Diggin up crones, p.71
Diggin' Up Crones, page 71
“I need to see it,” I reiterated.
“I said no!” he roared. “For once, you will do what you’re told!” It was the first time I’d seen him angry. Even in times of strife, he was calm. Not today.
“Listen —”
Before we could start throwing punches — or magic — a plane door opened to my left. My initial assumption was that the kishi were here. They would attack and I would be woefully outnumbered. But it was Hecate.
“Now probably isn’t the best time for a visit,” I snapped at her. She was the last person I wanted to see.
She moved to the side, and I saw she wasn’t alone. My mouth fell open.
“Hey.” Poet flashed a smile.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“You need someone to read a prophecy for you, correct?” Hecate asked, her challenging eyes on me. “Who better than a seer?”
Instead of being relieved that she was doing what I wanted, my stomach threatened to revolt. These gods were playing with me — and worse, my friends. At the moment, however, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
25
TWENTY-FIVE
My mind raced through a million possibilities. Because I was a pessimist, none of them were good.
“You should go.” I started toward Poet with a purpose. “You can’t stay here.”
Confusion knit her dark eyebrows and she took a step back when I reached for her arm. I was going to push her through a plane door and get her home if I had to. “Where are you right now?” I racked my brain and came up empty. “You’re on the West Coast. That’s all I remember.”
“We’re heading north,” Poet replied. She stepped away again so I missed when I tried to grab her. “We’re between locations. Now is the perfect time for a visit.”
I glowered at her. “This is not a visit. That’s not what they have planned.”
“Yeah, I figured that out,” she said dryly.
“You need to go.” There was no rational reason for me to be so desperate to get Poet away from this place. Not only were the kishi not surrounding us and threatening death, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. Something inside of me knew she shouldn’t be here, though.
“I’ll open a door.” I tried to grab her arm but she jerked.
“I just got here,” she shot back.
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m sorry your visit will be cut short. I’ll figure out a way to visit you in a few days.”
“What’s wrong with now?” she challenged. “As I said, we’re between locations. I have twenty-four hours I can spend here with you.”
“But I really love the West Coast.” That was a lie. I’d never been. “I happen to love a good fog.”
“Watch a movie other than Twilight,” she sneered.
I was insulted on a level I didn’t think possible. “I don’t watch Twilight.” How could she assume such a thing. “What is wrong with you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t pretend you don’t watch those movies so that you can make fun of them,” she argued.
I was taken aback. “How do you know that?”
“I do the same thing. I mean, the wolves are bigger than grizzly bears.”
“That bothers me,” I admitted. “The part that bothers me most is the fact that the girl goes to bed for six months because the boy she dated for two weeks dumped her. Then it’s not only normalized but romanticized when she puts herself in dangerous situations just to see an imaginary flash of him.”
Poet nodded knowingly. “I hate it. If I ever have a daughter, I’ll never let her watch those movies. They set a bad precedent.”
“If I ever have a daughter, I’ll make her watch horror movies so she understands how to always position herself as the final girl.”
Poet grinned.
“What’s a final girl?” Cernunnos asked, interrupting the nice moment.
“The girl at the end of a horror movie who survives all the carnage,” Hecate volunteered. “Watch a movie or something.” She rolled her eyes.
That brief interaction brought back the memory that this was the first time I’d seen them together since everything had started at Old Mill Tavern. “Oh,” I said, briefly forgetting that I’d been gearing up to push Poet through a plane door to protect her. “You guys are together.”
Hecate gave me an odd look. “And that’s important because?”
“I thought maybe the world would end if you got too close,” I replied truthfully.
“Why would the world end?”
I shrugged. “I thought it was a Ghostbusters thing.” At her blank look, I sighed. “You know, you can’t cross the streams. I thought having two gods in close proximity would be the magical equivalent of crossing the streams.”
Poet snorted, then caught herself. “Sorry.” She waved off Hecate’s glare. “That was a very vivid comparison.”
“The two of you have always been goofy together,” she complained.
That jarred another memory. Poet was already looking at me when I glanced over at her.
“We remember that night well,” Poet said. “We had no idea what you were, or what you were doing.”
I snapped out of my momentary haze. “What were you doing that night?” I pressed. “Poet and I were in the park. You were doing something with creepy guys. You told us to run and then stayed behind.”
“I killed them,” Hecate said without hesitation.
“You killed all of them?” I couldn’t remember how many had been in that parking lot but it wasn’t an insignificant number.
“They had nothing to offer this world except misogyny and pain.”
“How do you know that?” I pressed. “Did you see a prophecy that involved them?”
“You have a suspicious soul,” she muttered.
“That wasn’t really an answer.”
“I don’t owe you an answer.”
I worked my jaw. There was a challenge in the way she tilted her head. I couldn’t back down from a challenge. And yet she was a goddess. She was the goddess of witches. She would likely be able to kick my ass if she put her mind to it.
The only thing worse than admitting that would be the actual ass kicking.
Hecate’s smirk told me she understood exactly what was going through my head.
“You are the worst,” I said to her, turning away.
“You don’t like that there’s a bigger witch on the block,” she countered. “You’re a bully. When someone can’t be bullied, it bothers you.”
“That is a gross exaggeration,” I shot back.
She cocked an eyebrow.
“Fine,” I muttered. “I’m mad I can’t bully you.”
Rather than crow, she nodded. “Progress.” She gestured to Poet. “We need to make more progress. That’s why I brought your friend.”
I immediately started shaking my head. “She can’t stay here. This isn’t the time for a visit.”
“As you so righteously said when trying to speak in code — even though that was the lamest attempt I’ve ever seen — she’s not here for a visit,” Hecate shot back. “She’s here to make sure the world doesn’t end.”
Poet’s eyes went wide.
I threw my hands into the air. “Geez! I cannot believe you just said that! What is wrong with you?”
Hecate ignored my outburst. “You’re up for the challenge?” she asked Poet.
Poet worked her jaw. “They suck. I’m sorry.” I moved toward her. “You should go home. I’ll talk to them about being theatrical idiots. You know, spank them with a ruler or something.” I thought better of it. “Or run them over with Gunner’s truck. It will be fine.”
I was desperate to get her away.
It wasn’t Hecate who responded this time, however. Cernunnos’s hand was heavy when it landed on my shoulder. “You cannot stop this,” he said. “I was hoping to avoid it too, but she’s here now. As we talked about earlier, there are no circumstances in which she would leave you now that she knows a battle is afoot. She’s here for the duration.”
I wanted to slam my fist through his skull. Who was he to use what we’d talked about against me? Before I could decide how I was going to deal with this, Poet spoke.
“He’s right,” she said. “There are no circumstances under which I will allow myself to be removed from this situation.”
I snagged gazes with her, momentarily lost, then sighed. “They won’t let you go. You won’t go. Obviously, I’m in the minority.”
“Obviously,” Poet readily agreed. “Tell me what we’re dealing with.”
That felt like a tall order given everything that had happened in such a short amount of time. “Sit down. Get comfortable.” I was listless and pouty as I gestured toward the fallen log. “It’s a long story.”
She practically pranced to the log. “I love a long story.”
She wasn’t going to like this one. I started at the beginning anyway and didn’t stop until I got to this field. It took a half hour, but only because Hecate and Cernunnos enjoyed interjecting comments on my storytelling abilities.
You could do better voices.
You’re not animated enough.
If you were in charge of making sure stories survived generations, all would be lost.
When I finished, Poet stared and was quiet a long time. Then she shook her head. “Geez. When was the last time you had a quiet week?”
The question struck me as absurdly funny and I burst out laughing. “I could ask the same of you. Didn’t you just fight off a bunch of human skulls?”
She shrugged. “I think I had the better end of the deal.”
She glanced between Cernunnos and Hecate. She knew them both. Like me, she was more familiar with the horned god. Hecate was still a mystery to both of us.
“What do the two of you want out of this mess?” she asked.
“What makes you think we want anything?” Hecate challenged. She appeared irritated with Poet. “Perhaps we’re here to help.”
“It’s so weird that you think I would believe that.” Poet made a face. “I remember you from when I was a kid.”
“I didn’t expect you to forget.”
“What was the goal when you warned us away from the park that night?”
“Perhaps I didn’t want you to witness the carnage I planned to carry out.”
Poet shook her head. “That’s not it.”
“If you know so much, why don’t you tell me what I was doing there,” Hecate prodded. “You’re the seer, after all.”
“You’re a goddess. I can’t force my way into your head, no matter how my abilities have been enhanced.”
“I thought you were the new big thing.”
“Just tell us,” I interjected, my temper flaring. “I get that you guys like to play games but we’re all in this together, and Cernunnos is worried about something very specific.”
Hecate muttered something I couldn’t make out. When she fixed her gaze on Cernunnos, it was full of judgment. “Your attachment to these creatures baffles me. We should have let them fail on their own.”
“Then we’d all fail,” Cernunnos replied evenly. “You know that as well as I do. That’s why you stepped in when they were children. It’s why you’re here now.”
“I don’t appreciate them acting as if they have a say over anything I do,” Hecate hissed.
“Stop being difficult.” He shook his head. “They’re no different than you.” He was calm as he regarded us. “The prophecy has changed. We need you to follow the threads to see what we’re dealing with,” he told Poet.
She pursed her lips, debating. “I don’t put much faith in prophecies,” she said. “They’re fragile. They shatter with a single change.”
“That is the problem,” Cernunnos insisted. “Scout’s has never shattered. We’ve gone out of our way to shatter it and failed every time. But now it is shattered, and what has taken its place is … ugly.”
Poet’s eyes narrowed. Then she looked back at me. “What do you think?”
“They’re extremely worried,” I replied. “If they’re worried, I guess we should be worried.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll look. I am not, however, going to allow you to dictate how I do this. It’s going to be on my terms.”
Hecate rolled her eyes. “Always so bossy,” she complained.
“Well, I am the boss.” Poet shrugged.
Hecate turned away from us. “Just do it. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”
Poet allowed her eyes to linger on Hecate’s back before motioning for me to sit with her on the fallen log. I did as she wanted.
“This won’t hurt,” she assured me.
“I’ve seen the prophecy before,” I said.
“This will probably be different. We’re not going full immersion. I’ll let you see what I see, but it will be like a television show. You won’t have emotional attachment to it. Take my hands.” She held hers out and placed mine in them. The second we touched one another there was a spark, bright enough that I flinched. She kept a firm hold on my hands.
“Look at that,” Hecate said to Cernunnos. “Their magic complements each other. I told you it was always meant to be.”
“Yes, they complement each other,” Cernunnos agreed. “Imagine how strong they would be as a unit if they hadn’t been separated back then.”
“Reel in your judgment,” Hecate snapped. “They couldn’t stay together. They would have become monsters. They had to go through the bad times to end up here. Neither would have ended up where they were supposed to be if we hadn’t separated them.”
Anger coursed through me. I knew of course. We’d been separated as kids on purpose. Hearing them admit it so easily made me want to hurt them.
“Ignore them,” Poet ordered, following the track of my fury. “It doesn’t matter what they did back then —”
“We could have stayed together,” I argued.
“If we had I never would have gone with Max.” She was matter-of-fact. “I was meant to go with him. You might not have ended up here. You were always meant to be here, with Gunner … and the Winchesters.”
“They say I would have come here regardless,” I argued.
“But if you hadn’t been separated you would have come here to open the nexus for a different reason,” Hecate said. “You both die in that scenario. You’re so power hungry that you don’t see the lamia apex coming. That potential future involved a different apex.”
My head was starting to hurt with all the possibilities. “Just show me what we’re dealing with,” I said to Poet. “We can’t come up with a plan if we don’t know what we’re fighting.”
She nodded, her forehead creasing as images started to form.
“There,” I said, inclining my head. “That’s what I want to see. Is that Bonnie?”
“You know her better,” Poet murmured. She seemed awestruck at the vision.
The images flashed fast. I had to watch it twice before lowering my hands.
“Now do you see what we’re up against?” Cernunnos asked. “Now do you understand why I’m here?”
The images were brutal, involving the death and destruction of everyone I held dear. “How could you of all people have missed the kishi?” I asked.
Hecate answered. “No one ever thinks about the kishi. They’re isolated. They do their own thing. They’re not interested in the affairs of others.”
“Obviously they are,” I shot back.
Hecate looked tired now as she exhaled, deflating like a birthday balloon that should have been put out of its misery days before. “They’re not here because they want to be the pixie apex, or even the lamia apex. They’re here because they want more power. They weren’t specific in their goals.”
“They don’t have a grudge against you,” Cernunnos explained. “They only seek more power. We didn’t see them coming because they didn’t make the decision to come here until after they heard what was already occurring.”
I bobbed my head. “They’re here now, and according to what I just saw, their plan is to kill Bonnie and take her powers.”
“They want to kill you, too,” Poet argued. “Did you miss that part?”
I shook my head. “Bonnie comes first.” I sucked in a breath. “Then they want to open the nexus. They think that will balance Bonnie’s powers enough for them to come after me.”
“And then they will be the most powerful beings in the world,” Hecate said. “They will kill everyone who gets in their way.”
“They will end the world,” Cernunnos added.
“What do we do?” Poet, frustrated, demanded. “How do we end this?”
“You have to end the kishi,” Hecate replied. “I’ve been over the images so many times I can recite the timeline by heart. It’s the only option we have. The kishi must go.”
“They were never meant to be here,” Cernunnos said dully.
I threw my hands into the air. “It doesn’t matter that they were never meant to be here. They’re here. Now we have to deal with them.”
“We’re going to need help,” Poet said decisively. “We need a big team.”
I nodded. “Can you bring in any of your people?”
“Of course.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “We’ll need Kade. Raven and Cole should come too. I’ll bring Naida because it can’t hurt to control the weather.”
“I’ll call Bay. I have a feeling we’re going to need her and Tillie.”
“Sounds like a party.” Poet didn’t look convinced as much as resigned.
We were going to do this, together.
26
TWENTY-SIX
We headed back to town. Gunner was at the bar in The Cauldron. We’d left Cernunnos and Hecate to find their way back on their own — something told me they had things to talk about. Gunner’s eyes went wide when he saw Poet.
“What did I miss?”
Rooster followed his gaze. “Oh, crap,” he muttered.
It wasn’t that they weren’t happy to see Poet — Gunner especially liked her — but her presence meant things were going to get ugly. Nobody liked ugly.
