Page 40 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

Chapter 29

“They can’t do the spell without all of you, so as long as you’re not all together, you’re not in danger. In fact, the two of you should not be together right now,” my mom said. “It would be better if you two split up.”

“And do what?” I asked. “I’m not going to sit around and watch my friends get taken under control by some crazed demigod. I mean, maybe this is the time for us to call the demigod corporation. I love Cougar Creek, but seriously. We’ve got to get Styx under control and get our friends back.”

“I want to get your friends back. There’s only one real way to do it. It’s not the DGC.” Hilda led the way into the kitchen.

I eyed up the altar as we walked by and the forcefield it was emitting. I had to admit it looked pretty strong.

“The demigods won’t do anything except minimize damage,” Trina explained. “They’ll consider the rest of the coven collateral damage for wiping out Morel and Styx. They’ll blow all six of them up first chance they get, knowing then they’ll be able to change time to have it be exactly what they want, when they want, and how they want.”

“Right,” I said. “Because they’re demigods.”

“The good news is daughter, so are you,” Hilda pointed out. “Something I know you don’t think very much about.”

“It’s not like I’ve had a ton of time to sit around staring at my navel and thinking about the fact I’m a demigod,” I said. “The truth is, I don’t know what being a demigod means, Mom. I know when we were growing up in this region and there were just a couple of witches and a cluster of harpies, the idea of demigods was fascinating. I always thought of them as beautiful magical creatures with unknown powers.”

“Well, they have stronger magic than witches,” Mom said. “And they tend to be fairly battle friendly. I used to think it was because they were alive during the wars, but then I realized they were power hungry. Not you, of course.”

“Thanks,” I murmured. Hard to be power hungry when you run the local pub in small town USA.

“Your magic will be tied to the Dagda,” Mom continued. “You will be able to battle, but he was a druid also, so you have magic.”

“Everything he left me was for Cougar Creek Coven. He had me as a sacrifice to Styx so he could get out of town.” I muttered.

“Not at all not at all,” Hilda said. “My daughter, I know you never knew your dad and I didn’t know your dad very well, but I can guarantee you one thing. He did not make you a sacrifice. He had you as a savior. He conceived the one who could fix this problem. He gave me the key to fix it.”

“He gave me the key that unlocked the crypt to capture my with a crazy demigod,” I said.

“What story do you want to believe?” Hilda asked me. “Do you want to believe your dad was an asshole? He can be an asshole. Do you want to believe he had faith and picked the right woman to have the right child with? A child who could change the course of the curse?”

I stared at my mom for a long moment, weighing the different ideas in my head. There was no way I could take the victim role. It wasn’t in me. Even if my father had planned to have me as a sacrifice, well, that was his dumb doing. I was definitely anything but a sacrificial lamb.

“I’m going to make this right,” I said. “I don’t know how to do it though, Mom.”

“I think we need to find out what happened first,” my mom said.

“But we know so much already,” I pointed out. “My father was here through some bend in time partying with the ladies in the Coven and a vampire to boot, probably swinging from my guess. Anyhow, he pissed off one lady enough to make her cast a spell on him.”

“I think we need to focus on the Hayes and see what she did,” Chloe said. “We need to understand what happened. What did she actually do to tie herself to Styx? Why was she so desperate?”

“Do you have a spell you can show us?” I asked my mom.

“There’s always something that can give you a glimpse of the past but are you ladies sure you want to see it?” she asked.

“I think we need to have as much information as is pertinent to us getting our friends away from Styx, and that means we need to understand the agreement Styx made with the Hayes,” I said. “No matter what it was.”

My mother brought out a large platter. “We can scry in this,” she said.

Having avoided most of my mom’s magic for more than thirty years, I was fascinated to watch her now.

My mom spilled some water into the platter and then placed some oil on top before sprinkling herbs on it. She moved her hand over the water three times in a circle, muttering a spell underneath her breath that I couldn’t make out.

We gathered around closer, seeing only our reflections at first but then slowly the oil spread across the entire surface of the water. It became like a movie screen on the platter, showing us things that had happened before.

Three young women sat under an Oak tree. At least that was what it looked from a distance. As the scene moved, I could suddenly see they were tied to the oak tree. Their mouths were gagged. To the side stood the woman we had seen earlier. The Hayes, Geraldine.

“What the fuck?” I murmured.

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