The next morning had seen Jo with barely an itch at the back of her throat, her chest clear, and her sweat-soaked skin cooling beneath the fan above her bed. When herabuelitahad come to check on her, she had removed a terracotta bowl from the floor and cracked the egg into its depth, an orangey-red surrounding the yolk. The sickness had found a new vessel, she had explained, and Jo hadn’t questioned it; children rarely did. She was better after all and had believed in her grandmother absolutely.
There was no way of knowing if Jo’s fever had simply chosen that night to break, or if her grandmother had truly embodied some ancient, Hispanic magic, but Jo had grown up believing. In fact, when she’d ended up in the Society, part of her had expected her own magic to in some way be linked to that lineage ofcuranderas.
But all of this, the healing, the egg, it had nothing to do with Jo’s magic and how it worked after all. Perhaps the same magic was there, but it manifested differently in each individual? Still, it was the only “real world” tether Jo had to anything supernatural, so she threw out her Spanish query and was presented with varying results. There were slightly different spins on the Society’s lore, but much the same as what she’d found in English, overall.
Disappointing.
Jo pushed away from the computer, frustrated at the query and frustrated at herself. What did she think she’d find? A succinct summary of the history of the Society and all its members? None of them existed; they never had, as far as the world was concerned. Even though herabuelitahad died almost two years prior to Jo’s entrance into the Society, there was no doubt in her mind that she would have forgotten about Jo, too. Her heart twinged at the thought, rebelling against the idea.
Small victory, that—knowing that her grandmother had died before she’d had a chance to forget.
Her fingers landed back on the keyboard. She knew she couldn’t find out anything about the members of the Society and their supposed lineages—those were erased with time and the resetting of the world each of their wishes had wrought. But there was something about the lore of the Society that kept it clinging to reality despite the world being rebuilt time and again. And perhaps that wasn’t the only lore she could find.
The Bow of the Goddess
Jo keyed in the name of the book Eslar had given her. Most of the hits were related to a legendary item in some mass-multiplayer online game that Jo had only a vague knowledge of. Scrolling down, she landed on some page listing hunting deities from various cultures. It seemed almost every corner of the world had some kind of lore on bow-wielding divinities. There was no shortage of stories of them striking down man and beast alike. But nothing perfectly resembled Eslar’s book.
Pushing away from the desk, Jo stood, pacing. The idea of the lore passed down through ages, an invisible hand guiding it—stuck with Jo worse than fresh gum on the underside of her shoe on a hot day. The internet may have forgotten past ages and histories, reduced to just scattered snippets. But Jo had something—someone—that could be even better.
BTCOTS NOTES 3
Information overload but repetitive.
Search term: Divine Wars
Result: AESIR (Æsir)-VANIR WAR (Norse Mythology)
Fits the battle for control mold
Two main pantheons fighting
Ages of Gods (older v newer) not relevant here
Merged into one pantheon after war – Vanir’s leaders split & controlled by Aesir
Definitive weapon was a forged spear
Compiled all notes to date.
Cross-referenced Eslar’s book for Age of Magic perspective.
Core elements:
War between gods (specifically elder—Oblivion. And newer—everyone else)
Battle for control
Deceit of some gods
Goddess of the hunt/archery
Magical item (bow & arrow/spear) to defeat ultimate evil
Chapter 10
Springtide Pillars
Jo took the stairs up toward the hall of bedrooms two at a time. In a blink, she was standing before Eslar’s door, knocking before she could think otherwise. Then again, if she was going to talk herself out of this plan, she would’ve done it hours—days ago.No, she was committed. There would be no other Nicos and there would be no more games with their existence.
