Page 94 of Moonlight Hearts

Soyer narrowed his eyes at me.“Amory.What did I tell you?”

“Oh, I know that tone!”Elias raised his knitting.He’d made a whole entire square that was, well,square.“Mr.Bennet, won’t you ask me too?”

Simeon chuckled.Soyer opened his mouth, but I covered it with my hand.

“Sorry, but he’s only allowed to talk to me that way,” I said.

Elias pouted at me.“This is just like all the chocolate milkshakes you didn’t make me, which is cruel!Amory, I was in jail!”

Laura perked up at that.“Are you a shady person?Dwayne says I have to talk to him about shady people.”

Simeon laughed.“Well, pet, let’s see how you get out of this.”

“I am not shady, Laura!You have to believe me.Ah, my reputation is ruined like a soft peach left out to rot in the sun!”

Valentin pulled out his wallet.“Little one, I believe it’s time to pay you.”

Laura lifted her chin and attempted a regal nod.“’Kay, but you can’t have my knitting needles.”

Elias pouted.“Then you must tell me how to finish this.I will take it back home with me and think on this wonderful lesson while I spend my time in—”

“Grounded,” I said to Laura.“Elias got grounded.I think he took a phone that wasn’t his.”

Valentin and Simeon cackled.

Elias gasped.“I would never!My cruel jailors have blackened my name!Honored teacher, I am saintly in all my pursuits.Thievery is not one of my pursuits.”

“Now that’s a tall tale,” Soyer said.

Laura shrugged.“I just need my needles, but I’m not five.I know grown-ups don’t get grounded.”

Valentin put a hand on Elias’s shoulder.“Sometimes grown-ups exaggerate.”

Elias put a hand to his heart.“Never in mylifehave I ever exaggerated, not even once!”

Soyer sighed.“Let’s get the juicer running.Maybe the vodka will level him out.”

Frankly, I wasn’t holding my breath, but I wasn’t going to crush the high hopes Soyer had for his vodka.

Soyer, as it turned out, enjoyed the juicer.So did Laura.She watched beetroots and apples become a colorful mush while the equally colorful juice was extracted, her eyes getting bigger and bigger.

“It looks like a potion!”

Soyer added a carrot to the machine.“It probably is.Do you want to try it?”

She nodded at him, her eyes big, and Soyer got her a champagne glass of healthy juice.It was entirely too adorable, and any case he might want to make to me of being an evil assassin died at the sight of him taking care of a little girl.

A knock on the door pulled me away from watching them move on to more adventurous juice potions.Out in the hallway, I greeted Dwayne, Rae, and two teenagers.All of them were carrying plates covered in foil.

“Found these guys in the foyer,” Dwayne said.“It’s a big foyer.Weird doorman though.”

I stepped aside to let everyone in.“You mean Jules?What did he do?”

One of the girls with Rae cleared her throat.She was blonde and blue-eyed, carrying two pies, one in each hand, and was dressed in a very neat dress that went past her knees.

“Jules was just trying to be helpful, Mr.Saintclair.Thank you for extending the invitation to me.My uncle Atkins says to give you these pies as greetings and well-wishes from the pack.Apple and pumpkin.My auntie made them.She’s the best baker in the entire pack.”

While Dwayne was walking inside, I took the offered pies.“Okay?You’re not Rae’s sibling, then.”