emily moped. “Nothing has changed, even if your demon may have just ruined my pathetic excuse for a life.”

  “If it's worth anything, he was literally born today” replied Kennedy. “I mean, sort of?”

  “No no, it's accurate” said Cypress. “Hell is not a place where you live.”