“Thor, what's amiss?” Odin asked.
Nick came out of hiding and went to rub against Thor's legs; he had always loved Thor. Even in his obvious agitation, Thor took the time to crouch down and pet the cat. It made me smile and wonder what would have been between us, had there been no Odin. But Odin and I had beaten death together; no one could compete with that.
Nope; not one at all. There are six others.
“What was that?” I asked Odin.
“I asked Thor what was wrong.” Odin transferred his curious look to me.
“No; I thought you said something else.” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
That wasn't him, it was me, Vervain. I'm Alaric, the Consciousness of the Void. Do you remember me at all?
I ignored the voice as Odin and Thor both stared at me strangely. First the dizzy spell, then Munin, and now, I was hearing voices. This wasn't good. Every witch knew that once you started hearing voices, your sanity was on the outs. Shit; maybe it was the baby messing with me. Magical children could cause odd reactions in human mothers.
You're not insane and it's not the baby! Damn it; I knew it was going to be harder this time around.The voice went on.Look, I'm just going to lay it all out for you so you can process it. You're in the wrong timeline; a god and a goddess teamed up to change your history and fuck with you and your loved ones. The first change didn't work out so well for them so they had to try again. We're on the second go, Vervain, and that means that your memories will be harder to regain. You must try to remember. I can't tell you everything, or it will hinder your progress, but if you don't remember, that time could lose its hold on you and disappear forever.
A chill went down my spine.
“Vervain?” Odin had his hand on my arm.
“Yes?” I looked up at him.
“Are you with us?” Odin crouched down to look over my face. “You seem distracted.”
“No; I'm here,” I protested.
“You didn't hear a word I said.” Thor hovered over his father; his face set into the same lines of concern.
The resemblance between father and son became achingly apparent while they were in such close proximity to each other.
“Sorry; I've been having dizzy spells this morning,” I said.
“See?” Odin stood to face Thor. “She can't go with you; she's pregnant and having dizzy spells, Thor. I'm shocked that you would even ask.”
“Ask me what?”
“There's a big protest happening in New Mexico,” Thor said. “They want to put an oil pipeline near the water source for the Navajo Nation. If it were to ever leak, it would contaminate the water.”
“That's horrible,” I said. “Haven't the Native Americans suffered enough? The Government gives them the worst land and now they may end up poisoning their water?”
“And that's exactly why there are protesters coming in from all over the US,” Thor said.
“There isn't anything that Vervain can do about it, Thor,” Odin growled.
“I believe there's a god behind this,” Thor said to me. “The protests are peaceful, but the response to them have been extremely violent. They oil company has hired security that has brought in attack dogs, water cannons, and riot gear. People are going to get hurt, and a god is going to benefit from it.”
“I've already stopped manipulating humans,” Odin said. “And Vervain isn't hunting anymore.”
“But your name and your magic could help us, Godhunter,” Thor said. “You scare them, and you have that ability to take god magic.”
“An ability that she used only once, by accident, on me,” Odin said. “We haven't tested it properly.”
“Odin, people are being hurt because they want clean water,” I said as I stood. “That's not right.”
“You're pregnant, Vervain,” Odin growled. “You can't be putting yourself in harm's way.”
“I'm still in my first trimester,” I said. “The baby will be fine.”
