ilar features and a place in Cade's heart, and
how Cade had considered leaving the agency when she'd been killed during an
arrest that the system had refused to prosecute for diplomatic reasons.
Or maybe he was just being a bit paranoid. Could be she truly just happened
to be a tall goddess with ice-gray eyes who liked cats, horses, and the same
booze as Cade. He wondered what the other convertee in Atlanta looked like and
whether Andrea had 'volunteered' or been 'chosen' to coach him.
On the other hand, the conversion was underway, like it or not, and he'd
been issued a goddess. Cade glanced at Andrea and decided that things could most
definitely be worse.
From the top floor they took the stairs to the roof and Mandi retrieved her
flattened can from its hideaway under the eaves. After she put it in place to
keep the door from locking, she turned to Andrea and Cade and put her hands on
her hips.
In a dead serious tone, Mandi said, "I'm afraid it's time to choose, Ed."
A trick? A trap? For what reason? No point in trying to escape, in any case.
"Could you be just a bit more specific?" he asked.
Noddingly indicating Andrea, Mandi said, "You have to choose which of us
will carry you."
Hm. He hadn't known that Andrea could fly. Cool. Maybe that meant that
flight was one of the powers he'd have later.
"You mean you aren't going to fight over me?"
Andrea snorted and groaned softly, "Oh, yeah, right."
Cade glanced at her and said, "Hey, it was just a thought."
Shrugging, he told Mandi, "Whoever wants to haul me may do so. I know better
than to choose between goddesses. Need a coin to toss?"
"Oh, never mind," said Mandi, and she wrapped her arms around Cade and
lifted them into the evening sky.
After two minutes of flying eastward they landed among some trees near a
very new-looking restaurant. It was a bit crowded, as is normal for new places,
but Andrea opined that the crowd would act in their favor because nobody'd
notice the number of times Cade visited the serving lines.
Almost two hours later Cade felt pretty much full for the first time in two
days. Andrea had been right, for the most part. Only one of the waitresses had
noticed that Cade seemed to be packing away inordinate amounts of food, and
while she watched with a certain amount of amazement, she apparently said
nothing about it.
On the way back to the hotel, Andrea suddenly droppe