This chapter contains allusions to trauma and kidnapping.

I’ve called in my brothers, Dexter and Sphinx. We’re getting close to the hunter’s camp. I told Sphinx to stay close to the house, just in case. Don’t freak out if you see a huge white lion in the forest.

“He’ll probably blend in with the snow,” I mumbled, flipping the page of the book currently on the floor in front of me.

I sent him with a proper gift for you, by the way.

I hummed in partial acknowledgement. “So, he’s a lion?”

Yes. A white lion.

“Pretty,” I smiled. “I’ve never seen a lion outside of TV.”

First time for everything.

“Raine?” The guard was at the door again. “You, uh, got another gift. It’s wrapped in brown paper and twine, with a wax seal. Think it’s from the same guy?”

I stood up and opened the door, “No. It’s from him. The god.”

Her eyes widened, “You really think so?”

“I know so,” I smiled, taking the small brown gift.

“You are a very odd human, Raine Swann.”

“Well, this is a very odd town,” I shrugged, looking at the blue and white wax seal. It was fairly large, with the indents of three animals: a wolf, a lion, and a tiger. “Thank you. This is definitely from him.” I slowly closed the door. I sat back down on the floor with the books with the brown package on my lap.

I easily peeled the wax off the brown paper. With a bit of effort, I pulled the twine off the box. I eased the paper apart, coming face-to-face with a small white box. I slowly opened the box. There was a piece of paper, which I picked up and unfolded.

Raine,

I thought you would need this. It already has my number and a couple of my brothers’ numbers. The code is 1448. If you need anything, text or call at any time. I got a basic red case for you but we can go shopping for a different one later if you want. We can go shopping for a lot of things once all this is over. We’ll be able to buy almost anything you want. Clothes, food, accessories…. Whatever you want.

With love, Cloud, god of storms and sanctuary

“Thank you, Cloud,” I smiled, looking at the cellphone. “Oh, wow. I had a flip phone once, but…. You…. You are spoiling me, you feisty god.”

You’ve barely had anything your entire life. You deserve to be spoiled.

“Oh, please,” I lightly scoffed, looking at the contacts.

I have to go now. We’re getting close.

There were only three contacts in the cell phone: Cloud, Dexter, and Sphinx. I looked at the photos, which appeared to be images of each god.

Dexter had pale skin and vibrant blue eyes decorated with blue, silver, and black eyeshadow. His short hair was white with black streaks. He wore a black turtleneck and a white denim jacket. Other than that, I couldn’t see much of anything else.

Sphinx had a beautiful white beard decorated with silver and blue jewelry, and I could faintly see that he had long white hair with a few braids. His eyes were bright blue, and he wore black winged eyeliner.

Out of curiosity, I stood up and walked to the window, looking out for the white lion that was Sphinx. I saw something slinking between the trees and bushes, mostly hidden in the snow. I slowly opened the window, leaning out into the cold. The creature raised its head and looked up at me. A lion. A huge, white lion. It stared up at me for a moment, then disappeared into the forest.

A few moments later, my new phone buzzed. I closed the window and looked at the message from Sphinx: Stay inside, you clever little human.

I gently smiled and typed back: Hey, I’ve never seen a lion before.

Within moments, there was a knock at the window. I spun around to see a man crouching on the roof, with a familiar white beard and long white hair. I opened the window, sticking my phone in my back pocket.

“May I come in?” Sphinx questioned.

“Uh… sure,” I nodded, stepping back. He effortlessly slipped into the room, closing the window behind himself. He wore boots, jeans, a sweater, a big fluffy coat, and a knitted hat that was probably wool. There was snow and frost on his beard. “You know, Cloud usually just comes right in.”

“Yeah, he’s like that,” Sphinx nodded. “Ever since Ice disappeared, he’s been… a bit… lost. They were quite close. I’m glad Grandfather has put you together. Although, I have to warn you, Cloud doesn’t know much about trauma, especially the sexual kind. He means well, even if his words and actions are a bit… insensitive.”

“Oh… I see,” I softly said, tilting my head. “So, who’s Ice?”

“Our older brother,” he replied. “He disappeared about a year ago. Cloud was right there with him when they were attacked. Took a pretty bad toll on him. He felt responsible. He feels responsible now, because that hunter is here.”

“Yeah, Ivory Tower is his creation,” I nodded.

“He said that?” Sphinx scoffed. “Of course he did. I don’t blame him. He didn’t have a whole kingdom like we did. In truth, we all created Ivory Tower, but it was originally Cloud’s idea. We just helped.”

“So, is he the baby of the group?” A smile pulled at my lips.

“Yes and no,” he leaned on the wall, smirking. “He’s the youngest of our little… winter group, but not the youngest of the family. After he lost his ear--and his hearing--we all started treating him more like a baby.”

“His… his hearing?” I softly gasped, caught off-guard.

“Yeah, his left ear,” Sphinx nodded.

“What happened?” I asked out of curiosity. “How did he lose his ear?”

“Nothing good,” he sighed. He shook off his sadness and asked, “How’ve you been, Raine? Cloud didn’t tell us much, just that there was a pedophiliac werewolf hunter circling the town, and that you were the center of his attention. And that Grandfather put you two together.”

“Yeah…,” I looked down, awkwardly scuffing my feet on the floor. “I’m currently on house arrest. Th-the note that came with the phone said that Cloud is the god of storms and sanctuary. So, what are you and Dexter the gods of? And Ice?”

“Ice rules over frost and security,” Sphinx said. “I am the god of bravery, wind, and snow, and Dexter is the god of storms--specifically winter storms--and any sort of platonic love.”

“I’m… starting to see a theme,” I slowly nodded, almost smiling.

“Well, we are winter gods,” he replied with a light scoff and a smirk. “I should get back to patrolling; can’t have this hunter getting anywhere near this town. Near you. I’ll be around.”

“Okay,” I nodded as he opened the window.

He closed the window from where he crouched on the roof, then jumped down and quickly disappeared into the snow. I was left stunned and a bit confused. They had an older brother. They were all gods. Cloud was half deaf. A god was half deaf.

I lay down on the bed, taking in all that he had told me. I slowly lifted up my phone. I stared at the contact photo of Cloud. I…. I missed him. Had I ever missed anyone this much? Maybe Eli. Yeah, I missed Eli.

I sat up, turning to look at my bag laying on the floor. I shifted to reach down into one of the smaller pockets, fumbling for the piece of paper he had given me when I left the orphanage. Hell, did I even still have it? No way I would throw away the phone number of my only friend. I managed to pull out the crinkled piece of small paper, typing the number into my phone.

Right before I hit dial, I paused. Would he want to hear my voice? What if he was busy? It had been a whole year since I left. Since I was practically kicked out. Did he even still consider himself my friend anymore?

I forced myself to swallow my fear and hit the dial button. In all this chaos, what I really needed was to hear a familiar, friendly voice. The voice of the man who had practically raised me. The voice of one of the only men whom I actually trusted.

“Hello, Eli Johnson speaking.”

“Eli…,” I breathed, a smile forming on my face. “Eli, i-it’s Raine.”

“Raine Swann?!” He laughed. “Oh, my…. You actually called. After over a year, you actually called. How are you doing? Are you okay? Where are you?”

“I-I’m fine,” I said. My stomach hurt from the semi-lie, “I’m up north, in some little town. Things are… going… great,” I hesitated. “It’s just that… things have been a bit… chaotic lately. There’s a… a poacher nearby.” At least that wasn’t a total lie. “The poacher accidentally hit a… a friend of mine.”

“Oh, no, are they okay?!”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s gonna be okay,” I promised. “I’m bunking with a… new… friend right now, and I got a job at the local mechanic shop. Someone hit my truck, so my, uh, boss, I guess--” Was Killian my boss? Technically, yes. “--fixed it up for me. New paint job and everything. Wh-what about you, how have you been?”

“Same ol’,” I could practically hear the shrug. “I would tell you how the kids are doing, but I doubt you care about that. Now why don’t you tell me what’s really going on in whatever town you’re in?”

“Wh-what?”

“I can tell you’re lying, Raine,” Eli sighed. “You think about your answers too much, which causes you to stutter and hesitate. So what’s actually going on?” When I didn’t reply, he said, “You’re homeless, aren’t you?”

“I… I don’t know how to respond to that,” I whispered.

“Raine, just tell me what’s going on, please,” Eli desperately asked.

“I… I can’t,” I breathed. “I don’t think you’ll believe me. Hell, I didn’t believe it even after I saw it!” I recalled the moment Abraham had revealed his wings to me, when I had seen a real god, when Cedar had transformed from wolf to human right in front of me. No, there was no way he would believe me.

“Come on, try me.”

I took a deep breath, biting my lip, “Okay. Well… uh…. Magic’s real. I mean, magic outside Demi-humans, and the town I’m in is pretty much entirely magical and mythical creatures. Killian is a demon. Abraham is a fallen angel. Alpha Rose and her two boyfriends--or maybe husbands, I don’t really know--are werewolves. There’s a vampire community nearby, and my co-worker, Mika, is half vampire. Apparently, I’m supposed to be some god’s partner or something, I don’t know.” Was that everything? “Oh, yeah, and I’m currently a guest in Alpha Rose’s house. And the god is hunting this damn werewolf hunter down before he hurts anyone else.”

Eli was silent for a moment, then sighed, “What are you on?”

My eyes widened, “I-I’m not on anything! You wanted the truth, so I gave it! I knew you wouldn’t believe me. I only called you because I’m currently on house arrest since this damn hunter was one of my customers back when I was a prostitute in that lame excuse for a hometown!” I slapped my hand over my mouth. Did I really just say that? Did I really just admit to him that the reason I was so depressed was because I….

I actually just said that.

On the other side of the line, Eli was silent. I heard him slowly exhale, then he muttered, “No wonder you didn’t like people touching you. Raine….”

“I-I have to go,” I said, hanging up a split second after. My hands were shaking, my palms were sweaty, my lungs heaved.

I fell onto the bed, tears in my eyes, cell phone against my chest. It started buzzing. Of course, Eli. I denied his calls, and he ended up texting me. A lot. All I could do was turn my phone on silent and ignore him.