“You expect us to do nothing?” Hades spoke from near the back of the room. Hades was built like an ex-football player, wide at shoulders, thick through the chest. Even in slacks and sweater vest pulled over a pale orange button down shirt, he looked like he could break someone in half with a pat on the back.
He ran the frilly little beachside bed and breakfast where each room was decorated in literary themes: romance, mystery, western, historical, fantasy. For a god who ruled the cool, impersonal underworld, he was a happy, I’d dare say even soft-hearted man.
The contrast between what his god power represented, and what he preferred to do on vacation made me wonder once again just how much the gods held on to their mortal personalities even after millennia as deities. Or maybe just how much the gods delighted in doing the exact opposite of their normal god-power duties while on vacation.
“If you think of anything, tell me. If you see anything that could lead to your powers, tell me. If you have a vision or hunch or dream, I want to know. Ordinary is a small town. It shouldn’t take us very long to cover it.”
Of course I was massively simplifying the problem. It wasn’t just finding the powers that was the problem. Whoever or whatever had taken them would need to be dealt with too, even if it was only Raven’s own power that had hidden the rest of them away.
I had no idea what sort of creature or person in existence could not only sense god powers, but could also handle them and physically move them.
I made a note to look back over the list of current and past creatures who had called Ordinary their home. Who in town could touch a god power and not be destroyed by it?
There was another possibility, of course. That the powers had been drawn away by some kind of supernatural force instead of some kind of supernatural being. It was a long shot, since I’d think any number of creatures and deities would feel something hinky going down in town, but it wasn’t completely impossible.
But then almost nothing was completely impossible in Ordinary.
We’d need to check in with anyone sensitive enough to the forces, magics, and powers in the town who might have felt a shift.
Which pretty much meant I’d be going door-to-door asking people if they’d felt a disturbance in the Force.
Terrific.
“Well then,” Ares, who looked like a twenty-something computer geek and owned the nursery and garden center, clapped his hands together to break the silence. “We have our battle plan. Crow stays with the Chief, the rest of us go back to our daily lives and wait for our powers to show up in the local lost-and-found. Easy.”
But of course, the way Ares said it made everyone grumble again.
Just because he wasn’t currently the god of war didn’t mean he could resist stirring up trouble amongst his neighbors.
I glared at him, and he gave me an angelic smile.
Jerk.
“I know it won’t be that easy,” I said. “And I know you all are uncomfortable standing on the sidelines of a crime. But itisa crime. According to the contract of Ordinary, all crimes are handled by the police. Me. That doesn’t mean I don’t want your help. If any of you suspect where your powers might be, or who they might be with, call the station. We’ll be the point on this investigation, but input on the search is welcome.”
There was a general rumble of annoyance and agreement, and then Frigg opened the door.
“We trust you, Delaney,” she said. “You’ve always done right by us.” She walked out the door, then jogged through the rain.
The rest of the deities followed her example. Hades, Thanatos, Zeus, Ares, Athena, Brigid, Nortia, Momus, Poseidon, Bast, and many more, gave me a nod or a glare, then stepped out into the rain.
Only Odin and Crow remained behind.
Crow stood with his back against the cold furnace, his eyes closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. His shoulders were slumped. He looked like a man who had just escaped being mauled by a room full of lions, tigers, and bears.
Close enough.
“Get your coat,” I said.
He tipped his head and opened his eyes, but his fingers remained between his eyebrows.
“What?”
“Lock up the shop. We’re going now.”
“But...what?”
Okay, maybe he was still coming to grips with his near-death experience.
