Chapter 21
-Two hours and twenty minutes (alternatively, two weeks) later. (Alternatively, when Andrew finally arrived) -
If you entered the in-between, the first thing you would notice was the house on the hill. It was a large log cabin. Comforting, placating, the kind of place you would want to spend a vacation. Not a long-term house though, not by a long shot, but a wonderful place to spend a small stretch of time.
The next thing you might notice was the fog. It was unnaturally foggy on the grassy fields under the hill, even in the middle of the day. The fog was so thick and obscuring that you would barely notice the forests bordering the clearing until you accidentally stumbled face-first into a tree.
There were a good many things you might notice about the in-between, how the grass was a different shade of green every time you looked at it, how you could never tell whether it was hot or cold outside, how you never needed to eat, no matter how hungry you actually got, how it always felt temporary, like you knew that you would be leaving sooner or later.
It would take you a bit, but maybe you’d even notice the other hill. The one that rose above the fog, and fell into the forest. Yeah that would take a long time.
Eventually, you’d notice that strangest thing of all, that you didn’t really look like you were supposed to. And then you’d wonder why it took you so long to notice, but it’s not your fault, your body has only become a reflection of your mind. And you spend so much time in your mind, that you can’t really tell the difference between it and you.
If you end up in the in-between with other people, you would probably realize quicker. But you only end up in the in-between with other people if they die with you, and if you care about each other very much.
Or if you know magic. Duh.
Both ways have their consequences.
You haven’t fully become yourself though, that comes later, when you become fully dead. Right now, you’re just.. In between.
///////////
“So, you must be wondering why you’re all here,” Scarlet began, she was nervous, probably desperately hoping no one would try to maul her right off the bat. Allison wasn’t ready to take that option off the table.
“We know why we’re here, you killed us,” She stated.
“Well that is true, but-,” Scarlet tried to take control of the situation. Allison was determined not to make it easy for her.
“I’m not finished,” Allison flipped her brand new, shining (ugh) black hair “You killed us,” Dan bristled angrily behind her, Allison could tell she wasn’t the only person considering mauling as an option “And if that wasn’t enough of you, you showed up in the afterlife to bother us later because, oh um, I don’t know, you get some sick pleasure from following a college sports team around?”
Scarlet grimaced “That’s really not-,”
“I’m not done,” Allison continued. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m dead, and probably worst of all? I’m a fucking stained glass window,” And that was the root of the issue, Allison’s skin was now studded with shining, multicolored jewels, they felt soft, like her skin, and whenever Allison tried to pick one off, a new one would be there to replace it.
She looked sparkly and ridiculous.
“And if you would let me explain, I would tell you why. But you’re right, you guys must be starving, you should eat first,” Allison wasn’t so easily placated by the promise of food, but the rest of her compatriots obviously were. Matt immediately perked up at the mention of being allowed to eat.
And they made their slow way into the large cottage on the hill, through the fog. They had to keep slowing down for Andrew, who kept falling and refusing to lean on Neil or Nicky, who kept offering to hold him up. He was both exactly what Allison expected him to look like, and the complete opposite
He hadn’t gotten used to his new body yet. He was tall, and his skin was the night sky, dark, navy blue and endless, shimmering with galaxies and constellations, every time Nicky touched him, a pulse of white light would be sent over his body, emanating from where he had been touched. His hair grew in silver curls, shining out over his forehead. He wore a simple tunic and tights.
And that was another thing. The underworld, or wherever they were, obviously hadn’t heard of twenty-first century clothing.
Allison was the first to the log-mansion (call it a cabin all you want, this place was larger than buckingham palace, and no one had seemed to realize it yet). She stomped in through the doors and started towards the kitchen, which had been empty before. Cabinets and cabinets full of empty space. Scarlet had given some bullshit explanation about how they would fill once everyone arrived. Allison wasn’t prepared to believe it until she came to the dining table.
The table was piled high with steaming plates of food. Soups and sandwiches and pasta. Cookies and cakes and pie. Allison caught some lasagna on the edge of the table and, realizing how hungry she actually was, made a beeline towards it.
The rest of the foxes soon arrived in the house and followed suit.
“Hey, there’s mac and cheese! And I didn’t even have to make it!” Nicky grinned, picking up two large ramekins topped with toasted breadcrumbs and handing them off to Andrew and Aaron. Aaron placed his back on the table, but looked around for a spoon or a fork. Andrew accepted his with… a smile? The action was so unexpected that Allison was forced to look away. Or maybe that was the fact that Nicky was glowing. Quite literally, actually, a warm yellow light emanated from his skin.
“Yo, potato leek soup!” Jack said, showing a rare amount of joy. He grabbed a small bowl of white soup, butter still melting on the top, and sprinkled with chives. His skin was a bright burgundy color, not quite the color of blood, but almost. His neck and wrists were circled in obsidian and ringed with gold.
“Turkey sandwiches,” Neil said pleasantly. His food of choice was simple, but obviously held a few good memories for him, judging by how his new face softened.
“Sludgy brownies,” Blue sighed with a complicated sort of smile. Her new face was a bit more pixie-ish. And also, maybe more notably, was electric blue. She was still, unfortunately for her, incredibly short.
Blue had had a bit of a crisis when she realized what she looked like. Her hair was still short and spiky. She was the fox who looked the most like she did when she was alive (Except Ronan, who had somehow remained unchanged). Allison suspected that that had something to do with all the effort Blue put into looking the same on the outside as she did on the inside.
“‘Woah, it’s my favorite comfort food from when I was alive! Yay!’ Can we get to the explaining now, please,” Allison said, crossing her arms.
Scarlet sighed and plopped into a plush armchair that materialized out of nowhere.
“I suppose I owe you all an explanation,” The foxes gathered some food and fell silent “I need your help. People are dying and they shouldn’t be,”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Adam hissed to Gansey. Adam was made of a dusty clay, crumbling and wisping off at the slightest movement, sometimes, little bits of gold or jewels would fall out of his skin, and being rebuilt from below just as quickly. Gansey, in contrast was made of paper, his thoughts appearing on his skin in scribbled handwriting. A row of question marks was making its way up his cheek. Pieces flaked off when he moved too quickly, and disintegrated in the air, his thoughts being lost forever into the dust.
“No I don’t mean like ‘you were all supposed to live long, happy lives before I struck you all down in your prime’ I mean like ‘there's a war going on out there somewhere and you're the only people who can help me stop it’. Now, I know I didn’t ask you to, and I know that you probably hate me because I killed all of you, I would. But the fate of the world is at stake. The fate of all magic is at stake. You don’t have to help me, I know I’ve given you no reason to, and you will all be resurrected, regardless of whether or not you help me. But please, standing here before me is the perfect group to save us all. And I am begging, begging you, please help me.” Scarlet was desperate, and here was her reasoning, laid out on the table. People were getting hurt, and she needed to help them.
There was a long silence following Scarlet’s explanation, Allison drummed her jeweled fingers on the wooden table and considered whether or not she wanted to help stop a war.
She took a deep breath and asked “Okay, but what’s in it for us?”
“Allison!” Renee reprimanded. Her new body was breathtaking. Her skin was pitch dark, and she wore blinding white armor to cover it. The two colors clashed spectacularly over her new form.
“No, Ms. Reynolds is right to be asking,” Scarlet spoke like an extra from a nineteen twenties gangster movie. Al Capone’s gay cousin. “You’d be stupid to accept a deal without knowing what you’d get out of it,” The silence stretched on a few lonely moments. Financial problems? Hell yeah, I can help you out. Deep emotional scars? Just want to feel whole again? Well I can’t promise full recovery, but I can definitely promise that I will help you get better. Want fame? Power? Glory? Done, done, done, and done. If none of that appeals to you, I promise that there’s some magic out there that’ll give you what you need. All I ask is that you help me,”
Allison looked over to Renee and raised an eyebrow, Renee sighed and nodded. “Yeah, that’ll do it, I’m in,” Allison agreed.
“Really?” Scarlet seemed genuinely surprised that someone was agreeing this early into her whole ‘woe is me’ speil.
“Me too,” Renee added.
“Count us in,” Dan said, after speaking to Matt for a little
“Not me,” Shauna shook her head and sat down, crossing her arms.
“That’s fair,” Scarlet nodded.
“If you can really do what you’re promising? I’m in,” Jack said, after practically inhaling three bowls of soup.
“What, are you kidding? She just murdered all of us!”
“Temporarily,” Scarlet added.
“Still murder!” Blue said angrily.
“I’m in,” said Henry. He looked almost exactly as he had when he was alive, except that whenever he spoke too fast or got too excited, little lights under his skin twinkled aggressively. He was also… different… somehow. He was Henry, but also something more.
“Henry!” Blue chided.
“Did you not hear her when she said the word ‘war’ Blue? Because I can guarantee that I did. This is our chance to make a difference, to make real change! I’m not giving up this chance.” Henry pointed at Scarlet resolutely “If she says we can help, then I want to do everything I can,”
“I’m not sure what you’d want from me, but I’m in,” Nicky said, his hair grew out of his head in glowing strands of yellow light. Flowers grew across his collarbones.
After a few long moments of silence, Aaron sighed out a “Me too.” He was made out of mottled grey stone, moss grew along his scalp and on his arms and legs like hair.
Kevin, who had been silent until now, said “I’m in”
Blue’s head whipped toward his, betrayed.
“I expect more information, but as of now, I’m in,” Gansey said. Already, doubts started to work their way up his arm. Lying??? Wrong side of war? And questions of that manner snaked their way around his wrist.
“I can’t believe you’re going along with this!” Blue said. Gansey looked like he would rather be anywhere but there, but he didn’t change his mind.
Andrew, who had been silent until now, rasped out a “We’re in”. His voice was scratchy with disuse. There was no question as to who he meant. Neil looked like his skin was made of fabric. Patterned patches and rips ran along his skin.He was even more of a fashion disaster than her.
“Do any of you people who have died that you needed closure with? I can get you that.” Scarlet offered. Every head in the room that hadn’t been looking before was looking at her now.
“I’m in,” Adam and Ronan said, almost simultaneously. Blue looked at them, and then looked at Scarlet, but her mind was swayed. She opened her mouth as if to protest and then looked at the room around her.
Instead she said “Yeah, that’ll do it. I’m in,”
Scarlet let out a whoop of joy. “Yeah! All right! Let’s stop a war!”
///////////
Swan fell asleep curled up next to Skov. Jiang was sleeping on the pull-out couch in the next room. It was his third week working for the Henrietta Gazette as a reporter and he finally felt like he was getting somewhere. Like he was making a name for himself.
Skov had gotten a job at a local bakery (hopefully they kept him near the ovens and away from the counter. He was better with bread than people).
Jiang was happy to live out his days as an unbelievably wealthy young man, but he was writing a book. Swan had read one chapter and had understood about half of it, but Jiang was a genius, and he was going to be somebody when that book hit the shelves.
Swan was unbelievably proud of where they had all gotten since they graduated high school. They were all taking classes at Henrietta’s small community college (much to the chagrin of the entire city of Henrietta) and they were all carving out small niches of their own.
Swan went to sleep feeling content.
His dreams were rudely interrupted by Scarlet.
“Hey! If it isn’t my favorite transporter!”
“I know there’s a cooler word for that,” Swan said to his cousin.
Scarlet flippantly waved a hand “Yeah but it’s in dream language or whatever, I can barely pronounce it,”
“What do you want, Scarlet,” Swan sighed
“Hey, show a little respect, I’m dead,” Scarlet said, the walls of Swan’s dream wavered in shock. “Temporarily, I’m temporarily dead,”
“That’s not a thing!” Swan shouted back at her.
“Calm down, would you? You’ll wake up. I’m in the in-between right now, I’m not fully dead,” Scarlet shrugged. “I need a favor,”
“When don’t you,”
Scarlet scoffed in mock-offense “Can’t your cousin come visit your dreams without you assuming that I want something from you?”
“But you do want something from me,”
“Not the point. Do you still know Morris?” Scarlet’s form wavered.
“Does anyone really know Morris?” Swan asked. “But I’ve got his number, yeah,”
“Cool, this is for his boss,” Scarlet handed him an envelope.
“What do you want from Morris’s boss?” Swan asked.
“Not important, just get it to him,” Scarlet shrugged. “I think I hear your alarm clock, see ya cuz’,” Scarlet disappeared and Swan woke up.
He looked at the envelope in his hands. Scarlet had scribbled in her barely legible writing: To Ichirou Moriyama, with love, From your Scarlet
Swan looked at the envelope, and then the rays of the sun peeking through his window. “Oh Scarlet,” Swan sighed. “What have you gotten yourself into this time,”