Page 19 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

Apparently, Kartika and Chloe both had some fight training, specifically in martial arts and with sword work. Only Chloe made it out to practice though. She had worked to get her black belt when she was on the police force.

There was a large flat part of the driveway stretching out into a gravel yard. This was where Chloe took me for sword practice.

“Shouldn’t we be wearing padding or doing our work on a mat or something?” I asked her. She handed me the sword and took a stand opposite me.

“I found you learn quicker the faster you go down on the ground,” she said. “If it leaves a few scrapes. You’ll remember it more quickly.”

“Yes,” I said as she nailed me with her elbow, rushing forward.

“Hey, not cool,” I protested.

“Neither is your enemy,” she said. “They’re going to try to hit you every chance they get. Particularly when you’re not looking. They’re not necessarily going to take their sword to you. First thing you’ve got to learn when you’re fighting in the supernatural world is they will use absolutely every single little advantage they have against you. In this case it was the advantage of surprise. You came here thinking we were having a lesson in sword play, so I pushed you to the ground with my shoulder, which is something you weren’t expecting. You always have to think about that with the enemy. Always think about what they’re not expecting and then do it. Of course, to do that you have to know what they’re expecting.”

“I’m expecting you to teach me how to use the sword,” I said with a growl, pulling myself up off the gravel and wiping the small pebbles out of my skin. I pulled the sword down and pointed it directly at her, waving it around in the air and then bringing it down in a slice in front of where she was standing.

She looked at me, impressed with the moves I made.

“For years my mother drove me the next town over to take martial art lessons,” I said. “You’re not the only one who knows a thing or two about weapons, but I’m happy to spar with you,” I grinned, holding the sword up against her.

We came together in a clash of swords. I wasn’t surprised by Chloe’s strength. She had an athletic build that gave itself to sword fighting and fast movement. At least as fast as two middle-aged women were going to get. There was no denying we were a little slower than our younger male counterparts, who were fortunately not watching us spar, but I was still proud of the work we were doing. I could only be as good as I possibly was and not worry about what other people were doing.

I was winded after about an hour. The energy moving through my system gave me a new life, a new focus. I felt like bags had been lifted off my shoulders. I felt lighter and more agile, more capable.

And, I still didn’t know what I was.

We moved out to the back terrace when we were done, and Mae brought us each a cup of cold Witch’s Brew. It was thoroughly refreshing, with a hint of Rosemary and lavender in it and topped with a high note of lime. It gave me a little bit of extra zing as I sat there catching my breath.

“I had no idea I could even move like that,” I said.

“It has something to do with you finding that sword,” Mae said. “Somehow the sword has ignited your superpowers.

“Here here,” I said, raising my glass in a bit of a toast.

“None too soon,” Kartika said. “The rumbling at the cemetery is getting worse. I was down there early with Frank, and we were trying to see if this new ward idea we had worked. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. We brought in the formation of the crystals wrapped in wire. It should’ve sparked all of the wards to be a little stronger, but it didn’t have any effect on them. Not a single one. It’s unheard of. It means the power of the Styx is getting stronger.”

“The power of what?” I asked. “Isn’t like a band from the Seventies?”.

“I don’t know anything about a band from the Seventies,” Kartika said, “but the Styx river flows underneath a lot of different places, including Cougar Creek. It carries the souls of the dead to the underworld, but something’s happened. When they started blocking off all the portals, it created a backlog of the dead souls, so now they’re all left in a rotting mass in the River Styx and, well, she’s pissed.”

“And that’s our problem because?” I asked.

“Because Cougar Creek is closed. The demigods want it closed for a reason. We let the demigods keep it closed, but then it’s actually affected one of the demigod’s rivers.

“The demigods don’t give Styx any attention. She’s a bit pissed she’s been sidelined and polluted so she wants to make her mark and her plan is to do so here in Cougar Creek,” Mae said.

“Wait a minute,” I held my hand up. “Isn’t Styx a God? Aren’t they like…gone from Earth?”

“This Styx is a demigod,” Kartika explained, “who has taken the name of the God who is their ancestor.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Alrighty then.”

“We found out,” Jane continued, “that they saw Cougar Creek as weak because it didn’t have the keeper of the portal in place. So, they came here thinking they could take it over, but instead they brought together probably one of the strongest covens of all time. The Cougar Creek coven.”

“How can you be certain they were so strong?” I asked. “None of us have even done very much magic.”

“We’ve withstood five different attacks from them.” Bianca pointed out.

“If we’re up against a demigod, shouldn’t we call the DGC?” I asked.

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