Chapter Seven
There weren't a lot of people on the streets of Lexington after 10 PM. There was only one bar in town: Mom and Dad's Icehouse on Third Street. When that closed at midnight, a stream of stumbling citizens poured out its doors, several choosing to walk home instead of risking the drive. They'd make easy pickins for a snake-shifter.
Keep an eye on the drunks, I said to Odin through our link.
I see them,Odin replied in my mind.Stay alert.
That last bit was unnecessary—we were all alert—but I didn't remark on it. It was just one of those things you say, like: be careful or drive safe. It was more about conveying love than caution. Although, with Odin, it could have been both.
I'd brought some Intare to help us patrol the town. With them adding to our numbers, none of us had to actually patrol; we could hold our positions and just wait for Odin to spot something. My position was in front of a hardware store, but I didn't expect anything to happen there. I didn't expect anything to happen around the bar either. I assumed the snake would wait until someone wandered away from the main part of town, down a street where they would be absolutely alone.
I see him,Odin said.He's on Tenth Street.
I flipped on my real two-way radio and asked, “Who's on Tenth Street?”
“Oh! Oh! That's me!” Pan said excitedly.
“Heads up; he's on your street.”
He's following a woman in a yellow dress, Odin went on.
I relayed the information to Pan, then added to everyone else, “The rest of you, get over there and help him.”
There were too many responses to hear any one of them clearly, but I got the message: our team was closing in. I traced to Tenth Street to do my part. Austin had driven us all over the town, pointing out street corners so we'd have images of each one that we could use for tracing. It sounds like a lot to memorize but it really wasn't. The town was the size of a postage stamp; we saw all of it in less than an hour, even the houses on the outskirts. However, my lions hadn't gotten the tour so they'd have to use their cellphones for GPS and make a run for it.
I came out of the Aether onto the curve where Main turned into Tenth.
“I see them,” Pan said in a more serious tone. “Moving in to intercept now.”
“Intercept? Really?” Horus' saturnine voice followed. “All right, Joe Friday.”
“I think he's turned off his radio, Horus,” Morpheus said. “And who is Joe Friday?”
A loud silence followed that. Horus and Pan had a relationship based on mutual and friendly animosity. Basically, they ragged on each other at every opportunity but it was all in fun. Except it wasn't so much fun if one half of the duo couldn't hear the other's taunts.
She just started running, Odin said.Is someone with her?
Yeah, Pan's there and the rest of us are close, I assured him.
She made it; she's inside her home.Then, in a baffled tone, he added.He's walking away.
“Hey, he didn't attack her. Do I apprehend him?” Pan came back on the radio.
“Yes!” I hissed as I started running. “Grab him!”
Tenth wasn't a long street and it terminated in someone's house. The entire length of it stretched before me so I saw the man immediately. There had to be more gods than him on the street—at the very least, Pan was there—but they were invisible like me. So, I didn't know how far away they were. I found one of them by running into him.
Strong arms caught me and righted me before I fell. I lost sight of the snake in the shuffle and when I looked up, he was gone.
Damn it!Odin snarled.Why didn't you grab him?
I just knocked into someone from our group. We were both invisible,I grumbled as I dropped my glamour.
The man holding me revealed himself too: Finn. He grimaced at me in commiseration.
“Son of a psycho Siren!” Pan hissed through the radio. “I was nearly to him when he traced!”
He's on Fifth Street,Odin said urgently.The end near the trailer park.
