“Bathin said you’d stick out like a sore thumb in hell.”
“This is my token, Delaney Reed. It will remain hidden. But if you need me, if you need my power, you will be able to access it with this stone.”
“Sure. And what happens if I drop it?”
“It cannot be dropped.”
“Lose it?”
“Can’t lose it.”
“What if someone or something takes it, breaks it, steals it right out of my hands? I am not batting a thousand when it comes to holding onto valuable things at the moment.”
My voice had gotten rougher and louder. I wasn’t yelling at the end there, but everyone in the other room probably heard every word.
Crow stepped up to me and looped the necklace over my head. The stone was heavy and cool, even through the cotton of my shirt. “No one will see this. No one will take it from you. You cannot lose it. Through it is my power, and through my power, the power of the other gods here in Ordinary, stored together in Death’s image.
“This,” Crow said, “is my wings around you, my eyes for you, my talons sharpened. This is my protection.” His eyes glittered with quiet power as he spoke those words. A blessing, a prayer.
“Come home to us, Delaney Reed, with Ryder beside you.”
His hands lifted from the necklace, palms resting gently on my cheeks as he tipped my head down so he could kiss my forehead.
“I bought a tux for your wedding,” he murmured softly. “I’ll be damned if I’ll let it hang in the closet unworn.”
I coughed. It was a sob. The mountain over my sorrow shifted, crumbled.
Then Crow’s arms were around me, and my face was buried in his shoulder so I could cry and yell and trust him to keep my body attached to the world while my soul blew apart.
Chapter Fifteen
The intel came in.
Yes, Patrick had taken Ryder to the Underworld.
Yes, Ryder was bound and imprisoned.
Yes, he was still alive.
Yes, Vychoro would kill him by midnight tomorrow.
I sent the gods home, telling them I needed some time alone. I knew some, maybe all of them, were outside watching.
Dragon-pig came home, and from the stomping and steaming, it was angry at me for not telling it to eat the leprechaun.
“Ordinary is still a target for demons,” I told it. “I need you here while I’m gone. I need you looking after Ordinary, keeping it safe until I bring Ryder home.”
The dragon snarled. It was still in pig form, but I could see a full dragon shadow behind it like an after-image from staring at the sun too long.
“I know you can find demons. Every demon I know has been terrified of you. But that’swhyyou can’t come. They’ll know you’re there. We have to be fast, quiet, and invisible.”
The dragon-pig popped out of existence and made a little growl telling me it was still in front of me.
“I know you can be invisible. But I need…I need to know Ordinary is going to be safe from attack while we’re gone. This could be a diversion to try and lure us away from Ordinary so they can attack. You can’t let them get into Ordinary. You have to keep everyone safe.”
There was a smallpop,and the dragon-pig was visible again. It sat on the couch next to me, sighed, then bumped my hand with its snout.
I rubbed its soft little ears.
