Weaver

A Good Night's Sleep

Before long Azura, Shakra, Altair and Alice were all sitting around the table, mugs of tea sending swirls of steam curling into the air in front of them. There was silence for a moment, and all Alice could hear was the steady ticking of multiple clocks from the living room. Then Shakra burst out,

“I have to go after her!”

Alice glared at her, “I assume you mean Athena. There’s no way…”

                “She knows where I am, that much is clear!” Shakra interrupted her. The woman’s dark complexion had gone pale, and her hands trembled as she curled her fingers around her mug, “you got stabbed because of me!”

Alice frowned down at her shoulder, about to say there was no wound. A tell tale splotch of dark blood stained her skin exactly where she’d been stabbed.

Azura shrugged apologetically, “The spell doesn’t work for that. You’ll have to wash up.”

Alice leaned forward, eyes fixed on Shakra’s face, “Listen to me. They weren’t even after you. I…sort of asked them…I mean, I didn’t say your name of course. I asked them if they were here for me, or someone else.”

Shakra had fallen silent, her voice came out in a shaky whisper, “this wasn’t a mistake? They didn’t just break into the wrong apartement?”

Alice shook her head, stomach twisting, “No, they meant to get me. Athena sent them after me. She wanted to see if they could kill me. She was testing me.”

They all jumped when Shakra pounded one fist onto the table, making the mugs rattle, “this makes no sense! How did she know we were here?"

Azura glanced over at Alice, brows creased, “Well she's a god, our Alice does seem to attract strange types.”

Altair snorted and scraped one hand across his face, “Oh man, you mean she attracts pissed off gods,” he shot a sideways look at Alice, who just rolled her eyes at him.

“It’s as if I’m walking around with a sandwich board on me. A sign that says, “Hello, crazy god types! Come have a go at me!” I don’t know what it is, but if it keeps happening I’m not going to survive for very long!”

                She looked down, realizing that she’d been rubbing the metal links of her charm bracelet fiercely between her finger and thumb. What would Aunt Ruby have done? No doubt she would have had some solution or explanation.

                “Maybe it’s a trick,” Shakra protested, “maybe they were just here to make you think they were after you and then I’ll relax and they’ll come after me,” she stuttered to a halt, clearly grasping at straws, “or..I don’t know. But Alice, don’t you see? I have to go to her. If something happens to you and it’s my fault…”

                Alice made her voice as firm as she possibly could, “No, absolutely not. I forbid it,” she saw Altair’s brows shoot up in amusement and made a mental note to give him a smack later on, only right now he was rubbing her upper back, and it felt really nice, “look. We can’t give her the satisfaction. She can’t just send people to try to kill me and then we let her win. If I’ve learned one thing about gods it’s that they need lessons in not being so bloody full of themselves!”

                Altair choked on his tea, but he didn’t say anything when she gave him a look. Alice continued, “Right now, it would be best if we went to bed. Azura, it’s obvious no one can get in through a window without things going off. Like the duck phone. But what about the hallway?” She remembered a certain nasty siren who’d managed to get into her apartment that way.