Page 19 of Corvus and the Broken God

“No, I’m good. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Ha.” None of this was easy.

So we kept hiking. When we cleared the last ridge, and the stone wall came into view, I stopped again. “Last chance, Mindy.”

She just shook her head and took a curious step forward. “I want to see the house.”

I hurried to get ahead of her, to at least pull his attention to me, in case he was upset I had come back. With a friend.

Now, with him nearby, the urgency to get close to him had eased. I looked around but didn’t see him anywhere. The granite boulder was missing. Even the crows were quiet. Or maybe they had moved on. The rough, rock-filled courtyard looked barren without his giant boulder standing guard.

Hello? I asked silently, pushing my thoughts out in the direction I thought I sensed him.

Corvus? What are you doing here?

He was angry. That came through loud and clear.

I’m sorry, but my transformation, well, it needs a little adjustment. People don’t recognize me.

I’d know you anywhere.

Mindy gasped next to me, and I turned my head. He stood in the shadow of the doorway, nine feet tall, horned, and wearing only a dark, ragged kilt.

Yes, but you knew me as a crow.

Exactly. Who is with you?

My friend. She didn’t want me to come alone. Can I introduce you?

He started toward us, and my heart beat wildly. I didn’t want to give up his real name but wasn’t sure what to call him. Monster was my private name for him. I didn’t think he’d appreciate it. And calling him Camazotz seemed like revealing a big secret. One I had kept from Mindy when I told her everything else. The few legends I had turned up about the ancient Mayan death god made me think twice. And I trusted him. Mostly. But maybe that had been a mistake.

He covered the twenty feet between us in a few long strides. Mindy took a step back, but I was oddly happy to see him.

He held out his hand toward Mindy. “Hello. I am glad to meet you. You can call me Benjamin.”

“Melinda,” she squeaked, tilting her shoulders back to look up at him.

“Welcome, Melinda. Come inside. I have mead.”

I must have been gawking at his gentlemanly behavior, for he looked over his shoulder at me with a grin. “Coming, Corvus?”

“Corvus?” Melinda asked, looking at me.

I shook my head, but my Monster, no Benjamin, answered instead. “It is Latin for crow.”

I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to flip him off.

“Her name is Freya.”

“Don’t bother,” I said when it was clear he was ignoring us both. Mindy and I followed him into the large, empty room. He turned to the left. I had been down that wing before. What was to the right, behind that big locked door? I stopped even though Mindy kept moving across the large room.

My Monster, no Benjamin, stopped at the end of the room and cleared his throat. “Something wrong, Corvus?”

“No, everything is perfect.” He watched as I walked toward him. What were we doing? This entire interaction was so bizarre. He was being so nice, so normal, if one didn’t actually look at him.

When I caught up with Mindy, he turned and led us down the long hallway. All the doors on the right were closed, guarding their secrets. Having seen the building a few times from above, I could guess they were rooms with windows looking onto the central courtyard.

We came to the end of the hallway, and I glanced up at the rafters. There was the spot where I had watched him twice before as a crow. I shook my head free of the memory and walked into his den. The room looked so different now that I was tall again. But I recognized the pewter goblets and the decanter full of golden liquid. The whiskey bottle was missing. Shards of glass sparkled from the fireplace.