GODDESSES INC

9

Axtis choked on a sob. "I don't know. Something. Maybe long ago I should have seduced a ruler or...." She shuddered into another sob.

Mnem rubbed Axtis's back. "We can't berate ourselves for choices made long ago. We thought we'd live forever. Time doesn't—didn't—apply to goddesses. The best thing for us right now is to move forward." Please don't ask me how. I have no idea.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," said Phra Naret.

"Move forward." Axtis closed her eyes. "There is no forward for me."

Mnem ran her hands through Axtis's hair. "Yes there is. You, me, all of us, we just have to find our path. Give it some time."

"We don't have the luxury of time anymore." Axtis opened her eyes to stare down at the blade.

"Not eternal time, no. But mortals see time differently, with hours, days, weeks, and months. We have their time now. Using their time is better than..." Mnem touched the blade. "That."

"Have you looked at the elderly? Really looked? They're ugly. Wrinkled and—"

Mnem's shoulder bumped Axtis's. "Don't let Cailleach hear you say that."

Axtis turned her head. "That's how she regenerates. Cailleach is accustomed to aging."

"Let go of the scimitar." Mnem pried Axtis's fingers from the hilt. "We'll figure something out."

"Damn right we will!" Inna stomped into the room. "Give me the blade. I'm going to stick the pointy end into Shee." Inna wiggled her fingers.

Mnem sighed. "Sure, try to stab Shee. We all need a laugh."

Axtis bit back the beginnings of a smile. "Sounds like a plan."

Phra Naret giggled.

Shee was indestructible. You could no more harm Shee than you could stab a cloud. She was Shee. Immortal divine being. Untouchable. Unflappable. Unkillable. Un-avenge-able.

Inna plopped herself down in front of Axtis. "You can't take your life."

Axis's brows lifted. "Why not?"

"Because you must not give that satisfaction to Shee. Why make Her life easy?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Shee fires a goddess, who then kills herself in despair. Ex-goddess problem solved." Inna snapped her fingers. "No, Axtis, you will not kill yourself. You, me, all of us are going to live in spite of Shee."

"How?" Axtis sniffed.

"I don't know yet. We'll figure something out."

"Mnemosyne already said that. None of you have any answers." Axtis, a reflective and analytical soul, required details. The Why often more important than the How, Who, What, and Where. But not today.

"It's too soon for specifics. It just happened. Do you think mortals who get fired have a job lined up the next day?" said Mnem. "Of course not. But I know this, FEM took our divinity but Shee cannot steal our spirit."

"Or our divine experience." Phra Naret glanced at the unlit candle floating in the glass bowl. Lighting it couldn't hurt. There was power in ritual.

"Nobody puts goddess in the corner." Inna thumped the floor with her fist.

Axtis removed one hand from the blade to wipe away a tear. "It's 'baby,' and that movie is decades old." Her fingers loosened from the scimitar's hilt.

"Who wants a drink?" asked Mnem.

"Champagne," said Inna. "Where's the Dom Perignon?"

Axtis waved her hand toward the kitchen.

After finding the champagne and four crystal flutes, Phra Naret lit the floating candle. Rituals mattered.

"What are we celebrating?" Axtis's fingernails clicked against the blade.

"A new beginning." Mnem held out her arms. "We've never had that before. We'll reinvent ourselves."

"That's right," said Inna. "We will join today's hip new crowd. Be the In people."

Axtis winced. "That's all fine but how will we eat?"

"We don't need to figure that out tonight," said Mnem.

"The bubbly is poured." Phra Naret hoisted a glass.

Axtis set the scimitar on the floor, stood, and plodded forward. "Fine." Resignation puffed from her lips.

Mnem pushed the scimitar under the sofa before joining the others. "To us. To a new beginning and a fresh start." She lifted the fluted glass high. "To the next chapter in our lives."

"You mean the last chapter," mumbled Axtis.

"There's always an epilogue," said Inna.

Mnem cleared her throat. "We will rise like the phoenix and live life to the fullest. Who knows what amazing things are ahead for us?"

They clinked glasses, the Lalique crystal ting a melodious note of hope.

The ex-goddesses sipped, their eyes wandering from one to the other. They sought hope in each other's faces. Searched for traces of their former goddess courage. Mnem's eyes twinkled with bravado. Inna's glowed with daring. Phra Naret's gleamed with serenity. And Axtis's flashed with skepticism. It was a start.

Axtis felt the champagne fizz for the first mortal time, the effervesce a sensation as fleeting as a mortal life span. "If we're going to join the mortal world, we need new names."

"I like mine." Inna touched her heart.

"Yes, yours is easy to pronounce. What about you, Mnemosyne?" asked Axtis.

"My friends call me Mnem."

"My name is so..." Axtis wrinkled her nose.

"How about Axie?" asked Phra Naret.

"I like it." Axie clinked glasses with Phra Naret. "It sounds fun."

Three heads swiveled to Phra Naret.

"Phra is a title, like Princess." Phra Naret straightened her spine, stood tall, as tall as a tiny woman could.

"What about Fran?" asked Inna.

"My name is me." Phra Naret patted her heart. "It's part of who I am."

Mnem nodded. "Naret is perfect. Short and easy to pronounce."

"Okay, now what?" Axie drank half the glass. "Our names don't pay bills or help us find a job."

Mnem splashed more bubbly into everyone's glass. "We drink."

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