I reach Shadewood in seconds, realtime.
It's a neighborhood out westside, the kinda place with shoes on the power lines and bright orange eviction notices on the front doors, and it's right in the middle of being gentrified, but not quite there yet. Like, there's this kitschy cute 1940s themed cafe like right next to a rundown liquor store that hasn't been renovated since the eighties. With bullet holes in its windows.
I walk into said liquor store, grab a fifth of whiskey off the shelf, and walk out. Drinking from the bottle while I traverse the cracked sidewalk, I ring up my pal Rocky, fixing to make a purchase and pick some brains as to the whereabouts of my girl. Homeboy doesn't pick up the first time so I call him again.
Finally, he answers. "Yuh?"
"Yo, dude. It's me. The usual?"
Takes him a few seconds to sluggishly respond. "Can't front." Then another few seconds to explain, "They're on my back." Bro is barred out big time. "Same price though."
"Lemme call you back."
"Yuh."
I ring up my cousin Plutus, God of Wealth and Prosperity. "'Sup, cuz."
"'Sup, cuz."
"Can you spot me the usual?"
"I've been instructed not to enable you."
"What? Why? By whomst?"
"By my mother."
"Ahhh! Aunt Demeter! Meddling! Damn it. No worries. I won't implicate you."
"Thanks. If you need food or clothes or anything like that I can still get you."
"Thanks cuz. I'll let you know. Deuces." Balancing on the curb as I walk past a meth den, nostrils full of that lovely paint thinner and ether aroma, I ring up my favorite enabler. "'Sup, Big D."
"Nicole Artemis Astoria!" Dionysus jeers over the line, syllables slurred with drunken revelry. "My favorite Demigod half sibling! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I'm tryna snipe some blow but the bank said I defaulted and a certain aunt of ours is keen on not enabling."
"Bruhhh. Not. Cool. So not cool. Enabling is the best! You're happy, I'm happy, nobody's grouchy or strung out or in withdrawals–What's not to like?"
"I'm saying! Look, I'll keep it a buck. You know I have no way to repay you and honestly never will."
"Say less, little sister. I got you. We've done this song and dance before. But I could just give you drugs for free, Nico. I have my own operation, remember? Who do you think the cartels buy from?"
"I know, I know, but we got independent entrepreneurs and small local businesses to keep afloat in this bear economy, Big D!"
"You're sooo right. I'll drop you some–Oh, wait! Wait! Heyyy! You're on a real thing here! A real Divine Quest!"
"Bruhhh, I'm asking for drug money! Not for help with the quest!"
"Still, still, still, little sister. Uhhhh… Let's see… Stop where you are."
I freeze in place.
"Bunny hop right there."
I jump with both feet and land with both feet.
"Ha! Fucking idiot! Bunny hopping in the hood! You look so stupid! Entertainment received as payment!"
I'm howling. "Dude, I fucking love your ass!"
"I love your ass too, dude! Incoming!" A magical grapevine blossoms from midair and uncurls, depositing two hundred dollars cash in twenties into my waiting hands. "Feel free to spend it all in one place!"
"I love you, Big D. You're a real one."
"Don't I know it. Peace and love, little sister. Call me whenever."
"I will. Deuces."
Beep beep. I ring up Rocky again.
"Yuh."
"Got it."
"Come through… Back door's unlocked."
I stick to the cuts as I navigate, lending a cigarette to one of the dealers on the corner. Man, I love places like this. Every few turns I make, someone new is offering to sell me drugs. Dealers, you don't gotta mind–They announce their presence and they're not looking for trouble, just business. Trouble hurts their bottom line. It's the ones who don't say anything that I'm wary of.
Not even I'm immune to a knife in the gut.
I mean, I am immortal, but it'd still hurt.
And I stand out here for sure. My hoodie is designer, my sneakers are immaculate, my leggings are dumb expensive, but this drip is the only drip I own and I got negative paper in the bank. To most, I have the outward appearance of a Regular ass tall skinny white girl who got turned around in the wrong neighborhood. However, nobody bothers me tonight, for which I am grateful. Bless up. On Gods.
*six feet tall btw 😘 ladies hit my line
The traphouse smells like soapy freebase. When I walk through the door and call out my arrival, the microwave is running with a glass measuring cup in it, cooking up a softball. It's a thick, whitish goop right now, but it'll harden up.
I get distracted watching it bubble.
Temptation. Horrible temptation.
But nah. I've had my crack phase. I stick to soft coke these days. The comedown off crack always had me feeling so unstable and erratic it was straight diabolical. I was popping off on some supervillain shit to get more of it. Bad, bad, bad times all around.
Thousand days sober. From crack, at least!
Some big dude I don't know storms into the kitchen and blisters and barks about who the fuck am I and what the fuck am I doing and this and that. I've never met this guy before so I just put my hands up and shut up until Rocky hears the noise and comes to clear me.
My boy Rocky is a tall black guy with a penchant for streetwear, in particular the cyber look, meaning black synthetics and lots of pockets and dangling straps. Cool. As. Fuck. Looking half asleep, definitely barred out and loud as fuck with the stench of weed, he daps me up with a half hug too.
"Good to see you, Nico."
"You too, Rockz. Cool if I stay a second?"
"For sure."
The new guy is all like, "Nah, nah, no taste tests or samples or freebies or moochers."
Rocky drones, "Do you even know who you're talking to right now?"
"Motherfucker, do you?"
With my hands back up I say, "I don't even smoke hard anymore, dude, I'm just here for soft."
"Right," Rocky says, slipping me the plastic bag. That is not an eight ball; there's gotta be an extra half G in there. When I hand him the money he makes a show of counting it for his 'friend', sneaking me a roll of his eyes. "Cool."
[WEBNOVEL CENSOR: DRUG USE]. Not his usual, but good enough for me. Lips and gums numbing out nicely, I nod. "Cool. Got a sec, Rockz? I'm looking for somebody."
"Uh. Might. Kinda… Gotta take care of this shit. Some, uh. Tango's in there."
"You're good, bro." I punch his arm and nod. "I'll check with him."
"Oh shit," he snickers, grabbing his arm. "Assault. I'm sure she… I'm sure. Better defend myself. Bet I'd win. The fight, I mean. Skinny ass white girl and shit…"
I laugh in his face.
Before I can escape the kitchen, big guy demands, "Yo, wait, are you Astoria? MMA World Champion? What was it? Lightweights?"
"Nah, just Nico, man. And it was middleweight, actually."
"Weren't people pissed 'cause you cheated? Used that lightning of yours?"
"Brooo," Rocky rags out, "show some respect. That shit was all Nico, body and soul."
"Flesh and bone," I nod. "People got mad, sure, 'cause they were making shit up to discredit the win, but that was all me, motherfucker. I mean, Jesus, they had officials watching for any sign of powers. I couldn't have gotten away with it even if I tried. Are we done here? 'Scuse me."
I slip past big guy into the traphouse proper to numb out my nose, get some answers on what's going down in Shadewood, and dig up anything that could lead me to Anna.
I am on the trail, baby girl. Soon, soon, soon.
A half hour later, the table's looking like a motherfucking chalkboard.
My electrical charge is humming in my chest right alongside the stims burning through my veins. Gods, I'm feeling amped and ready to fucking rock. I believe coke is to be shared, generally. Within reason. Plus, I'm trying to get information, get people talking. And so, I rolled up and poured out for everyone present, a good five or six people, and I'm locked the fuck in, just about to start asking questions.
But uh. I'm a little distracted.
Within five minutes of showing up, I had one of the girls under my arm with my tongue in her mouth. Within five more minutes, I got the second under my other arm to make out too. They're both brunette little beauties, and cute girls are forever my weakness, so they've managed to distract me from my task.
I'm making out with one and biting her lip as her hands slip under my hoodie to feel me right back. Her lips curl with a smile as her fingers go through the dips of my abs. That's right. Shredded, bitch. The other girl takes a [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: DRUG USE] and sighs, so I switch tongues to give her a little love.
Do I know their names? Pfft. Whose?
Bruh, I don't even know where I am right now.
After like thirty minutes of that shit I push them off me, remembering why I'm here. [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: DRUG USE], I sniff hard and swallow the salty ass drip down the back of my throat, asking, "Yo, Tango, what's up around the Shade lately? Anything weird?"
He's playing video games on the TV, some first person shooter. "I mean, the fiends are always getting up to weird shit. You mean more weird than usual?"
I'm distracted again, nibbling one of the girls' noses and growling before unclipping her bra one handed in a split second. "Yeah, more weird than usual. I'm talking my kinda weird. Magic and monsters kinda weird."
"Nothing all that crazy, nah."
"What are you talking about?" one of the other guys says, someone I don't know and have never met before. "Dude, Koala's place got raided. They're shut down over there. Been pigs posted up ever since. Cleaning the place out. Hazmats, all that."
"Oh yeah. That happened, Nico."
I'm busy kissing one of my girls and playing with her [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: SEXUAL CONTENT] under her shirt, pausing to bite her neck and leave a deep blue hickey. "Heheh. How's that, bitch?"
"Harder," she pleads.
I'm gonna lose my mind.
Another guy who's been half asleep the whole time, either barred out or on nodding off, chimes in. "Oh yeah, I passed by there tonight on the way here. They're still there. Feds, DEA, corpos, hazmat, forensics, the works. Can't figure why."
Tango drones, "Right? It's just a kitchen. They didn't push shit but ice. Not even that much of it."
This girl on my left whispers in my ear, making my skin crawl. "Wanna go somewhere else?"
I kiss her ear in return, exhaling hot breath on her skin as I purr, "Only if you can handle sharing me with your friend."
"Sure… I guess…"
[WEBNOVEL CENSOR: DRUG USE] what's left on the table and bringing my bag with me, I let my girls clean the scraps while I stand up and stretch. "Where is this Koala's place, Tango?"
"Over by the laundromat on West Adams. Lit up like Christmas. Can't miss it."
"Word." I smile, both hands full of ass. "Think I can bum Rocky's room?"
"Uh, they're using it for business. You can use mine. Ah, fuck, man. Fucking kids camping. On Gods, bro…"
I thank the accommodating gentleman and take the girls upstairs into Tango's room. I've never been in here. He has a pretty cool guitar collection going, and a decked out skateboard rack. That's as much as I'm able to take in before the girls pull me into bed with them. They weren't all that enthusiastic about each other beforehand, but now they're making out with each other like crazy, stealing glances to make sure I'm watching.
My heart is racing as I tap out some more blow on the nightstand and [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: DRUG USE], cutting them a couple too. I always keep my strap, the Thunder, in my backpack, but it's too much work right now and I don't wanna deal with it. So I just [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: SEXUAL CONTENT], both at the same time 'cause I'm ambisextrous.
The stims in my blood make the time fly. The drink in my system makes sex even better. [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: SEXUAL CONTENT] make the girls moan. The sound of it echoes. I'm getting tracers. My head's starting to spin too. I feel weird. Confused. Slow.
That ain't the coke. Fuck is that?
As I make both girls [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: SEXUAL CONTENT], I start to realize.
Shit.
I think I've been drugged.
They're left glowing in the aftershock of their [WEBNOVEL CENSOR: SEXUAL CONTENT] but I stand up and stumble, quickly pulling my clothes back on. Yeah, I shouldn't be seeing tracers on coke. I shouldn't feel this sedated either, far from it, even with how drunk I am. The speeding rush of the blow is being stretched thin like taffy or melted cheese pulled apart into a narrow string, in which a second feels like an hour. Just blinking is a seriously arduous task for me right now.
The girls are watching me. Both smiling.
Skin shimmering with fish scales.
I don't mean cocaine fish scales.
Damn. I'm not drugged. I'm enchanted.
Sirens. Fucking sirens. How'd I miss that?
Odysseus can never hear about this.
"Bruh, really? Quest monsters already? It is day one, y'all."
"What's wrong?"
"Feeling okay?"
Shaking my head, I gather up my cocaine in the bag. It's hard work with my dexterity gone and my head lagging a few seconds behind. "To think, I happily shared my drugs, let you have plenty, and I even got you both off. And now you're doing this shit to me? It's rude. It's just rude."
"Whoops."
"Sorry–"
"It's rude to think I'm that much of a bitch that siren enchantments are strong enough to put me under! Like, come on! Who do you think I am? Butes? Bitch, I'm Nicole Gods-Damned Astoria! Fuck outta here with that weak ass shit!"
"Wait, but–"
"Nah, fuck that. I'm actually insulted. If you're gonna abduct me, at least make it more than a half-assed attempt. For real."
"We're supposed to take you to–"
"Ah-ah." I tick my finger side to side while standing at the door, single slinging my backpack. "Don't wanna hear it. I'm gonna rock on with my quest now. You two do some brainstorming, think things over, remember this lesson, and next time? Try a little harder. Try actual drugs, maybe? Hello? Bitch, bye!"
Head still cottony from the magic, I slide down the banister and say my goodbyes to Tango and Rocky, stepping out the back into the alleyway and heading left toward West Adams Street. Man, I'm mad. Is my reputation really that low? Do people really think I'm that sorry? Forget it. Doesn't matter; had sex.
"Doesn't matter; had sex," I tell myself, then say it a little louder. "Doesn't matter; had sex!"
I snap a selfie in the alley, giving the camera a little half snarl, then post it to my story with the caption, doesn't matter; had sex. There's a little white on my nose but that just makes it funnier. People already call me a trashy, ratchet, busted down druggie bitch online, so who cares?
The crazy thing about that is: I don't give a fuck.
A'ight, first conflict passed. Sirens. Please. Easy win.
Doesn't matter; had sex. Off to Koala's place.
I'm coming, Anna!