Thryl nods in understanding of Daniels instructions and squeezes Audrey’s hand encouragingly at the same time as Daniel has squeezed the other, adding to his “Just hold tight.”
“Neither of us will let you go, sweetheart.”
*Closing her eyes as instructed, she trusts hat Daniel won’t start until the child has also closed hers. She sits and waits holding the child’s hand securely. She winces a little at the harsh sounding toll of the bell and shivers at the lowering temperature. She reassuringly squeezes Audrey’s hand again. *
“All is dust.”
*The world seems to rotate about them and things go a little quiet … then they are in … is it water … that’s rushing past them … *
“A’ight,” Daniel barks “we’re through–stand up, stand up now!”
Thryl stands quickly, dragging the child upright with her. But not before the stronger than expected current tried to drag her along. She’s now soaked from the waist down. The child doesn’t appear wet at all as she hugs her rabbit tightly.
She looks about and finds the all-encompassing fog a little disorientating. Things almost appear at the side of her vision, but they are not there long enough to identify. She hugs Audrey to her side, to be reassured by her presence.
She waits for further instructions from Daniel, still surprised at the strength of the current held by this shallow … was it an actual river?
“We got ya,” Daniel says, giving Audrey’s hand over to Thryl for a moment. His breath mists in front of him, and he pulls a stack of Post-It Notes from the inner pocket of his jacket before zipping it up.
Daniel opens the sticky notes from their Thryl’s keen eye will likely note that each has one of a number of … sigils? Glyphs? Whatever the designs are, they’re deceptively simple but seem to resonate with a faint but tangible power. What might seem odd is that the symbols seem mass-produced, like stationary or letterhead, but they didn’t radiate any kind of magical energy until now.
As Daniel thumbs through the sticky notes, something slips past Thryl’s foot in the water. It doesn’t seem to swim as much as be pulled past by the current, and it brushes against Thryl’s boot as it goes by.
Thryl holds Audrey close and watches Daniel, ready to respond to any instructions he may give. Tilting her head a little in curiosity at the post-it notes and their relatively simple design. She spocks a brow in surprise as their faint but definite magical nature reveals itself.
*Something touches her lower leg and it takes all her self control not to leap straight up and squeal. She lifts Audrey onto her hip (with apparent ease) so the ghost child isn’t startled by the same type of occurrence. *
Looking to the side she sees something being drawn down stream by the current. Remaining silent, she gives Daniel a quizzical look.
“WHOOOA!” Audrey cries out as she’s summarily air-lifted out of the river. She giggles and hugs Thryl, having apparently missed the presence in the water. “That was fun! Can we do that again?”
Daniel doesn’t quite jump, but his head snaps around at Thryl’s reaction. The giggle brings a wry smile to his lips, in no small part due to seeing the girl happy for the first time in … gods, almost a century.
The smile fades as the gravity of that thought sinks in, and he quashes it and files it away for later. They’d only just started. “Maybe later, kiddo, we got a ways t’go yet. Usually in here the livin’ need some kinda magic t’pass through the Gates. Thing is, I ain’t got magic–but my bells do. Very unique, too, everyone I’ve come across hasn’t seen anythin’ like 'em yet.”
He holds holds up a sticky note and shows off the glyph. “These are gonna help us get through the Gates. This is one of the glyphs they’re infused with. On its own it’s just a drawin’, nothin’ more than one of a buncha shapes I ordered from a stationary store. When they’re near th’bells, though, then they actually work. It’s a bit like a–” he catches himself before he mentions a laptop without WiFi, and struggles for a second to find a more contemporary example “–a radio without electricity.”
Audrey tilts her head, blinking owlishly. Daniel kicks himself as he remembers that radios weren’t widespread until AFTER the Great War. “A light bulb without a switch?” She seems to understand that a little better, at least. Daniel sighs and concedes defeat at the (multi-)generational gap. “Long an’ short of it, the glyphs need t’be near the bells or they’re just paper.”
“Why?” Audrey says.
“Heck if I know,” Daniel answers as he leads them forward into the mist, “I’m still figuring out how this all works.”
“Why?” Audrey asks again, leaning against Thryl.
“Well, someone has to.”
“Why?”
Intimately familiar with the rabbit-hole that single word could lead to, Daniel strategically takes the ghostly girl from Thryl’s arms and borrows the glowstick from her. “Hang on a second, I think this is goin’ out. Lemme give it a quick shake–there we go, that’ll last us a bit longer.”
He puts her down, mindful to keep a tight hold on her other hand. The grip is a bit awkward with Comet dangling from between their palms by an arm, but he manages to keep the current from pulling her too much. “Keep that high, I could use a hand finidn’ th’ Gate.”
“Okay! I’m good at helping!”
Grateful beyond words that his distraction took, Daniel nods Thryl closer and lowers his voice. “T’answer ya’otha question, that was a newly departed passin’ by. Most of th’dead get caught by th’current an’ hauled downstream as soon as they enter Death. Best thing, really, the one what brushed ya’s probably halfway t’the 9th Gate by now.”
Thryl smiles at the giggle of the little girl who was really the ghost of the little girl who died of Leukaemia more than a century ago. The magic of Daniel’s bells having made her being more substantial.
*She is reminded of the seriousness of their mission as she notes the smile fade from Daniel’s face. *
Knowing it was for her as well she listens closely to the explanation he gives to Audrey. Inwardly chuckling to herself as he almost falls into the never-ending story that starts with a ‘Why’.
As Daniel takes Audrey from her arms, she feels a bit sad having actually enjoyed the short time holding the child. Something she hadn’t done since Aath’s kids were small and that was a short window, considering how fast they developed. Atreus at least had the decency to grow at a more normal rate. At least until he was about 18 months old.
*Brought back from her reminiscences by Daniel lowering Audrey to stand in the river again and then whispering to her so that Audrey couldn’t hear. Thryl simply nods to his explanation as the three move in the direction of the current. *
Daniel guides the two of them through the First Precinct; aside from the fog and vague shapes therein (and the eternal pull of the river’s current), it’s a straightforward walk to a point that shimmers in the air. He applies one of his prewritten glyphs to it, and it flares and opens, granting them passage, and the waters part, seemingly into another dimension altogether. Nonetheless, the waters flow through with them, the pull seemingly increasing ever so slightly.
The Second Precinct is similarly placid, though a few holes open up in the ground around them that descend into deeper pools. Daniel takes Audrey’s hand before she can get too close to them, and boy does she try.
“I just wanna splash in it!” the girl whines. “It’s been so long since I got to go out in the rain.”
“Those aren’t puddles kiddo, those’re holes,” Daniel says as he keeps a firm grip on her hand. “You try t’stomp into that an’ you’re gonna go in ovah ya head. Trust me, you don’t wanna do that.”
Daniel does his best to keep Audrey’s attention on him, or the glowstick in her hands, or … well, anything but the pairs of glinting light-points within those holes. Souls drawn in by the river’s current but unwilling to follow it to its end. Gazes of ancient envy stare up from within those pools, glaring at those with the power to resist the current’s pull as well as those who accept it.