Chosen Gods

by G. Bailey

  I also have a funny feeling this isn’t the last we’ve seen of this Rhiannon. I’m curious what the heck she could possibly be… as well as whose side she’s on. The only thing for it now, I suppose is to see whether her directions to the market were accurate.

  Storm watches as she drives away, a curious expression on his face, and it dawns on me that this might very well be the first time he’s ever seen a motorbike. “The world has changed so very much,” he observes quietly, his expression unreadable as he slowly turns back to me.

  “Yeah,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck, “I guess it would feel that way, to you. Does that bother you?”

  “A little,” he replies. “Mostly for all that I’ve missed over the years. Time… felt like it stood still back in the prison, sometimes. For a while back there I had forgotten just how much of your world I’ve fallen behind on.” He takes my hand again and says, “I’d like to travel and see it all once we deal with everything. It seems I need to catch up on the world.”

  “Can I come along?” I ask tentatively. “I’ve always wanted to see the world, too.” We begin to make our way towards the alleyway that Rhiannon had pointed to earlier. I’m aware that this could be a trap, but we seem to be at a dead end right now, and it’s worth having a look. Besides, I have Storm with me - for better or worse, he makes me feel safe.

  “I’d never leave without you, little one,” Storm assures me as we approach the mouth of the alleyway.

  Little one. I had almost forgotten about that name. It’s strange to think about how much has happened in the short time since we met.

  The alleyway seems nondescript at first, and we make it all the way to the dead end at the back before I put my hand on my hip and swear under my breath. “Sounds like Rhiannon didn’t know what she was talking about.”

  “Wait a minute,” Storm says, pointing towards the brick wall. “Look.”

  I peer at it more closely, and notice with a start that there’s something… different about the wall. It has a shimmery, almost mirage-like quality to it, as if it’s made of water that somehow looks exactly like brick and mortar. Tentatively, I reach out my hand and let my fingertips graze it, but it feels like nothing, my fingers passing through it as if it were air. Before Storm can go first, I step into the magical barrier and emerge with a gasp on the other side.

  Okay, I think at once, raising my eyebrows. So maybe Rhiannon did know what she was talking about.

  The first thing I notice is the noise. The once silent town is now buzzing with music and people, the air full of the chatter of shoppers and merchants crying out their wares. I catch a whiff of exotic perfumes and magical oils on the breeze, and in the distance I can hear the roars of basilisks, chimeras, and what might even be small dragons - although I’ve never gotten close enough to one before to know for sure.

  It’s almost unbelievable that this was hidden. The alleyway is huge, stretching into the distance farther than the eye can see, with all sorts of stalls lining either side. Throngs of people make their way down the road in the middle. Most of them are wearing large black cloaks that obscure their faces from view - could it be in case the rare unsuspecting human wanders through? They call out to the shopkeepers, jostling one another to get to the front of the lines, their arms full of magical items.

  While the rest of the village was spread out, with most of the residents living in small cottages, here it feels like an entirely different city: peering around, I make out gaps between most of the stalls. In each gap is a stairwell leading up to a set of quaint apartments on either side of the alleyway. I have to guess that we’ll find Jade’s friend up there, and I swallow a lump of guilt and anticipation at the idea of talking to her. How will it feel to have two strangers show up at her house and tell her that her best friend is dead of Xur’s treachery? It’s not a conversation I’m looking forward to, but I’m damn well going to honor Jade’s last request.

  There’s a low thrumming sound from over my left shoulder, and I turn to see Storm emerging through the magical barrier. His eyes widen as he takes in the marketplace in front of us. He must be as shocked as I am to see that Rhiannon’s directions were right, and I feel him link his hand with mine as we stare down the alleyway.

  “I’ve never been to one of these before,” I tell him.

  He raises his eyebrows. “Truly?”

  I nod, shrugging my shoulders. “Mum never let me come to a magical market. For a long time I resented her for it, especially since she would always bring my brothers out shopping with her, but now I realise that she wanted to keep me safe from anyone who might recognise me as Maria’s daughter. Still, though…” I take a few wondering steps forward. “I didn’t know what I was missing. This is pretty cool.”

  “Is this where she got your charms from?” Storm asks me.

  “Yes,” I reply. “I miss them. I think I sort of took them for granted back when I was just using them for my work as a Karma goddess. I’m pretty sure Xur has my necklace - not that he would feckin’ admit it,” I add in a growl. It’s been bugging me for a while; even though I have access to higher god powers now, I have next to no idea how to use them, and besides - that necklace made me feel secure. I need to corner that bastard and demand it back. It’s mine. “He’s got an attitude problem,” I say, shaking my head. “I hate how whenever I ask him a question he just smirks at me like he knows better than I do.” I turn to him, adding with a flirtatious smile, “And it’s not the sexy smirk you do. You make it work. It just looks creepy on him.”

  “When the games are over, we can get it back,” Storm assures me, but he doesn’t make eye contact with me, and I can see the doubt in his expression. I can only hope that he doesn’t harbor the same doubts about my abilities.

  “Okay,” I say, smiling at him before we start walking down the alleyway again. I can’t help but ogle everything on display, understanding now what all the fuss over magical marketplaces is about.

  I eye the stall to my right. The shelves are lined with different sized bottles filled with glowing liquid, each a different color. There’s obviously magical power in these bottles, and I wonder what kind of potions they might contain.

  The next stall we pass is manned by a lady sitting on a table, two men holding her hands as they sit in the seats. She is murmuring under her breath, and the men have placid smiles on their faces, their eyes closed. The sign reads We Remember. I have to assume she can show them something from the past - something they’re willing to pay a great deal to see again.

  We continue down the alleyway, taking in the sights of the stalls full of food, jewellery, and exotic artifacts. Part of me wishes I could spend more time poking around here, but I remind myself that we’re here for a reason, and Xur will be expecting us back before too long. But that doesn’t prevent me from stopping dead in my tracks when I catch a glimpse of a stall filled to the brim with charms. They’re little medallions, like the ones on my necklace, except these ones are hanging from simple pieces of twine. I feel a pang of nostalgia for all the birthdays I shared with my family, when Mum would always give me a new charm. I hope I live long enough to see another birthday with them.

  Storm sidles up beside me, leaning forward to examine the charms.

  I clear my throat, clearing my head and getting back to business. “Jade said her friend’s stall was next to a charm stall,” I tell him, the words sticking in my throat as I remember the face of my friend. “I remember that, so we must be close.” I glance around, brows furrowing in the dim light of the alley. The stall to the right seems to be empty, and there’s an old man sitting in the one on the left, selling pictures that move, speak, and sing. It can’t be him.

  “Let’s try the apartment above the empty stall,” Storm suggests. “It is our best chance of finding her, for now.” He nods his head towards the stairwell, and wordlessly we begin to climb up the stairs. He turns right on the landing and walks down the plank platform until he reaches a door numbered twelve. “This is Jade’s last re
gistered address,” he tells me, his expression grim. “If no one is in, we can go and ask around.”

  I lift my hand and hesitate for a moment before I knock the door. We wait as the silence stretches on, and I’m just about to walk away when the door is suddenly pulled open.

  We find ourselves face to face with a young woman. She’s dressed in normal street clothes, and her messy blonde hair is piled on top of her head in a bun. I can see the telltale cat ears sticking out of the top of her head, which mark her as a cat goddess, and it’s only then that my gaze settles on her eyes. They’re similar to Jade’s, and for a moment I’m struck with a wave of grief. It hurts my chest to look at her, and she shimmers in my vision as my eyes fill with sudden tears.

  “Well?” she snaps, sounding impatient. “Who are you, and what do you want?” There’s uncertainty in her voice, as well as a hint of pain, which makes the struggle to clear my eyes and reply all that much harder.

  The moment wears on long enough that Storm starts to talk for me, his arm sliding around my waist comfortingly as he speaks.

  “We need to talk to you—” he begins.

  “If you’re selling anything, you’re wasting your time,” the woman snaps, a feral hiss leaving her lips after her words.

  I finally find my voice and put my hand up just in time to keep her from closing the door in our faces. “No, we aren’t selling anything,” I tell her. “Please… we just want to talk to you.” I’m ashamed at how broken my voice sounds in that moment, but it seems to be enough to give her pause, and she pulls her eyes back to me. “My name is Karma, and this is Storm,” I tell her. “I’m here because I knew Jade, and I swore to her that I would find you and tell you something.”

  “Jade?” the woman asks, blinking. “How do you know Jade? Where is she? Is she with you?” She looks around us frantically.

  “She’s… not with us,” Storm replies, and I see her face fall immediately.

  “Can I come in?” I ask her tentatively, and she shakily nods, stepping back so we can enter her apartment. It’s a cramped living space, not made any roomier by the amount of rubbish scattered around.

  “I’m sorry for the mess,” she says, rubbing the back of her neck as we step into the cluttered living room. Things have been… difficult lately.”

  “It’s all right,” I tell her as I have a look around. Newspapers are thrown everywhere, even pinned to the wall in places with red circles drawn around certain sections of text. Dirty plates litter the tables and chairs, and the floor is scattered with empty take out boxes and half-eaten food. It smells super bad in here. Someone needs to open a window, to start with, but I’m sure as hell not going to tell this poor woman that. Storm and I sit down on the sofa, pushing a few things out of our way to get there.

  The woman seems to realise that her place is a mess, and crosses the window to pull a window open before coming to sit down on the chair in the corner of the room. It’s the only chair that looks like she’s even attempted to clean recently, and I’m struck with sympathy for her.

  I clear my throat. “What’s your name?” I ask her, sitting up stiffly on the sofa.

  “Emerald,” the woman replies, looking down at her lap. “I know what you’re thinking - gemstone names, right?” She shakes her head. “I think maybe it was fate. Jade was like a sister to me.” She looks up and meets my gaze, her catlike eyes boring into my own. “Please tell me what happened to her,” Emerald says, her tone pleading, and I guess I should start with the good news and get to the bad news last.

  “Jade didn’t kill your child like they said she did,” I tell her, and she furrows her brow at me.

  “Oh, I know that. My daughter is still alive,” she says, waving a hand. “Jade would never hurt her. I’ve always known that. She loved us both and practically brought up my child with me.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m confused,” Storm says. “I thought your child was killed.” He isn’t the only one.

  Emerald shakes her head. “A child died, yes - but the child’s body they showed me was not my baby. It didn’t smell like her, and it stunk of magic. The kind of glamour magic that can make someone look like someone else.” She lets out a breath in frustration. “I tried to tell everyone this, but they didn’t listen - they didn’t even want to bother investigating further. They just kept insisting that Jade had killed her, and that I needed to move on. But I know the truth - my child is still out there, somewhere. I’ve been searching for her, but so far there has been nothing. There must be a reason she was taken.”

  “Jade didn’t kill her, a higher god did—” I start to say.

  “Because she was his child, that is what Jade thought. But I promise you, my daughter is out there somewhere, and she is not dead,” Emerald says, and I want to say she is feckin’ mad. That this is all in her head, but she doesn’t look crazy. Not one little bit.

  “So you think they took your child and left a dead child here covered in magic to look like yours?” Storm asks, his gaze fixed on Emerald.

  “Yes,” she says, wiping tears away and standing up. “I know you don’t believe me. No one does, no one, but Ruby is my daughter, and I know in my soul she is alive out there. She will be nine years old tomorrow, and I can’t think straight without her here. I count every day we’ve been apart.” I get up off my seat as she bursts into tears, and before I know it, I’m hugging her tightly as she cries into my shoulder.

  “I believe you,” I tell her because, for some reason I can’t explain, I actually do believe her.

  “Really?” she asks, looking up at me as I pull back and lower my hands.

  “Yes, the higher gods are evil, and it wouldn’t shock me. Who was her father?” I ask her, needing to know the answer.

  “Neritous Cyncus. It was a one night stand, and when I found out I was pregnant, I did my best to keep Ruby hidden from him. I knew he would find out one day...” she explains to me. The weight of the news shakes me to my core.

  Ruby is my sister…my half-sister, but that minor distinction doesn’t matter one bit. Now it’s more than personal. Now it’s family. I have to find her and get her back.

  “She is my sister,” I whisper in surprise. Storm comes to my side as Emerald stares at me in shock, running her eyes over me.

  “That’s why you look familiar. Y-you look like Ruby in some ways,” she says, lifting her hand and placing it on my face. “Please, please, help me find your sister. Please.” I cover her hand with mine and shakily nod.

  “I will find her,” I tell her.

  “And I will help. My name is Storm,” Storm says, holding his hand out for Emerald to shake as she cries, and there is actually a smile on her lips. She shakes Storm’s hand.

  “Thank you, both of you,” she says and then eyes me. “Now where is Jade? How can you know her when she is in prison?”

  “Jade died in my arms. I was her friend, but I couldn’t save her,” I tell Emerald, who starts to cry as she walks to the window. “I can tell you she fell in love with a man called Coxen, and she saved two people’s lives. She was a true friend, and I loved her. She was brilliant.”

  “Thank you for telling me. I already missed her, and part of me already knew,” she tells us through sobs. “When you are that close to someone, you know when their soul has left the world.”

  I pull my leather jacket off, hanging it on the side of the chair as I look around, wiping my face from the tears that have fallen. When I get my sister back, she won’t want to see her mum struggling. Emerald looks thin, and there is no way I’m leaving until I’ve made sure she has eaten and this place is sorted. “I’m going to help you clean up and make you dinner. Storm, would you go and get some food from the market for dinner?” Storm nods, walking past me and drifting his fingers across my waist as he goes.

  “Y-you don’t have to do that,” Emerald protests.

  “I know when someone is having a hard time, and my family taught me you don’t walk away from someone who needs a little tender loving care,” I say
, and she smiles at me. A real smile. “Now where are the black bags?”

  15

  “I’m never going to get used to that,” I groan, watching as the tornado disappears into the sky, leaving me a bit wobbly on my feet as the heavy dark clouds that signalled its arrival dissipate. I watch in wonder as the sky goes from black to grey to azure in the span of a few seconds, leaving the world eerily quiet with no evidence of its existence other than one very shaken-up Karma goddess. I think I prefer Killian’s portals… but I have to give Storm points for showmanship, at the very least.

  We are standing back in the courtyard, and the early evening sun is beaming down on us as wind rustles the leaves on the trees. I force myself to remove my shaky hands from Storm’s top, which I have bunched between my fingers in a death grip during our transport back to the island. My stomach is still spinning, threatening to make me hurl up the lunch Storm made us earlier.

  We were gone for a long time, but the castle seems quiet for the moment. I was a little worried that Xur would grow impatient and send someone to retrieve us, but no one did - I guess he must be banking on me coming back because my family is here. He has us on a leash, and he knows it as well as I do.

  We spent several hours helping Emerald clean up her apartment, eventually losing track of time completely in our attempts to make her living situation a bit more comfortable. What felt like dozens of trash bags later, we managed to get it back into a livable state, after which Storm made lunch for the three of us. He even went as far as to pick up a bunch of ready-made meals and put them in the fridge, so that Emerald will be able to have a good dinner later. By the time it was all said and done, Emerald looked more than a little worn out - not surprising, considering what she’d had to relive in front of us - and she had gone off to bed to sleep after thanking us profusely for our help. I don’t think she was expecting us to be so invested in her wellbeing. After so many months of being alone, with every authority in the magical world laughing in her face, it must have felt more than a bit odd to have two complete strangers show up and believe her. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain of what she’s had to endure ever since her daughter vanished.