Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(104)

I grinned. “Good choice.”





Chapter 32


DESPITE RAVEN offering to just “snap” us back to Ordinary, I insisted we wait for Myra to arrive. It gave Cooper enough time to quit the band gig, and for me to change the bandage on my side.

Myra showed up just when we’d finished.

Of course.

“Don’t forget the housewarming,” Ben reminded me as we walked out of the casino and stopped on the sidewalk in front of it. “Saturday.”

“I’ll be there,” I said.

“We’ll have beer.” Jame threw his arm over Ben, who wore what passed for vampire casual: a beanie, sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt, fingerless gloves, jeans, boots, and a lot of sunscreen. “But bring your own rhubarb.”

I grinned and shook my head. Ben slipped his arm around Jame’s wider hips, hooking long, pale fingers into his belt loop as they turned and strolled off to Jame’s truck. They paused beside it for a quick rock-paper-scissors. I didn’t know who won, but Jame opened the passenger door and shoved the slighter man into the cab with a laugh.

“I will be leaving, Delaney,” Hera said.

“Who’s going to look after the bar?”

“I arranged for my absence.” Her eyes hitched up on the horizon. All I saw there were hills thick with trees and a gray sky. I thought she must see a lot more.

“With who?” I figured the least I could do was make sure her bar was cared for while she was gone.

“Chris Lagon. The gill-man.”

It was weird for her to talk to me as if I didn’t know the people in my town. But then, the god power thrumming through her must be all kinds of distracting.

“Good travels to you,” I said, as my father had said many times before. “And when you need a little time off, Ordinary will be waiting.”

Her eyes flicked back down to me and the chorus of song flowing around her was enough to stop my breath.

“Thank you, Delaney. If I can, I’ll be home soon.”

Then Hera simply wasn’t there anymore. She was gone. The space she’d been occupying felt strangely hollow and cold.

“Need a ride?” Raven asked.

I glanced over my shoulder. He waved at the motion-sensor camera over the casino doors. The doors refused to open.

“I’ll catch a ride with Myra.”

“Right, then. See you soon.” He took a few steps back from the door, lowered his shoulder, and sprinted toward the big glass doors.

“Don’t!” I yelped.

Half a second before he would hit those doors, he disappeared.

His bright laughter drifted away over the ramming beat of my heart.

“Jerk.” I didn’t know how they were going to explain that on the security tape. Hoped they’d just write it off as a glitch. Or maybe Raven had made sure he wouldn’t show up on the tape.

“Let’s go.” Myra took my arm and guided me over to the cruiser, where Cooper was already waiting.

I got into the front seat, Myra behind the wheel. “Is it settled?”

Cooper nodded in the back seat. “I said yes. I don’t know what happens next, but I’m looking forward to it.”

I glanced at him in the rearview mirror as Myra took us out to the highway. Power pushed and tumbled in my mind, a thousand songs in one, all of them belonging to Cooper. “So am I.”

~~~

HEIMDALL’S GOD power wasn’t stored in the kiln with the other god powers, since it hadn’t been willingly surrendered. But the heavy concentration of god powers in one place would act as a good grounding rod.

And so we were going to do the transfer at Crow’s shop.

Jean’s truck was in the parking lot, and so was Mykal Rossi’s SUV. Mykal was an EMT, and I thought that was a good bit of foresight on Jean’s part in case things didn’t go as smoothly as we hoped it would.

The neon CLOSED sign glowed in the front window, but Raven opened the door and waved us in. “Long time no see! Come on back to the fire.”

Jean pushed past Cooper to give me a big hug. “Good job,” she whispered against my cheek as she clung to me.

I rubbed her back. “Save it for when I get this power settled, okay?”

I walked through the main room and back to the old kiln. Mykal stood off to one side, his hard case of medical supplies, a stretcher, and a defibrillator all resting next to his feet.

I gave him a nod and tried not to worry that he, and all his equipment, were here.

He smiled, showing his sharp canines.

Raven stood next to the furnace and Cooper waited in the middle of the room, arms crossed over his chest, looking lost.

I positioned myself in front of him, Myra and Jean standing behind me.

My heart raced so hard I had to do some deep breathing to stay calm.

“Okay. I need to ask you for your agreement officially. Are you ready?”

Cooper unwound his arms and shook his hands out, like getting ready for a wrestling match.

I waited until he nodded.

“Cooper Clark. Will you accept this power, ancient, magnificent, and pure?” It was a short question. I’d memorized it when I was just a kid. But standing here as the bridge for the power in front of the man who would become the vessel for the power gave the words an authority and weight that I’d never imagined.