“I know you will, Gwydion,” said Mr. Nancy.
Mr. Nancy bought several large bottles of RC Cola, a six-pack of toilet paper, a pack of evil-looking black cigarillos, a bunch of bananas, and a pack of Doublemint chewing gum. “He’s a good boy. Came over in the seventh century. Welsh.”
The bus meandered first to the west and then to the north. Spring faded back into the dead end of winter. Kansas was the cheerless gray of lonesome clouds, empty windows, and lost hearts. Shadow had become adept at hunting for radio stations, negotiating between Mr. Nancy, who liked talk radio and dance music, and Czeraobog, who favored classical music, the gloomier the better, leavened with the more extreme evangelical religious stations. For himself, Shadow liked oldies.
Toward the end of the afternoon they stopped, at Czernobog’s request, on the outskirts of Cherryvale, Kansas (pop. 2,464). Czernobog led them to a meadow outside the town. There were still traces of snow in the shadows of the trees, and the grass was the color of dirt.
“Wait here,” said Czernobog.
He walked, alone, to the center of the meadow. He stood there, in the winds of the end of February, for some time. At first he hung his head, then he began gesticulating.
“He looks like he’s talking to someone,” said Shadow.
“Ghosts,” said Mr. Nancy. “They worshiped him here, over a hundred years ago. They made blood sacrifice to him, libations spilled with the hammer. After a time, the townsfolk figured out why so many of the strangers who passed through the town didn’t ever come back. This was where they hid some of the bodies.”
Czernobog came back from the middle of the field. His mustache seemed darker now, and there were streaks of black in his gray hair. He smiled, showing his iron tooth. “I feel good, now. Ahh. Some things linger, and blood lingers longest.”
They walked back across the meadow to where they had parked the VW bus. Czernobog lit a cigarette, but did not cough. ‘They did it with the hammer,” he said. “Votan, he would talk of the gallows and the spear, but for me, it is one thing ...” He reached out a nicotine-colored finger and tapped it, hard, in the center of Shadow’s forehead.
“Please don’t do that,” said Shadow, politely.
“Please don’t do that” mimicked Czernobog. “One day I will take my hammer and do much worse than that to you, my friend, remember?”
“Yes,” said Shadow. “But if you tap my head again, I’ll break your hand.”
Czernobog snorted. Then he said, ‘They should be grateful, the people here. There was such power raised. Even thirty years after they forced my people interffiding, this land, this very land, gave us the greatest movie star of all time. She was the greatest there ever was.”
“Judy Garland?” asked Shadow.
Czernobog shook his head curtly.
“He’s talking about Louise Brooks,” said Mr. Nancy.
Shadow decided not to ask who Louise Brooks was. Instead he said, “So, look, when Wednesday went to talk to them, he did it under a truce.”
“Yes.”
“And now we’re going to get Wednesday’s body from them, as a truce.”
“Yes.”
“And we know that they want me dead or out of the way.”
“They want all of us dead,” said Nancy.
“So what I don’t get is, why do we think they’ll play fair this time, when they didn’t for Wednesday?”
“That,” said Czernobog, “is why we are meeting at the center. Is ...” He frowned. “What is the word for it? The opposite of sacred?”
“Profane,” said Shadow, without thinking.
“No,” said Czernobog. “I mean, when a place is less sacred than any other place. Of negative sacredness. Places where they can build no temples. Places where people will not come, and will leave as soon as they can. Places where gods only walk if they are forced to.”
“I don’t know,” said Shadow. “I don’t think there is a word for it.”
“All of America has it, a little,” said Czernobog. “That is why we are not welcome here. But the center,” said Czernobog. “The center is worst. Is like a minefield. We all tread too carefully there to dare break the truce.”
They had reached the bus. Czernobog patted Shadow’s upper arm. “You don’t worry,” he said, with gloomy reassurance. “Nobody else is going to kill you. Nobody but me.”