Sixty ◑ The House

*Lucille knew that it was a mere memory, that Cadmus couldn't hurt her, but the venom in his voice still made her hesitate.*

*He wandered around, his eyes flitting from one direction to another. His lips were chapped, bleeding from its dryness. He was emaciated. His small, jerky movements emanated a strong kind of bitterness, but she couldn't look away, even as his steps began to falter, even when he sank to his knees with his breathing labored.*

*Then she noticed two figures in the distance, two men lingering in the shadows. One was blond, and one was raven-haired.*

*Fate and Death. Keiran and Dimitri.*

*"His banishment would lead to a spat between Crete and Iolchus." Dimitri looked at his brother. "The people will perish. You know that, right?"*

*Keiran merely nodded, his blue eyes fixed on Cadmus.*

*"He knows, doesn't he?" Dimitri asked. "He knows that Lysandra and Aglaia are alive. He knows about the candle."*

*"I'm afraid so," Keiran said in a low voice. "His wife, after all, was a sorceress, and I believe it's easy for him to think she'd dabbled with magic before her death. He knew her well, even though he didn't care for her."*

*The God of Death stared at Cadmus coldly. "So we'll just let him live and find the women?"*

*"Yes," Keiran said after a beat. "It's his destiny, his punishment. He must live and suffer, try to find them and never get close enough, seek power and fail endlessly. Until, of course, the time comes when they all have to meet."*

*"When will that be?"*

*"I cannot say for sure, but I am certain it won't happen soon." Keiran narrowed his eyes at his brother. "You seem highly concerned."*

*"I believe in justice," Dimitri muttered.*

*Keiran grinned. "Well then." He raised his hand, and slowly a stream of golden light burst forth from his hand. It swirled midair, glowing brighter and brighter as it traveled all the way to Cadmus. "He'll be alive again. He will know what's going on."*

*"How would he if we don't speak with him?"*

*"A vision, of course. Or a dream." Keiran raised an eyebrow. "Dreams are a little more in your realm, am I correct? Why don't you send our old pal a dream?"*

*"What about?"*

*"His fate. His curse. He will live as long as Lysandra and Aglaia lives, but his life would be full of failures."*

*Dimitri hesitated. "You know he'd find them, right? You know he'd try to hurt them."*

*"Not them, just Lysandra." Keiran sighed. "I know it doesn't feel right, but it's their destiny, brother. They're all tied."*

*The moment changed again. This time Cadmus was no longer the thin, dirty, dying man that he had been at the forest of Crete. He was wearing a pristine suit, but the cut and the style was nowhere close to the modern times. She guessed this was probably around the twenties. The flapper dresses of the girls passing him by in the streets confirmed as much.*

*Cadmus was walking briskly, his jaw set. Even though the streets were crowded, his dark eyes never wavered from the two women walking arm in arm a few feet in front of him. The taller one was blonde, and the shorter one was dark-haired.*

*With a jolt, Lucille realized that the women was her and Agnes.*

*He had been following them around. All along he'd been keeping an eye on them.*

*This was only proved by the flashes of memories that followed. Him in Boston where they'd stayed during the second world war, in Florida where they'd settled in during the sixties, and in New York, where they'd found a home.*

*Cadmus, now Cade, was in Paradigm Publishing. There seemed to be a party going on. Lucille recognized Shanry, Jamie, and Clifford happily chatting in the corner of the third floor. Martin was discussing something with Rosie and Mia. Cade himself was alone by the snack table, looking at Mia while putting something in a cup of coffee that he later on handed to her.*

*"Are we still not going to stop him?" Dimitri stepped into view, unseen by all the people in the office party. "Are we still doing nothing about him?"*

*"Yeah, we won't meddle," Keiran answered, following his twin.*

*Dimitri gestured angrily at Cade. "He's about control the mind of that girl." He watched as Cade casually handed the drink to Mia. The god's face contorted in disgust. "I still can't believe you gave him some semblance of a power. Look at him."*

*"I didn't know I have given it." Keiran's voice was barely a whisper. "I was only meaning to sustain him long enough for him to fulfill his destiny. Perhaps the transfer of power was meant to happen."*

*Dimitri turned on his heel. "I'm going to warn Lucille."*

*"Don't." The God of Fate grabbed his hand. "She wouldn't trust you."*

*"Of course she—wait." Dimitri frowned. "*Wouldn't* trust me?"*

*"Yeah, wouldn't." Keiran sighed. "Things are set to happen, okay? She's destined to feel old emotions that would trigger her memories. She's destined to remember. It's the only way she can move forward."*

*That rendered Dimitri speechless. Keiran was being uncharacteristically silent as well. Both of them watched the scene unfold.*

*"I don't like this too," Keiran muttered bitterly, "but it has to happen."*

*The next moments moved like flashes of the outside from a window train, rapid and blurry. Still, Lucille recognized images. Her applying for the job, Cade spending watching her from the office, them being alone in the balcony the first time they kissed as a couple. . . .*

*Then there was Agnes. She was waiting outside Cade's apartment, pacing the hall with her coat pulled tight around her. The moment he appeared at the end of the hallway, she jumped into attention.*

*"Agnes," he said with a hint of confusion, but there was no mistaking the warmth in his voice. "What are you—?"*

*"Let's drop the pretenses," Agnes interrupted. "I know the truth. I was your . . . I was yours. I was your mistress and Lucille was your wife and—"*

*"Let's talk inside." He took her by the wrist and started to lead her towards the door. When she stood her ground, he raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want to know more?"*

*Agnes's eyes widened. "You remembered everything too?"*

*"I never forgot," he said, and then everything shifted again.*

*The memories that followed were the ones that Lucille remembered very well. The night of the launch, the mirror, their dates, the Halloween party. The more she saw, the more she felt that this was some tightly-woven conspiracy, a preordained sequence of events that started with her.*

*And she was the only one who could end it.*

The images flicked faster now, zooming all the way to the fight at the rooftop. She saw Cade escaping, with an unconscious Agnes cradled in his arms. Then he stopped, summoned a portal, and jumped in without a thought.

Lucille thought it would continue to the castle-like place she'd seen in her visions, but it didn't. Instead the colors began to dissolve into nothing but a puddle of darkness.

Her awareness came back. She could sense the water around her now. However, it was as though the waves were moving in circular motions. She felt like she was being stirred into the ocean.

Water whooshed in her ears. Her diaphragm contracted. She wound her arms tighter around the box, pressing it closer against her chest as the spinning motion grew faster and faster.

Afraid that something was amiss, Lucille opened her eyes.

Instead of a deep blue, the water around her had taken a golden color. It was the molten light quality of a portal, and she was getting sucked in. A vague spike of fear stabbed at her chest; she had no idea where this would lead her.

But the scariest thing was still the fact that she would have to be alone on this.

Lucille closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth as the ocean turned into some sort of a whirlpool with her in the middle. It was so intense and so fast that for a second she thought she'd get melted, but the next thing she knew, it had stopped.

And she was falling.

The absence of a steady footing made her eyes snap open. She found herself about three feet midair, whizzing towards the snow-covered ground.

Out of instinct, she curled up, letting herself land smoothly with a roll. The snow crunched beneath her, but it cushioned most of the impact. The only problem was, she was only wearing a dress.

The cold bit into her skin like a million tiny needles. She gasped, causing her breath to fog up. She got to her feet and hugged the golden box, looking around at the mass of white blanketing the hill she was in.

The sky was tinged with crimson, the horizon lined with yellow. Icicles clung on trees. The entire place was picturesque, but what stood out to her was the grand brick structure looming in the distance.

A stone cottage, only it was so big and so tall that it seemed more of a castle, especially with its sloping clay walls and arched windows.

The same style of an arched window that Lucille had seen in her visions of Agnes.

This was it. She knew that in her gut. This seemed just like the type of place that Cade would stay in: dark, ominous, and domineering.

Surely, the man himself was inside.

The man who had married her only for her status, the man who had controlled her and harmed her parents, the man who had later on fallen in love for real.

Lucille took a step forward, expecting to feel an excruciating pain on her bare feet, but to her surprise, she felt nothing.

In fact, the bitter coldness now felt like a gentle breeze on her skin.

Not only that, her entire body was also glowing with a soft red aura.

And it was coming from the box in her arms.

The sheer shock would have made her drop it, but her determination won. With a deep breath she set the box on a nearby boulder. Then, she slowly lifted the lid, inhaled deeply again, and peeked inside.

The candle was gone.

There was no trace of it apart from the shallow pool of melted wax that coated the bottom of the box. Even that was disappearing too. The candle had finally melted completely, which meant that all her memories were back.

But of course, it also meant that certain death—the kind of death that allowed no afterlife—was also very possible for her.

Her throat tightened. She looked at the house once more, trying to picture where Agnes could be held captive, where Cade could be hiding.

Was he preparing for her? Was he already prepared? Was this an elaborate trap for him to finally succeed on what he'd been trying to do? Was this a hoax?

There was no other way to find out, and she was up to answer every remaining question.

With that, Lucille stood up, left the box in the snow, and began to walk towards the house.