“I was just kidding,” Babushka killed the cigarette in the palm of her hand. It produced a funny odor that made Carmen cough a little. “You can call me mom all you want. After all, I am your mom, and you’re my little Loco.”
“Please don’t call me Loco. And by the way, what made you remember you actually had a son, Babushka?” Loki asked her, but she disappeared suddenly from the backseat and popped up next to him in the passenger seat.
He didn’t know why, but she freaked him out.
Relax, Loki. It’s just your mom.
“Wombles!” Loki banged his hands against the wheel. He didn’t know why, but wombles was the only word he used when he wanted to swear in his mom’s presence. “You can’t freakin’ sneak up on me like that, mom.”
Babushka teased him, tickling him under his chin before she swooshed, disappearing into the backseat again.
“Did I scare you, Loki?” she leaned forward, looking happy that she had.
Loki didn’t blame her. He knew that scaring him was an act of affection, more like cuddling to her. Even if it freaked him out, he knew she loved him dearly, and it wasn’t her fault she died and became a ghost—he had asked her once how she’d became one, and she told him she died trying to save a kid who was about to be hit by a truck while crossing the street. She saved the kid who crossed the street safely, and the truck ran her over instead, so she crossed a little too far to the other side.
“Not at all” Loki tightened his lips and pretended she didn’t scare him.
“Really? I didn’t?” Babushka was sad, leaning back. “I’m a terrible ghost,” she said, and Loki wondered if she thought she was a terrible mom as well. ”I don’t know what happened to me. I used to scare the bubblegums out of people. Now, I can’t even scare the residents of the haunted house I live in,” Babushka started sobbing. “I’m such a failure. I can’t even walk through walls.”
Loki felt sad for her, but he didn’t know what to do.
“Come, on, mom,” Loki said. “Don’t be like that. You’re an awesome ghost. You’re very scary. I get nightmares when I think of you,” it wasn’t true. He wished she was around all the time.
“Really?” Babushka leaned forward. “You do? Tell me how much I scare you? Does this scare you?” she turned her face into some gruesome kind of monster that resembled Cerberus, guard dog of Hades. Loki thought she looked laughable. However, he screamed, pretending he was scared. He felt silly lying, but if it pleased his mom, he didn’t mind.
“See?” Loki said. “You’re very scary.”
“That’s such great news,” Babushka said. “I’m going to leave now so I can go scare the residents of the house I live in.”
“Wait,” Loki waved his hand, looking at her in the mirror. “Did you just visit me to see if you’re scary? What was that all about?”
“Oh, I forgot,” Babushka pulled out something that looked like a stake, only it had a surface that resembled thin snakes spiraling around it. “Take this.”
Loki took the mysterious item and looked at it. “What’s this?”
“It’s an Alicorn,” Babushka said.
“What’s an Alicorn?”
“A rare unicorn’s horn,” Babushka said. “There are very few of them in the world.”
“From a real unicorn?” Loki didn’t know they really existed.
“Very real,” she said.
Loki wanted to keep his eyes on the road but couldn’t take his eyes off the white Alicorn. “Seriously? A unicorn’s horn? Does that mean someone cut if off a unicorn? That’s horrible.”
“You’re asking the wrong questions, Loki. If I were you I’d wonder why I gave it to you.”
“OK. Why did you give it to me?” Again, Loki hated beating around the bush. Why couldn’t she just tell him what it was for?
“It’s a stake, and it’s one of a kind,” Babushka said. “You see that spiral surface around it? It helps you drill into a vampire’s heart; it turns into a snake, a whip, and sometimes a sword. This Alicorn has been enchanted so it can kill the strongest of demons, Loki. Don’t ever let it out of your sight. Keep it within reach at all times.”
“So you know that I am going to Sorrow to kill that Snow White vampire,” Loki said. “How do you know that?”
“I’m your mother,” she slapped him on the back of his hand and he almost dropped the Alicorn. “Mom’s know everything.”
“Ouch, mom,” Loki arched his back.
“Focus, Loki,” she said. “I’m giving you a precious weapon that chooses its master, and I am hoping you can make it choose you.”
“What do you mean?”
“It chooses the master who deserves its powers.”
“That’s kinda lame, mom,” Loki said. “I admit it looks awesome, and I want to believe that it’s actually a unicorn’s horn, but all that mumbo jumbo about choosing its master is so clichéd.”
“Then give it back,” she reached for it.