Page 39 of Signed in Incubus

For example, it took just as much energy to raise the temperature of something one degree with fire as it did with magic. Moving something from point A to point B physically took the same amount of energy as moving it with telekinesis.

Penny only needed enough energy to get herself through.

Just in time, too, because both the police and the EA were arriving, and arrests were already being made outside.

“Take this with you,” Griselda said, shoving a tiny spell book into Penny’s hands. “If you need anything else, message me, and I’ll put it in the drawer of your side table. Do you have your purse?”

“Got it.” Penny held up her carry-on luggage. “It’s in the front zip pocket. Thanks again, Gigi. I owe you.”

“That’s what friends are for. Remember? You, Lily, and me, our coven of three.” Her cell phone played a little chime. “That’s probably the police at the door. You two get out of here. I’ll handle this. Your suitors are going to be very disappointed when I walk out of here and not you.”

And with that, I went through the portal with her.

We were back in her living room, except this time, all the boxes were carefully stacked in one big pile, and all the furniture had been pushed against the wall. The magical wards that had protected this home before were gone, too.

She got straight to work, flipping open the spell book to the page Griselda had dog-eared for her. She looked a little anxious.

“I’ve never cast a spell like this before, Prax. I mean, I’ve cast a very basic version, one that hides my magic. But never one that hides my entire being from magical detection.”

“I believe in you, my little witch.”

“I guess now is not the best time to tell you that I’m a special ed witch?”

“What’s that?” I had never heard the term before.

“I’m not very good at learning spells from books. That’s why I sell tutorials in video format on my website, to help other witches like me who need a little extra hand-holding.”

I took her hand. “There,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding her. “Try anyway. If it fails, we will evade them the old-fashioned way. I will protect you.”

“Thanks, Prax. You’re my hero. I really mean it. I was so out of it that I don’t remember you fighting off Grabby McGrabberson and the troll, but I know you did. And again now: you don’t have to help me, but you are. I really appreciate that.” For the second time today, she threw herself at me. But this time, she peppered my face with wonderful little kisses.

Unbridled joy, unlike anything I’d ever felt, filled my chest to bursting. I enveloped her in my arms, enjoying the way she fit there perfectly, no matter what size or shape I decided to be that day. Her berry and vanilla scent filled my lungs.

I’d never been anyone’s hero before. Always the rake. Being the hero felt good.

But she might have gotten her facts a bit skewed.

“I, ahh, didn’t actually fight the troll,” I admitted. “But I would have if I hadn’t been hit with a spell that fucked with my demon abilities.”

“Hey, you got me to safety. Close enough.”

She sat down on the couch and focused her attention back on the spell book. I wanted to pop off to the museum parking lot where I’d left my vehicle with my wallet and phone, but I didn’t want to leave her alone. Not with everything that had happened.

Penny got up and went to a box labeledKitchen Crapand dug around until she found a plastic Zip-loc bag of bay leaves and a tin of some other herb I didn’t recognize.

She tucked pieces of the bay leaves into her pockets, then arranged the other herbs in a circle around herself.

“Here!” She tossed the Zip-loc to me. “Put that in my luggage; we might need more later.” She blew out a big breath. “All right, here goes nothing.”

Chapter 20

Penny

Nothing and no onehad come after us yet. I could only hope that that meant the spell had worked.

Prax and I made the trip over to the museum on foot, stopping briefly to pick up sandwiches to eat while we walked. I was famished despite having my very own incubus to replenish my magical energy. If this became the norm, I’d need to start keeping cakes in my freezer like Gigi.

I knew some witches preferred using energy bars or meal replacement drinks, or a combination of both, but cake sounded a whole lot tastier to me.

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