He sat and filled a pipe quietly. “Think anymore about what happened?” he asked.
“Not really.” She kept her eyes on her work. The potatoes and sharp knife gave her a good excuse.
“You need to think about it, girl,” he said gently. “Need to be able to do that at will.”
“Why?” she asked. It was bad enough to have other things in her life she couldn’t control, like her emotions and hormones.
“Well, think about it. You’re in a group of people and you need to know who’s an immortal. Could be handy. And you can learn what wards are, and how to tell they are there, how to tell when someone’s using power.”
Linn nodded, laying the cut potatoes on paper towels to absorb the excess moisture.
“It has to be scary, I know. But once you learn to control it you’ll be glad of it.”
“How do I control it?”
“Hmmm. Look at me for a minute.”
Linn laid the knife down and looked at him. No flames, just gray hair disheveled from his last foray outdoors.
He held out a hand and opened his fingers. “Focus, that’s it.”
She stared at his hand. Ghostly flames seemed to dance in his palm. He closed his hand and they disappeared. She looked up at him and saw the flames in his eyes, they concealed his eyes and danced in the sockets... He blinked, and was just Grampa Heff again. “I saw...”
He nodded. “It will get easier. Don’t burn dinner, now.”
Linn thought all through dinner. Grampa seemed content to let her stew, barely speaking himself except to comment on the meal. They didn’t eat all the fried rabbit, but as he said, it would be good lunch the following day. He raised an eyebrow at the flowers in the salad, but ate them without comment.
Chapter 8
As Heff was washing up and she was wiping down the counters and stove, Linn finally asked the question she’s been avoiding all day. “Grampa, who is going to be babysitting?”
“It’s not going to be your grandmother, girl. Sorry, but I need her where she is.” He seemingly read her mind, as she had been thinking about her grandmother earlier in the day.
“So who?” She didn’t look up, afraid he’d see the sudden tears in her eyes.
“You’ll meet him tomorrow. He defies description, and the kittens are starving.” Heff shooed her out of the house, gruffly but gently. She guessed he knew how she was feeling.
Linn sighed and went out to the barn, where she found that Grampa had milked and filled the bottles before dinner. That’s what had taken him so long. The kittens were indeed convinced they were being starved, crying piteously at the gate for her.
She fed them, and cleaned the little pan. They were washing one another and her when she thought to try the Sight on them. She squinted at each of them, but couldn’t see anything other than little pink yawns and fuzz. Slightly disappointed, she curled up with the heap of kittens and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of floating down the Nile in a papyrus boat with the kittens, trying to steer clear of crocodiles and hippopotami.
She woke up to her watch alarm in the morning. Yawning, she climbed down the ladder and fetched the milk pail and Silly. She rested her head on the doe’s warm flank and milked as she woke up. Milking was already an easy habit, as her muscles knew how to do it now. She headed into the house with the full milk pail, only to stop short at the sight of someone sitting on the front porch.
He was in Grampa’s chair, which was tilted back against the wall, and his pipe wreathed smoke around his head. He was trying to look like Grampa Heff, but he wasn’t. Linn squinted at him. Her Sight kicked in and she took a step back. The immortal on the porch was powerful. White light burst forth from him in waves, and she threw a hand up in front of her eyes to ward it off. She blinked furiously, trying to shut the Sight off again.
She heard the chair legs hit the wood. Steps came towards her and she closed her eyes tightly.
“You all right?” His deep voice was gruff, but she could hear the concern.
“Yes - no... I’m still trying to figure out how to turn this on and off!” she burst out in frustration.
“Look at me...” He put a hand under her chin, his warm fingers softly reassuring.
Reluctantly, Linn opened her eyes. Sighing with relief, she realized she could see again. She was looking straight into the eyes of a very short black man, who was grinning at her. His hair and goatee were snow white, but he didn’t look old.
“You’re the babysitter?” she blurted.
He let go of her chin and took a step back, then swept her a flourishing bow. “At your service, Linnaea. I am Bes. Sometimes known as a god, although I prefer... cosmic clown.” He cut a caper.
She laughed in surprise.
“Don’t spill the milk, child.” He was back to being serious now. “Come in, you’ve passed the first test.”
“Which was?” she asked warily, following him up the porch steps.
“To see through the illusion, of course. And I was laying it on thick, being forewarned that you had seen through Mars' sleep spell.”
“Which was why you almost blinded me with the power,” she said ruefully.
“True. But you did see it truly before the Sight kicked in. You really will have to learn to control that.”
“Grampa keeps telling me that.”
“Keeps telling you what?” Her grandfather’s voice came from in the house.
Linn headed for the sink with the milk pail. “I need to control my gift.”
“I see you met Bes.” His suppressed laughter warmed his voice.
Linn glared at them both over her shoulder, then turned back to her task, hearing Bes’s delighted chuckle behind her.
“Feisty, isn’t she? She’ll do, Heff.”
Linn blushed.
Her grandfather laughed. “You’ll have your hands full with this lot, I’m afraid. The kittens are about ready to leave the barn.”
“And the girl?”
Bes and her grandfather walked out onto the porch. The last thing Linn heard was her grandfather’s voice. “Teach her to be sneaky...”
She sighed. Her babysitter was a clown. Evidently a sneaky one, but still! She put the milk pail to dry and walked over to the bookshelf. She found Bes in the Standard Dictionary of Folklore. He was an Egyptian god, she read, known for his protection of children and pregnant women. His other aspect was the god of war and vengeance. She slid the book back in its place. It figured that Grampa would choose him, then.He has all the right characteristics,she thought,to protect us, and to teach me.
The door opened, and she turned to see Bes and her grandfather come in. Her grandfather was carrying a cloth-wrapped bundle. He set it down on the table. Linn dried her hands and walked over to him. He wrapped her in his arms, holding her tightly enough that she squeaked.
She felt his chest rise and fall with an unheard sigh. “I hate to leave you, girl.”
She looked up at him. “Go do what you need to. Just like I told Mom.” Linn frowned. “Is she safe, by the way?”
“Linn, your mother really is a goddess,” Bes interjected. “She is a formidable one, too.” He looked thoughtful. Linn wondered what the story was, there, and made a mental note to pry it out of him sometime.
Heff smiled at her. “Your mother is currently traveling around the world to volcanoes and calderas like the one under Yellowstone. She’s tapping and controlling energy to keep them from all erupting as the Olympians draw power from the Earth’s core.”
Linn gaped at him. “Draw power from the core?” she managed. “But...”
“I’ve told you enough for now. Your mother’s work is crucial to keeping this world’s ecosystem viable. That weapon was used once before, I won’t let that happen again.” He looked grim, and Linn remembered her promise about OpSec.
“Yes, Grampa,” she responded quietly.
“Now,” he let go of her and stepped back, “I have a present for you. Close your eyes, and hold out both of your hands.”
Linn held them out obediently, palms up, and closed her eyes. She felt Grampa put something cool and heavy in them, and then his big, warm hands closed over hers. He was murmuring something, but she couldn’t hear the words. Then Bes was speaking, too, and touching her forearms. Linn felt a flash of heat travel through her.
She gasped and opened her eyes. The Sight flickered and she saw a flare of power from both men, extended from them to the sword in her hands. Her eyes widened. They stepped back and she held it by herself, still glowing slightly. It was warm now, she realized.
“She is bonded to you,” Grampa Heff told her quietly. “Your weapon. There is enough power in it to injure even a god. Carry her always. Sleep with her, even. You understand?”
Linn nodded, speechless. She was scared, and excited. A tumble of emotions flooded through her. Her grandfather looked as grim as she had ever seen him. She opened her mouth, and then shut it again, unsure what to say.
Bes broke the silence. “Sure, and she needs a name.”
Linn looked at the leaf-bladed sword blankly. She recognized the style from swords Grampa had made in the past. The smaller size would make it possible for her to wield. A two-handed broadsword like you often saw in movies would have been ridiculous for her. Power still flickered along the edges of the blade.
“She is Lambent,” The voice wasn’t hers, although it came from her mouth. Linn felt funny, and swayed as she stood. Grampa stepped quickly to her side and took Lambent from her hands, sliding an arm around her shoulders.
Linn staggered and felt her vision graying out again. “Not again!” she cried as her knees went out from under her. This time, she was glad to hear, it was her own voice. Bes caught her. She couldn’t move, but could still see and hear as he carried her to the couch with surprising ease considering that he was shorter than she was by a full inch.
She could hear them talking as they stood over her. Lambent was on the table. Linn was aware of where the sword was, like it was part of her body. She lost track of reality for a minute, and stood in a swirling, misty grayness. Fog, damp on her skin. Lambent was in her hand, and a softly-furred skull was pressed into the palm of the other hand. She raised Lambent, glowing like a torch, and screamed hoarsely as the kitten... Blackie, she realized... roared his defiance with her. Then she lay on the couch in Grampa’s living room, gasping for breath and crying out.
Grampa Heff held her. “Shhh... it’s all right. You’re OK. Relax. Let it go.”
Linn shuddered, leaning back on the couch. She still couldn’t move. Bes lifted her legs onto the arm like Grampa had done before. She felt the blood coming back to her brain.
“You feeling better?” Grampa asked. She nodded, afraid to speak again. “All right. Just rest a bit.”
Both of them went onto the porch, apparently leaving the door open so they could check on her. Her head was swimming, and after one attempt to sit up she let that go until later. She heard them talking, although they were trying to keep their voices down.
“Same thing as happened with the first Sight?”
“Yes, she fainted then, too.”
“She’s developing fast. Sight, now Foresight.”
Grampa Heff huffed out a short breath. “It worries me more that with each manifestation, she does this. It makes her vulnerable.”
“I have her back, Heff. You have to go.”
“You have her back? You are her Protector!” her grandfather protested.
“Lower your voice, Heff.” Linn heard a touch of humor in Bes’s voice. “Yes, her back. I let few know how much of the Second Sight I have. You know where I come from.”
“You’re one of the oldest.”
“So I am. Which may explain my madness.”
Heff laughed.
Bes continued, his voice deep and quiet. Linn felt it ripple through her like a pebble thrown in a pond. “Linnaea, go to sleep, child.”
Linn felt her mind’s eyes close, and she sighed as sleep took her. She felt a slight sense of indignation that he’d put her to sleep, thus unable to eavesdrop.
She awakened in the night, vaguely aware that her grandfather was leaning over her. She opened her eyes, and he smiled at her and kissed her forehead. Then her eyes were so heavy and she closed them again.
She came fully awake as Bes shook her shoulder. He grinned down at her. “Going to sleep all day?”
“Um...” Linn rubbed her eyes. They felt like glue had been poured into them. “Grampa?”
“Has gone. It’s time for you to start training.”
“What? He left?” She felt all muzzy. “Training?”
“Seems you have a sword to learn how to use. Can’t chop off your own toes,” he commented dryly.
She sat up. It was, by the sun in the window, a couple hours later than before. She glared at him. “What did you do to me?”
“You took a little nap.”
“I did not. You put me to sleep.” Linn was furious.
“Well, and if I did...” He grinned again. “I can do it again when you’re being annoying.”
Chapter 9
Sekhmet, still in great cat form, sat Sphinx-like watching the scene play out with wry amusement. They had returned to the high path after a restless night and traveled to the court of Quetzalcoatl. Now that rainbow-feathered personage sat on his throne perch and hissed in frustration. Facing him were the Scholar and Peter, a strange pair in that blazoned room of great stone blocks and barbaric grandeur.
“Scholar," he insisted, "you must leave the high Plane and return to Earth. You are unsafe here.”
“I won’t. They ruined my home!” she wailed, her hands fluttering. Abruptly, she realized what she was doing and crossed her arms across her chest, glaring at the Mayan god.
He sighed and rattled his feathers. “You will. You are needed below in the battle against the Olympians.” He still sounded firm, but he had gentled his voice for her.
“What can I offer?” she snapped.
“You know more about the Old Ones’ nature than anyone else in either plane. We need that knowledge if we are to foil their plans.” He was practicing patience, but she was trying it.
“Foil their plans? Really, you just said that?” She was a past mistress of sarcasm, too.
Sekhmet suppressed a chuckle. The Scholar never pulled her punches, even with a senior immortal. The feathered serpent directed a fiery green eye in her direction, and she looked back, calmly. She could, of course, just scoop the Scholar up and take her willy-nilly, but it would be better if the irascible demi-god was persuaded to go on her own.
Peter interjected. “Hypatia, dear. You really should consider it. Humans have grown so much in the time you were gone.”
She looked at him, and Sekhmet saw the tears on her cheeks. “I... don’t want to leave you.” The old woman looked at the old man mournfully.
Their love was a strange one, the demi-goddess crippled by the burning of her library and the English soldier who had been left to die in the blistering sun so far from the green hills of home. The gods knew they had seen stranger ones. Now he held out his hand to her. She uncrossed her arms and took it in both of hers.
“I will be here when you get back. It will be a grand adventure, old girl.”
Hypatia sniffled a little. Then she looked back at Sekhmet. “Will I have access to a library?”
“Scholar, have you heard of the Internet?”
The scarred old woman shook her head. Sekhmet broke into a very un-cat like grin. “Oh, this is going to be fun!” she chortled.
“Where are we going?” Hypatia looked interested now, not just combative.
“A very safe place. I think you will like it. There are sandy beaches and palm trees.”
The Scholar snorted at the idea of a vacation spot. “I’ll do fine in a nice room full of books, thank you.”
“You can have your books on the beach,” Sekhmet assured her with a laugh.
Peter and the serpent god watched the women walk out of the room togeth
er. The last thing they heard was Sekhmet’s rumbling murmur repeating. “Oh, this is going to befun...”
The god and the mortal looked at one another. Quetzalcoatl sighed. “Her sense of humor is irrepressible, isn’t it?”
“The most charming thing about her. That, and those long claws protecting my heart from harm.”
The serpent nodded knowingly. It had to be hard on the old soldier to not be able to accompany Hypatia. “What are your plans, Peter?”
He shrugged. “I hadn’t any, really. Waiting... the lot of the Tommy from time immemorial, eh?”
“I rather think we can put that mind of yours to work, old friend.” The Serpent slithered off his throne. “Come with me, please?”
“Gladly, old chap. I rather fancy your idea.”
Chapter 10
Linn wasn’t having fun. In the two days since Grampa had left, Bes had barely let her rest, let alone sleep. He’d been drilling her with Lambie for hours each day, and then running her ragged through the woods. The only good thing was that the kittens were now in the house.
When she had slept last night, it had been in an exhausted heap with them all on the couch. Lambent, sheathed and in the crook of her arm, had glowed when all the kittens curled up with her. Linn had fallen asleep staring at the flickering power dancing above them.
Linn awakened to find Bes standing over her with a ferocious frown on his face and a kitten climbing his leg. He peeled Spot One off and handed him to Linn. “Feeding time, girl. Time for them to learn how to lap from a bowl.” Linn untangled herself awkwardly from the sword and a couple of kittens.
She noticed Blackie as he staggered determinedly across the floor toward the table where the milk pail was. At six weeks old, the kittens could get around well enough, but the smooth floors in the cabin were a change from the hay in the loft. The biggest kitten, Blackie... as big as a full-grown housecat already... kept losing his footing.
Linn set Spot One down on the floor and belted Lambent on before looking for a stable bowl they wouldn’t knock over. She finally dug two flat-bottomed stoneware casseroles out of the cupboard. Bes, sitting in a kitchen chair playing with Spot Two, didn’t say anything, but Linn saw one corner of his mouth quirk up. She ignored him.
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