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I look over at Mal as I pass him to join Mitri. “I’m never going to doubt your bad moods again. You deserve a raise.”

He rears back in surprise at the statement.

Mitri opens the front door and pauses on the threshold.“Show me where the hexes are.”

“Sure. No more shooting right next to my ears, though,” I grab his hand, and the spark returns to work.

The first level of the house doesn’t seem touched at first. Then, the spark bounces off the skylight, and I look up. Directly on the glass is a colossal hex. It looks as if someone shoe-polished it up there. The sun’s rays cast a shadow that hits directly onto the table in the center of the room.

“Giant hex on the glass,” I tell Mal, pointing up as we walk around it. As long as it doesn’t activate, we should be fine. But how do they activate?

“If you walk in its shadow or touch it in any way, it will activate,”Mitri stares above us, studying the symbol.

“I don’t see anything,” Mal frowns as he looks up.

I’m not sure if it will work, but I offer him a hand as a kind of peace offering. “You might not see anything, but you can try what Mitri’s doing?”

Mal gives me a level-one scowl, “My touch will burn you.”

“No, it won’t, drama queen. I can hold a hot rock if I want to.” I roll my eyes.

He indignantly strides forward as if he’s about to prove himself right. He clasps my hand and seems surprised when I don’t start screaming. I was tempted to, but I don’t want to support his delusions.

His skin is hot, like an electric blanket set to max, and his hand is large enough to completely engulf mine.

He shakes off his shock and looks around. His scowl turns to a level three when he looks at the sunroof. “I don’t see anything.”

Well, shit. I thought I was giving him an olive branch of semi-trust butnooooooo. He thinks I’m insane now. Even though I am, and it’s obvious. Great strides in friendship, Beatrice.

“Sorry, I thought it would work,” I wince and roll a shoulder in a shrug. I try to take back my hand, but he doesn’t let go.

“Wait,” he barks out, and I freeze in place at the tone, preparing for the worst. “It’s right in the center of the glass? The shadow of it is on the table. I can see it now.”

“Oh, oh, I wanna see!” Kimi comes from around Mal and grabs my shoulder.

Ben immediately jerks him away from me and stands at my back with a snarl.

“What?” Kimi throws his hands up in a dramatic shrug. “Where’smylove? Mal choked her, you know. Bark at him.”

Ben ignores him and places both hands on my shoulders with a frown. “I don’t see anything.”

“No more delays,” Mitri says, setting the basket on the floor. He digs out a bundle of sage for each of us and lights them with a fancy silver lighter that looks old enough to be in a gallery somewhere.

I can’t help my snort of laughter, “If you were an exhibit in a museum, what do you think your nameplate would be?”

“Homicidous maximus,” Kimi quips back and juggles his sage as it smokes.

“Cursed doll,” Ben adds and holds the sage away from him with a grimace.

“Almawtalsaamit,” Mal grumbles.

“That sounds exotic,” I nod to Mal with a smile. His eyes narrow in return as if he isn’t sure how to respond when someone is being friendly.

I tried to be friendly. All that energy is gone now. I give up. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow after my social battery is recharged.

“Which do you prefer, Mitri? It’s your exhibit, after all,” I tug his hand as he pulls us all towards the doorway leading down. I belatedly notice that I didn’t get a sage bundle. Mitri and Mal both hold my hands like we’re all kids afraid to be separated.

“Tvoya,” he replies with no inflection. Mal’s language is more fluid, like a poem, while Mitri’s is rough around the edges. I would have thought it would be the other way around with their attitudes.