Killing Olympia

Ava wasn't used to getting packages sent to her front door. Lower Olympus simply wasn't in a state where the postal service worked anymore, and if it did, you were just begging someone to rob you. The knock came sometime close to midnight, and a knock on the door barely ever came with any good news. That's not Rylee. She would have kept knocking on the door until it got aggravating. One knock, like an announcement, followed by silence. She pulled her eyes off the map she was studying, pencil gnawed down between her teeth and her phone playing a voice message from a scout telling her everything she didn't want to hear. Spotted another gang today. Called themselves the Golden Fists. Dunno if they're good guys, but they're attacking other gangs. Bunch of Supes with murder on their minds. Guess that's a win for us, right? It was so painfully obvious where these new guys had come from, too.

Ava blamed it all on Rylee for throwing her fist into the air, golden light and crackling energy lighting up that frigid Lower Olympus night. The knock came again. Ava muttered under her breath and looked at the couch.

"Taylor," she muttered. The goth stirred, then turned down whatever she was watching. "Check it."

She turned her head to look at Ava, throwing a piece of whatever she was eating into her mouth. "Didn't order anything," she said through a mouthful. Then she swallowed and sat upright. "Wait, isn't that a bad thing?"

Ava sighed and stood up. Just one night, Lower Olympus, please. She clicked her fingers at Taylor to turn off the tv. She'd gotten her hands on a gun recently, not that it would matter against a lot of people in this slum of a city. Rylee had dropped off the arm's dealer that had cut her open and gouged her hollow just a few days ago, and the sound of her thumping still echoed through the entire apartment from the closet in the corner. It had been one of those long, sweaty nights that reeked of blood and smelt of victory. She'd broken her fingers smashing her fist against Lucia's face until she looked like someone had smashed her jaw open with a hammer…which she had. It was only fair, but she'd also been taught how to put plastic sheets down so the splatter didn't soak into the carpet.

She was already exhausted to the bone by the time she sat down for tonight's migraine. Relieved, yes, and money well-spent on Rylee, but having someone keep knocking on your door had her frayed nerves sparking.

Ava crept toward the door, then pressed her ear against the door. Silence.

She slowly backed up, then flicked off the safety.

"Sorry!" Ava cringed as Sam came out of the single bedroom in this place, hair wet from the cold bucket shower she'd taken. She jogged across the room and undid the deadbolts, giving Ava a heart attack when she swung the door open. Nobody. The hallway was empty and dark. The generator was working overtime, but Ava didn't pay the shady, grimy little man of a landlord so much money to make sure her place always had its lights on. Sam crouched down and picked up a package, then grinned at Ava and kicked the door closed behind her. "It's here!"

Ava looked at the redhead, wondering if she really was stupid. "What the fuck were you thinking?" she said. Sam stepped back as Ava slid the gun down her waistband. "Did you just give out our damned address?"

"Great," Taylor muttered, flopping back onto the couch. "Looks like we're moving again."

"Don't worry so much," Sam said, putting the package onto the table. It made a thud when it landed. The wrapping was sloppily done and only stayed in place with strips of loose tape. "Besides, I didn't tell anyone." She bit her way through the tape, then ripped open the wrapping paper. A black cardboard box was all it was, one that had her grinning as she pulled off the top. Taylor got off the couch, and Ava came up beside Sam and looked inside.

"A book and some old beer bottles," Ava muttered, then looked at Sam. "What the hell is this?"

"Magic," Sam said, grinning at her. She pulled the book out of its red cloth cradle in the center of the box. It wasn't large, it didn't look spectacular. Its front cover was barely held together by the tape binding its pages.

"Magic?" Taylor repeated. She popped out of existence and appeared on the other side of Sam.

"Yup," Sam said. "I found this guy online who teaches it all for a couple bucks. Really great."

Ava and Taylor glanced at one another.

Rylee had said something about the girl needing help, and in all fairness, she'd been really helpful around the apartment. She'd even done the job of throwing out the garbage bag full of plastic sheets and rusted tools, no questions asked. She had the kind of attitude a lot of gangsters would love. Why? Because she worked and smiled and got the job done, even if she'd sometimes sit on the edge of the couch, eyes glassy, playing with that ring on her thumb and staring into empty space. The girl was hurting. That was clear. She cried just a few hours ago so loudly it nearly drove Ava to shouting at her to get the fuck out, but Rylee was a problem she didn't need right now.

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Ava took the book from her and flipped it open. Then she frowned and whispered, "What the hell?"

"Lemme guess," Taylor said. "They're old recipes?" She nudged Sam. "Welcome to New Olympus."

Ava put the book down on the table and rubbed her eyes, getting the blur of exhaustion out of them. I'm seeing things right now, aren't I? She flipped through the book, the weak lightbulb above her drawing shadows over the pages. Writing wasn't the only thing scribbled over the aged pieces of paper. Drawings. Diagrams. Aged polaroids of places and things and people that she'd never even seen before. Ava slowly straightened, then smiled.

"How much did you even get this for?" Ava whispered.

Sam shrugged. "I won it in a mystery bundle on that guy's website."

"Actually?"

"Yep."

"No strings attached?"

"Nothing except my credit card," Sam said. "Which I should probably get cut off."

"Oh my God," Ava whispered, then ran her fingers through her hair. "Oh my God."

"What's going on?" Taylor asked, looking around. "I feel like I missed something."

Ava slammed her palms against the table and laughed, laughed so hard it almost hurt to do so. She sat down on one of two wooden chairs they had and looked up at the ceiling. Oh my God. An actual stroke of luck for once. She shook her head and took off her glasses, then looked at Sam. "You gorgeous redhead," she said. Sam looked like she didn't exactly know how to take that. "You might just be the second greatest thing to happen to me. Do you even know how much this book would cost? It's priceless. Things like this used to belong to the House of One." Taylor and Sam stared at her. Right, of course they wouldn't know. Not everyone grew up with the devil for a father. Ava stood up and closed the book, then rasped her knuckles against the cover. "These books can shape reality. Some of them can bring people back from the dead." She grabbed Sam's shoulder and grinned. Sam, though, looked uncomfortable as she glanced at the book underneath Ava's hand. She seemed to tense up, go rigid. "And you just went out there and became the best gift I could have ever asked for. God I could just kiss you right now."

"I watched you beat a woman half to death with the blunt end of a drill," she muttered. "No, thanks."

Ava shrugged, then picked up the book. "She's an arm's dealer. What she deserves is a shooting squad."

"Wait," Sam said, stopping Ava from walking away. "Where are you taking that?"

"Oh, it's mine now," Ava said. "I don't do charity, but this will keep you in here for at least a little longer."

Sam made a grab for the book. Ava stepped backward. "That's my book. I don't care if it's a thousand years old or whatever. I won it, so I own it, and fine, if you want to play that game, I'll just make a quick phone call."

Ava's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."

"I would," Sam said, pulling out her phone. She stuck out her hand. "Now hand it over."

"Do you even know what this book is?" Ava asked. "It can kill you if you don't know what you're doing."

"Then so be it," Sam said. Her hand still remained spread, waiting and steady.

The phone in her hand, already turned on, her thumb hovering over a contact, was the reason Ava tensed her jaw and swore. Who the hell does she think she is? Rylee doesn't scare me. I'm too much of an asset to her.

But Rylee had a bad habit of not caring about that.

Ava cursed again, then said, "Fine. Then let me at least teach you how to use it."

"Hold on," Taylor said, leaning against the table. "You know how to speak magic?"

"You pick up bits and pieces, growing up with my dad," she said. "Well, Sam?"

"I'm fine," she said, shrugging. "I've still got a few more classes to get through, anyway."

"You're really going to trust some weirdo online how to teach you to use this? That's the equivalent of trusting a drug addict to teach you how to wire up an entire house. He can sound smart, but he's totally wrong."

"Right," she muttered. "And I trust the devil's daughter to teach me instead?"

"Exactly."

"No," she said, then took the book from Ava. She hugged the book to her chest and smiled. "Look, I really appreciate you giving me a chance to stay here. You're not…nice. And you give me the creeps. But this is mine, and I know what I'm doing. If I need any help, I'll tell you. But until I do, I want to figure out what comes next on my own." She smiled softly at Ava, then gathered up the rest of the box and the wrapping paper. "I'll be studying."

Ava watched her head into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

And almost wondered if she should just take the book from her, anyway.

Unfortunately, Rylee wouldn't like that very much. And even worse, that girl has the Book of Four. Not quite the Book of Two, wherever that is, but a loaded gun is a loaded gun—and even more dangerous in untrained hands. An idiot with a pistol could do a lot of damage, but an idiot with the ability to warp reality was a threat.

Taylor bumped her arm, threw another seed into her mouth, and said, "I like her. She's cool."

"She's either going to erase us from reality by accident or change the world."

"Guess that means I'm sleeping on the floor for a lot longer then, huh?"

Ava sighed from her nose. "Get Lucia out of the wardrobe again," she said. "I need to hit something."

"We ran out of plastic sheets," Taylor said.

"Doesn't matter," Ava said, rolling up her sleeves. "It's therapeutic, and besides I can't hit Sam without Olympia hitting me, and hurting Lucia would hurt a lot less than having my insides torn out of my body, Taylor."

"Fair point," she muttered, then sighed. "I'll get the hammers out of the trash."