Shadow’s Story

In the place of the gods, Wednesday’s companions take on many forms. Mr. Nancy is still a black man with a moustache—but somehow, at the same time, he is also a man with three arms and a small brown spider. Shadow cannot work out how this is possible.

All of Wednesday’s companions look dramatically different now, and Wednesday himself is a larger, prouder, with one gleaming eye. He is accompanied by a wolf and two ravens. Shadow—though he struggles to believe what is happening—recognizes his employer as Odin, king of the gods in Norse mythology.

Only about ten gods have appeared at this meeting, and Wednesday is disappointed by the poor turnout. They look unenthusiastic, so Mr. Nancy warms up the audience with a story about himself as a small, brown spider. In it, he steals the testicles of a tiger and then tricks the tiger into believing that a monkey did it. At the end of the story, everyone is laughing.

After that, Wednesday calls the meeting to order. He says that, like the rest of the gods, he was brought to America by worshippers from the old world who ultimately forgot him. Like the rest of them, he is not worshipped by Americans, so he has to steal and cheat and live on the fringes. But he has always been able to “get by” in the “new land without gods”—and he used to hope he could do so forever.

However, Wednesday says that he and the other gods are in danger: “There’s a storm coming, and it’s not a storm of our making.” The Americans are creating new gods, “gods of credit card and freeway, Internet and telephone….” According to Wednesday, the new gods are determined to destroy the old ones, and the old ones need to make a stand. 

Nobody seems impressed by Wednesday’s speech, and an old lady called Mama-ji calls it “nonsense.” She says new gods rise and fall all the time without hurting the old ones. She advises everyone to “do nothing” and wait for the storm to pass.

Eventually they all return to the House on the Rock, and Shadow gives several gods a ride to a restaurant where Wednesday is hosting a dinner. He drops the gods off before he parks, but he never makes it inside. In the parking lot, somebody grabs him and knocks him out.

When Shadow awakes, he finds himself in a strange room without his wallet or keys. He still has his coins, so he does some tricks. He finds himself clinging to the silver dollar from Zorya Polunochnaya, hoping help will come. He hopes he will not be killed.

Later, Shadow is interrogated by two men named Mr. Stone and Mr. Wood. They refuse to say what organization they are from, and it is unclear whether they work for the government or for some shady organization. They demand to know what Wednesday is doing. When Shadow is not able to answer, they beat him up.

After the interrogators leave, Shadow falls into an exhausted sleep. He awakes to find Laura—who is still dead and still wearing his gold coin around her neck—standing over him. She is covered in blood, and she explains that she killed his kidnappers. She helps him find a coat, a bit of junk food, and some artificial hand warmers. Then she urges him to run away.

Remembering a piece of advice from Zorya Polunochnaya, Shadow asks Laura what she wants. She says she wants to be alive again. When he admits he does not know how to help her with that, she says, “You’ll figure it out.” Then she helps him outside and tells him to walk south.