Page 40

Chapter 40

Andy

T he next day, I was grudgingly up at the break of day. Sometimes—like last night—I felt like my life was divinely blessed. Other times—like this morning—I was sure I was being punished just for existing.

I glanced at the twins, who were just sitting down to breakfast, chattering to Zhong and Niamh about the wind spell Dyre had taught them yesterday—they’d used it to blow the biggest bubbles I’d ever seen. It was nice to see our children learning strong, important magic, while still getting to be kids at the same time. Maybe they wouldn’t end up as fucked up as their adoptive parents after all. And maybe my life wasn’t a divine punishment… possibly.

“Ready?” I asked, focusing my attention on Dyre and Aahil, who stood at my side by the front door.

“Stop procrastinating,” Aahil said with a little lift of his chin. “We’ve been ready, witch. You’re the one dragging her feet and sending those disgustingly gooey looks everywhere.”

But I saw the way his eyes flicked toward the homey scene at the table, where Hasumi was now pouring maple syrup over towers of perfect golden waffles. Aahil was such a bad liar.

Sighing, I put my hand on the doorhandle and called on my magic, linking it to the spell the cleaners had placed on the house. Sometimes I regretted bargaining with the weird interdimensional beings. Sure, they could have destroyed the pocket world where we were hiding, and us along with it. But did I really have to agree to their terms? We were safe. We could travel wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. No one had access to us unless we wanted them to, which was nice, now that we had become infamous across the realms. But it came with the annoying responsibility of putting out political fires and stomping out any hint of evil or unrest when called upon to do so. Annoying.

The magic buzzed beneath my fingertips, and I twisted the fancy new doorknob to the right. A soul-deep click resonated inside me, and I knew the house had moved. “Come on,” I said on a sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”

Opening the door, I stepped out onto a busy sidewalk in Magea. Dyre and Aahil followed me, and the door snicked shut behind us. Glancing back, I saw not the Lovell Mansion, but an unassuming two-story brick shop. The display in the window said, “This week only! All crystals 50% off!”

Ugh. “That is still so weird,” I muttered, turning away and heading down the sidewalk.

Dyre nodded. “I still can’t work it all out,” he murmured. “But the magic is astounding.”

I knew it bugged him that he couldn’t work out the mechanics of the traveling pocket dimension—or whatever it was the cleaners had done to allow us to be their “agents of peace” in the realms. But I was just glad we were alive and free. Or, mostly free.

“Yes, yes,” Aahil drawled in a bored voice. “It’s all very interesting. Buy me a pastry before we have to go scare the power-hungry old men.” He pointed imperiously at a nearby shop that had a window display of mouthwatering treats, then arched an expectant brow at Dyre.

The cold, intimidating necromancer with the ancient wraith inside him looked Aahil up and down, then… sighed and led the way toward the shop, muttering something to himself about the dangers of rewarding bad behavior.

Aahil winked at me and took my arm in his as we trailed after Sunshine and Dyre.

Dyre held the door open for us a little while later, a box full of pastries balanced in his other hand, and an indulgent look on his face. Aahil went up on tiptoes to kiss my cheek, then happily started humming as he led the way to our destination, where we’d intimidate some old witches who were experimenting with bad magic and probably make them piss themselves.

I revised my assessment of the day. My life was pretty perfect. Maybe the goddess really did love me. I sent a silent prayer to her, thanking her for the day I’d found the bestiary in that dusty old box of Lovell garbage.

It turns out my evil family had done me a favor. They had brought me to the people I loved. The family I’d never dreamed of, but had needed all along.

“Hurry up, witch!” Aahil nagged, snapping me out of my reverie. “I want to set someone on fire so we can go home.”

Laughing, I took the pastry he held out to me, and hurried to catch up.