Page 46 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Moonlight (Midlife Menace #2)

“Ladies, please.” Shu stepped between us, shooting me a glare in warning.

“Your arguing is giving me a migraine. You look absolutely worn out from your walk.” He motioned toward the table, where he’d laid out the frosted pitcher and several filled glasses.

“Refreshments? My specialty. Chocolate pina coladas.”

When the Enchantress peered hesitantly at the glasses, I cleared my throat. “I’ll take one, Shu.”

“Of course.” He handed pina coladas to all of us.

“Thanks, Shu.” I took several big gulps while eyeing the Enchantress and Nimue over the rim of my glass.

They shared secretive looks while taking hesitant sips. A few more small sips, and then they were gulping down the concoction.

No doubt, all that tail-play had worked up their thirst.

I swore at the familiar, obnoxious buzzing sound of Bea’s wings as she flew straight toward the Enchantress and Nimue, her inky eyes practically crossed.

“This blows,” Shu mumbled.

“Be right back,” Ric whispered while squeezing my shoulder.

Buzzing around our heads, Bea shook an irate fist at us. “There you are! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you! For you!”

The Enchantress scowled at her assistant. “We can’t help it if you fainted again.”

Bea let out a shriek that sounded like a dying cat in heat. “Then you should’ve waited for me! For me!”

She was starting to repeat herself more often, reminding me of a computer that was shorting out.

“Hey, Bea!” Ric yelled.

She spun toward him mid-air, her fingers extended to claws as she let out a ghoulish snarl. “Whaaat?”

“Catch!” he called, right before splashing her with a bucket of water.

“Ahhh!” she screamed, clutching her head as if it was about to pop off. “You know I can’t get wet!”

I nearly lost my supper when her head started spinning uncontrollably.

Ric pulled me back when smoke poured from her ears.

“Sshhe’s going to blow!” Nimue hollered, pushing the Enchantress to the ground.

I whipped out my wand and hit the sprite so hard, she flew through the air head over feet before exploding in the sky like cannon fodder. I threw up a protective chamber, protecting us from the debris.

Shu swooned when a tattered pair of sprite wings smacked against the chamber, leaving a trail of black blood, or maybe grease, as it slid down the wall, followed by what looked like a cluster of wires.

“Holy hex!” I blurted. “What was that thing?” It was clear Bea wasn’t a striga. She seemed more like a machine. Her head had popped off like it was spring-loaded.

“Not a living being,” the Enchantress answered.

“Yeah.” I scratched the back of my head. “I figured that out.”

“Well,” Shu whispered, “that’s one way to get rid of Bea.”

It wasn’t until I popped the bubble and we began to assess the damage that the Enchantress turned toward Ric. “Why did you throw water on her?”

He dragged a hand down his face, lines framing his eyes and mouth. “I thought it would make her pass out. I didn’t realize it would destroy her. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” The Enchantress laughed out loud. “We’re relieved to be rid of her.”

Nimue slithered up to Ric, eyes narrowing and gills flaring. “Why did you want her to passs out?”

“Because we want to ask you questions,” Ric said while motioning toward the Enchantress, “and we know we can’t with Bea around.”

Nimue crossed her arms. “Asssk usss what?”

I suddenly drew a blank as I gaped at Ric. What exactly were we supposed to ask her?

“What secrets are you hiding from us?” Shu blurted, only I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or the Enchantress.

“I’m worried Ric and I are moving too fast.” I tried to slap a hand over my mouth, but my arms were glued to my sides. The words flowed from me like vomit, no matter how hard I tried to hold back. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for another commitment, and I know I don’t want to have any more babies.”

Shu looked like he’d just taken a bite of a troll shit sandwich as he gaped at me. “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to the Enchantress.”

The breath expelled from my lungs. “Oh, dragon balls.” How mortifying. I stole a glance in Ric’s direction, mortified to see crimson spreading across his face like wildfire, his features screwed up tight. “I’m sorry,” I blurted, afraid to say more.

He spoke through frozen features. “It’s fine.”

But I knew it was anything but fine, for I swore I felt the blade of my words slicing through his chest as if we shared a heart. Me and my big mouth had just upset my boyfriend.

Shu loudly cleared his throat while facing the Enchantress. “What secrets are you hiding from us, Enchantress? Are you a mutatio?”

The Enchantress’s face screwed up tight before she blurted, “Yes!” and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

When Nimue let out a hiss and lunged for Shu, I zapped her with a stun spell.

She glared at me through frozen features, her gaze murderous while she stood as still as a statue.

Not long, and that spell would wear off.

Hopefully, Ric wouldn’t be too angry with me to defend me.

Or maybe a good beating from Nimue was what I deserved, because I’d just royally hexed our relationship.

Shu flicked his wrist at the Enchantress. “Then reveal your true self.”

I sucked in a gasp when the lithe, beautiful witch suddenly transformed into a minotaur. She wasn’t as big as Frederica, and her face was more humanlike, plus her short horns definitely didn’t flop, but it was clear she was of the bovine variety.

“Why do you hide who you are?” Shu asked.

Nimue struggled to break free of my spell, the rage in her eyes putting my bladder to the test.

“Do you think I would’ve amassed such a huge following as a beast?” She let out an agonized “moo” while tears welled in her big cow eyes. “Society would’ve shunned me.”

“Not all of society,” I said.

The Enchantress wiped tears from her eyes. “Not everyone is as open-minded as your family.”

“Which makes me wonder why you didn’t show Frederica more compassion.” I shook my head. “Why did you let her take the blame for the broken chair?”

“I know it’s wrong,” she said, her shoulders falling with the admission, “but I resent her for reminding me of the part of myself I’m trying to forget.”

“Enough about that,” Ric boomed. “Tell us, Enchantress, are you working for the Insurgi?”

She visibly swallowed, a knot working down her dark, furry neck. “Not voluntarily."

Nimue let out a hiss, her webbed fingertips moving. Any moment, and she’d break from the spell and slither her way toward me. It was clear she couldn’t wait to throttle me. I shuddered to think of her wrapping that tail around my neck, especially since I knew it probably smelled like raw hamburger.

“Let me guess,” Ric continued, “they know your beastly secret and threatened to tell everyone.”

“No.” The Enchantress shook her head, motioning toward Nimue. “They’re holding our daughter hostage.”

“Your daughter?” I stepped back, clutching my wand in a tight grip when the tip of Nimue’s thick tail started to coil.

“Nimue has sequential hermaphroditism. We conceived a child together while Nimue was in her male form.” The Enchantress flashed Nimue a tender smile while grabbing her hand.

“Astra is only five. The Insurgi kidnapped her from Kinder Care. Our daughter is our whole world, something I’m sure you understand.

” She cast her eyes to the ground, a fat bovine tear rolling down her cheek.

“We would do anything to keep her safe, even betray the Phoenix.”

A blade of sorrow pierced my chest. “I’m sorry about Astra. I’d do anything to protect Des too.”

Nimue finally broke free of my spell, though the Enchantress held her back.

I squeezed my wand when Nimue turned her slitted eyes on me.

Clasping her hands in a prayer pose, Nimue gave me a pleading look. “The Insssurgi will kill Assstra if we don’t do asss they sssay.”

“Which is?” I asked.

The Enchantress shrugged, then glanced away. “Make you look bad on WitchTok.”

“Well, you’ve been doing a fine job of it,” Ric said with a sneer. “Did you also tell them we’d be at the ruggel game and where to find us?”

Bovine nostrils flaring, the Enchantress shook her head. “We couldn’t tell them, because we signed a blood oath not to reveal your secrets. Besides, we didn’t need to when Bea was reporting everything to them.”

Strange. Something wasn’t adding up. “But Bea signed a blood oath too.”

The Enchantress grimaced. “Blood oaths didn’t work on her since she wasn’t technically living.”

“What was she?” I asked, then tensed. Did I want to know?

“A robot mind in the corpse of a sssprite with the ssspirit of a banssshee,” Nimue hissed, her gills flaring.

“Grody to the max!” Shu blurted.

“H-how?” I stammered. I recalled the small army of Beas at the ruggel game. Did I want to know where they’d found all the sprite corpses? I prayed they hadn’t murdered them, though at this point, I wouldn’t put it past my aunt.

“The Insurgi give new meaning to mad scientists,” the Enchantress answered. “Bea, short for Banshee Enchanted Automaton. They forced me to keep her on my staff.”

Ric rubbed his chin, seeming lost in thought. “I knew she screamed like a banshee, but I don’t understand the fainting.”

“We believe she’s either downloading new software or uploading data to the Insurgi headquarters,” the Enchantress answered.

Wow. This kept getting weirder.

“How does she charge?” I asked.

“Ssshe’s sssupposed to get a few hoursss of sssun a day,” Nimue answered.