“Pablo at the gas station has the key to Crow’s shop. I went in the front door and out the back. But don’t blame him. He didn’t know what I was doing. I told him I was going to check Crow’s shop for him while he was gone. I told him Crow said it was okay.”
So that would be breaking and entering. Now on to the burglary. “How did you transport the powers?”
“What do you mean?”
“Most people—creatures or otherwise—can’t touch the powers. How did you physically carry them?”
“An empty water bottle.”
“What?”
“A water bottle? It’s what I had handy.”
“You put all the god powers in Ordinary in a water bottle?”
“No, I put Crow’s power in a water bottle.”
“All the powers are missing, Piper.”
“All of them?” She blinked hard, and went a shade of green I hadn’t seen since Jean was in kindergarten and licked the bottom of her shoe on a dare.
During the field trip. To the dairy farm.
I really shouldn’t have been so proud of myself for making her fall for that.
“All of them?” she asked again.
“All of them.”
“I was just trying to get Crow’s.”
“You did,” Myra said. “And you also took the power of every other god in town.”
“Oh, crap.”
Oh crap, indeed.
“I didn’t mean to. You have to believe me. I never meant to take all the powers. Just Crow’s.”
“We believe you,” I said. She opened her mouth and I reached over and patted her hand. She waited, probably expecting words of wisdom or comfort.
“You done screwed up.”
Myra sighed.
Hey, I never said I was good at this kind of thing.
“But,” I said, “there were extenuating circumstances. You aren’t the only one who screwed up. Technically, Crow broke one of Ordinary’s rules. So technically Mithra could be considered correct for stepping in. Though technically, Ordinary is outside his influence and we’d rather he’d let us handle our own business just like all the other gods outside Ordinary do. We have rules for that too. Don’t worry. This could be much worse.”
“He wants to meet you,” Piper blurted out.
“Who?”
“Mithra. I just gave him the powers on my afternoon break. He said he wants to talk to you, Delaney, tomorrow. About the rules. About power. And he wants you to bring Ryder Bailey with you.”
I could not have been more shocked if a fish had suddenly ridden by on a bicycle. With an umbrella hat on its head.
“Ryder?” I finally said. Or thought I did. It came out more like a squeak.
