Chapter 15 #2
The Strega from Calla, along with a minotaur who has a human from Earth for a husband. He went missing six months ago. We all thought he was dead.
He should probably text David as well. There’d been a funeral and everything. What happened when someone came back from the dead? David would know what to do.
The prayer worked!
He wasn’t entirely sure why Pan was so eager to have a Strega, or what difference she’d make. But she’d traveled on foot to be here because she’d heard Pan’s prayer. Their prayer. The prayer that was possible because of him. They should definitely do some other prayers.
How is it going at the camp?
They haven’t threatened to kill me, or hold me hostage, and Elise says we will be home for dinner.
Clearly, Pan was somewhere he could talk aloud since he couldn’t type.
Noah sent him a smiley face. Maybe things had turned the corner and were starting to go right. He smiled, remembering Jarot’s attempts at a joke.
“Why are you grinning?” Web said.
“Why not?” Noah put his phone away. “We’re having tea and cookies. Maybe you can ask her about magic and such since she’s a witch.”
Web grunted. “If she doesn’t kill us.”
“Why would she?” Sure, all the poisonous plants in the garden were a little strange, but everyone had hobbies.
Web scuffed his runner over the wooden floorboards. “I don’t know, it’s just weird. And you seem to like all the weirdness…like you’re trying to become the human expert on them or something.”
“I’m trying to be useful. I can’t sit around and do nothing when there’s so many people who need help. If you don’t want to help the mythos, you can always volunteer with the humans.”
“I don’t want to do any of it. I want things to go back to how it was.” He scowled and stared into space.
Back to how it was when Web had Liam and Noah convinced that he was the one with all the power, and that magic was difficult to use.
Now the mythos talked about magic in the way humans talked about air or water.
It was a part of life. Web was no longer special, and perhaps he’d realized that people like Pan and the Strega saw through him and his lack of magic.
“That’s never going to happen,” Noah said softly.
“Have you seen what other countries are doing? Dad said they might have the right idea. If we all did it…”
“You aren’t serious?” Every time he opened social media, there were reports from around the world. The fighting, and hunting, and killing of mythos.
The US was talking about rounding them up and putting them in internment camps until they could decide what to do with them. Experts guessed at the damage bill. A few brave people had started mentioning the possible benefits, such as new ideas and the reality of magic.
Some people wanted to learn the truth about human myths.
Some questioned religion and what the collapse meant, like it was a global existential crisis.
Scientists wanted to study the mythos; they wanted to understand how shifting worked.
Noah wasn’t sure human scientists were the best people to be studying anything since they’d caused the collapse.
At the moment, all efforts were going toward making cities livable again. Europe was prioritizing food, water, and shelter. Once everyone had them, long-term plans would be made, which included what to do with the new buildings and the human buildings that had been damaged.
There were already warnings about disruptions to global supply chains. Which meant there may be shortages of food and medical items. Everyone was being warned against stockpiling, as that would only make matters worse.
Of course, all this news was aimed at the humans.
Meanwhile, ogres were taking the dragon poo and creating gardens. Perhaps that’s something they should all be doing, even though anything they planted today would take months to be ready for eating. At least there would be something growing.
“You don’t agree with some of the extreme measures, do you?”
Web shrugged. “Dad had been drinking, and you know what he’s like once he starts.” He paused. “But how are they supposed to become part of society? Or are they going to live in their own villages? How’s it all going to work?” Web crossed his arms and stared at the sinkhole.
“It all worked on Tariko,” Noah said. He didn’t know how, only that none of the mythos seemed troubled by werewolves or ogres. The centaurs were a different matter. “Humans lived there, and all the different kinds of mythos lived together. They worked the same as we do.”
“Do you want the vampires working behind the bar with your grandmother? You aren’t worried that they’ll eat her?”
Noah wasn’t about to admit that Nan had already let Kirel bite her. Or that the beer, bingo, and blood group of grandparents were having a ball. “They seem cool, and they don’t drink that much blood, apparently.”
Web scowled. “Do you think having the palace next to the pub and being an incubus’s boyfriend gives you some kind of status? Is that why you’re sucking up to the mythos?”
It was going to be super awkward when he found out who Pan really was. “If you want a mytho boyfriend, no one is stopping you.” While Web was a cute goth, it was his attitude that put people off. He wanted people to look up to him for simply existing.
Pan was much the same, except Pan was willing to put in the work and help, even if he couldn’t offer any magical assistance.
Web didn’t want to do shit except drift around and look pretty.
It’s why he liked performing—and was good at it.
Web wanted the band to become something bigger—and who didn’t dream of writing music and getting paid a fuck-tonne.
The reality was they were too niche, but Web didn’t even want to try and do something slightly more mainstream to get a bit of attention, even though Liam was pretty keen to try.
Did any of that shit matter now?
Who cared about rock bands and concerts when running water was a problem?
“I’m not sucking up. I’m interested in how things worked in their world, and I don’t know…
Maybe by being involved, I can have a say in how we deal with things.
So yeah, you could say I care about the status of having a mytho boyfriend because with him, I have an insider’s view on things.
We’ve discussed his world and our world and what we can do without breaking any laws.
We are living history. Is it not a tiny bit exciting? ”
And terrifying, and sometimes, he wanted to close his eyes and wake up only to find out it was a dream, and other times, he wanted to learn how to use magic and swim in the ocean as a seal.
Being a selkie was cool and scary and strange and…he still didn’t know what to do with the coat, only that it was something he couldn’t share with his friends.
“No.” Web kicked a rock down the path. “How can we make plans for the future when we don’t know what the future is going to look like? Who cares about studying and getting a good job and any of that shit now?”
Noah sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve asked myself the same questions. But life will go on, so I guess those things still matter. We still need jobs. Liam is still needed at the supermarket, and when the pub opens, I’ll still be wiping tables, mopping floors, and cleaning the toilets.”
“And werewolves will be flipping burgers?”
Noah tried to imagine them wearing uniforms and hair nets over their ears.
“Maybe. But Jarot is a stonemason, and while he doesn’t have human qualifications, he still knows how to build houses.
I met an ogre who is a doctor, an elf who is a carpenter.
There’s a pottery workshop and a blacksmith, and one of the vampires made wine.
I’m sure they’re wondering what their future looks like, too. ”
Web rolled his eyes and stared up at the sky. “Ugh, who cares about their future? What about ours?”
“Our future and their future are the same. They are stuck here, and so are we, so we have to make it work.”
“You really think it can work? Living and working alongside monsters?”
Noah rocked back on his heels. Was Web starting to believe his father’s raving? “They aren’t monsters. You’ve spent the day with them.”
He did not like the direction Web’s thoughts were turning.
“I’m only saying, what if Europe’s got it wrong and we follow them and it becomes a bigger mess?”
“Kindness isn’t wrong. What would’ve happened if our world had collapsed into theirs?” Would magic still exist, or would it have been damaged? What would’ve happened to him? Would someone have realized he had magic in his blood?
He needed to talk to the Strega about that, but he didn’t want to do it in front of anyone. Especially not Web. “I should go back in.”
“So this is what you do now? Search for dead bodies and food with werewolves?”
“This week, and maybe next week. After that, maybe we’ll all be learning how to grow our own food until the supply chains are fixed up.
Or the government will require people to do a crash course in building, to help with repairs.
” He shrugged. “I’m trying not to think too far into the future and to take one day at a time. ”
“That’s easy for you.”
Web had no fucking idea how un-easy it was. He had his mother calling and lamenting that he wasn’t able to come home. He had a fur coat and a god without magic.
“Doing something is better than doomscrolling and dwelling on what might happen. Given that two weeks ago none of us could have imagined this, who knows what next week will look like?” Or next month.
It was too hard to think about what he might be doing next year when even Pan had said not to expect to be doing anything different in a hurry, and he’d lived through disasters before. He’d probably caused a couple, too.
He knew what he should’ve been doing next year: finishing his course, looking for a job, and avoiding going back to see his parents. The latter part hasn’t changed; only now, he had a good excuse. Maybe next year he wouldn’t because the planes would be flying again.
He turned and walked back into the house. The Strega was going through some of the things that had belonged to her sister.
Liam saw him and handed him a cup of tea. “It’s kind of like mint.”
“Thanks.”
“And the biscuits are good.” Liam offered him the biscuit barrel.
Noah took one and figured that since everybody else had eaten them, they must be safe. He leaned against the kitchen counter next to one of the werewolves whose cup seemed too tiny for his massive paw.
The Strega glanced at him. “Don’t look so concerned. Your world isn’t ending.”