Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“Been looking for you, Brogan.” Elmer was an old man, his hair gone white and wispy, his ears liver spotted. But his eyes were sharp, and like most old monster hunters, there was strength in his body which spoke of a life spent working hard.
“There’s important matters we need to discuss with you, private matters.
” He glanced at the gods at the table. “Now would be best. Gentlemen. No offense.” He pointed toward the front door, and I had the impression he would have crossed the kitchen and grabbed me by the collar if he thought it would make me move faster.
“Wait now,” Eunice said. “Coffee’s still hot. I have pie and fresh whipped cream. Let’s all sit down together.”
“Plenty of room.” Cupid scooted his chair to one side.
Elmer reconsidered Cupid and Raven, sharp gaze missing nothing. The gods might have tried to hide their power, but a life hunting dangerous monsters and paranormals had honed Elmer’s instincts.
He had a good sense for hinky, and I could tell the alarm bells were going off.
“Brogan. You come on outside with me, now.” Elmer backed toward the kitchen doorway where his granddaughter Pamela and her partner Josie lingered, their smiles now hard and wary.
They knew something was up too.
“We’re not human,” Raven said like he was discussing neighborhood gossip. “But we’re friends of Brogan and Lula just like you, and we want them safe, just like you.”
“Pamela, Josie, Elmer.” Lula opened the kitchen door and stepped into the room, quiet, even in her boots. “Raven’s right. They’re friends.”
“And they’re not human,” I added, shifting my stance to lean a shoulder against the wall.
“And her?” Elmer jabbed a thumb toward Eunice, who laughed.
“I like you,” she said. “You’re suspicious. I’m just Eunice nowadays. Back in the times, I was known as Euterpe. Muse of music.” She made a little flourish with her hand, her bracelets jangling.
If Elmer had been wearing a hat, he would have snatched it off his head to hold it in front of him apologetically. Instead, he gave her a short bow. “I am pleased to meet you, ma’am. Sorry for barging into your house like this, but there are matters—timely matters—that can’t be ignored.”
“Headwaters?” Lula asked.
Pamela and Josie finally walked into the room. They each gave me a nod and a small wave which I returned. Even though they were less wary, I could tell they were not comfortable.
Whether it was from the news they had to share with us, or because they were in the company of power, I didn’t know.
Pamela was lighter skinned, like her grandfather, her usually happy face round with a sharp chin, her brown hair cut in a sensible bob.
She assessed the situation, then pulled out a chair and sat.
“I bet your story is interesting,” she said to Raven and Cupid.
“Stand down, Grandpa. There’s so much power in this room, we were outclassed before we even got through the door. ”
“You said pie, Eunice?” Josie had a darker complexion, her thick black hair held back with a kerchief, her delicate features and hazel eyes lending her beauty queen status.
“Cake, too,” Eunice said, “but you all look like a cherry pie wouldn’t be amiss.”
“I prefer sour cherry, if it’s not too much problem?” Elmer asked.
“Look at that!” Eunice said. “It just happens to be sour cherry. Coffee’s by the window, cups to the left. Help yourself while I serve it up.”
Elmer gave me one last look, hoping, I supposed, that I’d overrule everyone (and their quest for pie) to get us out of here quick.
Lula brushed her fingers across the back of my hand as she moved toward the coffee. I captured her fingers and knew we were okay. We were together on this, set on this road once again. Then she kept walking, and our hands slipped apart.
“I’ll get the coffee,” she said. “Go ahead and sit, Josie. Abbi, can you scoot over?”
“I’m gonna go outside and run!” Abbi said. “Hi, Pamela. Hi, Josie! Hi, Elmer! I ate cake. So much cake. It had my name all over it!” She hopped off the chair, grabbed Elmer in a fast hug and darted out of the room. “C’mon Hado! I want to chase bugs!”
Hado popped out from under the cupboard and galloped after her.
Elmer sighed and eased down into a seat next to Cupid. “Not human you say?” he asked Raven.
“Not in the least,” Raven said. “Bo here stumbled on the Gauges a couple months ago.”
“Stumbled?” Cupid shook his head. “I became aware of them when they unearthed the spell book of the gods. Which they lost.”
“And found.” Lula placed cups in front of Elmer, Pamela, and Josie, then leaned on the wall next to me.
I extended my arm, and she tucked into my side, my arm over her shoulder.
“You have some claim to that book?” Elmer asked Cupid.
“Not in the way you think.”
Eunice dealt out plates filled with hearty slices of cherry pie.
“Whipped cream here if you want it.” She placed the bowl and an earthenware crock in the middle of the table.
“This is ice cream, if you’d rather. Now then, I’ve done my part.
I’m going to go out and chase bugs with the moon rabbit.
Hunters, you are welcome in my home. Gauges, listen to all the choices. I know you’ll make the right one.”
She hummed a song about skies and mountains and wandering streams, her voice sweet and hopeful as she rambled through the house, to open and shut the front door.
Elmer cut a bite of pie and chewed. He stopped, unruly eyebrows ticking upward, then pointed at his granddaughter. “Remind me to ask her for the recipe.”
“Oh, it’s that good, is it?” Pamela took a bite and swore under her breath. “That’s amazing.”
“Wait until you try the ice cream,” Josie said.
It was good to see them enjoying food, strange to see them sitting next to gods, and stranger still that Raven and Cupid hadn’t left yet.
“So, what’s your claim to the book, then?” Elmer asked, eyes on his pie. “Since we’re all friends here.”
He didn’t trust Cupid or Raven.
He was a very suspicious man.
I liked that about him.
“We have the book,” I said. “We’re looking for a place to hole up so we can see what it can do. Or what we can do with it.”
I still didn’t want to use the book and was going to do everything I could to talk Lula out of it. But if we had a hideout, we could search for some other weapon to kill Headwaters.
Elmer pointed his fork at Cupid and Raven. “And these two?”
“I am someone who wants the book out of everyone’s hands,” Cupid said. “My stake in this is to make sure no one can ever access it again.”
“You?” Elmer asked Raven.
“Samesies. For my own reasons, but I want the same outcome. It needs to be hidden away. Locked up.”
“Hidden things are always found again,” Pamela said.
Josie hummed in agreement. “Can it be destroyed?”
Weirdly, Raven and Cupid looked at each other for the answer.
“Not that we know of,” Raven finally said.
“Not that anyone knows of,” Cupid corrected. “It’s old and unique. The only relic of its kind. If there is a power that can destroy it, it likely would have done so by now.”
“Probably,” Raven said. “Enough people and powers have been looking for it. If it could have been destroyed someone would have done it.”
“You don’t think Brogan and Lula can destroy it, do you?” Pamela asked.
Cupid shrugged. “Maybe. But only Brogan and Lula will know.”
All eyes turned our way.
“We don’t know,” Lula said. “We just got possession of it again. We haven’t touched it to find out.”
“Why’s that?” Elmer asked.
“Because when we touch it,” I said, “when Lula touches it, it’s likely other things, other monsters and gods, will notice.”
“And?” Josie asked.
“And head our way to kill us for the book.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” Pamela sipped coffee, frown lines between her eyebrows. “These two are fine with you having the book even though they are obviously very powerful. No, I don’t know exactly what you are, but I can see you’re hiding a lot of power.”
“Fair,” Raven said.
“Why not take the book for yourselves?”
“Because we can’t touch it,” Cupid said. “Just as none of you can touch it. The book chooses who can wield the power within it. As far as I can tell, there are only two souls alive on Earth who can touch the book and cast its spells.”
The eyes returned to us, this time with a mix of shock and worry.
“Hard luck,” Elmer said. “You never want to be the chosen one in these sorts of situations.”
“Don’t we know it,” I said.
“Then you really do need to hear why we drove three states to get to you,” Elmer said. “You have a god on your tail.”
“Mithra?” Lula asked. “Ate?”
“Not them,” Pamela said. “The stirring on hunter radio—”
“—it’s not an actual radio. Just a way we get important information to each other,” Josie said. “Big information.”
“Right,” Pamela said. “We’re hearing—everyone is hearing—that you’re being hunted. By a god.”
We were the target of another god. It should worry me, but we’d caught the attention of Cupid, Raven, and Death himself. We’d been hunted by Mithra, and Ate.
That was a lot of gods for one life.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t concerned, but the hits kept coming and nothing could surprise me right now.
What was one more god added to the pile of gods who were already trying to kill us?
“Who?” I asked. “Which god?”
“Apep,” Elmer said. “The god who wants to destroy all creation.”