Things on the home front had been quiet for the most part. Bridgitte and Camilia caught us up on what had been going on since our little jaunt to Death Valley.
Susan had made sure that all the kids (and herself) got enrolled in the local public schools. The schools in this area have a good reputation, and all the kids confirm they like their new schools better than other public schools they experienced earlier in life. Gunter actually stepped up and assumed the positive male role model for young Brendan after Nevermore returned alone and he feared the worst.
Charlotte is excelling at her studies and seems to be making friends at school and spending time with Vader when she’s home.
Young Brendan Gair, as he explained, been working with the lawyers we set up to settle his case before we left. Most amusingly, by using his abilities of illusion he has been able to have a faux-Laurel & gang to convince the social workers he’s in a stable environment now...not far from the truth anyway, but that was the icing on the cake.
The papers to have Laurel adopt Brendan are expected to be brought over in about four days. Meanwhile Azeeza has been exploring the city and meeting several other neighborhood ghosts, she has taken to telling really horrible ghost related jokes, ex. Q: What does a ghost eat for lunch? A: A BOO-logna sandwich, overall she seems to be adjusting well to un-life.
Ty settled in restlessly at the house and begins to experience withdrawal symptoms, likely from the Sway, giving him horrible night terrors and tremors. After 48 hours of a yelling, foul-mouthed Marine taking up one of the rooms, we were ready to see him go along his merry way. At dusk on the second day, Laurel, Jack, Gunnar and I found him sitting on the porch watching the sunset. He apologized and admits that he has a lot to work through with a friend dead, one in a horrible super-natural prison-like state and two more incarcerated until their case hits trial. He thanks us for taking him out of the hotel and realizes we didn’t have to.
Over the remaining time he attempted to bond with Gunnar by drinking and getting his view on the situation their pantheon is in with Ragnarök being so set in stone, and what that means for the likes of them. He was a bit shaken to consider that no matter what he does in life he’ll likely die a horribly bloody death.
Three days after our return there were a string of news reports of sightings of large explosions of light in the eastern California part of the Mojave. Eye-witness reports liken it to a nuclear explosion, or maybe a comet strike, which was initially the prevailing scientific theory. Others reported UFO activity, but their video evidence was grainy and of poor quality.
Still, there was video of the event and sure enough a bright white flash lights up Death Valley at around 1:15 a.m. that evening. News copters the next day find a blackened crater at the approximate location of the Inn at Furnace Creek. The popular story that is circulating seems to be that there was a huge gas leak in a basement level of the building that ignited. From our vantage point of having been there, this seems most unlikely.
At noon the next day there was a knock at the front door. Gunnar answered the door and was surprised to see Horrace standing there, looking a little worse for wear. Dust covered the man head to toe and he looked and smelled like he hasn’t showered in a month. After being invited in, commenting on Nate’s fine choice in hats, and reuniting with Ty he explains some of the finer points of what happened in a Texas drawl straight out of a John Wayne movie.
After Timothy knocked him and Ty out in the battle at the school they found themselves at the mercy of Pan at the hotel. Ty was whisked away and Pan said he was of little use to his plans. Horrace however was a hard commodity to come by. Scions that were weak enough for him to manhandle and had a divine parent in charge of the sun were hard to come by. He was drugged with massive amounts of Titan ichor which Pan had claimed to have acquired from Gaia. He was then dragged out into the desert and forced to replace a body that was almost nothing but a burnt out husk. They transferred the diadem to his head and since he was under their thrall was forced to produce as much radiance as possible, which we had all borne witness to but had been unable to do anything about at the time.
He thought that the singing "angels" (i.e. titanspawn) were fooled into believing he was a manifestation of the titan Aten, the sole Avatar of Light. He remembered our showing up and the hope that filled him when you arrived but he was unable to answer you when Gunnar yelled in his ear.
He paused and asked for a glass of water. After draining it three times he continued. Whatever Laurel did to get Apollo’s attention, it worked. Horus (the god) and a retinue of his warriors descended down on the Terrae Incognitae and forced back the swarm of titanspawn back into the breech they had discovered from the greater titan Akhetaten. Horrace (the Scion) explained further that after collapsing the cavern and sealing the rift, they destroyed the hotel. Comets may or may not have been involved. They then brought him away and healed him the best the could. His divine father had received a message carried by Hermes from Apollo outlining what was going on and apologizing profusely for the Dodekatheon’s oversight in allowing Pan free reign in the mortal world and any problems it may have caused them. He also gave this address and told Horrace to pass on a message to his daughters, “You’re doing a great job,” and something in particular for Laurel, he said you would understand, “Keep up the good work, peach.”
Horrace asked to crash there for the night and kindly asked for his relics back. Nate looked briefly very sad and disappointed, like a teen boy being asked to give up the family's new Xbox so his brother can take it with him to college. Nate put on a brave face and proudly handed back Horrace's birthright weapon..."been keepin' it safe for you, old man." he said.
"Much obliged, Pardner...", said Horrace, touching the brim of his hat.
The next morning he and Ty had already left, evidently in the pre-dawn hours, at "oh dark thirty" as the Americans sometimes say, leaving only a note.
The note, which Laurel read to us over breakfast:
"Thanks for looking after the kids, and for everything else. We’ve got a new job. We need to move along and see into getting Naomi and Angela out of the slammer. I hope our paths cross again, and next time under better circumstances.
-Horrace
P.S. Had a talk with Bridgitte last night, she said y’all had some business in New Orleans to attend to and that you would see to her funeral arrangements. I can honestly say our band wishes to be there for that, but y’all above everyone should know, we go where we’re needed not where we want to. Good luck with everything."
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