Grabbing a mug out of the cabinet, Clay continued to ignore the duo at the table as he poured himself a cup of liquid sanity. He took his time, adding a little sugar, and then turned to the table. Before he took one step, he lifted a hand, and whatever Baer had been about to say stopped in his throat.
“I won’t discuss it. Not one word,” Clay said firmly.
Baer’s shoulder’s slumped, and his mouth snapped shut. He looked like a sad puppy for all of two seconds before he was up and happy again.
“I’m sure Grey is one of us,” Baer announced, moving on to an entirely new subject. At least this was one Clay was willing to tackle, even if he wasn’t sure he had the brainpower for it yet. If anything, it gave him something to think about besides Dane.
“Yeah, I kind of thought that last night too.”
Clay settled into a chair across from Baer and Grey. He could use a long, hot shower and a clean set of clothes, but one look at the eager expression on Baer’s face and he knew the man would follow him to the bathroom to discuss this. He could do without them sharing the bathroom with him.
“When I saw him running with you toward the Jeep last night, I swear I got the weirdest feeling of déjà vu. I know we’ve done this all before. Well, maybe not at that club, but the running together, the fighting together.” Baer rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward. “Even when we got back to the house, I felt like I knew him. Known him my whole life.”
“The same way you feel with me?”
Baer nodded.
Clay looked over at Grey, who had both hands wrapped around the dark-blue coffee mug resting on the table in front of him. A deep frown was pulling at the corners of his mouth and drawing lines between his thick eyebrows. Without the threat of death and destruction looming over their heads, Clay took a moment to actually look at the man. Gray hair highlighted his temples, and more of it flecked the closely trimmed beard lining his jaw and chin. He was paler than himself and Baer, as if he were more likely to spend long hours inside the house, but there was no missing the lean muscles that filled out his wrinkled button-down shirt. Maybe a swimmer. Or a runner.
“What do you think?” Clay prodded when Grey remained silent.
“That this is all stupid, ridiculous, and utterly impossible,” Grey grumbled. His hands tightened on his mug, but he didn’t lift it back to his mouth.
“But?”
“I can’t deny I have the same feeling of déjà vu with both of you. Something-something inside of me keeps claiming that I know.”
Clay glanced over at Baer. “Did you tell him?”
“Oh, he fucking told me so much,” Grey answered for him with a rough bark of laughter. “Powers and goddesses and other dimensions with alien monsters trying to kill us so they can destroy the world. I heard plenty last night.”
Closing his eyes, Clay pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. Yeah, that was pretty much how it all sounded. Insane and impossible. That was his life now to a T. Opening his eyes again, he stared at Baer. “And you told him all this stone-cold sober?”
Baer’s chest puffed up and he grinned broadly at his friend. “No!”
Clay rolled his eyes.
“I found that cheap bottle of whiskey we lost. I think Jo hid it. But anyway, we killed that bottle, and I explained about the pestilents, Weavers, and the Circle.”
Clay looked over at Grey, waiting for his response on how the hell he took this information while loaded up on cheap whiskey.
“And then he turned into an ostrich,” Grey said in a deadpan voice.
“I was trying for a peacock. Something flashy,” Baer commented in a low voice.
“Broke the coffee table.”
“I panicked!”
“You were drunk!” Clay shouted.
“Birds are hard,” Baer muttered under his breath, his eyes locked on his coffee mug in front of him in a pout.
God, he was too sober for this entire conversation, but it was too early to start drinking even if there was an ounce of alcohol to be found in the house. Which there wasn’t now with the whiskey gone. Clay took a couple of calming deep breaths before looking over at Grey. The man, by some insane miracle, looked perfectly pulled together and calm, which seemed unfair.
“And?”
“The ostrich was a little convincing. He also explained that last night’s freak earthquake wasn’t quite as unexpected as I thought.”
“Yes, well, everything will make more sense after a bit of breakfast and your powers,” a new voice said.
They all jumped and turned as one to find Jo leaning against the counter as she brought a mug of coffee to her lips. She was wearing a floral dress and an apron covered in colorful cats. Clay never saw her enter the kitchen, didn’t even hear her pour the coffee, but then she was a goddess. It wasn’t like she had to walk into the kitchen like the rest of them and actually go through the motions of getting coffee.