by Devon Monk
It sounded like prophecy. It sounded like a promise. It sounded like magic. God magic.
He finally turned to look at me again. “So of course someone found it, unlocked it.”
“And used it?” I asked when he fell silent.
He frowned, and his eyes glowed a very soft yellow for a moment. “It was said, and this is rumor, that a page was torn from it. A single page. But no one knows how that could have happened.”
“And if it happened? If a page were taken from the book? The spell book of the gods? What does that mean?”
“If it happened, then maybe…maybe I could believe there would be a spell that allowed entrance into any realm. Even a god’s realm.”
“Are you sure there was a spell like that in the book?”
“More so than most.”
“Why?” I asked, my heart racing but this time out of more than excitement. This time out of fear too.
“Because I wrote it.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jame and Ben’s porch light snapped on. They knew we were out here. They were probably curious as to why we were out here. But I wasn’t ready to face them yet. I needed a better explanation from Crow.
“You made a cosmic lock-picking spell?”
He scowled. “No. It was a lot more than a lock-picking spell. What kind of god do you think I am?”
“One who wants to get into other people’s things and steal them. By picking locks.”
“You seem upset. Are you upset? Because the yelling says you are maybe a little upset.” He held up his fingers, pointer and thumb held slightly apart to show how upset he thought I was.
“You gave someone a cosmic bump key set.”
His smile was absolutely wicked. “Maybe. Maybe not. A god spell can’t be used by just anyone.”
“Can it be used by someone who wants to steal weapons, then sneak into Ordinary and deliver those weapons as a threat and show of power? Can that happen, Crow? You think someone used the spell to drop a car out of the sky? You think they used it to smuggle four weapons into my town without me knowing?”
“No,” he said.
“No?”
He stuck a pinky in his ear and jiggled it.
Okay, maybe I was being a little loud. But someone had broken into my town and I didn’t even know they’d gotten in. I hadn’t felt the spell, the interloper, or the god weapons.
Holy shit, I felt exposed. I wanted to call in the National Guard and make them patrol our streets. But the National Guard couldn’t do that because they thought our tiny town planted along a curve of Oregon coast was nothing more than a place to buy bad driftwood statues and seagulls made out of seashells.
“Loud. But descriptive,” he said. “Settle down, Boo-boo. Uncle Crow won’t let something sneak around your town doing the dirty.”
“Something—”
He mimicked turning a knob down. I assumed it was a volume knob.
“Something,” I said in a much more normal tone, “already is sneaking around doing the dirty.”
“I know. But we have more to go on now.”
“A missing page of a spell book? How’s that going to help us? And why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I wasn’t as sure. And mind you, I’m still not one hundred percent on this.”
“Something happened to convince you, didn’t it?”
“You are such a good detective. So smart. Fast to catch on. Good morals too, if the tiniest bit too strict for my tastes. Have I told you how proud of you I am?”
“Crow.” It was a warning.
He laughed. “Yes, something happened.”
“I’m all ears.”
He pulled a string at his neck, drawing a necklace out from beneath his shirt. The medallion was either a stone or a shell with a heart of fire, I couldn’t tell because there was so much power rolling off of it.
“What is it?” I asked, already knowing.
“My god weapon.”
“On your doorstep? In a box?”
“Stamped with a red feather and circle with line. Yes.”
“Well, shit,” I said.
“Yep. I know all the other gods say nothing could have possibly broken into their realms, but I know…I can feel the tracing of the magic.”
“And?”
“It’s a demon. One of the royals.”
The knock on my window startled me so hard I jumped. I was not proud of the squeak that came out of my mouth. Crow, the big jerk, was laughing so hard, he’d gone a little wheezy.
Jame Wolfe bent so he could better see inside the Jeep, though I knew werewolves had great eyesight. The moon had risen from behind the hills and while it was not full yet, I was pretty sure from the flash of light deep in Jame’s eyes that it would be full tomorrow.
I rolled down the window. “Yes?”
“You want to finish this inside so we can hear all of it, or do you want to stay out here in the cold?”
“I was just coming by to give you a message,” I said.
“There’s a stolen page from a stolen book that allowed a demon to sneak into Ordinary and drop off god weapons?”
I opened my mouth to say yes, but then it struck me. “It can’t be a demon. We set up triggers and warnings after Xtelle snuck in. If a demon—a new demon—tried to get into Ordinary, I’d know. We’d know.”
“True.” Jame folded his arms over his chest and glanced back at the house over the top of the car. I knew Ben had to be in the house listening to all this.
“Ben okay?” I asked.
“He was in the bath, and we both got tired of you yelling so I came out to see if you wanted to come in. He’s getting dressed.”
“No,” I said again going back to the original reason for my visit. “There’s a monster hunter in town named Vivian Dunn. She knows Ryder, and I don’t like her. We’re going to get her out of town as soon as possible.”
“All right. We’ll continue behaving as normal people just like we always do,” he said.
“Even with the moon.”
“How many years have you lived here?”
“All of them,” I said.
“How many people have reported seeing a werewolf?”
“Three.”
“Other werewolves making prank calls doesn’t count.”
I smiled at him. “Okay, then zero. Spread the word?”
“Can do.”
“Oh, and there’s a ghoul on the loose.”
He ticked his tongue and exhaled. “A monster hunter, a demon, and a ghoul?”
“No, I think it’s just a monster hunter and a ghoul.”
“It was a demon,” Crow said. “I felt traces of demon.”
“I believe you,” I said, “but I would know if a new demon came into Ordinary.”
Crow hesitated, testing the truth of that. “All right. But a demon was involved in breaking into my realm.”
“Realm?” Jame asked. “Are you calling your shop your realm now, Crow?”
“God realm,” Crow said.
Jame grunted. “That is supposed to be impossible, isn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“So just a regular Thursday night, Chief?” Jame asked me.
“Hunters and thieves and ghouls? Yep. Pretty much a normal Thursday night.”
He placed his palm on the roof and patted it twice. “Let me know if I can help.”
“Do you know what a ghoul smells like?” I asked.
“Ghouls don’t have a scent,” he said.
“Would you be able to recognize a non-scented ghoul?”
“I would notice if someone didn’t smell the way I expect them to. Like a few years ago when one of the Persons decided to try to pose as Senta on April Fools. He didn’t smell right, and I caught on before he had a chance to pull off his joke.”
The Persons were a very nice, quiet family of shapeshifters who had at least a half dozen favorite appearances they wore at their leisure.
“So keep your nose sharp,” I said. �
��And please ask all the Wolfes to let me know if someone doesn’t smell right. Call immediately, but do not try to capture the ghoul. We don’t know what powers it might have.”
“We will totally not restrain the ghoul.”
“Why does it sound like you’re saying the exact opposite of that?”
“Because you know we would never citizen’s arrest a ghoul that’s trying to hurt anyone in our territory.”
“Still sounding like you’re going to jump all over the chance for arresting it.”
“Nope. Totally don’t have handcuffs with quieting spells for supernaturals. Totally won’t use them.”
I shook my head. “I’m serious, Jame. Call us. Call the station. Let the professionals deal with the ghoul.”
“You got it, Delaney. You can count on us Wolfes to do exactly what you say.” He grinned, and it smoothed all the stern lines of him. That smile was all wolf and no sheep’s clothing.
“Good, because I will hold you to that,” I said. “’Night, Jame. Say hi to Ben for me. Don’t touch the ghoul.”
He tapped the roof again, and I rolled up the window. “Why do I think all the werewolves in town are going to hunt for the ghoul?”
“Because you know them,” Crow said. “They aren’t going to let you throw yourself in the way of danger again.”
“That’s literally half of my job. A moon-drunk pack of werewolves playing detective isn’t going to help.”
Crow made a little sound. “It will be interesting, that’s for sure. What’s next?”
“I need to talk to some of our more secluded people. Bigfoot, for one. He should be awake now.”
“I haven’t seen him for a while. How’s it going with his Heart?”
I smiled. A bigfoots’ courtship was odd but sweet and involved lots of stolen light bulbs and group singing in the woods.
“Great, as far as I can tell. They’ve been keeping to themselves. No more stolen street lights, so I’m taking it as a win. You need to give me your weapon.”
Crow went very, very still. His voice, however, was the same as always. A little mocking, a lot fond. “Why would I do that Boo-boo? You aren’t made to carry god weapons.”
“Rude. I can handle god power. That’s literally the other half of my job.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s a lie. Yes, you can carry our power, for a short amount of time. But Delaney,” now his serious voice, “this is a weapon. My weapon. It isn’t made for a mortal to carry.”
“Something carried it out of your realm.”
“A demon,” he said. “Or something demon supported. And I hope whatever touched this suffered damage.”
I rubbed a knuckle at the corner of one eye. “All right. New plan. I’ll go see Bigfoot. You meet Myra and lock that up with the other god weapons.”
“I can’t tell you how much I don’t want to do that.”
“Good. Don’t tell me.”
“There…” he paused, and I could tell he changed his angle of attack. “You’ve heard, over the years, that there is a war coming to Ordinary, haven’t you?”
A chill traced down my back and arms. “Yes. Several people have said it was coming. Rossi, Odin, Bathin’s brother Goap. I thought the war was Lavius.”
“That was…yeah, that was a war. A really old battle finally coming to an end between that vampire and Death. But I don’t think that’s the war we’ve all known was brewing.”
“What do you know about it?”
Crow stretched his finger toward the dashboard again, but didn’t touch it, didn’t wipe away imaginary dust. “The future is…can be so many things. The power to see the one actual true outcome of all the colliding possibilities is rare.”
“There are people in town who can see the future. Yancy at the Community College,” I said.”
“They see a likely future, but even that isn’t set in stone,” Crow said. “Every word we say, every thought we think, certainly every action we take and inaction we allow, changes the world.
“Changes all the worlds.” He gave me a small, wry smile. “So knowing what war is coming, who is bringing it, why, and when it will happen is not a sure thing.”
“Must be sure enough that lots of people have been talking about it,” I said.
“True, but on some levels, all of those visions, all of those guesses are just that: guesses.”
“So is this you giving me your best guess?”
The smile again. “One of them.”
“Lay it on me.”
“I think the weapons were stolen by a demon. I think they might have been stolen from that demon by something not human.”
“Because a human can’t carry a god weapon?”
“Not for the length of time it would take to package them all up and drop them off on doorsteps.”
“Yours was in a cardboard box too. Was it torn?”
He tipped his head, studying me with a side eye just like an actual crow. “Yes. There was a little rip at the circle part. Why?”
“We found a scrap of cardboard with ink in the trunk of the car.”
“Huh. The car that smelled like ghoul.”
“All right. So you think a demon stole the weapons,” I said.
“A royal demon.”
“And there are what? Hundreds of minor royals in the demon realms?”
“Give or take.”
“But you only noticed a demon using the spell you wrote when your weapon was delivered.”
He hummed. “I sensed something. A pull of a string. But the spell is old, Delaney. I haven’t thought of it in centuries. When bound into the book, it should only be able to be used by two who are neither of life nor death, who are heart-fettered, soul-bound, voice and hand.”
I didn’t know what most of that meant. “So a demon can’t be those things? Heart-fettered?”
“Maybe, but those rules only applied when the spell was in the book. Once stolen, the rules of who could use the spell are gone. I don’t know what beings can use it, hadn’t ever planned for it to be stolen. There are things, futures, even gods can’t predict.”
“I’ll remind you of that the next time you tell me what lottery numbers to play.”
He chuckled. “Fair.”
“Your theory is that a demon was able to use your spell, then pass the weapons off to someone or something, maybe the ghoul? Do you think a ghoul can handle the packages?”
“Since it’s mostly not alive. It’s possible.”
“But why give a god his or her own weapon? What’s the point?”
“To show what was done when they weren’t looking. To prove them vulnerable. Maybe…” he paused. “Maybe to make them angry enough they will take up their powers and leave Ordinary to search for the thief.”
“Again,” I said, “if I were the thief, I wouldn’t want a bunch of angry gods looking for me.”
“But if you were a demon, would you like angry gods gone away from Ordinary? Would you like Ordinary without god protection?”
“Gods in Ordinary can’t use their powers while they’re here.”
“Oh, we can. We just have to leave afterward.”
“Splitting hairs there, Crow.”
“If Ordinary were attacked, every god would rise. Split hairs or no.”
“If something attacked Ordinary, we wouldn’t need the gods to save us.”
“It would depend on what that thing was,” he said, “and what weapons it had at its disposal.”
“And that brings me back to the same question. What war is coming? Is it a demon thing? A god thing? A human thing?”
He gave a short shake of his head. “I don’t know.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay. I’ll tell everyone this info. You need to take your weapon over to Myra and get it stowed in the vault.”
“Or, and go with me here, I could keep my weapon.”
“None of the other gods kept their weapons.”
“But I’m your favorite.”
“And if you want to remain
my favorite, heck, if you want to stay in Ordinary, you better take your weapon to the vault.”
I was already dialing Myra’s number when my phone rang.
“You’re getting really freaky with that,” I told her.
“Thanks. What’s up?”
“I need you to take another weapon to the vault.”
“Damn it. Okay. Which god?”
“Crow.”
“Tell me he hasn’t been hiding the weapon all day.”
I glanced over at him.
“I’m offended.” He pressed fingers to his chest.
“When was it delivered?” I asked.
“About an hour ago. If you want the box, it’s at my place.”
“We want the box. See you at the Crow’s Nest, Myra.”
“I’m already on my way.”
“Of course you are.”
I ended the call.
“You still going out to find Bigfoot?” Crow asked.
“Yep. I’m like the postal service. Neither ghoul nor demon nor stolen page of a god spell book, will keep me from finishing my rounds.”
Chapter Seventeen
I had to pick up dragon pig for part of my rounds because I’d never been very good with the languages of some of our most reclusive citizens. Still, I was pleasantly surprised when dragon pig acted as interpreter when we came across the family of Vodianoi. The human-ish, frog-like, fish-scaled water folk were delighted dragon pig knew their language. So delighted, they dragged a nice, tasty anchor up from the rocks as a thank-you snack.
Finishing my rounds took until one o’clock in the morning. Even though Ordinary was small, we had hills and forests and miles of beach and cliffs. Lots of supernatural citizens lived in those places, sometimes not leaving their homes for years.
Ryder hadn’t texted the whole time that I had been out. I was worried about that, but tried not to let it distract me. Ryder was doing the very important job of keeping an eye on the monster hunter. I hoped he was squeezing her for all the information he could get.
I yawned my way into our house, dropping my keys in the dish and pulling the band out of my hair. Spud looked up from the fireplace bed, spotted dragon pig and bounded over, whining and wagging and happy. Dragon pig grunted, then allowed Spud to lick its snout.
