Page 24

“Wow. Aren’t you guys sweet. I’m sure Yule celebrations here are a blast,” I mutter.

I make no move to get up and focus on the punctures. Sparky swoops back to me for the assist. The sooner I’m rid of killer gnome STDs, the better.

The wounds spit out what looks like black seeds that make my skin crawl, then smooth over.

“Problem solved. No going out of sight necessary,” I smile grimly, and the spark returns to bouncing all over the yard.

I cross my legs and sit up straight, elbows propped on my knees.

All three males look shocked and incapable of speech.

“Come on, guys,” I snap my fingers in front of me. “Why were there reporters here? Why did they not mention it online if they followed the story?”

Grant shakes his head and stares at me in wonder. “They weren’t here to cover Laverne going missing - “

“At first,” Blondie interrupts.

“They were here to interview her newest hex technique,” Grant finishes with a glare over his shoulder.

“OK,” I nod with a frown. “So she was something special.”

“Our wife is amazing,” Red snaps defensively.

“Wait, all three of you?” I ask in surprise.

They stare at me blankly.

“Humans prefer monogamy,” Grant mutters over his shoulder.

“Because they have enough females to promote it,” Red sneers back.

“Wait, wait, we’re getting off track,” I try to reel the curiosity in for a second. “So she gets interviewed. Then what?”

“Then the reporters started hounding her. It got so bad we,” Grant gestures to the lawn gnomes.

“Why would they hound her? She already gave an interview, right?”

“She wouldn’t name the other Witch that helped make the technique work,” Grant sighs.

“And they decided to beat down her door to find out? What did this hex do?”

“It isn’t what it did. It’s how she pieced it together,” Blondie frowns.

I swirl two fingers to get them to spill it.

“She and the other Witch made the hex casting possible fromanywhere,” Grant says, getting a little excited about it.

“Okay? What’s so great about that?”

The three stare at me in disgust.

“Humans,” Red snaps.

“I don’t think she’s Human,” Blondie frowns.

“A hex has to be face to face. You may not see it coming, but the target has to be in sight,” Grant explains. “Lavie made a hex that can be donewithoutbeing insight. She could look at a photograph and send it to a target, animate or inanimate.”

“What did it do?” I ask. So far, I’ve been hit with infections and rot. I’m not sure I want to know what this one did.