by Amy Hopkins
“I’m sure Paddy himself will fill you in,” Penny told him. “But just in case, you’ll need to organize a real estate purchase for him.”
“What has he done this time?” Joshua asked the question with an air of well-worn patience.
Penny gave him the short version. “He wooed a banshee and made her a promise he knew he wasn’t planning to keep.”
“And now the little shit wants me to clean up his mess?” Joshua shook his head. “He knows he needs to keep his head down. This court case of his is gaining steam—and a lot of opposition. Does he really think something like this won’t bring unwanted attention?”
“He’s an idiot,” Penny agreed. “But he’s our friend. I don’t want him to get eaten, or whatever it is a banshee does to her victims.”
Joshua drummed his fingers on his desk. “More than anything, I don’t want to mop up the remains. I’ll get on it.”
“Thanks, Josh.” Penny sighed with relief. “I knew I could count on you.”
Chapter Three
Penny slid behind a desk next to Cisco, fanning her face. “Are my cheeks still flushed?” she asked.
Fitness class that morning had been brutal. Apparently, Glass was determined to make up for any loss of strength and stamina the students had suffered over the break between semesters.
“You look fine,” Cisco assured her. “Better than Red, anyway.”
“What?” Red snapped. “How was I supposed to know he’d have us doing PACER testing? I went for a bloody run before class, didn’t I?”
His outburst was interrupted by the arrival of the Greek History professor. Penny watched as the teacher, a grey-haired man with a clean-shaven face and buttoned cardigan, carefully unpacked a stack of history texts onto his desk. As she watched him straighten his books, her brain gave a nudge. “Cisco, does he look familiar to you?”
“Nope. Not to me.” Cisco leaned over to peer into Penny’s bag. “Hey, you don’t have a—”
He grinned when Penny whipped out a notebook for him and barked a laugh when he saw the cover. “Power Rangers?”
“You have no idea how hard that was to find.” Penny dug a pen out for him. “The pink ranger was sold out everywhere!”
“I love you, Penny!” Cisco beamed up at her, a flush creeping onto his face as he realized what he’d said. “I mean… I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay,” Penny assured him. “I know I’ll always take second place to the first love of your life.” She flicked a finger toward the cartoon ranger.
“Uh-huh.” Cisco buried himself in the notebook, writing out the lesson name in cramped handwriting. Greek History and Mythology.
“This class is packed,” Penny commented as the students filed in. It was the first time she had seen a room filled at the Academy. “I wonder how much of that has to do with Bacchus?”
“All of it,” Cisco admitted. “Mom said they almost had to split the class into two sessions.”
Penny opened her mouth to respond but stopped, grinning as Amelia stepped into the room.
"Hey, Mr. Hardwick!" Amelia gave the professor a brief hug. "Gerry didn't tell me you took the teaching job."
A flash of understanding hit Penny as she realized why the professor looked so familiar. He bore a strong resemblance to his son, Gerry.
"It was a last-minute decision." Prof Hardwick patted Amelia on the shoulder and gestured to a nearby desk. "I'm glad to see your punctuality has improved over the years, if only by a little."
Amelia didn't take offense at the jibe, hurrying toward the seat the professor had pointed to. Penny realized it was the only free desk in the room.
Red caught Penny's glance and shrugged. "I told her I wouldn't save her a spot if she was late," he explained.
"Is that really Gerry's dad?" Cisco asked. “Gerry from the party?”
“What party?” Red gave him a quizzical glance. "Who's Gerry?"
"You don't remember?" Cisco shook his head, bemused. "I know Bacchus did a number on your memory that night, but I didn't realize you'd forgotten it completely."
Red's confused shrug gave Penny a jolt of surprise. "Can you not remember anything about the party? We went to Gerry’s and Bacchus appeared. That was the first time we met him."
Red shrugged again. "I remember Amelia telling me about it. That's about it." He waved away Penny's concerns. "Don't worry, I already spoke to old party pants about it. He thinks the magic amnesia spell left a residue and it conflicted with my wolf magic. Amelia said she only noticed the gap in my memory after I got turned. He offered to fix it, but I didn't really want him digging around in my head again."
Penny sighed with frustration. "Sure, it's only your brain. It's not like anything can go wrong."
Red laughed. "It's just a bit of memory loss. Don't worry yourself about it."
If she had to be honest, she wasn’t worried, not if Bacchus had already assured Red he was fine. Though Penny had been dubious of Bacchus’s motives at first, she had come to trust the ancient philosopher.
Their conversation was halted by the beginning of class. Professor Hardwick did indeed introduce himself as Gerry's dad. Apparently, Amelia and her friends weren't the only ones who had attended one of the god-fueled parties. Hardwick explained that he had always been a Greek history professor. With the tearing of the Veil, all his impossible dreams of meeting the ancient Greek deities had been realized.
"I bet that's who your mum was talking about when we covered veil acceptance back in our first semester," Penny murmured to Cisco.
Madera had spent an entire class on the vagaries of who could see Mythers, who could learn to see them, and why it seemed some people would spend the rest of their lives insisting the tearing of the veil was one giant hoax despite the swathes of evidence staring them in the face.
During her explanation, she had referenced a colleague who, though well past middle age, had been able to see the Mythers from his very first encounter. She had used this friend as an example of how, although most adults needed several exposures to Mythers in life-threatening circumstances in order to see them consistently, some adults were a bit, well, special.
Although Madera hadn't come out and said it, Penny had gained the impression that she had used the word “special” in place of “gullible.”
"What? I thought she was talking about Agent Crenel." Cisco's pen continued to scratch in his notebook as he spoke.
Penny snorted. "No, he had to learn the hard way. He didn't tell you about the incident with the harpy?"
Red put a finger to his lips. "Shh, he's about to get to the bit where Cronos eats all his babies."
"Gross." Penny jotted down the information anyway. "Why would he want to meet someone like that?"
"One of the babies was Zeus." Cisco shrugged. "He seemed pretty cool."
"Zeus is a dirty old man. He even tried to hit on Vila the other day.” Penny paused. "Wait a minute, if Cronos ate Zeus, then how did Zeus become the top god?"
Cisco rolled his eyes and gestured to the front of the class, where Professor Hardwick was, indeed, explaining how Zeus became Zeus. By the end of the lesson, Penny realized her knowledge of the Greek gods was more than lacking. Not only that, but this particular branch of mythology wasn't just made up of easy-going party gods and horny old men. She shuddered to think what would happen if some of the less friendly Titans were to appear in the world.
Hardwick had wrapped up the class by jotting the names of the legendary Greeks who were confirmed to have crossed through the veil. After that, his excitement had faltered. "There are claims, my dear children, that the veil was not just torn once. It is continuing to tear. As the rift widens, so does the mythological populace that exists in our world. As wonderful as it is to converse with ancient philosophers and play with forgotten magicks, we must always bear in mind the threat that this poses."
He dismissed the class, turning his back on the evacuating students to clean the whiteboard.
Penny shared a worried glan
ce with Cisco. “Wow. That ended on a downer."
Unperturbed, Red quickly stacked his books, put away his pens, and hurried over to Amelia. She slapped his chest, and he grimaced.
"You were supposed to save me a seat!" She made a slight gesture with her hand when he tried to speak. "Don't even pretend I was late. I got here a whole minute before class started!"
Chagrined, Red hung his head in shame. "Sorry love. Won't happen again."
Amelia grinned. "At the very least, you owe me a drink. I’m going to need it once today is over!"
Penny inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma of freshly ground coffee. It was Wednesday, and she had grabbed Cisco and headed straight to Tony’s cafe after their morning class for a desperately needed hit of caffeine.
Her brain still hurt from the previous day’s lessons. They had covered Greek, British, and Cyber myths, the classes running until seven the previous evening. Heading out to Paddy’s to wind down after the long day had been a mistake, she decided.
Waking up to a legal class had been the last straw. A steamer hissed and Penny winced, head pounding. "You know what? Just give me the biggest coffee you've got. With lots of sugar."
Hssss. Penny’s backpack wriggled.
“Sorry. And a bowl of milk for Boots.” Penny massaged a temple as she handed over her credit card to Violet, the barista.
"I thought last semester was tough," Cisco groaned. He held two fingers up, signaling to Violet that he would have whatever caffeine-laden monstrosity she was making for Penny. "This week has been hell, and it's not even over. We still have one more class tomorrow. I’ve never been so glad for an afternoon off!"
"Speak for yourself." Penny moved away from the counter to find them a table in the quiet café. "I have Australasian Myth and Legend tonight. For some reason, I thought taking an extra class would be a great idea."
"You're a sucker for punishment. I bet it won’t be as bad as the Great Britain Mythology class, though. Robbins has the personality of a wet sock.” Cisco let Penny wave him away from the pastry cabinet.
“Pick a table,” she demanded. “My legs still feel like they’re going to give out after Glass’ thrashing yesterday.”
Cisco obliged, moving toward a booth. “Hey, what's that in the corner?" He pointed toward an arcade machine tucked in the corner of the coffee shop. "You want to check it out?"
Penny rolled her eyes but followed him over to the machine. The screen glowed as pixelated explosions erupted from one of the triangular ships darting to and fro across the screen. Below, a green ship flashed as a yellow blip hit it. A slow ding-dong played, and Game Over rolled over the screen before the demonstration began again.
Cisco dug in his pocket but pulled out an empty hand with a crestfallen expression. "Got any quarters?"
"Nope." Penny didn't even have to look. She had lost every cent in her purse trying to outsmart Paddy in a game of poker the night before. Between the nineteen dollars and twenty-five cents lost to the cheating leprechaun, and the mild hangover she had woken up to in the morning, her visit to the bar had been one she would rather forget. “And despite always threatening to turn Boots into a purse, I don’t think she carries money.”
Teeth grazed Penny’s earlobe as the offended snake let her know what she thought about Penny’s purse idea.
Cisco tapped the plastic buttons absentmindedly. He snatched his hand back when Boots darted forward with an angry hiss. Her face struck his wrist, knocking it away from the machine.
“Boots!” Penny grabbed Boots and tried to shove the writhing snake back into her bag. “What the hell has gotten into you? Sorry, Cisco.”
“It’s fine.” Cisco rubbed his arm. “She didn’t bite me. She probably just knows how bad I suck at Space Invaders.”
When they were settled at a table, Penny let Boots emerge from her backpack. The serpent slowly crept out toward Cisco and nuzzled his arm apologetically.
“What was that all about?” Penny asked gently. She had never known Boots to strike out like that.
Boots responded by rising up and baring her fangs at the arcade machine.
“It’s a game,” Penny told her firmly. “There aren’t actually aliens in the box, dumbo.”
Boots flopped onto the table, turning away from Penny in a huff.
When Tony himself delivered the coffees to their table, Penny asked him about the arcade game.
"It was a deal I couldn't refuse." He shrugged. "A guy in a suit came in, paid me $1500 to let him install it, and said I can keep all the profits." He spread his hands at Penny's frown. "I know, I know. It's too good to be true, and it'll probably come back to bite me in the ass later. I needed the money, though. It's been quiet around here lately."
Penny resolved to ask Bacchus to make a casual appearance at the small café. The god owed her a favor for tipping him off about some trouble that was brewing in the courts regarding food licenses for magically conjured beverages, and simply showing his face at a venue would have customers frequenting the shop for weeks to come. From there, Tony's friendly staff and awesome coffee would be enough to sustain things.
The door chime jingled as a group of customers wandered in, and Tony hurried back to the coffee machine.
"It's gotta be a scam," Penny murmured to Cisco. "Doesn't it?"
Cisco shrugged. "Sure, but I don't see what they're after. The machines don't take credit cards, so there are no skimmers installed. And it's old, like, Eighties old."
"Oh, you know that because you were around back then?" Penny teased.
"The Eighties are cool again. I'm cool. Therefore, I know all about the Eighties." Cisco frowned. "Though I haven't come across that particular game before. What is it called again? Polybius?"
Chapter Four
When Penny arrived at her Australasian mythology class that evening, it was empty. She quickly pulled out her phone and brought up the email the Academy had sent with her schedule.
"Classroom four, six PM, Thursdays with Professor Steele.” Penny glanced at the room number and her watch to confirm the details as she read them out. “I'm in the right place. Why isn't anyone else here?"
"Because you're the only student enrolled."
Penny spun toward the voice, an overwhelming rush of comfort enveloping her at the sound of a familiar accent. Not quite Aussie, but Kiwis are practically family.
The professor for Australian Mythological Studies reminded Penny of her English teacher in high school. Grey hair pulled back in a tight bun, fine lines at the corners of her mouth, and a ‘don’t fuck with me’ glint to her eye.
Despite that, Steele smiled. “I know. I don’t look like much. Still, would have been nice to have more than one student enrolled in the class.”
“I don’t think it’s personal,” Penny quickly assured her. “There was a lot to choose from.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Steele unlocked the classroom and pushed open the door. “Seeing as it’s just us, where do you want to begin?”
“Well, how about here?” Penny loosened the top of her backpack.
Boots emerged, sleepy-eyed from her afternoon nap. She tested the air with her tongue and perked up at seeing the professor.
“Oh! I’d heard rumors about your little friend. She’s a rainbow?” Steele leaned down to scratch Boots between the eyes, and the snake gave a smooth purr. “Wow, a real live Dreamtime legend. She sounds like a cat!”
“Sounds like a cat, ego like a cat…” Penny ignored Boots’ offended cough. “I’ve read everything I can on the Serpent and on the Dreamtime. I took this class, hoping you’d know more than the books.”
Steele gave a small smile. “Dear, I spent six years in your country. For most of that, I was living out bush with the caretakers of the land. I learned things you won’t find in any book, so I daresay I can help. But let’s start by seeing what you already know, hey?”
Despite Steele’s gentle manner, she grilled Penny relentlessly, asking her questions about the stories and legends s
he’d researched, the symbolism she’d investigated, and more than anything else, about how it all linked back to Boots.
She asked about Boots’ behavior, her diet, her sleeping habits. She even examined Boots, asking her to perform tasks like stretch out into a line or find the pink ball in a box of multicolored ping pongs. Boots completed each task with enthusiasm.
“Incredible,” Steele breathed. “What about water? Healing? What magic have you seen her do?”
“She can suck up loads of water and expel it,” Penny told her. “That’s about it, I think?” Boots gave her tail a haughty twitch. “Not that a rainbow firehose isn’t spectacular in its own right,” Penny teased.
In response, Boots turned her head away from Penny and slithered over to Professor Steel, who sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by ping pong balls. The snake flopped into her lap with an offended snort.
“She understands you so well.” Steele jotted another note down as the snake wrapped herself into a tight coil. “And she exhibits almost human emotion.”
“Almost human?” Penny cocked an eyebrow. “You haven’t seen her response when I tell her to get her own bowl of milk. It’s like I’ve insulted her newborn child!”
Steele added another note with a flourish. “Has she bred?”
Penny blinked. “No. Can she?”
“There’s no reason she couldn’t.” Steele leaned back in her chair, fingers steepled beneath her chin. “Has she ever been given the opportunity?”
Penny looked at the serpent, who lifted her head and cocked it to one side. Like a puppy, Penny thought. Or a curious child.
“I don’t even know how old she is,” Penny admitted. “Most snakes take a while to mature enough for that, don’t they?”
“She wasn’t born the day you found her, Penny,” Steele corrected gently. “She’s an ancient being, from a land that not only accepts her but one she was literally made for. Over here? She’s away from her own kind and from the legends that created her.”
