A Shrine to an Unknown God

RITUALS

MAYBE EZRA IS MERELY a half-god. He told me earlier that he never knew his dad. Maybe his father was a god, and his mother a mortal American woman.

I shouldn't jump to any conclusions before I get all of the information I need. Like Dahlia and Marisol. Can they do the same? I should find out before I take anything from this. But how? Do Americans practice any blood rituals, or something of the sort? That could be inconspicuous.

Maybe I should ask.

"How is it?" Ezra asks. "Am I going to bleed to death?"

I let go of his head. "It's... healed."

"How is that possible? It felt like my skull was cracked open."

I think for a moment about how to respond and decide not to. "What do you know about your father?"

"Almost nothing," he admits. "My mom never talked about him. Why?"

"If we asked your mother, do you think she would tell us?"

"Maybe. Do you have a Ouija board? Preferably a Hello Kitty one."

"What?"

"Antigone..." Marisol mumbles.

"Nevermind, it's nothing," Ezra stammers.

"Is the blood over?" Dahlia yells from the other side of the courtyard. In the darkness, all she appears to be is a shadow. "I heard y'all talking 'bout Ouija boards, and I want in."

"We're good now, you can come back!" Marisol replies.

Dahlia comes bounding over and sits cross-legged beside Marisol. Immediately, she notices the blood in Ezra's hair and gags again. "Guys," she whines. "There's still blood."

"No more open wounds, though," Marisol says.

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore," Dahlia decides, crossing her arms over her chest. "I wanna go home."

"Okay," I say. "We will. We can either stay here for the night or head out now."

"Let's go now," Dahlia suggests. "I just wanna go home. As soon as possible."

"We'll be traveling in the darkness," I point out. "And I've never been to the mainland before. Not even in the daylight."

"I mean, it's not like you're gonna be driving the boat," Marisol replies, with a little nervous laugh.

"That's exactly what I'm going to be doing."

"Then let's get a move on!" Ezra says. "It wouldn't even make a difference if we waited for the morning. Yeehaw!"