Chương 482: Day Four, Eight, Oh!

Dear Diary,"Run and jump and play and pounce! Hunt and kill and rip and tear! Nom it all when you are done!" Momma's Book of Killing Things Shh! Momma's asleep again, because There is Here! I have important things to do, because Mom is too Mortal, Marie is too Small, and Momma is too Forget. Marie looks down at Momma, who lays on the air, splayed out where Marie dropped her.

"Well. That's not what I expected," says Mom. She looks at Marie.

"Please... make her comfortable?" Marie shrugs and nods, stepping to the basement to collect a thick blanket and a big armload of pillows. She comes back, arranges them in a pile beneath Momma, then drapes the blanket over them to hold them in place. Marie knows how to do so many things! She's taught me some. Lots! But she still hasn't taught me how Momma pounces and packs, because Momma asked her not to. Momma told me Why, and I trust Momma, but I want to know so much.

I hope she shows me how soon, so I can play with her the way we played with Grandmama. Well, not like that. That was fun, but I want to Hunt with Momma. Momma told me I am too Young, too Little, and that if I Hunt too soon, I might get hurt so I cannot grow, and Momma is a good Momma who wants me to grow big and strong. So most days I play with my pack, watching over them like Marie and sometimes Momma watch over us. But today I have Important Things To Do.

I wait until Marie and Karen and Siobhan come back home to see Mom's pack through our evening bath time. Mom is sitting with Momma, watching over her with a Marie, while Karen and Siobhan pretend to be Momma and Mom for Mom's pack. When we're all done and everybody smells of themselves rather than being tired, we lie down and cuddle up in a big pile. I wait until everyone smells asleep. Marie. Menace? Take me to Karen's boat. No. Priestess? Goddess. Take me to Karen's boat.

Marie sighs, wraps a claw around me, and we're on the boat down where the There People live. Karen is there, but I hide our me and she does not see us. Their scent drifts on the wind along with the horns of their hunting parties. Tonight is a night they hunt, and I want to play, but Momma needs Karen to make the There People stop making her Forget. Can't go hunt. Mustn't go hunt. Ignore the horn, ignore the scent, ignore the chase. Marie pulls me back, her claw wrapped around me.

I sniff at the thing that stopped me. It stinks of... something. Not pack. Not family. But like family. I do not like it. I sniff There until I find Keel and Hor. Keel cannot see, but Hor smells the thing. It smells of family. Of Momma. But not. Not spawn of Grandmama, or spawn of her spawn. But not not. I do not like this smell. Marie? Menace. Take me to Diana. She hoists me around to stare into my eyes. I fold my arms across my chest, because I am sure and that is what sure people do.

Marie sighs, and we stand in D's weird little den. D sits on a bench, his head on his arms on a table, snoring. D is very silly, but he made Marie and her sisters. He made them out of silly, but they're not silly. Well, not always. Marie can be completely un-silly. Maybe he's not as silly as he seems? Scamp... Marie is warning me, I don't know why. Probably her silly leaking out. I turn to Diana, who has gone to one knee facing Marie and I.

"Menace."

"Hoah." Diana flinches.

"I... probably deserve that." Maybe silly runs in their family. But if Mom realizes I'm gone, she'll be sad, and I have Important things to do, so I ignore Diana's silliness. I hold out my hands, and Diana reaches for me. I bat her hands away, then wave her forward. She finally stops being silly and scooches forward until I can reach her face. I pull her to me, mark her as Mine. Diana. Her mouth drops open, like she expected something else. I share what Hor smelled. Who?

She kneels there, frozen, like Siobhan when Momma and Mom and Marie get extra silly. I think about what Momma would do, but that would be too much. I think about what Mom would do, but that would be too hard. I think about what Marie would do. I reach out and poke Diana in the forehead with one finger. She blinks, stumbles a little before catching her balance. Hor is clumsy, so she-Hor is too, maybe?

"Goddess. A moment, please." She looks in, looks away, lost in herself, lost in the past, lost in things far away in when and where. Eventually she frowns, blinking as she looks here and now.

"Where did you scent the Dan Goddess of Death?" Where the There People live. She stares at me cluelesser than Momma. Karen's boat? Diana still doesn't understand. I send her what Karen's boat looks like, but she shakes her head.

"I don't..."

"Rich. Man's. Port." Marie growls out. Diana nods, finally understanding after Marie spouts grown up nonsense words at her. Karen's boat isn't in a port, Karen isn't a man right now, and nobody there is rich, except maybe the There People if their hunt goes well.

"Take me." Diana reaches for me again, and I grab her fingers.

"No. Her."

"No." Marie is stubborn.

"Why?" Marie sighs. War. Diana nods, understanding suddenly.

"Forgive us, Menace, but though I would strike The Morrigan down for displeasing you, she is not without allies. Many, many allies. Your mother has declared this a time for sowing, not a time for reaping." I tilt my head at her nonsense, and she says, "a time to rest, not a time to hunt." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Impowdand." Diana shakes her head.

"No. Forgive me, strike me if you must, but should I take you there and start a war, your mother would wax wroth, and upon awakening our Matriarch would end me. With good cause." I frown. Mom doesn't want War. Mom is smart. But The Morrigan is stopping Karen from making the There People stop making Momma Forget. I am... I sniff at Momma's blood. I am stumped. I think more. Mom is too Mortal, Marie is too Small, but Momma is only too Forget. I sniff harder at Momma's blood. Deeper. I let the smell envelop me.

I look outside, see Big Momma. I point out the door.

"Out." Diana smells like Stinky Brother, but Marie leads her outside into Big Momma. People wander the street, some smelling of Stinky Brother, some being silly, all of them noisy. I Look Seriously at Marie and say, "quiet." Marie roars. People stop being noisy. Most of them stop being silly. I sniff at Big Momma and Momma's blood. I think. Then I know!

"Dithkaitheth!" Marie and Diana stare at me like I'm Momma. I am so clever! I send Marie and Diana what our disguises will look like.

"No." Priestess. This. She sends me back what my disguise will look like. She thinks it's different because she's silly, but that's just what D made her out of. And permission. Marie is stubborn and silly, but she is not as clever as she thinks.

"Wait, what..." I interrupt Diana, because she is being silly, and I am tired of silliness.

"No." I look at Marie.

"Grandpa." She sighs, and we stand in Grandpa and Siggy's cave. He looks up from his book and smiles.

"Menace! To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Skyzes!" He blinks as Sigyn walks over to us, hands out. I let her hug, but I have Important Things to do, and Siggy knows how to distract me. Meanwhile Grandpa blinks, then looks back and forth between Marie and Diana.

"Huntress?" Diana nods to Grandpa.

"Sky Walker. Your granddaughter seeks to confront The Morrigan." Grandpa stands, angry.

"No!"

"Th'otay, Gampa! I god idea! Dithkaitheth! Thee nod no id uth!" Grandpa opens his mouth, but Siggy says, "husband?" Grandpa looks down, then crumples back to sit on his bed.

"Truly?" Siggy nods, and Grandpa sighs, turning to us.

"What did you need of me?"

"Permission to disguise ourselves as your Clergy." Grandpa blinks.

"Why... how... Menace?"

"I ged dith idea fwom Mama!" He chuckles.

"Of course you did." He shakes his head, waves his hand, and now I have a red silk dress just my size! Marie and Diana have them too! And best of all Grandpa gave us little masks that cover our faces! Well, our eyes. They will never know who we are now! Siggy leans in and whispers, "I think you might need a better... no, more of a disguise than that? There aren't too many Primordials as cute as you out and about." I sniff Momma's blood, but so far from her I cannot smell it. I think. Maybe... not cute?

I sniff There for the least cute thing I can find. I find Loff, and wrap her me around my me, then smile at everyone. Siggy freezes. Diana whimpers. Marie just shakes her head and mutters, "scamp." Grandpa shakes his head, blowing out air before he says, "that'll do, I think." I turn to Diana. Now Diana nods to Grandpa and Siggy, then rises into the air. We rise through the rock, and that feels funny, but then we're in the sky, flying without wings or a glider or anything.

I laugh at the wind as we go up, and up, and up, then down, and down, and down. We come down in a forest, ahead of a column of lights slipping through it. We land. Prey slips past us, but I have Important things to do. A There Person charges at us atop a There... thing. It smells like Mau, but it isn't Mau. It isn't Prey. It isn't right. It doesn't slow. It's crunchy. I do not have time to eat every There Person and There Thing in the forest tonight.

"MOWWIGAN!" The lights in the forest turn toward us. A line of There People riding There Things spread out in front of us. A woman, not a There Person, but a Goddess, rides a There Thing to the center of the line, facing me.

"Who are you, who dares call my name, little girl?" I can't tell her my name, or Mom will be mad! I think fast. I can't be Isnomi. I can't be Menace. I think fast, and say, "caw me thcamp." The Morrigan frowns, then turns to the There Person beside her.

"Bring me her head." The There Person kicks his There Thing, but the There Thing is smarter than him. It doesn't move. He kicks it again, and it rears back, dumping him on his butt. I laugh. Diana and Marie both snicker, quietly, trying not to let anyone hear. The There Person gets mad and runs at me. He's crunchy too, but only the outside. His outside tastes bad, and I'm mad. I spit his outside at The Morrigan's there thing. I can't spit very well, because Loff's me doesn't have the right lips for it.

Sparky shards spray across the ground between The Morrigan and us. The Morrigan looks mad now.

"DIE!" The Morrigan's me flies at us. It hits my me and bonks off. That stung, and now I'm mad too, but I am smart like Mom and Momma and Loff's me and I wait, glaring at her. The Morrigan's Me hits Diana and she winces, letting go of me and staggering to the side. She bleeds moonlight, but does not fall down. The Morrigan's Me hits Marie, and she falls, fading. Marie? Ow. Wait.

"No." she growls, almost silently, from behind me. Stay behind me. Duh. The Morrigan is mad. She kicks her There Thing, but it will not move. She flexes her me, and the There Thing dies, falling to pieces to lower her gently to the ground. She walks toward us, fingernails flashing, screaming at us. At me. I stand my ground until she reaches for me. I pull the me she sees back one step, two. She lays hands on the me she sees. And I close Loff's jaws around her. With all my teeth.

"What?" She sounds confused as the me she grabbed just dangles there in her hand. I pull that me out of my mouth, dragging her into some teeth. She shrieks, and she calls on Cor's me. I take Cor's me away from her.

"What?" she screams. I squeeze my mouth a little more shut, and she whispers, "what have you done, child?" She gets mad and shouts again.

"I am the Raven Queen!" It's hard to talk with my mouth full. I'm not supposed to. But I have to, because this is Important.

"An I am hew Goddeth."

"I fear no Goddess! I am The Morrigan! The Raven Queen! I am Death!" Diana's quiet words still carry to the inside of my mouth.

"And you are trapped in her maw until you submit to her will, or she loses patience and eats you."

"I am a Goddess! A Goddess of Death! I cannot be killed!" I think. I think fast, like Momma would. I think good, like Mom would. I sniff There for... uncle's me. I add uncle's fangs to my teeth. I poke her with them. Just a little.

"Thuw aboud dad?" She sniffs the air, and even with her tiny useless nose she can smell the venom from uncle's fangs.

"What are you?" Diana's voice leaks in again.

"That is for you to choose. Submit, and she is your superior. Do not, and she is your end." I close my mouth just a little more. I sniff for uncle's me, and borrow uncle's guts, because The Morrigan already tastes nasty. Uncle's guts rumble.

"What must I do?" she whispers.

"The barrier around Rich Man's Port offends her." The Morrigan flares her me, touching some part of it far away.

"It is gone!"

"If it returns... she has your scent."

"It will not."

"Nor any other barrier like it. You will leave Rich Man's Port to its fate." The Morrigan stiffens. I squeeze. She whimpers.

"I shall." I think you can let her go now. I spit her out, and she lands on her butt, scrabbling away from us. I look around at the There People. She spins to face them.

"You saw nothing!" One of them opens his mouth. She flexes her me, and he falls from his There Thing. Dead. The rest turn away, closing their eyes. The Morrigan goes to the dead There Person's There Thing, climbs on, and rides away. Like Prey. I turn to Diana. You may go. I would see you safely home. I reach back and touch Marie. Take me to Mom. A moment later I stand next to Mom, who leans against Momma, singing. Mom screams, scrambling backward, whipping her me into bright bars of light.

I cast off Loff's me, then sniff at Momma's blood as Mom goes from afraid to angry.

"Twik owa twead!" Mom puts her me away, frowns at Momma.

"Is this something your Mama told you about?"

"Yeth!" I don't lie. She didn't mean to, but she did, so it's not a lie.

"Now you gib uth tweadth owa we twik you!" Mom shakes her head, holds out her arms, and I leap into them.

"I think you showing up looking like that... thing is trick enough to count. Wait, where did you get this dress?"

"Gwampa makeded id!" Mom shakes her head.

"Well. At least it fits you, and covers everything." She turns to Marie.

"Marie, blankets for the three of us, please?" Another Marie shows up, and soon we're all snuggled around Momma. Momma's warm. We purr. We sleep.