Chương 29: Welcome to Fame

I was still dancing when my voice assistant chimed.

"New trending video alert based on your interests: 'BREAKING: Forest Hermit Claims Mystical Trickster Spirit Protects Ozark Mountains.'" I groaned, already dreading whatever Raven was going to do next. The last video had been vague, but it did sort of warn people who were willing to listen. However, just the name of the new video already had me shaking my head. I could literally feel the threads pulling tighter around me. Every single one of them. All at once. CHANGE wasn't what the Web of Wisdom whispered.

It was more like a shout. Something was wrong. Not danger-wrong, but definitely something I wasn't going to appreciate. And I'd never been a big fan of change. Every instinct I had, raccoon, human, and whatever Grandmother Spider had stitched into me, told me that I wasn't going to like what came next.

"Play the video," I said softly. I ignored Shelly and Tala's gaze as they looked first at me and then at the video. I could tell they sensed something was happening. The screen filled with a familiar face. My old face, Abraham Pratt. My old body was standing in what looked like someone's backyard livestream setup.

"Hello, internet," Raven said with a grin that was distinctly not mine.

"I'm here to tell you about Noyasunai, the Eternal Trickster living in the Arkansas woods. He usually takes the form of a raccoon, although he can look like any animal." The world stopped. Not literally, but it definitely felt like it. I felt more threads than I could have ever imagined wrapping tightly around me. It felt like I was in some type of cocoon, CHANGING. I dropped my handful of popcorn. Damn. Raven wasn't done, not even close.

"He's already recruiting followers, human, animal, and supernatural. Yes, I said supernatural. There are others who walk hidden among us. Vampires, werewolves, psychics, and more." I heard Tala mutter behind me as the acorn she was holding hit the floor, "Fudge me with a spoon." Shelly's coffee mug followed, shattering on impact. She didn't even glance at it.

"Noyasunai?" I whispered.

"Who the hell is Noyasunai? Me?" I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I could only watch as my old body told the entire world exactly who and what I was.

"The Ozark Mountains have always been special," Raven continued in my body, gesturing like a nature documentary host.

"But now? They're ground zero for something extraordinary. The mana tide is real, folks. And if you want to survive it, you need to pay attention to the old ways." The video showed B-roll footage of the Arkansas forests. I even recognized some of the landmarks.

"Supernatural communities are waking up. Magic is coming back." He paused, letting that sink in.

"You might have heard of Gaia, Mother Earth. Well, she's real, she's waking up, and she's not happy about what humans have done to her planet." God, he really does love the sound of his own... well, my voice, I thought. I would have pegged that as a trait Coyote would have. My old body's expression shifted and became more serious.

"Gaia made monsters to fight the gods once before. Now she's doing it again. You can find new creatures being born in the Ozarks, among other places. But she's also giving some humans the power to defend themselves, powers awakening through their affinity for mana. The Gaia System is recharging." I wanted to say "Turn it off," but I couldn't. I couldn't even look away. I was too tightly held by the threads and what was happening.

"If you want more answers," Raven said with a wink at the camera, "find Noyasunai the Raccoon." Then the video ended. Silence reigned supreme in the cabin. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Suddenly, the invisible web cocoon that had been holding me still split open completely, and a notification blazed across my vision. LAW OF NAMES ACTIVATED. Named by Kalanu the Raven. Noyasunai the Raccoon: The Eternal Trickster True Namer: Your words carry weight. Promises become binding. Truth becomes fluid.

Fate has begun to listen. MESSAGE FROM GAIA. Aww, a christening. I blinked, trying to understand everything that had just happened to me. As for the messages from Gaia, I was learning to ignore them. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Then Shelly moved. She grabbed my face, gently, but firmly, and forced me to look at her.

"Abe." Her voice was tight, controlled.

"Abe, look at me. Not the screen. Me." She didn't even know how right she was. I pulled my eyes off the notification screen. Immediately, the room spun. Or maybe I was spinning. It was hard to tell.

"Noyasunai?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

"It's Cherokee," Tala piped up from behind Shelly.

"It means... The Eternal Trickster. The one who endures beyond death. Abe, that's a god-name. Raven didn't just out you. He NAMED you."

"I didn't agree to that name," I said, rage building alongside the fear.

"I didn't agree to any of this."

"Names have power," Tala said quietly, her voice uncharacteristically serious as she looked at me from where she had taken a perch on Shelly's shoulder.

"Especially names given by gods. Especially names spoken to millions of people. He's not just calling you something, he's binding you to it."

"How many views?" I asked, not wanting to know but needing to know. Shelly checked her phone, face going pale.

"Forty-seven thousand. Wait... forty-eight. Forty-nine." The counter was climbing as we watched.

"The first video was careful," I said, my voice shaking with rage.

"Educational. Preparing people gently for the idea of magic returning. Not this. Not outing me, exposing everyone, and painting a target on all of us." I was pissed. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd felt so angry.

"We're compromised," Shelly said, suddenly realizing it wasn't just me who Raven had outed.

"Every faction, every government agency, every cryptid hunter in North America just got our coordinates."

"He didn't give exact coordinates…," I said, knowing even as I spoke that it was bullshit."'Ozark Mountains, Arkansas' is close enough," Tala said.

"Raven even told everyone that there were werewolves and other supernatural creatures here. We're going to have visitors, sooner rather than later." Shelly was already scrolling through her phone, eyes wide.

"The druid network is blowing up. The werewolves. The fae. The Moon-Eyed people. Everyone's contacting me."

"What are they asking?" I asked.

"If that is your real name and why he exposed everyone." She looked up at me, uncertainty and fear written across her face.

"What do you want me to tell them?" What is there to tell them? I mean, there's nothing that can be done. I didn't know what to say, so I said,"Just tell the truth. Yes, that's my name, apparently. And who knows why he did it. We were just as surprised as they were." I wanted Raven to stop using my body to do interviews. I wanted to go back to being an anonymous trash panda with a smart recliner and a handful of local problems. Now, I'm apparently the face of the supernatural apocalypse. My phone buzzed.

Then again. And again. Text messages were flooding in. The supernatural community wasn't waiting for Shelly's official response. They were coming directly to me.

"What the actual fuck?" Pierre asked in a text.

"What should I do?" Claire asked in another text?

"This is amazing! We're finally going public!" An unknown number sent me, probably one of the teenage Moon-Eyed people.

"DELETE THIS. DELETE IT NOW!" Someone else demanded. It too, was an unknown number, clearly panicked. How the frick am I supposed to do that? I wanted to tell them. Wave a freaking magic wand?

"Are you okay??? Do you need protection???" Luke asked, one of the few positive or hopeful texts among a deluge of threats, pleas, and promises"Stop reading the texts. We'll take care of it." Tala texted. I looked at Tala.

"You just texted me. You're right here."

"I got your attention, didn't I? For a second, I thought I was going to have to do a little dance for you," she said.

"Fifty-five thousand views," Shelly said quietly.

"Sixty thousand." She watched for three seconds.

"Sixty-two. The counter's jumping by hundreds every time I refresh." The threads were vibrating CHANGE so hard now I could barely think straight. Some threads hummed with excitement. Others screamed with fear. A few were already snapping, people making choices to protect themselves, to expose me further, to capitalize on the revelation. And I was at the center of it all, a raccoon in a web I couldn't escape. Shelly's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and her face went white.

"It's the Grove Council," she said.

"Don't…," I started to say, but she'd already answered and put it on speaker. Kathy's voice filled the room.

"Shelly Richardson. Bring that raccoon here, immediately. This is not a request." I felt Shelly stiffen beside me. Even Tala had gone completely still.

"We'll be there," Shelly said, her voice steady despite the fear I could smell on her. Then the line went dead. Wow, rude much? I thought. I'm already annoyed with Raven. Kathy really doesn't want to get on my bad side right now. The silence that followed was deafening.

"Well," I said weakly, trying to downplay the situation and give Kathy the benefit of the doubt.

"That sounded bad." Suddenly, I felt a tugging on the webs again and looked down at my phone. Satisfaction. Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the latest text message.

"Tag, you're it, little brother. Let's see how Noyasunai handles the spotlight." Raven. Fucking Raven. I wanted to wring his scrawny little neck. No wonder no one likes you!

"Great," I said flatly.

"I'm a cryptid now. A cryptid whose location was just broadcast to millions of people."

"Not millions," Tala said, trying to reassure me.

"Yet," Shelly clarified, clearly looking at the growing number of views on the video.

"We need to go," Shelly said, pocketing her phone.

"Right." I stood, shaking out my fur. The motion helped center me and gave me something physical to do.

"Let's go explain to a council of ancient druids why my reanimated corpse just outed the entire supernatural community to the world." Also, that would give me time to figure out the True Namer power I'd just received. Of course, I also needed to know what price I would have to pay for that power. Raven wasn't likely to give away anything for free. I'd have to pay. Just what, I didn't know.