Page 18 of Hexual Healing
“This isn't over!”she shrieked, pointing a shaky finger at us.Or trying to.The house chose that moment to slam a window shutter, making her flinch.“I'll be back!And when I am…”
The garden hose turned on by itself and sprayed her in the face.
She stood there, dripping, her mouth opening and closing like a fish who'd just received shocking news about its parentage.Then, with as much dignity as she could muster while soaking wet and covered in lawn debris, she turned and stalked away.
Well, tried to stalk.The ground had other ideas.Every step she took, the earth seemed to grab at her designer heels.By the time she reached the tree line, she'd face-planted twice and lost a shoe.
“Should we…follow her?”I asked.
“No,” Baz said, his hand finding my shoulder.The touch sent literal sparks racing down my arm.“She'll be back.But not tonight.She needs to recover her pride first.”
A creak from above made us all look up.The house settled with what sounded distinctly like satisfaction.
“Did you know you could do that?”Baz asked me.
“I didn't even know houses had feelings,” I said weakly.“Is your cabin…sentient?”
“Not before today.”He looked around at the destruction, furniture scattered everywhere, scorch marks on the walls, that sad half-door still trying its best to glow up.“But I think you changed that.”
“I'm sorry about your house,” I said with a voice full of regret.My post-battle high faded into the classic look-what-I-fucked-up-now feeling I was much more used to.
“Are you kidding?”He turned to me.His eyes were bright with something dangerously close to delight.“My house just won a fight with a dragon.This is the best day ever.”
The ceiling creaked in what sounded like agreement.
“We should probably ward better,” Gary suggested.“Before she comes back with her pride taped together.”
“Can't,” I said, gesturing at my hands, which were still sparking randomly.“My magic's gone completely feral.I might hex us all into oblivion.”
“Or,” Baz said thoughtfully, “you might hex something useful again.”
“That's a terrible idea.”
“It worked once.”
“By accident!”
“So have another accident.”
I stared at him.He stared back, completely serious despite the blood still seeping through his torn shirt and the fact we'd just been sneak-attacked by my dragon ex in his suddenly sentient cabin.
“You're insane,” I told him.
“I'm practical.Your chaos magic just defeated a dragon.We should probably lean into that.”
A suspiciously familiar picture frame fell off the wall and bonked him gently on the head.
“I think the house agrees with me,” he said, rubbing the spot.
I looked around at the destruction, at Gary making himself comfortable on the one free-standing shelf that had somehow survived unscathed, at Baz standing there bleeding and grinning as if Christmas had come early.The curse in my chest pulsed with heat, reminding me that this was far from over.But for just this moment, I could relish the fact we'd won.
Sort of.
If you could call getting your ex-girlfriend yeeted by architecture and giving you at least one day’s reprieve a win.
“She's going to be so pissed,” I muttered.
“Good,” Baz said.“Angry dragons are sloppy dragons.”