"Whywhat, Sister?"
"Whydoes this shit keep happening to me?" Leaning forward, I put my headbetween my knees and sucked in lung burning gulps of frigid air.
Thegoddess placed Candace's hand on my back, and I was immediately filled withwarmth and love as she stroked me comfortingly. "The universe gets whatthe universe needs."
"Needs,not wants?"
"Timeshave changed. People and races have changed. They need a hero. A savior.Someone to guide."
"Isn'tthat you?"
"Myspheres do not reach the darker races. You are their goddess."
"Iseem to be saying this a lot lately, but I'm just a Dot."
Nanahumphed. "You are a Blackwell, Child."
Insteadof taking offense, the goddess nodded and smiled at Nana. "Tis true. Shehas the blood of more than one god running through her mortal veins."
"What?"
Nana'sface darkened.
"Whatdoes she mean by that, Nana?"
"Anothertale for another time. Let us worry about your future."
Thegoddess must have agreed with her. She stood and turned to face us. "Icannot help you any more than I already have, Sister. Just know that not all ofus agreed with the decision to incarcerate your father for his supposed crimesagainst the natural order. He is not the only one to have loved a mortal andborn or sired offspring. His only crime was his atrocious timing. I have beenworking long and hard to see that you would have everything you needed to setthings right. You have it all right now, you just don't see it."
"What?What do I have?"
"Everythingyou need to free your father."
"Whatis it I needed?"
"Away to get to him. A map to find him. And the key to free him."
Therewas a brief flare of golden light and Candace, the real Candace, blinked at usconfusedly. "Dot?"
"Hey,Candy."
"Didyou want a coffee?" She looked around the central square.
"Yeah.I think we could all use one."
Chapter 14
"Bill didn't want to go?" Jimmysounded disappointed. Knowing Jimmy, he probably was.
"Hesaid we should have fun. He had an event he needed to work."
Jimmyshot me a dubious look from the driver's seat of his truck and put it inreverse. Then he did that 'put his arm across the seats so he could look outthe back window while he reversed' move. I didn't know what it was about thesimple act that turned me on, but it did. It seemed so manly. But when I addedin the factor that he had a backup camera in the dash, it seemed kind ofstupid, too.
"Whatevent?"
"Idon't know. He said something about a protest outside city hall. He wanted tobe there in case things got out of hand?"
Ishrugged my shoulders.
"Whatthe hell do the people of this town have to protest?"
"Beatsthe hell out of me. Could be witches for all I know." I laughed at my ownjoke, and then realized it might not have been.
Jimmystared at me while I stared at him. "What time?"
"Eight."
"We'llgrab some dinner and then check it out. We can catch the later show," heanswered levelly.
"Goodidea." I sighed and stared out the window, my appetite halved from theworry. "What reason would they have to stage a protest? I mean even ifit was about witches, who the hell would go stand outside in the middle ofwinter to hold up as sign that says, 'Down with the witches.'"
"Dumbpeople."
"We'redoomed."
Jimmychuckled half-heartedly.
"What'sfor dinner?"
"Well,I was thinking pizza and beer."
"Thatsounds kinda fucking perfect." I grinned at him.
"Antonios?"
"Isthere any other place to get pizza in this town?"
"There'sthe Hut."
"That'snot pizza."
"Truestory."
Heturned toward the hospital and hung a left on Elm, parking us across the streetfrom the entrance. "I don't know why I don't order from here more. It'sliterally two minutes away." I sniffed the air outside the truck as Ivacated the vehicle.
"Thisis Cedar Falls. Everything is two minutes away."
"Fairenough."
Jimmypulled out his phone. "Dennis just got off. He's meeting us here."
"Sweet."
Wewalked across the street and Jimmy stepped ahead of me to pull open the brasshandled wood door.
"Thankyou, Sir."
"Ooh.You called me sir. I like that."
Ileaned toward him and took his earlobe in between my teeth, giving it a littlesqueeze and a lick. "Would you like it better if I called you, Master?"
Heshivered in response.
"Keepdreaming." I kissed his cheek and stepped inside.
Antonio'swas more of a takeout place, but they did have a small seating area to theright of the kitchen and counter. Jimmy pointed at the tables and nodded towhom I assumed was Antonio.
"Surething, Jimbo."
"Jimbo?"I chuckled as he pulled out a chair and offered it to me.
"HighSchool. Don't ask."
Igiggled and had every intention of asking. "Split a pie and a pitcher?"
"Nowyou speaka my language." He grinned and sat.
"Pepperonior sausage?'
"Meatza?"
"Dependson what the hell that is," I answered fearfully.
"Pepperoni,sausage, bacon, and meatball."
"Fuckyeah."
"Thisis why I love you. One of the three million reasons."
Ijust grinned.
Theonly waitress, a fifty something brunette who looked like she could have beenAntonio's mother, took our order and brought us a pitcher of beer and threeglasses.
"How'dshe know?" I nodded at the glass next to Jimmy.
"BecauseI don't think I've ever been here without Dennis," he answeredthoughtfully.
"Noteven on a date?"
Hechuckled and poured us each a glass. "Couldn't go on a date without mywingman."
"Youhave issues."
"Iknow." He grinned and handed me my beer.
Twoguys at the table two away from ours kept looking in our direction. One wasopenly staring, and the other was glancing occasionally over his shoulder.Jimmy was facing me and couldn't see them. I was trying to ignore them, butthey were wearing identical T-shirts with the same owl logo on the front andchest.
"What'sthe matter?" Jimmy asked and took a sip of his beer.
"Nothingyet. Ever see a T-shirt with an owl on it?"
"Nope.Wait. I saw a tootsie pop one once."
"Differentowl," I muttered quietly, not wanting them to hear our conversation.
Jimmy,not one to beat around the bush, turned around and caught both of them staring."We got a problem, guys?"
Asif by magic, they both focused on their pizza.
Jimmyturned back around and smiled. "Problem solved."
"Realsmooth." I chuckled.
"Letme know if they start staring again."
"How'dyou know they were staring?"
"Onlyone thing in this world would bother you."
"Beingthe center of attention," I answered for him, with a little sigh andnodding in agreement.
Hesmiled in response and then waved at the door.
Ialmost yelped when a set of lips touched my cheek. "Sorry, Dot."
"Juststartled me." He had. The guys in the OWL shirt's kind
