Pantheon

Prologue

Thirteen years ago...

I sit on a bench, my feet dangling as I lick an ice cream. I'm pretty sure my mom just showed her boobs to the pasty character behind the Twistee Treat counter in lieu of paying for it. We never have money for extra things, so that’s usually her move. I'm six years old, and I was told not to move. I’m pretty good at following directions, and Mommy has a few of them.

Don’t cross the street alone.

Don’t talk to strangers.

Don’t leave her side.

Always leave some food on your plate.

Don’t lose your temper.

Except today? Today, I’m going to break all of them. Mommy works jobs during the day. I follow her to

them because I help her. You see, she needs things in order for us to survive. Living in the Outliers of the

human faction isn’t easy. We are the bottom of the food chain. We live in between the Outliers and the Poids- short for Anthropoids- between the green thicket of the Corset Forest named for the throngs of trees that weave themselves tighter and tighter the further you go in.

We love it. It's our area. No one dares to venture into Corset Forest because it's so easy to get lost. She built our home from forest magic. Mother Nature lives in her veins. We would get lost in conversations deep into the night when

she wasn’t wrapped up in men.

“You are my best kept secret,” she would whisper into the darkness, her face lit by the fireflies.

I hear a stick crack behind me, snapping me out of my memory and turn just in time to see a little girl about my age in a pink dress. She smiles at me, simultaneously warming my insides. I’ve never really given much thought to the concept of feeling or what I'm doing until this moment. It's like her presence has snapped me into a different state of awareness. She waves me over with one hand and I immediately know I shouldn’t get up.

Don’t talk to strangers.

I look back at my mom who’s twirling one long red lock between her fingers and laughing at something the teenage boy is saying while arching her back to push her breasts at him as much as possible. She won’t notice if I’m just gone for a second.

I look back at the girl over my shoulder. Jumping off the bench, I tell myself the plan. Say hi,

have her come over. Maybe her mom will let her come over and play with me. Maybe she will want to share this

cone with me. I shouldn’t eat the whole thing anyway.

The little girl has two blonde piggy tails cascading down the sides of her face and her little Mary Janes are reflecting the sun right back up at her equally bright smile. She takes my hand and before I know it, we are crossing the now barren street.

Don’t cross the street alone.

Well, at least I’m not alone.

She brings me into an empty restaurant where there are old booths- the kind that share their backs with the seat on the other side. The cushions are a sickly Pepto- Bismol pink and the tables are sparkly white. She skips off and I see a lady standing at a table nearby. She smiles at me, and it’s warm and welcoming. I nervously shove what's left of my ice cream into my mouth and make my way over to her.

Always leave food on your plate.

Don’t talk to strangers.

I look up at her as she gestures, towering over me, for me to sit. I climb into the booth and prop myself on my knees to an already set table. Foods of every kind I’ve only ever dreamt of. There are burgers, fries, milkshakes and candy of every kind filled every inch of the table. With a nod of approval from the strange woman, I dig in.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?” She asks, never once rushing me for an answer.

I feel warm. I feel....safe.

“I’m not supposed to talk to strangers,” I say between bites of burger and milkshake.

Trying to remember to mind my elbows, not talk with my mouth full and leave some food on the plate, I

answer her, but it’s so good and I don’t know when I will see food like this again. We never have food at home.

Something that feels like guilt creeps into my gut but is quickly washed away like it didn’t have a place here. I look out of the large window that overlooks the street we crossed, breaking my stare from the woman for only a moment. I can't see though, there's nothing but a blue grey fog out there. I want to ask her something, but my question never has a chance to form because the woman starts speaking again.

“How do you like it?” She asks, eyes on me.

They're searching for something, but I didn’t care. I fished a pink pretzel stick out of a tall jar as I swallowed, nodding. She smiled.

“Let’s say my name is Lia. I am a mother myself. I have a very sick child who’s about your age. I was wondering if perhaps you could help me?”

I stop chewing.

“I’m just six.” I say, sitting back.

“Right you are, “ She looks down at her lap, not meeting my eyes.

All the warmth almost disappears completely and is replaced by something much saltier. Sadness. A

sadness that doesn't belong here. I sink down into the pink cushion too, feeling the full weight of her emotions like they are my own.

“You helped my friend, Riley. You brought her back here to me. For that, I rewarded you with all your favorite foods.”

I looked around at the plentiful table. They are my favorites. Her eyes are on me and I suddenly feel very exposed. A heat on my neck, and a coldness on my front.

“Riley, I need you to think very hard about a string.” She's all business now.

Meeting her eyes, I tense when I see they are now a glowing green. Doing so seemed to have put me in a

state where I can hear her, but I can't move. I am willing, so willing, to do anything she wants. I need to. It's in my gut and all I can think about.

“A string?” I said, barely forming the words with my mouth. I need to be as quiet as I can, I need to hear her voice. I wish I could live in the sullenness behind her words.

“A string, Riley. A very thin, white, glowing string. It’s attached to something. Can you see where it goes?” She folds her arms on the table in front of us.

I don't know what she means, but very quickly, I feel nothing around me as the string appears before me.

Darkness surrounds me as I run along it, following nothing but a beam of light and a glowing string. I ran and I ran. Until it stops on the back of a child and disappears. He has curly brown hair, and his back is to me. He stands abruptly and just as he turns, he morphs into glowing green eyes. The same ones that belong to the woman. Then, I'm back in the diner. She smiles bigger than she had before.

“Excellent! Excellent job, Riley. You are so special. I want you to know that you have helped me today. How does that feel?” She clasped her hands over the now bare table.

I consider her question. Although the table is now empty. It dones't make me sad though because I'm full. Full of joy. Full of happiness. Full of food.

“Full,” I shrugged.

She smiles.

“I bet you are. For this, I will give my friend to you. She can stay with you all the time. Would you like that? A friend?”

She gestured to the little girl who I now notice for the first time was sitting at a table to the left of us all by herself.

Where is her mom?

“I can’t have a sister. My mom says no one is allowed over unless she says so.” I tell her.

“Ah yes, but you see, this friend? She is very special because no one can see her except for you and me. She can live inside you where only you can see her, hear her or let her free. How does that sound?” She asks sitting back and gesturing for the little girl to come on over.

I take one look at her and I notice she's gone pale.

Inside of me?

Before I can even think about it, her face shifts into something beyond terrifying and far from innocent. Her mouth splits open wide, and her curls shrink to horns. Two rows of very sharp teeth open as she lurches forward into me and all I can hear is the siren of an ambulance far off in the distance.