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."Visiting?" I wiped garden dirt from my hands.I got a whiffof the strident scent of tomato leaves from my hands.He unbuckled the collar of his leather jacket."Angelenasaid meet her here."The back door of Hector's house slammed open.Dealpicked her Ferragamo-shod way across the new brick patio.How did she get inside the house? She probably stormedthrough the front door when I didn't answer the bell."Why can't we ever do this on the West Side?" shesnapped."Do what?" I asked.No one ever told me anything.Angelena came out of the house with beers in hand."Havea seat." She towered over Deal as we stood on the patio.Dealwasn't much taller than I was.More vicious, certainly, but notbigger.Nanny took her usual seat at the end of the porch, but theGods ignored her.Crash took a beer and sank onto the porch."What's up?"164Chaos Magicby Jay LygonI hadn't had them over for dinner in a while.I shotAngelena a worried glance.She patted my shoulder."Don't worry, we're covered.""Blue." Deal hinted."Come on! Mercy! What is that? A couple hundred bucks abottle?""Maker's Mark is fine."As if she was settling.Ungrateful Goddess."Sam, any thoughts you have about me, I can hear," Dealwarned."I called you here for a reason." Angelena then took a longsip of her beer so that she couldn't explain.Deal fumed."Make it snappy, Traffic."Angelena smiled around the beer bottle at her mouth.Sheslowed down her intake just to make Deal steam.Deal tappedher iced pink fingernail on the crystal of her trendy watch."The strength of Sam's faith puts more power behind hisworship than a million other believers combined," Angelenareminded Deal."You didn't agree to protect him out of thegoodness of your heart.I don't care about your power fetish,but I expect you to keep your word.""And that means.""Welcome to our new neighborhood."With a magician's wave of her hand, Angelena made a newhouse muscle between the Hector's house and the whiteclapboard house next door.Of all the Gods I knew, Angelenawas the only one who had enough imagination to do flashymiracles.165Chaos Magicby Jay LygonCrash was pissed, I was pissed, and Deal Deal was livid.Vegetables and fruits withered on the vine in my garden asthe shockwave of her indignation passed through theatmosphere."Long Beach? You expect me to move to LongBeach?" Deal shouted at Angelena."All of us, yeah." Angelena winked at me."This is gonnaget good.""Is this going to be like having a motorcycle gang nextdoor?" I whispered.Angelena took a long draft off her bottle."Nah.That wouldbe too quiet.We're entertaining."Yeah, like the movie Saving Private Ryan.I set down mybeer."Don't worry, Deal, I'm not moving here.Hector's beenpressuring me, but I'm not going to."Hell had no fury like Deal on the losing end of a bargain.She quaked like a volcano about to blow."Traffic, how couldyou let it get this far without finding out from him first?""He'll move in," Angelena reassured her."No.I won't."Deal started towards me, but Angelena held up her hand."We'll see about that, Sweet-tart." She gave Deal and Crash adrop-dead stare."I'm not asking you two.I'm telling.Even ifSam here thinks he's not going to move in, he will.We'vesworn to protect him, so that means we move, too."Deal's lips parted, but Angelena interrupted her."Yourother worshippers abandon you as soon as they get what theywant.Has anyone ever thanked you in an acceptance speech?No.But it doesn't matter, does it Deal? As long as Samworships us, we have it made, all of us.At least we share.166Chaos Magicby Jay LygonCan you imagine what would happen if a God figures out howto horde all that worship for himself?"I expected Deal to say something, but her ice-blue eyesflicked to the cypress hedge marking the other property line.Crash moved so that he stood between Deal and thehedge.He touched her shoulder."I'm in.How do we do thehouse thing?"Angelena snapped her fingers and another house sproutedbetween the one she conjured for herself and the whiteclapboard house.I could tell she meant it for Crash, becausethe roofline and the colors were subtly Thai inspired.The people who used to live right next door to Hector weretwo doors down.I wondered if the mortals noticed, or if theysimply ignored such miracles.Deal snapped her fingers, but I didn't see anythinghappen."I'm across the street," she explained."I refuse tolive next door to that."At first, I thought she meant me, but Deal shot a glance atthe cypress hedge and shivered.That house gave me thecreeps, too, but it was so out of character for her to beunnerved by something."Proximity is an illusion, and so is distance," Angelenaintoned."Then why do we need to be so close to Sam?" Dealdemanded."Because I said so.Now shut the fuck up and leave usalone.I haven't had a chance to chat with Sam in weeks."167Chaos Magicby Jay LygonDeal and Crash huddled in the driveway in front of Hector'sgarage, negotiating their new living arrangements, no doubt.Poor Crash.Screwed from the start."So, Sam, how's it going with Hector?" Angelena's changeof subject didn't fool me one bit.Why were the Gods worried?"What's going on Goddess?"Angelena downed the rest of her beer.She carefully pattedthe spiked tips of her hair."You're popular with the Gods,Sam.Some of them one of them would like to force you toworship only one god.""But I know that there's more than one God.""He could make you forget everything you believe in."I hugged my knees to my chest."I don't want to thinkabout that.""Okay.For now, we'll talk about something else.Do youremember the beginning?" Angelena sounded wistful.I couldn't figure out what beginning she meant."The first time you believed me into existence?""I remember the first time I saw you, if that's what youmean."The director of an independent film invited me to hisscreening when I met him at a party in the hills.He was cool,in a nerdy film geek way, so we got along pretty well.If hewas hitting on me, it was so subtle that I didn't feel it.I waskind of surprised when he followed up to make sure I'd come,though.That was the first bona fide press screening I everwent to.After that, I got on lists.Publicity people called meinstead of making me go through the humiliation of beggingthem for access.I wasn't stupid.I knew why.Lusts have a168Chaos Magicby Jay Lygonhierarchy, though, so when I explained that sure, I was up forfooling around, but as a professional, I couldn't then in goodconscious review their movie, they always opted for theexposure over sex.I didn't blame them for trying.It wasalmost a subconscious tic of power, nothing personal about it.The day of that screening, traffic on the 110 was miserablethrough downtown.Asphalt fumes oozed out of a cooker twolanes over and made the air painful to breathe.Bored, Ilooked in my side mirror, back at the line of cars behind mine,and wondered what the universe they lived in was like.I told Angelena, "I heard your bike before I saw it.Youcrept between the lanes on that big old Harley and Ithought.""You worshipped."" Goddess of Traffic.That was a nice ride.""You believed in me, so I.""How could I not believe when you were the only one theresmart enough to conquer L.A.traffic? I recognized you forwhat you were.""I became aware, Sam.I became because of your faith."Over by the garage, Crash gripped his hair in both handsas if he'd rip his skull in two.I often felt like that after talkingto Deal, so I could sympathize.He turned his bike in thedriveway and zoomed away.I heard the high whine of hisengine all the way down the street.Deal and Angelena disappeared, too.I was alone, but feltwatched.I looked around for Nanny's ghost, but didn't seeher.169Chaos Magicby Jay LygonThe hedge next door moved.I didn't feel a breeze, so Ibacked away, keeping my eyes on it.Chills ran down myspine [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]