Neither are monsters.
She shook herself, like Copper coming out of water, and went to make coffee. She drank too quickly and scalded the roof of her mouth, but it helped chase away some of the cobwebs.Hadit been a dream? It had the hazy edges of one, but she could remember Snake-Eater’s words so clearly.
I no longer love you.
“What the hell?” she muttered.
Copper scratched at the door and Selena followed her outside. At the far end of the garden, the little green squash god shuffled between plants.He’s real. And Snake-Eater is real. Did I just mortally offend him? Again?
The dog found an important spot to sniff, and Selena watched the squash god, which was why she saw the roadrunner.
The bird came up on the stone wall at the end of the garden, froze for an instant, and then, lizard-quick, launched itself at the squash god.Selena heard herself yell a warning too late. The bird landed on the god’s back and drove its long beak down in a single savage thrust.
The god threw his head back in a soundless scream. He staggered forward, as the bird struck again, stabbing his neck with the same killing force that it would strike a snake.
“No!” Selena yelled, already off the porch. “No!Leave him alone!”
The god vanished. The bird dropped to the ground, then leapt back onto the wall. White-moon eyes stared into hers, pitiless and cold.
Selena didn’t realize that she’d grabbed the shovel until she was swinging it in front of her, still shouting.
The roadrunner dodged her blow with contemptuous ease, jumped down into the desert, and was gone.
Still clutching the shovel, Selena went to her knees where the little god had been. There was no blood, but who knew if gods even had blood? Had he vanished to get away, or had he been hurt? The roadrunner’s beak had gone in at least an inch. A human stabbed in the neck like that would be horribly injured or worse.
“I’m sorry,” Selena said wretchedly. “I’m so sorry.” Snake-Eater had done it to get at her, no question, and it was all her fault, she hadn’t known, she hadn’tunderstood—
A wet nose prodded her shoulder. Selena dropped the shovel and threw her arms around Copper.
Amelia had thought that Snake-Eater was lonely, but this wasn’t loneliness. This was something dark and deep and dreadful.
The cool prickle of adrenaline subsided, but left a deeper cold behind. If Snake-Eater had gone for the little squash god, what would stop him from going for Copper? If he wanted to hurt Selena, there was no quicker, surer way.
“Shit,” Selena said, getting to her feet. She locked her fingers around Copper’s collar. “Come on, girl. We’ve got to gonow.”
“Oh shit,” said Grandma Billy. “Shit, shit, shit. This ain’t good.”
“I didn’t realize what he was doing!” wailed Selena. She had come straight to Grandma Billy’s at a run, stopping only to grab a leash and pick up the shovel again. “I didn’t mean to—they weredead rattlesnakes!” It was all her worst nightmares, the unwritten rule that she should have known but didn’t, except this rule came with talons behind it. Not even Walter could have knownthisrule.
“No shame on you,” said Grandma Billy. “Doubt anyone who wasn’t a bird would’ve realized it.” Her eyes unfocused and she stared briefly into the distance, drumming her fingers on the porch railing. “Huh! Wonder if that’s how it went with Amelia.”
“Bringing her dead snakes?”
“And thinking that the only way to be friends is fucking. Although that’s a lot of men’s problem, not just his.” She spat over the side of the railing.
“Is it all going to start up again?” Selena asked miserably. “The fetches and everything?”
“No idea, but I ain’t suggesting we sit tight and hope for the best. Snake-Eater ain’t happy being crossed.”
“What do we do? Is there anything wecando?”Please have an idea,Selena pleaded silently.Please tell me there’s a way to fix this. Please tell me I don’t have to start running.She had only just decided to stay, and now it seemed as if that might be snatched away.
“Well—” Grandma Billy started to say, and then a massive ruckus kicked off in the chicken yard behind the house.
Grandma Billy ran through the house and threw the back door open. Selena grabbed Copper’s collar as Grandma Billy stepped out onto the porch.
The roadrunner was back.
Loose feathers filled the air. One hen lay dead already, and the rest were huddled in the far corner of the pen. But it seemed that this time, Snake-Eater’s minion was meeting resistance.
