Josephine Marlin and The Alternatives_Book One_A Friend in Need_Feilds of Elysian 1

by Karen Eastland

  ‘Yes Josephine, war-god,’ Vila said accompanied by her unusually deep otherworldly laugh, which made my skin crawl. ‘Athêna, or Ann as you call her, has gained entry. She has woken and cannot be committed back to her rest.’

  ‘But how…? Why…? How?’

  ‘You have asked that twice Josephine,’ Vila said smiling.

  ‘What I mean to ask is, how did Ann wake, is it?’ I said much slower for my own benefit.

  ‘Yes, wake,’ said Vila.

  ‘How did Ann wake Athêna, and what was she doing inside of Ann to start with?’

  Vila laughed again.

  Yay!

  ‘Ann was born with a part of herself set aside to host a seeker. Some vessels are born with a seeker; others are not,’ Vila said. ‘If the essence is not already within the vessel, it must perform an act, in Ann’s case a predatory act was required to open her up to the seeker Athêna. When she drew the blood of the eradicator, Ann opened that part of her mind. Athêna looked through her eyes and liked what she saw. It is likely she had been chosen at the time of her birth. This usually occurs by a seeker already living a human life. One coming to its end.’

  ‘Tell me,’ Vila asked, ‘has there been a recent death in her family?’

  ‘Yes, actually her great-grandmother Ya-Ya died two weeks ago,’ I said while thinking, ‘what the hell has that got to do with anything?’

  Then I recalled their family stories about the twins being divine, but wasn’t about to tell Vila any of that. I hardly knew her. She looked deep in thought, and when she finally spoke, she asked a strange question.

  ‘What is Ann’s ancestral name?’

  ‘Katsaros,’ I said without thinking. I was about to mentally kick myself for giving it up straight away, but noticed Vila suddenly looked frightened, and began moving so fast it looked like she was pulsing. Then she took a few deep breaths before speaking again.

  ‘Was her great-grandmothers name Katarina Katsaros?’ she asked with a tremor in her voice. All the while she looked at me as if she was checking out my soul with her teeny blue eyes.

  ‘You know, I think that was Ya-Ya’s name. I heard it a few years ago at a Christmas party. Why?’

  ‘God’s tend to stay within the same genetic lines,’ Vila said sounding distressed. ‘Now Ann has opened herself up, Athêna has once again been woken. She never sleeps long,’ Vila grumbled. ‘Until her transformation is complete, Ann will be first to spill the blood of her enemy on the battlefield, for it was blood that called to Athêna, and it was blood that granted her entry. Now blood is all that can seal the unification of seeker and vessel.’

  ‘It wasn’t a battlefield it was a local park,’ I muttered while taking a peek at Ann, who didn’t seem to be paying any attention to us. She appeared more interested in what Deb was saying.

  ‘Were they talking about gods too?’ I thought.

  ‘Does it matter?’ Vila asked, drawing my attention back to her. ‘The goddess Athêna will always fight, but there is never enough blood to saté her want in the beginning. Ann is merely a vessel for the god of war. More blood will be spilt this night. Are you listening to me, Josephine?’

  ‘Of course,’ I thought, then said, ‘What? I mean yes I’m listening. Can we just go back to the part where you said, “Ann is Athêna’s vessel”, what do you mean by vessel?’

  ‘It means what you would think it means,’ Vila said. ‘Humans are more susceptible to becoming host vessels to the gods… and other seekers. They inhabit a vessel until its death; then the god seeker moves on to…’

  Vila trailed off at that point, and I could see her brain ticking away behind those tiny blue eyes. When she spoke again, I was pretty sure it wasn’t what she had intended to say.’

  ‘A god seeker can decide whether they would seek another vessel so soon after their death. A vessel must perform a specific act for the god to awaken. Each act is different, and some are never woken. A seeker enters a host never knowing if they will be given the opportunity to awaken… unless they plan it just right… It is interesting a close female family member died so recently.’

  ‘Does Ann know she’s Athêna and does she know about the things she’s done?’ I asked. ‘It’s like, the whole fight with the sugaar, Ann doesn’t remember it. She doesn’t even remember causing the ground to shake or anything?’

  ‘There is a fight inside Ann, and for a little while, she will be unaware of how Athêna uses her body. But Ann drew blood first, so it will not take long for seeker and vessel to unite,’ Vila said, and I could tell she was worried.

  She looked like she was thinking about what she should say next. I’d noticed every time she became deep in thought; she’d run one of her long fingernails across her sharp teeth. Each tooth sounded like a key on a piano. The longer she thought, the more she’d tap, and scrape against them, creating a beautiful song that drifted on her breath out into the night air. It was hypnotising and took all my strength to overcome its melody.

  ‘Not every human is a vessel,’ Vila continued, drawing my eyes to her as she appeared on the branch above the table, ‘and not all seekers find a vessel. Sometimes a seeker is expelled from their chosen vessel by a much stronger, more recently alive seeker. Athêna has a sister. Did you know that?’

  ‘What do you mean not all sleepers are awakened… and recently alive?’ I asked with an unsettling feeling growing within me.

  ‘A sister,’ I thought looking at Ann and Deb. ‘Why not!’

  ‘Sometimes a human vessel,’ Vila continued, ‘does not perform the act as Ann has, to awaken that part of themselves. God’s gift their chosen vessel with longer life than other humans. How old was Katarina when she died, do you know?’

  ‘She’d just celebrated her 100th birthday, why?’

  Vila laughed a sharp, high-pitched nervous little laugh then continued.

  ‘One hundred,’ Vila scoffed. ‘More like two.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Gods can extend their vessels life to two hundred years if they like them. I knew Katarina very well in her youth, I also knew her mother Neoma… but that is another story for another time. I think when Athêna becomes whole, she should not come to visit me again. You can,’ she said.

  ‘And what’s this about the recently deceased and Athêna’s sister?’ I asked. My stomach was churning dreading the answers, but I was also intrigued.

  ‘You come back and see me, then I will tell you about the recently deceased,’ Vila said flashing her small blue eyes in Ann’s direction. ‘Right now, even though you can speak with Ann, she is not in control, Athêna is, and unless her blood-lust is quenched, well… what more is there for me to say?’

  Vila began nervously weaving in and out of my sight, before coming to rest on my shoulder.

  ‘The sister? I asked again.

  ‘There are some who do as Ann has done, but they fight against the essence of their seeker,’ Vila whispered. ‘If they do not fulfil the requirements to make their seeker whole, their vessels do not live very long.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I started to ask, but Vila kept nervously flitting here and there.

  ‘Vila!’ I commanded. ‘Please stop moving. You’re making me feel ill. What can I do to make sure Ann lives?’

  ‘Ann will draw blood first, and will always kill her enemy,’ Vila said coming to rest on my shoulder. ‘If she kills enough to satisfy Athêna’s thirst, and she does have quite a thirst, then she, and you will be safe. Although I have sent Eric away, the Fate’s have already carved his path. He may not survive the night, and then again he might. We shall see. Although it is unlikely anyone who comes up against Athêna … or Ann will survive this night.’

  I looked at the girls. They were getting the tarp and jackets sorted on the trailer. Apparently, it was time to go, and Pony kept a bright yellow eye on us I. It made me feel safe.

  ‘Alright,’ I said. ‘How can I get Ann and Athêna to unite, to tap into their full potential? I can’t take Ann home like this.’


  ‘Each life Ann takes,’ Vila continued, ‘feeds Athêna. That life does not always have to be human. To pave the way for the seeker to painlessly unite with her chosen vessel, Ann must find Tiamat the five-headed dragon.’

  ‘Another dragon?’ I asked with a groan.

  ‘Tiamat is not just another dragon,’ Vila said. ‘This dragon has five heads and is bigger than the sugaar. Ann must slay the dragon one head at a time. The last head she cuts from its body will unleash her inner god. To find Tiamat, you must talk to the Man of the Trees.’

  ‘Will she still be Ann?’

  ‘Yes… and no. She will be… more.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘but isn’t there another way to help her?’

  ‘There is,’ Vila said with a sinister smile. ‘Ann could kill everyone who irritates her for the next few months. That will also work.’

  ‘Right, that’s not going to happen,’ I said with a sigh. ‘How do I find this Man of the Trees?’

  I was thinking the night was never going to end, and felt a sudden panic when I recalled the litany of people who irritate Ann in the first hour or two of work. Let alone those who might want to talk to her while she’s waking up.

  ‘You will find him near Swan Park. He lives at Miller’s point,’ Vila continued. ‘He will know how to find Tiamat. Tell him I sent you, otherwise he might not make himself known. But Josephine, you have many enemies. Keep your friends close… I like you.’

  With that, she shimmered and disappeared, although her blue eyes seemed to hang in the air well after she’d left. They lingered, clear as blue diamonds. Suddenly, her right eye winked then disappeared. I looked around, but she hadn’t appeared anywhere else, so presumed our conversation was over.

  Turning to the girls, I was about to tell them what Vila had said about Ann, when I recalled she hadn’t answered my question about Athêna ‘s sister. Walking back to the bike, I noticed Kaz was gone.

  ‘Where’s Kaz?’ I asked thinking she was probably under a table or behind a tree again.

  ‘Haven’t seen her,’ said the twins.

  ‘No Ka,’ said Pony.

  ‘Kaz,’ I yelled. ‘Kaz where are you?’ But the only thing I heard was a couple of men telling me to “shut the fuck up”!

  Deb and I walked around the park to see if we could find her. While we were looking around, I made a beeline for where the portal that the man and woman stepped out of had opened, to see if I could see anything interesting, but there was only bush. We were walking back to the bike hoping the others had found Kaz when all of a sudden I was falling.

  I fell face-first into the grass. I’d tripped over a rough sleeper, and was trying to untangle my splintered heels from the poor blokes thin blanket, and all I could hear was Deb laughing.

  Finally making it to my feet… on my own, I spent five minutes trying to apologise to the poor man. Deb laughed through it all. I was sure there were grass stains all over my face, and was trying to wipe them away as we reached the bike. Deb regaled the others with the details of my fall. They All had a good laugh before stopping long enough to tell us they hadn’t found Kaz either.

  ‘Did you see her after the sugaar fell into the portal?’ I asked Ann.

  ‘Yeah, she was here when the park lit up. I think she cracked the shits and left.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Kaz isn’t like that, is she?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Deb. ‘There’s been some crazy shit going on in the last ten minutes, and if I didn’t love you like sisters…’

  ‘Hey, I am your sister damn it,’ Ann cut in.

  ‘Yes Ann, but as I was saying, if I didn’t love you all like sisters, I’d have left by now too.’

  ‘Are you saying Kaz doesn’t love us like sisters?’ I asked.

  ‘Who can tell,’ said Deb. ‘Maybe her sarcastic angry persona is the real deal and not just a front she puts on to garner more attention. She is pretty good at it.’

  I looked at the ground and found I was drawing spirals in the dust, using the toe of my shoe thinking about Vila’s comments. I was wondering how she knew my name, and what had happened when she did use it. I was just about to get into it with Brain when I heard the girls talking about Kaz.

  ‘I don’t know where she’s gone,’ said Deb. ‘I just hope she’s okay.’

  ‘Yeah, agreed, ‘ I said. ‘She’s the best attention seeker I’ve ever met. Maybe you’re right, and it’s not been an act. Maybe Kaz really is just an angry sarcastic woman. They’re out there you know. Not like us, we maybe bitchy but it comes from love.’

  ‘Yeah love,’ Deb laughed. ‘That’s why we get bitchy.’

  ‘So, where are we going now, ‘ Ann asked, doing a good job ignoring Debs comment. ‘The hospital?’

  ‘Nope, not the hospital. Believe it or not, your family’s stories are true. It’s why you’ve been fighting as you have, and why you’re not fazed by all the killing. We have to see the Man of the Trees.’

  Ann fell silent and was deep in thought. It looked like she wanted to say something, but Deb jumped in before she could.

  ‘Who’s the Man of the Trees?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but if tonight’s anything to go by, he’s either a Christmas tree salesman or an actual tree,’ I said adjusting my jeans to prepare my already sore arse to get back on that god awful seat.

  ‘And why?’ asked Ann, ‘do we need to see this man?’

  ‘We need to see him so he can tell us where to find a five-headed dragon called Tiamat.’

  ‘Another dragon?’ groaned Deb absently rubbing her face.

  ‘Anova dragin,’ said Pony, who was obviously remembering her tail ride, because she had a huge glowing smile.

  ‘Who’s Tiamat?’ asked the twins at the same time. They tend to do that a lot.

  ‘Ann,’ I said, ‘Vila told me you need to slay Tiamat one head at a time because you’re having an identity crisis.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Ann asked.

  ‘Now don’t get huffy with me,’ I said. ‘Vila told me you have to slay Tiamat. It’s the only way you’ll stop killing.’

  ‘What do you mean stop killing? I’m going to kill more? What did she say exactly?’

  ‘She implied that PMS is about to take on a whole new meaning in the Katsaros house if we don’t get to Millers Point,’ I said, then saw the whites of Deb’s eyes as she took in that information.

  Ann had rolled her eyes up into her head as if looking to see if she had any answers.

  ‘Sorry to butt in sis, but are we going to look for Kaz first?’ asked Deb. ‘We don’t know if she was taken, or if she just left?’

  ‘Ka fwiend Vil, doddy,’ said Pony.

  ‘What did she say?’ Deb asked looking at me. ‘Sorry Pony, I don’t understand ghoul, but I’ll learn.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Pony.

  ‘Really?’ I asked Pony.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Well, that’s interesting,’ I said.

  ‘Maybe Brain, Kaz has a seeker in her too.’

  ‘Anything is possible Josephine.’

  I realised everyone was looking at me, and I’d forgotten what I’d said before my interlude with Brain.

  ‘Why’s everyone looking at me?’ I asked.

  ‘Because Pony said something we didn’t understand,’ Deb said, ‘ and you said, “that’s interesting”, then went quiet.’

  ‘Sorry,’ I said with a smile. ‘Pony said Kaz and Vila are friends and there’s that dog again.’

  We all looked around, and sure enough, the same dog we’d seen at the funeral home was cocking its leg against one of the picnic tables.

  ‘I thought I saw him during the battle with Eric, but it was only brief,’ I said. ‘I wonder if he’s been following us to lap up the blood and gore you leave behind, Ann?’

  ‘Fuck you,’ Ann said before quipping, ‘That’s what Pony’s for.’

  ‘Did anyone see Kaz and Vila together,’ I asked in my least accusing tone. I didn’t want a war-god angry with m
e.

  ‘Not me,’ said Deb.

  ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I did see Vila land on her shoulder near her ear. I thought she’d whispered something, but she was only there for a few seconds. How do you know they’re friends, Pony?’

  ‘Ka hep Vil, go, poof, no more Ka.’

  ‘She said, Kaz helped Vila, then Kaz disappeared into thin air. Oh, and before I forget. You’re a god Ann…’

  ‘Why thank you, Jo,’ she said before I could finish my sentence. ‘It’s so nice to be recognised for my greatness.’

  The twins began to chuckle.

  ‘Oma?’ called Ann, which only made them laugh harder and longer.

  Obviously, it was some weird sibling thing.

  ‘No!’ I said trying to speak between the chuckles. ‘Not like “you’re a god, aren’t you bloody wonderful”. I mean you really are a god or goddess. Well not even you really, you’re a vessel to a seeker. She’s a war-goddess called Athêna. At least that’s what Vila said.’

  ‘Did you see anything in Kaz that might’ve indicated she was magical?’ I asked Ann who’d become quiet again.

  ‘Nope, nothing. Didn’t even know I was havin’ an identity crisis. Way to go with breaking it gently.’

  ‘Damn it, Ann,’ I said. ‘I tried tact and look where that got me… having to be brutally blunt anyway. Vila says you have Athêna the goddess, or god, whichever you prefer, of war in you. She was woken, or entered you when you cut Bob’s hand. You’re coming into your godhood. Surely you’ve been prepared for this your entire life? Oma had always said you were divine.’

  I paused for a moment and noticed the others for once seemed interested in what I was saying. Sure, Pony was only imitating the others, but at least she was offering moral support.

  ‘She also said,’ I continued, ‘until you slay the dragon you will be a danger to us. That’s why we need to find Tiamat. Once you slay him, or them, Tiamat has five heads; then your powers will be complete and, you’ll have control over your actions again.’

  ‘Sorry to butt in,’ said Deb, ‘but what about Kaz?’

  ‘I think for now we’ll keep an eye out for her,’ I said looking around. ‘I thought something was off with her lately. You know I pulled her files at work a few weeks ago, because I’d asked her about us all meeting up at her house for pre-club drinks, and she got all weird on me. So I started to wonder if I’d ever been to her house. Anyway, to cut a long story short, her address is fake. Have any of you been to her place before?’