by Charley Case
Mila gave her an approving nod. “Look at the big brain thinking about this one.”
Remmy blushed and shrugged. “Just made sense, ya know? You want some food?”
“Sure, just get me a coffee and a sandwich; dealer’s choice, I’m not picky. Can I use your phone while you’re up there? I need to call in some reinforcements.”
Unzipping a pocket on her thigh, Remmy pulled out her phone and handed it over. “You’re not one of those people that says they’re not picky then don’t like what others get for them, are you?”
Mila took the phone and laughed. “No, I’m not, but I know the people you’re talking about. Seriously, I’ll be happy with whatever you get.”
“Cool. Be back in a few.”
Mila opened the phone and dialed a number she had memorized for just such an occasion as this. She put the phone to her ear and listened as it rang three times.
“Hello?” a cautious male voice asked.
“Carl? It’s Mila.”
“Dr. Winters,” Carl said, his tone much more friendly. “How are you?”
“Well, that’s a complicated question,” she admitted.
Carl’s deep rolling laugh made Mila smile. “It wouldn’t be the real you if it wasn’t complicated. What can I do for you?”
“How would you and your team feel about coming out to San Francisco and helping me clear out a few dozen Rougarou, another crazy mage, and save one of my sisters? Again.” Mila laughed nervously. “Oh, and there are a few hundred thralls this time.”
“Leveling up, are we?” She could hear him scratching his stubble while he thought. “Well, I have to wonder if you have the luck of a rabbit’s foot factory. My team was just told to stand down from our deployment; evidently, it was handled on site by the locals. We’re on our way to the locker rooms as we speak, still geared up. Give me a second to ask the others.”
“Sure.” Mila felt tightness in her chest as the anticipation of their answer hung in the air. She hadn't realized how much she was depending on Carl and his people to be free and ready to go. She had just figured it would all work out. Turned out that a lot of very unexpected things had to happen for her wish to be fulfilled, and lo and behold it couldn’t have been timed better. That kind of freaked Mila out a little.
“You there?”
Mila was jolted from her thoughts. “Yes, I’m here.”
“Where do we meet you?”
Relief flooded through her chest. “We’re at a place called Cafe Rouge. I’ll have to as what the full address is, so give me a second.”
“It’s okay, I found it,” Carl quickly informed her. “Be there in twenty minutes. I need to clear this with Preston, but I know there won’t be a problem on that end. I’m going to have Nick pick up a tactical vehicle for us to use and meet us there. Sit tight. We’ll see you in a bit.”
‘See you in twenty,” Mila confirmed, then hung up as Remmy came back to the table, a tray balanced on one hand.
“We have backup?” she asked, placing a coffee and a baguette sandwich with turkey, mayo, and tomatoes on it.
“Yup. Carl and his people.” On remembering that Remmy hadn’t met Carl and his people, she added, “They’re one of Preston’s G.A.E.L. teams.”
Remmy set down her own coffee and a bowl of onion soup covered in bubbling cheese. “The big guns, huh? I like it.”
Mila licked her lips as she looked longingly at the soup.
Remmy sighed and switched the soup for the sandwich. “I knew you were lying.”
“Thank you,” Mila said sheepishly in her “cute voice”.
Remmy laughed. “Finn’s right.”
Mila raised an eyebrow. “About what?”
“It’s basically impossible to stay mad at you.”
“It’s my superpower.”
“Pretty sure magic is yer superpower.”
Mila laughed. “That too.”
Chapter Sixteen
As they sat at the large reclaimed wood table off Rebecca and Lance’s kitchen, the warm spring breeze blowing through the elevated house, Penny and Rebecca poured over several handwritten books along with stacks of sketches and diagrams on faded yellowing paper.
Lance and Grimmly worked in the kitchen to make sandwiches and a creamy broccoli and cheese soup for lunch. The father and son joked with each other quietly enough not to bother Rebecca and Penny while they worked.
Penny’s mouth watered at the smells of soup and deli meats as they reminded her that she had a lot of magic that needed refilling. She hoped that they made extra because Penny would need it before she headed back home.
Rebecca slid one of the books over to Penny and pointed at a page covered in tight script around a sketch of a robed Drude. “This is from one of my first ancestors to take passage on Earth, Gregory Geralt. It’s the account of the last fight between the Azoth and the Valkyries. He talks about how the Valkyries were convinced that Azoth was dead, and called the matter closed, but Gregory was convinced that it wasn’t that simple. When he brought up his concerns to the sisterhood, they refused to listen to him and told him to drop it.”
“Chi? Shir shee. Why didn’t they believe him? He must have had some compelling evidence to go to them with his concern.” A loud growl from Penny’s stomach punctuated the question. She slapped her hands to her belly and grinned in embarrassment.
“I’m so sorry, Penny. I totally forgot that Dragons convert their food to magic. After your flight here, you must be starving. Lance, can you grab a bag of chips for Penny? Oh, and grab me the Oreos.”
Penny brightened. “Shir. Thanks. I didn't want to be rude and ask, but I am feeling the need to refuel.”
Rebecca laughed and adjusted the wide-neck knit shirt she had put on over her bikini top. The taupe-colored shirt hung off her left shoulder and had become caught on a necklace that Penny hadn't noticed when she arrived. In fact, Penny was sure Rebecca hadn’t been wearing it until she had gone to her bedroom to grab the shirt.
Rebecca pulled the necklace out from under her shirt collar, giving Penny a view of the pendant hanging on the thin gold chain. It was a variation of an old Norse symbol called a Gungnir that represented the spear of Odin and looked like a square standing on its corner with an X over it.
Rebecca’s version, however, had a thinner diamond shape instead of a square, and the angles of the X were much steeper. In addition, the top two lines of the X came back together to form a second point at the top.
Normally, Penny wouldn’t think anything of seeing a variation of a relatively common symbol, but this variation was a symbol Penny knew very well. It still represented the spear Gungnir, but this was the original symbol, as well as the centerpiece of the spear creator’s family crest. The crest of the Dwarven Emperor. Finn’s family crest.
Penny stored that detail away for later but knew it must have some kind of significance.
Lance set a bowl filled with Nacho Cheese Doritos beside Penny and a plate with a couple of stacks of cream-filled chocolate cookies beside his wife. She gave him a quick kiss before he walked back to the kitchen to stir the soup.
Rebecca scanned the book a few pages ahead. “As far as I can tell, the only reason the Valkyrie didn’t believe him was that he was trying to explain how the Drude and Valkyries are very similar, and more than likely have an ancestor in common.”
“Squee, shir? Wait, he thought the Drude and the Valkyries are from the same bloodline?” Penny stopped herself from stuffing a Dorito in her face just long enough to get the question out.
Rebecca read a few more passages. “Uh, yeah, it looks like he did. Though “bloodline” really isn’t the right word. More like they came from the same source. Both Drude and Valkyries are not necessarily a race, so much as an entity that finds a body. Just like Valkyries always inhabit Peabrain bodies, the Drude do the same with whatever race that is. So, if a Valkyrie comes back, why wouldn't a Drude?”
Penny immediately saw the error in the logic. “Chi chi. Shiri. Yes, but the
re are Peabrains here on Earth for the returning Valkyries to inhabit, but not so with the Drude. As far as my research shows, he’s the only one that’s ever been on Earth.”
“I was thinking that too,” Rebecca said around a bite of Oreo, “but Gregory actually addresses that. He argues that the Valkyries and Drude don’t actually take a body, but have one created out of their energy. After all, everything in the universe is energy, just in various states of existence. Maybe a Valkyrie is the same person from life to life; they’re just put together differently each time.”
“Chi shee? Let’s say this is true. How did this help Gregory understand how to get rid of the Drude permanently?”
Rebecca quickly chewed the rest of the cookie, brushed the crumbs from her fingers onto a white linen napkin, then pointed out a particular passage. “He laid it out here. Basically, the main difference between Valkyries and Drude, besides their opposed magic types, is that while Valkyries exist in the physical world completely, Drude only half-exist in a corporeal state. The rest of them is in a place between realities. The way Gregory describes it, this sounds a bit like Purgatory. That part doesn’t really matter; what’s important is that because of this difference, they manifest powers in different ways.”
“How so?” Penny raised an eye ridge as she chomped on another chip and felt relieved when the calorie-dense snack broke down into raw magic in her belly to refill her reserves.
“If I’m reading this right, then a good way to describe their main characteristics would be to say that Valkyries are fast, and Drude are powerful. Valkyries come back quickly after death, work best in large numbers, and are able to adapt to situations given the right circumstances, but they lack personal power when it comes to magic. The Drude, on the other hand, take forever to come back, work best as individuals, and are able to conform those around them to their will. Because they are half in this other realm, they can pull power from vast stores they keep hidden away. Really, the only thing holding back a Drude’s power is the physical form’s ability to channel that power through it. They need to feed their corporeal body raw power to grow strong enough to gain access to their full potential.”
Penny frowned, chomping on another chip while she thought about that. “Squee shee shir. So, how does that info help us? It sounds like no matter what, a part of a Drude will survive to come back.”
“Well, that’s where ol’ Gregory had a theory.” Rebecca turned the page to reveal a diagram of a hand-held device that looked a bit like a steampunk version of a Thermal Detonator. “He argued that Drude must have the ability to become fully corporeal, because they are actually born at some point, and only develop powers when they hit the equivalent of puberty, just like Valkyries do. When in this fully corporeal form, they would be vulnerable because they are completely cut off from their magic. If they have no magic when they die, there is no way they can retreat back into that place between realities. He designed this device to force them to transition completely. He guessed the effect would only last for a few seconds, but he was never able to test that—not only because the Drude was gone by then, but because the device would take celestial magic to power it.”
Penny looked up from the plans, a big toothy smile on her face. “Chi chi! I just happen to know a girl…”
Rebecca laughed. “That’s kind of the point of you being here, I suppose.”
“Let’s clear the table.” Lance came over with his hands full of bowls of soup and plates of sandwiches. “We can all get to work on building this thing after lunch when Grimm heads in for his nap.”
“I don’t want to take a nap!” Grimmly climbed into his chair opposite Penny.
“You will when you have a belly full of carbs, buddy.” Lance set Grimmly’s plate down and tucked a napkin into his shirt collar. “There you go, bud. Ready to get to work.”
Penny smiled at the little boy. He smiled back, then nearly spilled his entire bowl of soup trying to get his spoon through the melted cheese and the crouton underneath. A quick flick of her talon and Penny magically bonded the bowl to the table, making it impossible to tip without tipping the entire table.
“Thanks for that.” Rebecca indicated the bowl. “You have no idea how much food has hit this floor.”
“It’s no problem.” A smoke ring rose from a nostril.
“Do you have any kids of your own?” Lance dipped his sandwich in his soup before taking a bite.
Penny grinned. “Chi shee. Shee. Not yet. Soon though.”
She absent-mindedly rubbed her stomach with a hand. “Very soon.”
Chapter Seventeen
Mila finished her soup and took a sip of coffee, then leaned back and crossed her arms. “How do you deal with living in a tribe?”
Remmy looked up from her sandwich and raised an eyebrow. She swallowed her bite and took a drink of water to wash it down. “I don’t really deal with it; it’s just the way I was raised. Why?”
Mila bit her lip as she stared off into the distance. “I was just thinking about how working with the Valkyries is more irritating that satisfying most of the time. I was just wondering if it gets easier.”
“Oh, I guess I can understand that part. Sometimes in the tribe, there’s someone that’s an elder that really gets on your nerves. It sucks, but it’s only temporary.”
“What do you mean?” Mila took another sip of coffee. It was an excellent roast. She hoped she could get a bag to take home for Finn; it was strong without being bitter and had a sweet, fruity aftertaste.
“Well, the point of elders is that they got old with experience and pass that experience down to the next generation, then they die, and the ones under them become the elders. If someone annoys you, all you have to do is outlive them.”
Mila barked a bitter laugh. “Then I am well and truly fucked. Valkyries are basically immortal. Unless we leave Earth, the sisters I have right now are the sisters I’ll have forever. And to top it all off, it’s always going to be either Victoria or Missy who’s in charge, and both of them treat me like I’m a child. It’s so frustrating.”
Remmy sniffed, then shrugged. “That sucks, I guess. But you have to admit, compared to them, you are a child.”
“No, compared to them, I am young and maybe lack experience, but I am an accomplished woman in my thirties, with a doctorate in anthropology that got me a leading position at an internationally renowned museum. I also stopped the Dark Star, using my Valkyrie powers just days after learning I even had them. I didn’t see the sisterhood out there tracking that crazy witch down. My point is I’m capable and can get a lot of shit done if I put my mind to it, but they treat me like I don't know how to wipe my own ass.” Mila angrily flicked a crumb off the table. “The worst part is my ‘elder sister’ looks like some little goth punk, and it’s really hard to take her seriously. If she’s so old and wise, why would she continue to act like that? She must know it’s distracting.”
“What’s so distracting about her?” Remmy pulled out her phone. “What’s her last mane?”
“Walker. Missy Walker. I know she’s from SoCal, but she could tone it down a little. At least stop dying her hair electric blue and wear a skirt that comes down more than an inch past her ass cheeks. I know I shouldn’t be judging her by the way she dresses, but dude, she’s the leader of an ancient sisterhood of Valkyries; at least act like it.”
“Weren’t you a goth in high school?” Remmy typed on her phone.
Mila flushed pink. “Yeah, but that just proves my point. I stopped dressing that way as soon as I started college. I needed people to take me seriously if I was going to excel in my chosen field.”
“Well, the question is, if you didn’t have to impress strangers to get ahead, would you still be dressing like that?”
Mila frowned and bit the inside of her lip while she thought about it. “I mean, I did look pretty cute.”
“That sounds like a yes to me.”
“Fine, I suppose I would still wear the occasional black lipstick if I thoug
ht I could get away with it. What’s your point?”
Remmy looked up from her phone and locked eyes with Mila. The look made Mila sit up a little straighter and take notice. There was a motherly quality to the goblin’s gaze that Mila hadn’t seen before.
“My point is, if there is one woman that doesn’t have to worry about what people think, it would be the eldest sister of a group of women who’ve been alive longer than the Earth has existed. It sounds like you’re jealous.”
Mila’s mouth dropped open in shock. She stared at Remmy, who just looked back down at her phone and continued to scroll through a web page as if she had not just verbally smacked the shit out of Mila.
As she took a long, deep look inward, Mila asked herself whether Remmy was right or wrong. She wanted to dismiss Remmy’s words as ridiculous, but to her dismay, Mila thought the little goblin might be right.
With a wash of revelation, Mila realized that she still held a big wad of resentment that she’d had to change her identity just to be taken seriously.
She remembered that first week at college; a painful series of interactions with dismissive teachers and administrators that left her feeling ashamed of trying to express herself.
Putting her clothes and makeup in a box in the back of her closet had been like betraying a best friend who had stuck with her through all the difficult times of her adolescence. She had conformed to strangers’ expectations out of fear that they would reject her, and all it cost was her sense of adventure.
Decisions throughout her life influenced by that heart-wrenching act began to pop into her head. Her choice to wear muted colors so she wouldn’t stand out. Never buying the fun version of things when a perfectly boring version was available just so people wouldn’t think she was weird. Hell, until Danica had taken her to the mall and forced her to buy some “sexy” underwear, she had only bought the most boring kinds she could get her hands on because that was what people expected of a Doctor of Anthropology.
