Page 5

“I don’t have to eat that, do I?”

She shook her head, then waved the drippy twig over my head. “Just sit still. This’ll just take a sec.”

Etienne stood behind me, hands on my shoulders, steadying me as if he thought levitation was a possibility as Jocko had suggested.

“Is it safe?” he whispered, as if speaking louder would ruin the spell.

“It’s a diagnostic,” Violet said. “Think of it as a magical blood test, only with less needles and more jazz hands.”

I winced as a drop of the oily mashed mess splattered on the top of my head. “Will it make me feel better?”

She shrugged. “No promises. But it should let us know what this magic around you is.”

I felt more oil drip on my head. “I hope so.”

She closed her eyes and chanted something that sounds like a line from a Cajun lullaby. In my peripheral vision, I saw a purple glow. I knew it was Violet’s magic working with the spell.The soft glow was not enough to light up the room, but definitely enough to make Jocko’s shell shimmer like a disco ball.

He popped up from under the water and basked in the light. “Look at me! I am beautiful!”

“Shut up, crustacean,” Violet said, and then fixed her full focus on me.

The magic felt like a cold drizzling rain splashing over me, starting at my temples. Or maybe it was just the herby oil running down my face. Then a tingle, like the moment just before you sneeze, hit me. Except all over and all at once. I wanted to move or maybe scream, but instead I just sat there, shuddering, while Etienne’s thumbs pressed gentle circles against my neck.

Then it was over. Violet’s eyes snapped open, and she fell heavily onto the stool next to me.

“What the—” she started, then cut herself off. She gaped at me, then at Etienne, then at me again, blinking so fast it was a miracle she didn’t take flight.

“Okay. That was unexpected.” She grabbed a kitchen towel from the island and wiped her palms as if she’d just handled a live wire.

Etienne’s voice was soft and very, very nervous. “What is wrong with her?”

Violet chewed her bottom lip. “Well, it’s not food poisoning. Or a hex. It’s more like…” she trailed off, searching for a word, then blurted, “Mally, you are pregnant.”

The room did that strange, surreal thing where time splits. Half of me was frozen in place, hearing the sentence echo off the hardwood floors and mahogany cabinets, while the other half of me is already floating upward, the queasy swirl replaced by a high, thin dizziness.

“P-pregnant?” Etienne repeated, his accent stretching the word like taffy.

I looked over my shoulder at him, then down at my own body, which has not changed at all except maybe to go back to a slightly shade of green.

“Are you sure?” I asked Violet, my voice barely above a whisper.

Violet nodded her head, her eyes are huge and bright. “Unless you’ve eaten something that is now living inside you, then yeah. That’s a baby in there.”

Etienne was laughing and crying at the same time, which is new, but weirdly adorable. He lifted me off the stool and spun me in a circle, which was probably a very dangerous thing to do given my already green pallor. But honestly feels, for a second, like the best ride at Six Flags.

When he finally set me down, his hands cupped my face, and he was grinning so wide, I almost forgot any nausea. “We’re having a baby, chérie,” he said.

“A baby?” I said, dumbly, and immediately regret it. “But—how? I mean, yes, I know how, but—didn’t we?—?”

Violet cut in, “Contraceptive magic only foolproof if both parties are from the same taxonomic kingdom. Which, fun fact, you two are not.”

Jocko shook his head. “Should’ve read the warning label, mon petit.”

I placed my hand on my stomach, as if expecting a drumroll, or maybe a tiny kick, but there’s only the familiar churning of—morning sickness? “Is it normal to feel this sick?”

Violet’s voice is gentle now, healer-mode in full effect. “It’s not normal. But you’re not normal. Your body’s basically a cauldron of fairy, witch, and werewolf genes. That’s a lot of enzymes. I wouldn’t be surprised if your kid comes out so magical he or she glows in the dark.”

Etienne’s whole face shone. “It will be the most beautiful child in all of New Orleans.”