Skeleton Keys (on hold)

Chapter Twenty One

Apollo reassured me that it was okay that Lizzy and I hung out in the apartment, and even promised to stay out of the way. I would have to think of a way to make it up to him somehow. Even though I was right about the apartment being mine, I felt like the space was his now.

I had rushed out to get food and was just finishing putting everything away in the kitchen when Apollo called from the front of the store. "She's here."

I came down in time to see Apollo unlocking the door to let her in. I made my way over to give her a tight hug.

"I am so sorry, Lizzy."

She shook her head against me. "This was a great idea, thanks for having me over." She stepped back, and turned to Apollo. I introduced them.

"Lizzy, this is Apollo. He helps Dad and I with the store."

They shook hands.

"If you need me, I am going to work in the back office a bit," Apollo said and disappeared, leaving us alone.

"So, this is what Grandpa left you?" Lizzy asked, letting her eyes pass over the antiques.

The main lights were off, so just one or two of the lights in the back were on, making most of the room dark. I did notice that Apollo had closed the door to the portal.

"Yeah, it's just a bunch of old stuff though. Come up stairs. I was just thinking about opening a bottle of wine."

I took her up the back stair case and showed her around the main level of the apartment.

"What's up those stairs?" She asked as I poured her a glass of Cabernet.

I could feel the blush rise to my cheeks. "Uh, that's Apollo's room. He rents it. From me now, I guess."

She raised her eye brows, but didn't say anything. I almost wished she had. At least I'd have known what she was thinking. We made pizza, a Hawaiian for us to split and a pepperoni for Apollo. As we talked, Apollo came up to join us for dinner. Well, if you consider a brief 'hey' before grabbing a plate and hiding in your room, joining us for dinner.

"Thanks for this. It feels nice to get out of the house and away from all the kids for a bit." Lizzy said as we sat down to watch some tv. "I think that's what I'm worried the most about with all this. I just don't know how they'll take it. And it breaks my heart that I have to tell them."

I turned it to the movie channel, hoping that there was a good comedy on and not a drama or romantic love story. I'm sure that was the last thing Lizzy would want to watch. "You shouldn't have to tell them alone. Make him sit down with you and you both tell them together."

The screen went fuzzy while I was trying to look at the guide, and I tried turning the channel. All of them were like that. The TV was old, it even had rabbit ears on it, but there didn't seem to be anything else that could've been wrong with it.

"Is there something up with the cable, maybe?" Lizzy asked.

I turned the cable box off, and waited a few seconds before turning it back on again. I tried tapping the side and the TV, and when that didn't do anything, I gave it a hard slap on the side. Hard enough to sting my hand.

"You're beating up the TV now?" Apollo said, coming down from his room with an empty plate in his hand.

"Funny. Have you had trouble with the cable here before? The all the channels are fuzzy."

He set his plate on the counter and came over. He took the remote and flipped through some the of channels. He even took a peak behind the TV where all the cables were. When he looked up, he said causally to me, "Mary, you have got your keys on you right?"

I pulled them free of my sweater, showing him that they still hung on the necklace that Hypnos had given me.

"I can't get any reception here," Lizzy called over from wondering around the kitchen with her cellphone. "I was going to try and call the cable company and see if they were having issues."

I pulled my phone out and glance down at my own reception. I had none.

"Mary, why don't you take Lizzy back to your father's place? Since the movie isn't going to work-" Apollo stopped his sentence short as the lights started to flicker.

"What's happening?" Lizzy asked, a hint of concern in her voice as she stepped closer to me. "Does your building have power issues?"

"I don't know-" I started to say.

"We need to get out of here, now." Apollo said, moving towards us.

I didn't have a clue as to what was going on, but the urgency in Apollo's voice bothered me. I'd never heard him sound like that. I took Lizzy's hand and started pulling her towards the stairs, but something grabbed me from behind.

In the next instant, everything went dark and it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room. I panicked, but found I couldn't move. The seconds ticked by, each an eternity of their own, before I stumbled and found myself down stairs, in front of the training room. I looked behind me. Lizzy was crying on the floor, looking up at me with a confused and frightened face. Apollo was letting go of the back of my shirt.

"Did you just-" I started to ask, but he interrupted me.

"You know that rule about not showing your Scythe around normal people?" Apollo said, moving to stand between the front of the store and Lizzy and I.

"Yeah," I said.

Apollo held up his hand, his black staff appearing in a flash of orange smoke. "Now would be a good time to break it." 

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Thanks for reading! Vote/Comment/Fan if you enjoyed this week's chapter.  Chapter 22 will be posted on 1/6/16. <3 J.D.