“I would have noticed a troll in my shop.”
“Even without your power?”
“Yes.”
“Even if your power was angry with you?”
“What?”
“You picked it up, then you put it down a couple hours later instead of keeping it for a year as is required. Ever think maybe your power didn’t like that?”
“The power isn’t alive, Delaney. It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel.”
I flicked on the blinker and turned into the only McDonald’s in town. There were four cars in front of us, so I put the car in park while we waited our turn in the drive-thru.
“I’ve never been a god. Never will be.” The windshield wiper scraped across the window and I turned it off, letting the patter of rain take up all extra sound beyond the engine. “So I don’t know what it’s like to really be connected to a power. But I’ve held god power. And I can hear it, hear everything that it’s made of. It might not be alive, but it has sentience, it has...needs.”
Crow thought that over, finally nodded. “I suppose, yeah. I don’t like to think of it as something that’s separate. More like a costume I put on to play a part. A very powerful part. Fun too. When I carry my power, my full power, there is no beginning of it and ending of me. I am. Raven is.”
“Do you think your power could pull a trick on you? Steal the other powers away on its own?”
“Not really. I think if powers could steal other powers we’d have seen that, we’d have heard about it in our histories. Gods can steal powers. Mortals, creatures can steal powers. We’ve heard all those stories. But I think power, if it has any awareness at all, isn’t aware enough to actually think outside itself. Chaos only thinks of Chaos. Maybe it thinks of Order, because it is there to destroy it. But I just don’t think Chaos would be aware enough of another force, like time, that it would be able to decide to steal it. Devour it, maybe. But own it? I don’t think so.”
“I asked Death if he could kill a power once.”
Crow jerked. When he turned my way, his eyes were as wide as an open umbrella hat. Trust me on this. I had a ready comparison. “When?”
“When he first came to town. When I was carrying Heimdall’s power.”
“And what did he say?”
“He said he didn’t know.”
Crow whistled. “Do you think he’d ever thought about it?”
“No.” I put the Jeep in gear and moved forward two places. “He did think it was interesting in theory.”
“Terrifying, in theory.” Crow wiped his palms on the tops of his thighs. “I’d never even thought of that. Tricking a god, yes. Tricking a power? Wouldn’t happen.”
“So who wants all the god powers? It isn’t just one power that’s been taken, like the power to be young, or to control time, or to rule over nature. This is a big pile of power. Who could touch that? Who could move that? Who could hide that?”
The car ahead of us pulled forward and I rolled up to the menu and speaker.
“I have no idea.” Crow’s stomach growled. “Good thing we have the best police force in the country to figure it out.”
“Flattery won’t get you out of this.”
“Did I say country? I meant world.”
“Knock it off, Crow. You’re stuck with me, and you’re staying stuck. I’ve only begun to grill you for details. What do you want to eat?”
“Two ham, egg, and cheese biscuits, side of hash browns, OJ and a coffee, double sugar, double cream.”
I repeated his order and got myself a plain biscuit, side of bacon, and a large black coffee.
It wasn’t until we pulled away from the pick-up window and he was digging through his bag, heavy with grease and salt, that he finally spoke again. “God power only fits one person at a time, right? Only one vessel per god power?”
I sipped coffee and nodded.
