“You okay?”I asked, breaking into the conversation.
“I don’t feel well at all.I would have stayed home, but since we were having an important meeting today, I came in.After we’re done, I’d like to go home, if possible.”Wager looked sweaty, and I pressed my hand to his forehead.
“You feel hot.Maybe you should go now,” I said.
“I’ll wait until we’re done, then head home,” he said.“Don’t worry about me.I just have a rough stomach today.”
“Okay, well, if you need to leave, let us know.”I turned back to the others.
Herne, Kipa, and Viktor were sitting at the massive round table where we held meetings, talking.Raven was reading the news on her tablet.And Lyrical was still on her road trip.We were transitioning her out of the business and into the temple I was founding, which felt weird as shit.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said.“Ionie lost Jex.”
“Oh, crap,” Herne said.“That’s a disaster.”
“It would be, except I managed to find him again.I swear, Jex better never wear out.At least until she’s ready to let go of him.”Somehow, I had the feeling that when our daughter was a thousand years old, she’d still be cuddling the stuffed toy.“So, does anybody know when Morgana and Cernunnos will be here?”
“We’ll be here when we’re here.”Behind me, Cernunnos’s voice echoed against the walls, its deep resonance ricocheting through the room.
I whirled.Talia was leading them both into the room.The fact that the gods could appear wherever they wanted was still alien to me.I hadn’t yet developed the ability to teleport—or whatever the hell it was they did.Apparently, it was a skill that only came with time after a mortal had been through the Gadawnoin.
“Hey,” I moved to hug Morgana.I’d originally been pledged to her, but now she was my mentor rather than my patron.And she was my mother-in-law, which was a whole different sort of bond.“Are you stopping in to see the girls after you leave here?”I asked.
“You think we’d leave without seeing our granddaughters?”Cernunnos asked.“Think again, Missy.”
I snorted.It still felt odd how cozy we’d all gotten since I had the girls.They had both treated me well enough when I was still Herne’s girlfriend, but after we got married, the energy between us had taken an interesting shift.
“Well, come in and sit down,” Herne said.
Morgana stayed standing.“In a moment,” she said, the congenial feel dropping away.“We have a serious issue to attend to.”
“The Aqcarians?”I asked, settling down beside Herne.We were facing a potential time bomb, given the new threats from a group of Water Fae who had previously remained hidden.
“Yes, but there’s more to our visit than that,” Cernunnos said, his voice resonating with a rich bass tone.“Our historians are researching them, by the way.We’ve run into ancient texts that link Jorgununda with the actual Jörmungandr of Ragnarök fame.She’s a distant ancestor of his.And the Aqcarians are her chosen people.Well, they aren’t exactly people, but...”
“We get the idea,” I said.
“I hate to bring this up,” Herne said.“But I got a note from the mayor this morning.You know how she promised to keep people away from the open water of Puget Sound as much as possible?”Herne said.
Viktor nodded.“Because of the giant octopuses that were capsizing boats?”
I nodded.“Yeah.What’s happened?”
“The mayor can’t resist the tourism industry any longer.She had to lift the restrictions.”
“It’s like Jaws, all over again,” Talia muttered.
Angel and I had watched that movie.I shivered.“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
“We’re going to needa lotof bigger boats,” Herne said.“Chances are she’s going to get voted out in the next election for ‘destroying’ the summer tourist trade, although frankly, I’m not sure how much Seattle depends on water tourism.But yes, she lifted the restrictions.The octopuses were never caught; they’re still out there.”
“Can we ask Ashera to go find them?”I asked.“She’s a dragon.”
“She already went out.They almost dragged her down.She barely escaped,” Kipa said.“It’s going to take more than a dragon to destroy them.”
“Does she have any friends who can go with her?”Herne asked.
Raven shrugged.“We could ask her,” Raven said.“But we don’t even know how many are out there, where they’re hiding, or how the Aqcarians are controlling them.
