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The Samhain Gate
3/16/2009
“Don’t you watch anything but the Discovery Channel?”
Tyr was sitting on her couch, rolling the red stone back and forth across the table like a marble. There was an open beer beside it and the TV was on, but muted. He looked up at her, “Thank you for getting some beer. It was thoughtful of you, girl.” He turned off the television.
Iris went and stood next to him, “Tyr, I want you to know that I consider you a friend and you are always welcome here.” He looked up at her with a quirk to his eyebrows, “However, if you don’t learn to use the freaking doorbell, I swear I will fill this house with nothing but lime-flavored Bud Light!”
She sat down beside him and snagged the stone off the table, “Why are you here?” She rolled it around her fingers.
“I wanted to check in on you, girl. I was impressed with the way you handled the sӓchlichstein.”
“Is that what those things are called? Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I didn’t have time to tell you about everything. All I could do was give you a good general training. However, you did well.”
“What was that thing?”
“They’re called sӓchlichstein, they live in Muspelheim. They eat, and eat. And then eat some more. When there is enough food for them to grow large enough they bud off and create more of themselves. As that one tried to do today. You’re lucky you managed to stop it.”
“Why?”
He leaned over and took the red stone from her hand; Iris was playing with it idly, not thinking about it. “When they first bud off, the young don’t have eyes. They create these stones within themselves as lenses for their eyes. Do you know what rubies are made of?”
She thought for a moment, “Aren’t they made of carbon, like diamonds?”
“And what are you and every other living thing in this realm made of?”
She nodded as understanding dawned, “Carbon. So that’s why they were so interested in me all of the sudden.”
He nodded, “They seem to prefer animals as a source of carbon. I must be something to do with the balance of carbon and minerals. Plants will do, but they prefer animals. I hope you had the presence of mind to pick up the rest of them.”
Iris stood up and wandered back into the kitchen to get herself a drink. Walking back, she asked, “Why? Are they valuable?”
“Don’t try and be coy, girl; you’re no good at it. Yes, they are quite valuable. Not only do they have value here, as flawless rubies, but they are also much sought-after by the dwarves. They use them to make the finest jewelry.”
She sat back down beside him, “Yes, I picked up the rest; they’re in the other room. Does this mean I can retire now?”
“Not from being the Aesir’s champion. You have another month before Samhain comes and goes. Don’t get too cocky.” He took a swig and emptied his bottle of beer. “Who’s your new boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend?” Iris had to think about it for a moment, then understanding dawned, “Oh, you mean Jason? He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just some geologist who’s trying to figure out what happened today.”
“Did you tell him?”
She rolled her eyes, “Of course not. I don’t want to have to break out of a loony bin.” Tyr laughed and Iris continued, “He’ll spend a few days trying to figure out a logical explanation, not find one, and go home.”
“You seem disappointed.”
Iris fought down a flash of irritation; why was Tyr so interested in her personal life? “Nope. The last think I need is some guy getting in my way. I just want to survive to the end of the month and have it done.”
“If you say so, girl.” He tossed the ruby over to her and in the time it took for her to catch it was gone.
Iris sighed and said to the air in general, “I wish you would stop doing that.” She was carrying his empty beer bottle to the kitchen when Iris mentally kicked herself; she’d forgotten to ask him about Ragnarok.
* * *
Iris sat on the couch, piling, unpiling, sorting, and counting the red stones. She’d spent hours sorting and counting the stones the night before; finally falling asleep on the couch. The shine of reflected sunlight woke her, and Iris just began counting and sorting again, guessing at their value. She idly ran a finger through the heap of smaller stones. There were eight rubies about the size of the end of her thumb; they were the largest. The rest were smaller, ranging in size from the tip of a finger to stones suitable for setting in rings or earrings, giving her a total count of fifty-eight stones. Iris had no idea what the carat weight would be, but wanted to find out. Looking online gave her a rough idea of what they might be worth. She guessed it was around a quarter of a million dollars. She still hadn’t quite managed to get her mind around the sum.
The growl of her stomach roused Iris from haphazard contemplations of the value of gems and where to sell them. She scooped them into Ziploc bags—keeping them sorted by approximate size—and buried them at the bottom of her sock drawer.
Sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal, Iris turned on the news. The ‘lava flow’ was all over the TV. There was Jason in the background as the attractive female reporter interviewed Dr. Griggory. Iris smiled as she watched; he was trying to say he didn’t have a clue what was going on, without actually saying he didn’t know what was going on.
“This is a currently unexplained and isolated incident.” Dr. Griggory looked like an older version of Jason. He had the same dark tan, but with more gray in his hair and beard. “There is no indication that there will be another geologic occurrence at this time.”
Iris snorted; of course there wouldn’t be another occurrence; she’d killed the thing. She stood up and took her bowl to the sink. She supposed being an Aesir-chosen protector of the Earth was going to be a thankless job. She was just glad there was no video footage. TV crews hadn’t been able to get close enough, and the traffic cameras had shorted out from the heat.
“In other news,” another attractive female reporter spoke from the air-conditioned confines of the studio, “two inspection workers have disappeared beneath the site. Efforts are underway to locate them. Now over to Tim Algood for the weather. Tim?”
Iris turned off the TV. She had some time off, apparently, but wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. The rubies in her sock drawer played on her mind, but the concept of having wealth was still too new. She needed to sit on them for a while, keep her head together, and not do anything rash. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to her. If she called up Sam and gave notice it would look a little strange. She needed to wait a couple of months before even starting to sell her stones. That would give the geologists time to make their reports and for the furor to die down.
So, what do with herself in the meantime? Iris carried her cereal bowl back to the kitchen and set it in the sink. She wandered around the apartment for a couple minutes, then decided to go for a run and was halfway to the door before realizing she wasn’t wearing anything but her armor. With a sigh, she went back to the bedroom and put on some sweatpants and a shirt. Tucking her keys and some cash in the pockets Iris headed out the door.
She paused on the street, not sure where to go. Eventually, she headed in the direction of the office, out of habit more than anything. It was only about six miles to the building; she could jog down, have a look at what the geologists were doing, and jog back. It would be a good workout without wearing her down. Iris didn’t really want to admit it, even to herself, but she wanted to see what Jason was getting up to.
Traffic wasn’t bad and the sidewalks were good. Iris had never done much running in the city, but other than the constant exhaust fumes, it wasn’t bad. She took it slow and it was just over an hour before she approached the cordoned-off section of road. There were still a few people loitering, but no heavy news crews. The area was well contained, but Iris could get right up to the closed-off section.
The road was a wreck. Most of the water from the hydrants had drained away, but the deep furrow the sӓchlichstein had left in its wake was still filled with dirty water. There were ridges of black volcanic rock along the edges of the furrow, as well as heaps of the same rock everywhere Iris had hit the creature. Melted glass, streetlights, and cars formed gloppy lumps of almost artistic destruction. She walked closer and put her hands on the police tape separating her from the destruction. How had she managed to kill that thing? The idea that she’d been brave—or stupid—enough to take it on in the first place terrified her. If she closed her eyes, Iris could still smell the noxious steam and poison vapor produced by the creature.
“Iris?”
She opened her eyes and saw Jason walking over to her and smiling.
She smiled back, “Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” He stopped on the other side of the tape.
It was good to be able to tell him the truth, “Well, I’m not working for a while,” she gestured to the carnage surrounding them, “so I decided to go for a run.”
“Are you always so athletic?”
Iris smiled; he was flirting with her again and the fact that she didn’t mind delighted her, “Not always. This is a sort of recent development.”
Another figure approached them from behind Jason. He saw her attention leave him and turned, “Ah. Iris, this is Dr. Marten Griggory, he’s in charge of this investigation. Marten, this is Iris, one of the people you had me interview.”
They shook hands across the tape.
“I saw you on the news, Doctor. Any idea what’s going on here?”
She saw him hesitate, “If you can’t tell a civilian about it, that’s fine. I was just curious.”
“For the moment, it’s probably best if I don’t.”
“We were just about to take lunch, weren’t we, Marten?” Jason broke the silence.
The older man glanced back at the ruined street, “I have some things to finish up before I go, but you go on if you’re hungry.”
“Iris, would you like to join me?”
She looked from one man to the other, “Sure.”
“Great.” He ducked under the tape, “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
Dr. Griggory smiled and Iris thought she caught a knowing sort of look. She wondered what the two men had been talking about. “Take your time, Jason.” He wandered back towards the site.
Jason turned to her, “Know anywhere good around here?”
“I’m kinda manky and gross,” she smiled, “so nowhere fancy.”
“I think you look lovely.” He smiled at her, “But anywhere you want to go is fine.”
* * *
“Those are very unusual earrings.” They were sitting over burgers at one of Iris’ favorite places to go to lunch.
She set down her food and nodded, “Thanks. I picked them up at an estate sale last weekend.” She knew from experience it was always best to keep the same lie going whenever possible.
“No you didn’t.” He took a bite.
She blinked at him; doubt was the last thing she’d expected. “I’m sorry?”
Jason shook his head, swallowed and took a drink. “Last night, you were wearing those earrings before you were wearing clothes. You don’t do that with trinkets you bought recently. Someone really special gave you those.”
She frowned down at her food; he was perceptive, more so than anyone else she’d encountered recently. Iris wasn’t sure if she could see him anymore. The thought disappointed her; he was nice.
“Maybe I just like prancing around my apartment wearing nothing but my jewelry and you just surprised me.” She hoped a smart-ass comment would distract him.
“Do you have a web-cam?”
She stuck her tongue out at him, “Jerk.” He laughed and Iris relaxed. Maybe he was perceptive, but the truth was something she was sure he would never guess. He probably thought some former boyfriend had given them to her.
“So, have you found anything out?”
He shook his head around a mouthful of french-fries, “Nope. Nothing about this site makes any sense. At first glance it looks like a classic pahoehoe flow.” He noticed her blank look, “That’s a type of flow common in Hawaii. It’s the slow-moving non-violent flow you see on the news covering peoples’ houses.” She nodded, curious how he would explain the unexplainable. “But, when you look closer it’s all wrong. That gouge in the street shouldn’t be there. Lava flows lay down material, they don’t absorb it. And the temperatures were way too high for the type of rocks we’re finding. What we’re finding is basalt. There’s damage nearly a block away, basalt doesn’t form at temperatures high enough to cause that much damage that far away. Normally you can walk within a few yards of a flow like that and not have too much trouble.” He paused and took a drink. “I’m sorry, Iris, I’m talking too much. It’s just fascinating.”
She smiled; his eyes were lit up with enthusiasm. Iris sighed; she wished she could find that sort of passion in her own job. “I don’t mind, but are you sure you’re allowed to talk about this?”
“I don’t see why not. The government people never made me sign a non-disclosure agreement.” He made a restless motion, “And then there’s the fact that Texas is geologically stable anyway, so there shouldn’t be any sort of lava flow around here in the first place.”
“Unless something big is happening.” Maybe giving him a doomsday-scenario would get him working in another direction. “Is there any evidence that there’s a caldera or a hot-spot forming?” She smiled at his surprised look, “I watch a lot of documentaries.”
He nodded, “But to answer your question, no. If there was some sort of major activity below the city there would be other indications. So far, there haven’t been any.” He cracked his knuckles, “But it’s all fascinating anyway. Crypto-geology is a hobby of mine.”
“Is that like Crypto-zoology?”
“Exactly. Except my mysteries actually leave evidence. Unlike the Bigfoot hunters who can never seem to get anything but bad film and blurry photographs.” He glanced at his watch, “I don’t mean to rush you, but I should probably be getting back to the site.”
“That’s okay, I’m done.”
He drove her back to the site and opened the car door for her, “Would you like a ride home? It’s a long way.”
“I’ll be fine, thanks. I need to work off some of that lunch.” She turned to go.
“Iris?”
She turned back, “Hm?”
He glanced around, moving his feet, “I’d, um, like to see you again.”
Iris paused; it had been a long time since she’d been in this situation, made all the more awkward by the things she wouldn’t allow herself to tell him. “Okay.” She surprised herself so much that Iris actually paused and cocked her head, wondering if someone else was controlling her body.
Jason grinned, the same measure of delight he’d had discussing his work glowing from his features. “Great! May I pick you up tonight?”
She shook her head, “Tonight is fine, but I don’t feel much like going out again. Come over anyway and I’ll make dinner.” It was a bad idea, and she knew it, but Iris couldn’t quite suppress her delight at the prospect of seeing him again.
“I’ll see you later, then.”
“Seven o’clock, and don’t be late.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” He turned and went back to the site, ducking under the police tape. Iris watched him go, smiling at the buoyant way he was walking, then turned and began her own jog back home. This was a bad idea, and she knew it. Why was she letting herself get caught up with this man?
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