“Did I black out?” Ryder’s words slurred. He blinked hard as if pulling up out of a dream. “Wasn’t he just sitting there? Did he...disappear?”
I wanted to smack him for being such an idiot for accepting Mithra’s offer. But he was looking at me with genuine confusion, and I just didn’t have it in me to make him hurt.
Being the warden of Ordinary was going to do enough of that.
“Let’s go home.” I stashed the powers in the inside pocket of my jacket, the singing pulsing against my skin, vibrating through my bones with a delicious, familiar heat.
Ryder followed me out of the casino without a word.
Chapter 16
We drove toward town, silent.
Finally, Ryder spoke. “Can we stop for a coffee?”
I wanted to tell him no. We were about fifteen minutes outside Ordinary. He could wait until we got back to the station to get something to drink. But I could use a little quiet without him next to me. A minute to catch my breath. Sending him to get coffee would work.
“We’ll grab something at the Flying Tackle.”
I slowed and turned on my blinker giving plenty of time for the cars behind us to brake so we could make the left into the Flying Tackle’s pot-hole-riddled parking lot.
The bait shop sat between Highway 18 and the Salmon River and was a long skinny rectangle painted turquoise blue. A salmon mural covered some of the outer wall to the left, and the few windows it had clustered around the narrow door were filled with flyers about fishing trips, hunting licenses, and boats for sale. On the other side of the door and windows squatted a big old ice machine under a sign that declared “Ice Cold Beer.”
To round out the decor was an American flag on a pole, and a few white plastic chairs around a patio table.
I parked in front of the shop and turned off the Jeep.
Even though Ryder had said he was thirsty, he wasn’t moving.
“This is as fancy as it’s gonna get,” I said.
“Right.” He rubbed his fingers over his face, as if shaking off a daydream. “Right. Think you can explain to me what really happened back there at the casino?”
“You met a god and he lured you to the dark side.”
“Really. Is that what really happened?”
I looked over at him. His fingertips were kneading the muscle right above his knee, as if that would somehow keep him grounded in reality.
“You believe in vampires, Ryder. Why is the idea of deities so difficult?”
“I’m an atheist?”
“Not any more you’re not. You worship at the foot of Mithra.”
“That’s not even a real name. He’s not even a real god.”
“It is. He is. You can Wiki that up.”
He drew one hand up to cup his mouth as he leaned an elbow on the window. “I didn’t...I know I said I’d let you handle it...”
“You didn’t let me handle it. You buckled in front of a god, and let him bully you into a decision that will change your life without knowing the consequences.”
“I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“You didn’t trust me.”
The rain drizzled around us, clouds parting enough to allow sunlight to turn it liquid gold.
