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“Are ya sure the beings in yer staff are cowards? Maybe they’re being prudent. Mine do things without telling me. Sure, I’m figuring out their motives now, so they can’t get by with that shit anymore. I probably should have turned the Dagda stone into a beautiful amulet. Ya should see what Dylan did with his animal stone.”

“Aran, stop. You are making my headache worse. Soon, I will retch again.”

I tried a different question. “How did Conn make you sick?”

Her shoulder scooted against the tiles as she squirmed. “High demon gave me baby.”

My head rolled until I stared down at her.“A baby? Are ya sure?”

“No. I only suspect for now. I am afraid to know truth. I too am a coward,” Mulan said in a tiny voice.

“Have ya taken a test?” I asked.

Mulan turned her pale cheek and pressed it against the cold floor tiles. “Why would fifty-year-old woman have baby test lying around? No. I have no baby test.”

I chuckled. “Ya can’t blame me for asking. Ya keep all kinds of strange woman stuff in yer purse. Fiona keeps a baby test inthe bathroom. My body is not in the baby business anymore, or I’d have one. Want me to see if any of the female demons have a test?”

“Demons just know about babies. They don’t need test.”

I reached out and ran a hand over her hair. “If ya told Conn, maybe he could tell ya.”

“No,” Mulan said flatly. “Not until I know. He is too worried for you. I don’t want him to worry about baby if I only ate bad sushi.”

I blinked. “When did ya eat sushi? According to Conn, we’re not allowed to go out.”

“I do not have demon chefs. I make my own sushi. I cook most food Conn and I eat.”

Well, that was good news. “Ya didn’t tell me ya could make sushi. I love sushi. Maybe ya can teach me.”

Mulan snorted, then laughed. “I say demon put baby in me, and you want to talk about food.”

“We can talk about anything ya want. I’m here because I was worried about ya.”

“How can I be mother, Aran? I am too old.”

“Not for a magickal. And Conn says ya’re the equivalent of thirty. Thirty-year-olds have babies all the time.” Mulan was quiet for so long that I thought she’d fallen asleep. “Are ya freaked out about it?”

“Yes. Do you think shaman staff knows?”

I shrugged, but she wasn’t looking at me. The stone seemed to know everything about me. Why wouldn’t her staff?

“It probably knows,” I said.

She twisted until she could look up into my face. “Will you check for me? Staff talks to you. It ignores me.”

What were magickal besties for if not to chastise yer magickal tools when they didn’t behave? “Sure. Stay right here until I return. If ya're up for it, I'll help ya to bed and do anothertreatment. It should stave off the sickness long enough for ya to rest.”

I got to my feet to do as Mulan asked. The main house was hotel-esque, but the cottages were small and nearly identical. Each one had a tiny coat closet in the hallway. It was unquestionably the gloomiest spot in the house.

I opened the door and grinned when I found the shaman’s staff leaning in a corner. Mulan had pulled a fuzzy, bright pink sock over the top end with the turtle shells.

The moment I touched it, the staff snapped to attention. I brought it out into the hallway with me and practically felt it sigh in relief. My connection to it was stronger than it had ever been.

I held up the sock with one hand and shook the staff with the other while the tiny, turtle shells clacked. Then, I brought the two together to make sure there was no mistake about me being willing to put the sock right back on.

My head was killing me from arguing with the men in my life, so I decided to just talk out loud instead ofthinkingat the staff.

“This is yer one chance to redeem yerselves. The normally fierce Wu Shaman is lying on the floor of her bathroom and crying because she’s very sick. Why didn’t ya tell her that she was pregnant? Her feelings are hurt that ya stopped talking to her.”