Three

SO THERE I SAT IN the front seat, thinking about those Stranger Danger movies we had to watch in grade school. I remembered all sorts of stuff from them, warnings and rules. Don't accept rides. Don't take candy from strangers. But never once had we been told what to do when the assistant principal pulls up in some seedy neighborhood and tells you to get in. Or when your bio teacher turns out to be an evil firegod who's kidnapped your best friend.

The car stunk. I guess that was from Scratch, who had on his nastiest old bum coat. His teeth were brown, like he'd been eating dirt by the handful. He didn't say much besides hissing "Yes, yes," as Frankengoon told me what we were going to do.

"We'll find your friend." I'd never heard anyone make that word sound so horrible. "And we're going to make sure he never runs away again."

Tearing down the road, we went through some red lights, and practically killed a lady as she crossed in front of us. I guess when gods are using their full powers, they can drive as fast as they want. No golden heavenly chariots. But no police waiting to give us a ticket, either.

We drove north on Plymouth Avenue, toward the glittering lights of downtown. The snow had let up, I guess. But the wind kept stirring it into whirlpools and sudden blinding blasts. The huge Kodak and Xerox buildings loomed ahead, with a few windows winking off and on, and the tops lost in the night sky.

"The bridge," Scratch said. "Yes, the bridge."

Frankengoon turned onto Broad Street and slowed down.

"There. Up ahead." Scratch was leaning over the front seat, peering through the windshield. I could smell him: B.O., unwashed clothes, ancient coffee breath. "There he is," he hissed.

Knacke stood in the middle of the bridge, his arms raised and his head thrown back. Snow moved like brilliant curtains around him. Globes of fire glowed in both hands.

At first I thought it was a freestanding shadow that faced Knacke. Every move he made, the shadow made too. Only as we got close did I see it was Relly.

Knacke waved his arms, flames pouring out his fingertips. Relly did the same. Knacke punched at his own chest. And I saw a heart made of red burning coals. Relly copied that move exactly. It was horrible to see, fires glowing inside his naked rib cage.

Frankengoon stopped his car and told me to get out.

"Good, good," Knacke said when he saw us. "All together again. Now we can finish this up. All's well that ends well." He hawked up a gob of blue fire.

Frankengoon took me by one arm and Scratch took me by the other. They dragged me forward and threw me at Knacke's feet.

Knacke made a broad gesture and a ring of flame licked around me, there on the sidewalk. It burned at my legs. I choked on the foul, oily fumes.

Only then did Relly break his mimic trance. With a sweeping motion of his arm, he seemed to gather up the flame, take it into himself. In a second it was gone. Only the faint wisps of smoke remained. And they were soon swept over the river gorge and were gone.

Knacke laughed, the way a grownup might laugh at a little kid's cute trick. "Didn't I tell you, Zee? He's nothing compared to me." A jet of flame roared out of Knacke's outstretched hands. He aimed over my head. This was all for show. He was still trying to convince me that I should join him and his tetrad.

"He's a pitiful little cigarette lighter. And I am the sun!" As though he'd flicked a switch, his face lit up brilliant as a car's headlight. "He's a little crumb of rust and I am a globe of burning gold."

Now Scratch and Frankengoon had Relly by the arms, dragging him to the edge of the bridge.

"He has promise. I don't deny that. He has the power," Knacke said. "But I have a thousand times more. And when you've linked yourself to us, Zee, then we shall defeat death itself."

Relly seemed to give up. No more fire from him. No more resistance.

"Dearly beloved," Knacke said, like he was a preacher and this was some evil wedding. "We are gathered as gods to welcome our fourth. We have come here to complete our tetrad. We have our offering and we have our newest, truest, youngest power."

I was in a daze, I guess. I listened and I watched. But this was all so unreal. I think part of my brain just shut down. Knacke's plan was clear now. They were going to toss Relly into the gorge as a human sacrifice. Right here where the ghost of the canal crossed the shadowy river. One was gone and the other was in darkness, though I heard the rushing black water. Right here at this place of power in the middle of the city.

Here the four directions crossed. North and south—the river. East and west—the canal.

Here was the perfect place to sacrifice one young god and welcome another.

The snow blew above our heads, parting and closing like gauzy curtains. I looked across the river. And as the whiteouts faded for a moment, there was the statue in the sky. A Mercury made of copper. A heavy metal god floating in the blizzardy air.

Frankengoon and Scratch had Relly up on the stone ledge now, ready to push him into nowhere. The river surged on below, secret and inky black. The sound was beautiful and horrible too. So much power, an endless north-rushing flood.

"We offer up this boy. We offer up his fire as a sacrifice." Knacke was yelling now, though his voice was swallowed up quickly by the wind. "We offer him up to open the way for our fourth. As he is taken by the river, so shall our Zee be taken by us. Welcome, Zee." He reached for my hand.