Chapter 13 Whitney #2
Her head barely pokes over the desk’s edge. “I hear there was a military exercise gone wrong in Tahoe.” Her voice was probably always soft, but right now it’s barely audible.
“Yeah, after you get us a room key, I’d suggest you drive as far and as fast as you can, away from California.”
Xolotl glares, but he doesn’t disagree.
She shoots out from under the desk. “Take whatever you want.” She points at the keys underneath the counter. “Bye.” She shoots out the back door so fast it reminds me of a squirrel breaking for cover when our aunt’s dog, Roscoe, was out playing.
“Pick a room.” Xolotl tosses his head. “And let’s go.” He marches me out the door, my jangling key clutched in my hand, and shoves me rather ungently toward the room I chose.
“At least tell me their names.” I try to slow him down, but it’s like trying to slow down a train moving full-steam-ahead by blocking it with a smart car—not happening. “Pluto and?” I snort. “I’m calling him straight-hair in my head.”
“Don’t call him anything in your head.” We’ve reached room 14A, and he snatches the key from my hand, jams it into the knob, and wrenches it. Then he gestures for me to go inside.
“What’s his name? Hades?”
He glances heavenward. “Anubis is his favorite, so I call him Osiris to piss him off.”
“Of course you do.” I pause. “Is that why he called you Ta’xet? Do you hate that name?”
“They wish.” He shrugs. “I don’t have feelings about my name at all.”
“Why are you stowing me in here? Why can’t I talk to them?” If I act like I’m relieved to get away, he’ll never leave.
He lowers his head so we’re eye-to-eye. “My brothers are unpredictable, and they’re the only creatures on earth I can’t entirely guarantee your safety around. You will stay here until I’ve convinced them to leave.”
It hits me, then. “You called them to kill me, because you couldn’t bring yourself to do it, but you knew I was a terrible general.”
He freezes.
I can’t help my smile. “Gotcha.”
His scowl’s so deep, it almost changes the way his whole face looks. “I’ve changed my mind about that. I called them in a rash moment.”
“Apparently.” I fold my arms. “But maybe I should come with you. What if one of them sneaks around back? I just saw two men, but aren’t there supposed to be four horsemen? Shouldn’t there be a third somewhere?”
His whole face darkens. “How did you know that?”
I roll my eyes. “Dude, you’re famous. All humans have heard of death, pestilence, famine, and war.”
“Which one am I?”
“Death, obviously,” I say. “He’s the coolest.”
Xolotl smiles, but then he shakes himself. “You will stay here.”
I sense the bond pushing against me, and I finally nod. “Fine.”
He’s gone one second later, and I lock the door just in case that might slow someone like him down a hair. I wait until I hear him making noise near them again, and then I pick up the phone.
I get lucky.
Dial tone.
Their stupid magic hasn’t shorted it yet, probably because instead of snap-killing, they’re lighting each other on fire.
My mom picks up on the first ring. “Whitney?”
“It’s me,” I whisper, just in case any of the idiots are listening. I rattle my address off from a flier for the hotel near the phone. “And listen. Three of the horsemen are here right now. Xolotl wanted me dead and he called them, but he’s changed his mind.”
“I’m glad you’re still alive. I just saw on the news that someone wiped out a bunch of military jets. They said it was an exercise gone wrong, but it was at Tahoe.” My mom sounds like she’s crying. I can’t really blame her. “I told Leonid not to do anything dangerous when you’re still near him.”
“Whitney?” It’s a man’s voice—Leonid. “Listen, we’re all delighted to hear that you’re alright. But did I overhear correctly? Do you really have three of the horsemen there now?”
I start filling them in on broad sketches, that Xolotl called his brothers to kill me, but he’s changed his mind.
“Why would he do that?” Leonid asks. “Did something happen?”
I grunt. “He massacred lots of soldiers in front of me. Maybe he realized he doesn’t need a human general, or maybe he just likes horrifying me.”
“Do you really think that’s it?” Leonid sounds. . .curious. But also very, very serious.
“I don’t know. Every time I’ve thought I learned something new, I realize I had it all wrong. It feels like I’m trying to swim in the center of the ocean and sharks are swirling around, but there’s something much bigger just hanging out, waiting to snap them up.”
“Well, the good news is that the witches have agreed to listen to us. If they can, they’ll help. They’ve never interfered directly with any part of the horsemen’s purpose, so this is a big policy shift.”
“Why would they agree to help?” I ask.
“We aren’t sure, except that Baba Yaga’s more vested this time, and so is one of the other sisters.”
“I’m not sure how much longer I have,” I say. “But tomorrow morning, Xolotl’s meeting the American military leaders at dawn at Travis Air Force Base.”
“That’s good information to have, but with the American military, there are too many angles. We don’t want to get involved while they’re also attacking.”
“Yeah, Xolotl can swallow missiles and stuff and puke them back out wherever he wants. It’s concerning.”
“We’re working on a way to incapacitate him, but until—”
“Leonid, I’m telling you this as your sister-in-law, and I’m telling you because you’re the only one who might be rational enough to use this information the way it needs to be used.”
He’s silent.
“I think that my death would incapacitate him in the way you need, if you time it right. I think that may be the only thing that can slow him down, and I want you to do it.” I drag in a breath. “I want you to kill me, because I think it’ll hurt him. Maybe badly.”
“Izzy would never forgive me.”
“We both know she will, eventually. She’ll get that you were asked to do something no one else could, and you will tell her when the time is right that I told you to do it. She knows me well enough to believe it.”