The Children of Erebus

XXIII

I climbed into the shower trying to piece the random pieces of the puzzle that was my life. The cold, icy water striking, as my brain struggled with the amount of material it was forced to process. Worry settled deep in my stomach when I got out and none of the others had returned my calls or my messages. 

Chill, they might be on a mission somewhere and haven't seen it yet. There is no need in working yourself over nothing... yet. 

I grabbed my intercom and dialled Sunshine anew... nothing. I tried Hawk and Skrymer and it just rolled over to voicemail. 

Come on! Answer me dammit! But no one did. I tried Dragonfly one more time hoping, crossing my fingers, but all I heard was the beeping noise and nothing else. I paced across my room and back again multiple times until Grace opened her eyes and yawned running her tiny fingers through her mess of a hair that was all tangled up on the side. She looked at me confused.

"Good morning!"

"Morning, did I wake you?" The thing about Grace was that she always told the truth, or a version of it, but never had outright lied to us or at least me.

"Yes." I sighed as I sat on the bed and she crawled in my arms resting her tiny head on my chest as she sighed contentedly. I ran my fingers through her tousled hair in an effort to soothe it.

"I am sorry I woke you, Grace." She shrugged. "Why were you here last night anyway? Was it nightmares?" She shook her head as she looked at me.

"Nah. It was thunder. A lot and a lot of thunder." Well, that explained it.

"I see. Ready to go back to sleep now?" She yawned again and settled in my arms. "I meant in your bed, there is no more thunder."

"But what if it comes back?!" She exclaimed holding me tighter. I shrugged.

"Grace what do I always tell you?" She put her finger on her mouth in an adorable gesture as she took a minute to think about it.

"That I should always brush my teeth because dentists are evil soul-sucking vampires." I almost smiled at that, almost.

"I do tell you that, don't I?" I admitted. "No, I meant the other thing I always tell you."

"Oh..." She took another minute then shook her head.

"No one will harm you... ever. Remember? I annihilate anyone dumb enough to upset you. Besides you're perfectly safe in this house, no amount of thunder will change that." She seemed unconvinced so I pressed on. "See..." I pointed out one of the windows behind us. "There is no thunder and the sky is clear." She ignored me and settled in my arms as I gave up trying to convince her and held her until she fell asleep again.

Once Grace had finally drifted off, I carried her into her room where I kept violin music playing in case she stirred again. I got back to my room to continue calling. 

Why aren't they answering!!? I cursed repeatedly as my pacing increased in speed. My phone rang and I opened the line my breath held in expectation.

"Black...?" Skrymer's uncertain voice greeted me. My heart sank, the last time Skrymer had used such a tone ... To hear that dreadful tone again it left me on the verge of a panic attack. "Black? Answer me, are you there?" More forceful that time, demanding. I steeled myself and hoped that my voice would not crack.

"What?!" My voice sounded wrong even to myself. She caught on quickly and changed her tone.

"Nothing! I was just worried something was wrong with you." There was something in the way she said that like there's more than she's letting me in on. "I just called to assure you that all of us are well and alive." An odd note in her voice as if she were lying to me, but not quite a complete lie. It was almost as if the truth of that matter was that she wasn't sure if that was the case or not: as if she herself was as confused as I was. "Look all is fine and we are alive. Okay? Fine? You can stop calling us now. Have fun and see ya soon. Later gator!" She hung up on me and I was baffled as I tried to process that.