Chapter 11 #2
“Dad is a real warlock. Craig is one too, at the very least,” Vesta said.
I sighed, unhappy with her throwing out that piece of info.
“Sorry,” she said. “But you know how mad I get about your stupid term.”
“What’s the saying? Po-tay-toe, pa-tah-toe?” I asked, grabbing a roll from the basket and buttering it.
“Nope, not the same at all,” she said, folding her arms.
Buster chose that moment to jump to my shoulder, purring as she wrapped herself around me.
“Holy shit, what the hell is that?” one of the other girls asked.
“A cat that’s been adapted to a heavy gravity world,” Miss Marsh said, studying Buster with fascination.
“Should it be at the table? Is that hygienic?” another girl asked. I had lost track of which one she was.
“I can leave,” I suggested.
“That’s drastic,” Keri said. “Can’t you put it outside?”
“She might just rip through the door,” I said. “It’s just wood, right? She doesn’t love to be separated from me.”
“She’s that strong?” Miss Marsh asked.
“She can tear steel mesh and heavy plastic, so thin wood is nothing.”
“She kills and eats Greenacres’ centipedes, Miss Marsh,” Vesta said. “I’ve seen her do it.”
“Hence the battle scars,” Mrs. Davidson pointed out.
“Why Buster?” Maya asked me.
“I was little when we got her. We were playing and she beat apart one of my toys. So she was Buster.”
“Are all Greenacres cats like her?” Miss Marsh asked.
“No. She’s Maine Coon Cat stock and she was born in a barn on the Jandreau pack lands. The city cats are tough, but I think she’s in a different class,” I said, starting to push back my chair.
“Wait, she seems… clean, right, Ashley?” Keri asked the girl who had spoken about hygiene.
“Ah, sure. Ferocious but clean,” Ashley agreed.
“How much does she weigh?” Miss Marsh asked.
“About thirty-five pounds,” I said. Buster was pawing at Vesta’s hair, which meant she wanted her attention. Vee instantly petted her up, talking to her softly. “She’s a wicked smart girl. Like crazy smart, aren’t you, beautiful?” she said.
“You carry thirty-five pounds on your shoulder?” one of the other girls asked.
“Yeah, she’s much lighter here.”
“I think she was implying it was a lot,” Maya said.
“Oh. No, it’s not. Here I weigh about two-twenty. On Greenacres, that’s more like two sixty-four. I have to work out a lot to keep my muscle mass up and carrying her around helps.”
“You weigh that much here?” Miss Marsh asked.
“Yeah. My bones are denser; muscle mass is denser. Kinda like svelte Vesta here,” I said.
“In one generation?” Miss Marsh asked. “Buster is five generations but you are just one, right. How would humans change so much in one generation?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said, glancing at Vesta. Her expression told me she was pondering a new question, and our link told me what it was… what else had Mom done to me?
“The were kids he calls family are all like that too,” Vesta said.
“LV would work to modify them almost immediately, even under low magic conditions, but a regular human? I don’t see it. Not without magic.”
“Hmm. Omega?” Vesta asked.
“A very interesting question,” he said, appearing just behind us. “It would be interesting to obtain data from other children born on Golf Alpha, although Miss Shenn does not have bone density like Craig’s. It likely ties in with this morning’s briefing.”
“Miss Shenn?” Maya asked instantly. “Old girlfriend?”
“Hah,” Vesta said. “Archnemesis. Hates Craig’s guts and it’s a real long story.”
“Craig,” Miss Marsh began, “one of my students from a few years back has kept in touch and she’s talked about a new element found on your world.”
“Rhinocodium,” I said.
“Kiley Price,” Vesta said on the heels of my word.
“You’re her source?” Miss Marsh breathed out. “She won’t tell anyone anything.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of a big deal, Miss Marsh,” Vesta said.
“Unbelievable,” Maya muttered.
“What?” I asked, spinning back to her.
“How is this one so lucky all the time,” she said with a wave at Vesta.
“Lucky?” I asked.
“She has you fall into her lap, she’s in on a cutting-edge magical discovery, she’s beautiful and famous.”
I snorted. “She’s also the next Steward of Earth, whether she wants to be or not. Her life belongs to Gaia, werewolves are terrified of her, human males want her for a trophy, and she might be Earth’s only hope if aliens come back or Hell rises up in the next hundred years.”
They all looked at me, silent at my words.
“I met her, you know… Gaia. Mother Earth. About a month ago. We were… hanging out in Vesta’s room and then we suddenly were somewhere else.
Miles under the ground. You could feel the oppressive weight like unbelievable pressure.
It was black as night, except for the glow of magma.
And she was there. No words can describe her presence; no words can define her power.
I was less than a bacterial cell, less than a strand of virus.
She rumbled like tectonic plates rubbing together and it was only when Vesta answered her that I realized it was speech.
Took me a minute to understand her words. ”
“What did she want?”
“To meet me. She has a vast interest in Vesta, but she had never met me because I had never been on the planet.”
“How did it go?” Mrs. Davidson asked. I could tell she wasn’t sure if she believed me.
“No idea. Just this immense presence looming over me as I curled up naked on the floor.”
“Naked. Why were you naked?” one of the girls asked, clearly more interested in this part than the whole overwhelming goddess of Earth thing.
“They were hanging out, Marsha,” Keri said in a no duh tone.
“She accepted him,” Vesta said. “I’ve been in her presence several times and it is… hard. Overwhelming. The air is hot like a steam sauna; everything is blackness but the magma, and she is just pressure. Immense, ancient, pressure.”
“Accepted?” Miss Marsh asked.
“It’s a pass–fail thing,” Vesta said. “She is not a soft, kind goddess. Every time I get pulled to her, I wonder if this time is the fail time.”
“Holy shit,” Keri said.
“Yeah. Holy shit. Vesta has been granted gifts, but the price is enormous,” I said. “Now, what’s for dinner?”
“Beef or Salmon Wellington or a vegetarian dish,” Maya said. “You and Vesta are listed as having the beef.”
“That’s what I’ve been smelling. Awesome,” I said.
“He eats like a werewolf but sadly he has the palate of an alien barbarian,” Vesta joked.
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and eat their food,” I paraphrased in my best Arnold voice.
“Wow, you two have that whole movie thing in common, huh?” Mrs. Davidson asked.
“Yeah, food and movies are about it,” Vesta lamented.
“Poor girl,” Miss Marsh commented with a raised brow.
“Yeah, I like movies too,” Keri said, smiling at me but side-eyeing Vesta.
“You get more boys than any three girls here,” Bili said to Keri.
“Based on your goddess story, it seems there’s at least one other thing in common,” Marsha noted archly.
Horror hit me as I realized where this was going, but before the conversation spiraled downhill, something else pinged my senses.
“What’s up?” Vesta said almost as soon as my Intent meter flared.
I turned and looked out the window. We were facing the center driving circle of the school, where everyone arrived. The view flowed downhill to the road below and then came up the empty snow-covered hill on the other side.
Something was approaching… still relatively far away but coming with ill intent. Toward the school.
Movement in the room caught my eye and I looked up to see Alex headed my way, his right brow up. At her place at the head table, Holly was also watching me.
I studied the feeling as the conversation at our table fell quiet. Alex arrived and I turned to both him and Vesta. One of Omega’s small drones lifted up on tiny legs from its place on Vesta’s shoulder.
“Someone is coming. Someones. They mean to harm the school. Several miles in that direction.” I pointed.
“Sending drones now,” Omega said from the unit on Vesta’s shoulder.
“Intent to the school? Not the team?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. Several individuals. Angry.”