House of the Damned

The Realization

Sixteen

The Realization

Venus is sitting in one of the armchairs in the library. She stands when we enter and walks over to us. Her attention turns to Michael first.

“I was right. Your mom wanted revenge.”

He sighs, his eyes sad. “I figured you would be. I just didn’t know how she’d go about getting back at you.”

She nods. “She pulled every string she could in order to convince the angel’s to bend the rule for me. It’s your mother’s fault that I’m going to have this baby, or at least it’s her fault that I’m capable of having it. Since it’s your mother’s fault, it is going to be your problem.” She turns to me. “Since he’s your charge, it’s also your problem.”

I give Michael a look, hoping he stays quiet. “How exactly are you going to make it our problem?”

“The two of you are going to take care of this child. If you screw up in the slightest, both of you will suffer. Cassandra, you really should have taken that transfer when I offered.”

I shake my head. “Never. Never to Pluto.”

She smiles, “He’s really not as bad as rumors would have you believe. He’s just cold. You would do just fine there, Cassandra.”

I shake my head once more. “I’ll stay here.”

She shrugs. “Suit yourself. I suggest you go off to bed now. I told Mars to stop by tomorrow. I’m going to tell him about the baby. I imagine you’re going to have quite the mess to clean up, because I don’t believe he’s going to take it very well. Dismissed.”

I curtsy and Michael stiffly bows and we exit the room. I bite my lip and think about what she just told us. A baby. I don’t have any clue how to take care of a baby. Let alone not screw it up.

“We’re going to die,” I voice my thoughts. “We’re going to horribly screw this child up and Venus is going to murder us. We’re going to die. We are going to die. We might as well already be dead.”

We reach the top of the staircase and Michael places his hands on my shoulders, turning me so that I’m facing him. Our eyes lock.

“We’re going to be fine. We have time to work this out and if you really don’t think you can do it, you can always take that transfer.”

I grasp his wrists, moving his hands from my shoulders. Our hands fall into the space between us, but I don’t let go of him just yet. “I. Will. Not. Take. That. Transfer. I don’t know how many times that I’m going to have to say that. I’m not going anywhere, Michael. So if we’re screwed, we’re screwed together.”

He sighs in frustration. “Do you have a death wish?”

“That was a dumb question,” I respond, flatly. I’ve had one for nearly two years.

“You have too much to live for to die, Cassie,” he whispers, his annoyance gone, replaced by an intense sadness.

I respond with a small, sad smile. “I ever so politely disagree. I have reasons to live, yes, but not a whole lot of them.”

“Shouldn’t the reasons you do have be enough?”

“If they weren’t, I wouldn’t be standing here,” I reply honestly.

He pulls his wrists back, ever so slightly, but they escape my loose grasp. My hands fall to my sides.

“Stick around, Cassie. Too many people are counting on you,” he says quietly. He turns and walks to his room, not giving me a chance to respond. I’m not even sure if I could. His words shocked me into silence, bringing back Kate’s statement in my dream, ‘Because you’re the only one who can save us!’