Monsieur Death

Liam

We woke up in India. I had never blacked out before, and the experience wasn’t pleasant. However, despite how uncomfortable the actual blacking out was, waking up was ten times worse. I ached all over, and the cold marble floor wasn’t helping. Evangeline had woken yet. I figured my body had more resilience then hers due to my past god form. I hadn’t thought of that. What if she couldn’t survive passing through a portal?

“Evangeline?! Evangeline!” I shook her. She punched me in the face.

“Ow!” I fell backward, holding my nose.

She scrambled to her feet. “Oh my gosh, Liam, I’m so sorry!” She put her hand over her mouth.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” I answered, snorting blood. I suddenly realized my blood was red. Odd color. Must have been a human thing.

“You’re bleeding. Oh my gosh, I’m sorry!”

She pulled out a handkerchief and handed to me, but I waved her away.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. Then I turned around and saw where we were.

“We did it. Taj Mahal. It’s amazing.”

“Yeah. Portal wasn’t as fun as I hoped though.”

She grinned. “No kidding.” Then her smile disappeared. “So... what do we do now?”

“I have to communicate to Judgement. We have to have an offering.”

“Like what?”

“Something special. It doesn’t matter if the actual item is special, it just has to be special to us.”

I blushed when I realized I had said us. So did she. I hoped she was blushing about something else.

“Well, um... what do we have that’s like that?”

I searched my pockets for something. All I found was a chocolate bar wrapper and a bottle of black Mountain Dew. I looked at Evangeline and shook my head.

“Hey!” She said suddenly. She pulled out a wallet. “This is.... all the money I’ve saved up over the years. You think it’ll work?”

I smiled. “You don’t have to do this.”

She handed me the wallet and looked away. “Yes, I do.”

“You care about this?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you shouldn’t give it up.”

“It’s the only way! Besides,” she looked at the ground. “It’s... not really mine.”

I remembered what she had said about her kleptomania. So that’s what this was. But that wasn’t a problem, as long as it was special to her.

“Come on. We need to get there before noon.”

“Why?”

“I’m not really sure. But I’m pretty sure I know where the shrine is.”

I dragged her across the hall. It was dark outside, so I had a bad feeling we weren’t supposed to be wandering around. Just as we rounded a corner, a policeman turned the corner.

‎“مرحبًا، توقف¡” He shouted, running at us and waving his flashlight.

“What did he say?!” Evangeline shouted as we ran down the hall.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“You’re a god!”

“I was a god! Past tense! I do know he’s speaking in Arabic, which is weird. We’re in India, so he should be speaking Hindi or Urdu.”

“Maybe he’s special!”

“Not important right now!” I pulled her down a stairwell and dove behind it. A few seconds later, the guard ran past us.

“Come on.” I felt around the wall behind us. It opened, revealing another room, lit by candles.

“How did they stay alight the whole time?!”

“Magic.”

“Wow.” She breathed.

A shrine stood in the back of the room. “It’s technically for the Hindi god’s, but it works as a connection.”

I took the money out of the wallet and placed it at the base of the shrine.

“Hand me one of the candles.” I told her. She picked one up and gave it to me. “You sure about this?” I asked her. She swallowed and nodded. I lit the money. For a minute it burned normally, the flame barely licking the edge. Then the fire turned black and solidified. For a moment, time was frozen.

“Who dares summon me?” A voice came from the crystallized fire.

“Monsieur Death.”

“What are you doing?!” The voice changed. “You are not to summon me!”

“We had a problem.”

“What are you talking about?! I’m in the middle of a meeting!”

“Sorry. Shalkra’s came after us.” I heard a collective gasp. It must have come from the other gods who were at the meeting. “I’d like to talk to Doctor Plague.”

I heard another collective gasp. Then I heard Plague’s crackly voice. “Need something, boy?”

“You sent the Shalkra’s after us.”

“How dare you! There is no love between us, true, but sending monsters after you! You knows what happens if two lives are lost by our fault!”

“I understand that. I just don’t understand why you would want that to happen.”

“You lie!” His voice pitched. Then Judgement’s voice broke through. “I don’t think Plague would send his Shalkra’s after you. Besides, I counted them just yesterday! It must have been a figment if your imagination.”

“It wasn’t.” Evangeline said. I jumped. I had forgotten she was there. I shook my head at her wildly, but she ignored me. “I saw it too.”

“What’s this?” Plague hissed.

“My name is Evangeline Morocco, and I’m an eyewitness. Even a plain human could see it.”

“Evangeline Morocco?!” Judgement said. “But this is the girl-“

I slammed my fist on the crystallized fire. It shattered, turning red again and licking around the paper. Evangeline grabbed my hand.

“What- Why?! We were so close to answers!”

I swallowed and shook my head. Evangeline wasn’t stupid. She was going to figure it out sooner or later. If she hadn’t already.

“I don’t understand you! We went all this way, sacrificed so much... what was he about to say?”

“What?”

“What was he about to say? About me? I’m the girl who what?! Talk to me Liam! Talk!”

I didn’t answer. But she had already guessed.

“It’s me, isn’t it? I’m the one you’re waiting for.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, delaying the moment.

“The one your waiting for... to die.”

“You don’t understand-“

“Oh ho ho.” She laughed nastily and shook her finger at me. “No I think I understand fine.” Then she lost her cool attitude and started shouting again. “You lied to me, Liam! You lied and you’ll lie again! I need to get out here.” She pushed against the wall. “Let me out of here.”

I opened the wall for her and she stomped out.

“Evangeline, wait!”

“No!” She rounded on me. “Not anymore. You’ll have to find your own way out of here.”

‎“تَوَقَّفَ¡” We had forgotten the guard.