Creation Dreamer: A Heroine Fantasy Adventure (Calpso Goddess Series: Book One 1)

by Gin Eborn

  “It’s just energy, Maggie.” River was so like Fisher with that practical, scientific approach.

  “Yes, but it’s her dreams and her nightmares.” The reality hit me in pieces.

  “Exactly.” Jasper was stoic. “And inside, your presence will be as real as any thought, dream, or idea. Inside, it’s all real.”

  “I understand.” I braced my body with my hands to my knees and started some soft panting.

  “Good. Now, I have one more gift to offer you.”

  Lola, Zach, and Thomas came out of statue mode.

  “Maggie. You okay?” Lola stretched her wings out strong and took in some breaths with me. Zach looked at River and Jasper, then back to me.

  “I’m coming with you. You know that, right Caly Cat?” Zach flashed a smile.

  “You heard?”

  “Every word.”

  “We are all coming with you.” Lola smiled, as I welcomed the intoxicating smell of her. River had a smell, too. I didn’t know what it was or why both of them had this thing about them. But it was delicious.

  “I know I am going,” River declared. “I’ve watched over you my whole life. Not stopping now.”

  Clarimonde clawed my head. “Try to get rid of me. Just try.”

  “Okay, enough with the woo-woo shit. We are all probably going to die. So let’s just take that in. You all are telling me you are willing to die?”

  Nods.

  “What’s the catch, Jasper?” Because I knew there had to be one.

  “The catch is I can’t protect you there. And neither can she. We can’t help you in any way. No matter what it is you need, you are on your own. There is no help, except what I told you at the Lodge.”

  Thomas was silent. I glanced at him and he looked away.

  “Hey, it’s okay. You can wait for me right here. This is a good, safe spot for you and I’ll come back and get you when this fight is all over.”

  “Promise?”

  “Always. I told you. I will take you with me into the new world.”

  He threw himself around me, smiled, and threw his ass on my throne. I liked that.

  I looked at Jasper and laughed. “You really leave me no choice.”

  “You always have a choice.”

  Yeah, a fucking choice-less choice.

  “Okay, how do we get there?” I asked.

  I regretted that question.

  19

  Tricky

  The words were still floating in the air when the ground dropped out, pulling me down with it. The light of the double waning moons faded in an instant along with the faces of my friends perched around the opening, watching my fall. I didn’t want to fly or walk away. There was no Rebekah to stop my descent as my back slammed onto dry, bare ground knocking the wind out of me.

  Clarimonde hurried to my aid. “Now off your ass and on your feet, Sweetie.” The flames of a single torch on the stone wall cast shadows across her face. “I’ll go see what I can find out.”

  “Wait. Where the hell are we?”

  She didn’t answer—just took off through one of the cave corridors and disappeared behind the glow of light.

  It took everything in me to push up onto my elbows and then to my feet, all the while checking for broken bones and fighting back the nausea. I felt my way around the base looking for a way to climb. The walls perfectly vertical and smooth. No beginning point. No footholds. Something like stalactites and stalagmites held the ground and ceiling apart, yet together at the same time. My fingers ran down them; they felt like holey bones and still didn’t provide a way to climb up.

  Small rocks and granules of dirt pelted my face as the ground shook, followed by the screams. Zach dropped in, landing on his feet and Lola, owl-formed, flew in.

  “Someone better catch me!” Thomas was on a full belly flop drop as Lola launched up and grabbed him.

  “I thought you were going to wait for me.” I met him as they landed.

  “I decided I better keep an eye on you. Make sure you don’t get into any trouble down here. And where the hell is here exactly?” He was busy looking in every direction.

  Clarimonde flew back right on cue. “Nothing down that way. Just a maze of open corridors that lead nowhere.”

  “Nothing this way, either.” River Wolf entered from the opposite direction. No one seemed startled but me.

  “How did you do that?” I was quite curious about my one-night lover.

  Jasper walked in behind him. “He has wicked skills. I told you. Now I have to leave you. We can’t help you from here on in, but I can say the Earth is pleased you are willing to try. Don’t we all love to cheer for the underdog?”

  “What?” I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. “I have the most magics.”

  “Inside everyone has magics. Now, I’d say, rest here and then start your journey. This is an unused space in Earth’s consciousness, so no one should bother you for a little while.” He turned to go and looked back at me. “You don’t have to look like Lola or Clarimonde to be the Feminine.” I pulled my hair out of my face. “It’s not about that at all.”

  He was gone and the tiny hole above us closed. Like a fucking steel trap door locked us in. My palms were wet as we all stood there looking up. Realizing we had just sealed our fate perhaps, or acknowledging we may never see our worlds again. It was solemn, each in our own thoughts.

  Zach cleared his throat. “Maybe we should’ve packed some supplies.” We all looked at him with darting eyes. Taking in the hushed simplicity of his statement. “Could’ve thought about a few weapons?”

  We all busted out laughing—a deep tension relieving mind-blown-cuz-we’re-idiots laugh that filled our little cave until the ominous sounds of marching feet drowned us out.

  I knew there was no way to keep whoever was coming out of our little unused consciousness, witching ball, orb space. And the corridor behind led nowhere. My in-between Creation Dreamer powers were frozen and no amount of Calypso water magic could help us out of there—because there was no fucking water. When I say I wanted a cigarette, I meant it. Even though tobacco was taboo.

  Clarimonde was the first to speak. “I’ll go look and see who’s coming. What can they do to me? Kill me?” Clarimonde took off, muttering to herself.

  Thomas ran in circles panting and pushing on walls like some magic door would appear. None of us had patience with him. I wanted to use the time we had left to think. We were all in an unfamiliar landscape with zero sense of how the rules worked. If there were any rules at all. The marching sounds grew louder. Closer. We kept taking one more step back.

  Aya was an enigma to me, other than being a traitorous bitch. That was apparent at the top of the mountain. Aligned to another Celestial? Unbelievable! As for power, she was never bonded to the West Calys, so I had no way of knowing if she carried any gifting. But, she had some kind of juice because she was able to do what I did. Of course, she had to copy me. Let me do the hard work and figure out the snow circle to replicate through.

  I kept shuffling through everything I knew about Aya. Something had to stand out. There had to be some insight into her that would help me.

  Dreamer. Fact. Means nothing without the Lodge fire. Fact. Wix trained. Blue Eagle trained. Calypso blood. Mom’s blood.

  “But Blue Eagle was not always a cobra. When he trained her, he really was an eagle.” River tucked beside me.

  “You can hear my thoughts in here?”

  “Always. How do you think I could track you all these years?”

  “You were with the throwaway people in the caves? The artists.” I paused for a moment. “Oh, my gods. I can’t believe I didn’t see it until now. You actually did my tattoo.”

  “You were so full of yourself that day. Telling me you had no crystals to pay with and then ripping your shirt off and laying in the dirt.”

  “That’s how you knew about Fisher.”

  “Your Commitment Day was only a few weeks away.”

  “And I wanted to make sure it wa
s healed by then. I remember. But how the hell did you travel between the veil when Aldon said no one could?”

  The marching was so close I braced myself. Clarimonde had not returned.

  “River. I want to know.”

  “Maggie!” Lola screamed out as the shadows and sounds became forms dancing along the walls.

  “There has to be something you can do!” Thomas grabbed me. “We got out of the Underworld, Maggie. You were in the right place at the right time. You had help. Something.”

  If only Chama could’ve popped out of the damned walls in that moment with a spindle finger I could use to open some stupid hidden doorway. If only there was a tree to rest my back on and connect with the Calys there. If only I could get word to Rebekah. Maybe she was conjuring something with the help of that medicine bowl she used. So many ‘if onlys.’ If only I had taken my soul piece from that dreadful room. That fucked-up facility holding Caly power pieces. If only the Underworld was a part of the Earth’s consciousness and we had a way to get there.

  The metaled armor reflected the torch light as they marched into the room. Metal-covered heads with small openings for eyes. They raised their arms as wing blades dropped down with a bold display of their power.

  What was the rest of that snapshot? Shit. Why is all of that fading?

  Twenty or more of them filled the space in front of us and layered back even deeper. There was no way to know how many waited behind.

  My totem animal was indignant they were in my territory and headed for them, masked in the most ridiculous energy of confidence and curiosity.

  “Wixmunet!” My voice rang out. “And where is your fucking lady fair?”

  No one answered. “Aya. Where is your fucking champion, Aya?” Again, no answer, but I knew from the chill in my bones she was close.

  “Get behind us,” Zach grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back as the others jumped in front. Well, Thomas bravely took the rear guard behind me, a very important position. My friends, now warriors in their own right, crouched low. Weaponless, but fierce nonetheless. We were all going to die, but fuck, we were going to do it with hajone.

  A jolt slammed me. Sharp at first, it transformed into a vibration that seared through my body. My fingers fumbled the bird skull pendant, almost too hot to touch as the energy wrapped around my medicine pouch and out through my protection ring. One big ball of hyped up—amped up juice.

  “Ah, Maggie. Good you aren’t dead. The Vial. Come on. You know what to do. It’s always easier than you think, Kiddo.”

  For a moment I thought it was my voice. My amazing, deep-shit, inner-wisdom warrior woman who remembered the vial and had an answer, because the truth wasn’t possible. Not possible. But I went there anyway.

  “You’re dead.” I whispered.

  “I like to think transformed.” Mountain Bear whispered back.

  “Holy fuck,” fell out of my mouth.

  The Wix still stood at attention. Perfectly motionless. River glanced over his shoulder, of course he could hear the whole thing.

  “He’s fucking alive and you didn’t bother telling me?” I shot sharp, gnarly mental arrows at him.

  “He was the smart one, not me. Poured his energy into the skull before the Wix got there.” River and I could still talk in silence, which was great, but I had no time for him.

  “Wait, MB. The Wix killed you. I mean, ended your body? How did you do that? I mean you left your body before they got to it, so they must’ve found you in, what, a coma?”

  “The time for ten thousand questions is later. Much later. You have other things to worry about right now.”

  Knees bent, I made sure the Wix couldn’t see me wiping the tears off my face. Of course, those pricks would’ve believed it was from fear and not the pure fucking relief that my Teacher was alive. We had a chance. A secret weapon.

  My hair stood up on end as the Wix warriors parted making two parallel walls with a walkway in between.

  “Maggie?” Mountain Bear pulled me back. “Now would be good.”

  “But how do we know this thing will work?”

  “You replicated on the mountain.”

  “Yeah. In snow, so lots of fucking water joo joo, and it was just me. I just replicated me.”

  “If you can do it for you, then you can do it for everyone. Figure it out. Stop being a damned victim here.”

  The vial was warm and much changed from the Storage Facility. Glowing a translucent blue and almost filled to overflowing, it had my Caly sisters’ magics all over it. Thomas gasped.

  “What is that?”

  “A little magic from down under. Maybe a way out of here.”

  Gods bless Rebekah and her medicine bowl. Shit. Thank you, Chama. I hope you can hear me.

  “Hey guys,” I tapped Zach, Lola, and River on the back. “Huddle up.”

  “What does that mean?” Zach asked.

  “Turn around, we got one shot at this.”

  We formed a tight circle, but Lola kept her head turned toward the warriors. Zach saw the vial.

  “What are you going to do with that?”

  Thomas jumped in. “Maggie makes magic happen all the time. You wait and see.”

  “Root to water,” I chanted dripping the glowing water in a tight circle around us. “As it is within, so it is without.”

  The Wix bowed. Aya was there, but so was my Clarimonde who dove down and pecked at her head. It was a dance of the impossible. Wix wing blades sliced the air as Clarimonde ripped into Aya, avoiding each one.

  I continued my chant. “As it is within, so it is without.” Clarimonde sent out a shrill alarm call; she was tiring. I raised my hand for her as the circle gained strength, weaving threads around us. She landed on my shoulder as we all laced hands, and our body vibrations maxed to a new level.

  Aya and her warriors turned on us but moved in slow motion as the landscape dissipated and we dropped. The woven circle came with us, holding us together until we landed. Wherever we landed. My Calys had conjured some powerful kickass magic.

  “Um, what just happened?” Zach again.

  “Maggie just saved us.” I wanted Lola’s smile to warm me, but she had lost the allure I always enjoyed with her.

  “We just replicated,” I said. “Fakes up there and us—here.” I grabbed the woven threads in my hand and siphoned what I could back inside the vial. And it actually fucking worked—though different than before. “Wait. If we have the energy threads here, what’s holding them there?” My body went numb.

  “You did it, Magpie. Very good job indeed.” River’s body was rigid as was his speech. I sniffed him. Nothing.

  “Not used to you being so formal, River Wolf.” More of a mental query than a comment. He looked back at me with shallow eyes.

  Thomas stood motionless as Clarimonde pounded her beak into his shoulder. She stopped and stared into my eyes. Something was horribly wrong.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, the shadows started shifting. They were layering on top of each other and moving toward us in the darkness. Whatever hit me, knocked me down without hesitation. River locked his arms around me and pulled me, sorta sideways, but still up and onto my red fuck-me heels.

  “I’ve got you, baby,” River said.

  What is happening?

  “This one hit you hard,” he continued emotionless, as I squinted my eyes at him.

  “How dare you.” My words were daggers.

  Zach pulled my elbow as we both moved back with cat-controlled, high-fucking-alert steps. Reverse stalking. Lola, River, and Thomas formed a line in front of us, eyes glowing.

  Soulless.

  Clarimonde smacked their faces with no effect.

  “Get out of there!” I called her to me.

  The bark of the coyote echoed around us and through my belly, grabbing my spine. She stepped out from behind Lola and pulled me toward her, eyes glowing red. I fought to resist the blood craving.

  Zach threw himself in front of me. “You let her go!” he g
rowled.

  “Maggie, Kiddo, step back. Nothing can cross your hoop energy. Pour yourself back in. Now!” Mountain Bear’s voice grounded me.

  “Sugar?” Clairmonde pecked my cheek as I got present in my body. “Sugar, we got troubles.”

  “No shit,” Zach and I said in unison.

  My crystal vibrated with heat against my chest, as the red-eyed, freaky, fake-friendship clan took a determined step toward us.

  Ah, fuck.

  I clasped my blade in my hand.

  About the Author

  “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I mean we just got this far in the story and now we’re expected to talk about Gin? I’m tired!” Thomas was not on board.

  “She worked fooking hard here in case you hadn’t noticed; we need to give her a little shout out. We owe her that.” Chama shifted her shirt a bit so Thomas would stop trying to get a peek. “Stop that before I smack you.”

  Thomas hid his reddened face in his palms. “I wasn’t.” He jetted to the tree and plopped down just as River Wolf approached with Clarimonde riding on his shoulder. One tiny blood drop glistened on her beak.

  “I’ll start.” River looked up to the Celestial and sighed. “Gin is a human and she doesn’t seem to mind, though her relationship to felines is uncanny and intuitive; they are magnetized to her as much as she is to them.”

  “Figures. Felines.” Clarimonde coughed. Her disgust was tangible. “Sugar, I would say that she loves nothing more than spending her days thinking about all that life is and is not. She gets a total mental orgasm just putting together all the puzzle pieces.”

  “And how the hell did she end up landlocked in the mountains of Colorado? I mean, she loves the beach.” Chama pulled her hair back and clipped it.

  “She embraces change!” Thomas called out.

  Zach appeared out of nowhere plucking something out of his teeth. “Ya’ll are missing it. Gin lives life. She’s a potter and she’s a licensed mental health therapist and she loves learning…metaphysical and spiritual things most of all. She’s a teacher and a writer. I mean look at what she is doing for all of us.”