Horus snorted a laugh. “The one where you draw out your conclusion because you think we know what you're thinking.”
“Ah. That one.” I winked at him. “I guess I give your intellect too much credit.”
“Could you both not draw this out and annoyme?” Hermes demanded.
“Sorry,” I said. “All right, so I noticed that the beavers weren't attacking regular people yesterday. They attacked businesses. Specific businesses. I think they were defending their territories. Obviously, they were inspired to violence by the Beaver God, but maybe he was the one who was truly upset.”
“Upset about what?” Hermes asked.
“Humans encroaching on beaver territories in his territory.” I waved at Torrent. “Torr, is there any information available on companies that were attacked by beavers yesterday?”
“Does anyone else hear the ridiculousness of this conversation?” Morpheus asked.
“If only it were ridiculous,” Que said.
Morph grimaced. “Yeah, you're right. Sorry.”
“I assume you want to know what the companies do, not their names,” Torrent said. “There were many dams attacked, which I thought was a strategic move to add to the flooding, but now I see that it could be more than that. Because the other companies include lumber yards, large farms, and frackers.”
“You don't have to use foul words,” Finn teased.
Torr, of course, didn't get the joke. “No, I mean fracking companies. There used to be a lot of debate over fracking. People believed it led to pollution, in addition to many other bad things.”
“Fracking is not allowed anymore because those people were right,” Azrael said with a scowl. “Are you saying that people have been illegally fracking?”
“Does no one else hear the ridiculousness?” Morph asked. “Truly?”
“I do!” Viper said brightly.
Odin shushed them. He did it without removing his stare from Az. Because Az was on the verge of going Faerie God. And if he shifted into that body when he was angry, he wouldn't have enough control over it or the Wild Magic. Not good.
“Babe!” I rushed over to Az and took his face in my hands. “Breathe. Maybe this is why the trickster is leading us to the Beaver God. Not to stop him. Not exactly. But to bring to light what has upset him.”
Even as I spoke, my eyes widened. Was that it? Was the trickster pulling another game ofThis Is For Your Own Good?It made sense.
“Oh, wow,” I whispered. “That's it! That's gotta be it!”
Azrael sank back onto his seat, and the golden antlers that had been sprouting from his head retracted. Or retreated. They sank back into his skull. The others—who knew how bad a raging Faerie God would be—let out the breath they'd been holding. But I was still rolling down my hill of epiphany.
And gaining momentum.
“Find the vengeful beaver and you will find me,” I quoted. “He didn't mean it literally. We're not going to find him. I don't think we'll ever find the trickster god. He's too willy. But we'll find what's important to him. The motivation for this game. And I think it'll be important to us as well. Az, this is for you. He's doing this for you.”
Someone started clapping.
I turned to see that in addition to Hermes and his kids, Ty, Trevor's younger brother who ran Moonshine for us, had attended the meeting. That was fine. He was always welcome. Family, you know? But he'd brought his new girlfriend with him—the one Arach and I had caught him having sex with on the very hill that Az was now sitting on.
“Ty!” I hissed, cutting off his girlfriend's applause. “What the hell? You don't bring guests to these meetings. This isn't AA!”
Ty flushed as every eye turned toward him and hisgirlfriend where they stood, tucked back near the few trees that stood on the VIP balcony. But then he lifted his chin and drew the woman forward. “This is Modjadji, everyone,” he said. “And she deserves to be a part of this. She's a rain goddess who helped us battle the storms until she fell over from exhaustion.”
I sighed and looked around. No one else seemed upset by the woman's attendance.
“I'm so sorry,” she said, brushing back her long, thin braids. Modjadji was as gorgeous as I remembered, her dark bronze skin catching the low lights and turning her into a statue—something too beautiful to be real. Big brown eyes with long lashes blinked guilelessly, but her body was so voluptuous that she couldn't pull off the innocent girl routine. Still, her concern seemed genuine. “I didn't know I wouldn't be welcome. I'll go.”
“Vervain!” Ty snarled.
“Fine. She can stay,” I said. “And thank you for your help yesterday, Modjadji. It's nice to finally be properly introduced.”
