The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 7: A slight inkling

Lucius could already hear Samueli's scolding voice in his head as he opened the door to Anthony's house later that day.

'Don't just walk into someone's house without knocking, Lucius,' he imitated in a low voice. 'They may be anglers but we're better than that.'

Well Lucius wasn't, and he wasn't the slightest ashamed. He barged into the entrance hall with the confidence of someone who might as well have owned the place and looked around.

Logically, he'd assume Ethan had acquired a guest room upstairs. They were much bigger than the few on the first floor and had a better view over the neighbourhood, so why wouldn't he?

Just as he was about to walk up the stairs however Ethan actually appeared at the top of them, now looking much healthier than last time Lucius had seen him. The tangled mess that had been his blood coated hair was now clean and pinned back in a surprisingly elaborate hairstyle Lucius had to imagine must have taken hours to do by himself, and he'd changed out of his torn garments into what was most likely Anthony's clothes, given the lack of fashion.

"Oh!" he said as he walked down the stairs with a grin on his face, holding what looked like a silver tray containing a teapot and several ink jars on it. "Lucius, right? Didn't think you'd be back so soon."

Lucius decided not to comment on the amount of ink jars.

"Anthony told you what happened?"

"A little, but I could also guess, considering his mood."

Lucius glanced around.

"Is he... Around?" He really wished he wasn't, or he would with all certainty have dumb opinions on Ethan and Lucius talking.

"Oh, it's that odd time of day." Ethan made a dismissive gesture. "Richard's asleep, Tom went to bed just a few hours ago and I just dragged Anthony out of bed to give him lunch."

"Huh..." Lucius nodded, having forgotten about the men's inconvenient sleep schedule. "That's kind of you to make him lunch."

"Well he always forgets to eat." Ethan shook his head. "I mean, of course he doesn't need to, but he gets so cranky and honestly? It's insulting that he won't eat food when he's perfectly able to but I'm not."

Lucius blinked.

"Alright, so first... He doesn't need to eat food at all? And second, you can't eat food at all?"

"Didn't he tell you about his condition?" Ethan frowned as he tried to remember. "Pretty sure he said he did."

"Well he does leave out a lot of things." Lucius rolled his eyes but reluctantly moved on from being mad about it. "He did tell me though. About his immortality."

"Right, so..." Ethan shrugged, giving Lucius a pitying smile to indicate he was being slow. "... Don't really need to eat if you can't die."

"Oh... Right." Lucius nodded slowly, seeing an opportunity to lead the conversation where he wanted it. "Guess there's a lot I don't know about all this."

"Most don't," Ethan said as some kind of comfort. "But I imagine you'll learn more now that Anthony, Richard and I have been exposed."

Lucius scoffed.

"Yeah, except Anthony won't tell me anything."

"He's inconvenient like that." Ethan nodded in sympathy. "But I believe he's doing it for your sake. That's usually his reason when this happens."

"Maybe..." Lucius grimaced, half wishing to derail from his initial goal by asking about just how many times 'this' has happened, but deciding against it and instead attempted his most endearing smile. "... I don't suppose you could tell me anything?"