Death and Relaxation (Ordinary Magic #1)(83)

He swallowed and nodded, his hand on my back warm and wide. “I think you will have to, Delaney. And I think you’ll be very good at it.”

“I will?”

“Yes. Because you always know what is right, and what is wrong, no matter how hard or sad that can be. And when something is scary or stronger than you, you face it. You will stand strong like a tree that buries its roots under stone and mountains, and nothing will stop you from sheltering others from the storm.”

“I want to do that,” I whispered. “I want to be the tree.”

“You will,” he whispered back, leaning his forehead against mine.

Fight, Delaney.



I shoved every ounce of my energy against the power. Strained to break through that wave of sound, to find the surface, the air, the real world again.

I stretched for solid ground. Roots into mountain. My blood, my family, stood against the powers of this world. I’d be damned if I let one god power hissy fit take me down.

I dug deep and braced myself, spreading my arms wide, and did exactly what my father had told me to do: I faced into the storm.



That’s it. That’s good.



“Delaney!” Herri’s voice.

Herri’s arms around me. Herri’s bar slammed into focus.

I blinked, trying to figure out where I was. I scanned the room for Dad, sure that he must be there, that he must be beside me, close. Telling me to fight. Telling me I had done the right thing.

Face the storm.



I thought I caught a haze of light at the corner of my eye, but when I looked, all I saw was the bar, filled with people staring at me.

“What happened?” My mouth was dry, throat hot. I thought I was going to barf.

“You’re all right,” Herri said. “I got you. Let’s sit down over here, okay?” She kept her arm around my waist and started leading me to a table. “Watch your step.”

I glanced down.

Cooper lay unconscious, crumpled on his side, his nose bleeding. Sven Rossi, Herri’s vampire bouncer, crouched beside him, tapping him on the cheek.

“What happened?” Details were spotty, but some of the fog was clearing.

“Something beautiful,” Herri said. “And a long time coming.”

Was she talking about Cooper on the floor or the power that was now quiet and still?

I didn’t know how that worked, but I felt that for maybe the first time since Heim’s death, I actually had a handle on the power. I had made it shut up and sit down and think about its actions.

Chalk one up for the Reed family.

“My hand hurts.”

Herri chuckled and helped me sit in the booth.

The crowd gave up on whatever show they’d thought was going to unfold and went back to their drinks, conversations, and screens.

“You feeling okay?” Herri’s hand was solid on my shoulder as she bent to get a better look at my face. “You are very pale.”

“I got shot.”

Her eyes narrowed and she lifted her head, looking around the bar. “When?”

“This morning, early.”

“Who?”

I shook my head. “I’m not so sure.”

“You didn’t see them?”

“No, I did. I’m just not sure that he did it.”

She released my shoulder and sat across the table from me.

“Why aren’t you in the hospital?”

I lifted my eyes and studied her heart-shaped face. She was pretty in the way all deities were, her power shining in her like a quiet, single chord of sound humming. Dad had once told me she was the colors of peacock feathers, all blues and greens and indigo. I wondered if her power would sound like the blues too, or something soft and lilting.

“I’m the chief of police and I know my rights. I have the right to leave the hospital if I want.”

She raised an eyebrow, disapproving. “All right. Tell me who might not have shot you.”

“Dan Perkin.”

She didn’t look surprised. “Why do you think he didn’t?”

“It just doesn’t line up. He’s angry, but he’s not violent. If Dan Perkin shot someone every time he was mad about something, there wouldn’t be anyone left alive in Ordinary.”

“Granted,” she agreed. “So who in town wants you dead, Delaney? Who else could have held a gun and squeezed the trigger? And do they want Dan to take the fall for it?”

I chewed on my bottom lip and thought it over. Those were good questions. I wish I had good answers. “Could be someone who doesn’t want me to rehouse Heim’s power. Maybe the same person who killed him?”

“Which would be deities and creatures, since they are the only ones who know about god power.”

“Have you heard of anyone who might want to settle their problem with me via bullet?”

“Other than maybe the guy you just decked—nice hit, by the way—no.”

“Do you think it could have been Cooper?”

She held my gaze. “Do you?”

He had come back into town right when this entire mess had begun. Was probably even in town when Dan’s rhubarb patch had blown sky high. I pushed aside my personal feelings and focused on Cooper’s personality, his actions in the past, his behavior.