by C. T. Phipps
“Sleep with him again,” the White Stag said. “Maybe something involving whipped cream or handcuffs?”
I glared at him.
“Oh right, humans are like that,” the White Stag said. “Well, he’s motivated by jealousy of his brother and possessiveness. Alex is also quick to blame his brother for anything that goes wrong as well as see the worst in him. You’ve stepped in some serious lingering Cain-and-Abel stuff.”
“Lucien loves Alex.”
“I didn’t say who was who,” the White Stag said. “The fact is Alex loves you or believes he does and Lucien is your friend. It will all work or…or it won’t.”
With that, the White Stag vanished. No puff of smoke or crack of thunder. One second he was there, the next he wasn’t.
“Well, thanks for nothing,” I muttered.
That was when there was a knocking on the door.
Chapter Nineteen
I stood up to walk to the door, hoping it was Alex. It was unlikely he’d decided to come back after five minutes of being steamed, even if he was the weirdest most interesting guy I’d ever met.
So is the White Stag really Gabriel? I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.
Yes and no, Raguel replied. Spirits are all linked in the great web of being. I am a part of a larger being that is part of a larger being still that is a part of the creator. Just as the Goddess of the Forest is part of the Earthmother, that is a part of life itself. The White Stag is the child of the Forest Goddess.
“You lost me,” I said, reaching the door.
You are a citizen of Bright Falls, which is a part of Michigan, which is a part of the United States, which is a part of the world. Now imagine that each of those was a sentient being that you were part of. Which they are, because they all have spirits.
“And you’ve made the metaphor useless after starting so well,” I said, unlocking the door and opening it.
Yes, the White Stag is Gabriel.
Was that hard? I asked.
Humans, Raguel grunted.
The person on the other side of the door was Robyn, who was standing in front of the Millennium Falcon parked in front of our hotel room. The rest of the group had arrived and it seemed like we were having a reunion. I saw Alex walking to the vending machines and getting himself a Mr. Pibb. Oh Alex, how far you’ve fallen. Not Dr. Pepper?
“So,” Robyn said, putting her arms on her waist, “you actually ditched me for a booty call?”
I paused. “Yes, that is exactly what happened.”
Robyn stared at me then shrugged. “Fair enough. He is hot as hell. So you doing both or just the one?”
“Crude but inquisitive,” I said, letting her in the room.
“I just tell it like it is,” Robyn said, sitting down on my bed. “We’ve got your Hummer full of supplies for our trek through Shadow Pine Park. You know, where you’re going to help me kill my mother the goddess. I’ve bought plenty of gasoline for it. Also, the equipment to make an amateur flame thrower.”
I shook my head and sat down beside her. “Listen, I made a promise and I’ve got your back on this, but if we kill your mother then the entire town is going to be destroyed because she’s the spirit of the town.”
“The spirit,” Robyn said.
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” I said, making a circle with my thumb over my heart. It was the local version of the cross. “I would never try to influence your beliefs about the world, but spirits, gods, angels, and other weirdness are real just like vampires as well as werewolves.”
“That’s hard for to believe,” Robyn said, staring at me. “It’s a pretty rough world to say there’s any kind of divine. Also, you know, science.”
“Allow me to show you via repeatable science just what I’m talking about,” I said, taking her hand and squeezing it.
Then I showed her what I’d seen when I’d touched Raguel, just like I’d shown Alice.
Seconds later, Robyn was in the bathroom throwing up.
“Yeah,” I said, grimacing. “Just let it all out.”
She threw up for about a minute longer then brushed her teeth as well as gargled with the house toothpaste as well as mouthwash.
I looked around. “I probably could have taken a less dramatic tactic with that.”
“You think?” Robyn called back.
I grimaced. “Hey, haven’t you noticed vampires react to religious figures and names? I mean, it was always true.”
“Everything is true so nothing is true,” Robyn muttered. “All you’ve done is make the world more confusing.”
“I felt the same way when Alex tried to explain Hawking’s theory of the Multiverse,” I said. “But yes, your mom is the Goddess of the Forrest.”
“And still a bastard,” Robyn said.
“Gods are historically not the nicest of people,” I said, taking time to explain everything I knew in detail. I didn’t scrimp on the part where Dr. Jones wanted to turn her into his puppet-goddess to convert the United States to Ultralogy. I did, however, scrimp on the fact I wasn’t sure if her father was the guy who killed Dr. Jones.
Robyn stared forward. “Wow, religions suck.”
“I’m sensing you have some issues with organized supernatural worship,” I said, taking a deep breath.
“I had a lot of issues with the way my father raised me,” Robyn said, frowning. “He’s a good man and a loving parent, but it was smothering.”
I sucked in my breath. “I feel like today is going to be a day where I make bad decisions by telling people the truth. So, odd question, but is your dad black?”
“That is an odd question,” Robyn said, frowning. “But yes, my adoptive father is black. So is my mother.”
I opened my mouth to suggest it was possible her father was the guy who murdered Dr. Jones, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. We didn’t know enough to make that conclusion. “Well, that’s great for him.”
Robyn gave me a sideways look. “You’re really bad at this lying thing, aren’t you?”
“It helps when your mother is telepathic,” I said, sighing.
“Ah,” Robyn said. “So what’s my dad have to do with all this?”
I sighed. “Okay, well I’ll explain it to you.”
I told her my theory.
Robyn burst out laughing.
“Oh, yes, this is hilarious,” I said, deadpanning.
“My father is many things, but he’s not a warlock or a killer,” Robyn said, sighing. “He’s sixty years old and a pacifist. I’ve seen him a few times in the past few years but he certainly wasn’t a wizard when I was growing up around him. Believe me, I would have known.”
“Well, whoever this is really wants to help you,” I said, feeling like Robyn probably knew him best. “Also, magic is a lot more readily available than it was a decade ago.”
“You’ve been studying magic for a year; can you do anything?” Robyn asked.
“Yes,” I snapped. “Not much, but some things!”
Robyn crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh, like what?”
“I know deer-based martial arts!” I said, pausing. “I learned them from cleaning up the shop, manning the register, and getting Kim Su’s lunch. Just like Mr. Miyagi!”
“I’ve known you like a day and already can’t tell when you’re joking about this stuff.”
I nodded. “Probably better that way.”
“Oh, and I already figured out Amelia Earhart is Kim Su.”
“Yeah, we did a really crappy job of hiding that,” I said, grimacing. “Okay, we’ll put a pin in the idea that your father is actually an evil wizard who has been trying to kill me and Lucien this entire day.”
“Probably a good idea,” Robyn said, snorting. “In any case, we can drop by his house if you want. If there’s a park ranger who’s obsessed with protecting me and is a wizard, then I’m sure my dad will know. Do you want me to call him?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Let’s just…drop in.”
I tried to figure out how to ask my next question. “So, knowing what you know about this goddess—”
“Monster,” Robyn said, correcting me. “I don’t care if its survival is necessary to keep this town alive, it’s still a monster.”
“It didn’t know what it was doing.”
“Doesn’t make the kids any less dead, does it? What does happen to kids after they die?”
“We all become spirits,” I said, hesitating. “Or so I’ve been told. I don’t really know much about the specifics of life, death, and transubstantiation of the soul. I get the impression it’s a lot more complicated than Good Place, Bad Place, though. Which is a strike against the universe according to Kristen Bell.”
“You’re really kind of crap at this shaman thing.”
“No one mentioned it would involve priestess things!” I said, lying. “I can do the murdering-evil-spirits part!”
“Then let’s do that,” Robyn said, frowning. “Find a way to kill the Goddess of the Forest without destroying this town. In the meantime, we can just make sure Dr. Jones stays dead so she can’t be moved.”
“You’re really set on this killing-your-mother thing.”
“Most adoptees wonder whether their parents loved them. I didn’t know. But really, now it’s about the fact I don’t like this crazy goddess. I’ve lived my entire life under the thumb of other people and I’m going to show I’m uncontrollable. I can’t think of a better way than wrecking this talking tree’s shit.”
“That is a terrible excuse for deicide.”
“Have you killed a god?” Robyn asked.
I thought of the Big Bad Wolf. “Maybe.”
“Did the world end?”
“No.” I hesitated in answering “I think it reincarnated as a less crappy deity. I do feel like bad weather follows me now, as well as insect swarms.”
“Like I said,” Robyn replied, “I’m willing to hold off on killing it. That’s about as much as you’re going to get now. You’ve proven to me that gods exist. Well, I’m not worshiping any nor do I see any sign they’re making the world a better place. If they do evil, they should be punished.”
I like her, Raguel said. She is a woman of conviction.
This is why you were kicked out of Heaven, I thought back to him.
I was not kicked out of Heaven. I’m just doing…community service.
“Okay, we’ll hold off on deicide and figure something out,” I said, stretching my arms out and offering her a hug.
Robyn hugged me back. “It’s nice to have a friend here in town. You’re sadly my first one.”
I leaned over to hug her, almost immediately being overwhelmed by the image of us making out on a bed.
I pulled away, flushing my face brightly. “Okay, right, let’s get going.”
Oh God, what the hell was that? I mean, yes, I’d been attracted to some women before, but I was trying to build a relationship with Alex. I also had Lucien waiting in the wings. I didn’t need anything else right now.
“You okay?” Robyn asked.
“Yes!” I snapped, jumping up. “I am ecstatic! Let us go to the woods and find the goddess to slay!”
“I thought we weren’t doing that yet.”
“Yes, that too!” I said, panicked.
Robyn stood up and headed to the door. “Don’t ever change, Deer Woman. You are a bright spot of insanity in an all-too-banal world.”
“If you think that, you haven’t been looking hard enough,” I muttered.
Robyn headed through the door and closed it behind her.
“Think unsexy thoughts,” I said, immediately thinking sexy thoughts about other people. It turned out thinking sexy thoughts was rather natural after a marathon sex session.
Dammit.
That was when someone else knocked on my hotel room door. “Alex?”
“No,” Yolanda’s voice spoke from the other side. “It’s your friendly neighborhood hunter.”
“I’m a deer and a shapechanger,” I called back to her. “There has never been any occasion whatsoever between ‘friendly’ and ‘hunter’.”
Yolanda snorted in a way I could hear through the door—blame my Cervid Clan ears. “I need to talk.”
“About what?” I asked, suspecting it was about that favor I’d promised her.
“It’s about that favor you promised me.
Dammit! I hated being right. Well, not usually, but in this specific instance. “Okay, okay, well you can come in.”
I walked up to the door and opened it up before letting her in. “Remember, no killing the Pope.”
“You are a weird, weird girl,” Yolanda said, walking into the room. “No wonder Alex likes you.”
I grimaced, wondering if that was still the case. “Yeah, well, I’m just a small-town girl living in a lonely something-something.”
“I don’t like Journey,” Yolanda said.
“Who doesn’t like Journey?” I asked, blinking. “That’s like disliking chocolate or French fries.”
“‘Don’t Stop Believing’ was the song played at my wedding,” Yolanda said, taking a seat by the window.
Ouch. “Well, I suppose that would be enough reason to hate Journey.”
“So you’re the girl who finally took down Marcus O’Henry?” Yolanda asked, staring through the window.
“The woman who did it,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Alex helped. So did Lucien and his family. Marcus’s family, I mean. There were a lot of people willing to come forward once it was clear others were.”
“What did he do to you?” Yolanda asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Everyone who has opposed Marcus O’Henry—and there’s a long list even if most of them are dead—had some reason to hate him. I was just asking yours.”
“He hurt my friend,” I said, sighing. “But, honestly, that wasn’t why I did it. Dude was an asshole. He had a lot worse coming to him than life in prison but I figured that was a better punishment than just killing him.”
“I disagree,” Yolanda said, taking a deep breath. “I tried taking him out once. I had another partner, a hunter we worked with sometimes, and I tried to snipe him. In the end, it hit a shield spell and his men tracked us down. I got away. My friend didn’t.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You just walked into his office and got him arrested,” Yolanda said.
“Yeah.”
“I wish it had been that easy for me,” Yolanda said. “I know you don’t believe it, but I don’t hate monsters.”
“The fact you call us monsters kind of belies that,” I said. It was a common way of referring to supernaturals but no less hurtful. There had been plenty of people in Bright Falls who’d known of the truth before the Reveal but plenty who hadn’t. Both sides included people who hated what I was in school. Even in a town founded by supernaturals, there were those who considered us abominations or freaks.
Yolanda made a face like she’d been punched. “Sorry.”
“Hey,” I said, giving a thumbs-up. “It’s okay. My father says it’s important to remember most supernaturals are horrible creatures who eat humans and are pure evil. It’s just we’re totally the exception. Don’t trust vampires or wizards.”
Yolanda raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Funny how prejudice works,” I said.
“Not really,” Yolanda said. “Also, awkward coming from the white girl.”
“The bisexual biracial girl,” I said. “But then again, I can’t imagine you’ve had an Indian headdress dumped on your head during Thanksgiving before being shot with ink-filled water pistols.”
Yolanda blinked.
“Kids are cruel,” I said, crossing my arms. “So what do you want me to do?”
“I’d like you to help me talk to my dead son,” Yolanda said, taking a deep breath. “Alex says you can help.”
Chapter Twenty
I was taken aback by Yolanda’s request and took a
step back. “You want me to talk with your dead son?”
“No, I want you to serve as a medium,” Yolanda said, frowning. “You talk to him and tell me what to say.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I know how being a medium works. It’s just I don’t know how—”
Actually, I did know how to serve as a medium but it wasn’t from Kim Su I’d learned how to that. No, I’d learned that from my mother. Sort of. While I’d never been able to get the rituals to work before, that was because I’d been crippled with guilt, thanks to the tragic death of my cousin. A death I had no small part in. I’d avenged her death and spoken to the dead since then, but it was still something I couldn’t be called an expert in.
“Shouldn’t Alex do this?” I asked, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, he is the other death mage around here.”
I wasn’t quite sure I believed I had the knack for it but again, I had talked to the dead.
“He told me to go to you,” Yolanda said.
“Oh he did, did he?” I said, my voice lowering. “That’s it, we’re totally even for my sleeping with his brother.”
“Excuse me?” Yolanda asked.
“Nothing,” I said, rubbing my temples. “Okay, I agreed to help you and I’m going to. I need to warn you, though, people change when they become spirits.”
“Change?” Yolanda asked.
“Babies are different from teenagers,” I said, shrugging. “People don’t remain static from the way they die. There’s no time in the Spirit World but they change. What they experienced help forms the being they become.”
“Explain,” Yolanda said.
“They aren’t human anymore even if that’s their formative years.” I shrugged, not quite sure how to put. “My grandfather appeared to me as my grandfather, but he was also a small god. I’m not an expert on this. I’m not even sure it was really him. Some spirits don’t answer the call, are unable to communicate, while others become the spirit of mountains or join the great chain of incarnation.”
“You mean reincarnation?” Yolanda asked.
“No,” I said, unable to put it into words. “Listen, I’m willing to do it. I’ll try to contact your son after we’re done with the Dryad.”