At least I did get home without any more encounters. Yeah.

That’s because Tyz’vel waited until the morning. Or maybe he didn’t want to mess with my dad. I scowled at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Did you…”

“Yeah, and you don’t want to mess with it. Odin’s up to stuff.” I was satisfied by the fact that he actually seemed to pale.

Apparently he didn’t want to mess with Odin.

“I…see.”

At least I thought Monica would be safe from him. I was pretty sure she wasn’t safe from Loki, though. Maybe I should warn her.

Yes, I should definitely warn her. That way she could make a reasoned decision as to whether to say yes to him or not.

I wasn’t necessarily going to say she should say no. But then Kanesha came rushing up behind me. “Was that?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. He’s not causing trouble today. For once.”

For once. But I also knew he was going to cause trouble. It was his nature.

“Just means he’s planning trouble.” She shook her head, then changed the subject. “So…we don’t have school and you don’t have a shoot and my job doesn’t start until four.”

“How about we…go to the zoo? Do regular people stuff?”
“Only,” Kanesha noted. “If we start with ice cream. There’s that place across from the entrance.”

Ice cream sounded good. Ice cream sounded very good indeed. We linked hands and headed for the Metro.

“So, what do you think he’ll try next?” she asked once we were chilling outside the ice cream shop with chocolate cones.

“I don’t know. Not messing with Monica. I told him Odin was protecting her.”

“Is he?”

“Yes. Of course, Odin won’t protect her from Loki.”

Kanesha giggled. “Oh dear.”

“He wants a one night stand.”

“Doesn’t he always?”

“As long as…” I tailed off.

“He doesn’t even look at me. Probably knows better.”

I grinned. “He knows I’d push him in the Reflecting Pool if he did. He also knows he’d have to turn into a woman.”

Kanesha grinned. “Yeah, he would.” She slurped at her cone, but I was suddenly looking at a point past her.

“What?” she added.

“Zaid’s here. Can I flag him down?”

“Go ahead.”

I lifted a hand to signal to the Egyptian. He had a troubled look on his face, but moved to sit down.

“Please,” I said. “Don’t tell me Apep is back?”

He shook his head. “No. Wannabes.”

I rolled my eyes. “Demon summoning?”

“Desecrating temples actually.”

“Including churches? ‘Cause somebody set fire to Father William’s altar.”

“Sounds like the same crowd.” He paused, then, “How about we put the fear of the gods into them?”

That was suddenly a quite appealing idea.