“Good heavens! What on earth happened to you!”

The ride over to wherever headquarters ended up being wasn’t exactly the chattiest I’ve ever experienced. I thought the air was tense before we had lost Mr. Caputo, but that was just the nervous energy that I personally had. He and Sarah really had made it seem like this was old hat for them, that everything was fine now and it would just be an easy fall drive down to bumfuck egypt to fix things. I think we had actually let them all convince me we were safe now.

No, it's the ride after that was tense. The air around us had soured and festered like a warm wound. Sarah was terrified for her father, and fuming that things had gone so wrong so quickly - she was practically white knuckle driving the rest of the way there, only barely glancing back at the rest of us. I was the near opposite, practically catatonic. Either worn out from panicking or fighting that I had been doing, I barely had the energy to do more than just lay in the back seat and breath heavily. Joey resorted to staring out the window after getting enough tired one word responses from me or angry curt responses from Sarah. Eventually giving up and muttering how he was only making things worse.

Even my stowaway had clammed up after the diner. I would imagine she would have something to yammer on about, or even just find more stray thoughts to mock floating around. But no, she was entirely silent the entire remainder of the trip. She seemed reluctant to speak with me after our fight in the bathroom, but she has just gone full silent now. We all kinda did. Turns out even ageless hellspawn aren’t immune to bad vibes.

No, we made the rest of the trip in stone silence. We basically only stopped once more for gas and some snacks to keep us from passing out - Sarah running into the kwiktrip, me hiding in the back seat in fear, and Jo standing watch out the window, as if he could really do anything if that thing showed up again. But no - Sarah comes back with a couple rotisserie dogs and some waters and we zip off scott free. And from there we puttered on over to “headquarters”, arriving just as sundown started to hit.

Honestly, I’m not really sure what I expected. Maybe it was on me picturing some massive military base, or at least a Waco ass encampment. Or maybe some grand cathedral with spires and stained glass everywhere. No, it was just some little quaint one floor office looking building. Nothing would stand out about it other than it was really in the middle of nowhere. It looked less a command center and more like a dentist’s office. 

So, the first voice I really heard other than my own since the diner was that sweet little receptionist horrified at just how torn to shreds I was. We all tried freshening up the best we could in the parking lot before coming in, but there’s only so much a bottle of water and a carbound shave can do for someone whose shoulder is torn to shreds.

She runs out from behind the front desk to grab me by the shoulders and look me up and down. “Hon, do you need me to call you an ambulance? When did this even happen? Poor thing, you look like you’ve been chewed up and spit back out!”

I shake my head and simply nod over to Sarah, letting her take the lead responding. “Uh, ma’am, we’re here to speak to the high priestess. This is the Caputo party. Dad called a few days ago to talk about an unintended possession and partial summon? We’re here about that.” She glanced around a little sheepishly, grabbing at her arm. “It, uh, got more complicated since the call.”

The little blonde receptionist turned to look at her, still holding onto me. “Ah, that’s serious! Yes, we’ve been waiting on you to arrive then! Is your dad coming in with you soon?”

Sarah’s eyes quivered as she looked down sharply, shaking her head. “It got complicated.”

The receptionist… I look to her nametag to see what her actual name is. ‘Betty’ gasps a little and nods. “You poor things… I’ll go run and tell the priestess you’re here. Let’s put you in a waiting room quickly first. If you will?” She waves us over to follow us to a little side room, with a table and a water cooler set up. It’s probably a little side meeting room. Joey leans over on a back wall, his arms crossed. Sarah and I plop down at the table, me with a glass of water in my hand. “The boss will be here in a few minutes. You kids just settle down here and wait patiently.”

I look down into my water glass, wiggle it around and watch the waves jiggle inside. “So this is it then? We get Lucy out of my head, and then we just... go back to normal?” I look up to Sarah, who’s still staring down at her feet. “That’s the plan, right? What you wanted when you and Lucy started this? Normalcy?”

She looks taken aback by that for a second, and then starts pointing her finger in my face, a bit agitated. “What I started! It would have been finished if I was just allowed to do what I was doing. Don’t you dare lay the blame on me!”

“Whoa whoa! Sarah, I wasn’t trying to blame you for anything, I’m sorry.” I throw my hands up defensively. “All I was trying to say is, that, like, we made it! Right? This is the end of the road. They fix it for us, find your dad with a search party, and then we're done, right.”

Joey knocks against the wall he’s leaning on. “Exactly. We get the professionals to do their magic, and then we can all go back to how it was. Us all laughing at some dumbass movie or whatever. Doing community college. Normal shit.”

She seems to deflate at this. “No. There’s no normal for us, there’s no going back. I was an idiot to think there was ever a leaving in the first place.” She shuffles in her seat and crumples, and I want to reach out to her so badly. “You promised me Dad would be here. That’d we’d hear from him. Well, my phone’s been silent. And he’s not here.” She sniffles a bit. I want to reach across the table to grab her hand, do anything to comfort her.

But before I can, there’s a knock at the door that startles the lot of us. In comes Betty with another woman tailing behind ‘er. “Ladies and gentleman, presenting Clara Declue, the high priestess!” In walks… perhaps one of the most mundane looking women I’ve ever seen. Small, silver haired, slightly wrinkled, wearing an incredibly basic blouse and long skirt. She just jangles her way to the conference table and sits down with a little smile. Honestly, out of everything I’m most shocked that the quote unquote high priestess basically looks like a little schoolmarm. 

‘No, that’s Clara alright. Poor woman wouldn’t know pomp and circumstance if it bit her~’ Ah, she’s back then. Where were you off, digging around in my head for more blackmail then? ‘Just wishing this fucking trip was over, Snowbelle. You’re not interesting enough to blackmail.’ 

“Ahem. Well then.” Miss Declue seems to be finished settling herself in, folding her neatly trimmed nails together under her chin. “I’d bid you both a warm welcome to the church, and you a cheery evening Sarah. But it seems like the three of you had been through a little bit of hell recently. Care to fill me in on what’s happening?”

Joey sits himself down at the table first. “So you’re on a first name basis with Sarah then? The supposed leader of the monster mash just knows you? How convenient.”

Miss Declue gives a little old lady giggle, like an owl hooting into the night. “My my, yes. Very fortunate. Carl has always worked pretty close with me, until he decided to take some family leave. Due to that, I’ve had the pleasure to see my little Sarah growing into a fine young woman. And sweet Lucile by her side the whole way. So yes child, thank your lucky stars you had nepotism backing you up.” She cackles at her own comment.

I interject quickly at the idea of Sarah’s father. “Ma’am, speaking of Mr. Caputo. On our way up here, we ended up being separated. Is there any way you could use something here to find him?”

She waves her fingers off in front of me. “Don’t worry kids. We have plenty of eyes out there on the ground, and we have our own ways of finding people. Plus, Carl is a capable man. I am sure he is fine, Sarah.” She put a reassuring hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened that has you all so worried?”

Sarah nods and begins to spill. “A few nights ago, me and Lucy… We tried to do a separation on our own. You always told us what naturals we were… Anyways. We had almost had it completed, when Dad came barging in with my friend here.” Ouch. ‘Back down to friend huh? Already downgrading?’ Shut up.

Miss Declue just nods along with Sarah’s story. “And what may I ask are these friend’s names, if they are so inclined to share?”

Jo goes ahead and takes the reins on that, probably happy he has anything to contribute at all. “Hey, I’m Joey. I don’t really fit into the story at all, I’m just here for moral support to my main man Liam here. He’s the one who actually needs help.” He smiles at me, and I just sink into my seat. I… really wish he didn’t do that. I guess it’s fine though. No need to bother this stranger with any confusion.

Sarah gives me a sympathetic look, but I just nod and shrug. She shakes her head a little before continuing. “Anyways. When, uh, Liam came in, they broke the circle, and everything came crashing down. Lucy went into them, and her body got rejected halfway through formation and went haywire. Dad managed to restrain it once we realized what was happening, and placed that call with you for help. The strange thing is, we made a pit stop and it had managed to find us there after hours on the road. There’s no reason it should have been able to catch us as soon as we got into the car…” 

Miss Declue simply inhales and shakes her head. “My my kids, you have been through quite the predicament already! Don’t worry, your troubles are over now. The church will take care of it.” She got up and stretched, waving us on. “Follow me everyone, we’ll walk and talk, and I’ll show you to where the chamber is being prepped.”

Scuttling behind her, the three of us like little ducks on the way to the slaughter. “We’ve been setting this up expecting you a couple days from now, but we should be fine by tonight. This here is one of our lillum safehouses - the front is set up like a simple office space, and the back has your living amenities and open rooms.” She nods over to a row of empty rooms, some with lights on at the very end. “What we’re going to be doing is essentially the same separating ritual that Sarah attempted, with its own little nuances due to the way accidental possession works.”

She throws open some double doors, showing us a gaggle of people and… monsters, scrubbing and painting a circle on the ground, lighting candles everywhere. “Now, unfortunately, with the body in the wild like that, we of course don’t have the proper amenities set for Lucile. However, we can get by with a simple donor body - I promise you that we’ll get one close to what you’d really have. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll last the time needed to hunt down what’s left of that body and let it heal again.”

I see a scraggly looking mass of limbs shlorp closer to me, bowl in hand, asking for my palm. Miss Declue simply nods at me, so I let it pull my hand and cut open the palm with a sting, trying not to freak out that it even exists at all. It’s not like one more wound would do all that much in the long run. As it does so, I can feel Lucy pushing her way out of my throat. “And what if you can’t find it then? Am I just doomed to be a charity case forever, to shamble around in ill fitting donors for the rest of my natural life?” I unintentionally snort at that, imagining some ageless demon from the dawn of time complaining about what it’s got left to live for. I get a sideways look from the limbs dude as he bandages my hand up with a little neosporin and some gauze wrap.

Miss Declue touches my shoulder softly. “Don’t worry child - we’re going to find that body, just like we’re going to find your father. We’re going to take good care of you all. That’s a promise children. Now then! We still have a few hours to finish tuning the process to you two dears. Feel free to wait in one of the spare rooms, rest, do whatever until we come calling.”

The three (or four?) of us shuffle our way back over to the dorms, all filing into one of the rooms. Joey starts up first, leaning up on and slapping his hands against the spokes of a bed. “So then. This is it. Few hours we’d be situated and then no more worries. Heading back home. Gotta say, maybe the worst weekend trip of my entire life, and I’ll thank the fucking lord it’s over.”

Sarah looks at the ground forlorn. “You can. I’m… I’m going to stay here. Like I was saying. There is no normal anymore. My dad’s missing. He’s probably... It doesn’t matter where I go right now. So I’ll stay here and wait. Maybe help out.” She looks up to me. “It’s a good place for us to stay for a while, they always need the help. And Clara is such a sweetheart, you’ll really love her.” Wait. Us?

I gulp and shake my head. “Sarah… I don’t know… that’s such a commitment to jump into right now. What about my family? I can’t just leave everything behind me!”

She scoffs, confused. “What about your family? The two bigots who just threw you out? Do you even think they’ll let you back in?”

Wait, how is this being turned on me now? “They’re not that bad Sarah. I’m sure things will have blown over by now. This isn’t the first blow up we’ve had after all. Not even about this stuff. It’ll all calm down and they’ll have worked everything out of their systems. It can just be Sarah and Liam again. Things can just go back to how they’ve always been. That’s what we wanted right? Normal?” 

I lean in to touch her shoulder, but she simply gives me a wide eyed look and slaps my arm away. “No. Nono, this can’t be happening. I’m going to lose you too because you’re a goddamn coward? Not that bad? They threw you out like you were trash, told you that you were less than nothing! And you want to go back? Losing Lucy hurt, Losing Dad was too much, now I lose everyone over nothing!”

Now I’m starting to get mad. I cross my arms and huff my way over to the bed. “Hey! You don’t know a fucking thing about my parents! Just because you saw a little bit of the bad doesn’t mean I don’t know what my life has been!”

Joey walks over and puts his hand on my shoulder, raising his other in Sarah’s direction. “Liam, Sarah, let’s cool our jets here. I’m a little in the dark here, but let’s take a breath. There’s no reason to have this blowup right before everything gets sorted out. Let’s cool it down a little?”

I just shake my head violently. ‘Snowbelle, he’s right, you should calm down.’ No! I am so fucking sick of being told what to think and feel all the time! “No, fuck this. I don’t deserve to be yelled at over things that haven’t been my fault! They’re going to find your Dad, Sarah. I wasn’t the one who made him stay behind, that was all him!” ‘Snowbelle, seriously, stop it now.’ “Oh shut the fuck up Lucy. I’m sorry you’re going to lose your little biblical era mommy dom that you didn’t even like, but you’re the one who kicked her out! You’re the one who let her in in the first place! Stop acting like you’re blameless for starting this thing!” 

Sarah is now turning flush red. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this angry. “You self absorbed asshole! When are you ever going to stop jumping to conclusions and acting like you’re the only one who ever knows anything when you know jack shit! Lucy is my fucking little sister you douchebag!” What? How does that even work?

“Was.” Her smokey voice pushes out my mouth once more. I can feel our hot tempers mixing. “I was your little sister. But then you decided you didn’t need me anymore. That I’m disposable, that you just wanted your little two point five children and your white picket fence and your ‘respectable’ life as one of the good ones with your little project here. You wanna tell them Sarah? How you want to get on your high horse with my fuck up when I just wanted to make my big sister happy? The girl who saved my goddamned life when I was an eight year old! And how you never got fucking over that one little mistake! And yet the second you find someone you think you can see the same in, you get so fucking giddy you can play headhunter? You know what, I’m glad I’m taking them away from you on the way out. Maybe you’ll finally have that loneliness you so desperately fucking wanted!” 

She picks up a water bottle laying on the counter next to her and whips it right at our face, beaning me in the forehead. “Go back to hell Lucy! I didn’t want you gone! You begged to leave! To ‘have your own life, to be your own woman’, whatever the fuck that means! It’s your own fault that you wanted to leave!” Joey starts rubbing my head where she whipped that thing at me. “And you! I see how this is. I was so fucking right to know this would be too much for you. I just got rid of the wrong half of the equation.”

I scramble, trying to calm down. This is getting way too heated way too quickly. “Sarah, what are you talking about? I still want to be with you! Even through this all, I just want what we had!”

“Sure, and that’s why you haven’t gotten off your fucking boytoy’s lap since the second you found out about Lucy, huh! I see you two canoodling in the backseat the entire fucking miserable car ride. If you want to go back to your old life, Liam, that’s fucking fine by me. Enjoy jumping his bones in the dead of night while you hide behind your bigot parents backs!” And with that, Sarah runs out the room in tears, slamming the door behind her.

I simply shake my head, pressing my fingers hard into my temples, trying to force some serenity back into my life. I let out a long frustrated “argh!” and slump back onto the bed behind me. “Joey, what the fuck was that. Why did either of us do that. How am I going to fix this! … Jo?” I peek one of my eyes open to see him still just sitting there, staring at me. “Jo? What are you doing?”

“Ok, Liam. I’ve gotta say this or I’m not going to be happy with myself.”

No no no no, I just jump to my feet on this. “Oh go fuck yourself Jo. Really! Really? Really. Really! Now? Now.”

He shakes his head. “I have to, it’s gotta be off my ches…”

“Now?! Now. Right fucking now. In the middle of…” I gesture wildly. “All of fucking this! Now?!”

“Yes! Fucking now! Liam, I’m in love with you.” I just throw my arms up in the air and let them slam against my legs. “Fuck you Liam. You’re amazing and you’re wonderful and we’ve been growing so distant to each other over the last few months but it’s fine. I know, I’m a fucking douchebag for saying it, but I needed to say it or else this was going to fucking blowup sometime down the lane. There, it’s out there. Do whatever you want with it. You mean the world to me and I’ve been so scared for my life. When I saw that thing behind you I thought ‘we’re going to fucking die’ followed immediately by ‘It’s going to take you away and I couldn’t live with myself without you there.’ There. I said it, you know it, it’s out there. Go, chase after your girlfriend or whatever.”

I flip him double birds, with one last “Thanks Jo. Right fucking now. Like I’m not busy here.” This time it’s my turn to slam the door behind me.

‘God. I want a cigarette. I’m so sick of this pathetic little group.’ We stomp our way out to the door, into the parking lot. I don’t know if either on my rage or on her apparent disgusting cigarette addiction. I stomp around out there, grunting and whining like an asshole. I walk to the nearest shitheap car and slam my head against it, screaming, before sliding down the back of it to mope. “We’re fucked, aren’t we Lucy.” ‘That we are kid.’ “Aren’t you the kid actually? Big tough Lucile is actually a little scared girl huh?” I hear a playful scoff in my head. ‘Shut up Snowbelle.’ I scoff and laugh in turn, and slam my arm against the back of the van who’s stoop step I’m sitting on. 

‘You know what Snowbelle? I think I can live with donor bodies. It’s not like I’ve seen mine since I was a little kid. They had a cute little redhead set up in the circle today. I can handle being a redhead.’ I sit there and rap my fingers against the van I’m sitting at. “You’re fiery enough to be one, that’s for sure.” Tap tap tap on the white van. ‘You’re going to have to apologize for starting that, you know.’ Fingers rubbing up over to the splotch. “You’re going to have to apologize for a lot more than that, Lucy.” On the white van. “The familiar white van.” ‘With a big splotchy red handprint in the back of it.’

“Oh fuck me.” I hear a screaming coming from the inside the building, and for whatever dumbass reason I go bolting in.

CassieSandwich

Well it's a god given fact -
That you can't go back, no you can't go back.

Hey y’all! I just wanna thank you for giving my work a read! I also want to give a big shout out to Morri (author of the very entertaining Thaw) for keeping me sane and at least somewhat focused on writing~

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