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“What?” Clay cried. He hadn’t said anything out loud.
Jo cackled. “Please, you also say that about the Fire Weaver every lifetime. I can’t imagine where they must get it.”
Clay rolled his eyes as Baer and Grey laughed. Flo huffed. Yes, she was the goddess of both earth and fire. And clearly the most stubborn of the three goddesses. It would be interesting to learn if he did get some traits from his patron goddess.
He didn’t know what had brought on her outburst, but the three goddesses were hard at work preparing dinner, while Baer and Grey moseyed over to the table to wait once it was clear they weren’t going to be permitted to help.
Grey looked better than he had earlier in the day after his encounter with the UPS man. More rested and relaxed. Clay wasn’t sure if that was simply because he had gotten some rest or if just being around Jo helped him.
“You think they’re going to approve of our idea of the trap?” Baer asked in a low voice.
“Absolutely not!” Flo bellowed, not even turning away from the oven.
Jo even made a tsking sound and shook her head. Willie looked up and shot them a worried glance before going back to whatever she was working on.
“I’m gonna go with no on that one,” Clay muttered.
“We’ve got to do something,” Grey said.
“We will,” Clay said firmly. “Let’s just hear what they have to say first. We can’t continue to work in the dark and take stupid chances.”
Grey made a soft noise and sat back in his chair, arms folded over his chest. Clay was all too happy to lock horns with the cocky writer. He wasn’t going to let the man put Baer or Dane’s lives in danger just because he was itching to accomplish something.
The three of them fell into a relative silence, watching the three goddesses, who could have passed as their grandmothers, bicker among each other as they pulled together what turned out to be a massive meal. It was strange to think they were actual goddesses and they were cooking. Clay had seen them use magic to make food appear in their pantry or refrigerator that hadn’t been there earlier. But then, the actual process of cooking was rather calming and normal. He couldn’t argue that normal was something they were all feeling short on.
It was less than an hour later that plate after plate of food was placed on the table until Clay started to wonder if the damn thing was going to collapse under the weight. There was no way this much food had been made without magic, but Clay didn’t care. It all smelled amazing, and Willie was still bubbling over the Angel Food cake she’d made for dessert.
“Okay,” Flo started when they were all seated with food and drinks in front of them. “What’s on your minds? What can we tell you to keep you from haring off and doing something asinine that’ll get you all killed?”
“The alien things,” Grey immediately started.
“The pestilents,” Jo patiently corrected as she cut her food into dainty bite-sized pieces.
“Yes, the pestilents. What are they? How can we kill them?”
“The pestilents are aliens of a sort,” Flo said. She paused and shoved a large hunk of pot roast in her mouth. She chewed a bit, shoving it to one corner of her mouth so she could continue talking. “Not really that much different from humans in a lot of ways. Their bodies are made of a type of flesh, but it’s flesh not permitted in our world, so it rots.”
“Why are we the only ones who can smell them? I’ve never seen anyone else react to their smell,” Baer tossed out. Ruby had come out from wherever she’d been sleeping when the smell of food permeated the house. Clay could now hear her shifting under the table, waiting for yet another person to sneak her a bit of food. The dog was going to weigh two hundred pounds if they kept this up.
Jo and Flo shared a look across the table, but it was Willie who actually spoke up first.
“Because you’re part of the Earth and her powers. They’re invaders. You’ll always be aware of them.”
Jo shrugged. “It’s true. Your souls have been changed from normal human souls. You’ll always be a little different, and that makes you more aware of the pestilents since they don’t belong here.”
“But that’s also how they manage to find you with or without your powers,” Flo pointed out. “They’ve got their own magic, and they use it to track the magical residue on your souls. They use that little difference to locate you.”
“How are we different?” Baer asked.
“You mean, other than the powers?” Grey chimed in.
There was another look between Jo and Flo. This time Willie kept her eyes on her plate, which was covered in only vegetables and bread.
