Eztli grimaced but nodded.
“I'll drive you back to the tracing chamber,” Pan said to me. He sounded as eager as I was to leave.
Chapter Nine
“I'll wait for you here,” Pan said as he parked the car outside the gates of Hermopolis. “You shouldn't have any trouble getting back to the island. But if you do, text me.”
“All right. Thanks,” I said as I got out of the car.
“Vervain,” he called after me.
I ducked my head back in.
“Thank you.”
I grinned at him. “Of course, Pan. You're like family.”
Odin's words rang through my mind as I said that, and it became harder to hold my smile. So I hurried off to the tracing chamber with Blue. When we were under the arbor of grapes, Blue took my hand. I met his jade stare and felt a shiver of something that might have been. Nothing important, just a little shiver. An acknowledgment that we might have been more than friends, but we'd gone down different paths, and were both happier for it.
“Ready?” Blue asked.
“Ready,” I said.
Then Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec God of War and the Sun traced us into the territory of Quetzalcoatl, the God of Wind and Wisdom. Also known as the Feathered Serpent.
I'd been to Quetzalcoatl's territory once before and thenonly briefly. But it all came rushing back to me when I appeared on a cliff with Blue. A lush jungle spread out before us, growing at the foot of a vast mountain range.
Blue stepped to the edge of the cliff and shouted, “Quetzalcoatl! It's Huitzilopochtli! I have brought Vervain with me. We need to talk. It's urgent.”
He didn't keep calling for the Aztec God even though we had to wait for a few minutes. Blue just stood there, watching the sky. I watched it too. The arrival of the Feathered Serpent was not something I wanted to miss.
I gasped. Even though I'd seen Quetzalcoatl fly before, it was still a magnificent sight. I wasn't afraid of him, so I could enjoy it, but I could imagine why it had terrified Eztli and sent her running from her home, into the unknown. Seeing a giant snake fly was scary on its own, but this snake was lime green, and wasn't it a rule among snakes that the brighter the scales, the more deadly the venom? I didn't know if Quetzalcoatl was venomous, but I did know that he was deadly.
In addition to the undulating green snake body, Quetzalcoatl's massive head bore a crest of vibrant feathers in emerald, ruby, and citrine. The same feathers tipped his tail. But he didn't have wings. The God of the Wind didn't need wings to fly.
Or maybe he did.
Quetzalcoatl's spectacular flight suddenly went awry. His undulations became spastic, and he dropped several feet before recovering. Feathers splayed as he fought to keep airborne. Blue cursed, but there was nothing he could do as the man who used to be his best friend—so close, the Aztec myths called them brothers—faltered in midair.
Blue couldn't do anything, but I could.
Running for the edge of the cliff, I transformed into a golden dragon, my fear for Quetzalcoatl speeding the shift so that my last step was done with a giant claw that sent stones skittering down the cliff. With a roar of delight—couldn't be helped. My dragon was always happy to be released—I launched into the air and shot for the falling snake. By the time I reached Quetzalcoatl, he was dropping like a stone, and I had to dive to snatch him up.
The snake went limp in my talons. I wasn't sure if it was in deference to a larger snake or in relief, but I was relieved. I flew back to the cliff, deposited Quetzalcoatl upon it, and then hovered above him as he shifted into his man form. When there was room on the cliff for me, I also transformed, doing so in the air. I couldn't return to my normal body because then I'd be naked—all of my clothes had been shredded during the first transformation. Instead, I went with my weredragon form—a winged, horned, and claw-tipped body covered in golden scales. I also had gold dragon eyes in this form. Yeah, all kinds of gold. For a dragon, that was like being your own treasure.
Once I was of a size that could be supported on the shelf of stone, I landed. Blue was hugging Quetzalcoatl, whose teal eyes had gone wide. I wasn't sure if he was wide-eyed from the shock of his near-accident or Blue hugging him. Their relationship had been strained ever since Blue had learned of Quetzalcoatl chasing Eztli out of her village. And no, Blue hadn't known about it.
Quetzalcoatl stepped back and stared from Blue to me. He was as magnificent in his man form as he was in his beast body. His scales were gone, replaced by bronzed skin that made his bright eyes glow and turned his orange-red hair into flames. With only a loincloth of leather and feathers covering his bits, Quetzalcoatl's muscular body was displayed, and I had to fight to keep my stare on his face. Those striking Aztec features eased my battle. It certainly wasn't a hardship to look at that face.
“Huitzilopochtli,” Quetzalcoatl said. “I thought you . . .”
Blue sighed. “I'm still mad at you, but seeing you fall made me realize how petty that is. I'm sorry, Quetzalcoatl. You did something terrible a very long time ago. One thing. I did many horrid things over centuries, and I've been forgiven for them. I shouldn't have withheld forgiveness from you. You've apologized to both of us. It was wrong of me to accept that apology only partially. I've withheld my friendship from you and that was cruel. To both of us.”
“Then this terrible day has brought one good thing. My heart is eased by your forgiveness.” Quetzalcoatl held his hand out, and Blue clasped forearms with him. Then Quetzalcoatl looked at me. “Vervain.” His stare slid over me. “You are resplendent.”
“Thanks,” I grinned, probably showing off my fangs. “This is my weredragon body. My woman body would be naked, so . . . yeah.”
He chuckled. “Thank you for your assistance. The fall wouldn't have killed me, but it wouldn't have been pleasant either.”
