I took another drink of coffee. “At his place?”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I won’t. But we have something else we need to deal with.”
“Crow?”
Thunder rumbled and a hard flash of yellow sunlight broke the clouds before being swallowed down.
Crow crumpled the paper bag and tossed it in the lobby garbage can. He walked a slow circle inside the small lobby, umbrella hat tucked under his arm, then stopped in front of the windows so he could stare out at the storm. His hands were shoved in his coat pockets, the beanie still tight on his head. I didn’t think he’d run off, but I wasn’t sure what he’d do now that he was officially on all the gods’ shit lists.
“He lost the powers.”
Myra blinked. Her eyes were wider than mine, a lighter blue beneath the straight dark bangs of her pin-up style. Whereas I had more of a runner’s build like our dad, she had inherited all of Mom’s curves. Even our unflattering uniforms couldn’t hide her figure.
I tended to tan under my freckles, but she had pale skin. Right now she went down another shade.
“He lost what powers?”
Crow, in the waiting area, snorted. I threw him a glare, but he was still staring out the window. He rocked up on the toes of his feet then down, up and down, in a nervous movement that looked like he wished he could run out of here.
Not on my watch.
“The gods’ powers.”
“All of them?”
“All of them.”
She stared at the lobby, lines pulling between her eyebrows. “How the hell did you do that, Crow?”
“Not on purpose. Not consciously either, which pisses me off, you know? What a great trick this would be...well, is, I suppose. But I didn’t think of it. It’s irritating to be out tricked.”
“How did you even...how doesanyonelose all the powers? That’s never happened. That shouldn’t even be something thatcanhappen.”
“We know,” I said.
“So that’s the emergency meeting of deities?” she asked.
“Yeah, he was smart enough to get everyone on board as soon as he found out they were gone.”
“Well...” he hedged.
“You did call us as soon as you knew they were gone?” I asked.
“Almost as soon as I knew.”
“How long did you wait?”
His gaze drifted up to the ceiling. “Maybe an hour, tops? I called a few gods first. Thought they were screwing with me. Asked them if they’d taken them.”
“Who did you ask?” Myra moved over to her desk, pulling out a pad and pen.
“Death, first.”
“Why Death?” she asked.
“He’s new here. I’ve tricked him out of more than one soul over the years. I mean...a lot. He might look refined and restrained and smart, but he’s fallen for the same bait and switches for centuries. I thought he might want to get back at me for some of that.”
