Cedar Sanderson is doing N'inktober, so I'm going to follow along and do what I've been trained to do by the Raconteur Press Postcard books: come up with a story to match her visual prompts. I can't guarantee that I'll have a complete story for every image, but I'm going to at least try to come up with a scene, a start, or an idea!
Candor Guarded
“Graveyard at midnight on Halloween. You’ve got to be kidding me.” The man in the full-body skeleton costume shook his head and raised his voice. “Hey, Miss Melodramatic. I’m here. The place is homey and all, but I’ve got a party to get to. So let’s quit playing games and get down to business, all right?”
The moon wasn’t quite full, but it was close enough that the shadows of bare trees stretched across the short grass. Tangled lines of shadow spilled across the earth, shivering as the wind whipped through the trees.
Leaves rustled behind him. “Who are you? Where is Agent Montana?” A woman’s voice, barely a hoarse whisper.
He didn’t twitch. “Hey, Missy. Call me Mel. Wade couldn’t make it. What do you have for me, kiddo?”
“My name is Melissa. Not that it matters. Not that anything matters.” He could hear the resignation in her voice. “I am compelled to come. To speak. Nobody beleives me.”
“Right. Maledictionem prophetiae. Cassandra’s Curse.”
Silence. He turned to face her. She’d obviously not been getting much sleep. Long, tangled hair cascaded in a mess, nearly hiding her face. Her eyes were sunken, and the moonlight behind her left her sockets in deep shadow.
Mel whistled, long and low. “Hon, that is one heck of a goth look you’ve got going there. Well, except for that whole shocked expression. Are you free later? I mentioned that party, right?”
Melissa moved forward slowly, slipping through the shadows. She was a tall woman, thin to the point of being gaunt. Her long black dress hid her legs, making it look like she was gliding soundlessly across the turf.
“You know! How?”
Mel shrugged. “You can’t positively identify a Cassandra, but you can infer the existence of one, if you know a few tricks. The Bureau has people who keep an eye out for certain information patterns. Some computer program somewhere flagged your profile, a few smart people put two and two together, and bam! I get a call from my buddy Wade asking for a favor. So here we are.”
Her lips trembled. “It still doesn’t matter. Even if you know, it doesn’t matter! This isn’t regular magic. It’s a divine curse. There is no sorcery, no technology that can counter it. No living thing will believe a word I say.”
“There’s a first time for everything.” He crossed his arms. “Try me.”
“Fine!” She spat the word out like something foul. “The world is changing. There are demigods in the world again. Superheroes, you call them. Mutants. Practitioners of arts that are equal parts technical, mystical, and divine. Gods and demons have have even chosen some as champions. Beings from realms beyond ours are drawn here, like moths to a flame.”
“Yeah, that’s not really news. The Wild Rose and Captain Carnage went toe to toe last night down by the docks. We’re learning to live with it. That’s just a Monday night anymore.”
“It’s not supposed to be! Nobody understands! It’s not supposed to be! There’s something wrong!” She was shaking. “There’s something coming. I see it every time I close my eyes. Doom. Cities shattered. Bodies in the streets. Things that my mind can’t even comprehend stalking the ruins. Survivors fighting and fleeing and falling to a thousand deaths, each one unique.” Her voice was rising. “Every time I sleep! Even Hell itself is afraid! Have you ever heard a demon scream in terror? I have!”
Melissa wrapped her arms around herself and sobbed. Mel stood silently, watching, until she finally straightened up and took a deep, shuddering breath.
“There. I have fulfilled my obligation. If I’m lucky, I will get a few hours of rest before the visions start again.” Her voice was equal parts bitterness and disillusionment. “Go make your report. File it away like all the others.”
Mel steepled his fingers and tapped his chin, thinking. “Interesting. And very disturbing. Unfortunately, your story corroborates some other reports I’ve seen. And explains some things that I really wish it didn’t.”
She stepped back, obviously stunned. “Impossible. You believe? How?”
“You said it yourself. No living thing.” Mel reached up and pulled off his skeleton mask. Underneath was an actual skull. Pinpricks of blue burned deep within the eye sockets. One disappeared for a moment, then flared back.
“Did… did you just wink at me?”
“Most people notice the whole skeleton thing first. But yes, that was a wink.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You are a skeleton. Dressed as a skeleton. Why?”
“The whole party thing? Remember? I mean, it’s Halloween.” He shimmied his shoulders. “This is one of the only nights I can actually get out and be myself.”
Her eye twitched. “Should I be worried that that makes sense?”
“Probably!” Mel said cheerfully. “I’ve learned to roll with it, though. Makes things a whole lot easier.”
“Who are you?”
“Trust me - you really don’t want to know. That’s getting into ‘scary men make you disappear’ territory. The only reason they’re letting me talk to you right now is that nobody else will believe you if you tell them about me.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “Right.”
“For now, let’s just say that I’m your new Bureau contact. So I need two things from you. First, whenever your curse gets titchy, you give me a call and give me an infodump. I get the goods, and you get to sleep. OK?”
He watched as her expression slowly morphed from disbelief into hope. “I – I can do that. What’s the second thing?”
“Hello? Party?” Mel pulled his mask back on over his head. “I hear there’s going to be some killer bean dip there, and I get tired of making excuses for why I’m not eating. So I could use a sidekick.”
Melissa put her hands on her temples. “I’m going to a Halloween party. With an actual skeleton. Who wants me to eat his bean dip.”
“Yeah. I mean, you can tell everybody there. It’s not like they’ll believe you.”
Melissa snorted. The snort turned into a giggle; the giggle, into laughter. She went on until she was doubled over, gasping for breath.
“I take it that’s a yes?”
She straightened up. “I am starving. And exhausted. Let me sleep in the car, and you’ve got yourself a deal.”
I love that you have given Cassandra hope, and a possible friend!