Damaged Gods

But then again… I twirl in front of a gorgeous gilded full-length mirror that was not even here when I woke up this morning and decide, Nah. I’d have bought it anyway. These clothes might be expensive, but they are clearly quality and I feel like my status in life went up several levels just by putting them on.

Pell is sitting on a tomb at the top of the hill. He’s backlit by the sun, and the silhouette of his horns looks a little ominous. In fact, for a moment I think he’s someone else. But he stands up as I get closer and that mirage fades. He meets me on the pea-pebbled path with a scowl.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He looks down at my boots. “I said comfortable shoes.”

“These are comfortable.”

“Could you walk a thousand years in those shoes?”

“What?”

“Because that’s what we’re about to do.” Then he takes my hand and pulls me towards the cathedral.

A thousand years.

I let that sink in.

“We’re going back in time? Tomas said we could do this. Hey, where is Tomas? Should we be worried about him? It’s been two days now.”

“No. Don’t worry about Tomas. He’s got his own issues going on. But trust me, he’s not going anywhere.”

“Huh. You know, Grant said that same thing to me when I asked about Tomas the first day.”

“He said what?”

“That Tomas wasn’t going anywhere. He’s not like you. And he’s not stuck in the tombs—by the way, was that big black one there yesterday?” I look over my shoulder at the new mausoleum.

“No. New tombs pop up all the time. That’s why the cemetery is so crowded.”

This makes me shudder. I don’t like the tombs. I don’t like the statues in front of them, I don’t like the doorways—which, by the way, are no longer there. So Pell was telling the truth. I can’t see them when we’re together. But everything about the cemetery is monster.

And I have a feeling that Pell is the exception to the rule about monster behavior. Some of those statues are terrifying.

These thoughts distract me as we enter the cathedral and then we are standing in the center of the lower great hall, looking up at the staircases.

“Tomas said they have lots of rooms up there.”

“They do. But they’re not really rooms in the general sense. They are points in time.”

He’s still holding my hand. Like we’re a team. And this feels real. I just have a sense that this is what the curse is about. Me and him. Monster and caretaker. Fighting our way through life together.

That might be overly dramatic, but at the very least, I’m here to support him.

But what is he doing?

“Why are you here, Pell?”

“Hmm?” He’s not really paying attention to me. He’s looking intently up one of the stairwells. His gaze falls down to me. “What?”

“OK. So I’m here to take care of you.”

“Right.”

“Why are you here?”

“I was cursed.”

“By who?”

He nods up. “I can show you, if you want. I can’t guarantee we’ll find it today. It could take hours, or weeks, or years to find what you’re looking for up there. But we’ll find something interesting, that’s for sure.”

I look up at the stairwell and take a moment to reflect on what he just said. “We’re going back in time?”

“Kind of. It’s not real, Pie. It’s magic. Sometimes you’re almost real, ya know? You can eat the food, talk a little with the people, participate. But other times you’re like a ghost. Just floating through.”

“Wow. That’s… kinda creepy.”

“There is no creepy. There is just misunderstood.”

I don’t really agree. Because I feel like that brand-new black tomb is watching me. But whatever. I don’t think anything can hurt me when Pell is around. And even though I don’t think I will be sleeping down in that cottage anymore, I appreciate the fact that he stayed to protect me last night.

“You ready?”

“I’m a little nervous, to be honest. What will we find up there?”

Pell shrugs. “You never can know. We don’t have to go. But we could stumble into something amazing if we do. What else do you have to do today?”

I point at him. “Well, since I didn’t get a chance to please you with breakfast, I’m pretty sure there’s a hornjob in my future.”

He squeezes my hand a little too tight. “Stop saying that word. It was kinda funny at first, but now it’s just fucking stupid.” But he’s smiling, so I’m not gonna stop teasing him about my job here. “Besides,” he continues, “you’ll have plenty of chances to please me up there.”

“Oh, I feel a challenge coming on. I’m in. Let’s go.”

We walk up the steps slowly. Almost reverently. And this makes my heart jump with uneasy expectations. What kind of things will I see today?

Like the other staircases, the steps are shallow and short. It’s barely a step and you just want to extend your legs and take many at a time. Pell could take ten of them at once if he stretched, but he doesn’t because I can only manage to climb three at a time. And when we get to the top we pause. It’s a long, endless hallway with hundreds of doors lining either side.