Nico nodded. "It is no wonder Odette and Marinette conspired in their attempt to subdue you. If they could control you, and you could also grant them access to the crossroads, they could do a lot more than unleash a zombie apocalypse."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Papa Legba prevents many what you might call evil Loa, insidious demigods, from crossing between Guinee and earth. But if the Petro could manipulate you, and you could open up the crossroads... I'll just say there are some nasty Loa who could wreck at least as much destruction on this world as the zombies."
"Good thing I didn't die," I said, grinning. "Thanks to one of my Fomorian ancestors. Somehow, it seems, I survived for six months while I was conversing with Legba at the crossroads."
Nico shook his head. "Miraculous, really. I'm just glad you are well. I didn't know what to think after you disappeared from the boat. But Marie seemed certain you'd be back. Maybe she saw you in the crossroads, too."
I shrugged. "Maybe. I didn't see her there. But the whole experience felt like a drug-induced trip. A lot of things might have happened there without me realizing it."
Chapter Thirty-Five
Nico and I stood at the shore, waiting for Agwe and Ruach. When Ruach blasted through the surface, retaining wyrm form, a wall of water struck Nico and me directly.
I looked at Nico, and he looked at me. Water was dripping off our faces.
"I suppose you're used to this," Nico said. "Water in your face."
I shrugged. "Feels like going home."
Nico shook his head. "Not yet, Joni."
"I know," I said, stepping forward. Agwe dismounted Ruach. Agwe regained his mertail, so he didn't come to the surface completely.
Agwe nodded at Nico. "You're the vampire, I presume?"
Nico nodded. "And you're the husband?"
Agwe grunted. "I'm Agwe. King of the Sea."
"I know who you are," Nico said. "But being her husband, I'd think would be a greater honor than even that."
Agwe cocked his head. I smiled and blushed a little. It was awkward. Was Nico flirting with me... by telling my husband to appreciate me more? I was confused. Men are weird. "Be that as it may," Agwe said. "King Conand is restored."
As Agwe spoke, several more mermen, including the legionnaire who arrested me before, came up beside him. Then out of the crowd of mermen... he was healed.
I took a step back. "King Conand?"
The king cocked his head, apparently taken off guard by my reticence at his appearance.
"I've come to express my gratitude, La Sirene."
I nodded. "Yeah. Well, you know, as Maui once sang, what can I say except you're welcome?"
King Conand cocked his head. "You're acquainted with the Fomorians of the Pacific? I've never heard him sing much of anything."
I bit my lip. I suppose it made sense Conand would assume I was talking about the real Maui, the shape-shifter demigod who governed one of the Fomorian outposts near the Hawaiian islands. Of course, he wouldn't know the movie. I made a mental note, though, to reach out to Maui when I got back. If for no other reason than I was curious.
"I haven't actually heard him sing it," I said. "It's a legend, you know, from the Tome of Disney, pertaining to the Polynesian demigod."
"The Tome of Disney?" Conand asked.
I snorted. "A mysterious figure who could bring talking animals to life!"
Conand smiled. "Well, perhaps I'll have to keep an eye open for this Disney sorcerer in the future."
I smirked. "Probably a good idea."
"La Sirene," Conand continued, "I've been told we'll meet again soon. Agwe says I will one day have the opportunity to return the favor of saving my life. I will be prepared to lend you my aid when you come."
I nodded. "We will. I mean, we did. From your perspective, I suppose, it has yet to happen."
I glanced at Agwe. Did Conand know I'd become queen after he betrayed us due to his bargain with Marinette and the bokors? Did he know, trying to save his own nephew, he'd nearly end the world.
Agwe raised his hand and shook his head. Some things, I imagine, it was best not to reveal to the Fomorian King.
"I have something I believe belongs to you, La Sirene," Conand said. The king held out his hand. In it was the medallion he'd given me before. Though, from his perspective, this was the first time he'd awarded it to me. "Since you wore this when my legion, under the deception of Marinette, arrested you, I presume I granted you citizenship in Fomoria at some point. Or, at least, I will. I am in no position to deny it to you now.
"Thank you," I said, lowering my head as Conand put the medallion back over my neck. I inhaled, siphoning some Fomorian magic from a combination of the various Fomorians gathered around and Agwe, re-charging my medallion.
"Thank you, La Sirene," Conand said. "If it were not for you and Agwe, I fear Marinette might have destroyed my kingdom."
"Anyone know what happened to her?" I asked. "If Marinette was impersonating the king, I assume she's been dealt with?"
"She left before I returned," Conand said.
"What about Sephus?" I asked. "I mean, he helped me escape. Can he come back to Fomoria?"
Conand shook his head. "Unfortunately, he cannot. That I was nearly overthrown is not common knowledge. Only these mermen know the truth, and they are sworn to secrecy. If the rest of Fomoria knew how we'd been compromised... well... I'd prefer to keep the peace rather raise a panic."
"Well, long live the king!" I said.
"Until we meet again," Conand said.
I nodded. I didn't respond. I'd never meet him again. But he would meet me. I wasn't going to lie to him. But I couldn't tell him the truth either. "Agwe, do you have a moment?"
Agwe nodded. "Yes, of course."
"We'll now depart," Conand said. "But I wanted to come personally to thank you for finding me. I wish you the speed of the sea on your quest."
"Thank you, your Highness," I said.
King Conand and the merlegion disappeared into the sea.
"What have you learned?" Agwe asked, his lower half still in the water even as Nico and I stood there, now, with the waves crashing against our thighs.
I summarized what I'd learned about Odette, Nephtalie, and the rest. I told him what Marie had told me. All the stuff about balance, love, justice, and the like. At least I paraphrased Marie's eloquence with my own version, in good southern style.
"This gives us little to work with," Agwe said.
"I know, right? I wanted Marie to just tell me what to do, but..."
"Marie often knows what will happen before it does," Nico said. "In my experience, she tells you exactly what you need to hear. You'll have to trust when the time is right, what you need to do will become clear."
"Ruach and I must return to the void," Agwe said. "I presume you have a way to return to the proper time?"
"I do," I said. "Nico can help me with that."
Agwe nodded. "Thank you, Son of Samedi, for your service."
Nico cocked his head. "Call me Nico. Baron Samedi is no father to me."
"But he is to your kind, is he not?" Agwe asked.
I raised my hand. "This isn't important, Agwe."
"I'm merely trying to honor this creature appropriately, given the assistance he provided you."
"Creature?" I asked. "Agwe, that is demeaning."
"Aren't we all creatures?" Agwe asked.
"It's okay," Nico said. "I've been called worse."
Agwe reached and put his hand on me. "All you'll need to do is use the aspect of Legba to bring us back once you arrive home."
"I know," I said. "I'll do it as soon as I can figure it out."
"If need be," Agwe said. "There's always the kelp. Tahlia can help you with that if you can't sort it out yourself."
"See you soon, Agwe," I said.
Agwe re-mounted Ruach, and with a wide turn of Ruach's long body, they returned to sea and soon disappeared beneath the surface.
"Well, that is done
," I said.
Nico stood there shaking his head. "What's the deal with you two?"
I shrugged. "We still haven't even consummated our marriage. Would you believe it?"
"What's wrong with him?" Nico asked. "I mean, look at you!"
I giggled a little. "Thank you. I think?"
"Marie is dead. Sure, she visits from time to time. But I wouldn't hesitate to consummate my relationship with you if I were your husband."
I scratched my head. "Again... am I supposed to be flattered?"
Nico smiled. "I'm simply saying, perhaps it is not his coldness alone that is the problem. Do you love him?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I mean, there was another man I loved—my son's father. But we can't be together. It's impossible."
"Your heart aches," Nico said. "So you've closed yourself off to love."
I sighed. "I suppose there might be some truth to that."
"You're protecting yourself," Nico said. "But remember what I said before?"
"You said a lot of things before, Nico," I said.
"About Marie," Nico continued, "how she truly came to embrace Papa Legba's aspect, how she came to learn how to be a true queen once she allowed herself to experience vulnerability."
I took a deep breath. "Yes, I remember that..."
"I think the reason you've struggled to truly embrace Papa Legba's aspect is you're guarded. Losing your son's father was painful. Now, you're afraid if you allow yourself to embrace your new husband that if he leaves... and since Loa are notoriously unpredictable... you'll be hurt again."
"I don't know, Nico. It's more complicated than that. I mean, Agwe doesn't even try to romance me. He flirts a little. But it's always with hesitation. Like he's just putting a little bait out into the water to see if I'll bite."
Nico laughed. "That is because he's trying to be respectful, Joni. He knows your marriage wasn't ideal. At least, it isn't what you wanted. He doesn't want to push things too fast."
"Well, suppose what you say is true. Perhaps I have to allow Agwe in. Be vulnerable with him, as you put it, if I'm going to be able to use Legba's aspect. But now I have to use Legba's aspect to call him out of the void again after I go back home."
Nico laughed. "The chicken or the egg, which came first, right?"
"Exactly!"
"Doesn't apply in this circumstance," Nico said. "You don't need to wait for him to be there to open your heart to him. You simply need to move beyond the pain that is preventing you from being vulnerable again."
I licked my lips. "Well, that is something to think about, I suppose."
Nico nodded. "It's almost dawn. I won't have time to take you back to Marie's. Meet me there just after dark?"
I nodded. "I can do that."
Nico put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "Spend the day doing some thinking. Maybe some reflecting. Might as well, right?"
"I'll do that," I said. "See you soon."
Nico turned and sped, like a streak, into the distance. I didn't know where he was going. Maybe to his boat. It was closer to where we were, now than the French Quarter. Knowing Nico, though, he probably had another safe house somewhere nearby.
I touched the medallion around my neck. Plenty of magic to last me the day. I needed to do some thinking. What Nico said made sense. And with the dragon's essence chirping away from my insides, begging for a chance to get out, the best way to clear my head was to go for a flight.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I spent most of the day flying. I made my way to Baton Rouge. From a distance, things at the old Campbell plantation had seemingly gone back to normal. I could only imagine what might be going on inside. Was Henry Campbell distraught over losing another daughter? This time, though he'd intended to terminate the pregnancy, not by his own hand? Or was he relieved he wouldn't have to deal with it? I didn't know how he'd gotten rid of his previous daughter. I assumed he killed her. Maybe he left her in an orphanage. I wanted to believe that. Still, I had a sinking feeling in my gut that wasn't what happened.
The whole place was stained with blood. The blood of infant girls. The blood, mixed with the sweat, of slaves who worked the cotton fields. The plantation was also plagued by a dark and mysterious magical history. There was the ability that manifested in females born in the Campbell line. My ability, or abilities similar in nature. Abilities that hadn't manifested for nearly two centuries by the time I was born. At least I thought they hadn't. Not until Nephtalie was born.
Then there was the dark magic of the caplatas. Messalina. Odette. Were there others? Possibly. But I know of those two. I'd met them both. I'd encountered them both. I defeated Messalina. Now I had to face Odette.
She'd seemed so kind when I met her.
A part of me empathized with her plight. The world wasn't just. Freedmen and women weren't really free at all. Slavery was replaced by other forms of oppression. It wasn't Odette's complaint that bothered me. It was her extreme method, her resolve following Marinette to remake the world from scratch, to wipe out humanity, and start over with a new order governed by the principles of the bokors.
A sea ruled by an enslaved manifestation of me.
A land ruled by Marinette.
What of the sky? I spread my wings, leaving Baton Rouge and heading back to New Orleans. The sky felt free. Much like the water had at first. Before the voidbringer. Before the bokors. With my wings spread, my small dragon body soaring through the clouds, it felt like all the brokenness, all the pain on the face of the earth, was somehow muted. As if suffering and oppression had no hold on the skies.
When flying, I was free. Unrestrained. Unimposed upon by the demands of others.
The feeling wouldn't last forever. There's a reason why people called flighty, or those who are said to have their heads in the clouds, are viewed as out of touch with reality.
Technically, I could stay in this world as long as I wanted. Nico wasn't going anywhere. So long as we could travel back to the future, there was no need to rush it. It wasn't like if I took my time I'd somehow be late for the future.
I didn't have any pressure, any responsibility, in the eighteen hundreds. Conand ruled Fomoria. He would until I succeeded him. Agwe and Ruach were gone, in the void. I could have a romantic liaison if I wanted—a relationship of my choosing. I could live out a regular life, maybe have children. Then, when I was ready, I could leave and face Odette and Nephtalie.
I had all the time in the world. I could practice wielding my abilities, maybe pick up a few new ones. Maybe there was another way to control zombies... something I could learn from another magical tradition.
It was tempting. I could put off the inevitable for years if I wanted.
But who was I kidding? That wouldn't be freedom. Not really. Not so long as that... inevitability... waited for me.
Logically speaking, there were reasons to wait. Gain some skills. Ensure I was ready to kick zombie shark ass and take capalta names when I went home. Emotionally, too, there was a part of me that wanted to escape. But there was another emotional component, the uneasiness of an undefeated threat.
One thing was certain. Everything that happened, the whole threat I had to face, was my own doing. By coming here, I'd caused all the problems that I came here to solve in the first place. What else might I screw up if I stayed here any longer?
Sure, if anything happened in the future would happen as a result of things that occurred in the past. Those things were going to happen no matter what I did.
But I couldn't live with the burden of causing more problems, of somehow ushering in more possible apocalypses in the future.
I had enough blood on my hands as it was.
Enki...
He didn't die just because I took him out to meet up with the merlegion. He died, also, because I'd tried to save Nephtalie before she was born. He died because I helped Odette summon Marinette into a new body.
And Nico said I needed to become more vulnerable? After so many times trying to do the righ
t thing only to result in total disaster, it's no wonder I was guarded.
What could I do?
Stay in the past, try to find a life of little consequence, only to discover I stepped on a butterfly and caused the apocalypse...
Or, I could go home. I could keep doing what seems to be the right thing. And still, cause the end of the world.
Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. The slogan of my life.
I spread my wings and soared back into New Orleans as the sun started to set. Back to Marie's. The only thing I knew I couldn't do was nothing. Not with this guilt weighing on my conscience. Not with the future of the world at stake.
Maybe I'd screw up again. Maybe I'd end the world. But if I didn't try, if I didn't do everything I possibly could, if I didn't woman-up and act like a real queen...
Well, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Not until this was over. Maybe it was foolish to charge headlong back to the future to save the world. I probably wasn't as prepared as I could have been. But it was the only real choice I had.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The skull in Marie's shop was marked with a charcoal pencil.
"All you need to do is trace your finger along the line," Nico said. "Marie said this will take you to the proper time."
"So I'm doing this myself?" I asked.
"I can't go to that time, Joni. You know that. In your time, I'm still there as a human."
I shrugged. "Well, maybe I'll run into you sometime."
Nico laughed. "Be forewarned. In those days, I was a bit of an insecure prick."
"Funny how much people can change over the course of a few centuries."
Nico nodded. "After becoming a blood-sucking monster, of course."
I shook my head. "You're no monster. I mean, maybe you were. Niccolo the Damned, maybe. But you're a good guy, Nico. I can see why Marie is into you."
Nico smiled. His fangs weren't as intimidating as they were at first. A little cute, actually. "Well, in a few more years, my human self will get trapped in Guinee. When I'm born, I'll have to find someone I trust to stake me. Marie insists I'll have someone. Another progeny, I suppose, by then."
Wyrmrider Vengeance: An Underwater Magic Urban Fantasy (The Fomorian Wyrmriders Book 2) Page 19
