by J. P. Rice
A thought hit me. What if Ossias was an ice dragon? Ice dragons had gone extinct over a thousand years ago. As near as I knew, only fire dragons still existed. Either way, I was going to love her with all my heart. Holding the newborn baby signaled the start of my new family.
“What did you find out about Alexis?” I asked.
“Oh, right,” he said, squinting in thought. “She will be staying with her aunt. Her father died a few years back, and you know about her mother. She is an only child. Her injured arm should heal fully.”
I asked, “Did you get an address of where’s she staying?”
“As demanded. Her aunt’s address.” He reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He tucked the folded paper into the back pocket of my tan pants since my hands were full.
I planned to check on Alexis soon. But first, I needed a better home for my dragons. I would need to evict the current tenants from my father’s house, but that wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I just might enjoy it.
The first task at hand was to protect myself by bringing Loki to my side. I didn’t have Lugh’s Spear, but I did have a powerful relic in the Harp. Arawn had a burning hatred for the Dagda too. I could take the Harp to Seattle and trade it for the briefcase that Loki needed.
From there, I could demand an army from Loki in exchange for the item he needed to kill Odin. Throw in some members of the Greek pantheon from Zeus’s favor and I would be insulated from the Celtic Gods. They wouldn’t want to risk pissing off two other powerful pantheons.
A thought started in the depths of my mind and waded through all the other worries to stand front and center. The clue from my mother. I finally had a way to find out what had really happened to my husband. That took precedence over everything else.
I looked down at the precious creature in my arms. How was I supposed to raise a dragon and go on a mission to find my husband? Or take the Harp to Seattle? My life had just gotten a helluva lot more complicated, which I didn’t think was possible, but here we were.
Chapter 35
Mike Merlino
“Misunderstanding is the spoon that stirs the cauldron of life.”
Where was Junipher? Why would she be late to her own ceremony?
I still hated her and didn’t want to introduce her to my girlfriend, but I couldn’t keep the secret anymore. Alayna and I had figured out that Junipher was Burnadette’s mother. The combination of Burnadette’s stories and Alayna’s knowledge of the Celtic pantheon had revealed the truth. Both women had thought the other had died in the lava incident.
My girl had a right to know who her mother was. I hadn’t told Burnadette anything about Junipher, especially leaving out the incident at my house. I’d dropped a few hints here and there, but no real details. But it was time for them to reunite.
Even though I thought Junipher was a terrible person, she had a right to know too. She deserved to know that her daughter hadn’t died in the Red Cavern. Her daughter had escaped to a better life. Given the circumstances, I wanted to delay the reintroduction, but would there ever be a good time?
I’d realized that as a human in the Red Cavern, she wasn’t making the decisions. Bruceras was calling the shots. After she had completed the mission and killed Bruceras, my feelings toward her softened a bit. Not much, but I did understand her plight now.
I was waiting nervously for Burnadette, who was being checked out by Dian Cécht. We were about to find out if our baby was going to be all right. My stomach swirled like the contents of one of the obsidian cauldrons that Cerridwen was stirring constantly. My whole body was numb and tingly at the same time. Beads of sweat covered my flesh and my stomach felt like it was tied in a knot.
Dian Cécht’s assistant, Algor, approached me and nodded his head. “Mr. Merlino. I’ve been sent to tell you that your child is going to be fine. We are just going to run a few more tests, but I felt it my duty to alert you immediately.”
I reached out and hugged the man I didn’t know like he was my best friend. “Thank you. Thank you. A million times thank you.” I released my hawkish grip on him, and he nodded and scurried away.
That was everything. The funky feeling circulating inside me dissolved instantly, replaced by a rush of euphoria. Our child was going to be okay. My chest heaved in and out in relief as I pumped my fist. I still wasn’t ready to forgive Junipher completely, but this would help.
I paced in an open area by myself, taking a victory lap. Brighid approached me. She was breathing heavily and her face was flushed, matching her red eyes. Her left cheek appeared to have a handprint on it. She hugged me and gripped my shoulder for support.
“You look happy,” she observed, smiling. “I take it Burnadette and the baby will be all right.”
Words failed me, so I just nodded. I was ready to get this event over with and take my honey home. “Have you seen Junipher?” I asked.
“I have. I saw her near the portal.”
“There’s a portal in Clara Spiritus?” I asked. Nobody had ever shown it to me.
She smirked. It was a cute smirk, like she had a juicy secret to tell. “There are a great many things you still need to learn. As for Junipher, she said to tell the Gods they can all go to hell. She said if the Dagda wants his Harp, he’s going to have to kill her to get it. Then she left. I just told the Dagda about it.”
“Wait. What?” That didn’t make any sense. Junipher was about to be inducted into the pantheon. Jonathan had told me that was her greatest desire in life. Why would she toss it away?
“I can’t make heads or tails with that one,” Brighid explained, peering around the party. “She has too much dark magic running through her veins. Makes her moody.”
I couldn’t argue with that, but the complete one-eighty out of nowhere was suspicious. What was she planning? Then the bigger issue hit me. The deadly winter in Pittsburgh would rage on. What did she plan to do with the Harp?
Now I needed to track her down and get the Harp from her. The winter should end since nobody could play the Harp and extend the season. However, any needless pain and suffering involving my citizens was unacceptable.
I naturally assumed she wouldn’t stay in Pittsburgh. She’d basically declared war with the Gods whom I served. We were now enemies. She would never get to meet her daughter now.
I stood there, stunned.
The Goddess of Fire leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I need to talk to you about your real father.”
My eyes shot wide open and I felt like I’d just chugged a pot of coffee. Adrenaline pulsed in my fingertips in a way I’d never felt before. The revelations were overloading my emotions.
I waited for her to go on, but she turned away, coughing into her hand. The suspense was killing me. Brighid finally composed herself and faced me again. Two little streams of blood emerged from her nostrils, trickling down onto her full lips. Her face was frozen in shock as if she couldn’t believe what was happening.
That made two of us. She wiped the blood from her upper lip with the back of her hand and stared at the smear of deep crimson in disbelief. “I can’t believe she got me. Little lies can kill, it should seem,” she said ominously and collapsed to the ground.
I tried to catch her as she went down, but I only managed to tear her dress at the shoulder. I released the frilly fabric and kneeled next to her. Blood continued to pour out of her nose as she breathed in short, husky breaths. The concerned murmuring shifted to a panicked frenzy of Gods and Goddesses rushing around yelling at one another about what to do.
Then, Brighid pointed at her neck and mouth. The room fell silent for a moment and then erupted again in chaos.
Suddenly, the Goddess grabbed at her throat, clawing at it with her long nails and eventually drawing blood. I wanted to do something to save her, but what? She was obviously dying, but I didn’t know what had caused it. It was as if someone had put a hex on her.
Her spastic movements told me she was teetering close to the edge. Time was running out. Dian Céch
t worked his way through the sea of Gods and hovered over Brighid’s body, lowering himself slowly as he inspected her condition. I stood up and watched over the healing God’s shoulder in horror.
He massaged her throat, feeling around for an obstruction, then he pried her mouth open and stared into it. Dian Cécht tried to pin her down with his knees as a greenish rash spread over her neck. He screamed, “It’s hemlock. Does anyone have a reverse hemlock spell?”
Blodeuwedd rushed to the front of the pack, and I started getting pushed back into the crowd. I found myself standing behind Cernunnos and couldn’t see around his massive frame. I fought my way to the side and saw Brighid’s still body and Blodeuwedd’s lips moving. I couldn’t hear her words, but I assumed she was working on the spell.
Someone handed Blodeuwedd a flaming torch and she waved it above her head, trying to personalize the spell for the Goddess of Fire. Everyone waited with bated breath for Brighid’s still body to jump up and come back to life.
We waited. And waited. And then we waited some more. Nobody could believe that a Goddess was dying.
Instead of a miraculous recovery, Brighid never moved a muscle. Not even a post death twitch or muscle spasm. A Goddess had died in her home. What an unsettling concept. Jarring, actually. Little lies can kill, she had said. What the hell did that mean?
The emotional roller coaster of the last ten minutes skidded to a halt. My head was spinning. A Goddess had just died. Junipher had waged war against the Celts. My unborn child was okay, and I’d found out my father wasn’t my real father.
When everything settled, the first step was clear. I had to find Junipher and recover the Harp by any means necessary. Then I could liberate Pittsburgh of this awful winter.
Chapter 36
A dense fog shot out of the tiny dragon’s mouth and engulfed the shot glass on my coffee table. A crystalline crackling sound filled the room. A moment later, the fog dissipated, and the blue object was covered in a crust of ice. I stroked the back of Ossias’s long sapphire neck.
“The ice dragons ride again,” Titania commented.
“It appears so.” I sat down on my couch next to the coffee table. “She can freeze my enemies in place, and I can burn the stationary targets. Or you could too.”
I had a feeling Titania was jealous of all the attention I’d been giving my baby dragon. The dragonfly preferred to be the main attraction.
“What are you going to do when she gets bigger?” she asked, staring at Ossias. “This neighborhood doesn’t seem like it can accommodate.”
“I plan to take over my father’s house,” I told her and waited to see if she would lecture me like Owen had. She remained silent so I continued, “He has plenty of land, a castle-like house and I can protect it.”
“Still though. How are you going to control a wild dragon?” Titania cocked her head to the side. “What if she flies off the property and gets in trouble?”
“I’m sure I’ll figure out something.” I watched Ossias lick the ice on the outside of the shot glass. “Maybe I’ll set an enclosure bubble around the property.”
The other twelve eggs still hadn’t hatched. I wanted to move them to my father’s and establish a base of operation. With Blodeuwedd and the Morrigan’s avian trackers surveying my city, I needed to be extremely careful. I had a plan to leave Pittsburgh eventually, after the dragons hatched.
For now, I was stuck here. If the Celtic Gods really wanted me, they knew how to find me. I’d had people chasing me for over a century, but this felt different. More dangerous.
I still had the Dagda’s Harp. I’d tried to play it in Pittsburgh to stop the awful winter, but it hadn’t worked yet. However, I assumed winter would fade out soon because Bruceras couldn’t keep playing the Harp to extend the dreadful season. The deadly frost would eventually stop, and I could use the Harp in a trade with Arawn.
I had to use my resources to build a team around me. One that could insulate me from the Celtic Gods. That meant surrounding myself with some of the Norse and the Greeks. That way, the Celtic Gods would start a multi-pantheon war if they came after me. They would have to go through my protectors to get to me.
One other major problem loomed large. The Celtic Gods knew I sipped from Gobniu’s nectar regularly. I had to be careful making trips to Pleasure Island now. They could have a crew waiting to snatch me up.
With all the problems circulating, Ossias calmed me down. She made me feel like a mother again. I had real purpose.
My phone buzzed. I leaned back on my couch and plucked it out of my tight jeans pocket. Owen was calling.
“Hello.”
“Junipher. Quickly,” he said, sounding rushed. “You need to get over here.”
“Okay. I’ll leave right now.”
Owen hung up without saying goodbye. Why didn’t he just tell me what was going on?
“Titania. Keep an eye on Ossias,” I said as I got up from the couch. “I’ve got to go over to Owen’s.”
“Why?” she asked and jumped over to the coffee table. “He just left here less than an hour ago.”
“There seems to be a problem.”
Her multifaceted eyes shone with concern. “What’s the problem?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what I need to find out.”
I grabbed my purse and coat and headed for the door wondering what the hell was going on. It had to be a problem with the dragons. Or were they starting to hatch? My mind raced faster than my speeding Jeep as I cruised across town and arrived at Owen’s in record time.
I got to the front door and couldn’t remember if I had turned the vehicle off or left it running. I pounded on his front door.
Owen opened the door and I rushed in. I asked, “What is going on?”
I peered around at his normally immaculate house and wondered what the mess was from. Papers were strewn about his kitchen instead of the perfect stacks on the table that I was accustomed to seeing.
“We have a major problem.” He pointed to the basement steps, and my heart sank.
I prepared to see a bunch of busted egg shells and no dragons. What else could it be?
When I hit the landing to the basement, I almost stepped on the Plexiglas lid to the incubator. Oh, shit. I glanced across the room at the base of the incubator. It was empty. Every, single egg was missing. A familiar cocktail of anger and panic mixed inside me.
My knees felt like they were about to give out. “Don’t let anyone else in here until we can sweep the place for fingerprints and figure out who did it.”
“I’m afraid I know who has done this.” He sighed and lowered his head.
“Who?”
He looked up at me, blinking rapidly. “My business partner, Roald.”
“I thought you said you guys were working out of an office now.” I paced over to the empty incubator. “You said you took his keys to the house.”
“And I did,” he said, raising his right hand. “I’m thinking he made a spare key and used that to gain entry. He knew I was going to be late today because I told him I was going to meet you.”
“Let’s get to his house.” I went for the steps and wondered why Owen hadn’t budged. “Quick. Come on.”
“This is a good news, bad news scenario.”
“How so?” I asked and turned to face him.
“I have a tracking device in Roald’s diamond earring,” he grinned proudly. “And he never removes it for more than a few minutes. It’s like a second signature.”
“Does he know about it?”
“He does not.”
“That sounds like the good news.” I bounced around trying to contain my rage.
“Indeed, it is,” he confirmed, and his grin faded. “He is currently at the airport.”
“Well, let’s go then.” I took off for the staircase again. “Shake a leg.”
“Our hands are tied at the moment, it should seem,” he explained.
“What? Why?”
“If he is in the termi
nal, we can’t just storm in and drag him out of there. Besides, he’s likely traveling on a private plane.” His shaky hand dove into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and produced his pipe.
“Why not?”
He pulled out a pouch of tobacco. “Because...”
“I know why,” I cut him off. “I’m just shaking with anger right now. Why didn’t you change the locks? I can’t believe you let this happen.”
“I didn’t let anything happen,” he said, his voice growing stern. “I’m just as mad as you. I can’t control the behavior of another individual. I tried to take all the precautions necessary. I’m quite certain a new set of locks wouldn’t have stopped him. How was I to know that my business partner of twenty plus years would do something like this?”
“You’re right.” I took a deep breath. “I need to calm down if that is even possible right now.”
“Would you like a drink?” He put his packed pipe up to his mouth.
“Not unless it’s Roald’s blood. I need to keep a clear head. In fact, I need to get home and make sure no one has any crazy ideas about Ossias.”
“I think she will be all right.” Owen lit his pipe and hit it a few times. “Roald must have grown suspicious when I moved our operation elsewhere. I can only assume he saw the eggs, then set up a plan to steal them. You think you know somebody.”
“I still don’t want to leave Ossias now.” I paced the length of his fireplace nervously. “I want her right by my side at all times. Do you have any idea where he might be headed?”
Owen grabbed a rectangular object from the table. He stared at the gray device that resembled a remote control. “He’s headed west at a rapid speed. He must be on a plane now.”
“Fook.” I couldn’t just shift into a dragon and follow the plane. I wanted to, but it wouldn’t work. “How are we going to follow him?”
He squinted in confusion. “I believe we will have to board a plane as well.”
“But how can I take Ossias with us?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m not leaving her behind.”