Page 46 of Take You Home

Ez’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’ve never tried Churrería before? Obie, have you even been feeding him?”

“I’ve beentryingto feed him,” Obie says defensively. “Not my fault he’s a homebody who hasn’t tried every food truck in Redwater yet.”

“I’m not even gonna argue with you there,” Chester says, practically inhaling his churros.

Roma’s lips twitch. “Glad we can convert someone else to the religion of Churrería,” she says, leaning forward. “So Ez said you have a spellcasting challenge for us? I could use the distraction from these stupid human-magic rifts.”

Chester almost drops his churro.“Human-magic rifts?”

Damn it, Gutierrez.Hastily, Obie jumps in. “Still nothing on that front, huh?”

Roma scowls. “Not even a little bit. Translating interdimensionality from demon magic to human magic is nearly impossible.”

“We’ll figure it out eventually,” Ez says firmly. “I mean, we thought human-magic glamours were impossible until recently, right?”

“Well, yeah, they’repossible,”Roma says. “But they’re still not that good.”

“Only you could be dissatisfied that your entirely new subset of magic isn’t perfect within literal weeks of creating it,” Obie says.

“In any case,” Chester says, taking a long gulp of his chocolate, “Obie has a spellcasting challenge for you, yes. I’m just along for the ride.”

“He’s lying,” Obie informs Ez and Roma. “He was very excited when I mentioned hanging out with you and specifically asked if he could come with me. Said he couldn’t wait to see you again.”

“I did not!” Chester says defensively. “Not that you aren’t, you know, great and everything, but‍?—‍”

Roma rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry, Kyle. Messing with people is how Obie shows affection.”

Chester blinks twice, startled, and vividly, Obie remembers what he told Chester when Chester complained about the fake-dating scheme.

I was just messing with you, Locke.

Obie cuts in before either of them can think too hard about that memory. “In any case,” he says, “Kyle is… somewhat involved in this story.”

Chester looks taken aback. “Obie‍?—‍”

“A dumbass friend of his tried to pre-cast a complex spell,” Obie interrupts, “and, as you can probably guess, it went horribly wrong.”

Ez and Roma both groan in unison. “Seriously?” Roma asks, burying her face in her hands.“Seriously?I swear, pre-casting is the absoluteworstthing spellcasters have ever invented.”

“I mean, it has its usessometimes,”Ez says diplomatically, “but not often. What kind of spell was it?”

“Um…” Chester fidgets. “It was, uh, a binding spell.”

Ez stiffens. “Abindingspell? Like the ones summoners use on neophyte demons?”

Roma’s eyes narrow. “Who’s this friend of yours, Kyle?”

Chester looks like a deer caught in headlights. Once again, Obiejumps in to defuse the tension. “No, it’s not like that. His friend was trying to do some kind of BDSM thing with his partner.”

Chester chokes. Roma looks even more incredulous. “ABDSMthing?Really?”

“Unfortunately,” Obie says.

Ez rolls her eyes, but to Obie’s relief, she doesn’t look suspicious anymore. “Doesn’t sound very safe, sane, or consensual to me.”

“Well, we all know humans are stupid.”

“Hey,”Chester and Roma say at the same time.