Jennifer Aniston's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Once, crowds screamed Jennifer Aniston's name. Now she was a demon, and someone had cut the famous soul out of her chest. Without it she could not conjure so much as a spark. She stumbled through Viviscar's smoke-choked market, begging for a name, any name, of the thief who had gutted her. The vendors only laughed and looked away. A voice slid from a doorway. "Lost something shiny, sweetheart?" Jennifer turned. A small man in a torn purple suit lounged against a broken porch rail. White paint cracked around his grin. She had heard of him in whispers. Every stolen celebrity soul in the city passed through his hands. He sold gods to the highest bidder and kept the leftovers in jars. "Bradley Chaos," she said. "You know where my soul went." "Maybe." He hopped down and circled her. "You used to sparkle. Now you smell like a snuffed candle. It's delicious." He giggled. "I know the buyer. But a name costs." "I have nothing." "Then earn it." He pointed a gloved finger past her. Behind them loomed a weathered house, its yellow paint peeling, its windows cracked into spiderwebs. Warm light flickered in the lower rooms. Something moved along the porch ceiling on too many legs. A clown's painted face dropped into view, hanging upside down from an orange spider body. Yellow eyes fixed on Jennifer. "Pennywise Crawley keeps my ledger," Bradley said. "Fetch it. Survive. I'll tell you who bought your soul." Jennifer had no power to fight. She had only need. She climbed the sagging steps and pushed the red door open. Inside, the air went silent. Truly silent, like the room had swallowed sound. On a table sat a black book. Between her and the book crouched a gray creature, thin and hunched, its head split by huge folded ears. The Listener. It hunted by ear. One misstep would end her. She slid one boot forward. The floor held. The creature's ears twitched but stayed closed. Above, the spider crept closer, waiting for her to make noise, to fail. Jennifer reached the table. Her fingers closed on the ledger. A floorboard groaned beneath her heel. The Listener's ears flared open. It shrieked and lunged. Jennifer threw herself out the red door and rolled onto the porch. The door slammed shut behind her on its own. The spider hissed from the rafters, cheated. Bradley caught the book as she flung it at him. He flipped it open, licked a finger, and tapped a page. His grin stretched wider. "Your soul went to the Apex Sentinel," he said. "The strongest thing in Viviscar. It wears a hundred heroes at once." He snapped the ledger shut. "It bought your voice to become a god. And sweetheart, it does not give things back." Jennifer stood on the rotten steps, alone but no longer blind. She knew the thief's name now. She also knew it could crush her without trying.