Chapter Thirty-Three

“What the fudge brownies am I supposed to do with this?” I asked as I stared at the thing in the box.

“That's my trident!” Donnie said and pointed at the thing.

It certainly was his trident. But not just his trident. Lying on a bed of black velvet was a mishmash of several stolen god items. The trident formed a foundation which the trickster had used to bind the other items together.

“There's my breastplate.” Que motioned at the sliced conch shell bound to the base of the trident's central point.

“And that's my magic condenser.” Odin went to the opposite end of the trident where a crystal was bound to the shaft. “And I believe these are the tablets taken from the Ark.” Just above the condenser were a pair of rectangular stone slabs with writing carved into them, set one atop the other. They were strapped to the trident with thick strips of leather.

“The Ark,” I whispered. “The trickster's been planning this all along.”

“They've been planning to steal all these god treasures just to build you a . . .” Morpheus waved at the box. “A thing that can wake up Azrael? But Azrael was only recently injured.”

“And so we're back to them having psychic abilities,” Torrent said. “V, is that gold cord the Pasha?”

I followed his stare to the tip of the trident. Winding up the central point above Que's breastplate was a golden rope. I knew it well. “Yes, that's it. And I'm assuming this is the Caduceus.” I tapped a golden rod set along the trident's shaft just beneath the conch shell. There was a pair of gold snakes winding around the rod, and wings spread out from it behind the arched snake heads.

“Yes,” Trevor said. “It has to be.”

“Water.” I tapped the trident. “Earth.” I tapped the Caduceus. “Air.” I touched the conch shell. “Fire . . . where's Fire?”

“There,” Re said and pointed at another gold rod set at the end of the trident, behind it so that only the hooked portion of the scepter showed beneath the magic condenser. “That's my scepter.”

“Fire,” I said. “And I'm guessing the Pasha represents Spirit. But why would they need the tablets?” I frowned at them. “They even look awkward strapped there like that. Everything else combines well to form a complete item. A strange one, granted, but it works. All but the tablets.”

“The tablets are laws, right?” Amisk, who I'd forgotten all about, asked as he peered at the thing.

“Da,” Kirill said. “And as laws made by a god, zey hold power. The question is vhat kind of power?”

“The power to command,” Odin said. “The magic condenser combines everything, but the tablets must be needed to force them to act as a single entity. Not just joined to be used by one god, but also joined magically, combining elements that normally wouldn't.”

I stared at the thing. “It doesn't matter. As long as it works. I just want to know how to make it work.” I looked at Amisk. “Did the trickster leave anything else for me?”

“No,” Amisk said. “Just the letter and the box. ”

I rooted around in the box, sliding my hands under the velvet, but there was nothing. Finally, I lifted the thing out of the box. It was heavy and unwieldy. But I wasn't going into battle with it. I just needed it to work once. Then it would be dismantled, and the pieces returned to their rightful owners.

With all the stuff strapped together, the only clear place to hold it was in the middle of the trident's shaft. As soon as I touched it, the whole thing began to glow.

I shrieked and dropped it.

Finn, Morph, and Torr started laughing.

I grimaced at them. “It startled me.”

Odin picked it up. It did nothing. He lifted a brow at me. “I think the trickster enchanted this device to respond to you alone. Your blood on the lock may have served two purposes—opening the box and aligning you with this item.”

“Cool,” I murmured, my stare locked on it. “Coo-coo-coo-coo-cool.”

“V, you all right?” Torrent asked.

“Yup.” I motioned for Odin to put the thing back in its box. “All good here.” I took a deep breath and closed the lid on the box. “Let's get this back to Pride Palace.” I picked up the box, but Odin took it from me.

“Let me, Vervain.” He tucked it under his arm. “It's going to be all right. You can do this.”

“Yes. Thank you. Yes.” I don't know why I was so nervous. I had used god relics before. But in that box, there were . . . damn, how many powerful items were there in that one box? Seven? Holy cannoli. That's a lot of magic. Hold on. I had drawn the power of the Nine Great Magics through me. This was nothing. And it was to wake up Az. The trickster had proven to be good— or at least neutral-good—yet again. Could I blame him for what had happened to Azrael? No, I didn't think so. First of all, the trickster didn't compel Amisk to . . . hold on.

“One last question before we leave, Amisk,” I said.

“Yes?” Amisk had been staring at the case. He lifted his stare to meet mine.

“Did Coyote—who the trickster was masked as—coerce you in any way to cause the floods?”

“Wisagatcak?” Amisk frowned. “Well, uh. He did come to see me before he brought me this, but it was just a social visit.”

“A social visit?” Trevor asked. “I know the myths aren't fully true, but they're often based on fact. So, are you not enemies?”

“Oh, absolutely not! We've laughed over those stories. I like Wisa. He makes me laugh. I don't laugh often enough. I get weighed down with worry. In fact, now that I think about it, when I mentioned how upset I was that humans were returning to their old ways even after the Faerie God ordered them not to, Wisa tried to calm me.” He nodded. “Yes, he tried to talk me out of my plan. I did think that was odd.”

“Why would that be odd?” I asked.

“Wisagatcak likes to get me riled.” Amisk shrugged, then smiled affectionately. “He's a bit of a troublemaker. But not this time. It was as if he knew how serious I was and what kind of damage it would do.” He frowned. “I should have listened to him.”

“Amisk, that wasn't Wisagatcak,” I reminded him.

“Not even back then?”

“No, I don't think so. Not if he was acting differently. I think the trickster came to you, knowing what would happen, and tried his best to stop you.” I looked at my husbands. “Prophecies can be so stressful on the one who receives them. They can make you crazy trying to stop or circumvent them. Sometimes you can—why receive a warning if it's useless—but sometimes, it's destiny and there's no changing it.” I frowned. “It can make you crazy.”

“A trickster and a mad prophet,” Quetzalcoatl mused. “That's an odd combination. A desire to cause mischief coupled with the ability to see the price of that mischief.”

“Maybe that's a brilliant combination,” I said. “It would make the trickster think twice about causing trouble.”

“Or it would make him play games with the people he's trying to help,” Odin said in the tone of epiphany.

“I think I'm going to visit Wisa,” Amisk said. “I want to ask him if he's visited me recently.”

“I think that's a wise decision,” I said. “Verify what we've concluded. Uh, do you have a phone?”

Amisk lifted his brows at me.

“How about a mirror for contacting other gods?”

“Oh. Yes. I use a metal mirror. It's what I receive heralds on.”

“Old school,” Torr said. “You know, I could hook you up with a vein of Internet. Then you could get cell service here and a computer.”

“A computer in the God Realm?” Amisk's eyes went wide.

“Torrent is the God of the Internet,” I said. “He can attach a vein to your territory so that you can tap into it.”

“Would it weaken my wards?”

“No. ”

Then Amisk frowned. “That reminds me. How did you get through my—”

“We'd better go,” I hurried to say. “I'm so sorry, Amisk, but my husband is waiting. Torrent can come back to install your Internet line if you like.”

“Oh. Uh, yes. Thank you.”

“No problem.” Torrent patted Amisk's shoulder. “Then we can keep in touch.”

“All right.” Amisk looked confused. “You want to keep in touch with me?”

“Sure. We're friends now too,” Torr said.

Amisk's expression went so hopeful that I had to look away. I wondered how many friends he had beyond Wisagatcak. Probably not a lot if he was so eager to make more.

I cleared my throat. “And we're allies as well. If you need to get in touch with us before Torrent returns, go to Moonshine in Hawaii. It's a nightclub that Trevor and I own. The employees will know how to reach us. Unfortunately, I don't have any god receptacles to collect messages at Pride Palace. We've got Internet.”

“Thank you, Godhunter,” Amisk said. “This situation has resolved itself in a most wonderful way. A way I couldn't have dreamed up.”

“It has, hasn't it? That damn trickster.” I shook my head. This was probably part of his plan too—improving Amisk's life. “Oh, and call me Vervain.”

“Good luck with waking your husband, Vervain.”

“Thank you. And don't worry; I won't forget about the beavers.”