Forged by Greed

  Human World, November 17, morning.

  The pages of the book were thin and almost transparent. A light-yellow hue slightly darker at the edges reminded Bogdan of how old this book was. His gloved fingers traced the elaborately embellished first letter of the starting paragraph. White and silver snowdrop flowers spiraled around the letter, spreading their delicate petals and the elongated green leaves. The picture’s backdrop carefully depicted interlocking snowflakes. It seemed to shimmer, teasing the reader’s eye and making him believe the snow was really falling.

  Bogdan leaned closer over the page. The book was heavy and large. Its leather binding shone, polished by the many hands that held it over the centuries. Bogdan’s parents watched him in silence.

  “And this has been really drawn by hand?” Bogdan asked in disbelief.

  “Not only the illustrations, but all the letters have been done by hand too. No computers were available back then. Today a similar effect can be easily achieved using computer graphics.” His mother smiled that warm, understanding smile he loved so much.

  Built-in dark cherry-wood bookcases stretched to the ceiling on every wall in the spacious basement study. They housed hundreds of volumes, many leather-bound. A small table equipped with a laptop and a printer stood in a corner. Next to it was the large, solid two-sided desk that matched the bookcases. Two thick books, a binder, and some loose pages of paper covered in neat handwriting were arranged on the desk. A couple of pens and a large magnifying glass lay scattered next to an antique letter opener.

  Bogdan had been in this room only a few times. As long as he could remember, it always remained locked. Only his parents were allowed in. They often had visitors from the Winter Shifter community, but very few got an invitation to walk through the metal fire-proof door. The only window, small and positioned between two bookcases, was outfitted with a thick steel sliding cover. The cover rested on the beefy-looking brackets. It was ready to slide back up with a punch of a button.

  A heavy-duty safe stood under the window. It looked grim and out of place next to the dark-cherry furniture pieces. Its burly door stood ajar, the inside revealing a few books and other objects wrapped in white flannel. The safe, just like the door to the study, would open only to either of Bogdan’s parents’ thumb print and retina scan.

  “The History of The Winter Race dates back to the early third century.” Bogdan’s father’s voice had a smooth, soothing quality. “It is a marvel. Did you know that our Race, in the times of The Roman Empire, had already been making paper? It was long before the humans had in that part of the world. Of course the Shifters in China were the first to invent the paper, but it remains a mystery if it was our Race or the Summer Race. Either way, only a very few books from that era had survived. And this is the only one that depicts the Winter Race’s history.”

  He took his glasses off and looked at his wife. “Ivona, when did we learn there are no known duplicates of the book? Wasn’t it at the last Winter Shifters’ Society Convention in Anchorage?”

  “Yes, Andy. And only a very few know that we have the only copy of the Book.” She nodded, wrapping her arm around her husband and leaning close to him. “If there are any replicas, the owners keep them a secret from everyone.”

  “It’s possible.” Bogdan’s father gently caressed Ivona’s hand.

  “Anyway, this one is the original. It has been in our family for centuries, passed from generation to generation. We have made several digital copies of the Book and other extremely valuable documents. These files are stored in various banks throughout the US, Europe, and Australia,” Bogdan’s mother added, smiling warmly at her husband. She spoke with a faint Polish accent, softened by the years of living in the States.

  “How come I’ve never heard of the Book?” Bogdan’s eyes opened wide behind his metal-rimmed glasses.

  “Darling,” his mother said after a pause. She spoke kindly, looking straight into her son’s eyes. “This book contains the most sacred information about our Race, a knowledge that must remain protected from humans, Summer Shifters, and even from many of our own.”

  “We’ve waited to share this with you for your own safety. The longer you didn’t learn about all the facts, the longer you were out of harm's way,” added Andy.

  “It doesn’t make any sense. What do you mean ‘for my own safety’? Like I’m going to advertise on Facebook that my folks have this incredibly amazing book of our Race in their possession? Maybe you should have more confidence in me on this one, just like you trust me with everything else?” Bogdan felt a flush of scarlet creeping up from behind his ears to the tip of his nose.

  “Oh, dear.” Ivona clasped her hands in her lap and looked to her husband for help.

  “You know from our discussions in the past that we will pass on all our historical knowledge and resources to you.” Bogdan’s father took his own glasses off and rubbed his gray eyes. “Our hope is that you will guard it as we do, and as the generations of our ancestors have. We also expect you to continue the research and involvement in our Race’s Historical Society. But some parts of this knowledge are strictly confidential. Everyone who’s admitted to learn these facts must first become an adult. And then be sworn in by the Society.” Andy replaced the glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked at his wife. She nodded and smiled to both of them.

  “Honey, Dad and I have decided to introduce you into this slowly. Thankfully you have turned out to be a responsible and a very sensible teenager.” She reached over and gently stroked Bogdan’s arm. His face started to relax, and his regular pale complexion soon replaced the angry coloring.

  “In fact, just last night Dad and I discussed how to execute the plan of easing you into the basics even before your seventeenth birthday.”

  Bogdan looked expectantly from his mother to his father.

  “This book contains most likely every detail from the beginning of our Race which, nearly all our Historians agree, was long before The Paleolithic Era,” said Andy.

  “What? But how is that possible? That would mean we’ve existed before the human race! I can’t believe I know so little. You’ve been keeping all these facts from me. Are the other Winter kids as ignorant as me? How about the Summer kids?”

  “Darling, don’t get so upset. As I said before, you will learn it all. Just give us time to explain. Most of the kids in our Race travel the same path to knowledge.” Ivona smiled a heartening smile. “I assume the Summer children aren’t any different from you in that aspect.”

  “So now you know,” Andy interjected, “that both Races have existed long before the humans even learned to walk upright. Think about the various archeological discoveries, clearly proving that, from the early times, humans have worshipped gods and goddesses of animal shape. Or at least the ones in a partial animal form.”

  Bogdan opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He looked at a colorful drawing of the Norse God Odin, who sat on a massive throne, holding a long spear in his hand. Two large wolves were positioned on each side of Odin—one was black and the other, flawlessly white. Their upper lips were drawn back, showing sharp long teeth. But what immediately captured Bogdan’s attention, were the wolves’ eyes. They were dark and grim-looking, and definitely not animal. They were human eyes. And there was something else: the wolf standing on the right side of Odin wore a large talisman around his neck. The jewel sparkled blue against the wolf’s black fur.

  “The Winter Shifters! Freki and Geri from the Norse mythology?” he exclaimed, pointing to the drawing. “This is what you just said… this is our Race… but what about Crystal? She… it can’t be! Odin?” Bogdan gasped, looking at his parents’ smiling faces.

  “There is a lot to learn about our Race and the Goddess. By the way, Freki and Geri were the first Winter Royal couple. Jatred is a direct descendant of these ancient Shifters, as was his father,” said Andy, getting up and walking toward the desk.

  Bogdan leaned over the book again, his gloved hands carefully turning a few p
ages.

  “See? Here is our Crystal again. This time as the Celtic goddess Morrigan. And I personally believe this to be her favorite identity.” Andy pointed to a large picture.

  The image depicted a young woman. Long, thick tresses fell around her beautiful face covered in dark-brown tattoos. Six lines ran from her hairline to the bridge of her nose. The middle two continued down to the very tip of her nose and then curved to the sides, following the dark wavy lines that thickly framed her large eyes. The outer lines resumed the same path, but just above her brows. Thin, elongated half-moons were outlined on her cheeks.

  Two large ravens sat on her shoulders. The Goddess wore a long, black cloak made out of the raven’s feathers. A tight fitting, red bra-like top revealed the crowns of her perfectly round breasts. There was another half-moon tattoo right above her navel. Thick gold bracelets encircled her arms. A short leather skirt tautly hugged her hips. Dark-brown leather boots laced up all the way to her knees completed the warrior-Goddess’s look.

  Andy gingerly flipped a few more pages and gestured to another picture. On this one a voluptuous naked woman sat on the beach, facing the sea. Her long curly hair cascaded around her shoulders and down her back. The woman’s legs curled to the left. A thick line of sea foam encircled her, caressing her legs, buttocks, and the tips of her fingers.

  “Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of love and beauty,” whispered Bogdan, gaping at the illustration.

  “She was also known as the Roman Venus, the Mesopotamian Inanna, the Phoenician Astarte, or the Etruscan Turan. The legends say Aphrodite could make any man fall in love with her at first sight.” Ivona smiled. “Andy, show Bogdan the images of Shiva and Isis.”

  “This is crazy. I can’t even begin to understand what this is all about.” Bogdan’s eyebrows formed an almost straight line above his eyes. He took his glasses off and looked in disbelief at his parents.

  “That’s why we need to take baby steps.” Andy ruffled his sandy-blond hair and started to look through the book for the pictures of Goddesses that his wife suggested. “Now, here she’s shown as the Hindu god Shiva. I know, I know, you are concerned with the fact that she’s believed sometimes to be a male god and in other mythologies to be a female. Just try to think of her as an entity, an ancient and infinite being, a creator and a visionary. She is not a “she” or a “he”. We simply refer to her as female, because that’s how she normally appears to us. Just don’t worry about that now.” He shrugged and smiled warmly at his son.

  “What about the Summer Goddess? Is she a she or a he, or the same genderless entity?” Bogdan threw his arms out in frustration.

  “The same principle applies to Amber,” Ivona said, reaching for her cup of tea. “There are her images and a lot of information about her in the book as well.”

  Andy gingerly flipped a few pages and pointed to an image of a tall slim woman with the head of a cat. She wore a close-fitting long dress and held an arched, musical instrument—sistrum, a lion-headed aegis, and a small cylindrical basket.

  “This is a drawing of the actual bronze statuette of the Egyptian goddess, Bastet, presently on a display in the Louvre. I’ve seen this particular statuette a few times there,” Andy explained. “Like with most of their spiritual images, the humans can’t get it right. At first they had insisted on picturing Bastet with a lion’s head and associating her with the Sun. But after one thousand BC the image changes to that of a cat-headed goddess and her connection changes to the Moon. This, we know, is impossible, since our Goddess has been always representing the Moon, and Amber, as the Summer Goddess, represents the Sun.”

  “Dad, Mom.” Bogdan bit his lip, looking at his parents. “I want to know something about the Amulet before Jatred and his uncle get here.”

  They regarded him silently. His mother drew a lung-full of air, held it in and exhaled loudly. She rose from the sofa, put her tea down on a small side table, and approached her son. She bent down and looked into his eyes.

  “Jatred is the Amulet’s Protector, and normally you wouldn’t even know about the Amulet until you learned the Race’s history and other important things pertaining to our past, and future. But because of the nature of the situation Jatred is in… well, I mean, we actually are all in that situation. Anyway, you’re right. Now you need to know the basics,” she said gently. She moved away from Bogdan to stand by her husband’s side.

  “This subject would arise sooner or later, even if Jatred hadn’t gotten into all this mess,” Andy commented.

  “I was hoping for later.” Ivona looked at Andy’s reassuring face. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning.”

  Bogdan’s parents explained to him the short version of the Amulet’s history, and how the jewel is passed between both Races every one thousand years. Then the doorbell rang, and they shot one another a nervous glance. Bogdan put the book gently on the desk, and, throwing his white gloves down, raced up the stairs to answer the door. His mind was racing. Jatred, bro! I hope you’re all right.

  CHAPTER 26

  Human World, November 17, morning.

  They stood in front of a tall iron gate set into a white-brick fence that shot up several feet above the ground. Tyrrell pressed the doorbell and glanced at Jatred who fidgeted with the zipper on his hoodie.

  “I always liked their house,” Tyrrel remarked.

  Despite the morning sun, the air was so cold that their breath formed white clouds in front of their faces.

  “What’s wrong with our house?” Jatred asked.

  “Not a thing.” Tyrrell smiled. His teeth were bright-white against his chocolate-dark skin.

  The door to the house flew open. Bogdan jumped down the full flight of stairs. He landed on his feet with an animal grace. He ran to the gate, yelling with his mind, “Jatred, you’re okay! Unbelievable.”

  Jatred’s lips stretched in a wide smile. The upper half of his face was concealed by the hood of his jacket. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

  “Hello, Mr. Hauser,” Bogdan said out loud to Tyrrell and clapped Jatred hard on the back. “Man, we were so freaked out after you fought the Garhanan. And then Crystal froze you.” He spoke with his mind, his words oozing excitement. “It was all crazy. And it all happened so fast. The Goddess threw us out of the Winter Realm, and we went to see Jasmira’s house. But she was gone to Santa Barbara. Than your uncle called my parents and said that you were back home. You gotta tell me what happened.”

  “Let’s go inside,” Tyrrell interjected, waving to Bogdan’s parents who stood at the door, waiting for their son and the guests to enter.

  Several pumpkins and gourds, each of a different size, shape, and color sat on every step. A few had castles painted on with a black marker, and windows cut out for a better effect.

  “By the way, sorry I didn’t call you. My cell phone died out. The battery or something,” Jatred said.

  “Erik’s and Lusia’s phones stopped working in the Realm too. I forgot mine from home. I didn’t know the phones would break in the Winter Realm. Dude, this whole thing is so weird.”

  “Actually, I left my phone at home too. By pure accident. So I didn’t have it in the Realm. But, yeah, Uncle said electronics stop working or sometimes even disintegrate all together in both Realms.”

  The Tornwoods stood at the top of the staircase, beaming at their guests.

  “Jatred, I’m so glad you are okay. I was so worried.” Ivona Tornwood walked down the stairs and embraced him.

  He awkwardly held his arms out to the sides and then slowly put his hands on her back. She let him go after a moment and regarded him with a maternal concern.

  “How are you?” she asked aloud, and then added with her mind, stealing quick glances around the neighborhood, “Your uncle said you can’t remember much from yesterday.”

  Andy Tornwood shook Tyrrell’s hand and nodded to Jatred.

  “Let’s go inside. We have a lot to discuss,” he spoke with his mind, a sincere smile brightening his narrow f
ace.

  They went down to the basement study. The door was closed and locked, but Ivona quickly scanned her retina and positioned her thumb on the print-reader. A series of dull clicks came from the door locks, and the door unbolted.

  They filed inside the room, and everyone sat down except Jatred.

  Ivona glanced at him. She smiled. “Pull up a chair or sit next to your uncle.”

  Jatred grunted and shuffled toward an oversized armchair in the corner. Effortlessly, he lifted it with one hand and carried it closer to the sofa.

  Andy said, “Jatred, tell us what you remember from yesterday, and then Bogdan will fill in the blanks.”

  “All right.” Jatred raised his brows, exhaled loudly, and the words tumbled out in a rush. Although his lips didn’t move, they heard his voice clearly in their heads. After talking with his uncle the night before, Jatred’s thoughts seemed better connected. He had less trouble relating what he remembered from the previous day and evening.

  When he finished, nobody spoke or moved for several long moments, then Bogdan said, “This is like a comic book story.” There was no humor in his smile.

  Jatred barked a short, tense laugh.

  “This is starting to make sense,” Bogdan pressed on. “First, we’re summoned to the Winter Realm by the Goddess out of the blue. And clueless as to why. When we entered the Realm, you and the Garhanan were about to fight. None of us knew what was going on; we were totally freaking out. And after you got him, and Crystal froze you, we got dismissed with the ‘let this be a lesson to you all not to ever disobey me’.” He took his glasses off and started to polish them with the hem of his flannel shirt.

  “So, that’s the explanation Crystal gave you?” Jatred asked.

  “Yes.” Bogdan leaned forward, scratched his head, and slouched back into the sofa. “It was bizarre. We all tried to stay, but she kicked us out of the Realm. Dad said she kinda makes you do things you don’t wanna do, at least to some extent—”

  “I know. I just recently learned. She can also erase a part of your memory as she pleases,” Jatred heatedly said.