Authors: Kelly Mccullough

Tags: #Computer Hackers, #Magic, #Fantasy Fiction, #Computers, #Contemporary, #General, #Fantasy, #Wizards, #Fiction

Codespell (40 page)

BOOK: Codespell

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“Such a frown,” said Thalia. “Someone might think the world had ended rather than that you had saved it.”

“Sorry,” I said, “I guess I’m just not in a smiling mood.”

“And why, pray tell, is that?”

She knew very well what was bothering me. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she just smiled.

“You can be a silly boy sometimes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re all bent out of shape because your new lover is angry and not talking to you, right?”

“Why is that silly?” I asked.

This time she laughed out loud. “She’s a Fury, oh, Raven.”

“And?”

“Furious? Being angry with a goddess of anger because she’s angry with you doesn’t strike you as the least bit silly?”

“Well, when you put it
that
way . . .”

“What other way is there to put it?” she asked. “Tisiphone is angry. It is her job to be angry. If you’re going to have any kind of relationship, you’re going to have to learn to live with the occasional round of the grouchies.”

“But I didn’t deserve this one.”

“That’s my cue,” said Thalia.

“For what?”

“Either my exit or extreme measures.” She snapped her fingers, and a heavy chocolate silk pie appeared in her open hand. “Which would you prefer? Whine again, and I’ll make the choice for you.”

I grinned at the absurdity of it. How many people have been threatened by a goddess wielding a pie? “You’re right, I sounded all of eleven years old there, and it’s not the first time this week. I guess I’ve earned the pie.” I braced myself for impact.

“Better,” she said, setting the pie on the table instead of hitting me with it, much to my surprise. “Your sense of humor is restored, and that means it’s time for me to go.” She stood and turned toward the faerie ring.

“What about the pie?” I asked, as she started walking away.

“You could always hit yourself with it, but I’d recommend you eat it.” She stepped into the ring and winked. “Humbly.” And she was gone.

The pie was delicious.

The sun set but I didn’t move. Haemun brought me a mojito, and I sipped it in the dark. Thalia was right, but that didn’t change the fact that I missed Tisiphone.

“I’m sure she’ll get over it,” said Melchior from the depths of the porch. “She did let you stay long enough to put together a kludge for the subroutines for Tartarus and its inhabitants and to fix the ELF.”

“Only because Alecto and Megaera insisted,” I replied. “Doesn’t it bother you that she’s the one who actually threw us out at the end, Melchior? Not Alecto. Not even Megaera. Tisiphone.”

“Not really, but then, I’m not dating her, so I’ve got a bit more perspective. She feels guilty.” He emerged onto the lanai with Shara trailing behind him—they’d made themselves scarce during Thalia’s visit, though from the mussed look about them, they’d probably been looking for some private time, anyway. I raised an eyebrow, and Melchior flushed indigo, but continued, “The battle did an awful lot of damage to Necessity, and Tisiphone is the one who brought you in, and in her eyes, the one responsible for all the harm done to her mother.”

“And the one who loves you,” interjected Shara, “at least a little, and that makes her doubt her judgment where you’re concerned.”

With the official end of winter, Necessity had spat Shara back out into the real world. That was two weeks ago now, and she’d been visiting with Cerice’s grudging approval. A thought that made me feel doubly girlfriendless. I looked at the pie and grinned. Still enough to hit myself with if I got too far down pity-party lane.

Maybe my current time alone was for the better. I still had a lot to learn about all this Raven stuff. Witness how I had been able to wield the power of Necessity, if only for an instant and with her consent. What that meant I hadn’t begun to understand.

“Tisiphone will come back,” said Melchior, his voice laced with both sympathy and sarcasm. “You’re irresistible. ”

“I don’t think Cerice would agree with that,” said Shara. Then she winked at me. “But he might be right.”

Haemun arrived with more drinks then: another mojito, Drambuie for Melchior, and something with rum and a little umbrella for Shara.

Melchior raised his glass. “Absent friends.”

Shara nodded. “Ahllan.”

“Ahllan,” I said, and drank. She had been the subject of much conversation over the time Shara had been visiting. “Speaking of which, tell me again what you found out about her disappearance while you were running the show for Necessity. It didn’t make much sense the first time through.”

“All right, but it’ll take a while.”

Much, much later, I crawled off to bed. When winter came again and Shara returned to Necessity, we would have to see what we could do about Ahllan. The troll vanishes and is never seen again was not a satisfactory result. I glanced over at the rack where my new sword cane, Occam, rested beneath the nameplate Melchior had insisted on. I had a feeling it might come in handy on that trip.

Finally, I shut off the lamp and settled back into bed, only then noticing that Haemun had been through and tidied the room. On my bedside table lay the slightly creased card that had started it all. By the light of my eyes, I reread it for the umpteenth time.

Zeus wants you!

KELLY MCCULLOUGH
has sold short fiction to publications including
Weird Tales
,
Absolute Magnitude
, and
Cosmic SF.
An illustrated collection of Kelly’s short science fiction, called
Chronicles of the Wandering Star
, is part of InterActions in Physical Science, an NSF-funded middle school science curriculum. He lives in western Wisconsin. Visit his website at
www.kellymccullough.com
.