Page 32 of The Goddess is Fierce
When we got back to our dorm room, there were pieces of paper folded hotel style on our pillows. There were three of them, so there was one for Mags, too. The only way you could get into our dorm room was if you had a key or you were a god.
“I swear to shit, if there’s a heart in my silk sheets, I’m going to be so mad,” Matilda groaned.
“Stay back. I’ll look,” Mags said.
“No,youstay back. I’m mostly invincible and he’s not going to try to kill me until the dodgeball game.”
“Oh, fine.”
I picked up the note and opened it. It was blank, but it felt spirit touched. Everyone’s phone went off. I looked down. I had texts from Oscar and Drake. They had gotten them, too. Matilda announced that Mina and Belladonna had as well. The family group chat I had with Matilda and Michael went off that Michael and Dexter had gotten blank notes on their pillows.
I asked everyone to meet in the Sigmis common room. I had a feeling I knewexactlywhat this was, and it wasn’t a bad thing. I looked at my siblings and Mags.
“I think we’re finally getting help and we get the bonus of the thing Mom and Aunt Ravyn talked about.”
“Spill,” Oscar said. “This feels like ghosts.”
Matilda just grinned.
“We’re about to go on a treasure hunt and get access to the secret Academy of the Profane speakeasy.”
“No way. That’s an urban legend,” Drake said.
“I asked my grandfather and he would neither confirm nor deny, but told me to work my ass off and maybe I’d find out.”
“I got one, too,” West said. “I’m not a student.”
“You can’t get in without an invite. You’re still a part of this group and if these are from the ghosts, they think you deserve to be there with everyone,” Michael said.
“Put the notes on the table,” I said.
I waved my hand. I hoped the ghosts didn’t think we were cheating. From what I understood, unlocking the textandthe treasure hunt were how you got access to the speakeasy. But they’d also known I was a god this entire time, and the noteswere coded to be unlocked with each supernatural’s specific magic.
We leaned forward when the blue text appeared.
You’re close to the answer. Find the forge, get your reward.
The blue text floated off the paper and dissolved into the air. The ghosts knew we were close to catching the killer and were finally trying to help us. I didn’t know what the forge was or why it was important, but I was guessing it was connected to the killer.
“Any guesses?” Ren asked.
“The Erotes were Greek. Didn’t Hephaestus have a pretty famous forge?” Belladonna asked.
“Yeah, but I think the forge they want us to find is on campus. I’mreallybad at realm travel unless I’ve been there before. We could end up fuck knows where if I tried to get us to Olympus and I don’t know any of those people. They could get really mad if I crashed their realm with a bunch of people. Azren and my dad don’t really like Zeus, so they probably wouldn’t be welcome with strangers. I can’t say forsuremy Uncle Loki didn’t fuck anyone in that realm over, but he probably did. Freya is there now but we all wouldn’t get a note about finding the force if it wasn’t somewhere we could all easily go.”
I’d actually never tried traveling to a realm I’d never been to before, but once when I was little, I wanted some of Lucifer’s cookies and my dads wouldn’t take me. I tried portalling there myself and ended upverylost. Hades and Persephone found me in their realm sobbing. They gave me cookies and got me home. I gotmuchbetter at traveling to Hell, but I was still too chicken shit to try somewhere I’d never been before. Hades and Persephone were super sweet, but I didn’t want to end up somewhere with nasty gods.
“It’s probably on campus. They built the Academy of the Profane to be self-sufficient. There used to be stables for the horses. I’d imagine there was a forge and a blacksmith on staff for things they needed that might get expensive,” Michael said.
“Azren?” Drake asked. “They’ll be awake. They usually run on a few hours of sleep, coffee, and spite. I’m guessing they are poring over Bjorn’s vision and that arrow.”
“We also need to ask my dad,” Michael said. “He’s the headmaster now. If there’s a forge on campus, he’ll know.”
“He’s also sleeping right now,” Matilda pointed out.
“Oh, he’s not sleeping,” Mags chuckled.
I put my hands over my ears and started singing. I knew my parents and my brother had sex but I really didn’t want to think about it. I stuck my tongue out at Mags when I realized she didn’t intend to continue.
