An interesting reason to justify not wanting to die.
I tossed more brush from her miscellaneous pile of things into the small fire. We were dry, warm, and settling just in time for the daytime stars to disappear over the tree line. Collecting wood for fires needed to be one of my first priorities. Her stash wouldn’t last long, and it would take time for anything I gathered to dry out.
“I came back to see you.”
“Oh?”
Her eyes flickered with sadness again for a brief moment. Was my injury upsetting her? Or my near hypothermia? I wanted to know so I could comfort her. But she’d asked me an important question.
“I know about other females like you. I want to help make sure that you have the resources and information you need to survive on this planet.”
“You know other demigoddesses?”
I cringed. “Pleasedon’t be so quick to throw that word around. It’s dangerous for you.”
“Good to know,” she chuckled softly, naively calm about the situation. “Pray tell, what’s so dangerous?”
I needed to be honest with her. Graysen wasn’t being honest with Faeryn, and I waspretty confidentthat was a mistake. If this female knew the danger she was in, she would act accordingly. The moment she was on E.A.R.T.H.’s radar, it would be too late. They wouldn’t stop until they had her.
“This planet is experiencing an energy crisis. There aren’t enough resources to fuel society. An organization called E.A.R.T.H.—I know, same name—found out your sisters make for a convenientsolutionto that problem. The energy of a goddess is very powerful.”
Her brows furrowed. “What kind ofsolutionis that?”
Part of me suddenly didn’t want to burden her with the harsh reality, but losing her freedom would be a high price to pay for blissful ignorance.
“They capture goddesses and hook them up to machines that feed from them while they’re comatose and drugged. The machines fill factories built in fields like yours.”
“They fuckingMatrixus?!” she exclaimed over a distant crack of thunder, coughing and pounding her chest like she was choking on the concept.
That word meant nothing to me, but at least she seemed appropriately upset. “I’ve worked with an organization meant to combat the problem, but progress is… complicated. In return for saving my life, I’d like to help make sure you stay safely hidden while the rest of the world sorts itself out.” That was an over-simplification of why I was here. But it would do.
“We’re even now, remember? You don’t owe me anything.” She popped one of the berries into her mouth. “Surprised to hear about the factories, though. I guess I thought technology wasn’t really a thing here.”
“It is for the rich.” I thought about the car I’d taken from G.P.O., the lightbulbs in my pub, and the machine in my backpack used to detect her field. Maybe that bitter stereotype wasn’t giving her an accurate picture of the situation.I should correct myself. “Some simple technologies are common. More advanced ones vary by region, organization, and tax bracket.”
She hummed to herself, thinking. “That makes sense, I guess. I never had my own T.V., but there were a few above the booths at work. Cheers to being lower class.”
My eyes fixated on her pouted lips while she pondered, then panned to the fruits in her palm. “May I try one?”
“Oh yeah, I guess you’ve never had a blackberry,” she remarked, holding out her cupped palm full of them.
I picked up the fruit and rotated it, noting some of the bumps were dark blue while others were red. “What does it taste like?”
“Depends on if it’s ripe. Sometimes they’re bitter. Sometimes they’re sweet.”
I dropped the fruit on my tongue and bit down.
Fucking. Delicious.That’s what a blackberry tasted like.
“They keep me surprisingly full. I really thought I’d go hungry out here, but nope,” she mused, continuing to munch.
Remembering I’d packed food, I reached into my bag. “Let me get you something that isn’t fruit.” I pulled out a sack of salted meats.
“Oh, shit,” she grimaced. “I can’t eat meat. It makes me sick. It makesall of ussick… Ithink. That’s what the book said.” Her eyes wandered reflectively. “Whichexplains what happened when I ate the shredded chicken at work last year…” She shuddered. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of The Exorcist? It was like that.”
“What book?”
“Oh, I was given a book when I was sent here. It had an overview of the whole ‘goddess’ thing. Although it conveniently didn’t mention thatmother dearestis sending her daughters to a planet that’s turning them into batteries.”
