PAPER STARS: An Ordinary Magic Story(8)

The old man made even faster finger-in-ear motions. He looked alarmed.

“And then I’m going to do to you, what I do with all the gifts I’ve been waiting too long for.”

I didn’t make a sound, my heart pounding too hard to do anything but listen to his words.

“I’m going to unwrap you slowly…”

“Officer Reed!” the old guy shouted. “Turn off the button.”

He shoved his finger through the “ok” sign he was making. I suddenly realized what all those dirty signals really meant.

“…and when I have you there, shivering and bare beneath me…”

“Speaker!” The old guy thrust his finger frantically in and out of his ear.

“…I’m going to put my mouth…”

“Wait!” I yelped and dropped the phone like it was made of bees. It clattered across the table and landed on the floor.

Every person in the diner looked at me.

Inexplicably, the one person who hadn’t heard my outburst—Ryder—was still talking. But by whatever luck was left to me, the speaker had clicked off while I was fumbling with the phone.

There was a pause, just a second or two.

Bathin was shaking with laughter. All eyes were on me, waiting to see how I was going to play this. I opened my mouth, closed it.

Yeah, I had nothing. I waved, though it kind of looked like frantic jazz hands.

Bathin bent in half to try to catch his breath.

Jerk.

The old guy nodded. “All right then. Let’s all get back to our nice quiet meals, folks.” He buckled down to his mashed potatoes and stuffing.

That seemed to be the signal everyone was waiting for. They all turned back to their own meals too.

Someone turned up the Christmas music. Extra loud.

Bathin wiped the tears running down his stupid handsome demon face, but kept right on shaking with silent laughter.

I hoped he silently asphyxiated.

“Delaney?” Ryder asked from somewhere by my feet. I retrieved my phone.

“Sorry. That’s, uh, great. Interesting stuff. We’ll have to follow up on it later. In private.”

“What just happened?”

I turned down the volume for good measure.

“Nothing. Technical difficulties. It’s fine. All fine. Real fine. Just come home safe.” I said that with all my heart in my voice.

“I will, baby,” he said just as thickly. “I promise. We’re going to break in that tree.”

He ended the call. I stared at my phone. That was…well, that was slightly embarrassing, but also made me feel a lot better. The call had been more than I’d expected.

A warm flush washed over my cheeks.

Ryder Bailey was lonely and headed home. To me. Even though there was a storm in the way.

I liked the sound of that.

A little boy at the table of six was singing Jingle Bells and rhyming it with “my sister smells.”

His sister punched him in the arm. He just laughed until ketchup dribbled down the side of his mouth.

“Jingle Bells suck,” she shouted.

Yes, yes they do, kid.

But maybe not everything about Christmas sucked. Maybe Christmas and romance could go hand-in-hand like magic and life. Like twinkle lights and evergreen trees.

I stood and grabbed my jacket from the back of my chair.

“‘Away to the window, she flew like a flash,’” Bathin quoted, leaving most of the apple pie on the table. He had a habit of following me around now that he was in possession of my soul.

I didn’t like it, but I wasn’t going to let it slow me down.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To find a Christmas tree.”





Chapter Three





The Safeway parking lot was the last place in town still selling Christmas trees. Once I got there, I found out why.

“Delaney my darling. So good to see you!”

I crossed my arms and glared at the man who was standing between the discount trees.

He was my height, darker skinned, brilliant-eyed, and his smile could light a coal mine. His spiky black hair was hidden beneath a hat knit with little Christmas trees and a deer armed with a gun, stalking a hunter.

It had been a while since I’d seen my not-uncle, Crow, who was at the moment also the trickster god, Raven.

“Raven,” I said.

“Now, now,” he chided. “It hasn’t been that long. You can still call me Crow. Give Uncle Crow-Crow a hug, Del-Del.” He held his arms wide open and made come here motions with his hands.

I sighed. What I should do is tell him to get out of Ordinary. Recently, he’d cheated with both holding and not holding his power, which broke the rules of Ordinary.

That had gotten him kicked out of town for a year.

His little rule breaking trick had also set into motion the events that resulted in Ryder pledging himself to the god of contracts, which I kind of hated.

But he was my not-uncle, had known me my entire life, had been a friend of my father’s. I missed him.

So I walked over and gave him a hug. He smelled of pitch and warm pine needles and the spicy scent that was all him.

“You can’t be here,” I mumbled against his sweater. “You’re a god and have to stay a god until a year has gone by. No putting down your power and vacationing. It’s only been a few months since you left.”