Forged by Greed (23 page)

“What? But how is that possible? That would mean
we’ve existed before the human race! I can’t believe I know so little. You’ve
been keeping all these facts from me. Are the other Winter kids as ignorant as me?
How about the Summer kids?”

“Darling, don’t get so upset. As I said before,
you will learn it all. Just give us time to explain. Most of the kids in our
Race travel the same path to knowledge.” Ivona smiled a heartening smile. “I assume
the Summer children aren’t any different from you in that aspect.”

“So now you know,” Andy interjected, “that both
Races have existed long before the humans even learned to walk upright. Think
about the various archeological discoveries, clearly proving that, from the early
times, humans have worshipped gods and goddesses of animal shape
. O
r at least the
ones in a partial animal form.”

Bogdan opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He
looked at a colorful drawing of the Norse God Odin, who sat on a massive throne,
holding a long spear in his hand. Two large wolves were positioned on each side
of Odin—o
ne was black and the other, flawlessly white.
 
Their
upper lips were
drawn back, showing sharp long teeth. But what immediately captured Bogdan’s
attention, were the wolves’ eyes. They were dark and grim-looking, and
definitely not animal. They were human eyes. And there was something else: the wolf
standing on the right side of Odin wore a large talisman around his neck. The
jewel sparkled blue against the wolf’s black fur.

“The Winter Shifters!
Freki
and Geri from the Norse mythology?
” he exclaimed, pointing to the drawing. “This is what you just said… this
is our Race… but what about Crystal? She… it can’t be! Odin?” Bogdan gasped, looking
at his parents’ smiling faces.

“There is a lot to learn about our Race and the
Goddess. By the way, Freki and Geri were the first Winter Royal couple. Jatred
is a direct descendant of these ancient Shifters, as was his father,” said Andy,
getting up and walking toward the desk.

Bogdan leaned over the book again, his gloved
hands carefully turning a few pages.

“See? Here is our Crystal again. This time as the Celtic
goddess Morrigan. And I personally believe this to be her favorite identity.”
Andy pointed to a large picture.

The image depicted a young woman. Long, thick
tresses fell around her beautiful face covered in dark-brown tattoos. Six lines
ran from her hairline to the bridge of her nose. The middle two continued down
to the very tip of her nose and then curved to the sides, following the dark
wavy lines that thickly framed her large eyes. The outer lines resumed the same
path, but just above her brows. Thin, elongated half-moons were outlined on her
cheeks.

Two large ravens sat on her shoulders. The Goddess
wore a long, black cloak made out of the raven’s feathers. A tight fitting, red
bra-like top revealed the crowns of her perfectly round breasts. There was
another half-moon tattoo right above her navel. Thick gold bracelets encircled
her arms. A short leather skirt tautly hugged her hips. Dark-brown leather
boots laced up all the way to her knees completed the warrior-Goddess’s look.

Andy gingerly flipped a few more pages and gestured
to another picture. On this one a voluptuous naked woman sat on the beach,
facing the sea. Her long curly hair cascaded around her shoulders and down her
back. The woman’s legs curled to the left. A thick line of sea foam encircled
her, caressing her legs, buttocks, and the tips of her fingers.
 

“Aphrodite, Greek Goddess of love and beauty,” whispered
Bogdan, gaping at the illustration.

“She was also known as the Roman Venus, the
Mesopotamian Inanna, the Phoenician Astarte, or the Etruscan Turan. The legends
say Aphrodite could make any man fall in love with her at first sight.” Ivona
smiled. “Andy, show Bogdan the images of Shiva and Isis.”

“This is crazy. I can’t even begin to understand
what this is all about.” Bogdan’s eyebrows formed an almost straight line above
his eyes. He took his glasses off and looked in disbelief at his parents.

“That’s why we need to take baby steps.” Andy
ruffled his
sandy-blond hair and started to look
through the book for the pictures of Goddesses that his wife suggested. “Now,
here she’s shown as the
Hindu
god Shiva. I know, I know, you are concerned with the fact that she’s believed
sometimes to be a male god and in other mythologies to be a female. Just try to
think of her as an entity, an ancient and infinite being, a creator and a
visionary. She is not a “
she
” or a “
he
”. We simply refer to her as female,
because that’s how she normally appears to us. Just don’t worry about that now.”
He shrugged and smiled warmly at his son.

“What about the Summer Goddess? Is she a
sh
e or a
he
, or the same genderless entity?” Bogdan threw his arms out in
frustration.

“The same principle applies to Amber,”
Ivona said, reaching for her cup of tea. “There are her images and a lot of
information about her in the book as well.”

Andy gingerly flipped a few pages and pointed to
an image of a tall slim woman
with the head of a cat. She wore a close-fitting long dress and held an arched,
musical instrument
—
sistrum, a lion-headed aegis, and a small
cylindrical basket.

“This is a drawing of the actual
bronze statuette of the
Egyptian goddess, Bastet, presently on a display in the Louvre. I’ve seen this
particular statuette a few times there,” Andy explained. “Like with most of their
spiritual images, the humans can’t get it right
. At
first they had insisted on picturing
Bastet with a lion’s head and associating her with the Sun. But after one
thousand BC the image changes to that of a cat-headed goddess and her
connection changes to the Moon. This, we know, is impossible, since our Goddess
has been always representing the Moon, and Amber, as the Summer Goddess, represents
the Sun.”

“Dad, Mom.” Bogdan bit his lip, looking at his
parents. “I want to know something about the Amulet before Jatred and his uncle
get here.”

They regarded him silently. His mother
drew a lung-full of air, held it in and exhaled
loudly. She rose from the sofa, put her tea down on a small side table, and
approached her son. She bent down and looked into his eyes.

“Jatred is the Amulet’s Protector, and normally
you wouldn’t even know about the Amulet until you learned the Race’s history
and other important things pertaining to our past, and future. But because of
the nature of the situation Jatred is in… well, I mean, we actually are
all
in that situation. Anyway, you’re
right. Now you need to know the basics,” she said gently. She moved away from
Bogdan to stand by her husband’s side.

“This subject would arise sooner or later, even
if Jatred hadn’t gotten into all this mess,” Andy commented.

“I was hoping for later.” Ivona looked at Andy’s
reassuring face. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning.”

Bogdan’s parents explained to him the short
version of the Amulet’s history, and how the jewel is passed between both Races
every one thousand years. Then the doorbell rang, and they shot one another a
nervous glance. Bogdan put the book gently on the desk, and, throwing his white
gloves down, raced up the stairs to answer the door. His mind was racing.
Jatred, bro! I hope you’re all right
.

CHAPTER 26

Human World, November 17,
morning.

They stood in front of a tall iron gate set into a white-brick fence
that shot up several feet above the ground. Tyrrell pressed the doorbell and
glanced at Jatred who fidgeted with the zipper on his hoodie.

“I always liked their house,” Tyrrel remarked.

Despite the morning sun, the air was so cold
that their breath formed white clouds in front of their faces.

“What’s wrong with our house?” Jatred asked.

“Not a thing.” Tyrrell smiled. His teeth were bright-white
against his chocolate-dark skin.

The door to the house flew open. Bogdan jumped
down the full flight of stairs. He landed on his feet with an animal grace. He
ran to the gate, yelling with his mind, “Jatred, you’re okay! Unbelievable.”

Jatred’s lips stretched in a wide smile. The upper
half of his face was concealed by the hood of his jacket. He stuck his hands in
the pockets of his hoodie.

“Hello, Mr.
Hauser
,”
Bogdan said out loud to Tyrrell and clapped Jatred hard on the back. “Man, we
were so freaked out after you fought the Garhanan. And then Crystal froze you.”
He spoke with his mind, his words oozing excitement. “It was all crazy. And it
all happened so fast. The Goddess threw us out of the Winter Realm, and we went
to see Jasmira’s house. But she was gone to Santa Barbara. Than your uncle
called my parents and said that you were back home. You gotta tell me what
happened.”

“Let’s go inside,” Tyrrell interjected, waving
to Bogdan’s parents who stood at the door, waiting for their son and the guests
to enter.

Several pumpkins and gourds, each of a different size, shape, and
color sat on every step. A few had castles painted on with a black marker, and
windows cut out for a better effect.

 
“By the way, sorry I didn’t
call you. My cell phone died out. The battery or something,” Jatred said.

“Erik’s and Lusia’s phones stopped working in the Realm too. I
forgot mine from home. I didn’t know the phones would break in the Winter
Realm. Dude, this whole thing is so weird.”

“Actually, I left my phone at home too. By pure accident. So I
didn’t have it in the Realm. But, yeah, Uncle said electronics stop working or sometimes
even disintegrate all together in both Realms.”

The Tornwoods stood at the top of the staircase, beaming at their
guests.

“Jatred, I’m so glad you are okay. I was so worried.” Ivona Tornwood
walked down the stairs and embraced him.

He awkwardly held his arms out to the sides and then slowly put his
hands on her back. She let him go after a moment and regarded him with a maternal
concern.

“How are you?” she asked aloud, and then added with her mind, stealing
quick glances around the neighborhood, “Your uncle said you can’t remember much
from yesterday.”

Andy Tornwood shook Tyrrell’s hand and nodded to Jatred.

“Let’s go inside. We have a lot to discuss,” he spoke with his mind,
a sincere smile brightening his narrow face.

They went down to the basement study. The door was closed and locked,
but Ivona quickly scanned her retina and positioned her thumb on the
print-reader. A series of dull clicks came from the door locks, and the door
unbolted.

They filed inside the room, and everyone sat down except Jatred.

Ivona glanced at him. She smiled. “Pull up a chair or sit next to
your uncle.”

Jatred grunted and shuffled toward an oversized armchair in the corner.
Effortlessly, he lifted it with one hand and carried it closer to the
sofa.
 

Andy said, “Jatred, tell us what you remember from yesterday, and
then Bogdan will fill in the blanks.”

“All right.” Jatred raised his brows, exhaled loudly, and the words
tumbled out in a rush. Although his lips didn’t move, they heard his voice
clearly in their heads. After talking with his uncle the night before, Jatred’s
thoughts seemed better connected. He had less trouble relating what he
remembered from the previous day and evening.

When he finished, nobody spoke or moved for several long moments, then
Bogdan said, “This is like a comic book story.” There was no humor in his
smile.

Jatred barked a short, tense laugh.

“This is starting to make sense,” Bogdan pressed on. “First, we’re
summoned to the Winter Realm by the Goddess out of the blue. And clueless as to
why. When we entered the Realm, you and the Garhanan were about to fight. None
of us knew what was going on; we were totally freaking out. And after you got him,
and Crystal froze you, we got dismissed with the ‘let this be a lesson to you
all not to ever disobey me’.” He took his glasses off and started to polish
them with the hem of his flannel shirt.

“So, that’s the explanation Crystal gave you?” Jatred asked.

“Yes.” Bogdan leaned forward, scratched his head, and slouched back
into the sofa. “It was bizarre. We all tried to stay, but she kicked us out of
the Realm. Dad said she kinda makes you do things you don’t wanna do, at least
to some extent—”

“I know. I just recently learned. She can also erase a part of your
memory as she pleases,” Jatred heatedly said.

“Is that what happened?” Ivona gasped.

“After Jatred told me what he remembered, this was the only justification
that made sense to me.” Tyrrell sighed.

“She has the power to meddle in her Shifters’ minds but she can’t do
too much.” Andy nodded, his eyes filled with concern. “Although, I still don’t
understand why Crystal would endanger Jatred with the Garhanan. The creatures
of torment are called that for a reason.”