" Over two hundred soul, Katharina. People that should find peace in death...what demon crept into your soul?"
"The kind that feeds on helpless souls. Tearing the fabric of their sanity and every ligament that holds them whole. I am a demon from the underworld! See, I don't deny your allegations sister,"she screamed back at her with a note of triumph cemented inside her railings as the grin plastered on her face like a whitened wall.
"Come, Rahee. Let's go,"Lucas tried drawing her away but she persisted, and withdrew from him. Tired, he squatted and covered his face.
"You have no regrets,do you?"
"None at all," she shrugged in contempt, and when Lucas looked up at Billy's face, he noticed a mark appear below his left ear and disappeared just as fast as it came.
"Where did I go wrong with you? I took your place to keep you safe. To ensure you do not meet the horrors of our fetters at so young an age. I protected you...but this... I can barely recognize you anymore."
Silence walked into their midst and for a moment, Billy seemed to waver. Rahee could see the face behind that manliness that was just a vessel housing her once-upon-a-time sister.
"I never asked your help...or your protection,"he responded, his voice rising gradually from the melancholy that had almost swallowed him whole.
"Katharina..."
"You stole him from me. You didn't do it to protect me, you did it for yourself. Surely, you couldn't bear to have me given off to the captain while you were yet to receive the attention of a single crew."
"That's a lie and you know it.
I feared you would be molested and raped at such a young age, Katharina! I struck a bargain with Andy to keep you from his men...to keep you safe. I gave myself in your place, how could you be so ungrateful for the sacrifice I...."
"Don't! Don't you dare!"
The day Andy came to our tent and his eyes got locked in mine, I'm sure you were full of spite that it wasn't you. So, you took my place on his bed... something that should have been mine, the same way you took father's figurines and handed it to your son to keep him safe... don't lie to yourself sister, you are not as pure as you paint yourself and... and someday, people are going to see what treacherous sister you have been for years."
"So this is what you think of me?"
"It is what I have always thought of you. You should have gone when little brother said you should.
Maybe then you wouldn't have me throw it right in your face that you care about no one other than yourself, and given the chance, I'm certain, your will be the worse version of me. So, don't even preach gratitude to me. You deserve none!"
"How deep it runs,"Rahee replied, pensively.
"You can do whatever you want, but let the boy go," she pleaded, and Katharina responded with tremulous laughter.
"You have torn families asunder. You have broken the veil between worlds and the innocent suffer, all to what end? To wear your human skin again? You would be old someday, Katharina. Too old that none of the things you pursued would make sense again,"Rahee scolded, weeping.
Straightening himself, Lucas took a deep breath and tried pulling her away once more, to no avail.
"You know, you are hysterical...
How could you be so old, yet so naive? This is embarrassing. I can't believe you're older than I.
And what's that about human skin, you said? Do you really think that's all this is about? Surely, you don't think I know what a waste that would be... and just so you know, I will stay in this body until it has served it's purpose and when I put it off, it would be of no use even to the family you spoke of."
"Please, Katharina!"
She vanished into thin air and with that Rahee broke down, weeping, and while consoling her, Lucas kept thinking of the strange scene that had just occurred.
"Rahee...brace up. We don't have time right now."
"How worse can it get?
Whatever bargain she made is the worst that could ever come."
" Don't you find it strange that she just disappeared into thin air while in possession of a full human body?"
" The veil is torn, Lucas. The old rules might have bent. Anything is possible."
"What then do you make of the mark of the inverted M, right under the boys left ear?"
"What are you implying, Lucas,"she asked, walking away.
The ground where they had met was dry and elevated, hence, it was not swamped like the rest of the ground in sight, with grasses growing in little communities that developed into a small bush, with some, few feet apart, while others were so close one could not tell their community apart, and walking down, Rahee led the way and Lucas followed, both appearing to walk on the ground but their legs never sank, nor was there mud or dirt to prove their feet actually met the ground.
"You remember the boy said his name was Leo?"
"And what does that... it's not possible, Lucas."
"You said it yourself, the veil is torn and anything is possible...what if she's also possessed?"
Halting in her track, she looked up at the lightning strikes coursing through the sky, accompanied by the rumbling thunder, and flashing it's light on earth. She shivered for a moment, almost feeling like it would begin pouring any moment, and although they could see clearly, the atmosphere looked long-after-dusk.
"What could he want with her? I don't think they have any connections whatsoever."
"Neo is the god of mischief, we can't really tell but going by the presence of his twin brother in Oliver, I think it's not her he wants."
"Billy? Why can't everyone just let the boys be?"
While the siblings conversed, with Rehee leaning onto Lucas most of the time, two brazen balls over a slimmy skin, trailed their part with vision unable to pick up any heat from their body. It watched for a while longer as they disappeared in the distance and turned, crawling away on its stomach, but it was long before it fully disappeared, thrusting itself quietly into a river not too far away. Neither sound nor water splash was observed until the last of it was seen.