Static chapter 3

            He searched for the voices now, focusing on them as hard as he could. A few times Ezra thought he could hear a soft voice somewhere far away or quiet laughter as he wandered to spots he thought he might find a god at. A temple, or a monument. Something old, with history. But the voices always stayed silent. Like he wasn't supposed to search for them at all.
            That afternoon, as Ezra walked home, he found another one of the gods purely by chance. He had been walking on the sidewalk when he saw a black shape on the pavement. After closer examination, he found it to be a dead bat. It's wings were folded over each other and had holes in them. Something had been tearing at it. Disgusted, Ezra picked it up with his sleeve and carried it over to the bridge to drop it in the water.
            "He probably won't appreciate you throwing him in the water like that." A teenage boy was standing behind Ezra. He was very muscular and tall, and had very trim brown hair. He had strict look on his face, but he seemed to be only a year older then Ezra.
            "The bat? It's dead."
            "Yes, but he won't like being thrown in the water like that. It'll take him days to crawl back here again." The boy said, sounding quite disappointed at Ezra, "I know because he is my pet. I watch him."
 "It is only fair. We were much disappointed. Much."

            The voice. The man who had seen it all. Strong voice. For a fleeting moment, Ezra thought the bat was the god. But then he realized it must be the boy. Ezra didn't think the gods would also be trapped as humans, able to talk, but who ever said they couldn't? Considering himself the only help the trapped gods had, he decided to try to use this god to find the rest. He could speak English fine, without having to speak in voices. He would probably much more straight-forward then Asterisk. Even if he was a bit crazy about his dead bat pet.
            "Hey. I met Asterisk earlier. She says your all cursed... am I thought maybe I could help, you know? Help you be a god again?" Ezra said.
            "What?" Said the god, "What are you talking about? What about God? Who's Asterisk?"
"I hear you. We may be separate, but we seem to have help. We can't go close to each other without forgetting who we really are. Do not mind this mortal body, I can not communicate as a human. I go by Artemis. We are all lost. If you are looking for us, you need help. Me and Asterisk may be free and out here; however Toro, Mary, Drasil, Aoro and Chaos are still out there. Most of them are in the center of this place, The Hub. Mary is in the heart though. It is time I move on. The squad will come by soon..."
 
            Ezra made a mental note to remember those names. Mary, Drasil, Aoro, Toro and Chaos. The lost gods. Located in the 'center' of The Hub. Artemis's host ran off, possibly to hide from the squad. So far, all the gods seemed afraid of this 'squad'. The squad, or really the guard to Ezra, seemed to be a threat to them. Now that Ezra thought of it, wasn't the guards real names GCPS? Perhaps the G stood for god? And the S might stand for squad. Ezra didn't really know what the C and P stood for, but he seemed to be on to something.
 
"We might be here. But I hope we too will fade... Fade away into a life of death."


           The next day was monotone compared to his previous day. The voices were quite, as they were every so often. Ezra tried to make conversation with Tori about the day before, but she acted like they hadn't talked at all. Every hint he dropped about Asterisk or the IG just made her stare at him like he was a mad-man. Deciding it was some sort of girl-thing, he went on by himself, searching for the voices during classes. In one of his classes, he was startled into reality when someone asked him a question and he hadn't been paying any attention. This especially surprised him because it had been someone he would want to pay attention to.
            "Hey. You listening? I was asking if you- ah, forget it." Katherine. Katherine Zolnerowich (her last name was a bit of a mouthful, most of the teachers would just call her Katherine during attendance) was speaking to Ezra.
            "Hey, wait. Sorry about that. What were you saying?" Ezra did his best to look attentive and quite sorry for not listening. Who knows how much he could have missed while listening for voices? This might not even be the first time Katherine had spoken to him! Honestly, he had to remember to pay more attention.
            "I was just saying that Tori told me about yesterday-"
            "Eh?" Said Ezra, "She did? So I guess you know about the IG?"
            "The I-what? She just said you came by when she was sick and offered your support. And I was thinking... That's really kind of sweet. She's really kind of a softie really, and I mean, I'm her only friend. I was thinking, I got these tickets to the next Udalto game and I was wondering if you wanted to maybe come?"
            There had to be a catch. Because otherwise, it seemed that Katherine was asking him out on a date! None the less on a date to see Udalto, "Yeah, I'd love to- I mean, who wouldn't? Yay Udalto!"
            Katherine smiled kindly, "I'm glad that Tori has such a caring boyfriend."
            Well, Ezra figured he knew one thing: That was defiantly the catch.