Her men learned fast. They remained silent while she circled the kitchen, pacing, her concentration intently focused inward. They stayed out of her way until she stopped and looked at them. “We haven’t found the tablet yet. I wasn’t seeing the past, I was seeing the future. We will find it.” She walked to the table, where the book still lay in the center and flipped it open to the page with the drawing of the tablet. She turned the book to face Zack and pointed to a few passages next to the picture. “What does that say? Read it to me, please.”
He pulled it closer. When he stumbled over a word or phrase, one of the three dragons helped him. “The artifact of Trammel was spirited from the battlefield of Hilmelgamos after the defeat of our forefathers. It is said the three crones helped the adversaries capture our life force with it, dispersing it across the Ether, beyond our reach, robbing a number of us of the mighty abilities we once had. Recapture it at all costs.” He looked up at her. “What is it?”
Lina slammed her fist on the table. “That fucking bitch!” She looked up at the ceiling. “All right, lady! I want a fucking word with you!”
Chapter Thirteen
Lina literally blinked and found herself in Baba Yaga’s garden. The woman, in her matron form, knelt weeding a small patch of lettuce. Lina stormed over to her. “Okay, spill it, lady!”
“Spill what, Goddess?”
“The rest of the story. The parts you left out from yesterday’s little blast from the past about what happened when the cockatrice were defeated the first time. I knew there were some holes in that narrative. Not to mention, what’s the deal with the tablet?”
“I keep telling you to follow your instincts. When will you listen to me?”
“Why the hell didn’t you just tell me!”
She brushed her hands off, pulled off her gloves, and sat back on her haunches. “You needed to figure that out for yourself. My sisters and I sorely strained the patience of the Goddess as it was by interfering as much as we did.”
“Well, this is one goddess right here and now that’s pretty pissed off and impatient, too, ya know.”
Baba Yaga smirked. “Nice pajamas.”
Lina looked down. She was still wearing the lavender Eeyore pj’s she’d slipped on before heading downstairs to the kitchen that morning. Lina let out an irritated scream and jabbed a finger at her. “Now, you look here, quit changing the damn subject! Why didn’t you tell me about the tablet?”‘
Lina didn’t know if the smirk or Baba Yaga’s calm voice infuriated her more. “What have you learned since we last spoke, Goddess?”
“What?”
“What. Have. You. Learned?”
Lina took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, fine, Obi-Wan. I learned that blue visions haven’t happened yet. Any dreams that look normal are in the past.”
“Very good. What else?”
“That there was a third person at the murder of Kael’s family, and they’re probably the person that murdered Bertholde. I also saw him in a blue vision, so that means I’ll probably run into him again.”
“That’s not what I meant, but all right.”
She thought for a moment. “That’s all I’ve got.”
“How did you get here, Goddess?”
“I—” She pulled up short, a smile slowly spreading across her face. “I brought myself here?”
Baba Yaga nodded. “Now you’re getting it.”
“I brought myself here, huh?” She plopped down on the grass, allowing herself a moment to bask in her success, however small it might prove to be. “Cool.”
“Yes. To answer your question, I left that part of the story out on purpose. I am not allowed to force events to go a certain direction. Especially since you bear the memories in your mind, although Zachary does not because he was not present when the tablet was created. Now that you have discovered the existence of the tablet, I can tell you about it. Unless you’d rather look back at the memory.”
Lina started to say lay it on me, then thought for a moment. “You’re saying I have the answer about the tablet?”
Baba Yaga nodded. “You just need to find the strength within yourself to revisit the past. It will hurt, I won’t lie to you. But that kind of pain only makes you stronger in the long run.”
Lina sighed. “What you’re saying is that I should put on my big goddess panties and get it over with?”
“Yes. Eloquently stated.”
“Sarcastic bitch.”
The other woman laughed. “So say my two younger sisters. Hasn’t stopped me yet.”
Lina closed her eyes. At times like this, it was hard for her to garner any kind of positive feelings for the woman despite her saving Zack’s life. “Then I need to get home.” She opened her eyes and found herself sitting cross-legged in the middle of the kitchen table. The men all jumped back.
“Holy fuck!” Rick said. “How the hell’d you do that?”
She extended her hands to Jan and Zack for help getting down. “I’m thinking about taking the act to Vegas. Open for Penn and Teller.” She headed out of the kitchen. “I need a few minutes of alone time, boys. I’ll be right back.”
Upstairs, she closed their bedroom door and plopped down into the center of the unmade bed. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift, not sure how to go about finding the memories she sought. Eventually, fuzzy images swam into clearer focus as she made herself face the past. She thought about the trip down memory lane the night before with Baba Yaga on the way home from the airport.
Then she realized she’d found the missing part.
The morning after her first night with Jan and Rick—Stribog and Svarog, she reminded herself—the three of them met with Baba Yaga beside a sacred spring. Lina stood in the cool shadows at the edge of the clearing and watched her past self, much as she had the night before with the retelling, instead of experiencing it as an actual memory.
It made it easier to bear, somehow.
Lina remembered. She’d gone through the prophecy for any clue to defeat the cockatrice and called upon Baba Yaga for assistance. She watched as her past self talked with Baba Yaga.
“What is the stone?” she asked the crone.
The crone smiled. “It is whatever you want it to be, Goddess. You have powers beyond your ken. Unfortunately, you do not have time to adequately develop them.” The crone glanced at her two men. “The three of you prove a powerful triad.”
“Is it your sisters I need to call upon?”
The crone smiled and transformed into the maiden. “If it is your will, Goddess.”
Lina watched her past self straighten. “I call upon you and your sisters to assist us in making the…tablet.”
Baba Yaga raised her hands to the sky and chanted, calling forth two swirling pillars of cloud and light that took form on either side of her as women. Once they had completely materialized into solid flesh, she introduced them. “Brighde, Cailleach, meet the lovers three of the prophecy.”
Lina watched as she and her two men sat, a blank stone tablet appearing in the center between them. “What do we do now?” her past self asked.
Baba Yaga smiled. “You are the Goddess. You will feel it. Draw upon your men. Call upon the strength you know to be…present.” Lina could swear Baba Yaga turned around and winked at her, where she stood at the edge of the clearing.
Like belly flopping into a pool, Lina now sat in the circle, her past and present selves merged. She remembered. She remembered seeing Baba Yaga turn, as if looking at someone else they couldn’t see.