“But you… you’re —”
“I don’t get it. You’ve known me for years. You’ve never worshiped me before.”
“You’re… a god.”
I pushed the cup to his mouth and chuckled at the bailiff, dismissing Parker’s statement with a wave of my hand. “I think it’s his blood sugar. I solve one case for him, and suddenly I’m a god.” I added air quotes for effect.
The bailiff shot me another warning. With his brows. They were very expressive.
Parker slowly slid off the chair onto one knee, his head bowed again.
I lifted him back up. “Stop it,” I said, my voice more of a hiss than an actual whisper. “I mean it. Stop worshiping me. Jehovah is already pissed.”
“Okay,” the court reporter said. “An ambulance is on the way.”
I was beginning to think he really needed one. He was sweating and panting, and his red face was turning more of a fuchsia. I figured he was somewhere between a panic attack and a heart attack. Either way, the guy had to calm down.
I took his jaw into both of my hands and lifted his face to mine.
“Nick,” I said softly, soothingly, “be still.”
He calmed instantly. A cool warmth left my fingers and soaked into him, like a supernatural version of Icy Hot.
Whatever it was, it worked. His breaths slowed, and his face paled to leave red splotches along his cheeks.
“I think he’s okay,” I said to the others.
He just stared at me, unable to speak. When the ambulance arrived, they gave him oxygen and started an IV before wheeling him out. I followed until they loaded him in the van.
“I’m sorry, Nick,” I said as he watched me. “I just wanted info on your CI. We never found him.”
He took off the oxygen mask. “My wife is pregnant.”
That was fast.
I showed my palms. “I swear it’s not mine.”
“What do I call you?” He was serious.
“Charley. Charles. Chuck. Goddess Divine.”
He didn’t crack. I was losing my touch.
“I’m kidding about that last one. Parker, I’m just Charley.”
“You were never just Charley.”
Damn. What the hell did I show him?
“I – I had no idea.” He was shaking, and the ambulance guys really wanted to head out.
“Grant Guerin?”
“I don’t know.” He wasn’t lying. “But I can try to find him.”
I squeezed his hand before turning to jump out. “Thank you.”
“Nobody knows, do they?”
I turned back. “Knows?”
“What’s coming. Nobody knows.”
I scooted closer again as the EMT took Parker’s blood pressure. “What are you talking about? What’s coming?”
He’d been a million miles away. He blinked and focused on me again. “You.”
“Miss, we need to go.”
“Me? Parker, what do you mean?”
“Miss.” The guy was getting more impatient.
So was I. Left with little choice – aside from knocking the guy out with a defibrillator, which was probably bolted down – I slowed time. First, to buy more of it. And second, to shut the guy up.
His movements came to a complete stop in suspended animation. A roll of tape he’d dropped hung in midair, his hand just below it ready for the catch.
Parker didn’t notice. Nor did he notice the shadow pass by. I looked over my shoulder. An angel stood at the doors to the ambulance. It was the one that had been crouching on Misery. His massive wings blocked the sun as he looked in the van.
I ignored him. At least, I pretended to. As I spoke to Parker, I reached toward the ground, my palm facing the floor of the van.
“What do you mean?” I asked, just as I felt Artemis, my guardian Rottweiler, rise into my palm.
She paced around to my back, her teeth bared, her growls low as she watched the angel. Her sharp eyes would miss nothing, and I would have some sort of warning should the celestial being try anything. Though what he would try, I had no idea.
Parker’s eyes filled with moisture as he thought back. “You should warn them not to make you angry,” he said, his voice full of sadness. “They should never make you angry.”
“Who? Those guys?” I gestured toward the EMT.
“No. Everyone. All of them. Any of them.” He gave me a chastising frown. “You were a hungry, hungry hippo.”
Ugh. This was like talking to Rocket, a savant friend of mine who’d died in the fifties. He’d had electroshock therapy before he died. Had I done the same thing to Parker? Had I scrambled his brain?
“Parker, what did you see?”
“You.” He lifted a hand to my face. Parker wasn’t the tender, loving type, so it startled me. Time slipped, but only a little before I caught it again. “I saw you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You ate too much, and now your power is too great even for you, god eater.”
Had he somehow gained access to memories I’d lost? Or had he seen the future? No. That was impossible.
“I saw seven become one. The thirteenth. The most powerful. I saw you devour them all and become… become what you are. All for him.”
Artemis growled by my side, but when I turned back, the angel was still standing stock-still. His head bowed, he gazed at me from beneath thick lashes. His stunning face void of any expression. But time was screaming toward us. I could only hold it for so long.