![]() He wore baggy black pants, a black muscle shirt (despite his lack of muscles), and enough gold jewelry around his neck to make him a proper festival idol. From the shadows near the stairs appeared a teenage boy who looked very much like the sort of boy who enjoyed appearing from shadows. “You will also travel with another member of the Imperial Household just in case, ah, difficulties arise.” The emperor tasted the word safe as if it had many possible meanings, none of them good. His rugged face would have been scary even without the serpent tattoo that coiled around his neck and up his right cheek. His muscular arms bulged against his leather cuirass. From the line of imperial bodyguards behind him, one stepped forward. He crooked his diamond-weighted pinky finger. If you cannot bring him to me alive, kill him.” “Capture Apollo before he can find the next Oracle. Meg didn’t speak, but Nero nodded as if she’d answered his question. I had seen it unfold several times in my visions over the last few weeks. ![]() Alas, I could only watch, knowing that this scene had already happened. I wanted to smash that plate of strawberries into Nero’s chinless, neck-bearded excuse for a face. Under the weight of Nero’s gaze, she seemed so small and vulnerable. Scotch tape covered the rhinestone tips at either joint. Her face was lowered, but I could see that her cat-eye glasses had been broken since our last encounter. She slumped in her green T-shirt dress, her knees bent in her yellow leggings, one red high-top kicking listlessly at the marble floor. Her dark pageboy hair hung listlessly around her face. Standing before the emperor, Meg McCaffrey looked like a wilting plant. His voice was soft and gentle, like a heavy snowfall-the sort that builds up and brings down power lines, collapses roofs, kills entire families. You should be more excited! This is your chance for redemption, my dear. On his sizable paunch he balanced a plate of strawberries, popping them one at a time into his mouth with his little finger raised to show off the hundred-karat diamond on his pinky ring. Reclining on a gilded chaise lounge, the emperor Nero looked horrifically resplendent in a purple suit, a blue pastel shirt, and pointy alligator-leather shoes. No matter where my visions took me, I always seemed to end up back in this nightmarish scene. Beyond the glass walls and the wraparound terrace, afternoon shadows flooded the skyscraper canyons of Manhattan. I found myself in a vast apartment of gold and white marble. My vision changed, shifting as subtly as the light through the Waystation’s rose window. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |