by M. K. Gibson
Cassy smiled while Arby looked down with a shake of his head. “Yeah, I’ve uh . . . lapsed a little in my attendance.”
“As long as your membership fees are paid, we’re good,” Buddha said with a chuckle. “But back to the matter at hand, before the plump Detective interrupted—”
“Hey!”
“Vegetables and willpower, Detective, they’re your friends,” Buddha said. “Okay, you sad lot of has-beens, introduce yourself to the nice officers or I’ll do it for you.”
“Why should we talk to her?” Thor asked. “She came in with The Knife. That’s the goat-sucking slatra that took my hammer away.”
“Excuse me, but what are you talking about?” Cross asked.
Buddha sighed. “Look, it’s clear they don’t know who they’re working with.”
“Fine,” Thor snapped, “if only to stop your blathering. Thor Odinson, former Norse God of Thunder. Now I’m a successful business owner.”
“If you can call it a business,” Cassy heard DeLeon say into her earpiece. “I managed to get a facial scan of all of them before I left and I’m cross referencing my data terminal. According to the APD database, Thor’s company, Jani-Thor Electrical & Custodial Services, is woefully in the red, and he lives at a shady condo association for down-on-their-luck men in Hag’s Hollow.”
“I see,” Cassy said to both Thor and Jessie. “Good for you. And you two?”
“Kali, former goddess of time, creation, destruction, and power,” Kali said.
“Morrigan, former goddess of war and fate,” Morrigan said.
“Pleasure to meet you both,” Cassy said. “And what do you two do now?”
“We both work as image consultants and event organizers,” Morrigan said.
“Yeah, that’s horseshit,” DeLeon said over the comm link. “They both work as high-end party girls for various nightclubs. They get paid appearance fees to show up, drink, and whip the crowd into a sexual frenzy. Drunks love to spend money on alcohol.”
“And throw up,” Cassy muttered.
“Excuse me?” Kali said.
“I said I grew up on you,” Cassy said. “Independent, powerful women like yourselves are role models.”
Both Kali and Morrigan smiled at the impromptu compliment while Arby smiled at the goddesses and nodded his head. “Nice shoes.”
Cassy turned towards the muscular, red-skinned man with black hair. “And you, sir?”
“Why you asking so many questions?” the man asked.
“Well, we’re the police. It’s what we do. And this investigation is for your friend Hermes.”
“Hmm,” the man grunted. “No friend of mine. Strung-out junkie is what he was.”
“Wait, are you Vulcan?” Arby asked. “Roman god of the forge and fire?”
“Yes?” Vulcan said, giving Arby a wary look.
“Dude, you are so much cooler than Hephaestus.”
“Don’t kiss my ass, kid,” Vulcan said.
“I wouldn’t, unless you asked nicely,” Arby said, waggling his eyebrows. “But seriously, volcanoes? That alone is worth knowing who you are. Just raw power and pressure, waiting to explode. Ah. Heh, imagine if we called them Hephestanos? I don’t know if that’s the name of a poor kid’s off-brand cereal or an STD.”
“Heh, I like him,” Vulcan said with a slight smile. “I am Vulcan. I live and work in Agartha. I’m a part time mechanic, steel worker, and . . .”
“And?” Cassy asked.
Vulcan looked at Dr. Harris and then sighed. “And an artist. I make metal and glass sculptures.”
“That’s so cool,” Arby said.
“Checks out,” DeLeon added. “He is listed as working at a Gobannus Garage body shop and having an online Etsy store for his art. ‘Whole Lava Art’. It’s not bad.”
“While fire brings light, it also heralds the coming of shadow. Oh the shadows,” the man in the sweater vest said while clouds of dark mist swirled around his eyes.
Cassy found him to be both creepy and sad, as the pasty nerd man looked kind of like a panda who had lived too long in Kentucky.
“And you are, sir?” Cassy asked.
“Darkness is not cold but hot. Blistering absence of light. In we shall go, riding upon ships made of rotted wood that has swelled from tears and sweat, infused with the fear stink of drowned dreams.”
“Uh, sure?” Cassy said.
The man shook his head slightly, the shadows dissipating. “Heh, sorry. Hi, I’m Gary Phipps. Accountant for the city’s financial department. And, well . . . current transitory host for Cthulhu’s will.”
“He’s telling the truth,” DeLeon said. “Gary works in Axis Mundi. He’s part of the accounting firm that does the books for the APD and the mayor’s office.”
“And how did you become an emissary for an eldritch horror?”
“I used to write a lot, Dunwich fan-fic mostly. It’s all online. I guess I was basically auditioning for the part without knowing it? But we have a strict no-manifestation rule during work.”
“I see,” Cassy said. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Gary. And you, Doctor? How’d you come to help these beings?”
“I have dual PhD’s from the University of the Phoenix in behavioral psychology and mythological cultural relations,” Dr. Harris explained. “In the Lower Forty-eight I used to counsel those afflicted with PTSD. But here in Avalantis, I specialize in helping the psychological needs of the myths. Their transition into the mortal world has been quite difficult for some.”
“And apparently it’s incredibly lucrative,” DeLeon said. “The doc’s financial holdings are amazing. This chick’s got a swanky apartment in Shadowlake and a private manor outside the city. Makes me think we picked the wrong career field.”
“That’s really commendable, Doctor,” Cassy said. “We in the APD also take pride in helping people. We do it because someone has to. We failed Hermes, and I don’t want to fail any of you.”
Cross then looked at each of the gods in turn, who nodded. “So, now that we all know one another a little better, what can you all tell me about Hermes?”
Chapter Nineteen
14 May - 11:02 am
Parking lot, Osiris Outreach Center, District of Brightway
“Wow, what a pack of sad sacks,” Jessie said.
Eric didn’t say anything as he and Cass joined her outside. The younger officer had been waiting for them by one of the wooden benches set up under the copse of trees adjacent to the parking lot.
“Oh, and what would you be like if your entire world had been turned upside down? If you lost everything and were forced to live in a world that you don’t understand?” Cass asked as she sat down opposite her.
Jessie didn’t say anything at first. Eric watched Jessie hold back her usual venom and rethink her words. “That’s fair. But one of those gods could be the one who’s behind our mystery drug and Hermes’s killer.”
“True,” Cass admitted. “For now, let’s just consider them asshole-adjacent.”
Jessie shrugged. “Works for me.”
“Okay, master reader. What did you pick up?” Cass asked.
Eric half sat, half stood on the table’s edge. He considered what he saw in the center and shook his head “Man, it’s difficult.”
“How so?” Cass asked.
“No one flinched,” Eric said, replaying the entire interaction over and over in his mind. “When I told them Hermes was dead, not one of them seemed surprised.”
“I noticed that.”
“With the helmet’s visor, I didn’t see anyone’s body temperature rise,” Jessie said. “No heartbeats spiked. Maybe gods are different from most myths, but they should have had some reactions.”
“Well, that’s part of it,” Eric said. “But they didn’t react when I said one of them was next. Not in a way that conveyed actual shock. No eye dilation, no intake of breath. No posture change. Nothing. And while Cass ladled out the empathy, they seemed like didn’t care even a little that Hermes was gone.”
“From what I heard they seemed concerned,” Jessie said.
“Oh, they said the words, and played the part. But that’s it,” Eric said with a shake of his head.
“What are you thinking?” Cass asked.
Eric shrugged. “That either they’re all murderous drug kingpins, or they honestly don’t give a shit that Hermes is dead.”
“From how they talked about him, I don’t think they care,” Cass said. “The gods seem to be just as petty and messed up as we are.”
“Makes sense,” Jessie added. “If they’re vying for human attention to feed them power and longer lives, then wouldn’t they see their fellow gods as competition?”
“Or as bed-buddies,” Eric said.
Jessie blinked. “What?”
“Oh, you weren’t in there, girl,” Eric said while he fanned himself with his hand. “But Kali was making some serious do-me eyes at Vulcan.”
“Arby,” Cass said with a shake of her head.
“What? She totally was. Come to think of it, so was Thor,” Eric said, recalling the looks. He shook his head and continued. “Standard bet if I’m right.”
“Whatever.”
“Look, you did your part, got them to open up. And we confirmed that Hermes was a junkie, the gods mostly have crap jobs, and that doctor is clearly evil. But what I also noticed was their feet.”
“Their feet?” Cass asked, sounding indignant.
“Yes, Doubting Thomas, their feet.” Eric smiled, but inside, he was growing frustrated on how little other people, even other cops, missed simple cues.
“When distracted and not thinking about it, people tend to point their feet at what it is they want. Someone wants to leave a conversation, their lead foot is pointed towards the door. When a couple meet and their chemistry is just perfect for a one-way ticket to Humpsville, their feet are pointed at one another. Just like Kali’s and Vulcan’s feet were.”
“From what I saw, Morrigan and Kali were all over each other,” Jessie said.
“Yeah, they were,” Cass agreed.
“Oh, they’re a couple,” Eric said. “But Kali totally has some side booty going on. Hmm, she’s blue and he’s red. I wonder if their baby would be purple?”
“Arby, focus,” Cass said. “What’s your point?”
“I just thought it was hot. Did you see the size of Vulcan’s feet? Can you blame them?”
“Arby!”
“Relax Cass, just messing with you,” Eric said with his patented smile and slight chuckle. “The point is that they are clearly lying, even to themselves. Well, maybe not Gary. But the rest of them are each hiding something.”
“Like what?” Jessie asked.
“Not sure,” Eric said honestly. “Each of them is embarrassed by their station in life.”
“Not Buddha,” Cass said.
“Him most of all,” Eric said.
Jessie and Cass exchanged a look like he was crazy. Eric just shook his head. “Trust me. People that laugh that much are usually hiding a lot of pain.”
“You joke and smile a lot,” Jessie said.
Eric nodded. “Like I said, trust me. But the rest? If I had to make a guess, Morrigan doesn’t know. And if she does, I get the vibe that she’d rather suffer the humiliation than be alone. Thor won’t admit that he is no longer an object of fear, and possibly that he has a new sexual awakening in him. Sad. After a thousand plus years of life, there’s nothing wrong with exploring yourself.”
“What about Vulcan?” Cass asked. “He seems very guarded.”
“Most second fiddles are. Aside from being the Roman incarnation of Hephaestus, there is an anger there. A demand to be taken seriously. A darkness.”
“Dark enough to kill Hermes?” Cass asked.
“Dunno,” Eric said. “But if I were a betting man—”
“You are,” Jessie said.
“True,” Eric admitted. “I’d put my money on Dr. Harris. That girl is evil.”
“You said that earlier,” Cass said. “Why?”
“Because of every TV show and movie I’ve ever watched?”
“What about books?” Cass asked.
“Eww, gross. Reading is for nerds.”
“I read,” Jessie said.
“I rest my case,” Eric said, then looked at Cass. “If a mundane got a myth hooked on a drug, then they’d have a loyal, and possibly powerful, customer base.”
“Like a psychologist. It’s plausible,” Cass admitted. “But it’s too neat.”
“You don’t like neat?” Jessie asked.
“No, I love neat. I just don’t trust it. The world is chaos, and we only pretend we can maintain order.”
Jessie shook her head at the older cop’s wisdom. “You should put that on a motivational poster.”
“That’s what I said!” Eric said, slapping his hand on the table.
Cass ignored the jibe and looked at Jessie as if something had occurred to her. “DeLeon, you said that Vulcan had an Etsy store online?”
“Yeah, for his artwork,” she said.
“Can you pull it up?”
“Sure,” Jessie said, then scrolled through her data tablet. When she reached the page, she handed the device over. “Here you go.”
“What are you looking for?” Eric asked.
“Well, DeLeon said his art was metal and glass,” Cass said as she swiped though the images of the online store. “So if we’re tracking special vials, imbued with dark magic, who do you think could make such an item?”
“Holy shit,” Jessie said.
“Bingo,” Cass said, turning the tablet around, revealing decorative, tube-like bottles.
“They’re not exact,” Eric said. “But close.”
“Close enough to get a warrant?” she asked.
“That’s up to Messer,” Jessie said.
“Oh, speaking of Messer, anyone else notice that every myth seems to freak out when Messer is around?”
“Except for Gabby, yeah,” Cass said as she put the tablet down.
Jessie thought about it. “What did they call him? The Knife?”
“Yeah,” Cass said with a nod. “I heard that. He has that knife on his belt, but is that supposed to mean something?”
“Ooh, maybe he’s some sort of secret assassin,” Eric offered.
Both Jessie and Cass looked at the big man.
“What? I mean, sure, he’s a public figure and a cop. But he’s also part of some secret organization that we didn’t even know existed a day ago. Myths are afraid of him. He might very well be their boogeyman.”
“What I think is that Detective Sergeant Messer has been part of MORTAL long enough that he has a reputation among various pockets of the myth community,” Cass said.
“See, when you say it like that, the whole thing loses its pizzazz,” Eric said, shaking his head.
“What? You mean rationally?”
“Exactly,” Eric said. “It’s just sad. But if I turn out to be right, and Messer is a secret boogeyman, then oh man, the bet is going to be huge.”
“God you’re dumb,” Cass said.
Eric just smiled.
“Okay, let’s get out of here. I assume Messer is parked nearby?” Cass asked.
Jessie shook her head. “He said, and I quote, ‘In order for Cross’s little ruse to seem real, I have to leave . . . for real’.”
“He left us?” Cass sighed.
“About two minutes after we walked out of here,” Jessie confirmed. “Gabby too. She was nice enough to wave goodbye as the truck took off. He said we needed to find our own way back to Axis Mundi because he had to meet a consultant.”
“Well great,” Cass said, then paused. “You know, we could swing by Vulcan’s place and look around.”
“Won’t we need a warrant?” Jessie asked.
“Not if we have probable cause,” Cass said. “Arby?”
“Already ordering a Ch’Über-Cab’ra,” he said as he pulled up the app on his phone and requested the ride.
<
br /> A few minutes later, a nondescript, mid-sized sedan pulled up with the little logo of a lizard-man’s head in the windshield’s upper-right corner. The three officers were about to get inside when Jessie stopped.
“What?” Cross asked.
Jessie looked back at Eric. “There are like six gnomes in there.”
“Yeah, I ordered a ride-share. It costs less.”
“We’re on an assignment,” Cass said.
“Look, next time we need to get somewhere, you order,” Eric said as he opened the rear passenger door and climbed in. “’Sup fellas?”
Chapter Twenty
14 May - 12:17 pm
Little Atvatabar, District of Agartha
Despite the growing respect between her and her new teammates, there were moments when Jessie felt that she was the only adult among them.
“No, I don’t care, you’re just wrong,” Cross said from the backseat of the car. “And that was wildly inappropriate to say to them.”
“What?” Arby asked, “It was an honest question.”
“What’s the difference between gnomes and halflings? Seriously?”
“I repeat: Honest. Question.”
“It’s racist,” Cross said.
“I can say it. Pretty sure my gram-gram was part gnome.”
“You sure she wasn’t just a short old lady who liked to hang out in the garden?”
“What’s the difference?”
Jessie sighed. The cab continued though the undercity of Agartha. From the junction point, the car turned onto Fire Wheel Boulevard and made her way south towards Little Atvatabar. Jessie always felt claustrophobic coming into the district, despite it being inside a massive cavern. Perhaps it was because Agartha was unto itself a sprawling mini-metropolis tightly packed with buildings, clubs, bazaars, vendors, and all manner of myths who could not abide living above.
The red sun lamps of the city, the perpetual sound of machinery, and the smell of earth reminded her of long ago. To when—
No. She shook her head. No reason to think about that now. She—well, they—had a job to do. And instead of coming up with a game plan, her partners were once again arguing.
Jessie just shook her head as the car drove past Gobannus Garage. As it did, she got a look at the place and then asked the driver to circle the block.