Page 47 of The Goddess is Fierce
“Because I’m a raven, silly. You don’t remember, but I stole trinkets for you all the time when you were a baby. Odin turned them into a mobile and hung it over your bed. It helped you sleep.”
“There are some perfectly good reasons for stealing bobby pins,” Ren said.
We were in my cabin trying to figure out serial killer stuff and Ren presented me with a woman’s necklace. I couldn’t see myself wearing it and I didn’t know why he gave it to me until George told me Ren only gave stolen goods to people he cared about. I guess Ren had a lot in common with magical ravens.
“I know I need to remember our relationship in addition to a lot of other things. How can I remember?”
“I’ve known Freya for a while and how she got her memories back. I’m really fond of Baldur and I’m only eighteen, so I don’t know if I’m the jealous kind of god. Is there a way to give his memories backwithoutkissing him?”
Muninn looked horrified.
“Okay, first of all, Baldur was like an adoptive son to me. That’s gross. Secondly, I kissed Freya because I wanted to show her what she was missing when she turned me down back in the day. Lean in, Baldur.”
I had to lean down because Muninn was tiny. I didn’t really know what was going to happen, but I couldn’t predict what Muninn actually did. She tapped my nose like a puppy.
“Boop!” she gleefully yelled.
I was drunk enough to start laughingthatwas how Muninn chose to give my memories back because it was utterly ridiculous. But then my whole body tensed and rose off the floor as all my memories started slamming into my head at once. It hurt like a mother fuck. I was starting torememberthe stories Odin and Freya told me. I remembered the people they hadn’ttold me about. Odin told me about my mom, but now I could remember her face and how much she loved me.
It wasn’t just the headache either. I could feel my body filling with magic. I used to wonder what it would feel like to have magic. Now, I actually knew. And I could remember how to use it.
I was only twenty-four years old when I died, so I wasn’t getting back hundreds of years of memories, but it was still a lot. It seemed to go on forever but in reality, it was over in less than a minute. I collapsed on the floor, dry heaving. Maybe I shouldn’t have done this drunk. Ireallyhated puking and definitely didn’t want to do it in front of all these people I had feelings for.
Because that didn’t change. I remembered my wife. I married the first woman I slept with. I wasn’t an idiot kid anymore. Looking back now, I could see now that she tried really hard to isolate me from my family and friends. She was one of those people who would love bomb you so you didn’t notice they were manipulating you.
My wife never liked it that most of the people in Asgard liked me better than her. If I was having a pleasant conversation with friends and family, she’d insert herself and ruin the moment. When we got home, it was never because she was being unpleasant.
Yeah, even some gods were young and stupid at one point.
But getting my memories and magic didn’t change much about who I was today like I feared. I was still older, wiser, and a product of my experiences being reborn without memories and magic.
George wrapped her arms around me and helped me to the couch. She snuggled into my chest. Ilovedit when she snuggled me.
“How are you feeling?”
Muninn squealed and jumped up and down, clapping.
“I’msoglad you have better taste in women this time. I actually like this one. Your ex wouldnotbe worried about how you are feeling right now. I’m just telling you this because I love you just in case you’re thinking about finding her and getting her back.”
I could actually remember Muninn now. She was weird, awkward, spoke in riddles if she wasn’t being blunt as fuck, and I loved her to death. She had always been like a second mother to me. I lifted my other arm.
“Come here, you. I remember you now.”
Muninn squealed and dove into my other side. I wrapped my arm around her. My father had told me how hard he and my mother had taken it when I died, but I knew Muninn would have been devastated. My father created Huginn and Muninn differently than most gods made their creations. They were both more magic and animal than they were person.
“Your magic is back,” Odin said, smiling at me.
“So are my memories, Dad. After this, Ineedto see my family again.”
“And I’ll take you. First things first, whoever is killing witches was manipulating you. It had to have been mental torture wondering if you were doing this. I raised you and I know how you think. This god needs to be punished.”
I couldremembermy blackouts now but I didn’t know who the god was. I died young, and I hadn’t met a lot of gods outside my family.
“I don’t know who he is. He’s very plain for a god. When I’d see him on campus, it would just be him and a witch. He didn’t just make me blackout. He could make me leave and forget I saw him with just his words. And I saw him with his bow. Sometimes, it fires magic. Other times, it fires actual arrows like the one Drake found under the floorboard. I only ever saw it fire real arrows before a murder. When he’d see me and that I wasgoing to try to stop him, he would hit me with one of his magical arrows. He’d tell me to turn around, go home, and go to sleep. I’d wake up in random places by my cabin remembering nothing.”
We all looked to Odin and Azren. Those two were the smartest people in the room. Azren might even be smarter than my dad since they were much older.
“That’s not possible,” Odin said.
