“Do you think your power could pull a trick on you? Steal the other powers away on its own?”
“Not really. I think if powers could steal other powers we’d have seen that, we’d have heard about it in our histories. Gods can steal powers. Mortals, creatures can steal powers. We’ve heard all those stories. But I think power, if it has any awareness at all, isn’t aware enough to actually think outside itself. Chaos only thinks of Chaos. Maybe it thinks of Order, because it is there to destroy it. But I just don’t think Chaos would be aware enough of another force, like time, that it would be able to decide to steal it. Devour it, maybe. But own it? I don’t think so.”
“I asked Death if he could kill a power once.”
Crow jerked. When he turned my way, his eyes were as wide as an open umbrella hat. Trust me on this. I had a ready comparison. “When?”
“When he first came to town. When I was carrying Heimdall’s power.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said he didn’t know.”
Crow whistled. “Do you think he’d ever thought about it?”
“No.” I put the Jeep in gear and moved forward two places. “He did think it was interesting in theory.”
“Terrifying, in theory.” Crow wiped his palms on the tops of his thighs. “I’d never even thought of that. Tricking a god, yes. Tricking a power? Wouldn’t happen.”
“So who wants all the god powers? It isn’t just one power that’s been taken, like the power to be young, or to control time, or to rule over nature. This is a big pile of power. Who could touch that? Who could move that? Who could hide that?”
The car ahead of us pulled forward and I rolled up to the menu and speaker.
“I have no idea.” Crow’s stomach growled. “Good thing we have the best police force in the country to figure it out.”
“Flattery won’t get you out of this.”
“Did I say country? I meant world.”
“Knock it off, Crow. You’re stuck with me, and you’re staying stuck. I’ve only begun to grill you for details. What do you want to eat?”
“Two ham, egg, and cheese biscuits, side of hash browns, OJ and a coffee, double sugar, double cream.”
I repeated his order and got myself a plain biscuit, side of bacon, and a large black coffee.
It wasn’t until we pulled away from the pick-up window and he was digging through his bag, heavy with grease and salt, that he finally spoke again. “God power only fits one person at a time, right? Only one vessel per god power?”
I sipped coffee and nodded.
“Then why would a god want all those powers?”
“Ransom? Revenge? So no one else could have them?”
“Maybe,” he said around a mouthful of egg and cheese. “But most of us are here to get away from those things. Especially when it has something to do with our powers—our real jobs. Maybe we’ll want ransom and revenge years from now when we’re done vacationing, but most of us like the time off. From everything.”
“You seemed to be taking this awfully gracefully for someone who has screwed up in such an epic manner. You do realize this is an emergency, right?”
“Well.” He swallowed down a mouthful of orange juice. “Since only the god who belongs to the power can use the power—one vessel per power—I’m not even sure this rates as an emergency. I mean, only those of us who belong to the powers can use them. So what’s the worst that can happen?”
Chapter 2
“He’s dead,” Myra said.
I still stood half out of the Jeep, my fast food bag in one hand. My heart thumped hard and thick in my chest draining blood from my brain.
Ryder?
“Who?”
Thunder walloped the air, rolling across the edges of the horizon as if upset to be leaving some part of town undrowned.
“Sven Rossi.”
I blinked, rain running down my face. It took me a second or two to remember how to breathe while I processed what she’d just said. Another second to swallow and pull my fear in tight.
Ryder was fine. Ryder wasn’t dead.
Why had I automatically assumed he was hurt?
Why had everything in my body gone cold when I thought that was true?
Love, my heart whispered. You love him.
I couldn’t love a guy who’d dumped me after our first date. That was pretty much the hint of all hints that he really wasn’t all that into me.
“Delaney?” Myra put her hand on my arm. Ever since I’d been shot, she hovered more, touched me more. As if I wouldn’t be there when she reached out. As if she were afraid to lose me.
The bullet hadn’t just changed my life. I wasn’t the only one who had nightmares. Even our youngest sister, Jean, hadn’t been able to joke away the bullet I’d taken at point blank.
I think both of my sisters seeing me get shot had only made it worse.
For all of us.
“I’m fine. Sven?” I asked. “When? How?” Sven was the newest vampire to Ordinary. He had been brought into Old Rossi’s fold to become the latest cousin/distant relative/in-law/half-nephew of the rag-tag vampire clan. He worked—used to work—as a bouncer over at Hera’s bar: Mom’s Bar and Grill.
“Just got the call. Jean answered since I was tied up with Mrs. Yates’ penguin.”
“Where was it this time?”
“Attached to the church tower weather vane.”
“We couldn’t leave it up there?”
“Not with the thorny crown and cross they tied it to.”
Mrs. Yate’s penguin was a concrete yard ornament the local high school kids took all sorts of pleasure in harassing. We got a call almost weekly about it being found in some odd or compromising situation.
It was petty mischief that could have been stopped if Mrs. Yates relocated the penguin to her back yard, or better yet her garage, but she stubbornly plunked it down in the exact same place in her front yard every single time we brought it back to her.
Within a week or so, the penguin would be absconded with and taken on an adventure. It was getting to be so well known around town that someone outside of Ordinary had started a blog about it, asking for pictures of the penguin in strange locations. The pictures had flooded in, and so had the page views.
The penguin was quickly becoming Ordinary’s most famous citizen.
“What happened? Where was Sven?” My brain had finally shaken off my initial shock. I strode to the station, Crow already ahead of me, umbrella hat flared over his shoulders.
Myra frowned, just as confused at his fashion choice as I was.
“We found his body about an hour ago.”
“Who called it in?”
“Apocalypse Pablo. Said he thought someone was breaking into the shed on the back of the gas station property. Thought it might be zombies and wanted to sell them a window washer? Not sure how that makes sense, but it’s what he said. I told him to keep an eye on the shed and stay away from it until I could get there. I didn’t...I didn’t think it would be anything more than maybe a nest of raccoons.”
Crow opened the door and held it as we walked in past him.
“Did you go out there alone?”
“Yes. Ryder’s been out of town for a couple days.”
“I didn’t know that.”
She shrugged off her coat and hung it on the hook where it could drip. Doing so made her sleeves ruck up to reveal dark bruises on her forearms.