Queen of the Clueless #2 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 7

These were the things reported stolen to the Dean of Student Affairs:

A cellphone, barely two weeks old, reported by Saree Anderson. She noticed it missing at five o'clock, when she tried to call her driver to pick her up. She last used it at lunch, to post something on Twitter.

Three thousand pesos in cash, by Frankie Fuentes. He noticed it missing at lunch time, but knew he had it with him that morning.

Two pairs of silver earrings, by Mandy Cho. She bought them the day before, a pair for her and another for her friend, but then couldn't find them in the bag she had stashed in her locker.

It didn't sound like a lot, but these were the only ones that had been officially reported to the dean. Sol probably lost the most in the past few weeks, but she wasn't filling up paperwork on it.

I knew this for a fact not because of the Goddess Thing, but because I was alone with Diego inside the dean's office and I had the printouts of all the theft reports in front of me. Nothing from Sol.

"Do you want a beer?" Diego said, his head inside the small refrigerator in the corner of the room.

"No," I said automatically, then, "Why does the dean have beer in here?"

"His dirty little secret. Not that he has many. But this stealing thing is starting to bother him, because of that reality show."

"What reality show?"

"They're producing a show on cable about the school. Follow some students around, show what a nice place it is. He doesn't want it to become CSI."

Of course he didn't. Ford River was generally pretty to look at and peaceful to stay in. Apart from the stealing and students hanging out in the dean's office looking through his stuff. "I hope we don't get into trouble."

As soon as I said that, and because I got that withering look from him a moment later, I knew that was the wrong thing to say.

When you summon one of the gods, meaning one of those in Bathala's family of deities who rule over various aspects of life and the universe, and they actually take the time to respond to you, you kind of become their bitch.

Sorry, "devotee." You become devoted to them. When these deities are in human form, and they ask you to do something, chances are you will do it. Diego Simon, God of the Sea, also had power over that thing people do every day to feed and support themselves. The dean was obviously troubled about this turn of events at his school, and called upon the god who could help him. People did this without ever having to know a chant or a password; the instinct and the ability to do so had been around since the time of our ancestors, never mind that we no longer knew the gods' names.

Or that one of them was currently Ford River's most famous troublemaker.

So, as a devotee of Diego, the dean would not mind that we were in his office going through his stuff. He probably even welcomed it, and gave Diego the keys, and told him to help himself to the beer.

"Sorry," I said. "I still forget what the rules are sometimes."

"The only rule is that Father knows best," Diego said, head back in the refrigerator. "Everything else is negotiable."

I flipped through the theft reports again, trying to find a connection to Neil. Mandy was in my batch, but Saree and Frankie weren't. Frankie might have been one of Neil's friends, but I wasn't sure...

Just then the bell rang, which meant I was late for my next class.

"Don't go," Diego said, almost an order.

"I'm going to be late for history," I said.

"You honestly want to sit in a classroom when you could be getting our thief instead."

"There might be a test today," I countered, but meekly.

Diego laughed and headed for the door. "You're forgetting that you're one of us now, New Girl. You have a job, and it's not to take history tests."

Why was I even taking history anyway? I was a psych major, for crying out loud.

And I did want to get that guy, if Neil was actually the thief. Sol could be spending her time on homework, on finishing her double major. Even making a sandwich was a more productive use of her time, instead of worrying about the creep.