I See Fire | Wattys 2021/22 Shortlist | ✔

Chapter Nineteen

Chal caught us both after a leisurely meal, and beckoned us away to one of the many rooms along the house's single hallway. This one was a cozy nook with a bookshelf, a desk and wooden chair, and an armchair in the corner next to a tall, fern-like plant. Chal snapped her fingers, and a third chair joined us. She waved us to the other seating and took a seat herself, her ankles tucked neatly together.

"So, the three of you had a run-in with the Tlachinolli," she said.

Jem and I both nodded.

"Can I see?"

I held out my hands. The goddess pulled up her chair and took them carefully. She examined my tattoos, ran a finger over them, then touched one with a spark of magic. Her face slipped to a frown, with a trace of unease that set me on edge.

"You said Itztia did this?" she said.

"To both of us," said Jem.

Chal inspected his tattoos, too. Then she held one of our wrists in each hand and compared them. She murmured something that had Ōmeteōtl's name in it.

"What is it?" I asked. My throat was closing up in suppressed panic, and it took an effort just to keep the words from cracking.

"This is upper-tier spellcasting." She released us looking less than satisfied. "Yours are just a ward, Jem, though making a ward strong enough to hold off a magic like the Tlachinolli is hard enough. But yours..." Both their eyes turned to me. Chal bit her lip. "How do I say this. You should be dead right now." This was not making things better. "The Tlachinolli has fully integrated with your body, and the only reason it isn't burning you is the reverse ward in those tattoos. That permanent reverse ward, might I add."

"Is that harder to cast?"

"Tezcat and I are the only spellcasters here, and neither of us is at that level. I know two people who are, but one is Coyol and the other betrayed us and went to Coyol's side fifteen years ago. Either she left Itztia a gift for some purpose, or there's something else going on here."

I didn't like the sound of either of those options. By the look of it, neither did Chal.

"Is there anything you can... add to it? Or change?" I gripped both my wrists, hiding the tattoos. "Emma said I'm still contagious."

"You are, but we can fix that. We won't be able to remove the Tlachinolli, but when Tezcat's ready and we're both up to full strength, we can make sure it's sealed."

My shoulders slumped in relief. That was all I needed to hear right now. Minus the permanent-Fuego part, but I could live with that. "So I could go back to a village without killing everyone?"

"If you wanted to."

"You want us to stay," said Jem.

The words came out blunt. You didn't talk to a goddess like that, but the relief of seeing him as suspicious as I was washed over me like cool water. Jem's face was hard to read, but his jaw was set and his eyes were steely. His hands gripped his now-empty tea mug tightly enough to pale his knuckles.

Chal sat back with her hands on her knees. "You two were exposed to the Tlachinolli, and Adriana here is going to need to learn to manage it even after it's sealed the rest of the way. Magic can get dangerous if left unchecked. Especially a magic like that."

Did she just imply that I had magic now? I stared blankly at my tattoos. I'd never done anything magical. I couldn't even turn off the lights in Emma and I's room. And yet somehow, after my near-death experience and everything that had happened since then, this didn't surprise me as much as I thought it should. It just settled onto the already massive heap of worries pressing down on my shoulders. Why couldn't I just get it sealed and then ignore it for the rest of my life? Was there a risk of a Fuego relapse? I shuddered at the thought.