by Carrow Brown
“I’m home, Master. I’ve brought a guest.” I gave David a pat and walked in front of him.
Vainya’s ears flicked forward. “A guest? I thought he was take-out.” His tail flicked this way and that, eyes boring into the man.
“I thought you’d like someone who studied anthropology. You two can compare notes on current research, and you can get into academic arguments with someone besides me. But you have to give him back, since he’s Badb’s avatar.”
“Badb?” Vainya’s inhuman gaze shifted across David as he regarded him. His voice took a tone of ceremonial gravity. “I welcome you, avatar, as a guest to our home. Will you be attempting The Well during your visit?”
David looked at me and I gave him a faint shake of my head. “He wants to know if you’re seeking what knowledge the Well has within. Just say no.”
David faced Vainya, his chin up and shoulders back. “No, sir. But thank you for the offer.”
“You are welcome.” Vainya rose to all fours. “As he is your guest, I will trust you to the duties of host, Ghost. If you become bored, David, seek me out. Visitors are few and far between, and rarer still that Ghost brings a civilized one who uses words. Ghost.”
“Yes, Master?”
“Did you learn anything in relation to the subject of our previous conversation while you were out?”
Pressing my lips together, I let out a long breath through my nose. “I did. Badb is not doing so well. Her sisters have taken her to Tir na Nog in hopes the Tuatha Dé Danann can help her. I think that may be related.”
The chimera nodded. “Related. Possible. I remember you mentioned something about Aztec gods slumbering. What do you have about that?”
“The enforcer report is in my filing system but help yourself. It’s a dry read.”
“I shall.” He turned and walked out of the room. I stared down the hall even after Vainya disappeared from sight. Part of me hoped he could find a solution to the problem, but another part of me worried there was no solution.
David placed a hand on my shoulder. “You mentioned Badb. Should I worry?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. And it’s a little complicated to explain right now, but I can later if you really need to know.” I sighed and gestured for David to follow. “Let me show you to your room. Unless you’re hungry.”
He pulled his hand away. “Pass. My stomach is still turning from the water-slide.”
The lanterns in the Manor’s hallway sparked to life, their soft golden hue lighting the way with the aid of full-length mirrors between floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Here and there a suit of armor or weapons display intermixed, showing unusual histories and strange stories without opening any book. Scents of parchment and wax reached my nose, easing the tension in my limbs. I led the way through the halls while he took in the shelves of books. “So, this is it? The Well of Knowledge?”
“Yep. The gift shop is on the left on your way out.”
David snorted, shaking his head at my quip. “I thought there’d be an actual well.”
I shook my head. “It changes depending on who the master is. When Mimir’s head was still attached to his body, the place resembled a grassless field with a well in the middle. Vainya didn’t care for that depiction and altered it to what you see.” I gestured a hand to the intricate wallpaper and paintings. “He wants it to be sophisticated and a representation of all the information within it.”
“How do you fit into this?” David gestured a hand to the shelves brimming with books.
“When someone becomes the Master of this place, they have to make sacrifices. One of the things Vainya lost was his freedom. He’s bound here, unable to leave unless he can somehow take the Well with him. So, I’m here. I fetch things for him, talk to him, cook his meals, make sure the place never falls down, and protect it.”
David stopped walking, staring up at a painting of men struggling to sail through a storm. “Why isn’t this place accessible to more people? If what you are saying is true, this place is as important as the Smithsonian.”
I stopped walking to face him. “Can you imagine what people would do to the world if they knew everything we have in these walls? We aren’t just talking about science and magic, but the things in the dark biding their time.”
David frowned. “Like what?”
Like us, Silence said.
“You might as well see since you’re an avatar.” I tapped my knuckle against the wall. “Can I have my bookshelf, please?”
The wall swung round, exposing a bookshelf, and I plucked a leather-bound tome off the shelf. Opening it to the back, I flipped the pages until I came across a sketch and showed it to him: a hand-drawn image of a creature with multiple legs ending in sharp talons and a skull-shaped head covered in writhing tentacles. “These are Outer Ones. One of the fun jobs enforcers and avatars have is finding and destroying them before they can get out into the populace.” I turned the page to show a humanoid figure with several mouths full of sharp teeth crawling up the side of its face, pincers protruding from the corners.
David took the book, his eyes shifting over the image. “Is this their default appearance?”
“No. It depends on where they surface. One by water is better for swimming and those who pop up in cities look humanoid. I theorize they shift into a form best suited for the area, but I’ve only seen a few.”
The Marine looked between the image and me for a heartbeat. “How many are there manifesting? Yearly?” David flipped another page and frowned at the lettering. “What language is this?”
I took the book and closed it with a hand. “Asgardian. As for frequency, I don’t know. But it only takes one to cause mass chaos.”
He looked from the book in my hand to the shelf. I had taken it from where twenty other leather-bound books neatly sat. “These are your journals?”
“I am talking to you about some terrifying shit and you care more about what’s on my bookshelf?”
His hand reached up, running his fingers along the titles of the books on the shelf above my journals. “Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, and”—his lips pulled back in a grin as he pulled a book off the shelf and showed it to me—“How to Win Friends and Influence People?”
I snatched the book from his hand and placed it back in its rightful spot before pulling his arm to resume our walk down the hall. “My point is humans are better off ignorant of things.” I stopped outside a door. “If you need anything, just say so, and if the Manor can’t give it to you, it’ll send me.” I wrapped my hand around the handle and started to open the door, but it yanked out of my hand and slammed shut. Scraping and creaking sounds grew in volume on the other side of the door.
I turned to face the full-length mirror. “You’re not done yet?”
My reflection shook its head, holding up a finger. On the other side of the door, the deep groaning and creaking sounds grew louder.
“She’s almost done,” I told David, sticking my hands in my pockets.
“What’s it—she?” When I nodded, he continued. “What is she doing?”
“Preparing your room. The Manor customizes rooms to suit the visitor. I’m curious what she’ll make for you.”
You are baiting him to give her a hint. Smooth.
“I’m a simple man,” he said with a shrug. “Don’t need or want much after the military. Sleeping in ditches makes a man enjoy small things like blankets. Shelter over my head and a place to rest is more than enough.”
The door swung open. I stepped to the side and waited for David to enter before peeking around him. A thin futon embedded in the dark gray floor was covered by a light gray duvet pulled back at the corner to expose white sheets and pillows. The walls, dark steel in color, were interrupted by rustic wooden support beams exposed in the wall and ceiling. Unlike my room, there weren’t any windows to display the outside.
David moved to the bed and set his bag on the floor. Kneeling, he pressed his hand into the futon and nodded at the cushion, or lack thereof, he
found.
Someone is expecting kinky times.
Blinking, I did a quick inspection around the room and found convenient metal hooks and loops in the ceiling beams, coiled rope, a blindfold and bottles of... something. Heat rushing to my ears, I turned to face my reflection in the mounted mirror.
My reflection made a heart shape with her hands and winked at me.
I mouthed, Get rid of it.
Pouting, my image walked out of the frame and the questionable items melted away.
Silence snickered. I hope you get in trouble and have to read the Grey book aloud again. You do the best voices.
Rolling my eyes, I made a mental note to find other romance novels for the Manor to pull inspiration from. I moved back out into the hallway, increasing the distance between David and myself so the Manor couldn’t cause an “accident.”
I asked, “Everything how you like?”
David nodded. “Yeah, it’s great.” I felt the floor hum from his praise. Rising to his feet, David yawned. “So, what’s next?”
“Sleep. For you and me. We can play it by ear when I get back tomorrow. I promised to keep you safe until Badb feels better, but I’m not sure how long it’ll be.”
He pressed his lips together. “Sure. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Yep. Breakfast is at seven. Don’t be late.”
He closed the door and I found myself standing outside his room with an odd feeling I couldn’t put my finger on fluttering through my mind.
So, never thought I would have to do this, but we need to limit the amount of times you stare at David’s ass. Because as someone who sees the same stuff you do, I don’t admire it the same way.
I almost responded before remembering where I was and stormed down the hall, hissing, “I wasn’t staring at his ass.”
Yes, you were. The sight of his khaki-clad rear will need magical intervention to be removed from my memory.
“Okay, fine.” I sighed and walked toward my room. “Maybe I peeked a little.”
Twenty times.
Pausing at the door to my room, I pressed my forehead against the hard surface. “Sorry. It wasn’t intentional.” My hand lifted and traced the engraved pattern of the wood. “I’m just lonely, you know?”
The sense of awkwardness washed over me from Silence before he said, I know.
“Not that I have a chance with him, anyway.” A tightness formed in my chest and I took several breaths to ease it. “It’s better in the long run he finds someone else to be romantic with.”
Silence didn’t respond as I went to my own room, washed, and changed my clothes before flopping onto my own futon and telling myself to sleep. My brain had other plans and kept spinning the recurring worries from the day in my head. The magic was one thing, but Sasha? I couldn’t picture her being abducted, so where did she disappear to? And why did I have to fix it?
With a sigh, I reached over for Silence. “You awake?”
Silence yawned. Is it morning already?
“No, I just need to think through something.”
Can’t you talk to Vainya instead? I was having a good dream.
I couldn’t understand how Silence dreamed, but he did. In fact, he slept better than I did most days. “I like you better as a sounding board. Vainya turns everything into a lesson, and his way of thinking isn’t what I need.”
Fine. What is it?
“I was thinking about how Sasha’s missing.”
Good riddance. She was a bitch.
“I’m serious, Silence. Valkyries don’t get abducted off the street.”
Maybe she’s having a fling until the next war breaks out. Valkyries have done it before. Or do you think she ran away?
“Maybe. But that doesn’t seem right, either.” I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to ignore the steady thudding in my skull. “Things don’t feel right.”
What do you mean?
I let out a long breath. “Hard to put my finger on it, but something in the back of my head is nagging me.”
Maybe that nagging feeling has to do with the fact you aren’t eating properly. I bet if you ate a church full of people you’d be glowing.
“That’s not even funny.”
Fine. If you won’t listen to me, amuse yourself some other way.
“And how am I supposed to ‘amuse’ myself from worries?”
A rustling of pages sounded next to me. I turned over to see the Dale Carnegie book Vainya wanted me to read. I sent a glare to the closest mirror. “Don’t tell me you are in on this.”
The floor rippled, moving the book closer to me.
With a sigh, I picked it up. “Fine.”
I turned it over, flipping the pages to gauge how much reading I was about to do before returning to the first page. An hour or so later, I’d finished and had jotted several notes down into the margins. The book had four sections: handling people, making them like you, winning them over, and leadership. I didn’t bother with the leadership part because the chances I would ever lead anything were six feet under.
Tapping my pen to a sheet of paper, I re-read the principles from the book and crossed off several. After that, I made a new list of what I could do.
Don’t be negative
Smile
Use a person’s name
Encourage them to talk
Be sincere
Avoid saying “you’re wrong”
Be sympathetic
“Great,” I said. “The complete opposite of me in every way.”
I dunno. You’re sincere when you tell people to go fuck themselves.
I rolled onto my back. “Why is Vainya wanting to apply human principles to me? I’m not human.”
Says the person who reads human philosophy before bed.
“You are the worst person to have this conversation with.”
And yet you woke me up from my nice dream to have me help you figure stuff out.
I let out a long sigh and rubbed my forehead. A dull ache spread along my forehead to the back of my head. I pushed myself up, thinking some tea would help, when the room spun around me.
A female voice murmured in my ear, “Found you,” before darkness swallowed my vision.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dreamer
Acool breeze across my face brought me back to awareness. I opened my eyes to see Grave Wood all about me instead of the walls of my bedroom. I stood and then turned in a slow circle to examine my surroundings. Instead of hand-shaped branches, writhing tentacles twitched toward me. Beyond the trees, or perhaps from the trees themselves, whispers filled the air. I tried to listen, but I couldn’t pick out the words. Soft guttural noises and hisses sounded beyond the trees.
Distant laughter, female and throaty, reached my ears and pulled my attention to an unfamiliar path. It didn’t appear different from the one I traveled to get to the Manor, save for the verges lined with living eyes. Partly buried in the soil, the eyes cast tortured glances all around them, while thin veins wrapped about the base to keep them in place. A closer inspection revealed a faint throbbing in the veins.
“Ugh, this is gross. Even for me,” I said.
“Seriously?” a young male voice said behind me. “You interrupted my nice dream and now you won’t let me go back to it even when I am asleep?”
Spinning around, a child stood in front of me with his arms crossed. His red eyes lacked the innocence common with children but looked adorable with his pout and determined scowl. Silver hair contrasted with a blood-red tunic, split along the sides from waist to knee, held in place with a black sash over black slacks. His bare feet tapped against the dark earth, but none of the dirt stuck to his skin.
“And what is this bullshit?” He gestured along his body. “Is this how you see me? As a child?”
I blinked at the voice, my head tilted to the side. “Silence?”
He threw his hands up into the air. “Of course! Who else follows you everywhere?”
“I would’ve settled for a fa
iry godmother.”
“Disgusting. Anyway, why did you bring me here?”
“I don’t even know where ‘here’ is,” I said. “Grave Wood, maybe?”
Silence turned his head up to the trees. “Doesn’t feel like Grave Wood to me—ack!” Silence leaped into the air toward me as one of the branches brushed against his neck. “Ew-ew-ew! No touchy!”
The female laugh sounded, a warm caress across my cheek, drawing my attention to the path. I stared down the dirt trail and felt a pull at my senses. Something waited for me down there and avoiding it wasn’t an option.
“Let’s get this dream over with,” I said, walking deeper into the forest.
Silence trotted to keep up. “You should have dreamed me as a knife! How can I hurt anything like this?”
“Maybe you can use your sharp wit to slice your foes with words instead of cutting them open.”
“Causing years of mental trauma with a simple comment is what you do, not me.”
Smiling, I walked down the path with my hands in my pockets as Silence darted this way and that like a dog checking out scents. He paused long enough to jab a finger into one of the eyeballs, earning a squeal from the eye itself. The rest of the eyes around the one stabbed blinked rapidly, some trembling in their veins. I grabbed him by the collar to drag him with me before Silence decided to provoke them further.
The landscape remained unchanged no matter how far we walked. I debated walking off the path or turning around when the trees parted in front of me and revealed a wide building atop a low ridge.
The building spread from horizon to horizon. Stars, breathtaking and radiant, twinkled along with the two full moons.
A high chain link fence with no visible way in or out sat between me and the building. I walked to it and a wire door appeared before me. A padlock dangled on the chain door latch.
“As if this’ll stop me,” I smirked, grabbing the lock and yanking it off the door.