We Faced a Goddess

September continued as normally as it could. There were no other visions, no one got sick, and the strangest thing to happen was Aunt Paige asking Ambrus to dinner. It was strictly platonic, but still. The rest of September went off without a hitch. Then October hit.

October for me is basically one long Halloween celebration. The second the clock hit 12:00 AM October 1st my room looked like Halloween threw up. I had bats hanging everywhere, skeletons in my closet, monsters peeking from under my bed, purple and orange lights strung up, the works basically. I even decorated the outside of the house some. Honestly, if my friends back home didn’t think it was weird I would have had Halloween decorations up all year long. In fact, I planned on leaving them up this year even after October 31st came and went.

October 31st… I had almost forgotten. The masquerade party was getting closer. I still had no idea why I’d be going or who I’d be looking for, but I knew I wasn’t prepared. What if was all for nothing? What if it was just a party and our visions were of us looking for each other? We might have been getting stressed out all for nothing…

Keres knocked on my window at three in the morning on the 1st. She saw my light on and wanted to come over. Luckily it was a Saturday so we didn’t have school the next day and we could just stay up.

“I’m just so worried about this stupid masquerade,” Keres said while throwing herself on my bed. “I want to believe that it’ll be nothing but I would never be that panicked if it was just something simple. Not to mention that I need to figure out this whole speaking to the other side thing before November and all hollow’s eve is the best night for it.”

“Why do you need to figure it out before November?” I asked.

“It’s just a goal I have for myself…” Keres obviously had a lot going on. Her dad probably put a deadline on her. Ambrus was a great man but he pushed Keres to her limits. He wants her to be as powerful as her mother.

“We’ll get you to speak to spirits. Aren’t there ways of helping with it?”

“There’s sigils and crystals and stuff,” she said frustrated. “I feel like I’ve tried everything.”

“I have a plan.” I said while pulling Keres hand to get her to follow me. I took her to my closet and opened the door. “Lay in here and meditate.”

“What?”

“When I was growing up my parents were really busy,” I began to explain, “so I went to the library a lot. I read almost every book in there so I have a lot of useless facts that I held onto.”

“What does that have to do with this?” Keres asked.

“I’m getting to that. I remember reading stupid books on meditation and ghost stories and stuff like that. Well, one useless fact I held onto is that meditation can open you to like spiritual enlightenment stuff. I had a friend that was kind of weird and she used meditation to astral project. Maybe meditation in a nice, quiet, not spiritually overwhelming closet.”

“That could work…” Keres said. The she went into the closet and closed the door. She seemed very determined. I sat outside of my closet door waiting for Keres to burst out saying she talked to something. That didn’t happen. I fell asleep on the floor and woke up to a closet door hitting me hard. I just kind of groaned and rolled over.

“Oh my gods I’m so sorry…” Keres said. She helped me up just to have me fall on the floor again. I was too tired for standing.

“How are you up and functioning?” I moaned. “It’s like six in the morning.”

“I run on determination and in a few cases, coffee.”

“How’d the ghost talk go?” I asked.

“Can you get up? I feel better when I’m not looking down at you.”

“Even if I get up you’re still like six inches taller than me.”

“Seven and a half but that isn’t the point,” Keres paused then got on the floor to talk face to face with me, “the ‘ghost talk’ as you called it didn’t happen. Instead of meditating I fell asleep. Meditation is kind of hard. It’s like lucid dreaming. I can’t really do it.”

“It could be the fact that I got like two or so hours of sleep, but you look really pretty with messy hair.” After realizing what I actually said to Keres I had to say something else quick before she realized I called her pretty… out loud this time. “How do you get your hair that color?” Perfect.

“Oh, it’s natural actually.” She explained. “It’s some mutation in my genetics I guess. I got it from my mom. I’ve thought about dying it black or something to blend in but before these last few months there was no point. I mean no one really saw me other than at concerts or at the mall or in the shadows really. So, you think I’m pretty.” Crap.

“I mean you’re kind of like my best friend. Of course, I think you’re pretty.” Nice save from me, myself, and I.

“Right, best friend.” Keres said. We stayed on the floor in silence for a while then I fell asleep again.

I began to love dreaming of nothing. It meant there wouldn’t be a nightmare or a vision. Just the void and no headaches.

Keres woke me up at about eight so that I didn’t miss much from that day. I did appreciate how she valued her mornings, but I also appreciated the wonderful world of sleep. After about ten minutes of trying to stay awake I finally got up and got dressed. Aunt Paige and Ambrus decided to go on a little trip with Keres and me into the French Quarter. Keres was excited to reconnect with the area and show me around. She also thought it might help her with her abilities.

I honestly had no idea what Aunt Paige and Ambrus did all day. Keres and I kind of just went off on our own. The area was beautiful. Keres took me to her old house which belonged to another family. She wasn’t upset. She said it was a good home.

“So why did you guys move?” I asked when we stopped for lunch.

“My mother passed,” Keres began to explain, “and the house was too quiet for my dad. I was still in the hospital and my dad thought I was going to pass away too. He couldn’t handle all the memories in that house.”

“Is your mom the reason you want to talk to the other side?” The second I said that I wanted to pull my words back. I never regretted my own words than I did in that moment. My brain did not work well with only four hours of sleep. “I am so sorry if I stepped over a boundary. I…”

“It’s okay.” Keres stopped me. “My mom actually is the reason. I really want to talk to her again. I’d give anything to talk to my mom one more time.”

“I know what you mean…”

“If I can do it I’ll try to find and talk to your parents.” Keres said. I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to talk to them but it would leave me hurting even more. I already wanted them back. I’d just want to talk to them every day…

Keres and I finished lunch and decided to just walk around a little bit. Ambrus and Aunt Paige were who knows where and I got to spend time with the most amazing girl I had ever met. Things were wonderful. We talked while walking but at some point Keres went silent and she led me into a grey building on Bourbon street.

The feeling in this what looked like a shop was a hundred times worse than what I felt the day I passed out at Keres’ house. I dropped to my knees and it felt like my head was going to rip apart.

Suddenly I was at the masquerade. I was standing out on the balcony and I heard a scream from inside. The doors to go back in were closed and locked. I was stuck outside trying to get inside. I looked in to see the crowd in a panic. There was a bright light that flashed and Keres flew across the room. I screamed her name and managed to break through the glass to get in. I ran to Keres and helped her up only to see that my hand and arm were bleeding.

I came back to the present. Keres was kneeling in front of me looking concerned. She helped me up and kept an arm around me as we walked.

“Are you okay?” Keres asked. “You looked terrified.”

“I’m fine…” I said. I actually wasn’t sure if I was okay.

“Hello?” A voice called out. A woman emerged from another part of the store and walked to us. She looked shocked. “Chantale, is that you?” She asked Keres. “You look just as you did so many years ago.”

“I apologize ma’am. I’m Chantale’s daughter. My name is Keres.” Keres released her hold on me just a little.

“That’s right. Baron has dug her grave.” Her voice relaxed. “Your mother was a big part of this place. You are always welcome here Keres. I am Firline. I was a good friend of your mother.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Firline.” Keres shook Firline’s hand. Firline smiled then her expression changed to one of a worrying parent almost horrified.

“The Loa have a warning. Who is Bonnibelle?” Firline asked.

“I am…” I managed to get out.

“Come with me. Keres stay here.” Firline took my hand and dragged me into another room. All I remember is sitting down and seeing Firline.

“What’s…?”

“Quiet!” Firline stopped me. “Protect Keres and Ambrus. Halloween. Party. There will be an attack from…” Firline went quiet and had an expression of question on her face. “Nemesis?”

“Nemesis? Isn’t that a Greek goddess?” I asked.

“The afterlife isn’t one thing or another. It’s many things. Many places. Many worlds. The Loa are not the only deities. There are many.”

“Why would nemesis even attack?” I asked. The idea was absurd. Things weren’t going too great as is. Nemesis usually strikes when things are going too well.

“I do not know her motive.” Firline took my arm and began escorting me out of the room. “Please take care of Ambrus and Keres. They need you right now. Fare well Bonnibelle.” I left the room with a million questions swirling in my head and Firline was gone. I dropped to the floor.

“Bonnibelle!” Keres shouted as she ran to help me up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine Keres. Just a little weak still.” I managed to stand on my own once we left the shop.

“So, what did Firline talk to you about?” Keres asked.

“I, don’t want to worry you.” I started, “but you have a right to know. Nemesis is planning an attack.”

“Nemesis? Like the goddess?”

“Well, yeah.”

“I should probably talk to my dad about that. A lot of people thought my dad was into Voodoo. Well, he wasn’t. He follows Hecate and Nyx. Which is why I’m named Keres. I mean obviously he didn’t realize that Keres are basically malevolent Valkyries but whatever. Nemesis is a child of Nyx. I don’t see why she’d plan to attack us.”

“Let’s find your dad then.” I said while taking Keres’ hand. We ran back to where we left Aunt Paige and Ambrus. Keres called her dad so that he would know we were on our way back. At least we knew who was the cause of things. We just needed to find out why.