“Might work. Depends on how many people saw it drop.”
“We’ll make it work, no matter how many people saw it, because we are amazing that way.”
“Does it ever bother you?” he asked. “Lying to people about this stuff?”
“Yes,” I said honestly. “I know it’s part of the job. I know it’s important for everyone to stay safe and I need to do everything I can to keep them safe. If the outside world knew gods and the supernatural myths and fables all hung out among mortals here, it would be...chaos. Maybe even destruction.
“Gods have powerful enemies. World leaders have bombs. It would be...” I shook my head, not wanting to give more thought to the nightmare scenario that had plagued me since I was a child.
“I love Ordinary. I love the mortals here—well, most of them. I love the supernatural people—again, most of them. And I love the gods. Okay, most of them too.” I threw a grin over my shoulder.
Ryder had that thoughtful look on his face. Like he was working through something. Something serious. Like he was contemplating asking questions I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer.
“I see the lies as a protection.” I ducked one last low branch that crossed the path. “A way to keep our town safe. A way to keep the world safe. Because if a god gets angry? Universes explode. Frightened people facing something they don’t understand, something they fear might have power over them? Those people, for right or wrong, do some horrific things.”
He scratched at the side of his neck and nodded. “Back when I was part of the DoPP, I was thinking those same things. What if we really found a supernatural? What decisions would we make? I knew what the regulations said. Capture, but don’t harm. But I knew the people I worked with too. Some were fanatical. They had a drive to capture, to win, even if that meant killing the thing they’d dedicated their life to find.”
“Lots of movies about that,” I noted.
“Never ends well for the monster.”
“Or the humans.”
I strode down onto the sand, dry and squeaky under my tennis shoes and followed the easiest path between rounded rocks and driftwood.
Ryder pulled up on my right, matching my strides.
Jean broke away from Myra and headed our way. “Car falling out of the sky was not on my bingo card,” she said happily. “But look at that thing.”
I shifted my gaze away from my floral-colored sister to the car.
“No one’s in it?”
“Not that we can see.”
“No one got out of it?”
She shook her head, ponytails bouncing. “Unless they’re invisible. Which, you know, is possible.”
“Was it a Doom Twinge?”
“It was...” She chewed the corner of her lip and shoved her hands in her skirt pockets. “...not bad? I mean I knew something weird was going to happen, but it didn’t feel like death and destruction. Not like the other times. But it felt like I should come out here and...watch.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “That’s good. You’re really getting good at this stuff.”
“Thanks.” She beamed. “That’s what happens when you live with a hot boyfriend who is into all the weirdo powers in town.”
Hogan was indeed hot. He was half Jinn and could see a person’s true nature through any disguise or illusion. He was also an amazing baker on whom my sister had a huge crush.
“You know,” Jean went on, elbowing me as we staggered slightly through the heavy soft sand toward the car, “like Ryder.”
He snorted, and when I looked over at him, he was grinning. Sexy. Smug. Happy.
I liked seeing him that way: happy. Happy to be a part of this town. Happy to make his home here, to become a part of the handful of beings who kept everything running as peacefully as possible, for mortals, monsters, and gods.
“You do know, don’t you, Delaney?” he asked, that grin smoldering. “What it’s like to have a boyfriend who’s into all the weirdo powers in town. A hot boyfriend?”
“No,” I said archly. “I do not.”
