I slept for most of the next two days. Emma insisted on camping out beside me, so my mother and father moved the tent to a quieter spot, then surrendered it to us and stayed with family for a while. Jem joined us whenever we were both awake, and sometimes when I wasn't. I woke up to find missed meals beside me more often than not. Being home only highlighted the fact that there was no Grifo here to steal them. With the fight now over, I worried about him fiercely.

The gods were also given their own tent, cobbled together from donations by most of the village. Jem brought me updates when he visited: news from an outside world that felt a hundred miles away. A couple of the gods were awake already. One was still in critical condition—no points for guessing who—but the doctors in the village were optimistic. Jem was among them. In truth, I think he was more worried about me.

I woke up on the third morning feeling like crap. I was more alert than I had been yet, but my stomach turned sideways when I pushed myself up. A juvenile headache squeezed the back of my skull and made my vision fuzzy as I blinked in the light.

Sunlight?

I managed to get to my feet without throwing up, and tottered out of the tent. I had to shield my eyes. The sky was as grey as always, but it was daytime for the first time in days. Who was the new sun god? One of the siblings here could not have stepped up so soon; they were barely recovering. Emma must have set Cihua to the task after all.

I let my eyes adjust, then lowered my hand to find the broad, low gods' tent only a stone's throw away. I approached it cautiously. Was I allowed here? Would any of them be up? I reached the end that faced the village and peeked around it. Quet was sitting cross-legged on the ground by the entrance flap, cradling a tea mug. He startled when I moved again, and his distant look broke into a smile. "You're up. Did you sleep well?"

"I should be asking you that."

"Too bad. I beat you to it."

I couldn't stifle a laugh. My stomach didn't appreciate it. Quet reached over and dragged a couple of sticks off a patch of ground for me, and I sat. I had to put my head down as my headache protested the motion. "I think I slept okay, but I don't feel great." That was fast becoming an understatement, but the god beside me looked worse. I could not, in good conscience, complain of sickness in front of someone who'd nearly been killed three days before, after seeing his siblings shot first. "How are the others?"

I don't think he meant to sigh. There was a long silence before he answered. "Most of us should be okay."

"No fading?"

"Not while we're here."

"How long are you staying?" I lifted my head, crossed my arms over my knees, and rested my chin on them. Gods, I'd forgotten how bright sunlight was.

"Until most of us are recovered. And until Tlalocan rebuilds itself. Tlaloc checked, and the house shook down in the earthquakes, but Ōmeteōtl knows, there are enough spells in those walls to last another century or two. It should put itself back together in a few weeks."

That was cool. I tried not to feel deflated at the rest of the news, but the prospect of parting ways with the gods in a few weeks hit me harder than I was expecting. I felt like I'd already known them forever—but at the same time, like we'd only just met. "And you'll be okay there? That far from the village?"

"Should be by then." He smiled again and lifted his mug, which I realized was not steaming despite the chilly late-winter air.

Matzin? Where had they gotten matzin?

Quet chuckled at my look. "Tlaloc stormed off to Mictlan as soon as he was up, and came back with enough to last us. I don't think I've ever seen him so angry. He claimed it was because of the curse, but I think he's realized he likes his 'annoying siblings' a lot more than he thought he did." He swirled the mug and took a sip. "Don't tell him I said that."

"But how... how? Mictlan? Did he steal it? Or did—you know what, I don't even have a guess."

I got another laugh for that. "The Tzitzimime went back to the sky now that the Centzon Huītznāuhtin are done rampaging. He went and got them first. He's the rain god, so they all love him... they love the rainy season. Don't ask me why; we don't know either. Anyway, that was enough pressure on our dear underworld brother to suffice."

This conversation miraculously managed to create three new questions for every answer I got. Gods, I had so much to learn before they all left again. A few weeks wasn't even a passing imitation of enough time.

"Anyway. We'll be going back together when the house is up." Quet's distant look had returned. "We can't thank your village enough for your hospitality, and I'd stay longer if everyone wanted to, but..."

He trailed off, so I finished for him. "But it's better to be home."

He nodded.

Nothing compared to being back in your own bed after an ordeal. And if Xolotl needed more time to recover, well... his grounding wasn't here.

We were interrupted then by a distant bark. My head whipped up. That was my dog. I scrambled to my feet, shouting, "Grifo!"

A wild flurry of barking accelerated towards us. Where was he? I tripped myself as I scrambled for the nearest rise to get a better view. I was barely back on my feet when my dog barrelled from the desert like a furry throwing spear. I fell to my knees again and he crashed straight into me, frantic and joyous and worried and overexcited all at once in a tangled mix of emotions that matched my sobs and laughter perfectly. I hugged him and he leaned against my chest, warm and panting.

Tlaloc appeared from the same direction, Tochtli trotting at his heel. Quet called her over and she ran to him, sniffing all over his head and jacket in a more measured display of concern. He instructed her to sit and rubbed her ears. "He's here, don't worry."

Tochtli didn't want to sit. She sniffed the air and fretted as Quet checked her over for injuries. She seemed fine. "They're not up yet, but Tezcat should be soon," said the god. "Wake either of them when they need it, okay?" Tochtli wagged her skinny tail. "Good girl." He pointed her to the tent door and patted her back. She disappeared into the tent.

"Can she understand you, too?" I said.

"No, only Xol. She's trained, though." Quet drew both hands down his face. "Chimalli was, too. We'll just have to manage with one for now."

I put my face in Grifo's fur again. Even with this huge worry lifted from my shoulders, I still felt worse than I had when I woke up. My headache had established itself and was busy putting down roots, and I wasn't sure I could stomach food. When I lifted my gaze again, it was to find Tlaloc gone and Quet giving me a concerned look.

"Looks like you two are going to have to go back soon," he said. "Jem came down sick this morning, too."

Back? "What do you mean?"

"You both spent too much time in Mictlan."

An entirely different sick feeling settled like a rock in my stomach. Half-dead. Of course. In the whirlwind madness of the rescue and escape from Coyol, the final battle, and the unending worries of the days since, I had completely forgotten about that consequence of my extended journey through the underworld. Quet's look hinted that it might be more consequential than I thought I knew, but I wasn't ready to hear about that yet. He seemed to sense it.

"Do you want to go back tonight?" he said. "You'd only need to spend a night, and it would reset the time before you have to go again. You've both been fine for a few days up here, so your magic probably extends your limits."

"Can I go see people first?"

"Up to you. Just let me know when you and Jem are ready to go."

I thanked him and stood, only to nearly pass out as my head throbbed hard enough to make my vision darken at the edges. Gods, was this what Xolotl went through when he stayed away from Mictlan for too long? Tezcat had once said he got sick first, before being sent back involuntarily. I hoped Coyol or Cihua had broken his binding to his job as a guide of the dead, not just countered it temporarily. Sure, someone needed to do that work, but Xol was the last one I'd consider right now.

Grifo pressed close to my leg and watched me with worried eyes as I recovered my balance and trudged into the village to find Jem.