“Something killed Dad. Something that was here in Ordinary. Something we still haven’t found. And now there’s something that wants you dead too. A vampire of all things. Do you know the last time a vamp from the outside crossed over into Ordinary, challenged Old Rossi and attacked someone?”
“No.”
“I do. Myra told me. It was never. Never, Delaney. This shit doesn’t happen. Except that it did.”
She drew her gaze away from the waves to take a good look at my face and make sure I was paying attention.
I was.
“Crow made a stupid mistake with his power and the god Mithra used that to get his grips on Ryder and make him a warden so that Mithra could have his…whatever…god hands in all our rules and laws and contracts. The newest vampire in town was murdered outside of a gas station. Heimdall, a god, was killed. Ben was attacked and dragged away from Jame, who was left for dead. You got bitten by a vampire.
“Is that enough? Oh, no, it is not enough. You also got shot by a crazy woman and Dad drove off a cliff and died. Dangerous things are piling up around here, Delaney. Lots of them. Way too many of them.”
“The crazy woman was human. Nothing supernaturally dangerous about her.” I was trying to lighten the mood a little because, yeah, that was a big list.
Jean didn’t even smile.
“I thought some things would always be safe in Ordinary. That certain things couldn’t reach us, hurt us. I mean, we have a heap of gods living here. That should count for something.”
“Is that what a group of gods is called? A heap?”
“Shut up. Even though they walk around like mortals and have their powers in cold storage, they still have some influence over the place. Old Rossi has always kept things okay with the vamps because of all the rules he makes them follow. We have werewolves in most of our emergency response departments, a Valkyrie running the community center, and every Thaumas, Dictys and Hylaeus—”
“—those are all centaurs, so pretty much the same thing.”
“—be quiet, I’m on a roll—all sorts of supernatural people, work everything from security to our burger joints.”
“None of the centaurs work at the burger joints.”
And, oh, the look she gave me. I grinned at her and crunched popcorn.
“What I’m saying is there have never been attacks like this, but now….”
I waited, letting her work it out.
“Now everything is different. Nothing is as safe as I thought it was. I don’t want to drag Hogan into that. I like him and I think…keeping him safe, which means keeping him in the dark about stuff is the better thing to do. Until Ordinary is safe again. Until we make it safe again. Then maybe. Maybe then.”
She slumped back against the bench, all out of steam.
“This isn’t like you, Jean.”
“Putting someone else’s safety ahead of my wants? I can be selfless.”
“No, I know that. Giving up on something you want. Someone you want.” Jean was fearless, willing to jump into anything for the fun, for the joy, for the sheer experience no matter what the risks might be. I hated that I’d been a part of shutting down that wild joy inside her.
“Well, it’s me now. It’s me until we make sure this kind of crap doesn’t hurt anyone again.”
“We can do that and still live our lives on our own terms. Just because things go wrong once in a while doesn’t mean we should stop doing and being what we love.”
“I’m not ready to show Hogan how wrong things are yet, okay?”
What was I supposed to do? Force my sister into sharing a secret she didn’t want to share?
Not this time.
She glanced at the bulky watch on her wrist. “Hey. It’s time. Let’s go back to your place.” She shoved a handful of popcorn in her mouth, twisted the bag as she stood, and walked toward the truck.
I knew this whole popcorn and fresh air thing had been a cover to get me out of the house.
