Chapter 40

The entire family, alongside the stowaway, was standing outside the local gang leader's house. After some hesitation Peter finally found the courage to knock on the door.

Soon after, Helen came out and started the conversation not with a greeting but with an observation.

"It's so weird to not know when I'm having neighbors over. You came for dinner?"

The others just stared at her silently, making the situation progressively more awkward for both sides until Anthony got fed up and took over the conversation.

"We need to talk about you being possessed by a god! Or something similar. The thing is, we need to know whether or not you can be trusted."

Helen stared at them for a little while before speaking with a melancholic tone.

"So you know about it. Please come inside, you can talk to me personally.}

So the group of visitors made their way into the house and sat on a couch, some around it, opposite of a chair where the possessed Helen took her seat. Meanwhile, Manda also noticed that something was happening and joined his friends, trying to figure out what was happening. Peter gave him a brief explanation while trying to not make the tattooed boy worry which was only successful in making him even more confused than before.

Anthony started the impromptu interrogation. He attempted to sound neutral but his state of mind made it impossible to keep up the usual facade.

"I'll keep this short so the others can ask their questions. Can Helen feel things while you're controlling her?"

{Weird question to start with but fine. It works a little differently for everyone and I am not sure of it myself, but she probably can't.}

The reporter's eyes momentarily displayed an overwhelming feeling of joy before he managed to get a hold of his emotions. Then he stood up, walked over to Helen's body and slapped her across the face.

The whole room was silent. James especially was getting ready to flee the building but the ghost's reaction was more surprised than anything.

{Why?}

"I promised that I would punch one of you someday. Alright, I'm done. Who's next?"

The one to raise their hand was Manda. He was trying to prevent himself from crying. Not because of the slap, however. He was struggling with it from the moment he heard the familiar ethereal voice come out of Helen's mouth.

"Who are you and… can you… give me my mom back?"

The poor boy couldn't take it anymore and started bawl his eyes out. His limited knowledge of the situation coupled with Peter's confusing explanation painted a really grim picture so it was a miracle that he could compose himself for so long.

The entity using Helen's body turned out to be a bit more considerate than the other two they met so far. She gave a gentle smile to the distressed kid and tried to calm him down.

{Don't worry you can have her back as soon as this is over. I'll just answer a few more questions and I'll be gone straight away. Please bear with me little longer.

However this reminded me of something. I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I. My name is Shai, a goddess of fate. Nice to meet you.}

Considering that the so called god in front of them was the only one of her kind to bother with properly introducing herself and out of consideration for Manda they decided to cut the interrogation short and to not give her hard a hard time like they planned to. Peter got the honor of asking the final question which he did with uncharacteristic confidence he copied from his father.

"One last question. Can we trust you? And how can you prove it if we can?"

{You can't. You can trust no one. Depending on who they are, not even your own patrons are trustworthy. We all have an interest in being the sole winner of this whole ordeal, some just try to hide it more than others. You shouldn't trust me but our mutual goal. We have the same competition and I can't really afford to harm you… most of you.

If that's all then I'll be going now. See kid, here I am as promised and I won't be leaving anywhere. Not without you."

Helen immediately hugged Manda as soon as she got control over her body once again. Then she firmly walked over to Anthony and slapped him with all her power, breaking his neck in the process.

"I did feel it you prick!"

"Fair enough."

Said the walking corpse with the top of his head pointing towards the ground. Things seemed to return to normal, since the possession problem didn't seem as dire as they originally thought. The group stayed over for dinner, during which Helen decided to speak with Anthony about his job.

"So, do you want to talk about your next interview?"

"It's with the leader of a new religious group's leader, the Phoenix Order I believe. Why are you asking?"

Unlike him, the gangster didn't really bother with hiding her intentions so he quickly noticed that she wanted something.

"I know a thing or two about them. Some of it is from my own information network and some of it is divine inspiration. In short, they are a bunch of blood crazed lunatics. Your visit will most likely turn sour very quickly, considering your condition. They are also bad for business so I plan on coming along to check on them."

James happened to overhear their conversation and made a comment on it, much to his detriment.

"Well it was nice knowing you two. I'll take care of the houses in case you disappear."

He meant it as a joke but before he could even lift his fork, he heard a reply that he really wanted to pretend was just the whistling of the winds.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be coming along as well."