Page 5

Bree

T he next morning, the smell of freshly brewed coffee drifted into the living room, where I had finally fallen asleep. Ah, such a glorious smell to wake up to.

For some unknown but absolutely evil reason, Frankie had never kept a coffee pot back at her place or the gym.

Enjoying the delicious drink had always required a special trip to a nearby coffee shop rather than a push of a button at home in my pajamas.

Not to mention it was far less expensive to brew at home.

Calvin was the true angel.

I winced as I sat up, my body sore from head to foot. Not just from the fights or the lumpy couch, though. Not completely.

No, this pain was as much from my never-ending exhaustion as it was from physical tasks. No amount of sleep or rest seemed to help, and I often wondered if this was how new mothers felt. I could understand why sleep deprivation was used as a method of torture.

I stretched my arms above my head, groaning as everything popped and cracked, then padded into the kitchen, still rubbing sleep from my eyes.

Calvin leaned against the laminate counter, holding a steaming mug in one hand and an old hardcover book in the other. He was a book lover just like me, but his books were almost always for work, including this one: Rare Cryptids in the 21st Century .

I hoped he got his big break soon. The GIG was proving their ineptitude by not recognizing his innate talent for wizardry. I was so thankful I didn’t have to deal with office politics on top of everything else in my life, even if that sort of job came with benefits.

Calvin’s thick, wavy blond hair was as unruly as ever, which is why he kept it short despite us begging him to grow it out. His hair was the envy of women everywhere, but he always claimed it would get in the way when he was in the field.

According to him, ponytails were too difficult to learn, and man buns weren’t his "thing."

He tilted his head to the side, and I noticed he’d tucked his wand behind his ear like a pencil. "Coffee’s still hot."

"Thanks." I grabbed a clean mug from a hook under the upper cabinet and added two sugar cubes before filling it from the carafe. I didn’t need much, but straight black was still too much for my tastes. "Hey, can I get your help with something?"

"Sure. What kind of something?" Behind glasses he wore everywhere except the gym, his dark hazel eyes never left his book. He flipped to the book’s next page with his thumb, still scanning the text.

"Siren stuff."

Immediately, he slammed the text shut and met my gaze. Eagerness lit up his youthful face. "Always."

Calvin was a literal lifesaver. After leaving Subliminal in an unexpected rush, Marissa and I realized we had nowhere to go. A spur-of-the-moment decision had me message the wizard, asking if he knew of anyone with a couch or even a floor we could crash on for a night or two.

Without hesitation, he’d offered us his home. He’d tried to give me his bed, but I’d adamantly refused. The guy was being nice enough just letting us stay here for free. I didn’t need to take his bed too.

We were so lucky to have him on our side. He’d also cast a not-quite-legal spell that protected us from being discovered by anyone trying to find us, by Gifted or non-Gifted means.

Even when Marissa was at school, we were virtually untraceable. If anyone not enrolled or employed by the school asked about her there, the spell would activate, temporarily removing their memories of her.

Magic could be pretty awesome sometimes.

With his knowledge of all things Gifted thanks to his job at the GIG—not to mention his obsession with research—he might be able to help us with these talismans.

If nothing else, he would enjoy learning more about siren magic.

I felt less guilty knowing he was getting something out of this arrangement.

"Our talismans seem to be struggling." I blew on my coffee, sending wisps of steam dancing into the air. "Scales showed up on my arm last night during a fight, and Marissa has some on her chest."

As I showed him my arm and the slight amount of webbing growing between my fingers, his eyes narrowed in thought.

While he didn’t know everything about our past and who we really were, we’d revealed our siren nature to Calvin shortly after we moved in. Well, more like he walked in on Marissa and her tail in the bathtub after she’d taken off her talisman.

We could laugh about it now, but it was quite a chaotic scene back then. The entire bathroom had gotten soaked in her panic at being caught topless. Tail be darned, in her mind; it was the naked part that had her frantic.

"Can I see it?" he asked, his gaze fixed on my amulet.

"I can’t take it off, but you can look." I held it up for him as he approached. His soothing honeysuckle scent made me smile.

Calvin was a good-looking man, but he wasn’t the delicious temptation that Dominic was. At least not for me, and I was pretty sure not for Marissa, either.

Thankfully, the wizard had been nothing but a gentleman since the first day we’d met, never once making us feel uncomfortable with unwanted flirtation.

I’d wondered if he preferred men, or maybe was asexual, but he’d laughed when I once asked about his dating life.

I hadn’t been as subtle with my questions as I thought.

Apparently, he just hadn’t found the right lady to catch his eye yet. "No offense to you," he’d said quickly. But that had only made me chuckle.

He’d also admitted he had little time for dating and was too focused on his career to care. Moving up the ladder at the GIG was a tough…gig…

Oh.

I suddenly understood why some gym members snickered when the GIG came up in conversation. Yeesh, it had taken me way too long to put that together. Some days, I couldn’t help but wonder about my sanity. As in, how much did I have left, if any?

Calvin turned the tooth to study it from all sides. "Looks perfectly intact. Can I try something?"

"Go for it. Just don’t blow me up."

He grinned, flashing deep dimples in both cheeks. "No promises."

That might sound ominous coming from anyone else, but I trusted him completely. He was a talented wizard who wasn’t getting the advancement he deserved. Someday, I was sure he’d get his opportunity.

The main difference between wizards and witches was how they used their magic. Whereas witches typically drew on the elements to harness their spells as needed, wizards performed complex rituals with runes and used wands.

Because they could store extra mana in their wands, wizards didn’t need to rely on elemental particles being nearby like witches did. Most people considered wizards as more powerful than witches, and they often worked for the GIG.

Calvin slid his wand out from behind his ear and traced some sigils in the air, all while muttering some words in a language I didn’t understand. The tooth glowed bright pink, and the potion within started to bubble and fizz.

"Uh, Cal, it’s?—"

An explosion sent us both flying.