Chapter 19

“Dude, what the fuck?”

Jason and Death were both squatting on a street corner sharing a cigarette between them.

“Yeah I know, I surprised myself as well actually.” Jason said as he drew on the cig.

“But how? I mean, how did you do it without throwing up? Or questioning your sanity? Or realize what a fucked up thing you’re doing?” Death exclaimed, incredulous.

“Really?” Jason gave him an amused look. “You ask me, of all people, a question beginning with how?”

Death merely kept staring at him silently.

Jason sighed. “Look, I just took a pill that turned my brain into Hannibal Lecter okay? And I healed her anyway after, she should be grateful in fact, she’ll be way prettier than her sister.”

“Don’t you mean sisters?” Death asked.

Jason waved his hand. “Sister, singular, the others are decoys, cousins, or bastards. Turns out Richie gets around.”

“Richie?” Death was surprised.

“The king, a real swinger that one.” Jason said, taking another whiff.

Death shook his head, “But couldn’t you have just turned her pretty? Say the magic words and cut out the horrible part where you rip her literal skin of her body?”

“No.” Jason said, “This way she’ll get a glimpse of the outside world. I expect her to be shocked when she wakes up, constantly mumbling to herself or waking up screaming with nightmares, followed by severe depression as she realizes she is living in a bird cage. No one will know what to do, thinking she’s gone mad, they’ll hide her somewhere far and out of the way. This will further alienate her from her family, her confusion will slowly fester into anger, hating her father for abandoning her, hating her sister and brothers for ignoring her and not coming to her rescue in her time of need. At this point she will have two options, kill herself or reject all she knew, train herself to be the ultimate assassin, swearing sweet revenge on her father, sister and most importantly me. Her quest will lead her on an epic journey as she becomes a certified badass before finally meeting me where we’re going have an awesome boss battle.”

Death whistled “And who’s going to win?”

“Cecilia obviously” Jason said “It would be too cruel if I didn’t let her win after all that.”

Death mused over that for a minute “Wait I thought she only had sisters.”

“Nope, her memories show she has three brothers, of course her father’s shows five. Every single one of them meatheads, they’re actually going to that army school.” Jason said.

“Huh,” Death said. “Speaking of school I arranged the tutors, they’ll turn up at your estate tomorrow at eight, I also got one for the other two.”

“Ilios and Gwandere? What kind?”

“A woman I know, she’ll teach them how to be a lady and all that.” Death said, waving it away.”You know, you have a lot of schemes for a guy that’s supposed to be in the middle of puberty. How do you change yourself from a responsible adult to a stupid horny teenager in a matter of seconds?”

“There’s a thing called faces, I change them to interact with different people. I figured a strong dependable male figure is needed to raise those kids properly, these little lashes of craziness is how I cut loose, I’ve been a step father for two days and let me tell you it’s hard having to control your attitude and not swearing , really I opening actually.”

Death nodded before stubbing out the cigarette “Funny thing, cigarettes, I don’t actually like them anymore, I just change it so that it tastes like I’m drinking gaseous apple juice.”

“Really? I changed mine to oranges after the first draw.” Jason commented.

Death stood up, stretching to his tiptoes. “I’m gonna go now, stuff to do and all that.” He frowned, “And get rid of that fucking monster dick, it’s nearly ripping your pants apart.”

Jason grinned. “Yeah, I bet its real eye catching.”

Death snorted “I bet it also chafes every time you move.”

Jason scowled. “Shut up.”

With a wave, Death turned into a blue phoenix and flew away, the glow of the city lights outmatched by his azure brilliance.

Jason sighed as he stood up and started walking home, he really didn’t want to face the berating that Tilda will give him, hell he wasn’t even sure she trusted him anymore, they’re literally at his mercy really, makes one kind of antsy when they realize that there are people who could do whatever they want to their life and the person in question could do nothing to stop it.

“Where the hell have you been?” Tilda shouted.

She was visibly furious when he showed himself in, she was like a bull, with steam coming out of her nose as she stared daggers at Jason. She was standing in the foyer with her hands crossed in front of her, tapping her foot impatiently as Jason warily approached her.

“Look I’m sorr-”

Slap

“Okay I deserved th-”

Slap

“Alright that’s enou-”

Slap

“NEVER AGAIN!” Tilda shouted, “NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU HARM MY CHILDREN!”

Jason was stunned as Tilda punched him over and over again.

“They could have died!” Tilda was furious, rage coursed through her like lightning through a block of gold

“Okay, OKAY! I get it! Calm down, tell why you’re angry.” Jason said as he tried to avoid the punches,

She kept fighting, but eventually the spirit left her, Tilda collapsed into Jason’s shoulders while Jason, playing the role of the loving father, embraced her. She looked surprisingly small and vulnerable as Jason looked down at her, almost a head shorter than him.

“They told me you hit Peyton.” Tilda said, struggling to muster anger into her words.

Jason thought for a moment, “Yes, I did do that. Did they explain why I did it?”

Tilda shook her head. “No.”

“It was a lesson.” Jason replied.

“A lesson?” Tilda snorted. “In what?”

“Life,” Jason replied. “Your children will one day be the heads of the greatest household the city has ever known, I won’t be able to shelter them forever. As soon as people find out that someone brought this estate, they will stop at nothing to bring about our downfall, from blackmail to assassination. Whether you like it or not, we have entered the noble’s game and they don’t like new players.”

“So? Why does that justify hitting my son?” Tilda asked.

“An example, I told him he can do whatever he wants as long as he can face the consequences. Peyton wanted to climb on to the roof of the carriage, I denied him the pleasure.” Jason said.

Tilda pondered for a moment as she disengaged from the hug, “Well, there was no harm done, and it will do him good if he gets a bit of discipline.” She mused. “Very well, I’ll forgive you this time but if I find out you’ve done anything more…” Tilda looked deadly serious for a second,

“I will not have my children be cruelly abused.”

Jason bobbed his head. “Of course, do not worry. I promise your children will never come to harm.”

Tilda sighed before walking off deeper into the mansion, “There wouldn’t be much I could do anyway, I have seen little evidence that there is a limit to you magic, but thank you anyway.”

Jason raised his eyebrow as he walked after her. “Is that what you think it is? Magic?”

“Of course, or am I wrong?” Tilda asked.

“Yes.” Jason said simply, content to let the matter rest.

“By the way,” he continued. “I have ordered private tutors for the kids, they’ll show up tomorrow at eight.”

“Tutors? And where are they going to have lessons?” Tilda said over her shoulder.

Jason shrugged, “They’ll find a place. By the way, how goes the furnishing?”

“Slowly, we’ll get the essentials tomorrow, the order is large and we’ve got money but because it’s a custom job it will take at least a month, most likely two for the glassware and lighting.” Tilda replied.

“By the way could you turn back to your previous form?” She asked.

Jason looked on in confusion. “Why?”

“Because you look weird” Tilda replied.

“Oh? In what way?” Jason asked.

“Your features are off, your eyes are too big, nose too long and your chin too pronounced, uncomfortably so.” Tilda mentioned offhandedly.

“Huh,” Jason turned back to the bearded man he was before and thought nothing of it.

The two of them entered the ballroom to find everyone surrounding the fireplace once more, Peyton was whittling a stick, Nasha was reading a book while Ilios and Gwandere were braiding each other’s hair.

There was a small table set up right in the middle of the beds with dinner on it, most of the stuff was covered by tablecloth to stop it from losing too much heat, it was quite modest but the cutlery was already set.

“Grab a seat everyone, Jason is here!” Tilda called out.

Peyton scrambled over to the food, while Nasha lazily put down the book and calmly walked over, Gwandere and Ilios completely ignored them.

“Did you wash up?” Tilda asked the children.

Nasha nodded, Peyton looked down uncomfortably and the other two still ignored them.

Tilda scowled. “Peyton, go and clean yourself,” she said. “And you two,” she turned to the girls.” Stop playing with each other’s hair and go wash your hands.”

“We’re nearly done.” Ilios called out. “There we go.” She said as she laid the final touch to Gwandere’s hair.

Gwandere’s hair had one plated ponytail that reached to her shoulder blades, while Ilios’ a hair had a single bit of plated hair sticking trailing back and curling around a bun.

The two girls walked out the hall to wash their hands, but Jason had no idea where.

“Where do they wash their hands?” he asked as Peyton scurried into the room.

“There’s a bunch of restrooms everywhere. The mansion’s layout is not as linear as I imagined.” Tilda replied. “The main hallway only takes up about one third of the place and the rooms on either side seem to have been designed with no logic to them, you could get lost if you didn’t know which way the main hall was.”

“I found a secret tunnel as well.” Peyton added in helpfully.

“Really? And where did it lead.” Jason asked him.

“A giant machine, there were pipes sticking out everywhere and it would make strange sounds occasionally, it was kinda cool.” Peyton said.

“Yes, it was probably the boiler.” Jason thought to himself. “Well, I suggest you don’t touch it.”

“Why?” Peyton asked, with a hint of rebellion sparking in his eyes.

“You’ll probably get burned.” Jason shrugged.

“Oh,” Peyton’s ego burst with an audible pop.

By now Ilios and Gwandere have returned from the mysterious land of the ‘rest room’ and Jason thought now would be a good time to tell them about tomorrow’s plans.

“Alright, I have organized tutors for you all to attend, they’ll be here at eight tomorrow.” Jason started.

Cries of outrage followed this declaration, mostly by Peyton but he was quickly shushed by his mother.

“We’ll need someone who knows everything about being a noble because besides hiring servants and buying furniture. I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to do.” Tilda said.

“Alright I’ll look around when I have time. I’ll also look for someone to mind the gate, so that we can have someone nearby when the neighbors come a’knockin.” Jason replied.

“But I thought I would go to school!” Peyton whined.

“I changed my mind, besides, I thought you hated school.” Jason said.

“Yeah, but a teacher that only looks at you is much worse than a teacher that is distracted by others.” Peyton complained.

“I’ll guess you’ll just have to get better at not getting caught.” Jason shrugged. “Now let’s eat, I’m starving.”

Without further ado, the Fyr family dug in to the delicious food that adorned the table.

“How did you get the kitchen working?” Jason asked between bites.

“I didn’t, I went out and brought it.” Tilda replied between sips of wine.