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There was more banging on the door, followed by a moan. “Curse Keeper.”
Climbing out of bed, I groped around in the dark for something to wear, finding David’s button-down shirt on the floor where he’d thrown it a few hours earlier. Slipping my arms through the sleeves, I fastened the middle buttons as I walked to the front door. David was on my heels, tying the drawstring of a pair of pajama bottoms he’d pulled out of a dresser drawer.
“David, stay back. I don’t know what’s out there.”
“All the more reason for me to be close at hand. You could be facing an entirely new set of spirits this far from the coast. If I recognize it, I can help you.”
“No. All the more reason for you to take cover. Even if the spirit can’t cross the threshold, it might be able to project its power.”
“If you think I’m just going to leave you to face it alone, you’ve got another thing coming.”
I stopped at the front door. “If you’re going to stick around to watch, at least go hide behind a sofa or something.”
“Do you know how emasculating that sounds?” he asked, running his hand through his hair.
“David, please.” Some of the fight left my words.
“Fine,” he said, moving behind the sofa and crouching down. “Justpleasebe careful.”
I flashed him a grim smile before opening the door.
A three-foot-tall bird with a human head sat on the front porch. A wind god. I was used to regular visits from Wapi, the white-haired wind god of the north, but damned if I could remember which one this was. His hair was red and his nose was wider than Wapi’s.
“Curse Keeper,” he groaned.
“Hello, wind god of—sorry, I’m not sure which one you are.”
The bird man screeched his displeasure. “You will fear Mekewi, god of the south, Curse Keeper. You will remember my name and it will strike fear in your heart.”
I grabbed the edge of the door and leaned into it. “Well,Mekewi, I’ve had a long day and you’re interrupting my sleep. How about you cut to the chase?”
He shouted something unintelligible, but the force of his breath blew my hair out behind me. “You do not give orders to a wind god!”
I waited a couple of seconds and then lifted my eyebrows in mock surprise. “Are you done with your fit now? Because so far this has been a huge waste of my time. Do you have something to tell me or not?”
“Do not trust the children of Kalona or their overseer. They wish to seek you out, but Okeus worries for your safety.”
I wanted to ask why Okeus hadn’t bothered to mention it the day before, but I didn’t want to broach the subject while David was listening. “I’m an equal opportunist—I distrust all of you, so tell Okeus not to worry. I’ll be on guard.”
The bird moved closer until he stood only inches from the invisible wall between the inside and outside. “You have many enemies in the spirit world as well as out of it. One day, Okeus will be done with you. And then we will feast.”
“Sorry. My manitou is no longer fair game.”
His grin was wicked. “There are other parts of you to devour besides your manitou.”
Then he vanished into thin air.
“You really need to quit taunting them.” David stood up from behind the sofa. “He’s right. Okeus’s protection probably won’t last forever. Then you’ll be at their mercy.”
“Not for long, I won’t.” A small part of me knew he was right, that mocking them was stupid, but I hated that they had the upper hand. I needed to show my defiance somehow and my mouth was the only way I knew how.
But not for long.
I slammed the door shut and strode past David to the bedroom. “I will never be at their mercy, because you and I are going to figure out how to defy them with magic.”
I was amazed that I managed to get back to sleep. I usually couldn’t after a confrontation with a god, but I realized I was becoming desensitized to them. I was also smart enough to know that that could prove dangerous. I could mock the gods and spirits all I wanted behind my protected doors, but I refused to live hidden behind them. Especially while people were dying.
When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming through the crack between the curtains hanging in David’s window. He sat upright in bed, holding a cup of coffee, his computer in his lap. When he realized I was awake, he glanced down and smiled. “Good morning.”
