Kalei was at the training center when she felt something was wrong.
She promptly got up from her chair, tied her shoes, and left. They tried to stop her, telling her it was dangerous to go alone. She ignored them and flew off. She, just like all of Santos’ descendants, knew something was wrong.
They had never felt this feeling before, as over the years he had become almost invincible. She landed at the front entrance of the academy and stumbled. She was still bad at landing, as she finally learned how to fly, but she was just happy she still didn’t go as fast as she used to, unable to stop and simply crashing to the ground.
She unlike the many others wasn’t wearing a costume. She couldn’t decide. After dance practice, she simply came over, still in her yoga pants and pink sports bra. Kalei regretted ever having come and hoped that the shield would finally break, but it wouldn’t.
She had already flown to the top, due to someone else’s suggestion. Mary Jane held on as Kalei flew her to the top. Instead of the beacon returning to Earth, it simply hit Mary Jane back with twice the force, and Kalei had to rush down and rescue her before she died.
Kalei had long given up ever escaping and wondered how long they would last now that everyone knew there was no way out. Quickly she walked through the halls. There were no walking corpses, but plenty of dead bodies.
She was utterly baffled as throughout the past day they had terrorized everyone, and now they all just collapsed, as if they were taking a nap. She pinched her nose as now the corpses were deteriorating, and the smell of blood, feces, and death seeped through the walls.
Like a carrier pigeon, she knew where to go.
The closer she got to her destination the more confused she became. Kalei wondered why all the dead bodies leading to the gym were missing hands and suspected that she was about to meet one of the smart ones the survivors told her about at the Training Center.
She stopped in front of the gym doors, and she knew she had arrived at her destination. Without hesitation, she flung them wide open, and everyone inside turned to stare at her. Deceit was smearing Santos’ face with something black and tarry.
“Eat it, bitch,” she sneered. “Eat it!” Santos didn’t move as she was on top of him, pushing his head into the ground into the black slime.
The many corpses in the room glared at her silently. Dead teenagers in costumes filled the gym, and the cute Halloween banner seemed to mock them. The music was still playing, but the sound was warped after being on for hours.
“Get off of my grandpa,” Kalei screamed.
“Damn, he really gets around,” Deceit mumbled.
The only resemblances she had to Santos were her intense eyes and black hair. Deceit stood up and smirked at her.
“Get lost,” she shouted. “The adults are busy!”
Kalei’s eyes glowed a deep red, and suddenly wind pushed out of her.
The walls in the gymnasium shattered, the corpses' weak skin shredded, and the decorations tore and fell to the ground. The plastic floor was torn up from the brutality of her rage, the DJ booth fizzled out, and the music finally stopped.
“Leave him alone,” she bellowed.
“Amazing,” Deceit exclaimed. “I should kill you next.”
Santos got up, groggy and tired.
“Leave her alone,” he slurred.
Deceit grinned and gave him a command. “Take me to the grave of Michael Slater.”
Santos laughed at her, but suddenly his body started to move on its own. He grabbed her by the waist and picked her up. He unfurled his wings and Kalei ran up to him, confused as to why he was carrying the woman who was hurting him.
“Tell her it's all okay,” Deceit whispered.
“It's all okay,” Santos said. “I’ll be back.”
Kalei yelled after them, but he shot out the doors, down the halls, and out of the building. Kalei ran down the halls and tried her hardest to keep up, but soon she lost them. She closed her eyes, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t sense them.
For the first time ever the hive was cut off from him, and panic ensued. They were sure he was dead.
He wasn’t dead, but he wished he was.
Santos landed at a small spot near Lake Sarai. He gently let Deceit down to the ground, and she looked around, confused as to where they were.
“This isn’t the graveyard,” she said. “This can’t be the place.”
“It is,” Santos sighed. “He’s not in the graveyard.”
“I went to his tomb and it was empty!”
“They moved his coffin after people tried to rob his corpse multiple times. Can I go now?”
“Sit, bitch,” Deceit sneered. Suddenly his knees fell to the ground, and he couldn’t stand.
“What did you do,” he screamed.
“You have some of me inside of you,” she moaned, moving her hips and giggling. “I think that’s pretty hot.”
“I think you’re fucking nasty."
“Don’t be like that Lyrica. I’ll give you some more of my blood later.”
“That black shit was your blood,” Santos shrieked.
“Shut up and take me to his body.”
He got up and took her to a large willow tree. Underneath it was a simple stone plaque, reading MICHAEL WILLIAM SLATER, HERO, FATHER, AND FRIEND.
“Get it out for me,” she told him.
Santos cried silently as Deceit watched him dig up the grave of his friend.
“Why the fuck are you crying,” she asked.
“He’s my friend,” Santos rasped. “Leave him alone.”
“Oh shit. This is some serious schadenfreude.”
He begged for forgiveness as he dug up his friend’s body. The dome thundered above, the heat trapped inside, the sound of rain coming down heavier than his red tears as he clawed his way through the mud and dirt.
He had finally made his way down, exhausted and filthy. Santos crawled out of the grave and collapsed onto the grass, still and blank-faced. Deceit tapped him with her foot and then rolled her eyes when he didn’t move.
Santos had passed out from blood loss.
Deceit peered down the hole, and inside was a white coffin, with the symbol for eternity on it. It was quite large, and once she opened it, she saw the skeletons of Sara and Michael, together forever, even in death.
Eager to desecrate their grave, she stood over the skeletons and retched black tar over them. She shuddered and waited patiently as it seeped into their fragile remains. It soaked into their bones, turning them black like coal, and they started to click into place.
“Damn,” she mumbled. “I guess this takes longer if they’re nothing but bones.”
There wasn’t much left of them to work with, but Deceit was willing to be patient. All that was left to get Acheus again, destroy the dome, and she would stand by her father’s side, for all eternity.
She climbed out of the hole and sat under the yellow weeping willow tree. From the hills near Lake Sarai, she could see everything. The entire burnt campus was her kingdom, and Deceit wanted to make this spot her domain.
When her father would rise again she knew this would be the perfect place to build an Empire. She had ambitions and plans to take the entire seventh realm, and once she had created one to rival the Empire in size, they would take over each and every one.
Her delusions of grandeur were interrupted by Santos, who stirred awake.
“Go get me Ace while I wait for them to finish cooking. Bring him back alive.”
He crawled on the ground until he reached the weeping willow and used its trunk to pull himself back up.
“You’re going to die this time. I’ll make sure of it,” he promised. "These last few weeks have repeated too many times!"
Santos flew off, and Deceit rolled her eyes and tried to get the black tar out from under her nails. Everyone always told her she would die, yet here she was. At the top of her hill overlooking her kingdom of death and despair, never feeling better in her life.
