Page 43 of The Goddess is Fierce
The other side of the coin had serpents wrapped around an athame. Iknewmy serpent lore. The other side of the coin was about the Furies. I got what this coin meant just by looking at it. This coin was an amazing opportunity. It wasn’t just the speakeasy. This coin could get us all kinds of jobs. There was probably a little bit of fate involved that we were even chosen by the ghosts for a quest.
That could go to anyone’s head. The other side of the coin was a warning not to turn into an arrogant fuck when the ghosts gave us an opportunity plenty of students weren’t getting. I didn’t think any of us would. Out of all of us, only West knew what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. After Azren finished teaching, they could decide to do literally anything.
I hid the coin in my jacket and shut my locker. Zion Skinner didn’t give a shit I just got a magical coin from the campus ghosts to get into a secret speakeasy. If I showed up late and told him that, he’d tell me to leave my personal bullshit in the locker room and make me run laps. The entire team would also get a rant about how our generation was a bunch of lazy drunks if I was more concerned about drinking than dodgeball practice.
I had him pegged. Zion Skinner was a giant teddy bear wholovedour generation. I met Oscar, Michael, and Dexter as we were leaving the locker room.
“You get your token?” I asked and signed for Oscar.
They all nodded.
“What’s the protocol?” Oscar asked. “If we talk about this where other people can hear about it, is Bethany going to fly out of the floor to punch us in the dick?”
“She’s welcome to try,” Dexter laughed. “It’s not secret if they ask for them in job interviews.”
“No one is allowed to touch you there. That’s mine,” Michael growled.
“Yes, it is, cupcake,” Dexter said, pinching Michael’s butt.
I just smiled to myself. There wasn’t much Michael could do about it. I was guessing if he did, the ghosts would make Angel Food Cake out of his nuts, too. They seemed to find nothing sacred.
“Just don’t brag too loud on the field,” I said. “That smells like extra drills.”
“Ugh. Don’t be distracted either. If Zion suspects we are thinking about partying instead of dodgeball, he’s going to kick our asses,” Dexter moaned.
“I’ll give you a rub down after.”
We joined George on the field and started warming up. Honestly, Dexter and Michael were adorable. They were utterly devoted to each other. Michael would burn the world down for Dexter and Dexter would fuck-up anyone who came for his people. The two of them together might be more dangerous than Azren.
“You get a token?” Oscar asked George.
“Yeah. And we’re kidnapping Baldur and going tonight. After everything, we just need to drink and get stupid for one night.”
We definitely needed that. We’d been stressing about serial killers, arrows, forges, and I’d been wondering how I was going to feel when I finally saw the man who murdered my parents. We’d normally blow off steam at the moon orgy after the dodgeball game, but we were happily skipping it because that was when we finally caught our guy.
Checking out a top-secret speakeasy run by ghosts wasexactlywhat we needed.
george
. . .
Dodgeball practice was brutal now that we were getting closer to our big game. Zion kicked our asses, then told us to go home and shower because our smell was offensive. I knew he really loved us. I had no idea what to expect from the speakeasy, but my dad told me enough that they served food. We were all skipping dinner to eat there.
I had to figure out what to wear first. The guys mostly saw me in my school uniform and dodgeball stuff. It needed to be impressive. Matilda was wearing her favorite pink dress. It had a corseted top and showed her legs off. She lookedamazingin that dress. Mags had on a skin-tight tailored suit. She put apink handkerchief in her pocket that matched Matilda’s dress. Matilda straightened her hair and Mags had her short hair gelled back. They looked like this insane power couple that was ready to take over the world.
Me? I was standing there in my bra staring into my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I could conjure something, but what should I make?
“You could wear a paper bag and pantaloons and those guys are still going to think you’re hot,” Matilda said.
“You’re a god and everyone knows it now. If they saw you in a paper bag and pantaloons, everyone would start wearing them,” Mags laughed.
“I don’t want that kind of responsibility,” I groaned. “I just want to look sexy tonight.”
“You’re going to look totally hot, and you know how I know that?”
“How?”
“BecauseIlook totally hot and we are nearly identical.”
