Page 9 of Magical Midlife Rescue (Leveling Up #11)

I knew way too much about watches now, but I didn’t like what the mages had chosen for me in L.A.

Their pick just didn’t seem like me . Neither did that ridiculous dress and those stupid gloves.

They had a vision for what I should be in their world, but I wasn’t a part of that world.

I wasn’t a mage, just like I wasn’t a shifter.

I was even having a hard time fitting in with the gargoyles, which I was supposed to be.

If I were forced to stand apart, I’d do it my way.

I’d choose my own dress code, I’d choose my own watch, and, now that I’d learned mages were starting to care about cars, I’d choose my own transportation, too.

This new life was supposed to be about my fresh start, and I wouldn’t trade that because extreme weirdness creeped mages out.

Honestly, I could “weird” in my sleep. My crew greatly helped with that.

I didn’t need a stupid dress to prove it.

Patty held up a large box with a reinforced bottom and corners. She wove around the furniture to deposit it on the coffee table. Her expression was delighted and expectant.

I threaded my fingers together, looking at it. “A…connection req?—”

“ A connection request ,” she practically yelled at me, bouncing up and down.

Tristan sat forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “That’s good news.”

“That is very good news,” Patty said. “Open it up—let’s see if he has good taste.”

The lid of the box came away to reveal a heavily wrapped object inside. Wood secured it, and Styrofoam kept it from bumping into its supports. Tristan stood to help as Patty pulled out an envelope. She handed it over with barely contained excitement.

“I’ve looked into him,” she said as I opened it. “Top guardian in his cairn, of course , but also noted to be kind and generous. He worked up to lead enforcer quickly and protected the cairn against several raids. I have his stats here, somewhere, let me see…”

Dear Miss Ironheart,

My name is Evan, the new leader of the Nikken cairn. I believe you met my predecessor, Withor.

I wanted to personally thank you for bringing to light the treatment of my cousin.

More importantly, I wanted to express my utmost gratitude for trying to help her in her time of need.

She informed me that several other people knew about her situation, inside the cairn and out, but no one raised the red flag or, when the situation became clear to her, tried to step in.

You alone did that, even though it would hurt your standing with this cairn and within the community to do so.

I’ve seen all of your correspondence, including your most recent threat. If not for you, I might not have had the courage to take on someone of Withor’s stature. My cousin and I owe you a debt of gratitude.

Please accept this formal connection request as the gift I mean it to be. It is a production cairn newly established and recently acquired. Their work speaks for itself. I asked them to create something fit for a female gargoyle. I think it is their best work yet.

Warm regards,

Evan Smithenson

Controller for Nikken Cairn

“That’s sweet,” I said as Patty passed off a piece of paper to Tristan.

She then reached for the letter I held. I gave it to her before standing to see the wrapped gift. It had been taken from the box and set on its own. I pulled the wrapping away, then sucked in a breath.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” I sighed.

The object was a stunning, handcrafted glass sculpture shaped like a large bowl but with parts of the sides pulled up artistically.

The form was dynamic and fluid, with a wavy shape that gave it a sense of movement.

The glass itself showed multicolored, vibrant swirls with hues of amber, gold, purple, pink, and blue.

It created a captivating, iridescent effect when it caught the light.

It was delicate yet bold, stunning and sophisticated, with an almost luminous quality that did remind me of my gargoyle form.

I didn’t care what Naomi said—this was absolutely going to be shown off in Ivy House.

“Oh, Jessie, look ,” Patty said in awe, her eyes wide as she took it in.

“Very classy,” Tristan noted, putting the piece of paper Patty had handed him on the coffee table. “If nothing else, we’ll want to establish trade with them. Oh, and there’s another envelope,” he said, pointing to a plain white one beside the box. “It was at the bottom of the package.”

Patty scooped it up and looked at the front. “Not addressed to Jessie.” She started to open it. Finders keepers, apparently.

Tristan grunted before setting down the letter.

“He’s certainly new to the post. That letter is too ass-kissy for a cairn leader of Withor’s stature, but it seems genuine.

He’s going about this the right way, and not just because Jessie will respond well to his touching sentiments.

I wonder if he knew that, or if his personality will match up well with hers… ”

Patty held up what looked like documents with an I told you so expression. Tristan took them without a word.

“What is that?” I asked, leaning over his arm to look. He didn’t move away, which meant he was thinking like a gargoyle right now, not a shifter.

“He’s rescinded all the grievances that Withor filed against you.” Tristan put the documents on top of the letter and leaned back. “That’s his way of saying he wants to start fresh.”

“He surely knows all he can about Jessie,” Patty said, busying herself with cleaning up the box and packaging.

“And he might’ve gone with the touching angle, as you said, because of that.

But his letter was genuine, you can tell.

He wants to thank her, he wants to meet her, and he’ll have an open mind about her and the things she has to say. ”

“I agree,” Tristan said. “His newness will work for us. He won’t be as inclined to dig in his heels.

He also has a grace period within his new post. His status and that of the cairn will be frozen for a time so that he can make adjustments and settle in.

It would be best to meet him within that window—that way, he won’t feel so much pressure.

He could ally with us on a temporary basis to see how it benefits him without fear that it’ll tank his status. ”

“How much time do we have?” I asked.

“A couple months. It’ll make things tough because of the shifter situation, but getting another big cairn to ally with us would be a huge boost to your status.

He must know that Khaavalor has joined with us, and that they participated in a battle that the whole community is intrigued about.

We are a battle species, after all, and gargoyles want blood and victory.

We thrive on it. They all want a piece of the action, but the politics involved are scaring away most of the midsized and smaller cairns.

Gimerel is obviously still against us. Solgid has gone silent about it, but they haven’t pulled their grievances against you.

That’s them saying they’ll side with Gimerel…

for now. If we can get Nikken, and get Gimerel out of the way, then we could turn the tide. ”

“And if we can turn the tide, we can open up trading with all of them.” I tapped my knee.

Our production cairns were producing at incredible rates, thanks to the money Austin and Ivy House jointly put into them, working out of warehouses and anywhere else we could put them.

Their occupants were living all over the place while we bought land and started on plans and permits to build more housing, but it didn’t stop their hard work.

We had storage facilities filled with top-quality products and storefronts going up within the territory and online.

Once sales from that came in, we would expand.

Setting up trade with the other cairns wasn’t our top priority.

We were eager to tap into the Dick and Jane markets, which encompassed mages and shifters and anyone with a foot in the mundane world, but eventually, we wanted to bring the cairns into the twenty-first century with us.

We’d first establish trade with them, and either they would sell to Dicks and Janes, or we’d treat them as wholesalers and resell their items accordingly.

We’d all profit, and everyone would benefit.

When Austin did something, he didn’t do it by halves. The sky was the limit. Fuck I loved that man. The alpha network were idiots if they didn’t see his incredible value.

Good status within the gargoyle community would accomplish so much. We did need to meet that new leader.

We also had a bunch of other stuff going on and not enough time to do it all.

“Okay.” I stood, ready for the next thing. Tristan checked his watch as he stood with me. “Let’s send a thank-you note for the gift. Let’s not call it a connection request. Is that possible?”

Tristan and Patty both looked at me in confusion.

“We don’t have time to wait for them to come here, and we certainly don’t have time to entertain them.

We need to get on the road. I don’t want to advertise the fact that we’ll be gone, though, or they might send someone to attack us, or the mages might, or who knows anymore.

So, let’s thank them and send a connection request of our own.

Something…” I paused. “No, I shouldn’t be the one picking it out.

Damn it, I really need Sebastian. He’s perfect at picking out gifts.

” I looked around for the encrypted phone, as though it followed me from room to room.

“Tristan,” I said, “make a note…in the diary, I guess, to send Sebastian a message. We’ll ask them to look into this new dude and come up with something he’ll love.

Something that will fit his new post within the cairn.

Something thoughtful but, like… chic . I don’t know. I’m not good at this stuff.”

“I can ask,” he said dubiously, and I knew what he was hinting at.

Most of my messages went unanswered. Almost all, as a matter of fact.

It was like speaking into the void. I still tried occasionally, hoping to remind Sebastian and Nessa that we were here for them, and there was no reason to brave the darkness alone, but I didn’t think I was getting through.

I nodded and thanked Patty for her good work before I exited the room.

“Look at that,” Tristan said, following me. “A hair early. You don’t need a schedule keeper at all.”

“That’s only because you scared Edgar away. Otherwise, he’d be waiting at the front door for me. I do need to go over the latest flowers, though I can’t fathom why he keeps creating different ones. There’s hardly a difference between versions X and…eight, or whatever we’re up to.”

Fire seared the grounds way out in the wood, hot and spreading fast.

I sighed. “Cyra is going to be late to practice.”