Twisted and Accursed, Chapter 15

She didn’t want to see or meet her dad – not as she was and not after everything she’d done. How could she possibly explain any of this? How could she possibly look him in the eye and still claim to be a hero? Oh, certainly, she saved a lot of people – many of them already dead, but she saved a lot of them anyway. And, even if she saved a thousand, that number still paled in comparison to the many who’d died because of her stupidity, because she thought she knew better than Sukuna, than her father, than every single clue the world threw at her. What was the best thing she could’ve done? Well, she should’ve just stayed at home and slept, just like her father told her to do. She should’ve just waited, instead of going out in the dead of night, like an absolute idiot.

But it was too late for that now. There was nothing she could do, bound and surrounded by authorities. There was only one ending now and that was the birdcage. She was simply too dangerous. Sukuna was too dangerous, but then who would believe her if she told them about that aspect of her power? Who would believe her if she claimed that there was a thousand year old Japanese super demon in her head who was actually the one responsible for all the deaths and not her? No one. That’s right. No one would believe her. They’d all assume she was crazy and find an even deeper pit in the Birdcage to lock her up in, somewhere she’d never see the light of day. But then...

Taylor’s eyes widened.

That sounded exactly like something Sukuna would want. If the PRT did that, then that’d be the sort of technicality with which he’d take over her body, just to cause even more chaos. And, Taylor was reasonably certain of the fact that, if he wanted to, Sukuna could very easily break out of the Birdcage. Was that his play? Did he want her to be taken into the Birdcage? Taylor couldn’t imagine what that monster would want to do in that place, surrounded by other monsters, but she did not want to know; the last thing she wanted was to find out just exactly what Sukuna was planning, the same way she found out what he’d been planning to do the first time he had the chance to take control of her body.

The PRT wouldn’t believe her if she told them about Sukuna. They’d laugh at her, demean her. No, she didn’t need them. But she couldn’t let Sukuna have his way, either. So, what else was there to do?

She had to escape – somehow.

Legend had walked out a few minutes ago, but Taylor was pretty sure that this place had about a hundred cameras all looking at her anyway. Plus, she wasn’t nearly strong enough to break out of the chains around her wrists and ankles. Escape... she had to escape. But how?

“Hello there!” Taylor’s eyes widened as she turned to the corner of the room, towards a very familiar voice – one she’d last heard mere hours ago, the first she’d ever saved. Dead.

Alice stood there, skin pale as snow, eyes black and dark and shadowed. Her limbs were unnaturally longer, ending in talons; she was taller too. And there was an odd shroud about her, like gray smoke and ashen tendrils. Her lips were gone, revealing the sharpened teeth in her gaping maw. This... this wasn’t the Alice she remembered. And yet, it was her. Somehow, Taylor knew, from the bottom of her heart, that this was the same Alice. It didn’t make sense. “Alice?”

“Yep!” Alice’s voice remained the same and seeing it emanate from the... monstrous spirit thing was more than a little unnerving. Still, Taylor found that she wasn’t particularly afraid. Alice hovered towards her and everything close to her soon developed a light coating of frost. Was every ghost like this? Alice stared at the chains around Taylor’s limbs and the belts that kept her strapped to the chair. “You called for help and I came to help.”

She glanced around, her black eyes scanning the room that Taylor was in. Taylor followed Alice’s gaze and saw the cameras on the top of the walls, each one looking down at her. “This is a weird place. It’s like a prison. I though only bad people go to prison. You’re not a bad person, Taylor. You saved me! You shouldn’t be here!”

Taylor smiled, not quite sure where this was going or how it was going to end, but she was surely grateful. For one thing, it seemed like she was the only one here who could perceive Alice. Because the whole PRT would be up in arms if they knew about her, but they weren’t up in arms, which meant not even their fancy Tinker-tech cameras and gadgets were good enough to spot a ghost. In fact, Taylor was willing to wager that Alice’s mere presence was causing digital anomalies and other such things, kind of like in horror movies, causing cameras to glitch out or stutter. She got right to the point. “Can you help me get out of here, Alice?”

“Of course!” Alice chirped excitedly, her voice reverberating. The lights flickered on and off and, briefly, Taylor swore that Alice’s already unnatural form became even more monstrous. With a snap of her fingers, all the cameras in the room broke and shattered. Alice then reached forward and tore apart the restraints using only her talons, swiping and cutting faster than Taylor’s eyes could follow. Within moments, she was free. Eyes wide, Taylor stood up. No alarms. Whatever was happening, Alice was somehow making sure that no one noticed, not even Legend himself.

Now what? “Can you take me far away from this place?”

“Nope!” Alice answered, chuckling. Taylor gulped. “But Mister Randal can do that!”

“Hello Taylor,” An old man’s voice echoed across the room – unfamiliar, distinctly southern. Taylor glanced over to the source of the voice and found... yet another ghostly monster, but this one was pale and withered, hairless – eyes as black as the dark between the stars. Instead of talons, however, the old man’s fingers ended tendrils. Once more, the very normal voice made it even creepier. “You saved my granddaughter. For that, you have my eternal gratitude. Now, how can this old man help you?”

Just go with it, Taylor. She told herself, breathing in. No time to ask questions. No time to even think about the possibility that she was just hallucinating this whole thing. She’d find out eventually, anyway. For now, she needed to move and act quickly. “I need to get out of here. I need to escape.”

The old man grinned, revealing a toothless black maw, within which swirled a shadowy pool that reminded her of a cloudy night sky. “Where would you like to go, child?”

Taylor considered the old man’s question for a moment. She couldn’t stay in Brockton Bay. She just couldn’t. People would see her, recognize her, and she’d be back in chains within a few hours. Somewhere else. She wanted to be somewhere, anywhere else but here. Dad would understand. Heck... he’d probably be happy that she escaped. “They’d be looking for me in the nearest cities. I have to get far. How far away can you take me?”

“As far as you need to go, child,” The old man answered. “But, the farther you wish to go, the longer it will be before you can call me again.”

“I just need... to hide for a bit – somewhere no one will find me.” Taylor said, breathing in. “Do you know a place like that?”

“There’s a woman down here, Chloe Decker,” The old man answered, smiling. “She’ll introduce you to a... man in Los Angeles, who can shelter you for a time, child. Do not worry. You’ll be kept safe from harm for as long as you are within his domain.”

“Los Angeles?” Taylor’s eyes widened. “But that’s where Alexandria is; she’s the leader of the Protectorate there. Wouldn’t that be unsafe? Won’t she find me?”

“She won’t,” The old man smiled. “No one will – not until you leave his protection.”

Taylor breathed in and nodded. It’s not like she had relatives in other cities anyway. At least, she wouldn’t be homeless. And a part of her was beginning to see and, perhaps, understand, just what this ability of hers did. The old man, Mister Randal, and Alice were both ghosts – dead. Somehow, she was able to call them from the other side. And, because she helped them, then they’d help her as well. How or why they seemed to possess abilities of their own wasn’t something she understood, however. Though, she’d definitely ask that, later. “Okay, let’s go.”

The old man’s smile widened and widened, until his maw had stretched so wide that it resembled an open door, leading into an infinite abyss, filled with nothing but swirling clouds of darkness and shadow. And yet, Taylor wasn’t afraid. She was unnerved, perhaps, but fear was the last thing on her mind. She wasn’t sure what to think of that. She knew herself well enough to know that she should’ve been afraid. Taylor stepped forward and the world turned inside out for a moment. And, suddenly, she was standing on the sidewalk and in front of her was a tall building. It was night time. There were a few people walking around, back and forth, but none of them seemed to notice her. Alice and Mister Randal were both gone. There was no one here.

“You’re Taylor,” Another voice. Taylor turned and saw a... not a monster. It was a woman, about the same height as her – blonde and blue-eyed, lithe. She wore a suit. And, unlike Alice or Mister Randal, she looked... very normal – human. There was an aura around her, however, a shroud of faint gold. Again, Taylor didn’t know what to think about that. The woman smiled. “Jeez, kid. You look like you’ve been through a lot.”

Taylor nodded and her head fell. A part of her wondered what Sukuna must’ve been thinking this whole time and why he was so quiet all of a sudden. He seemed almost on-edge the first time she saw Alice. What was it about ghosts that had that monster acting that way? She didn’t know. At this point, all Taylor wanted to do was sleep. “Yeah. Yeah... and you’re Chloe Decker?”

“I’m an imprint of her, you might say,” The ghost smiled. “The real one’s in heaven. But, the distinction doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m here and I can help you.”

“How?”

“See that building?” Chloe pointed. Taylor turned. “It belongs to a man who... used to be very close to me. We’re still good friends. At the penthouse is a nightclub called Lux. He can keep you safe and hidden... for a time, at least.”

Taylor nodded and sighed. “Mister Randal told me. Once I leave, I’m pretty much on my own again. I don’t intend to stay for long, I think. I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I just need to rest and... and think. I need to think about what I want to do and how to do it. After that, I’ll leave.”

“You do you, kid,” Chloe smiled and gestured at the building. “Shall we?”

Taylor nodded and, together, they entered the building and walked into an elevator. Chloe Decker pressed the penthouse floor button and the elevator moved up. “Do all ghosts have abilities?”

Chloe smiled. “No, just the ones who died violent or otherwise unnatural deaths – accidental or otherwise. The ones like myself, who died of old age, don’t really get anything cool; we retain our looks, though. And it’s far-far easier for us to possess and take control of living bodies. The ones like Alice and Randal, who died painful deaths, usually can only possess corpses.”

Taylor sighed and took a step back, leaning against the golden wall of the elevator. “How does any of this even work? You guys are all ghosts or imprints of ghosts? And, somehow, I get to call you out or something?”

Chloe winked as the elevator stopped. “Something like that. And, don’t worry about being under-aged, the nightclub should technically be closed tonight.”

The elevator door opened. And on the other side was... well... it was how Taylor imagined a nightclub would look if it was empty and the lights were on and there were no strippers. Instead, there was a man in a suit, drinking something, and playing the piano. When they stepped out, the man stood up and turned to them. The man was tall and handsome, black hair and piercing eyes. He looked like a model or an actor, someone big and important, someone who’d be on the cover of magazines.

The man huffed and downed his drink. He spoke with a thick British accent. “Jujutsu Sorcerer – didn’t think there were any of your ilk left in this dimension. Great. Parahumans and now discount Shamans.”

Taylor frowned. What was he even talking about? The man looked as though he wanted to continue, before his eyes turned to Chloe. A faint smile graced his lips for a moment before he sighed. “Ah, none of my business anyway. Well, come on; I’ll show you your room. You can call me Lucy. Ask me no questions and I’ll ask you none, in turn. You’ll get all the food you want and need and there are a bunch of clothes there that you can try on. Once you leave, you’re never allowed back here.”

Her eyes widened when she felt a surge of power from within, from Sukuna. And a mouth formed on her cheek. Sukuna spoke. “Oi, you’re not human. What are you?”

The man did not answer immediately. Instead, he glanced over his shoulder and smiled, a faint crimson glow to his eyes. “There are many things in this world – in the Multiverse – that you’re not quite meant to understand. Let’s leave it at that.”

A day later, lying on the softest bed she’d ever lain on in her whole life and surrounded by the ghostly remnants of the dead, Taylor finally understood how her ability worked. On the second day, she cobbled together a new costume. On the third day, she stepped into an inky blackness and returned to Brockton Bay.