Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 225: You're An Idiot

Laz was never one to take things laying down... well, not lately. So when he finally got up for the day, he figured it was time he did something. The only clue he had to go on at the moment was the tarot card that ended up in his pocket from the insane grandma who somehow got into their back yard so he figured it was the best place to start.

Not that he would normally go along with something like this, but sometimes, when you have nothing else to go on, you head towards the crazy and see if it leads you somewhere.

It was a gamble to say the least. But it was the only path he had.

Since it was Sunday and work started tomorrow, Laz thought that today would be a good day to give it a shot. Benny and Eddy were going to head off to do something known only to them while Abraham was going to check out a local church of his faith. He had asked Laz if he wanted to go with him, but Laz turned him down since he had something important to do. He promised he would go with him next time although in his head, Laz wondered if he would burst into flames or be hit by lightning when he walked in the door. Or a better question, what would happen if he intentionally burst into flames while he walked in the door? How would people react? He was laughing a bit to himself making Abraham wonder if he had missed something.

'Poor guy...' Laz thought, seeing the confused look on his face.

As far as the girl's went, they weren't Laz concerned. After his normal morning excise and everyone communicating their plans, everyone went their separate ways, agreeing to meet up for dinner tonight. The guys had traded phone numbers too, just to be safe. As Eddy put it, it was better to have a few close friends than far distant relatives, something that Laz agreed with.

Having taken a quick look online, Laz knew where the place was located and was somewhat amused by the fact that it was, in fact, psychic's shop.

'Am I being had?' Of course Laz thought this. 'A strange person stops you on the street and says that evil spirits are following you, causing you to have bad luck and a shortened life span. But for only your life savings, you can be free of this curse.' Laz couldn't help but shake his head at this thought. He actually had quite a bit of money still, but good luck trying to pry it out of his hands.

Besides, he didn't believe in curses.

Walking inside, Laz was greeted by the ringing of a gentle bell announcing his arrival. While he waited, Laz started looking around and soon got the impression that the inside of the shop was exactly what he thought it was, a hoax. He even double checked the address on the card and the number on the outside of the place, but they did match.

As Laz tried to keep an open mind, Laz looked closer at the shop which was more of a converted house. The entrance way had a glass display cabinet with various types of gifts inside of it, including customized tarot cards, crystals, cracked bones and other such things. Just to be sure, Laz used his sense and noticed that the bones were, in fact, plastic.

'Well, this was a waste.' Laz didn't know what he was looking for, but he knew it wasn't this. Just as he was about to go back out the way he came, a rather attractive woman came out of the back area, through a doorway covered with beads.

"Hello young one. How might I be of service to you?"

The pretty and still young looking woman did a once over on Laz when she first saw him. She was dressed up in loose flowing clothing and had various scarfs made of silk wrapped around her. She was also wearing a shawl made of silk that held back her flowing dreads. It almost looked like a bad gypsy costume out of a low budget film. This only served to reinforce Laz's opinion about the place.

He knew it was a long shot to begin with so even with his reservations, Laz kept his cool and didn't leave or break out into laughter. Besides, Laz could easily tell that there was a strange energy coming from this woman. It felt different from anything he had experienced before. If not for that, he wouldn't have even bothered.

"I received this." Laz took the tarot card like business card out of his pocket and showed it to the woman standing in front of him. Seeing it, she actually sighed and relaxed.

"Oh, thank the stars. I'm not ready to have to deal with this shit again just yet..." The woman said, looking relieved. Laz noticed that her accent was even heavier now than when he walked in.

"Uh...?" Laz was surprised about the woman's sudden change and also confused.

"Who invited you here young one?" The woman asked, looking at Laz.

"I'm not sure? And old grandma burst into the garden of the house I'm staying at and started yelling at me. Then her two grandkids came by shortly after and dragged her away. This time it was the woman's turned to be surprised.

"Madam Cal left it for you? Amazing. Please wait here a moment while I talk to her." The woman quickly disappeared through the beads and around the corner. Laz was a bit tempted to find out where she went, but he kept his peace. Besides which, Laz was able to feel several different auras in the area coming from people other than the woman he had just met. This obviously meant that they weren't alone and he was being watched..

"Maybe this place isn't so simple?" Laz said to himself quietly and continued to look around.

Before long, the younger woman came back and asked Laz to follow her.

They passed by two rooms that kept in line with the entrance way, in that they were nothing special. Just when Laz was going to ask something though, the woman opened a door that was not only big and bulky, but also had a digital keyboard on it. After entering this room, Laz finally understood that this place was far from simple.

Based on the layout of the house as Laz understood it walking in, is was much bigger inside that the outside would lead you to believe. Either that, or something else was going on here.

The room that Laz entered had a rather cryptic feel to it. There were different decorations than the things in the previous rooms, these being much more in line with what Laz would consider real items. Various bones, real bones, lined the walls like some sort of skeleton while jars of different animal parts sat neatly arranged on a book shelf. Even the couple of chairs in the room were made out of a black colored wood that seemed to emit a cold aura. The room was lit up by candles spread out on tables and furnishings throughout the room and while there were no beads or silks, the cloth covering the table looked as though it had several devilish symbols written on it and even the walls, floor and ceiling had symbols painted in red.

Laz could tell that the red paint was actually blood, but he had no way of telling if it was animal or human blood.

Before Laz even had a chance to look at everything in the room, a door on the opposite side of the room opened and the old woman walked in, shuffling along with a black colored walking cane that had a silver skull on it. Laz felt an unusual rush of power from the item in her hand.

"You still came, eh boy? This old woman's words seemed to have no bearing on you?"

"Should they?"

"I speak of things I see. You hear the words and they have meaning, even if they make no sense to me."

"So you have no idea why you said what you said to me eh? Helpful."

"I'm not here for your enlightenment boy. You should simply heed my warning and be gone."

"You're not really a people person, are you grandma?"

"And you seem like a sarcastic little shit, ain't you boy?"

Hearing this, Laz couldn't help but smile. He noticed, based on her attitude, facial cues and everything else that this old woman meant no ill will towards him. What he didn't know was that he had somehow triggered a warning in her when they were in close proximity before which had caused her gift to basically overload.

"So there is nothing you can do to help me?"

"I didn't say that. I simply said that the warning I gave you the last time should be enough for you to run away from this place. Since it isn't, might as well do some business with yah."

The old woman proceeded to sit down and set the cane beside her. On the sinister wooden table sat a rather large crystal ball. Unlike what one might expect however, this crystal ball had lines of red swirling around inside of it, like it wasn't solid. The old woman raised her hand over the ball and simply swiped it across it, causing the ball to light up while the burning candles in the room went out.

"I know you are looking for something boy, but your not the only one. There are many who have felt the pull of power and wound up here, even if they don't know why. With all the energy starting to flow within the city, I suspect that many strange things will be happening soon. Deaths, disappearances, perhaps even a bit of war mixed in. Since you choose to remain, you will be drawn in. You need to be careful, lest you loose that head of yours. Now then, it seems that before we continue, I need to teach you something."

"Oh? Why is that?" Teach him something? He just came here for some clues.

"The spirits tell me that you are an idiot."

"..."

"It's not your fault boy. To them, most humans are ignorant. Don't let it effect you too much."

Laz had come into contact with spirits before, the large animal like spirits in the woods, and the small glittering light spirits that Malene summoned. So why exactly was he an idiot now?

"I can see it on your face. Fine. We will start at the beginning...."