Inheritance

Chapter 2: Jack (Part 2)

"That's nothing new." Jack grinned.

Standing in front of the graves of Sophie and Benj, Crow's parents, Jack told them what had happened. 

Olive tapped her lip, "The magical lines still point to your school. My sense of things is not as clear as normal because of the twins."

"Just come to the station and look at the body."

Olive looked at Crow and Crow made one of the hardest choices of his life.

"No, Jack. The twins are coming soon and we must go to the Spirit Plane. We don't know what they will be when they come. If they need to be in darkness, we can be close to LeVidal, or if they need to be in light, we have that too. JoyBringer will be present to help protect Olive from the darkness if we have to go to LeVidal. This is your case. You must solve this. You must forge your own path with your own powers."

Jack flushed with anger.

"What's the point of having two of the most powerful people in the world as your parents, if they only tell you that you have to do something on your own?" Jack said staring Crow in the eye. "It must be one of those stupid character building things."

"Jack," Crow said. "You can't depend on us forever. It only makes you weaker."

Olive shook her head and said, "I will not go to that sad place, not now. I'm sorry this makes things harder on you."

Jack gritted his teeth but nodded in agreement. "I understand." He hated acting mature, but they needed him to, so he did.

Olive took his hand and Crow's and pulled them close together, holding them as they looked down on the graves carved with the line, "I will love you for always and miss you forever."

The fall sun reached its zenith and began to set. It's time to shine on the earth short and pale with winter blowing in on cold winds. Jack walked back across the cemetery and thought about Derrick soon to be buried here. He wondered if Blaine had called the families yet. What a crappy part of the job. Jack climbed back into the Camaro and gunned the engine, speeding home. Crow and Olive beat him, even though they were on foot. Olive hurried inside, away from the darkness coming.

Fortunatus wanted out of the trunk as the daylight faded. Jack pulled his car into the garage while Olive went and closed all the blinds in the living room and pulled the large, old velvet curtain closed. The curtain blocked off part of the living room which included a sofa. Fortunatus shifted into the small coroner of night and lay down on the couch to sleep and dream of angels as the sun set. Jack's collection of pets raced through the house to wiggle at his feet. The mass of happy animal forced him to drop his bags and pat all the furry bodies before he could make it to his room.

"At least someone is happy you're home early," Crow muttered loudly.

"Hey!" Jack said.

He unpacked his luggage and put on a load of wash. Olive sent him up to the attic to bring down one of her largest pots. Covered in dust, he set the small cauldron on the stove and headed for the shower, before he crashed into bed. After a day of sparring, a night of interrupted sleep, the drive home, stopping off at the police station and the cemetery, Jack's body demanded sleep. He drifted off surrounded by cats and listening to Olive read off a list of ingredients in the kitchen.

"A golden leaf for feeling pure, an orange leaf to burn away the pain, a red leaf to open the way with blood..."

The alarm clock blared through Jack's dreams. It demanded his immediate attention with incessant, repetitive noise. Jack opened one eye with a groan. Clipper, the smallest, white dog, licked his nose. Jack sat up and several cats and dogs leapt off the bed. He beat the top of the clock until the noise stopped. It appeared he slept the night away, half his Saturday and wished he could sleep longer. He flipped on his bedside lamp, the day dark for mid-afternoon.