Chapter Eleven

Que got dressed—well, more dressed—and I flew the men back to the ledge that served as Que's tracing chamber. Then we traced to Hermes's territory, Blue holding Que's hand to take him through the ward. We stepped out of the tracing chamber to find Pan sitting on the trunk of the car, playing his pipes. Yup, panpipes.

The jaunty tune ended with a squeak when he saw me. Pan jumped off the car. “Why are you in that form?”

“I had to do some flying,” I said. “And I didn't have the time to undress.”

“Damn.” He looked around. “We're going to have to take the van. You won't fit in the sedan.”

“I can put away my wings,” I offered.

“Oh. All right then. That should work.” He looked at Que. “Hi! I'm Pan.”

“I'm Quetzalcoatl.” He shook Pan's hand. “But you can call me Que.”

“What?” Pan asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Que.”

“What?”

“Pan!” I growled.

Pan laughed. “Sorry, man.” He slapped Que's shoulder. “ Just teasing you. You do know that—”

“My nickname means 'what' in Spanish,” Que finished with a grin. “Yes, that's why I chose it. And I knew you were teasing. I was playing along.”

“I like you!” Pan declared. “You have a much better sense of humor than Weetsy over there.”

“What did you call me?” Blue asked, aghast.

“Weetsy. You know, Weet-see-lah-po-cha-lee,” he stretched out Blue's proper name, pronouncing it semi-correctly. “I can give nicknames too.”

“Please, don't,” Blue said. “One is enough for me. And use the other one, Pan. I don't ever want to hear you try to pronounce my name again.”

“If you insist.” Pan spun around, shooting me a wink as he did, and headed to the driver's door.

I knew Pan could pronounce Huitzilopochtli just fine. I'd heard him do it. So had Blue, for that matter. But he was a little distracted by irritation and anxiety. I would have chided Pan for teasing the Aztecs, but he had been so anxious before that I was happy to see him playful.

I magically got rid of my wings and horns, then took the passenger's seat. I had to slide the seat back a bit. I was taller in that form, even without the horns. When we were all settled, Pan drove us back to his father's house. I mean manor. Que spent most of the ride gawking out the window like a golden retriever.

After we parked and got out, Que asked, “Why would a god want to make a territory that looks so human?”

“My dad likes to improve things,” Pan said. “His city is his improved version of a human one.”

“Seems a little arrogant,” I said .

“He's a god, Vervain,” Pan drawled. “We're all a bit arrogant. Including you.”

I gasped. “Am not!”

“Are too!” Pan got into the exchange immediately and started skipping to the front door of Messenger God Manor.

“Am not!” I insisted.

“Are too! Are too! Are too!”

“D2!” I shouted.

Pan stopped, spun to face me, stared at me in bafflement, and then his expression cleared with delight. “R2D2! That was a good one!”

“What are you idiots doing?” Angelia snarled as she yanked open the front door. “We're all waiting for you and you come back skipping and talking Star Wars nonsense?”

“ Star Wars is never nonsense, sister,” Pan said solemnly.

“Ugh!” Angelia's wings rustled. Then she saw Que. “Who are you?”

“He's What.” Pan said gleefully.

“He's a what?” Angelia gave him a confused scowl.

“Yes,” Pan said.

“What?” she asked again.

“His name is Quetzalcoatl,” I said. “But he likes to be called Que, which means what in Spanish.”

Angelia blinked. “Prylis is right. You're all insane.” She spun on her heels and marched away from us.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Pan called after her. “No, wait. I'm not What, he is! I know you are, but what is him! ”

“I can't stand you!” Angelia screeched.

“She seems nice,” Que said.

I snorted a laugh. “Come on. We can still follow her.”

“They won't have moved,” Pan said. “You can follow me.”

Pan led us in the wake of his annoyed sister. He was right; everyone was still in the room we'd left them in.

Angelia surged in ahead of us and announced, “They're back.”

We walked in to find every eye trained in our direction. A lot of those eyes widened when they saw me. Or maybe it was Quetzalcoatl.

“Why do you look like that, Godhunter?” one of Hermes's kids asked.

No, it was me.

“Long story,” I said, even though it wasn't.

“This is Quetzalcoatl,” Blue introduced him. “His property was stolen too. He's come to help us.”

“So, the clue was about your breastplate?” Odin asked.

“Yes. It was taken out of its hiding spot as I slept beside it,” Que said.

“My property was taken from a safe room in my bedroom,” Hermes said. “This trickster knows things he shouldn't.”

“That's Hermes,” I said to Que. “This is his territory.”

“Ah. Hello, Hermes.” Que inclined his head. “It seems we are fellow victims.”

“Not for long, my friend,” Hermes said. “And welcome to my home. ”

“Thank you.”

“Did you discover anything else?” Trevor asked.

“Yes.” Blue pulled out the message and handed it to Trevor. “He left us another clue.”

Trevor read the note. His face twitched. He folded it. “I'm not reading that aloud.”

Odin scowled and took it from him. In his booming voice, he read, “Beavers have thick fur, but thin skin. Find the vengeful beaver, and you will find me.”

Pan, Re, and Viper, along with a few others, burst out laughing.

“Am I the only one who didn't know about this slang?” Que asked me.

“Yes,” I said.

“Oh. I suppose I should leave my territory more often.” Then he spotted Eztli.

She was staring at him. Hard.

Que cleared his throat. “Hello, Eztli.”

“Hello, Quetzalcoatl.”

Blue kept his expression neutral. Smart man.

“What's happening?” Hermes asked.

I waved him down. “Something important.”

“I don't expect us to ever be friends, but I hope we can work together without me causing you further distress.”

“You don't distress me,” Eztli snapped.

Que held up his hands. “All right. ”

Her face wrinkled up. Smoothed. She cursed. “I'm over it. You apologized, and I forgave you. Of course, we can work together.”

Quetzalcoatl gaped at her.

“Did you hear me?”

“I did!” Que hurried to say. “And thank you for being willing to not only forgive but also move on.”

Eztli sighed. “You're welcome.”

“Wow. That was riveting,” Horus drawled. “Could we get back to the angry beaver?”

There was far more laughter that time. Even I joined in. At first, I thought Horus had done it accidentally, but then I saw his lips twitching. That sly dog. Or sly bird, rather. I knew he couldn't be besties with Pan and not have a sense of humor.

“Get back to the angry beaver!” Pan hooted. “Oh, fuck! Thank you, buddy. I needed that.”

Hermes chuckled too. “Yes. I think we all needed some levity. But seriously, does anyone know what this fucker is talking about?”

“This is the second time he's mentioned a beaver,” Torrent said. “The first reference made the beaver sound like a victim. But now, the beaver is vengeful.”

“Probably because he was victimized,” Hekate said. “A coyote tried to blow his house down.”

“You're right,” Odin said. “We need to focus on the beaver as a victim who wants revenge for whatever was done to him. Are there werebeavers? I've never heard of any.”

“No,” Torrent said, his eyes moving side-to-side as if he was reading. “There is a Lakota Beaver God named Capa. He is the Spirit of Labor and Taxes.”

“Has he ever had his home destroyed?” I asked.

Torrent frowned. “No. Let's see. There is also Afanc, a Welsh lake monster who is sometimes described as looking like a beaver.”

“That's a stretch,” Viper said.

“The Algonquin have a myth about a giant beaver called Wishpoosh who prevents others from fishing in his pool,” Torr went on. “The Coyote confronts him and they have an epic battle.”

“The Coyote,” Brahma repeated. “That's who blew his house down.”

“Anything else?” Thor asked.

“There's an Ojibwa legend about a beaver who gnaws down trees.”

“Don't all beavers do that?” I asked.

“What's the rest of the legend, Torrent?” Thor asked.

“The beaver is proud of his fluffy tail and goes around the forest, showing it off to all the other animals. But no one is impressed so, in frustration, he starts gnawing on trees. One of the trees falls on his tail and flattens it. The beaver is upset and wails that no one will like him now, but the Creator says that a beaver isn't liked for his tail. He's liked for his kindness and wisdom. In addition, the Creator says, the flat tail is better for moving through the water and for signaling his family by slapping it on the water. The beaver is then happy.”

“Well, that can't be it,” Finn said. “That's a happy beaver, not a vengeful one. Plus, there's no coyote in that story.”

“Dude, I can't believe you said that with a straight face,” Viper said.

Morpheus leaned over and whispered to Viper, “Best day ever.”

Viper grinned and nodded.

Ignoring them, Torrent went on, “One of Aesop's Fables is about a beaver who chews off his tail—or in another version, his testicles—to elude a hunter.”

“Ouch,” Teharon said. “That would make me vengeful.”

“There's also a Cree myth that's very similar to Noah and the Ark. Except in this case, it's a giant beaver who floods the world.”

“A giant beaver floods the world?” Trevor asked. “Why?”

“A god tried to trap it. So, it sent muskrats after him to bite him in the ass, and then flooded the world.”

“A little extreme,” I muttered. “Also—muskrats? Really?”

“Yup. The god who tried to trap beaver made a raft and took the other animals aboard,” Torrent said.

“It's so interesting how many religions have myths about a global flood,” I said.

“Because there was a great flood,” Hermes said.

“The flood that sank Atlantis?” Viper asked.

“No, that wasn't a flood. Atlantis sank, and that was caused by magic,” Odin said with a glance at Re. “The flood Hermes is talking about happened during a time when the gods were getting settled into their magic. There was a learning curve and many of us had problems controlling the magic at first. Several rain gods all over the world caused torrential flooding.”

“Ah. All right,” I said. “So, these myths are probably nonsense—stories created by humans to explain all that stuff.”

“Not necessarily,” Odin said. “There could indeed have been a giant beaver involved. There were such creatures on Earth long ago. But I don't think this is the animal the trickster is referring to.”

“Why not?” Viper asked.

“Because it already flooded the entire world. What more could it want? Also, there is no mention of a coyote.”

“Good point,” Thor said and looked back at Torr. “Anything else, Torrent?”

Torrent blinked and refocused. “That's all I could find.”

“It's enough to get us started,” Odin said. “I think we should focus on Wishpoosh. He's angry at a coyote. That fits the clues perfectly. Has anyone heard of this god?”

All around the room, heads shook, even those of the Native American Gods.

“Is that even a real name?” Morph asked. “I mean, come on. Wishpoosh the Angry Beaver? It can't be real, right?”

“Hey, you Greeks are far worse,” Mr. T, AKA Tsohaonai, the Navajo God of the Sun, said. “You have gods for the most ridiculous things.”

“Because we're a popular pantheon that procreated a lot. We had to find positions for everyone,” Pan said. Then blinked. “A popular pantheon procreating.” He chuckled.

“Yes, you put three P words together,” Horus drawled. “Well done.”

“Alliteration is fun.”

“Torrent,” Thor said over the banter .

“I'll dig deeper,” Torrent said.

“Thank you.”

“And I will make some calls,” Hermes added.

“Good. Go home, everyone,” Thor said. “We don't have to be together for this, and some of us have children to return to. If we find anything, I'll alert you and we can reconvene at Pride Palace.”

“In the Godhunter's territory?” Angelia asked.

“No,” I said. “I'm sorry, but I don't know most of you. We can meet at Moonshine in Hawaii.”

“We understand,” Hermes said with a heavy look at his children. Specifically, Angelia. “You have little ones to protect.”

No matter how old they got, children were always little in a parent's eyes. The past may not haunt Angelica, but it will always have its claws in her father. Seeing that, I knew it would be the same for me. Even after she was grown, I would look at Lesya and remember that she had been taken from me before I'd held her in my arms. But I would gladly bear that weight alone if I could. I would make sure that no one ever mentioned the abduction to Lesya.