Page 23 of The Goddess is Fierce
george
. . .
Ifinally felt like I was getting the full college experience. Yeah, I nearly got kicked off the dodgeball team just for how I was born, but I was sucking in my classes and I was sitting in Halliwell Square with the dodgeball team and cheerleading celebrating the fact that I didn’t get kicked off the team.
Michael finally realized Innis wasverygay and not into me and stopped threatening to beat his ass any time he touched me. I think it helped that Innis already had his sleuth and most of them were on the dodgeball team. They were crowded around Drake, Oscar, and me fawning over us.
“So, like, you could conjure this beer I got with a fake ID in Ireland when I was fourteen and on vacation? I remember that beer fondly. My balls hadn’t dropped yet, so just the one got me shit faced. The pub I was in refused to serve me another, so I stumbled into a different pub.
“I didn’t know it was a gay bar, but every twink, daddy, and bear knew I was drunk and underaged. They wouldn’t let me drink, but they talked to me and fed me until I sobered up. I talked about some of the confused feelings I was sorting through. If I hadn’t snuck out of the hotel while my parents were seeing a play and had that beer, it probably would have taken meagesto figure out I was gay,” Innis said.
I’d already conjured a ton of food and booze for our little party. I didn’t see the point in making anyone leave to get some or raid their stashes in their dorm rooms when I could do that. It was honestly kind of great. When I said I could wave my hand and make any type of food or beverage they wanted to appear, they started telling stories like Innis did.
It was little stories about food they tried on vacation or locally and the memories associated with them. Some of them weren’t as big as Innis’s beer, but they were happy little memories associated with something I could easily make happen. And I was getting to know them all a lot better.
“Give me something to go on and I’ll make that beer happen for everyone.”
We were all getting pretty drunk because I had been conjuring drinks for about two hours. Innis gave me what I needed and everyone got their beer. I didn’t even get to taste mine when a shower of daisies appeared in Halliwell Square. My teammates and the cheerleaders hadn’t met Freya yet, but they knew she was a god.
I didn’t know if Zion did this on purpose, but everyone on the dodgeball team wassuperrespectful in addition to being verytalented at dodgeball. They would have stopped horsing around as soon as she appeared because Freya looked upset.
“I hate to break up the party, but I need to borrow George for god stuff.”
“You’ll have to do without the team forward and goalie, too,” Drake said. “We aren’t gods, but we help.”
“I’m just here because I’m insanely pretty,” West said.
I reached over and flicked West on the forehead. He gasped, but he knewexactlywhy I did it. Theonlyreason West wouldn’t have gotten into the Academy of the Profane or another college when he was eighteen was because he didn’t like school.
“Everyone grab a god,” I said.
All my guys grabbed me. Innis was probably the drunkest out of everyone in Halliwell Square. They hadn’t really seen all the things I could do. I could hear him drunkenly scream how badass it was as we all disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke and daisies.
west
. . .
Icouldn’t see the future and I wasn’t well versed in god stuff except for my girlfriend, but Iwasexcellent at reading women. I didn’t know Freya that well, but I knew that look on her face. That wasnotthe face of a woman who just got visited by a raven who gave her friend his memories back. Something bad had happened, and a god was scared. She was trying to hide it from the dodgeball team and George, but I didn’t work at becoming the best boyfriend ever for George because that kind of thing slipped past me.
We arrived at a different cabin than Azren’s. Azren was pacing and Odin was sitting with Baldur. I didn’t even knowwhat happened but Baldur looked like he felt terrible about it. If they caught him blacked out trying to kill witches, we were going to have to seriously reconsider letting him be a boyfriend-in-law if things didn’t work out with his wife when he got his memories back.
My lioness wasmuchtoo nice. She didn’t know what he did either, but she flew to Baldur and wrapped her arms around him. The big guy looked like a puppy who had been kicked, but he melted into her like she could fix it.
“What happened?” George demanded.
“I got another heart,” Freya said. “It’s not fresh. It’s been preserved and was left on my pillow wrapped in a bow with a rose.”
Ew.
“Ithasto be me,” Baldur moaned.
“Well, did you black out today or over Yule break?” I asked.
Everyone just stared at me. What? It was a good question. Azren ran their fingers through their hair.
“Ah, fuck. The lion has figured it out. I’ve been agonizing over this since Yule and he figured it out,” Azren said.
“I don’t get it,” Baldur said.
