Sanaa excused herself to commune with her mentor spirit while Grace and Betsy talked. At least that’s what Sanaa said she was doing, Grace suspects that Sanaa doesn’t like her much and just wanted to get away from her for a bit. Which is fair. Grace explained to Betsy the situation with Eterno, as much as she understands it anyway, while Betsy in return laid out her family’s history with the area. Betsy is so slight that she seems to disappear in the giant old plush chair she sits in, while Grace is so not-slight it seems like she might crush the small crudely made bench she sits on by the fireplace.
Betsy tosses the empty Pringles can into the trash in a high arcing shot “That’s quite a tale. At least you get to travel, I’m stuck here. But in the pro column for me, I have people here to help me out. Just between us chickens everyone in town knows that’s going on, more or less, they just ignore it. Until some mythological creature starts rooting through their trash anyway, then they call me pissed off like it’s my fault. Can you do anything about that? Magic away the Beast so I can move somewhere nice, maybe get a job in graphic design?”
Grace is taken aback by her frankness “Uh . . . I don’t think so. I’m still new to all this. I didn’t know creatures like what you describe were real until now. I saw a vampire once, and I think maybe werewolves are real, but otherwise I’ve just been dealing with assholes who know magic.”
Betsy tips her mostly empty mug towards Grace “And winged spirits of darkness.”
Grace glances out the window “Yeah . . . and that.”
“It’s nice to have someone to talk about this with who isn’t related to me or works for me. Maybe we should start a support group. Do a Zoom call every week. Sometimes I worry that all of this is just in my head and I’m completely delusional.”
Grace nods eagerly “I know what you mean, I worry about that too.”
“I wish I could do something to help you guys out, but I don’t know anything about magic. Here at the lake we rely on firepower and a plucky attitude to win the day. According to my family journals, I had a great great uncle that learned some magic from a book but it didn’t end well. He went loopy and his wife had to smash his head in with a maul. My family history is full of wacky stories of death and dismemberment like that. It would make a good show if that kind of attention wouldn’t wake the Beast. Maybe if I can figure out a way to kill it for real, I can sell the rights afterwards and live in the Caribbean.”
“I can check my mentor’s notes, there’s a ton of information there I haven’t gotten to yet, if I figure anything out I’ll let you know.”
Betsy nods briefly “I’d appreciate that. When I was a teenager and my parents let me in on all the weird shit that was going on around here, I thought it was cool. I thought I was going to be like Katniss. How many people can say their parents are guardians of a deadly magic creature? But it turns out to be a huge pain in the ass. You know that old Chinese curse – may you live in interesting times? They were on the money with that one. You ever wish you were just normal, Grace?”
“Uh, I mostly just wish for a roof over my head, living in a car has lost its luster.”
Betsy laughs and sinks deeper into her chair “I’m sure that’s right. You like camping? I got tons of camping gear I could give you.”
“I’ve never been camping, unless you count crawling under a dumpster when it rains.”
“Fair, at least I got a nice cabin with my monster. You know what I mean though right? There have to be times that you wish all this was someone else’s problem.”
“I just wish I was better at it. Sometimes I think a mistake was made and this was all supposed to happen to someone else, someone better. But until that person comes along and lets me know, I’ll do my best. A friend of mine once told me that not everyone can be a fighter, so those of us who can need to make sure that when we do fight, it’s for them.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
