Creation Dreamer: A Heroine Fantasy Adventure (Calpso Goddess Series: Book One 1) Read online

  He took a moment. “No. It can not be me. It won’t be me.”

  I lifted my staff as fire began to rage inside it. Clarimonde landed on top just in time.

  “Magpie Turnley,” she called out. “You must come.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll see you tomorrow. When I come back. I’ll stop by if that’s okay?”

  “We’ll see a lot of each other. Don’t worry.”

  “Okay.” I looked at Clarimonde. “Hey, can you do the in-between with me?”

  “Can I do the . . . honey, you just watch me. Now I finally have someone to do it with.”

  “Bye, River.”

  He walked back toward his camp and the little tent without ever looking back.

  Clarimonde and I took our time playing in-between. Hide and find behind tree trunks kept us laughing and dancing. Pulling energy from there for shields in my world was one thing, but to walk in-between was something else entirely. What was a foot between trees in regular space was as big as I wanted in-between. It felt like the frontier everyone searched for, but never found. Colors were dimmed, senses unchallenged, but having Clarimonde there, well, I didn’t care about the landscape. I couldn’t remember the last time I giggled like a girl without fear.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me your story?” I asked.

  “Not much to tell, really. I was just a raven-girl. And then I was a raven-woman. And then a raven-madam. And then I died. The un-death. You have vampires in your world?”

  “None that are animals.” I was only more intrigued by her. “Are there more of you?”

  “Of course!”

  “I’d like to meet them one day.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Okay, let me get to the point before I decide you are just procrastinating. I eat blood. From living beings. We all do. You would just be—”

  “Dinner. I get it.”

  “More of a sampler platter. But we can’t take without permission. We can’t take without honor.

  “You can have some of mine if you need it.”

  She grabbed my hand. “Let’s go. You have a Claiming to get to.”

  “Fine.”

  She was in such a hurry.

  17

  A Claiming I Will Go

  Clarimonde and I re-formed in the forest where Zach and his clan were waiting. I’ll admit it was beyond hysterical to just pop in on a crew of cats sleeping. The number of claws at my throat was worrisome until Zach’s nose met mine.

  “Maggs. Is that you? Damn, look at you, and your little staff, too.”

  I gave him a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see the Lodge light on again.” He leaned in close. “Come on, what’s it like up there? It’s crazy, right? Really crazy?”

  “You know I can’t tell you anything.” I moved my mouth to his ear. “Thing is, traps all the way up. Lots of skeletons on the way. Lots of decaying dead bodies.”

  Zach pulled back with a jolt and then squinted his eyes at me. “Hey, you almost got me, Caly Cat.” He body-slammed me. “Come on. Lots of people looking for you.”

  “Wait. I was worried you were—the attack and everything.”

  “We’re okay. A few injuries, but you know how cats scream.”

  “But no more arrow action? I know Blue Eagle is in the Tower, but what about—”

  “His little army of idiots? Don’t have anything to worry about. All taken care of. Besides, you’ve opened the Creation Dreamer medicine now. No one’s going to do anything but try to Claim you.”

  “You, Zach?”

  “You know I got your back. Just have to see if I have enough pure-at-heart bullshit going on to be worthy.”

  We stood in an easy silence.

  “Come on. We should go.” Zach took my hand and lead me through the forest and onto the path toward the Village. The orbs had done their job. No sign of fire damage.

  Clarimonde was not far ahead of us. The lights from the amphitheater made finding my way easy, and Zach was good company. The clan followed close behind, but gave us room. I could hear their steps in the grass and their heartbeats and purrs. The crowd was deafening, though I was relieved to see Lola at the orb circle waiting for me. Zach guided the cats around the back in the shadows by the Elder tree.

  “Just in case, Maggs. We’ll lay low.” He glanced back at me with a wink.

  Lola’s open arms calmed me. She was as beautiful as the first time I saw her. Behind her the double waning moons still hung in the sky.

  “The hair! Love. Body art. Always a good choice. Everyone is really excited.” She pulled me in and touched my face. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  I caught someone running at me, waving arms in a panic. “Maggie, oh my gods, Maggie, you’re here, thank the . . . I don’t know who to thank.” Thomas threw himself on me, sobbing. “Wait, Maggie? Look at you.”

  “What the hell took you so long to find me?” I was happy to see him, but didn’t want him to know that.

  “Are you okay? I mean really okay? I was so afraid you left me here.” He sobbed harder.

  “I told you, I won’t leave you.”

  “I know. I know, I should have believed you.” I started to pull away; he tightened his grip. “The orbs. I’m telling you, I have a bad feeling about this. A bad feeling about all of this tonight.”

  I stroked his face. He had no idea of the power teeming inside me held back by mindful boundaries, but chiding me with every step. “It’s going to be great, Thomas. Really. Now you see the cat clan in the back? You go and you hang with them. They will take good care of you during this ritual thing.”

  Zach caught my eye and nodded. Thomas ran to him. My belly did squeeze in just a bit. Thomas had always been right and truthfully, I felt a little tense about the evening as well.

  Musicians played for a full amphitheater. I looked back to the forest line, disappointed that River hadn’t changed his mind. From that angle, the Lodge light shot up as a violet flame into the sky, and I swear it touched the stars. Somewhere around the fourth star from the right on the Ladle constellation. I was sure the Celestial had gotten the message that I’d arrived and claimed the power. I hoped Ossia knew, too.

  The streets through the Village were full of freshly planted flowers and torch lights. It was warm and romantic. Everyone had a smile and a bow for me. I had never seen so much ass-kissing before, especially in my direction. I decided to enjoy it and allow everyone to pamper me as they wished. Word was obviously out that I drank coffee and cream; it was everywhere. The musicians with flutes and guitars followed Lola and me as we wound around the Village to my little guest house. Lola stopped.

  “Go ahead.” She pointed for me to go in. “Don’t you want to change? I got you some fresh clothes, of course. I mean you don’t want to save the world in a cloak from Mountain Bear’s cave do you?”

  I bolted inside and up the stairs. A fresh pair of hiking boots—not government issued—were on the floor by the bed. And placed with precision on top was a pair of black pants with six different pockets, a black lace tank top and a soft flowing green shirt.

  In all my life, I had never had such a gift.

  I slid my blade in my new boots and my arrow through a loop on my pants. Lola called up to me. It was time to start the ritual.

  With a musical flourish, all the Alphazians stood and cheered as we entered the amphitheater. Lola led me to, well, I’d have to call it a throne. Tall back and seemingly made of some kind of obsidian and gold, the throne took my breath for a minute. Just like the one in the snapshot. As I sat, twenty odd cat eyes looked back at me. Such noble and dedicated guardians.

  Lola stood beside me in grand stature. “Of course,” it suddenly hit me, “you’ve taken Blue Eagle’s place with the ceremony.”

  “Thought you might appreciate a friend getting you through this. Besides, we want to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Zach thought I had nothing to worry a
bout. It was all taken care of.”

  “Well, who can trust a cat? Sorry. Present company excluded. I just want to be sure. Besides, I promised River Wolf.”

  “River Wolf?”

  “Yes. He asked me to stay close to you. Make sure nothing happens. What did you do to him out there? I can’t get him to look twice at me.”

  But his smell is all over you.

  “Has he ever been with someone? I mean lived with someone?”

  “Once.” She looked away, but pulled herself up and onto my throne platform. The clapping quieted as she began.

  “What a glorious night under the magic of the double waning moons. As foretold in the Sacred Records of Earth, the new Creation Dreamer is born!” She glanced at me. “So join me in honoring the moons tonight just as we honor the awakening of Magpie Turnley.”

  Cheers began as one of the gentle deer-beings walked to the center by the cauldron of fire and made a plant offering. The smell wasn’t familiar to me, and the smoke from it was too thick to inhale. She sat in the center of the theatre and pulled a harp between her legs. Too much deja vu. As she plucked the strings, tears rolled down my cheeks. Uncontrollable. I wiped them away, hidden, as the smoke covered my body.

  The memories took control. It felt like I’d been gone a lifetime. It felt like I’d been gone an hour. Up was down and down was up. I wanted to go home. I wanted to make it all go back to the way it was—to start that last night all over. Sing and strip with Rosie. Give George the real amethyst. Be naked with Fisher and leave immediately that night.

  What if we had just gone?

  I sank down into my throne—that somehow fit my ass perfectly, like creepy perfect—resting my forehead in my hand, trying desperately to hear voices from the other side of the veil. I used my new superpower hearing to find anyone who was home to me. Just to have one more moment with people who loved me. I would have given my life not to feel the emptiness of their silence.

  Mountain Bear said the veil was open. What if I just ran to the other side. Why would this be denied me?

  And then I remembered if I didn’t Dream, it was all lost. All that I longed for and hoped for. The only way was to forge ahead. Or die.

  Lola touched my head, “Headache?”

  I sat up and pulled myself back together. “Just a memory of home. But now I have a new home. Not much back there for me anymore, anyway.” Lying was still a good option. Aldon was right; I was fickle.

  The harpist finished. I imagined Rosie taking a bow, and I stood cheering her memory. Lola stepped forward. I felt a bit dizzy but figured it was the emotional after effects. I heard Lola’s voice. “And now, we give our offerings and pledge to our Dreamer—” And then it faded out.

  I was overtaken, drugged like rounds of bad Rosie beers. It had to be the plant offering. I was liquid consciousness. The violet laser from the Lodge seared up my nose, down my throat, into my stomach, and out along my neurological system until every cell in me was violet light. I tried to blow it out. The breaths turned into fog and the fog turned into blackness.

  I stood barefoot on a shore with the waves tickling my toes and the song of the ocean serenading me. My Neesa. I laid down in her as the waves washed me and pulled on me with tender tugs. There was a rhythm in her strokes and a warmth in the vastness of her presence.

  “Can I stay here?” I really wanted to know.

  There was no answer.

  “If I let go from here, I know all of this will be behind me. It seems an easier path to just let go. I want it. I crave it. Please, I know you can hear me.”

  There was no answer.

  “I have the right to make this choice. I can just slip away inside this craving for my ending. And I can’t just slip away in this. Stop torturing me, you fucks! I know I have to stay. I have to try, but why do I have to try? When life is so painful, why do we stay?”

  There was no answer.

  I forced myself to stand. And I looked out at all the possibility waiting in the darkness.

  “Honey, are you listening to anything going on here?” It was Lola.

  “Drugged,” was all I could say. Before I knew it, Clarimonde had pierced my neck, and I felt the slight drag through my jugular. She spit almost immediately.

  “That’s drugged all right, but it’s not the plant. It’s the coffee.”

  I had no idea how she could figure that out with such detail. Mountain Bear’s voice eased me. “Pour yourself back into your energy hoop.”

  I focused, but I couldn’t do it. So I grew a little bigger and pulled in a big fucking draft of good old Dreamer energy. I was back in one breath. Fully back. Faces filled with fake smiles looking at me from every direction.

  One of those fake faces drugged me.

  Zach was in front of me, kneeling. “I just want Caly Cat to know that I will always protect and take care of her. Not that you need taking care of. I mean, you are the one with the power. I just hope that you know my heart is true, and I honor this medicine you now carry.” He laid flowers at my feet and then placed his orb on top, which went dark the moment his hands released it. The ritual had started and I didn’t even know it.

  There were rows and rows of flowers with orbs just like his. I had missed all the accolades and protection promises while sucked into my dark-deathlands journey. That was a good time, I have to admit. But then as I looked at all the orbs on all the flowers sitting in utter darkness, I realized the sacrifice of personal power each being made. They must have felt so completely alone and desperate. Naked. But looking at the cut flowers, I wondered if the plant beings were going to lay dead animals at my feet.

  My darkness was interrupted by a commotion wave through the theater, and Lola seemed beside herself tapping my shoulder just as River walked in. I didn’t want my body to react, but it did. He stood in front of me.

  “Magpie Turnley. I pledge myself to your honor and care. And if you will, regardless of how this Claiming things works out, please accept this for your protection.” He handed me a ring of gold with a deep green emerald stone. “May it serve you as your pendant served you in the past.” He placed the ring in my hand.

  He left. No orb. No flowers. He wasn’t there to claim me. I pulled Lola down to my face. “Do I get a break, or do I have to sit here and keep doing this thing with everyone? Or can I go and come back? What are the rules here?”

  “You get to do what you want.” Her eyebrows creased, and her head turned to a very owl-like juxtaposition.

  “Great. So everyone can just keep declaring their love and loyalty, but I don’t actually have to listen to any of it?”

  “Not the best approach, but yes.” Staccato voice Lola.

  “So I have, what, about an hour?” I watched River fade into the forest.

  Lola looked toward him and then back to me as her smile grew. “Hurry!” She pursed her lips and blinked both eyes. “But get back fast. I don’t know what an hour is.”

  I shapeshifted and used all my tiger strength, kicked up a notch by good old-fashioned desire, to catch him. “River!” I yelled, cresting the last knoll. He stood there so beautifully touched by the double moon light.

  “You came,” I said, shifting to Calypso.

  “You came,” he replied.

  My hands were in his hair before I could think. “I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you through the veil that night in the ocean. Our men don’t have hair, really. Well, Rosie still does. Most find it easier to cut it off.”

  “But Fisher?” River whispered.

  My fingers touched his lips. “Dead, I think.”

  “But you love him.”

  “I do love him.” I pushed River back. “I’ve told you nothing of Fisher. Nothing.”

  “You must have. Sure you did. That first night when you were here. Before you—I mean after you fed and came back to the tent. Don’t you remember us talking about him?”

  “Sorry. I am just—” I looked away, trying to remember anything that night. Other than climbing into a small ten
t.

  “Maggs, it’s okay. You were exhausted.” He kissed my neck down to my collar bone.

  I was fucking pissed he had brought Fisher into the moment. And I was completely out of my mind to even think of being with River Wolf. But I couldn’t help myself. I hated being alone. Fisher knew that. The month he was in Lava Pits. He had given me permission.

  My thoughts were evil. I could have River that night and then, the next day, dream it all away. He wouldn’t remember any of it. I would. But he would be free of it, and we could have this one night. One hour. Whatever that meant anymore.

  “Maggie. I can’t claim you.”

  “You don’t have to. I just want to be with you.”

  And in the new dream, I’ll make you claim me. So easy. MB is wrong. I am goddess.

  “We only have a short time before I have to get back.”

  I barely got the words out before his lips finally touched mine. Hesitant. Slow. We connected.

  “Let me do this.” I ripped my clothes off. And then reached for his. We stood together naked as I headed toward the tent.

  “No, wait. I want to look at you.” His hands traced the symbols on my body flowing from one to the other, down my neck and past my nipples. He rested his hand on my hip. “You are—what happened to the dolphin tattoo?”

  “And how do you know about that?”

  “You told me everything that night.”

  “I don’t think I did.”

  “You must have.” We kissed as his hand reached my low back and pulled me in.

  “Doesn’t matter.” The senses of a Creation Dreamer were astonishing. Each time he touched me, I shivered.

  “Is this okay?” He seemed genuinely worried.

  “Yes, just getting used to my new skin.”

  His hand draped between my legs for a second, but it was all I needed to orgasm.

  “New skin.”

  He smiled. “Well, let’s see how many times that can happen before you have to get back.”