Chapter 9: Break-in

“So… what happens to the string of someone turns into a dark entity?”

The question had been burning within the five year old as they made their way back towards the door, but had only just been brave enough to ask it. Eva and the three Fates stopped, obvious tension in the air. Finally, Talin’s old gravelly voice broke the silence.

“Your golden string turns black and then disintegrates at the end.”

“You don’t even cut it?”

“No. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it either once it has gone too far.”

This new piece of information was most unnerving, but Lily simply pushed herself forward and tried to think of the fun new things she was about to learn instead.

“Off to the next place then!” Chin exclaimed, obviously eager to change the subject.

“Yes. We want to explain how people are chosen for their jobs in the Inbetween.” Brie nodded. Arno looked back at Eva as they stepped through the door that brought them back to the grounds of paintings.

“Thank you for everything.” He told her quietly.

“No. Thank you.” And she gave him one last hug and smile and shut the door politely behind them. Arno seemed very at peace with things, and there seemed to be a light back in his deep brown eyes, which Lily was glad for.  

The next place they were taken was a tower. Lily ran up the gray stone stairs as fast as she could, and then got tired and had Arno carry her. At the top, Lily could see for miles and miles-more paintings than the eye could see, and tiny dots of people moving around amongst them. Going around the circle of the tower, were seven glowing orbs. Behind each orb, a marble statue stood.

“These orbs represent the seven realms in the land of the Inbetween. The statues tell which one it is.”

Lily looked up at the tree statue. Each leaf of the tree was etched and detailed beautifully-its white branches twisting and turning and stretching itself into a cascade of individual leaves.

“Is this the Earth Workings realm?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She looked around at the others, where she saw a figure with a sword and shield, a clock with complicated gears and turnings, a sleeping figure, a screaming figure, three figures holding orbs, and a hooded figure standing there in majesty.

“When someone dies, we decide here where everyone works.” Chin said proudly, whipping her short black hair out of her face.

“Of course, every realm is different. Some of them have different jobs within themselves.” Brie told them. Talin nodded in agreement.

“So each realm has its own “Choosing” room here in the Fates realm.”

Arno stood in front of the figure with the sword and shield.

“I’m guessing this is the Guardians realm then?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you choose me to work for the Guardians?”

“Arno.”

“We know who you are.”

“We’ve seen everything you’ve done.”

“To be a Guardian, one needs to show strength, courage, and love for those around them.”

“But-”

“No one is perfect, but you showed great bravery and selflessness. You sacrificed yourself for the one you were protecting. These are traits of a great Guardian.”

“But you don’t understand!” Arno lamented. “I-.”

“We do understand. We’ve seen everything. Even the things you’ve done here in the land of the Inbetween.”

Arno looked over to the Guardian statue again. Lily walked over to him and hugged his leg.

“Don’t worry Arno. I think you’re the best Guardian ever!”

The Guardian put a hand on her head and sighed.

“Death wanted you to come here to gain confidence in yourself.” Talin told him. “We all believe in you. He wanted you to see the good you’ve done. Eva showed you the strings didn’t you?”

Despite everything, the corner of his mouth slipped up into a smile.

“So… how did you know I was going to be Death’s Apprentice?” Lily asked.

At this, the three Fates exchanged glances.

“We didn’t exactly choose you…”

“The next Death always seems to slip under our radar…”

“We’re not exactly sure how it works.”

At this, Arno chuckled a bit. “Out of all the things you know about people, one little girl slipped through. Interesting.”

“Where would you have put me?”

Chin shrugged.

“You are quite a difficult one to peg Lily Hoagen.” Brie commented. “But it’s rather obvious to anyone who meets you that you were meant to take Death’s place.”

“Yes Lily. You have wisdom beyond your years.”

The little girl smiled.

After finding out about the choosings and how it was done, Lily skipped after her Guardian and the Fates to see the lanterns-whatever that was. They ended up coming to one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen as they came out of the verandas and pillars.

They were in another courtyard, but this one was filled with little pools filled with lanterns of all shapes and sizes-floating silently and beautifully in the waters. Men, women and children were off to one side, making them and taking their time in putting intricate and individual designs in each of them.

“What’s the purpose of those?” Arno asked out loud, the soft lights bathing over him and making his hair look a little lighter than it was.

“This is where we prepare everyone in the Inbetween for Moving on.” Saskia the little girl and her Guardian as she came out from behind a pillar.

“Lily, Arno, I believe you met Saskia earlier. She is the one in charge of the lanterns.” Talin said with her crinkly smile.

The strawberry blonde bowed low, the beads on her person jingling and tingling quietly.

“Let me explain the lanterns…” she said most cheerfully, motioning for Lily and Arno to sit down. The Guardian sat down on a mosaic bench as the little girl jumped into his lap.

“At some point, everyone moves on from the Inbetween. We help with this process. When time is getting close for them to leave, we make them a lantern, light it and place it into one of the pools. Then we wait. When the process begins, the lantern floats up and-oh well look-here’s one now!”

Lily looked down into the blue green pool that she was referring to as one of the lanterns started to slowly turn, creating ripples in the water. And then slowly but surely, it started to lift itself out of the water. She watched in amazement as it floated up silently and majestically into the air above their heads and farther up into the sky-where she finally realized that the twinkling lights above them weren’t stars-they were lanterns. Millions and millions of lanterns of people who had already moved on from the Inbetween-who had never gone out or faded away from existence, for it was as if they were looking down and watching over them.

“The people are the stars!” she squealed in delight, pointing and laughing.

“That’s right.”

“Hmmm.”

Lily looked up at her Guardian, who seemed to be contemplating something.

“I…have a question…” he began slowly.

“Yes?”

“Why haven’t I moved on yet? Or aged? A lot of the people I came into the Inbetween with are either old now or gone. So why haven’t I?”

“Well, we don’t move on until we’ve done everything we need to do right?”

“I guess so.”

“And the aging is just an indicator of your time here and your wisdom. Those who come in already old don’t start aging even more do they?”

“No, but-“

“Lily cannot be five forever. As she grows, she will learn. And as she learns she will grow. You, Arno, had not been given your purpose or opportunity to do good. But if you had, you would not have been there for Lily to choose you. Nothing is by coincidence. I think you were meant to be her Guardian.”

“Oh.”

Lily looked up at him, trying to figure out how he was feeling. He had seen and heard so much about himself and why he was there at that time. As once again he started to smile, Lily felt warmth spread through her and making her feel happy. It was so nice to see Arno like this, and she wished that he would be like this forever.

Their thoughts were interrupted with a loud noise like an explosion and the sound of crumbling bricks and pillars.

“What was that?” Lily asked, her eyes wide. Everyone around her suddenly seemed tense. The lantern makers stopped what they were doing and started looking around-trying to find the source of the sound. Lily jumped and held onto Arno tightly as from somewhere in the land of fates, she could here echoed screams and people crying out.

“I-Is it the dark entities??” she asked fearfully.

“No. I don’t think so.” Brie snarled, bracing herself and balling her hands into fists. “We feared something like this might happen. That would be the other reapers…”

“What?!” Arno exclaimed jumping up.

“You and Lily need to get out of here quickly.” Chin said quickly. “They might not know you’re here-they’ve been stealing some of the paintings-.”

“Why?”

“Probably so we won’t know what they’re up to-but hurry!! We’ll make sure they don’t follow! Get back to the glass portal!”

Arno nodded with a sense of determination, and then lifted Lily up into his arms and started to run-meandering around the pillars and trying to find his way back. Unfortunately, he was not a fate worker, and did not know the realm as well, for he was soon lost.

“If you weren’t with me Lily, I swear I would curse or something.” He muttered between huffs and puffs as he came to another dead end.

“Arno!! That’s bad!” she scolded distastefully. “No bad words!”

Arno smirked and then ran down another hallway-right into a group of reapers.

Lily recognized one of the reapers at once-with his long, black matted hair and his trench coat filled with holes at the bottom. If she remembered correctly, his name was Zachary. They looked up in surprise as Lily and Arno stood there frozen in front of them. And then everything happened at once.

Arno turned on his heel and skidded back down the way they had come as the reapers roared at their find. Lily’s little blonde pigtails whipped behind her and she jostled up and down as he Guardian sprinted away in an effort to keep her safe.

Before they knew it, they had stumbled back to the fields of paintings.

“Wait-I think I can get us back from here!” Arno whispered.

But an angry shout from behind them forced him to go forward to hide in the many portraits around them. Lily could see the other reapers coming through the stone archway-looking for them…

“Arno!” she breathed, her heart beating wildly in her chest. He looked back, and then ducked down out of sight.

“Where did they go?”

“They must be hidden amongst the paintings somewhere-.”

Arno began to army crawl with Lily towards one of the archways that he knew would lead them back to the portal they wanted to go.

“There!!” Lily felt herself being pulled behind Arno and there was a burst of gold light from his hands as the reaper came for them.

“Leave our realm you miscreants!!” someone screamed. Lily peeked out from behind the man in front of her to see Brie, Talin, and Chin running towards the chaos. Brie took no hesitation as she punched the reaper attacking them in the face. Arno took this chance to scoop Lily up again and run towards freedom.  Lily looked over his shoulder to watch as the three fates fought the reapers. It seemed like the three women knew exactly what the reapers were going to do next as they dodged each punch or dark whip that they held over their heads.  She could see a flash of golden string as the Fates brought out their own form of weapon, and then Arno and Lily turned down the hallway and she couldn’t see them anymore.

“We’re almost there Lily-almost there and soon we’ll be safe in the Guardian’s realm and I’ll tell you another story-.” Arno gasped as they approached the door leading back to the glass portal. However, at the last second, Zachary-the reaper that scared Lily the most, stepped out from behind a pillar and they ran right into him. Before they even had the chance to do anything, he whipped his black trench coat around them. The last thing she saw before plunging into darkness was the crooked smile of the reaper before them.  

Lily screamed as she felt like she was a part of some dark wispy cloud like when they had escaped from the Insanities, and Arno yelled.

When the darkness cleared, they were standing in the Reaper realm-surrounded by people dressed in black. Lily felt petrified, but her Guardian only hesitated for a moment. He clapped his hands together, and immediately, there was a blinding light that enveloped the entire room. The little girl could not see a thing, but her Guardian obviously could. She could feel him running again, pushing past reapers, and she could hear the angry yells and roars from the enemies surrounding them. She blinked her eyes over and over again, trying to get the light spots out. After a moment, her surroundings began to come into focus again, and she looked forward to see that they were approaching the glass portal that would mean their safety.

Then something then and black wrapped itself around Arno’s neck-pulling him backwards.

“Arno!!” They hit the floor in a crash as the reaper following them brought them down with his whip. Lily rolled out of the way and watched in horror as Arno struggled to tear off the rope strangling him. There was another burst of white light, and the whip slithered away. Arno jumped up and stood in front of her-hands out at the ready. Zachary laughed. Lily thought it sounded like there was gravel in his throat.

“The Guardian that couldn’t ever do anything.” He sneered. “You really think you can take on a reaper??”

Arno was brimming with confidence and strength.

“Yes. I am the Guardian of Death’s apprentice. This is what I was meant to do.”

Despite everything, Lily felt herself swelling with pride towards him. The reaper laughed again, and the fight began.

Lily hugged the wall behind her and watched with a mixture of fascination and fear. Arno emitted light after light as he fought the reaper Zachary, who flourished his dark whip around. It suddenly occurred to her that this was the first time she had seen any reapers with whips, and she started to wonder where they got them in the first place. The fight itself was a mixture of light and dark, and they were both moving so quickly for the little five year old, that it was hard to tell what was going on.

“Leave my friend alone!!” a small voice exclaimed. Lily knew at once that it was Edgar. But before she could turn to see him or call out at him to stay away, another voice yelled.

“Zachary!!” a familiar voice yelled from behind them. The two of them turned to see Helen there, brandishing her own whip, her face contorted with fury.  

“How dare you attack them and bring them here!!”

“But-.”

Helen did not give him a chance to respond as she wrapped her whip around his ankle-causing him to crash down on the floor. He scrambled to get up as he glared at the plump woman attacking him.

“Arno-Lily-get out of here-I’ll take care of him.”

Arno nodded and grabbed Lily-running to the glass portal. Lily watched as Zachary yelled in anger and charged at their reaper friend. The smoke covered her vision, and soon they were standing in the realm of the Guardians.

Everyone had been worried about Death’s apprentice and her Guardian when they hadn’t returned from the Fates. Arno and Lily of course were thinking about Edgar and Helen, and wondering if they were ok. So when the reaper and her trainee showed up in the realm of the Guardians looking a little disheveled, they were more than a little relieved to see them-and it washed over them like the sea.

After everyone doted on them and made sure they were alright, the four of them found a quiet spot on the seating around the training area to sit down. Lily looked around at the Greeters and Savers who were now refugees after being kicked out of their realms, and thought about how nice it was for the Guardians to let them all stay there. She also remembered the last time she was here-and how she had met Arno.

“Sorry I couldn’t help you in the Insanities Arno.” Helen told him, sounding exhausted. “I didn’t want Edgar to have to get caught up in all of that.” The Guardian nodded in understanding, simply glad and grateful that she was alright and that she had helped them at such a crucial moment.

“Where did they get those dark whip things?” Lily blurted.

“Nightmare scraps from the dream realm. Looks like our Reapers are starting to turn into a bunch of thieves.”

“Well, we’re all safe now, so let’s try to get some rest or something.” Arno told them with a sigh. Lily yawned and nodded. She felt sleepy… She laid her head on Arno’s lap, and was vaguely aware of Edgar asking a question, but she didn’t hear exactly what he said-for she had drifted off to sleep…

Lily was standing in a vast expanse of darkness, purple mist and clouds swirling around her.

“Arno?” she called, her voice echoing.

No answer.

For some reason, the feeling of terror swept over her, a tingling chill sending itself down her spine.

She turned around to see a large star with a face and pigtails floating there with a giant fish.

“Lily.”

“Help us.”

An echo of laughter filled the air and faded away into nothing.

The star and fish began to circle her.

“Help us. Lily.”

“Help us.”

“Lily.”

“Help…”

They swirled around her faster and faster and soon were a blur. The scene changed, and Lily was standing in a small, blank white room.

“Hello?”

Something groaned behind her. Feeling her heart jumping into her throat, she slowly turned around to see a dark entity coming up out of the floor.

She screamed as it began to fill the whole room. She tried to run, but it was as if she were walking through syrup. And there was nowhere to go.

The dark entity enveloped her, and she struggled to escape the black sticky tar that seemed to be swallowing her.

“MOMMY!!” she screamed. “DADDY!! ARNO! Someone save me!!” she reached out for help only to see the light disappear into darkness…

Lily awoke screaming and thrashing around in a panic, catching Arno and everyone else in the large room by surprise.

“Lily-what’s wrong?” he asked, trying desperately to calm her down. The people around them curiously looked over at the commotion to see what was going on, some of them trying to be nonchalant about it.

“Lily-it’s ok! Calm down!!” he cried, holding her tightly in his arms. The little girl simply bawled and wailed.

“What’s going on?” a cool raspy voice asked as it entered the room.

“I don’t know-Lily just started screaming-.”

Death glided across the floor, meandering through the people in the room to get closer to his apprentice.

“Lily. It’s Death. What’s wrong?”

The little girl rubbed away at the snot coming out of her nose with her wrist and hiccuped.

“I had a nightmare.”

Everyone froze.

In her living life, if Lily had a nightmare, she would normally go to her parents, who would comfort her and tell her that it was just a dream and that she was safe. Then they would snuggle up with her in bed and she would feel safe wrapped up in the soft blankets.

There was quite a different reaction here in the land of the Inbetween.

“You fell asleep?”

“Yes. I was really sleepy and then I had a nightmare.”

Everyone started whispering nervously.

“But-Death-people in the Inbetween don’t sleep, let alone dream…” Arno said a bit fearfully.

“I know…”

“Then where did it come from?”

“Where does any dream come from?” he pondered, starting to pace the floor.

“The Dream Realm.”

“Lily, what was in your nightmare?”

Lily held on tighter to her Guardian and shuddered.

“There was a fish… and… a star… They kept asking me for help. And then… then… I was being eaten by a big scary dark entie thingie.”

Arno and Death exchanged glances.

“What does that even mean?” Arno asked.

At that moment, Mr. Downey ran over.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Death took a moment to think, staring off into space. Then he looked up at the Guardian leader with a very grave look on his face.

“Gather up your Guardians Mr. Downey. The Land of Dreams is in danger…”