“I did not. How could you accuse me of such a thing?”
“You never gave it to me, did you?” Myra narrowed her eyes. “You tricked me into thinking the stone you gave me was your god stone. That’s dirty, Crow.”
“Or a very clean trick that allowed me to help when you needed help?”
“No,” Myra said. “It’s the thing I said.”
“Can you get us out of here?” Jean asked. “Out of the stone? Hogan needs a doctor and so does Bathin.”
“And Jean,” I said, stepping back from Crow. “She broke her ankle.”
“Maybe just a fracture,” she said.
“Still needs a doctor,” I said.
Crow shook his head. “I can’t release you. That’s Bathin’s power. But I did bring a hell of a healing spell. One I am assured will work on demons.”
I smiled. “You’re pretty good at this.”
“Yes, I am.”
He crouched next to Bathin and handed Myra the spell. The spell was carried by a crocheted yellow lace doily that looked like a sunflower blossom.
Myra nodded. “That’s good. Really good, Crow. Okay.”
Bathin’s shirt was undone from when she had been digging things out of his gut. She placed the spell on his chest and spread it out so it draped his skin without any wrinkles.
Crow placed his palm over the spell. He whispered a word that sounded like Latin, and the doily glowed with buttery yellow light.
Nothing more happened for a minute. Then the doily dissolved into Bathin’s skin and Bathin took a deeper breath, opening his eyes.
“Well, shit,” he said, his gaze flicking from Crow to Myra. “That didn’t go quite to plan.” He grunted up into a sitting position, brushing off Myra’s objections.
“Who moved my stone?” he demanded. “Hogan? How the—a wish. You wished my stone into Ordinary? I’m going to have to set new protections.”
“Sure,” Crow said. “But how about you snap everyone out of here first? There are wounded who need doctors.”
Bathin took in the rest of the space, all of us standing except for Hogan and Jean. Jean waved. “Ankle. No big deal.” She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. “Concussion.”
“Bump,” Hogan said, but he didn’t open his eyes or move.
Ryder waved. “Cuts and bruises.”
“And how did you get here?” Bathin asked Crow.
“Delaney has my god weapon, my power. Not even your travel stones could keep me away from it.”
“Gods,” Bathin said like they were the most annoying things in the universe. He took Myra’s hand and stood next to her. “Easy then, everyone. Breathe. One, two, three.”
I tried to follow his advice, but held my breath instead. Between one blink and the next, I was no longer in the stone, but standing in Hogan’s living room, Ryder next to me.
The warm smell of cake and vanilla, and beyond that, the salty scent of marine air from a window left open a crack, filled the room.
“Wow,” Jean said. “You’re damn good.” She and Hogan were on the couch, settled carefully so Jean’s ankle was still outstretched, and Hogan’s head was resting against the back cushions.
“I’ll get the van ready,” Myra said.
“You have a van?” Ryder asked.
