The revelation upturned everything I saw and only made it weirder when the golden god jumped up the moment we entered the room. He offered Emma his chair, though there were plenty to go around. "Sit, sit," he mumbled, then hastened towards a different doorway, whispering about refreshments.

The dark god rolled his eyes, his chair tipped back on two of its legs. "We're in Tlalocan, Xipe. You don't have to make it."

Xipe froze mid-step and returned sheepishly to the table. At a snap of his fingers, food appeared across it: sweet maize cakes and a frothy, rich-smelling drink that shimmered into pottery mugs for each of us. He waited for Jem, Emma and I to seat ourselves, then picked a different chair. I sent Jem my most surreptitious pleading look, but he didn't have any more idea what was going on than I did. We sank back in our chairs, both as tense as trap cords. Gods were two-faced. We had no idea if this friendliness was genuine, or how long it would last.

Xolotl made for a spot two seats down from me, but swayed and had to grip the chair-back.

The dark god's eyes sharpened. "Did they get you, too?"

"Help him," said the goddess.

The dark god had already darted around the table. He took Xolotl's arm and guided him down so he was sitting against the wall. "Shirt off."

Xolotl complied. Peppered across his chest and shoulders were nicks in his skin, angry red and bleeding slightly. He'd been hurt, too? Protecting us?

"I knew it," said the dark god. "Chimalli, come."

Not one but all three dogs were already on hand. Xolotl closed his eyes as they licked the wounds gently.

"Sometimes I wonder whether you and Quet are even related," grumbled the dark god, "and then this happens. You can look after yourself." In contrast to the statement, he had a hand on Xolotl's chest. The other god's breathing eased. Where the dogs had licked, the red around the nicks was fading. Gods' dogs.

"Good?" said the dark god at last. Xolotl nodded. "Alright. Go to bed."

Xolotl pulled on his shirt again, then got up shakily and excused himself with a tired nod. He vanished down a hallway off the entrance we had come through.

"Alright, business," said the beautiful goddess as the dark god returned to his seat beside her. "You two come from a village, yes?"

So this was what they wanted. I clenched my jaw, but Jem and I were alone in our wariness.

"We all do," said Emma, who had not been included in "you two." Her face was thunderous.

Emma, no!

"We'll pretend that for now. Did the Tlachinolli get you?"

My brain translated the foreign word to fire, then to Fuego, before I realized that all the gods spoke in a language that wasn't Spanish. And I could understand it. Nahuatl, my mind volunteered. The language of the Mexica. The Aztecas. My head spun slowly.

And then Jem decided to start talking, too. Maybe he guessed—correctly—that Emma was going to start spitting like a snake if she continued as our spokesperson.

"No, they're still safe," he said. "Or they were, the last time we saw them."

"When was that?"

"Twelve days ago?"

My hand found my knife handle as all three gods sat up in alarm. The dark one dropped his knee from the table's edge and let all his chair's legs hit the ground again. Emma's hand found mine and gripped it.

"Tezcat," said the goddess. Her outstretched hand paused the dark god mid-rise. Her butterfly fluttered to her wrist. "You three. Do any of you have an item on you that's been blessed by a member of your village?"

"Blessed how?" said Jem. I wanted to clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Positive ward, spell, incantation, charm, prayer. Any good intention, really, and some kind of touch. We just need the spirit thread."

Jem hesitated with a hand to his shirtfront. He shot me a glance, and I shook my head.

"Please?" said the goddess.

She was begging now?

"Does this count?" said Jem, and pulled out his Grillo Negro pendant.

If I tensed any further, I was going to break something. I felt dizzy, and I couldn't tell if it was from my internal alarm bells or the discovery that magic and spells existed. This was going much, much worse than anticipated.

The goddess softened her expression, but I could see the strain of keeping her stress at bay. "Can I see it? We only need to borrow it. We need to protect your village."

Before I could stop him, Jem had untied the pendant and handed it over. The goddess passed it to her brother, who nodded the moment his fingers brushed the stone.

Relief marked his sister's face. "That's perfect. The one who blessed it is still alive, so they haven't been found yet. Go set the wards."

This last part was directed at the dark god. He made for the exit, shifting into outdoor clothes as he went.

"Door," said the goddess, and he growled a word that was probably inappropriate. He snapped his fingers at the ground and vanished. I was shaking now. What was he going to do to Grillo Negro!?

The goddess's fingers tapped the table as she turned back to us. Or more specifically, to Emma. "Coyol knows you're here," she said, "and that you brought companions. Tezcat's going to ward the village you came from so they don't find it."

"Ward?" said Jem.

"A magic-shield. He's night and Coyol and the Centzon Huītznāuhtin are night, so he can mimic their magic and make your village look like a place they've already visited. Crude, but it works. We need you all alive."

I didn't even know where to begin asking questions on that.

Emma crossed her arms, anger radiating off her like a physical force. She was trying to hide her fear. "I don't want to help you. I don't know you. What do you need us for? And who's Coyol?"

The goddess dropped her face to her hands. "Our sister," she said, muffled, then lifted her head. "It's complicated. We'll explain later when we're all here. In the meantime, do you three want baths? We'll get beds set up for you."

Nobody taught you how to react when a bunch of gods and goddesses appeared to you, invited you into their home, and started treating you as guests. Or more than guests. Maybe I was still in shock from the fight and the cave, but the bizarre normalcy of the house—minus all the furniture I barely recognized—and the statement combined to drain me of my fight. I slumped back, trying not to think of warm water and a good scrub.

There was nothing I could do to reverse whatever had just happened. I had to focus on what we'd come for: ridding me of Fuego. And then getting out of here.

Jem answered for us again and said yes. The goddess smiled. "My name's Xōchiquetzal, by the way. You can call me Xochi. Come find Xipe or I if you need anything; one of us is usually around. Have we gotten your names yet?"

"Jem," said Jem, and gave me a sideways glance.

"Adriana," I said wearily. Grifo's tail thumped my leg. "This is Grifo..."

"Emma," said Emma. She had clearly decided to maintain the I don't know you stance until she got answers, but I could tell she knew more than she was letting on. She had some connection to these gods: their recognition, a name in their language, powers, and a knowledge of things like Chimalli's name that she certainly hadn't gained in Grillo Negro. Not to mention a pendant that had led us to the cave with the golden fire walls.

We had also found Chimalli's owner, and one better. We were in a house practically crawling with deities. If they hadn't killed us yet, we were probably safe for at least a little while longer. Gods above, I hoped it lasted.

The most a "bath" here and in Grillo Negro shared was the presence of water and the intent to get clean. I stepped into the steamy room Emma had just vacated. A fluffy towel hung on the back of the door, a dozen times the size of my drying-cloth. Before me was a stone ledge at sitting height, inset with a copper tub large enough to sit in. A luxurious amount of hot water had drained and refilled itself by some nonexistent hole after Emma had finished. 

The room's stone walls glistened with condensation, but the floor remained rough enough to walk safely. There were also several bars like long handles set in the walls. I tested one and found it both rough enough to grip, and secure enough to hold my weight.

The bath was like crawling under warm bedfurs on a chilly morning. I would have been reluctant to leave and face the gods' house again had Jem not been waiting for his turn. When I picked up my clothes again, I found them cleaner than they'd been when I dropped them on the chair in the corner. Diez madres.

Emma was in the room she and I were sharing, sprawled on her bed with her arms out. I gave Grifo a hard look. He slunk back to the floor. Furs like ours covered the beds, but beneath each was a squishy rectangle I already knew would spoil me rotten in one night. I plopped down on it. It took all my willpower not to fall into the bed's embrace right then and there. The furs were soft and supple, and both Emma and I's pillows were fluffy like the ones some people in Grillo Negro saved up feathers for months to make. The cover on Emma's was made of a smooth fabric that gleamed like snake's scales. Mine was rabbit fur.

Emma's anger at least seemed to have subsided. "They pushed the meeting back to supper," she said without opening her eyes. "Xol's still sleeping and Chal and Tlaloc are still with Quet."

I couldn't say I was upset about that. The gods had promised us answers, but I still didn't trust them. I also didn't recall Emma having gotten permission to use their names yet, let alone nicknames. "What about... the night god?"

"Tezcat?" She opened her eyes and rolled over, pillow hugged to her chest. "He'll be back soon."

"Name?" I wasn't going to remember these, but I might as well try.

"Tezcatlipoca. Chal is Chalchiuhtlicue. You already know Quet."

Quetzalcoatl. "Xipe?"

"Xipe Totec." She kicked her feet in the air. "Oh, and Huitz will be back when the sun goes down. Huitzilopochtli."

I'd heard that name bouncing around once or twice, but I hadn't realized the sun god actually lived here, too. "Is that all of them?"

"I don't know." Her smile faded. "There are lots of others, but I don't know where they are right now."

I seemed to have caught her in a mood where she was amenable to sharing knowledge. If I pushed it too far, she would suspect me of digging, but I also had genuine questions and she knew names at least. There was one I still didn't know. "Coyol?"

Emma stopped kicking and let her feet fall. "I feel like I'm supposed to know her, but I don't. But I didn't know Quet or Xol or the others until we got back here, so I don't know what would happen if I met anyone else in person, either."

"Why back here? We met Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl in the cave."

Emma's nose wrinkled. "Don't use their names like that; it's weird. And I think here's familiar?"

So I wasn't imagining her response to this place. Familiar?

Emma didn't notice my reaction. "I really didn't recognize them in the cave. I feel bad for sending a snake at Quet." She rolled over and wriggled under the furs. "I want to sleep until supper. Can you turn off the light?"

I eyed the line of softly glowing glyphs that circled the walls at waist height. "How?"

"Touch the fire one."

I identified the fire glyph immediately; it contained the same pattern as my tattoo cuffs. I touched it. Nothing happened. "Emma..."

She pulled the pillow off her head with an exaggerated groan and dragged herself over. She touched the glyph exactly as I had. The lights dropped from a warm orange to a soft, bioluminescent green. I skittered backwards, drawing an eye-roll from my roommate. I was not used to this yet.

Emma returned to her nest beneath her covers and fell asleep. I wrapped myself in my bedfurs and sat on my bed, letting my eyes adjust to the near-darkness.

What had Jem and I gotten ourselves into?