Page 2

"Oh, don't start that wishing in one hand and spitting in the other shit now,"her alter ego snapped."All you have to do to have one of your very own happily ever after fairy tale is…"

"NO!Don't you dare say it," the Norse goddess of the Dead and Queen of Helheim snarled, instantly irritated and wishing she could rewind the last five seconds."I don't want to hear…"

"Oh, you're gonna listen and listen good.You will hear me, Miss Missy,"the Supernatural Being growled through gritted teeth."I've been living in here–inside your mind, body, and soul–since the sixth century when my beloved brother, Dewi, and that crazy old Magician, Merlin, asked me to join with you.They knew you'd been dealt a shitty hand in the crapshoot we all call Life and wanted to try to make things better.I’ll never stop searching for the reason why you and your brothers turned out the way you did.Of course, I blame that mother of yours for everything.Loki's not much better, but he's been mad as a hatter since the day he was breathed into life.I’ll give him a pass because it wasn’t his fault.After all, if I did try to confront him, he would turn himself into a speck of dust or something equally undiscernible and simply float away.No, it's Angrboda who's to blame.She's…"

"A giant pain in the ass?"Hel barked with laughter."Do you get it?'Giant pain in the ass' since she's anactualGiantess."

"Oh, Hel, you're killin' me here."

"No, just tryin' to lighten the mood."

"Or more like tryin' to distract me so I don't say what needs to be said."

"You know me so well."

"Damn straight, and that is why I agreed to your hairbrained scheme.I said I would stay a secret for as long as you needed me to.Sadly, I didn’t know how long that would actually be.You’re more stubborn, or scared, or just plain… Well, shit, I don’t know because you’ve somehow hidden all that from me.However, I was sure over time that you…"

"Wait just one second.You didn't actually agree without…"

"Yes, I did actually agree without a fuss,"Carys, the sister of Y Draig Goch–the Red Welsh Dragon of Legend–and one of the few female Dragons left in existence, snapped."I graciously and magnanimously decided to do as you asked when you humbly–and might I say with tears in your eyes–begged me to stay hidden until you were ready to make our partnership known to the world.I also said that I would remain your little secret without a whole lotta bitchin' and moanin'.I still stand by that."

"Sure, you do."Hel’s sarcasm was palpable even though she knew what the Dragoness with whom she shared her soul said was the truth.The prodding, poking, and complaining was a fairly recent development, one that the goddess was sure was a result of the proximity of the one and only Omnipotent Being known as Hope.

"Hush and listen,"the Dragoness snapped."I am simply sayin' that I did as you asked because I agreed with you and everyone else that your mother and father are assholes who cannot be trusted, and you were still young for someone who would live forever.They would have exploited that and taken whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it.Also, we couldn’t be sure that Odin and Frigga would keep their end of the deal and ensure that your parents didn’t pull a fast one.Come on, Girl, Loki isn't called the Trickster for nothing.And don't even get me started on your mother, even though I already got started, but let's be real.The All Father didn't name her 'Distress Bringer' for shits and giggles."

"I know, but…"

Not even missing a beat, the Dragoness Queen ignored Hel's interruption and kept right on going."I have seen those two in action.I know what they're capable of.I've witnessed their misdeeds firsthand before you were even a gleam in your da's eye.I had no doubt those two idiots would find a way to trick us both into doing their dirty work.That is why I agreed to your plan of secrecy.If they ever got their grubby hands on our combined Magic, Power, and the Realms we both command they could do some serious damage to all we hold dear.However…”

"However," Hel seethed, the gleaming platinum hair of her live side tangling with the ebony tresses of her dead side, creating a black and white kaleidoscope that swirled and swept through the air all around the dichotomy of her gorgeous face.Unable to keep her jaws from clenching, the grinding of the exposed teeth on the dead side of her visage reverberated off the walls of Castle Niflheim."It has been fifteen hundred years since our joining, and you are sick and tired of being locked away.You want to fly free and not just in the depths of Helheim under the cover of Darkness and Magic.You no longer want to be mydirty little secret.It took everything in you not to reach out to Ormr, the Dragon King with whom Arawn shares his soul, during our time on the dark side of the Moon and as we battled the hordes of the Underworld, Erebus, and Magoth in the Chihuahuan Desert.But you did it forme.You havealwaysdone it forme," Hel mimicked in the thick Welsh accent of the Dragoness Queen with whom she shared her soul.

"Damn straight I did,"Carys shot right back, the brogue of her homelands only getting stronger with each syllable."And I would do it again.I love you.You are the daughter I never had, and I would do anything and everything to protect you, which is precisely why you have to build a happy little bridge and get the hell over all the bullshit that keeps you from having a life.First of all, tell people I am here, or at the very least, let me come forth and show them.It is my belief that no one is going to hold the fact that we kept your ability to Shift and my existence a secret.In fact, if you do the latter and let me out to show them I exist, I am sure they will all be so surprised and pleased for us both that there will be little to no explaining needed.”

“I understand, but…”

Not so much as batting an eye in acknowledgement that Hel had spoken, Carys powered on, “And once you share that we were joined by my brother and that insane Magician, I have no doubt that you will be able to do a whole lot of other things, like, reach out to that sexy hunk of Omnipotent Being who was made just for you.And while we’re on the subject, since there is that one spot in your psyche I will not and I suspect cannot access, the one where you keep those special confidences from even me, how about you level with me and tell me why exactly you refuse to at the very least speak to Hopper?"

Ignoring the question Carys had asked more times than Hel cared to recall, the goddess once again deflected with a chuckle."Well, one thing's for sure: I'm gonna cancel your subscription to Netflix and GhoulTube.I think I liked it better when you were the staunch, uptight Welsh Dragoness Queen who only spoke Welsh and knew nothing of the outside world.As I remember it, you hated the English language, absolutely refused to speak it when we were first joined and look at you now.This whole 'millennial vibe' complete with its English slang is almost more than I can handle."

"I know what you’re doing, my dear Hel.So, stop deflecting, and listen up."

"Isn't that what I've been doing?"Stopping for less than a half a second, she quickly added, “Listening up, I mean.”

Ignoring her comment, the Dragoness Queen returned to her tirade."You need to share our secret with those you trust, the people you hold dear.You need to tell them that I exist and trust that they will not only keep our secret but help protect it from your parents.Not that I think we need any help at all.I mean, we’ve got it all goin’ on, and then some.We can protect what’s ours, but it is always good to have backup–people you know will be there if you need them.”

“Yeah, but…”

“And let's face it, the time is coming when you're gonna need me out there, not stuck in here."

“I know you’re right, however…”

“Let me make one thing perfectly clear…”Carys paused.

Hel could feel the incredible, Magical, magnanimous, and amazingly Powerful Dragoness holding onto her temper with both of her massive paws and a good bit of the Enchantment flowing through her immortal being.She knew there was more coming.Carys never left anything hanging or up to interpretation.She prided herself on being clear and concise.Therefore, Hel knew she needed to hold her tongue and wait.

Thankfully, it took less than three beats of their combined hearts for the Dragoness to continue.With her golden eyes glowing so brightly Hel could feel the heat, Carys leveled her gaze and repeated,“Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Merch Anwyl, if there is ever a time that you need me, I will burst forth with the fury of the Ancient Dragon Kings and Queens, burn whoever dares to threaten you to the ground, then blow their ashes to the four corners of the universe without giving a gods be damned about who knows that I exist or not.Are we clear?”

“We are,” Hel quickly answered, feeling the truth in every word Carys spoke.