Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1)(35)

Chapter 15


The sound of Kai’s laughter wafts incongruously through my memory, and I grasp at it, latching on and holding tight, letting it pull me back to reality. My familiar kitchen, guests in the other room, soft dough in my hands. I blink, expecting tears, but my eyes are dry. My hands are a bit unsteady as I slide the dough into the hot lard, but I manage. The fat sizzles as the bread puffs. It’s good. I’m good. Or at least I’m okay.

I let myself breathe. I concentrate on the simple push and pull of air as it travels through my body. And I lock all those memories away where they belong. Or at least I try. They can’t all go away because I hear Kai asking Coyote, “And this Neizghání spared your life?”

I frown. Ma’ii is telling stories about Neizghání. I try to recall if I’ve mentioned my mentor by name to Kai, but I can’t remember. I know this is Ma’ii’s way of stirring up more trouble, but before I shut him up, I wait to hear which story he is telling.

“He spared my life the one time. But I have died many times in many ways. It is not the dying that is so awful, as the knowing that you must awaken alone the next dawn. I am not much of a morning person.”

“Well, if he spared your life after what you did, he can’t be all bad.”

“It is true he is considered a hero of legend, but then I am no monster for him to slay.” His voice is smooth, almost flippant, but I recognize the undercurrent of anger. Whatever Neizghání did to him has not been forgiven, no matter what he claims now. “I am just a simple Coyote, and he is the son of Changing Woman and the Sun. If you look at it that way, it is a wonder he bothered with me at all.”

I shake my head as I use tongs to gingerly pull a piece of bread from the hot lard and lay another in to fry. Maybe someday I’ll get Ma’ii to tell me what happened between the two of them.

“Changing Woman,” Kai says. “You mentioned her before. She created humans, the five-fingered people, I mean. So she is Neizghání’s mother? And his father is the Sun?”

I hear the chair creak in the other room. “It’s a rather delicious tale of seduction between them. A willing girl with her legs spread, a hot summer day. Would you like to hear it?”

“Another time, maybe,” Kai demurs. “So this Neizghání is a legendary hero. Kind of like Hercules?”

“Who? I do not know a Hercules. Did he kill monsters?”

“In the stories of ancient Greece.”

“Then yes!”

“And he was Maggie’s teacher?”

“And much more,” Coyote says, his voice a lubricious whisper. No matter how he feels about Neizghání, the old Coyote cannot resist a scandal.

“Okay, that’s enough.” I push through the door. Both of them are leaning forward in their chairs, heads together like Chapter House gossips. I point a finger at Coyote. “You, stop talking about things you know nothing about. And you”—I shift to Kai—“stop listening to a trickster.” I jerk my head in Kai’s direction. “And come help me with the food.”

Kai looks chagrined, but Coyote just grins his toothy predator grin and blinks those unsettling yellow eyes at me.

“A little touchy, Mags,” Kai says as he joins me in the kitchen.

“I don’t want you gossiping about me with the Coyote,” I tell him, dropping the last of the dough in.

“Is that what I was doing?”

“Yes.”

“So, if I want to know something about you, you’ll tell me?”

I ladle the chilé beans into the three waiting bowls as I consider his question. “Maybe. Depends. What do you want to know?”

The last piece of frybread is done. Kai picks up two bowls, one for himself and one for Coyote. I take the last one. His lips crook up in a half smile and he leans his back into the door, holding it open for me to pass through first. “Don’t know yet, Mags. But I’ll be sure to come to you next time.”

I eye him suspiciously, but the look he gives me is all wide-eyed innocence.



We eat huddled around my coffee table, crowded onto the sofa and armchairs in my tiny living room. I fold my bread into a scoop, dip it into the bean mixture, and shovel beans into my mouth. Ma’ii watches me closely before he sniffs his own bowl. He takes a spoon delicately in his clawlike hand, long fingernails clicking, and eats like he’s the Queen of England. Kai follows my lead with the bread. We all eat in relative silence, sharing a word here or there, but mostly focused on our food. Coyote finishes first despite his fussy use of a spoon. He wipes his mouth quite crudely on the sleeve of his coat, drinks deeply from what’s left of his coffee, sets the cup down, and retrieves his hat from the table next to him.

“Ahéheé, Magdalena,” he says. “And now it is time for me to depart.”

He turns to Kai. “I have enjoyed your company tonight, Kai Arviso. So I give you a gift. You may call on me and I will hear you. Say my name four times to the four directions at dawn or at dusk, during the changing of the day. If I wish, I may come.”

“If ?”

Ma’ii shrugs. “I am busy and Dinétah is large.”

It’s not much of a gift, but Kai’s serious when he says, “Thank you.”