“Good thing you invited the kids who can to the party,” I mutter.
“Izzy.”
“Yes?”
“Just get in the car.”
He sounds kind, but commanding, and I give up and get into the passenger seat.
“Seatbelts,” he reminds me as he starts the engine.
“I’m a god,” I say. “I’m almost immortal.”
“That’s fine, but I’m not moving this car until you put your seatbelt on.”
“You sound like such a dad,” I say, and for the first time, a faint smile slips across my lips. The night felt so dark and overwhelming outside, but I was inside, with Mr. Worrier.
My attempt at a joke makes his lips tighten. Yeah. No time for jokes, Izzy. You killed people tonight.
“Where are we going?” I ask, imagining some kind of magic quest that the guys and I could go on to find answers.
“We’re getting ice cream,” he says.
“I might’ve blown apart multiple buildings, and you’re taking me for ice cream?”
“You need someone to talk to. I desperately need a sugar rush after a very long night.”
I wouldn’t have figured Mr. Time for having a sweet tooth. I steal a sidelong glance at him. “What are you, anyway?”
“Complicated,” he returns. “What are you?”
“I don’t know. Izzy, I thought. I hope.”
He starts to say something, and I interrupt him. I don’t want anyone to comfort me right now, because it would all ring false. “How many casualties tonight?”
“None,” he says. “The buildings destroyed were academic buildings. They were all unoccupied in the middle of the night.”
“But I thought I saw bones--”
“They were part of the collection of artifacts we housed,” he says with a sigh, “and they're going to be a major hassle now that the bones have been lost and we’ve got to--nevermind. You didn’t kill anyone, Izzy. Nor did any of your friends. Not yet.”
“Reid thinks one of us is possessed by a god,” I murmur. “That one of us is losing control.”
He nods. “I think so.”
“How do we find out who? How do we fix it?”
“You figure out which one of your friends is acting oddly,” he says.
“They’re eighteen-year-old boys,” I say. “They’re always acting oddly.”
He starts to smile as I burst out, “Really? There’s no magic for this?”
“You’ll figure it out, Izzy.”
I wish I had his confidence.
He takes me to a twenty-four-hour diner on the edge of town. I order a burger and french fries and a milkshake; apparently, keeping Loki bottled up inside burns a whole lot of energy.
“I’ve got questions for you,” I tell him.
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Next time, you don’t need to burn down half the school to get my attention. That seems to be a hobby of yours, isn’t it?”
I waggle a french fry at him. “First, that’s not funny. Second, it seems like I do. You dropped that bomb about my sister and then you never spoke to me again.”
“I’m here now,” he says
“What’s the story with my sister?” I demand.
He sighs. “You still aren’t ready. Conquer the gods, then go find her.”
“But I don’t know how to do any of that!”
“You will,” he promises. “If you go looking for her now, you’ll make things worse.”
“Things can’t get any worse,” I mutter, knowing that it wasn’t true.
Things could get worse, and then we’d have to fight for our lives from the godslayers. It was so easy to imagine the battle between us all. So terrifying.
“Izzy,” he says, his gaze holding mine and full of intensity, “your sister needs you. But if you go look for her now, with your powers out of control and the godslayers on your heels, you will need those gods inside you and they will destroy you for it. Master your powers first.”
He speaks so confidently, as if he can see the future, and I stare back at him, horror clenching my chest. My sister needs me and I can’t protect her?
He leans back, taking another lick of his ice cream cone as if he weren’t talking about anything more than the weather. Without his gaze on me, I finally draw a breath.
“Those boys of yours have been leaving campus,” he says casually. “Aiden and Van.”
“What?” They were going to get into trouble. We weren’t allowed to leave campus. I wait anxiously for Mr. Time’s next words, afraid of what he could do to the guys.
“You should all go,” he says. “Join them on their quest. It will give you a chance to figure out whose behavior is off.”
“They have a quest?”
“Oh yes. And they desperately need some adult supervision. That generally seems to be you, Izzy.”
“You’re telling me it’s okay to break the rules? Leave campus?” I ask skeptically. I don’t want the godslayers to have yet another excuse to kill us.
He smiles suddenly. “This is why I like you, Izzy. All that power and you’re worried about following the rules.”
“I’m worried about keeping my friends alive,” I shoot back.
“I’ll help you as much as I can,” he promises.
“Why?” I demand.
His eyes widen. “I’m the dean of this school. You’re innocent… Well.” A smile tugs at the corners of his lips. “Innocent in a sense.”
I stare at him, sure that there is something more to the reason.
“Are you going to finish your french fries?” he asks.
I grab the edge of my plate to push it toward him automatically, then hesitate. “Tell me something about yourself and I’ll give you a french fry.”
“Fine,” he says. He thought for a second. “I’m ninety-two years old.”
“You’re very well-preserved.”
He swipes a french fry from my plate instead of dignifying that comment with a response.
“Ever been married?”
He reaches for a salt shaker and adds salt to my fries. I raise an eyebrow. He felt very free, apparently, now that I was asking him questions. But I feel like I need to understand Mr. Time.
“No.”
“Ever been in love?”
“Yes.”
“Any kids?”
Sorrow flickers through his eyes. “Yes.”
“Do you ever see them?”
He shakes his head. “No. No, I never do. But sometimes I get to see my granddaughter.”
The way he reacted made me realize he had his griefs and sorrows too that he didn’t necessarily want to bare, and the fun of the game had gone. Trying to restore the playfulness before I drop the subject, I grab a fry myself and ask, “What’s she’s like?”
“Beautiful. Smart. Incredibly kind. Lights up a room.”
“She sounds amazing.” I wish I had a grandfather like Mr. Time who thought I was incredible. I wish I had any family at all.
“I don’t think she realizes it,” Mr. Time says, “but she really is.”
He stands abruptly, ending the conversation. “Come on. I’ll drive you back. You’ve got to get those boys of yours under control.”