And once that power was picked up, the deity was required to leave Ordinary for a full year, no backsies.
That’s when it clicked. Someone in this room had broken that rule and remained in town even though he’d pulled on his power.
I glared at Crow. “How did you do it?”
“Do what?” His eyes darted everywhere but my face. “I didn’t steal the powers. Why would I steal them when I alreadyhadthem? My power is gone too. I don’t know where they are. I didn’t do anything!”
His voice went up and up. I’d never seen him this freaked out.
“You have to believe me, Delaney.” He wiped his hand over his mouth and finally, his gaze met mine. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
I could feel the anger, the frustration of all the people in the room like a dozen palms flat against my back, pressing me forward, pressing in to crush Crow.
I squared my shoulders and took a breath to calm down. Being angry wasn’t going to solve anything. What I needed were facts, options, and action.
And maybe some back up. I considered calling in Myra and Jean. Between the three of us we should be able to keep this gathering from turning into a bloodbath.
Or maybe I should hide Crow somewhere like in a holding cell before the gods put two-and-two together and realized that just because Crow was a trickster and his power had certain flexibility when it came to rule-following, his actions had started these dominos tumbling.
“Raven,” Odin grumbled, using Crow’s god name, “Answer her.”
“I thought I did.” Crow’s wide eyes asked for my forgiveness. For my mercy.
It was hard to see him like this, my friend. My almost-uncle. Even though he was technically more related to the gods in the room than he was to me, I was the only shield between him and the casually—creatively—vengeful deities at my back.
“Facts,” I said in my calmest police chief voice. “Let’s start there, okay?”
Crow nodded.
“Three months ago, you picked up your power to help me find Cooper Clark so that I could give him Heimdall’s power.”
“Yes.”
“The other gods who picked up their power to help me find Cooper were Hera and Thor.”
“Yes.”
“Hera and Thor left town for a year, according to the contract.” As if to punctuate that statement, thunder thumped across the sky, rattling windows and shelves.
“Yes,” Crow whispered.
“You came back to town. You gave your power back into hiding. You broke the rules.”
For the first time that day, I saw something other than fear on his handsome face. His eyebrows dipped and his mouth twisted a sideways smile. “Broke is kind of strong...bent, maybe?”
“Broke is exactly strong enough. Because it’s the truth. That’s the thing that is the opposite of what you usually do.”
“Rude.” His eyes flicked over my shoulder at the room full of angry.
“Okay. Okay.” He stepped out to stand beside me, though still back far enough I was between him and most of the room. He raised both hands, pleading for his brethren to stay calm.
“I broke the rule. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had my power back and that high, that invincibility of being filled with power...” He bit his bottom lip and shook his head a little. “You all know what it’s like. I hadn’t picked up my power in years. Decades.”
Lightning strobe-lighted the room. Thunder cracked and growled.
“I let it get away from me. The temptation. The possibilities of what I could do with my power, and what my power could do...if I let it.”
Someone, I thought maybe Ares, swore.
