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Nelson got in and started the engine so there wasn’t a chance anyone could hear them from the outside. “Okay. What do you mean he can stop time?”
“I’ve never seen him do it and I’ve never asked him, but I heard Dad and Clance talking about it once.”
“And?” Nelson demanded, gesturing for Nox to continue.
“And…” Nox tugged on his right ear, working the memory loose. “It was a few months before Dad died,” he recalled, then sucked in a breath at the sharp ache in his chest, as he longed to have him back. “I wouldn’t be scared of any of this or that Badb if he was still here.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Nox nodded and pushed out a cleansing breath and focused on the faded bits of conversation he’d overheard all those years ago. “I was coming down the stairs and I heard them talking in the study. Clance was giving Dad a hard time about doing something foolish. Dad said that it wasn’t his fault and then Clance said something like ‘What about Merlin’s car? I wouldn’t have been able to stop it long enough to pull you two out if I had come outside just a minute later.’”
“What happened to Merlin’s car?”
“No one really knows how, but it caught fire and I don’t know how else you pause a car fire unless you can stop time.”
“If Clancy can stop time… Why didn’t he go back and save your parents?” Nelson asked gently, offering Nox an apologetic grimace.
Nox felt another sharp stab. This time, it was for Clancy. “I think he can only stop this…” He flailed at the air in front of him. “He can stop this minute and maybe a little before and after. But I know he can’t control all time in any direction or else he would have saved Dad. He can’t go back far enough to stop Mom from getting sick or deciding to leave us. I think he resents himself and his abilities because he couldn’t save the people he loved the most.”
“That’s understandable,” Nelson said sadly as he changed gears and reversed out of the driveway, resting his hand on Nox’s seat as he looked back. “I wonder what else he can do…”
“There’s no telling but you need to forget I even mentioned it before we get to the Hoover Building.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. We’re not going to the Hoover Building yet.”
“We’re not? What about Julian, and Clance, and Tony, and the Badb? We need to find out what Clancy knows and warn him.”
“We will. After we take another detour.”
“Where to?” Nox asked.
A hard sigh pushed from Nelson as he stopped at a light. “Lunch. You need a break.”
Nine
Nox wasn’t expecting magick on such a grim afternoon, but Nelson had decided a detour to a strip mall on the other side of Silver Spring was in order.
“The Stained Glass Pub?” Nox asked when Nelson pulled into the lot and parked. Nelson grabbed Nox’s hand when he swiped at his phone to look it up.
“It’s a sports bar with a pub theme and mixed reviews. The pizza, salad, wings, and cheesesteaks appear to be acceptable.”
Nox’s whole soul lit up. “Pizza? Is this a date?” Food was one of his love languages and Nelson knew that nothing cheered Nox up or put him in the mood like pizza.
“It’s lunch,” Nelson said, laughing softly. He held onto Nox’s hand and gave it an affectionate squeeze. Words and romantic gestures didn’t come naturally or easily to Nelson, but he showed his devotion and desire through tentative touches in public and possessive, passionate action when they were alone. “Things didn’t go bad with Julian in the ways I was afraid they would, but it was still really bad and then we had a scare with Tony. I thought it might be a good idea to pause before we talk to Clancy and get an update on Julian’s condition.”
There was little likelihood that Julian could be saved and Nox expected that his doctors would be focused on keeping his final hours as comfortable as possible. Nox was filled with so much regret as he thought about Julian’s father, Howard, and Heidi Hansen. Heidi had stepped into her sister’s shoes at the bookshop whenever she was free and the two were doing their best to carry on together, but news of Julian’s death would be another terrible blow.
“That’s probably a good call,” Nox concurred. “But I want to get back and talk to Clance ASAP. Can you imagine if he had something to do with this?” He made an exploding sound, unable to fathom how destroyed he’d be.
“Let’s pause that too,” Nelson requested, cocking his chin at the windshield and the red brick building at the end of the strip mall. “I suspect the food will be mediocre, if not disappointing, but I’m hoping we can leave Julian, the MacCrorys, and even Tony and Clancy out here for a little while.”
Nox nodded quickly, excited at the prospect of something normal with Nelson. “Sure. I can do that.”
They usually had lovely, quiet meals at home and often had lunch while they were looking into leads together. And they had gone on a few romantic dates that ended with wildly passionate sex, therefore, qualifying as successes in Nox’s book. But his heart fluttered at Nelson’s thoughtfulness and concern as he got out and jogged around to get Nox’s door. All thoughts about cults and Clancy faded when Nelson offered his hand as Nox was getting out and a modest sports bar was transformed into a dream.
He held onto Nox’s hand as they walked and Nelson turned heads in the crowded “pub” when he got the door and asked for their quietest table. A young woman in a black polo shirt and jeans laughed as she showed them to a booth, believing Nelson was joking.
“Burgers are half-price with a drink today. You should come back tonight for karaoke,” she said as she waited for them to sit and passed them each a large plastic-coated menu.
