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“It has not,” he says. “We both know that you are part of the prophecy because you have the blood of a shaman. But the fact that you can see me? It means you also have the blood of a God.”
Now I’m blinking. “I’m sorry…what?”
“Goddess,” he corrects himself. “Your father is Torben, a mighty shaman. Your mother, she is a Goddess.”
“Oh. Okaaaaay,” I say slowly. I rub the heel of my palm along my forehead, trying to think. I mean, I always knew I wasn’t normal but as soon as I discovered my father was a shaman, I figured that explained a lot. Even when Death told me my mother wasn’t my birth mother, I didn’t assume my birth mother would be a freaking Goddess. I mean, who makes that sort of leap? Shaman magic could have explained so much of what has been happening with me.
“You must have known that deep down?” he comments after a moment.
“I don’t know what I know anymore,” I say. “A Goddess? You say that because I can look at you?”
“Sometimes answers appear when you’re looking for other answers,” he says.
“A Goddess,” I say to myself quietly. I shake my head. “I don’t…I don’t feel like I have those kinds of…powers.”
“You’re still only half a God. A lesser Goddess, just like Lovia.”
“So then, who is my mother?” I pause, fear punching my heart. “Oh god, please don’t tell me it’s Louhi.” Mushy lady told me it wasn’t, but I don’t trust her anymore.
“It’s not Louhi,” Vipunen assures me.
“Okay then, who is it?” I try to think about the Goddesses in these parts but I’m coming up short. “Oh, Vellamo? The intimidating one in charge of the mermaids?”
“I can’t say.”
My eyes widen at the glowing light. “You can’t say? You mean you know?”
“It would take a few moments to figure it out. But this is something you must discover on your own. It is imperative that you do. It will save your life.”
I throw my arms out. “Oh gee, it will save my life. No pressure.”
“Take comfort in knowing that you already have all the answers. Have faith in that. It is a fatal human flaw to want everything now and all at once, and not realize everything is happening now and all at once. It is always now.”
I’m having a hard enough time trying to come to terms with the Goddess stuff, my brain doesn’t want to tackle the concept of time.
“Am I the one to unite the land?” I ask him, even though I’ve asked him this every day to no avail. “Because I can see you, am I…”
Don’t say the chosen one, don’t say the chosen one.
“…am I the chosen one?” I cringe at my cliched words.
“It depends on what happens next,” Vipunen says.
“Okay. Then, who are the others? Who are the others in the prophecy?”
“One you have met already. And one you will meet. Under circumstances that will make you wish you trained a little harder.”
“Oh, that’s not fair.”
Rasmus is obviously one of them. The Bone Stragglers are adamant that Salainen is the Kaaos-bringer, which means Rasmus is the one to raise the Old Gods. Unless he’s the one who can touch Death, and whoo boy, wouldn’t that be a plot twist.
But what if the Bone Stragglers are wrong? What if everyone is wrong. What if…what if I’m the Kaaos-bringer and Salainen is the one to touch Death and unite the land? What if I’m the one to raise the Old Gods and Rasmus is the Kaaos-bringer?
“Your mind is too busy to fight anymore,” Vipunen says, sounding resigned.
“Well I’m sorrrrrrry that you just dropped a bombshell on me that I’m half Goddess!”
Vipunen pulses, the light growing brighter and brighter until I feel it flow over me, into me, like a sun just went supernova. Then the light suddenly withdraws, going back to normal.
I look down. The selenite knife has turned hot in my hand, glowing like it has a light itself. My arms are doing the same. They shine with light, as if the sun has been poured into my blood and the rays are coming through my skin. I am positively glowing, beaming, shining, and heat begins to build between my shoulder blades, growing hotter and hotter.
“Interesting,” Vipunen says again. “I’m curious to see how long that lasts.”
My eyes go wide. “What did you do to me?”
“I did nothing to you. You are doing this.”
“What the hell?” I run my hands over my body, the light splaying everywhere. “People are going to need sunglasses to look at me!”
But as soon as I say that, the light begins to fade, like someone put a dimmer switch on my body. My back cools.
Praise be.
“Time for you to go, Hanna,” Vipunen says, sounding tired now. “I am sure you’ll want to share your news with Tuoni.”
