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thinking himself safely hidden in shadow. “Beaver hat,” she muttered. “Who was it who
said something about a beaver hat?”
“What are you talking about?” Rondeau said, stepping toward her, briefly passing
between her and the man. When his next step carried him out of her line of sight, the
man was gone. Marla cursed—though her profanities were less destructive than
Rondeau’s, they were more heartfelt.
“Somebody was watching us, a little guy with a cane, wearing a fur hat.”
“Huh,” Rondeau said. “Should we worry?”
“I don’t have time to worry about crap like this,” Marla said. “I’ve got enough problems
already.”
“Probably just another spy,” Rondeau said. “If he gets close again, we grab him.
Otherwise, as long as he just watches, who cares? It’s not like you’re planning to be
stealthy, right?”
“Yeah. It just irks me, being followed.”
“Every time a strange sorcerer passes through Felport, you have them followed,”
Rondeau pointed out.
Marla glared at him for a moment, then strode off, out of the parking garage.
As they were walking back across the park, Rondeau’s phone rang. Marla took it out of
her bag, flipped it open, and put it to her ear. “Speak.”
“I found out about your frog-monster,” Hamil said. “An Aztec deity, though ‘primordial
earth-monster’ might be a better term, called Tlaltecuhtli.”
“I won’t be able to pronounce that without practice,” Marla said. “I’ll just call him Mr.
Toad if I run into him.”
“Let’s hope you don’t,” Hamil said. “I hope it’s just a monster from myth, without any
basis in reality.”
“Give me the vitals,” Marla said, pausing in the shadow of the giant chair.
“Often described as female, though that’s not entirely consistent, she was one of the
first gods, a giant froglike creature with mouths on her elbows, knees, and—
ominously—‘other joints.’ She had a taste for meat of all kinds. While the other gods
were trying to create the world, Tlaltecuhtli was merrily devouring what they made,
which finally drove Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl to kill her. They ripped her in two,
and her upper body became the Earth, while her lower half became the heavens.”
“Big girl,” Marla said.