“Probably by calling an emergency meeting of all the surviving sorcerers, am I right?” Marla said. “Get them all in a room to talk about the Aztec menace, and then lock the doors and let you mow them down. Or else just hit them all with tasers, to keep the meat fresh.”
Mutex shrugged. “It was an elegant plan, but it seems it shall not come to pass. It sometimes pleases the gods to confront us with adversity. It is not the first time things have not gone according to plan. Is Bethany dead?”
Marla didn’t glance down at Bethany. She didn’t think the sorceress was dead—B hadn’t hit her that hard, and Bethany most likely had spells to protect her skull. “Why do you ask?”
“If she is dead, then I will summon her noble warrior’s spirit back to this world when the gods return.”
“What, as a hummingbird?” Rondeau said. “Pretty fucking stupid form for a noble warrior spirit, don’t you think?”
Mutex frowned, and Marla cheered Rondeau silently. Zealots hated blasphemy, and Rondeau blasphemed as easily as most people blinked. “Hummingbirds are a fitting vessel for the returned souls of dead warriors. But no. Once I have brought the old gods back to life, I will be able to open the gates to the Land of the Dead, and welcome the warriors back in approximations of their mortal forms.”
“Pretty good trick,” Marla said. “This is after you raise Tlaltecuhtli, right? Her mouth opens to the Land of the Dead, and all that?”
“You should not even speak that name,” Mutex said. “You dishonor it further by mispronouncing it.”
“Aztec isn’t my first language,” she said, grinning. He was not happy that she knew this much about his plans. “Surprised I know about your plans to raise Kermit the Earth-Monster? You shouldn’t leave so many clues lying around. Then again, I’m pretty perceptive, so there’s probably nothing you could have done to keep it a secret.”
“You seem marginally more aware than the fools who run this city,” he said. “I suppose a worm such as you might reasonably feel superior to maggots such as they.”
“Okay, frog-boy,” Marla said. “Keep underestimating me. It’s a recipe for hilarious results. So. You want me to leave the city? We can work something out. I have terms.”
“I am prepared to listen,” Mutex said.
“Marla!” B said. “You can’t negotiate with him! If you don’t stop him—”
“Quiet, B,” Rondeau said, pulling him back. “You really don’t want to get into the middle of this right now.”
“But—” B said.
“Really,” Rondeau said, and B must have believed him, because he went quiet, which was good, since Marla owed him, and didn’t want to have to silence him herself.
“I need the Cornerstone,” Marla said.
“Impossible,” Mutex said flatly.
“I don’t need to take it away forever,” she said. “I just need it to cast one spell, and then I’ll leave.”
“I will not let you near it,” Mutex said. “It is already in use, already serving to anchor the ritual that will return my gods to power. Any spell you cast would disrupt that process. No. The only thing I am willing to offer in this negotiation is your life. Leave the city, and I will spare you, though your heart’s blood would surely do well to fuel my magic.”
Marla laughed. “Afraid not, Mutie. You need a fear-filled heart, and I’m definitely not afraid of you.” She wasn’t, not exactly, though she wasn’t nearly confident enough to attack him head-on right now, not with all those frogs around him. They might be slowed by the low subterranean temperatures here—they were, after all, creatures from the rain forest, despite whatever enhancements Mutex had given them—but they were still lethal.
“Then we are at an impasse,” Mutex said.
“Looks that way. Negotiations broke down. They have a way of doing that when I’m involved. I don’t know why—I’m the most reasonable person I know. Guess you’d better kill me now, huh?”
She expected him to back down, to slink away and return to fight another day. But she’d forgotten the power of zealotry. He came forward again, his limbs blurring with speed. “Get back!” she shouted, and Rondeau and B rushed for the far end of the car while Marla retreated to the far wall opposite the door. The moment Mutex cleared the threshold and entered the train, with just a couple of the frogs sluggishly hopping along in his wake, Marla reversed her cloak.