Jaguar at the Portal

by Aimee Easterling

  "That's not the kind of thing they mention in guidebooks, Tezzie," Ixchel said gently. "I mean, yes, there are obsidian mirrors around. But they were carved after your time, and who knows who they were meant for. Plus, we'd have to break into a museum to get our hands on one...."

  And that was the other reason Finn had clung so tenaciously to his spade. He'd caught Tezcatlipoca's trouble-making tip when the shifter pulled out his tool in the first place. And he knew that, given a bit of time and space, Ixchel would begin to wonder why her companion had packed such an unusual item in the first place. The calculation in the vet's eyes had been enough to prompt Finn to whip off his shirt when he began digging, hoping to distract the woman whom he hoped to turn into his mate with the sight of muscular abs.

  A technique that had proven almost too effective. When Ixchel's pupils expanded despite the strong May sunlight, Finn nearly dropped the problematic shovel, ditched Tezcatlipoca's wild-goose chase, and took the vet into his arms.

  And now the shifter wanted to hug Ixchel even more as she came through where his weary brain couldn't in order to save the day.

  "But, Tezzie," Ixchel said as Finn once again focused on the god's dilemma, "you don't really need an official mirror. The book says that bowls of water were often used for scrying. That's what you want to do, right? To talk to one of the other gods?"

  Of course. But there'd been a strangely evasive—though subtle—pause before the deity's response that had Finn narrowing his eyes. Something here wasn't quite as it seemed. Still, without more data, there was nothing the shifter could do other than let Tezcatlipoca's game play out to its conclusion. The were-jaguar would just have to stay alert and be ready to pounce when the tables turned....

  "As long as the water doesn't have to be potable, that's not too hard to manage," Finn said, finally joining in the conversation. "There's a swamp just over there, so we can fill the bowl up, let Tez commune with the heavens, and then be on our way. You and I could even buy one of those fruit ices on the way home, Ixchel. I'll bet the ones at that stand we saw would have been a delicious snack if someone had let us stop the car."

  Because the god had resolutely refused to allow his humans to do anything that even slightly resembled sightseeing in the last twenty-four hours. Yes, Finn and Ixchel had been allowed to purchase new outfits and the latter had snuck the guidebook and a pair of large straw hats into their cart at the same time. Finn was particularly glad of the hats since the Mexican sun would have long since burned even his dark skin to a crisp without a head covering. But he wouldn't have minded a little time to romance the enticing veterinarian while they were away from her job and in an exotic locale....

  Swamp water? You want me to call up my sister god with swamp water?

  Finn didn't have the strength to argue, and Ixchel didn't bother. She'd already returned with a bowl of slightly murky liquid by the time Finn settled himself into the shade with his back to the trunk of a gnarled old tree. And as the god directed, Ixchel gathered up the jade beads and dropped them one by one into the liquid, then she followed up by slipping off her necklace and letting it sink into the mirror-bowl as well. Finally, the vet gently removed the ancient figurine from her pants pocket and, repeating a jumble of syllables that Tezcatlipoca was broadcasting into both of their minds, she dropped that final object into the bowl of water with a distinct plop.

  Chapter 23

  Even though Ixchel had watched Finn shift between two physical forms multiple times now, she wouldn't have said that she believed in magic. So a jolt ran through her skin as two faces floated up to the surface of the tea-colored liquid.

  One visage was immediately recognizable as their pesky god, even though Tezcatlipoca appeared far too young to have been trapped in a statue for two thousand years. Instead, the god looked like a teenager not yet old enough to drive, and a slash of black cut through the yellow color infusing his face. Despite the strange coloration and his relative age, though, Tezcatlipoca was nearly unbearably handsome, and his arrogant knowledge of that fact was evident in the twist of his lips.

  The other face was neither beautiful nor arrogant. Tez's sister god was an old woman, her face so wrinkled that the lines nearly hid her original bone structure. But, to Ixchel's eye, this second god seemed vastly preferable to the one she and Finn had been carting around for the last two days. Because the old woman's face boasted crow's feet promising frequent laughter, centered around eyes that seemed much deeper than the bowl should have allowed. The goddess also appeared to be staring right at her, and Ixchel found herself falling into the depths of the deity's gaze and relaxing as she fell.

  And then Tez, as he was wont to do, ruined the moment. I say, Ixxie, the male god broadcast with a snooty English accent, You're definitely looking your age.

  And you, my dear boy, are still not acting yours, the goddess replied with a chuckle in her voice.

  But Ixchel had a hard time focusing on the witty repartee. So this is who I'm named after, she thought as she reached up to finger the necklace that was no longer around her neck. I hope it was okay to take off the charm....

  It's certainly alright, dear, Ixxie answered, looking directly at her namesake once again. Ixchel gasped as a tingle ran through her entire body and a spark arced from her finger into the bowl of water. You haven't sworn to me yet, the goddess continued. And I'm not the kind of jealous god Tezzie here is anyway.

  The vet smiled weakly, amused to think that the nickname she'd come up with for the wind god was already in use by his compatriot. "I think I was supposed to swear to you on my eighteenth birthday," she said hesitantly. "But my mother didn't know the words...."

  And I'm afraid I can't tell them to you either, Ixxie finished. It's against the rules. The goddess eyed the wind god, and Ixchel figured she and Finn both understood the unspoken subtext—Ixxie, unlike her brother god, preferred to go by the book.

  Speaking of rules, Tez said, pushing himself to the forefront of the mirror. I, Black Tezcatlipoca, god of divination, sorcery, beauty, and war....

  The deity seemed to be rushing his speech, even though it appeared to be no more than another round of chest-thumping, and Ixchel suddenly had a bad feeling about this entire endeavor. Did Tezzie really want to chat with his sister god...or to do something more nefarious to her?

  The vet tried to reach out and grab her necklace back out of the bowl, but she was suddenly unable to move. So all she could do was listen as Tezcatlipoca continued to intone his lineage, the words seeming to reverberate with deeper power and meaning as time progressed.

  ...Slayer of Cipactli, foe of Quetzalcoatl...

  Above them, the sky began to cloud up, and thunder rumbled in the distance. The vet could barely see her human companion out of the corner of her eye, but that glimpse was sufficient to prove that Finn wanted to stop Tezcatlipoca as much as she did. And that the shifter was equally unable to move, held just like she was in the iron grip of a vengeful god.

  As a result, Ixchel could do nothing to prevent herself from being drenched as the clouds opened up above them. And as the jaguar god continued to chant, his words dropped directly into her mind unfiltered by the raging wind. I, Tezcatlipoca, do bind you, Ixchel, jaguar grandmother and nocturnal physician, into this statue to be released only when...another...takes...your...PLACE.

  Electricity charged the air, making the hairs on Ixchel's arms stand on end. Then, with a tremendous crash, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the pyramid-hill and Ixchel's hands were finally freed from their invisible restraints.

  "Ixxie, I'm sorry!" the vet exclaimed, expecting to see Tezcatlipoca materialize out of the air in front of her at any moment. She should've realized that Tezzie would seek the easy way out, even if it meant locking his friend away in the same eternal solitude he'd been forced to endure.

  And what did that mean for the future of the humans who had done their best to aid the god yet hadn't been entirely respectful in the process?

  But Ixchel had a hard time focu
sing on self-preservation when, just a moment earlier, she had been communing with a goddess. A goddess who meant so much to her own maternal lineage that each woman had passed down the concept of a cat charm from mother to daughter for what she now suspected was hundreds of years.

  The vet's ancestors had lost the words that made the figurine more than a trinket, and yet they'd continued to name their daughters Ixchel after this deity that Tezcatlipoca nicknamed Ixxie. And if the current Ixchel trusted her similarly named mother and grandmother and great-grandmother, then Ixxie must be worth the effort to serve and protect.

  There has to be some relative left who knows the words I was supposed to use to swear myself to her, Ixchel thought, possibilities humming through her mind nearly the same way the wind god's speech had once done. The vet was on the right track for salvaging this situation, she knew it. Maybe if I swear Ixxie's oath, then I'll be able to break Tezzie's curse....

  But then Ixchel realized that Tezcatlipoca had not appeared before her in the flesh. Instead, the wind god was still trapped within the mirror, facing his sister deity and cursing loudly. Then, abruptly, the sound cut off and she and Finn were left watching the deities' faces contort as the pair spoke in privacy, the mirror having turned into the godly version of a silent film.

  Chapter 24

  You tricked me! Tezcatlipoca howled. Because, after all of his hard work, he still wasn't free of this dratted prison. Instead, the god's physical body was stuck inside the figurine as tightly as ever, and Ixxie wasn't even incarcerated along with him.

  That latter option would have been an acceptable resolution, in the short term at least. Because while his sister god might currently choose to represent herself as a crone, Ixxie possessed a lovely face in her maiden persona. And Tez was quite certain he'd be able to talk her into the maiden...and out of her skirt...in short order if the two shared the same physical plane. It had been a long time since he'd lain with a woman, and his hand just wasn't cutting the mustard the way it used to....

  Tezzie, dear, do try to focus, Ixxie admonished gently. Yes, I tricked you. But you tried to trick me first. And as these modern humans say, turnabout is fair play.

  But it should've worked! Tez howled. Just his luck that using the exact same ritual and words that Yo Pe had utilized to trap him two millennia earlier now gave a very different result. Had everything changed?

  Or maybe the ritual wasn't the issue at all. I thought I'd recharged enough, but maybe I shouldn't have let those mortals call me by anything except my full name, Tezcatlipoca mused aloud.

  Oh, yes, as if having a woman think of you as Tezzie is really going to deplete your godly powers, Ixxie said.

  In her grandmother persona, Ixxie was so smug, so all-knowing. And drat the goddess (yes, he'd call her a goddess if he felt like it!) for being right, because Tez could now feel Ixchel's thoughts turning in his direction. And it did appear that the mortal's intention alone was helping refill his godhood despite the pet name the woman persisted in using.

  What then? I said the words exactly right!

  And now he decided he might like Ixxie's grandmother phase after all, because the god could almost feel his companion's soothing hand stroking his cheek. It's all in the intention, Tezzie, she explained. You intended to lock me away in a prison...

  ...Which is exactly what Yo Pe did to me!

  Not quite, Ixxie rebutted. Yo Pe went into his incantation planning to imprison a god who had become a danger to his people. Your worshiper wanted to protect other innocents from your depredations.

  Depredations! Not likely. Tezcatlipoca had ruled his followers with an iron fist, of course. But he'd given back too. Otherwise, why didn't they all just jump ship and run begging along after Q or Ixxie instead?

  Don't you remember moving the course of their river? Ixxie asked softly. Lack of water is bad for crops. Your people were starving.

  Well, they forgot my birthday first, Tez replied sullenly. Okay, so, sure, he might have changed the course of the Coatzacoalcos River (which, by the way, they should never have named after his archrival!). But if Tezcatlipoca's worshipers had groveled just a little bit more, sacrificed a few maidens, begged for his mercy, then Tez would have brought the water back.

  Still, the wind god was getting nowhere with this line of reasoning. And, after all, Tez was a deity. He should have been able to swap places with Ixxie even if his intentions hadn't been entirely pure.

  Yes, that's right, dear, his sister god said, not bothering to wait for her companion to speak. (Talk about rude!) But you also got another thing wrong. Ixchel's cat charm isn't a strong enough link to my person to pull my physical self into your mirror, not when the girl has yet to swear herself into her role as my chief priestess. And, despite all that, Ixchel is still mine. You know very well that no worshiper of mine can unintentionally do me harm.

  Contradict yourself, why don't you? Tez countered. If the mortal hasn't sworn to you, then she isn't yours, now is she?

  Well, suit yourself, Tezzie, the goddess answered before fading away. But I've broken the tie you built to my dear Ixchel's mind, so you'll just have to wait and see what exactly she does choose to do. Now won't you?

  Chapter 25

  Finn and Ixchel lunged toward the mirror-bowl at the same moment, the former intent on spilling the water while the latter was doing her level best to fish out her necklace. As a result, both humans ended up getting even more soaked, the small vessel seeming to hold five gallons' worth of liquid when its contents splattered across their faces and clothes.

  Another little trick from our favorite god, Finn thought sardonically. But he was getting used to Tezcatlipoca's shows of temper and didn't even wince.

  "Is Tezzie free?" Ixchel asked breathlessly, clutching her cat necklace as if the charm were a precious item rather than a ten-cent trinket, the like of which could be purchased at any dollar store stateside. The vet didn't even seem to notice the disarray their clothes were in due to her worry over the goddess's safety. But then, Ixchel also wasn't a cat who enjoyed swimming...but only on his own terms. No, the wet clothes had been a slap in the face meant for Finn alone and the shifter knew it.

  No, I'm not free...no thanks to you! Tezcatlipoca was grumpier than ever, but the shifter was surprised to see that Ixchel's face remained full of blank concern rather than reacting to the deity's diatribe. His companion clearly hadn't heard the god speak even though Tez had been able to broadcast his thoughts from a much greater distance just that morning. Surely Tezcatlipoca should have had no problem impacting the veterinarian from his current location at their feet.

  Interesting.

  "He says he's still trapped, and isn't very happy about it," Finn translated, picking up the statue and mirror and pocketing both despite his overwhelming inclination to let the god rot in hell. The headache that had been building behind the shifter's eyes eased at the gesture, and Finn knew he'd been manipulated once again. Still, he had to choose his battles with Tezcatlipoca, so this instance of godly maneuvering might as well be let slide.

  Beside him, Ixchel raised her eyebrows, coming to the same conclusion that the shifter had—in the preceding altercation, the goddess must have found a way to wiggle the vet's consciousness out of Tez's grubby little fingers. Too bad Ixxie hadn't managed to do the same for Finn. Because, without Tez barking orders, Finn would have been quite happy to bury this little statue in the sandy soil of El Azuzul and set off on a much-deserved Mexican holiday with the lovely veterinarian.

  You can stop with the headaches, Tez, Finn thought as pain once again began slicing through his skull. I'm not going to do it. I'd just like a holiday, that's all. And then the shifter worked harder than ever at shielding his thoughts from the nosy god's ever-increasing power.

  "What about Ixxie?" her namesake said at last, reaching back to clasp the necklace once more around her neck. Despite his best intentions to give the veterinarian her space, Finn found himself lifting the woman's hair out of the way and then letting his ha
nd trail across her smooth skin in a gentle caress before stepping away.

  Focus, he told himself. Because his pet god was obviously not pleased with either him or with Ixchel. So Finn needed to keep his attention trained on the potential danger for both of their sakes.

  What do I care? Tez groused, proving the shifter's suspicion about his mood as the deity answered Ixchel's question. If Ixxie won't help me, then it's no skin off my teeth whether you just spilled your precious goddess out onto the ground and killed her entirely.

  Finn didn't repeat this utterance since he was relatively sure that the wind god was just attempting to spread his lack of joy to the people around him. "I think she outwitted him," he said instead, glancing at the trinket nestled between Ixchel's collarbones and raising one eyebrow quickly. Hopefully his companion could read between the lines in a way the self-centered god couldn't, allowing Ixchel to realize that her goddess could be trapped within the cat necklace just as Tezcatlipoca was caged within his own statue.

  "I might know a way to talk to Ixxie," Ixchel began, but Finn cut her off with a shake of his head. Sure enough, his least-favorite deity pounced on the vet's words.

  Oh no you don't. No running off on a tangent to help out Ixxie, not while I'm stuck within this cursed statue. Don't you want to be reunited with your family?

  Finn didn't even need to translate this time around, because Ixchel could clearly read Tez's half-assed promise in the way the shifter clenched his jaw.

  "No, Tezzie, this isn't all about you," Ixchel rebutted. "Ixxie seemed like a nice lady, and I'll bet she'd help you out if we just put a little time into scratching her back first. We'll go visit my..."