LXXX: Convenience

“Can I talk with them?” Amy asked the Prince, suddenly not sure about what she was doing here.

“I will let you see them,” Lucifer replied, and clapped his hands, summoning a strange bird down from unseen rafters.

It was brown, but no kind of brown that Amy had ever seen before, it was shiny and reminded her of the hair pins the Bad Lady had worn when she had stolen Daddy.

“Bring Morpheus and his Dreamer,” Lucifer instructed the bird, who took off and vanished.

“What about Bast?” Amy demanded.

“Patience, little one, Bast is already here.”

Lucifer waved a hand and the air beside the throne shimmered, revealing to golden-barred cages, one of which held the most beautiful woman Amy had ever seen and the other held Bast, although she was no longer pick-up-able.

“Bast!” Amy exclaimed and bolted forward beneath Lucifer’s indulgent smirk.

-Amy? Kittens and fishsticks, what are you doing down here, child?-

“Medea sent me, and there’s this girl who sees things before they happen, and boy name Michael, and they told me to come here and talk to him and get you out!” Amy told her in a rush of emotion, sinking down beside the cage and reaching through the bars.

Bast licked the child’s hands gently, ignoring the amused looks she was receiving from both Enyo and Lucifer.

-They should not have sent you.-

“On the contrary, little kitty,” Lucifer countered, “she is the only thing of worth that they have.”

“Huh?”

Bast bristled and hissed at him, reaching through the bars to swipe at him in her anger.

-How dare you! She’s just a child!-

“An Unbound Dreamer, goddess, is worth more than a hundred Bound Dreamers, the Witch-Queen knows that and yet she still sends her to me? How convenient.”

LXXIX: Value

“Actually, it’s been around for a long time,” Lucifer assured her, leaning back in his chair and sipping the fruit, “and witches have dealt in souls for many, many centuries.”

Amy screwed her little nose up.

“That’s gross,” she said.

“Depends on your perspective.”

“It’s gross,” she repeated.

“It raises a big problem for you though, little one, because essentially what I’ve been paid is in gods and the soul of a Bound Dreamer. The only way you can get them back is replace them with something of equal worth.”

Amy was trying very hard to listen to everything he was saying, but it was all very confusing. Daddy had always told her to ask questions if she did not understand something, but she wasn’t sure that Lucifer would understand that philosophy. She had to try something though.

“What’s the difference between a normal Dreamer and a...bound Dreamer?”

“A Bound Dreamer,” he said slowly, “is a Dreamer whose life is all tangled up with a Deity’s, in other words, your sister and Morpheus now share one lifeline. They are ‘bound’ together. He drinks her blood, she is strengthened by his energies.”

“Oh,” she replied and chewed on her lip for a moment, “does that mean I’m a not bound Dreamer? Since Bast doesn’t drink my...blood?”

Something flashed in Lucifer’s eyes; Amy wondered if they had a name for that kind of blue.

“If you have not shared your blood with a Deity or supernatural force then you are Unbound, and thus far more powerful than Alyxa.”

“Why?”

“Because Bound Dreamers are restrained Dreamers, Unbound Dreamers are not limited by the powers of their Deity. As a result, they are also much more valuable.”

“How valuable?” Amy asked softly.

“Valuable enough to trade for two gods and a Bound Dreamer.”

“Oh.”

LXXVIII: Payment

There was every kind of food she could think of, and it all drifted in on clouds of red and blue lights. It was very pretty. Lucifer sat in a shiny chair next to her, it was a really long table, but they occupied only one little corner of it while the food drifted by them. Lucifer himself put bits and pieces of food on her plate, suggesting that she try something. 

“This is delicious,” she told him politely.

“You should have some of this fruit juice, it’s made in the Elysium Fields.”

“Where’s that?”

“It’s here.”

Amy looked around, trying to see what he was talking about.

“Where? I don’t see it.”

“You can only see it if you live here, and only then if you’re allowed to.”

“Who says you’re allowed to?” Amy asked him.

Lucifer leaned in closer to her to tell her a secret.

“I’m the boss,” he told her.

Amy nodded, she knew that. 

“You’re trying to distract me,” she said to him, putting on what she called Daddy’s Business Look, “it’s not going to work.” 

Lucifer leaned back again.

“It isn’t?”

“No, it isn’t,” she replied, “I want you to give my friends back now please.”

“Are you sure you don’t want some of the fruit juice?”

“I’m sure,” Amy told him.

“Then we shall begin the negotiations,” he replied.

He clapped his hands and everything except the cups and jug of juice disappeared. 

“You want your friends back, but they are mine,” Lucifer said, “so what will you give me in return?”

“They shouldn’t be yours, they were free!” Amy countered, “you took them away.”

“Actually,” Lucifer said, “they were given to me in payment by a witch who was looking for more power.”

“How can you give people in payment? That’s wrong!”

LXXVII: Audience

Lucifer lounged in the over-sized chair that made up the Plutonic Throne, one leg dangling over an arm and the other curled up underneath him. His wings drooped over the other arm, just for show.

“I didn’t realise you were still here, Chiron, I should’ve given you a redundancy package and sent you on a leave,” the Morning Star mused, “my apologies.”

“No need, y’r Excellency,” Chiron assured him, his skeletal hand wrapped gently about Amy’s, “I’m quite happy fishin’ for lost them lost souls in the river as it were.”

“Good good, but still, if there’s anything...”

“I’ll be s’re to mention it, y’r Excellency.”

“Good,” Lucifer said and turned his gaze on Amy, who stared up at him with large eyes.

He was so tall and impressive, and reminded her of Daddy, but scarier.

“What can I do for you, little one?”

“I’m from the Living World,” Amy blurted out, “my name’s Amy. I’m here for my friends.”

Lucifer’s gaze turned curious.

“And which friends are those, my dear?”

“Alyxa ‘n Mister Morpheus ‘n Bast!” Amy stated, a little rattled by the pure colour in his eyes.

“Ah. Then you are here to negotiate their return?”

Amy didn’t really know what ‘negotiate’ meant so she nodded.

“Then, as the Witch Queen’s ambassador, you are my guest, are you thirsty or hungry? I will see refreshments brought.”

Before Amy could reply the shining creature waved a hand and a small chair and table appeared just beside his throne, on the table sat a plate of cookies and a large mug of something steaming.

“I’m not suppose to drink or eat anything,” she said dubiously, but Lucifer waved a hand, swinging his feet off the throne to make his way towards her.

“It is freely given, little one, I promise.”

LXXVI: Guide

It was deliciously warm, and dry, and she was so hungry. Thirsty too. Amy sat up. She was lying on moss that was growing on rock. She was in a cave, everywhere she looked there were those things that grew from the roof and grew from the floor, here and there they had formed gigantic pillars, holding up the cavern roof. She blinked, suddenly realising that she could see quite clearly. There was no light source, unless you counted the fact that the ground and walls gave off a pale white glow. It was really pretty.

“Are you awake then, girl?” a voice asked her, making her start.

She looked around and felt her eyes nearly drop out of her head when she saw what she could only assume was a skeleton.

“’s not nice to stare.”

“Sorry. I’ve...just never seen a talking skeleton before.”

“Name’s Chiron,” the skeleton told her, adjusting the black cloth he had wrapped around his bony shoulders.

“I’m Amy, I’m looking for my friends,” Amy replied, and then remembered she was suppose to say something, “and I’m of the Living World.”

Chiron chuckled.

“I’m not gonna be keepin’ you here, girl, I just ferry people across the river when it’s time, they’s that pay. Used to anyhow, but those days ‘r long past now that there’s a new Prince on the Plutonic Throne.”

“I’d like to go to him, he knows where my friends are,” Amy said.

“Best to leave the Morning Star be, girl, he’s not to be trifl’d with.”

“I promised.”

If a skeleton could ever be described as thoughtful, now would be the right moment.

“Well, seein’ as you’re not dead ‘n I haven’t got a job to do no more, guess I’ll be y’r escort.”

Amy’s face brightened.

“Thank you, Chiron.”

LXXV: Temperment

-How long do you think she can hold out?- Bast asked her fellow captive goddess when Morpheus had left them.

“As long as a dream, less than a nightmare,” Enyo told her in a voice that only Bast and Lucifer were apparently capable of hearing.

-How long would your little spell take?-

“No longer than a breath, as long as the fall of a drop of blood.”

-I like a good blood sacrifice as the next goddess, Kali, but seriously, don’t you take it a little far?-

“Your kind eat your kittens,” Enyo pointed out.

-Only when they’re dead,- Bast snarled, her long tail fluffing up slightly.

“Or when they don’t belong to you,” Enyo reminded her.

The two deities looked at each other in silence for a minute or two, and then Enyo affected a small, shrug.

“Would you have let me drain Morpheus’Dreamer, if it meant freedom?”

-Of course,- Bast said, -she is not my Dreamer, I feel nothing but minor amity for her-

“It can still be done, Cat-Queen, if I were to drain the Dreamer and her Morpheus I could – ”

-Absolutely not!- Bast hissed, -You’re disgusting for even thinking it!-

Enyo’s eyes flashed into a brilliant gold, her hair flared from its dark curls into brilliant reds and oranges.

“I am what I am, little kitten, and I was here before you. Yama and Thanatos pay tribute to me, Di Yu grovels at my feet, Osiris came before me for new life when Isis sewed his pieces together. Every single entity of death, destruction, and rebirth answers to me. Do not presume to teach me of morality. ”

-And yet you are here, bound by a minor deity,- Bast countered slyly.

“He has the Chains of Lilith.”

-He does?- Bast asked, startled.

“Yes, he does.”

LXXIV: Deeper

The water was cold. Amy’s little brow curled into a frown as she took her first steps into it, listening to the Red Lady saying strange things behind her. The water was very cold. This was not what she had imagined when the others had told her she would be swimming in a beautiful lake; in her mind, beautiful and warm were pretty much mutually inclusive.

The Red Lady made a gesture and Amy assumed that this meant it was time for her to start swimming so that is exactly what she did. Amy prided herself in being the best swimmer in her grade; she always beat everyone at the races and could swim to the bottom of the pool and sit there for long enough to count to sixty. Her teachers and Daddy had always been very impressed. Of course, Daddy was gone now... there was no way she was going to let anything happen to Alyxa and Mr. Morpheus.

The further down she dove the darker it got, so Amy shut her eyes and just swam deeper and deeper. She could feel the air building up in her lungs, and a little further down she had to exhale and inhale. To her surprised there was no water that rushed into her lungs; it felt sticky, like candy that had been left in the sunlight, but it was exactly like air. The Red Lady was good at her job too!

Amy opened her eyes, to see if she could see the cave that she had been told about. There was no cave; she could see was a faint glimmer somewhere below her, as though she was swimming back to the surface. That’s probably it. Her little legs were tiring. And then the light engulfed her and she couldn’t see.

LXXIII: Preparations

They stood on the edge of the water and Michael shifted uneasily. It was so deep. Too deep. He could feel just how deep it ran, so deep that it made him want to wear his wings, just in case it seemed like he would trip and tumble in. He glanced over to where Medea was talking to Amy; the little girl looked quite nonplussed about the entire deal. Swim to the non-existing bottom of this lake? She could do that, or so she had quite readily told them. She had sworn herself blue and black that she was a great swimmer – apparently her father had taught her how to swim behind their house, making Michael wonder just where this child had come from and how she had ended up entangled with Alyxa and her Deity.

“So you understand, child, you are not to stop for anything, nothing. I will cast this spell on you, but it will not last indefinitely,” Medea was saying.

“What does ‘indefinitely’ mean?” Amy asked and Medea clicked her tongue impatiently.

“‘Forever’,” she explained, her voice short.

“Oh. How long will it last then?”

“About an hour, possibly two. It depends. So do not get distracted, swim to the bottom, and you will find a cave, you will go through the cave, and you will find yourself in Tartarus.”

“Once you’re in,” Achilles said, stepping in, “you will probably be approached by someone or something. Don’t be scared, tell them you wish to see Lucifer.”

“Tell them you are a Dreamer,” Medea told her, wrestling the conversation back into her own control, “now this is very important: tell them you are of the Living World. Do not eat or drink anything while you are there. Nothing. Not a seed, not a sip. Do you understand?”