The Cost

by R. W. Holmes

  “Ah... damn” Seamus's illusion of himself said sheepishly. It turned to face the elder thing, a weak smile on his face. “What say we talk about this? I-I-I could tell you where the others went!”

  Far across the warehouse, the real Seamus, along with Shay and Emily, peeked over a shipping crate with the help of a few wooden boxes they'd found and watched.

  “Don't tell anyone I said this” said Shay. “But you're an amazing actor.”

  “I've been doing it for a hundred and fifty years, lass” Seamus replied proudly.

  The elder thing darted forward then, and after finally catching the false Seamus it came to the sudden realization that it was being played the whole time. A splattering noise sounded as it cursed in its ancient, eldritch language, before it turned to look about itself in bewilderment.

  Gael came charging around a few shipping containers on the far side of the warehouse then, his sneakers crying out as he skidded to a halt before the elder thing. Grimacing, he threw his right hand towards it and focused.

  “STOP!” he screamed at it.

  The elder thing globbered angrily as it was held fast, but remained patient and waited for Gael to take the next move.

  “Yeah, you're smart” said Gael. “You've already figured out that more complex souls tax my soul harder. Hell, I bet you knew that was a safe bet the moment I stopped you.”

  The elder thing narrowed all five of its eyes at Gael expectantly.

  “Your brain is like a computer” continued Gael. “Infinitely more powerful than my own, but you know what? I don't have to be as smart as a computer to understand how it works. I will figure you out.”

  The elder thing chortled back angrily at Gael, but remained motionless.

  “Deactivate your forcefield!” snapped Gael.

  The elder thing resisted, and Gael's eyes rolled back as he felt his very grip on reality slip away.

  “Now!” screamed Zinerva.

  Grim rocketed out from cover, scooping Gael's body up just before the elder thing could descend on it itself, and tearing off across the warehouse in search of cover once more. The elder thing knew better this time though, and didn't fall for Seamus's attempts to bait it away with his illusions.

  .

  “This is bad...” Seamus said to Shay and Emily. “I'm a leprechaun, there's nothing harder to catch than me! But it ain't me the thing's trying to catch.”

  Grim leaped, dived, and sprinted through the various corridors created by the steel shipping crates scattered throughout the warehouse, but no matter how agile he was, evading something that could fly while carrying two full sized humans and an imp just wasn't within his abilities.

  Then, Zinerva disappeared.

  “OH MY GOD!” Debra screamed as they continued onward. “Grim, you have to-,”

  “I know” said Grim. “Hold on.”

  The elder thing reeled backwards slightly as Grim surged up and onto a stack of shipping crates stacked much higher than the rest and leaped back the way he'd come. The elder thing flew into him, its forcefield bumping and knocking Grim off balance, but failing to prevent him from coming back the way he'd came.

  “HAH!”

  Grim cried out as he threw Debra over his shoulder and reached out to open air, his hand just barely catching Zinerva as she reappeared.

  Across the warehouse, Seamus led Shay and Emily closer to the elder thing.

  “What are we doing?” asked Emily. “Grim is the only one who can-,”

  “They need time” Seamus interjected knowingly. “It took a while before he was ready last time, right? I ain't afraid to die, but I'm not gonna be able to look Roger in the eye if I show up in fairyland just to tell him we lost.”

  “Seamus...” Shay murmured concernedly. “What are you planning?”

  Seamus grimaced and took off, leaving Shay and Emily behind just as they reached the open center of the warehouse and Grim began leading the elder thing back their way.

  Gael, meanwhile, had already gasped back to life and was trying to catch his breath amid all the jostling of being hauled about by a troll.

  “I-I can't...” he gasped. “I can't do that again. If I don't pull it off this time, I won't be coming back.”

  “What?” Zinerva queried worriedly. “Really? You can't just keep doing it?”

  “I'm tired, Zinerva” said Gael. “Really tired. I can still stop it, though. We could use that to get into a car and run.”

  “I agree” Grim chimed in between jumps. “It is better to fight another day.”

  At that moment, Seamus ran out into the middle of the warehouse, directly beneath Grim as he leaped by, and stood right in the elder thing's path as it hovered through.

  The elder thing wasn't about to fall for another illusion though, and almost didn't notice that Seamus was real when its forcefield 'bonked' against him as it went past. Slowly, the great, eldritch creature turned to face the leprechaun.

  “Shit, wait!” snapped Gael. “Go back, the leprechaun doesn't know we're giving it up for now!”

  Grim tried to run, but it was already too late.

  The elder thing, still extraordinarily pissed off for being fooled by the leprechaun's distracting tricks earlier, wasted no time time in kicking Seamus over and pressing one of its long, thin, multi-jointed legs to the leprechaun's head.

  “Funny you should do this...” Seamus started.

  The elder thing pressed down, smashing Seamus's skull to bits, but not before the leprechaun willed one last illusion into being.

  “Because you've gone and let me distract you again” Seamus's illusion finished, before vanishing with its owner's life force.

  Grim stopped at the edge of the warehouse's center and grimaced, ready to turn back now that Seamus had perished, but was caught off guard when Gael suddenly wriggled free of his grasp.

  “Gael, no!” Zinerva said as she leaped from Grim's shoulder to her summoner's. “It's fine, he's in fairyland, he's not actually-,”

  “I'm not letting him die for nothing!” Gael snapped as he raised a hand to the elder thing. “Stop!”

  The elder thing froze in place as commanded. Its back was turned to Gael, but that didn't stop it from angling a few of its eye-stalks around and fixing an angry glare on the foolish demonologist.

  “Yeah” Gael said immediately. “I can't do this.”

  “WHAT!?” screamed Zinerva.

  “I definitely can't do this” repeated Gael. “It's really hard just holding it in place now. I need some serious help.”

  Shay and Emily climbed up beside Grim and Debra.

  “What's happening?” they asked in unison.

  “Your friend is out of gas” replied Debra. “And, uh... I think he just put himself in a really bad spot. Where's Oscar and Dover?”

  “You mean they're not with you?” asked Shay. “Oh my gosh! Can this get any worse!?”

  “Yes, it can” warned Emily.

  “Really? Because in case you've forgotten, the scroll isn't even here!” screamed Shay.

  Gael and Zinerva looked over their shoulder.

  “What!?” they both called out in unison.

  “Yeah, it's not here” said Emily. “The safe was, though.”

  Gael cried out in frustration as he and the elder thing continued to pin each other down.

  “Are you out of ideas?” asked Zinerva.

  Gael sighed despondently and nodded. “Yes.”

  “Alright” said Zinerva. “Can we try mine?”

  A twinge of extreme distrust gushed from Gael's common sense as he looked at Zinerva questioningly.

  “It's easy” said Zinerva. “Just tell it to do something really simple.”

  Gael laughed and shook his head. “Like what?”

  “Sleep.”

  Gael paused, before looking at the elder thing, his arm still raised, and commanding: “Sleep!”

  The elder thing's eyes widened in surprise, before suddenly closing shut and falling with the rest of its body as it laid do
wn to rest.

  Zinerva hopped off of Gael's shoulder and immediately ran over to test if the forcefield was still there, but found it woefully present.

  “Come on!” Emily said as she led the others over to Gael. “We need to get out of here before it wakes up.”

  “Oh, God! This is so bad!” Gael exclaimed as he allowed Emily to drape his arm around her and help him move.

  “They're R'lyehans” replied Emily. “We should have expected a trick like this, especially when it involved going somewhere so traumatizing for you.”

  “It's not just that!” snapped Gael. “There's only two places the scroll can be: on Allen Olmstead's ship, or Mars.”

  Emily felt her heart drop as Gael's anguish became hers. “Of course” she said drearily. “We're the only people who know about it, and now it's a whole planet away.”

  As the four exited the warehouse, they found Oscar and Dover waiting for them.

  “What happened?” asked Oscar. “What took you all so long to get out?”

  Dover gasped as he spied Gael being helped along by Emily. “You're alive!” he exclaimed in awe. “Did you kill it!?”

  “No, it's asleep” said Debra. “Next time, don't just run off!”

  “Oscar, get on the line and tell The Fae we've been duped” said Emily. “The R'lyehans just dumped a ton of resources into leading us on a wild goose chase, and The Four-Seal Scroll probably never left Mars.”

  Oscar furrowed his brow confusedly, his desperation to know more only growing, but found any follow up questions he had ignored by everyone else as they got into their cars and hurriedly drove off.

  “Argyle?” said Emily, hoping Argyle was still on her phone. “Argyle, please tell me you've been keeping an eye on Mars and Allen Olmstead's ship. We think he's-,”

  “Sorry kiddo, Argyle is busy right now.”

  Shay, Gael, and Zinerva all gasped in unison.

  “ALLEN!” screamed Emily.

  “Careful now, I wouldn't want you to wear my name out...” Allen replied mockingly. “It was fun tracking you all as you followed me. Heck, it was almost too easy to just follow the path you took down to Earth, so I figured you had your own trap set. Imagine my surprise when I found out you were completely oblivious to my game.”

  “Where's Argyle!?” demanded Emily.

  “Oh, Argyle is fine” said Allen. “But I'll tell you what, you can see for yourself when you get here.”

  The line went dead, and Emily cried out in frustration again.

  “Emily, drive, then talk” Zinerva chimed in quickly.

  Emily did as she was told, if only because heading back to her ship was her only course of action regardless.

  “I have to save him” she said frantically.

  “This is another distraction” replied Gael.

  “But I know something terrible will happen if Argyle is left with them!” snapped Emily. “What if The Four-Seal Scroll is the diversion, and it was about getting Argyle all along? What if-,”

  “I'm pretty sure the point of this is to split us up” said Zinerva. “Because that's what we have to do. Gael and I go to Mars, you two go try to help Argyle.”

  “N-No” said Emily. “The Fae can handle Mars. I need Outcasts to help me with Argyle.”

  “We don't even know if Argyle will still be there when we arrive, Emily” replied Gael. “We should-,”

  “I AM GOING TO SAVE ARGYLE!” screamed Emily.

  “Emily, we can't do this” said Shay. “You know-,”

  “Shut up, Shay” hissed Emily. “I am going to drive us all to the starport, and I am going to charter a ship to Mars for Gael and Zinerva. And then we are going to save Argyle.”

  “That's suicide though!” said Gael.

  “Maybe going back to Mars is suicide” replied Emily. “But you're still going because you have friends there, right? Besides, Gael, I have an app that shows me what's docked at Argyle's station, and it's just Allen's ship. He can't have brought too many people with him.”

  “He brought enough people to bring down Enterprise Island on that little ship, Emily” replied Gael. “If you do this, I have to go with you.”

  Emily scowled and shook her head. “Call your friends” she spat. “One of them is going to have to step up and guide The Fae if neither of us is going to be there.”

  “But Angelica and Kennedy know less about the Four-Seal Scroll than The Fae do” said Zinerva. “How are they going to help?”

  “The galaxy is a big place” replied Emily. “And most members of The Fae are on Earth. I doubt there will be more than one or two of their members living in the Eiffel area.”

  Chapter 16

  Fear

  Click!

  The door to what had become known as 'the demonologists' residence' swung open, and Angelica stepped inside for the first time as a pure, unburdened soul.

  “I'm free!” she proclaimed for the tenth time since her re-baptism.

  “Yeah, we know...” Kennedy said as he and Cypress followed Angelica inside.

  “Kiki doesn't know” Angelica replied smartly. “Kiki! COME OUT!”

  There was no response, save for the sound of Artemis's heavy hoofed footsteps as he entered the building last.

  “I need to celebrate” Angelica said as she went to her fridge.

  “What you need is to dry your damn hair!” snapped Kennedy. “It's going to-,”

  “It's going to air dry” replied Angelica. “The way God intended, so that I don't screw this up.”

  Kennedy shook his head, grinning all the while, and took a seat at the table as Angelica navigated her way to the freezer.

  “What the heck...” Angelica muttered confusedly. “Who took my ice cream?”

  As if on cue, Kennedy felt his phone begin to vibrate. Reaching down, he pulled it out of his pocket and found it was none other than Gael calling from the distant surface of Earth.

  “Ah shit...” Kennedy muttered worriedly. “It's Gael. I hope he's calling to tell us everything went okay.”

  Angelica nodded absentmindedly and went back to searching over the freezer for her oh-so-desired ice cream. “It just has to be in here somewhere...” she muttered determinedly.

  Back on Earth, Gael was standing next to Emily's rented sedan, Zinerva lounging lazily atop his shoulders, while Emily and Shay waited within the car.

  “Gael!” Kennedy said excitedly. “What's up man? How has everything been?”

  “Not great” Gael replied bluntly. “I'm going to level with you: we're pretty sure the scroll never actually left Mars. This was all a diversion.”

  “Shit...” Kennedy said immediately.

  “Yeah, worst part is, there aren't that many of The Fae on Mars, and-,” Gael started.

  “Wait, The Fae?” Kennedy queried in horror. “The Fae are involved now too?”

  “It's fine, they're sort of on our team this time” said Gael. “Listen, I know this is a lot to ask, but I really really really need yours and Angelica's help on this. It doesn't even have to be you, just send Cypress and Artemis or something. We have no idea how serious any of this is yet, but the R'lyehans are doing some crazy shit to get it done.”

  “Uh... Artemis can't go” said Kennedy. “He's not Angelica's demon anymore. She kind of 'fixed' herself that way, so there's no one to bring him back if something happens.”

  Artemis snorted derisively as he heard Kennedy speak, but said nothing.

  “You know what, that's fine” replied Gael. “With any luck, Emily and I will be back on Mars soon, and until then Cypress can do his thing and just find out what's going on for us.”

  Kennedy frowned and muted the receiver on his phone.

  “Angelica” he said quickly. “I don't wanna be that guy, but Gael is asking me to send Cypress to go do some dangerous shit with The Fae over this Four-Seal Scroll stuff.”

  Angelica slammed the fridge door shut, clearly displeased already, and said, “I am all out of apologies. I just confessed everything to a priest!
If I say sorry one more time, I'm going to break.”

  “Hey, hey, calm down” Kennedy replied reassuringly. “No one's blaming you for what you've been through. I just... shouldn't we be done going through it? Because it feels like this isn't ever going to end, and who is Gael? He's some guy from college that accidentally ruined our lives. I'm not gonna hold it against him, but I'm not gonna go along with it either.”

  Angelica stepped back, up until she was leaning against the kitchen counter, and folded her arms defensively. “What are you saying?”

  “I'm saying we've got the means” replied Kennedy. “So let's get the Hell out of here. He's got Emily now; he'll be fine. I'll even convince my dad to pay for this place for a year so he can figure things out, because really, I don't want to make things harder for him, but... We need to be done. The worst thing right now, for you especially, is getting involved with all of this again.”

  “Those are coward's words” said Artemis.

  “Fine!” exclaimed Kennedy. “I've been anything but a coward this whole time, and I want to go back to being brave for myself, not some guy who saved me from... you.”

  “And you, Cypress?” asked Angelica. “What do you think?”

  Cypress furrowed his brow and frowned. “The first time I met Kennedy and Gael, I did so with a task set before me. I was to go out and collect information, and while I was out, I happened upon two very beautiful young women. It may seem nonsensical, but my very first act of kindness in this world was convincing them to come by later so that I could help show the two a good time in the only way I knew how.

  And then things got worse, and nothing ever came of it. We dealt with The Fae, and then things got worse. We dealt with the R'lyehans and escaped, and finally, things were fine. But now we're here, supposedly done with all of that, and things are getting worse. I fear all of our plans, all of our attempts at 'living' in a way we'd enjoy will be endlessly interrupted so long as Gael Walsh is involved.”

  The room fell woefully silent as Cypress concluded his speech, and a very serious pallor of bitter acceptance filled the air.

  “Cypress is right” said Angelica. “We have to get away from Gael. He's too dangerous.”