Fifty-Six ◑ The Return

*"What did you do?" Cadmus's voice was low, dangerously so. "Why is she here? Why is that. . . ?"*

*He faltered abruptly. Waves of disbelief rolled off of him in massive amounts, engulfing Lysandra until she was gasping for air. "You made me do this. This is what you caused. . . ."*

*Cadmus crossed the room, grabbed her hair, and flung her towards the table. Her mouth collided against the edge, and she felt her lips getting busted. Blood flowed down her chin, flooding her mouth with a sharp, coppery taste.*

*Sobbing dryly, he collapsed on his knees and cradled Aglaia's head. With tears finally flowing down his cheeks, he yanked off the bracelet even though it stung his fingers, then he buried his face in her hair, his shoulders shaking. He held her body tight, close to his own body, like he was all but prepared to come and join her.*

*But it was Lysandra's sanity that died with Aglaia that moment. It was her heart, her essence. From then on, until that samr night when Cadmus would come to kill her, she had become a husk of her former self.*

*She had killed a woman. A woman who would later on become the most important person in her life.*

Lucille's eyes snapped open. The first thing that invaded her blurry sight was the cloudless blue sky of the late afternoon. Standing out from the green hills, as clear as day, was the Hollywood sign.

She turned to her side, overcome with a strange prickling sensation at the back of her throat. It only intensified when she noticed that the structures in the near distance were not as many nor as grand as the ones she remembered clearly. All of them looked outdated but new. A nearby sign from a stucco house showed her in big bold letters: 1952.

Fifties. She'd just transported them a hundred years into the future without actually seeing the portal.

In a brief moment of panic, she thought she'd gotten there alone. However, one turn to her right confirmed that the twins were right there beside her, wearing matching expressions of horror that quickly turned into relief when their gazes met hers.

Dimitri was covered in brown muck like she was, but he was trying to wipe her arms with the spare robe. Keiran was holding the box, his hair slicked up and dirty, supporting her weight with one arm.

One sob escaped Lucille's lips. Then another. Soon enough, tears were running down her face. Even though the motion made her head spin, she sat up and enclosed the two gods in a tight embrace.

Her heart was being ripped out. There was no other way to describe it. Her flashback played over and over in her head like a broken record, giving her snippets of what she'd done, of who she'd done it to.

Aglaia. Agnes. Her best friend. Her sister. Her first victim.

Lucille was a murderer. She always had been, apparently. Right from the very beginning, she was a killer. She was the killer of the person she'd loved most in this world.

She cried on Dimitri and Keiran's pressing shoulders, keeping them close to her in the hopes of feeling something else but this sharp pain. Their warmth definitely soothed the thorns in her chest, but it did nothing to ease the growing ache of longing inside of her.

Right now, she wanted nothing more but to see Agnes again and ask for her forgiveness, even though what she'd done was not worthy of it.

She just wanted to be with Agnes.

The yearning rose to an unbelievable peak. It reached to the tips of her toes, to her fingertips. It clawed at her throat, even as the gods both wrapped their arms around her.

"Lucille," Keiran whispered, and the single mention of her name told her that he knew what she'd seen, that he knew perfectly well what was going on.

Dimitri kissed the top of her head, saying something she couldn't make out in soft, comforting tones.

This should've made her feel better in a way, but it didn't. It only made her own questions scream louder: Did Agnes herself know that Lucille was her killer? If she did, was that the reason why she'd turned on her? Why had she turned on her in the first place?

But if she didn't know, would she ever forgive Lucille? Or would she turn on her again and this time bring her the end?

◑≡◑≡◑≡◑

Three days passed. Lucille, Dimitri, and Keiran managed to find an inn that would accommodate them.

It was a small, dingy place by the sea with sand-covered floors and peeling wallpapers. They were the only ones staying there, apart from the owner who'd taken them in. The old woman had been either feeling too sorry for them, or afraid of them because of their dirty, odd appearances.

Either way, the woman's generosity allowed them to lay low for an entire day after their travel. She'd given them clothes and food, while keeping to herself on the porch, watching the sea.

Lucille had been staring at the sea through the top floor all this time as well, frozen and numb.

She was still staring at it now, as the sun began to set over the horizon.

"We'll talk about it," Keiran had been telling her since they'd arrived, but none of them had been able to bring it up. Even Dimitri couldn't say anything about it.

Every night, Lucille would be in her room, on her bed, trying to sink into a vision that would allow her to see Agnes in her cell. Nothing had worked. And she would feel that wave of devastation all over again.

Perhaps the bracelet was still stopping her. She glanced at it now as the orange glow of the setting sun settled over her through the dirty window pane. The corroded gold had gotten worse, the ruby now nearly black. Other than that, it was intact, clinging on her wrist like a bitter reminder.

Tears once again welled in her eyes. This must have been Cade's version of a joke. Giving Lucille the same bracelet she'd used to kill her best friend in another life.

But she deserved to be punished for this. Everything that was happening to her now—all of this was well deserved.

Perhaps she should just stay in the past and fade.

Perhaps she should just transport the two gods to the present and let it go.

Lucille shook her right arm to make the bracelet slide back into the loose sleeve of her sweater, but to her surprise, the bracelet fell off her wrist and landed on the wooden floor.

“Dimitri,” she tried to call out, but she hadn’t spoken in so long that her voice was barely audible. She leapt off the chair instead, picking up the bracelet with shaking fingers before heading towards the door to share the news to the twins.

However, before she could close her hand over the brass knob, the door swung open and nearly hit her in the face.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Keiran said immediately upon taking one step inside the room. In his arms was the golden candle box. “Did I hit you?”

“I told you to be careful!” Dimitri hissed behind him.

The God of Fate looked abashed. “Sorry, Lucille.”

“You didn’t hit me,” she said breathlessly, stepping back to allow them to come inside. “I was just about to go out.”

“Oh.” Dimitri stopped halfway to closing the door behind him. “Where are you going?”

“To see you guys.” She raised the corroded, faded bracelet for them to see. “I have news.”

The twins gaped at the bracelet. For an entire moment none of them were able to speak, then they began to grab at the bracelet at the same time. The sight of them nudging each other, muttering furiously with their too-tight shirts and came across as comical, eliciting a smile from Lucille, but. her facial muscles seemed to have malfunctioned completely. All she could do was release the bracelet to avoid their greedy grips.

“Holy shit,” Keiran said after they finished fretting over the bracelet. He set it down on the small wooden table in the middle of the room with the golden box and sat sloppily on the floor. “So this means you can do magic now.”

“Oh, wait.” Lucille held her palm open, and instantly, a single lick of orange flames began to dance between her fingers. “Maybe I can take us out of here now!”

She directed her magic at the square window, hoping to turn it into a swirling vortex that would transport them to where Agnes was, but nothing happened. The fire in her hand died, and the window stayed a window.

“Ah.” Dimitri’s eyes narrowed. “I think there really is just one way to get out of here, and the bracelet has very little control over it.”

“I don’t understand,” she mumbled, sitting on the floor next to Keiran, who was still examining the bracelet on the table. “It’s supposed to work now. We need to get out of here fast.”

“You’re right,” Keiran agreed, taking the pendant between his thumb and index finger. “Agnes needs us.”

Lucille’s heart tumbled. “What did you say?” When the twins only glanced at each other, she said more forcefully, “How did you know?”

"Um, your last vision kind of got shared with us,” Dimitri said with an awkward shrug. "We saw . . . everything."

She bit her lip, her eyes stinging. No wonder they'd been tiptoeing around her for the past three days.

"Agnes is not going to die, if that's what you're worried about." Keiran shifted uncomfortably. "She'll be able to live. She's just suffering from the consequences of their love."

"But I need to save her." Her voice cracked. "I need her."

"Your next jump would be the last," Dimitri said. "You'll be able to find her and save her now."

"Also, you should see this." Keiran cleared his throat and took the golden box from the table. After a moment's hesitation, he opened it right in level with Lucille's line of sight. "It's . . . well, you already see."

Lucille peeked into the box, only to be met with the sight of the short stub of wax. Only about half an inch now, with the flame still very much alive and melting the wax at that exact moment. The way it merrily swayed in the breeze made it look like a mockery.

She sat back as he replaced the lid, pursing her lips before saying, "So this is the end."

"For better or for worse, yes," Dimitri agreed. "We can make it, though. And we will."

“Damn straight.” Keiran's face lit up as he got to his feet. With a dramatic flair, he jogged towards the window and pushed it open, allowing cool, salty wind to fill the room. “Tonight, we shall make the jump. Come take a look, Lucille.”

Even though she was baffled, she decided to play along and peer outside, at the long stretch of the terracotta beach. “The sea? You want to use the sea as a portal?”