Page 79 of Purrfectly Peculiar Pixie

“Agreed,” Leon quickly answered. Since I didn’t know Alpha Belview like the others did, I would easily take their word for it.

“What about Peaches’s orchard?” I asked. “Anything from him?”

“Not yet,” Parsnip said. “But I imagine it’s just a matter of time before—” Parsnip’s voice cut off. “Hold on, we’re getting another call now from Peaches. It’s on my phone so we can keep communication open with you. Peaches, what—” Parsnip’s words cut off again. I couldn’t hear what Peaches said but Parsnip’s occasional grunts and groans told me it probably wasn’t great.

While we patiently waited, Leon’s fingers continued sliding through the ends of my hair, lovingly combing the darkened tips. The gentle tug on my scalp was near coma inducing.

“Looks like we were right. Peaches just told me the same thing happened to him not five minutes ago.” Parsnip’s voice was full of anger. “Where does this jackass get off playing with others like this?”

“Don’t try and understand it, babe,” Vander soothed. “You’ll just give yourself a headache.”

Apparently agreeing, Parsnip blew out a frustrated breath but let his tirade drop. “Just like Phil, Peaches is okay. He said no damage done. Evidently, the sprites were in an uproar and are flying about, checking the boundary.”

“What about Aurelia?” I asked. “Did she make herself known?” She’d said djinn couldn’t necessarily sense each other which led me to believe she’d have to purposefully reveal herself.

Parsnip answered, “Peaches said she remained quiet. Arie Belview knows about Aurelia, but I don’t know if he’s aware she’s at Peaches’s orchard.”

“That’s an interesting thought,” Vander said.

“Very interesting,” Leon agreed. “None of us made it known that we gave Aurelia’s object of attachment to Peaches for safe keeping. Perhaps that is what the other djinn is truly looking for.”

I considered that. “It might be.”

“As much as I’d like it otherwise, Arie Belview isn’t unintelligent,” Vander said disappointedly. “You could be right. It would make sense that once Aurelia was in our possession, we’d keep her object of attachment somewhere safe. The best option would be with a bonded fairy. Phil or Peaches would make good choices. Sending it to Fairy might have been an option too.”

“Wendall didn’t want it,” Parsnip quickly added. “I don’t think he could stomach the idea of being another sentient being’smaster. We all would have been okay with Wendall taking over Aurelia’s keeping. Peaches was the next logical choice. Phil and Sedrick have werewolf children in the house,” Parsnip explained. I couldn’t say I disagreed with their decision-making process. I didn’t think the Magical Usage Council had been aware of Aurelia’s resting area, but I understood the reason for the secrecy.

“And what of Erasmus?” Leon asked. “Can he tell if this djinn is similar to Aurelia?”

All of us were operating on the hopeful theory that all djinn, along with their objects of attachments, were made equally and thus equally vulnerable.

Parsnip remained silent for a beat before he answered, “He believes so.” There was a lot of hesitance in that statement.

“What’s wrong, Parsnip? Has Erasmus changed his mind? Does he now think returning the djinn’s essence to their body wouldn’t work or wouldn’t incapacitate them?” I asked, picking up on the tone change.

“Nothing. Not really. It’s just… Erasmus isn’t sure the djinn would survive the process. Returning their essence might be an immediate death sentence. There’s a chance they’d immediately age. Given that djinn are centuries old…they’d be dead nearly the instant their essence is returned. And even if that doesn’t happen, if they return and age doesn’t catch up with them, it will negate all their magical power. Erasmus believes all their magical bonds will be shredded, leaving them what they were.”

“Human?” Leon asked.

“Maybe. Probably.” Parsnip didn’t sound all that certain. “It’s Erasmus’s best guess. Aurelia looks basically human, or at least, humanoid. Her ears are a lot larger and there are some other changes, but Erasmus thinks that’s due to the magic filling her up. At the end of the day, none of us really know for certain.”

“Fuck,” I whispered. “Is there anything we do know for certain?”

There was a pause before Vander said, “Arie Belview’s a jackass. I know that for certain.”

Parsnip choked before bursting into laughter. I grinned, fighting the giggle filling my belly. Finally giving up, I joined in the vocal laughter. It was either that or cry. I, for one, would rather laugh in the face of catastrophe.

“A very true sentiment,” Leon agreed. While he didn’t openly laugh, his lips tugged in a distinct grin just short of showing fang.

Our giggling fit fizzled and while I felt a little lighter, I was still worried. I’d be an idiot not to be. “You two take care,” I pleaded. “From what I understand, Vander, you’re on Arie Belview’s shit list too.”

“And proud of it,” Vander answered with confidence. “I find the company on that list most agreeable.”

Leon shook his head while I palmed my forehead. Warlock Vander Kines was one of a kind.

“You stay alert also,” Parsnip warned. “Arie’s not a fan of Dusk or Leon. Hell, he’s not a fan of the Southeast vampire nest. I don’t think you’ll be first on his list, but you won’t be far down the line. Then again, if he manages to take care of his first few targets, I doubt they’ll be much you can do beyond running and I don’t imagine that will do you a lot of good either. I think if Arie gets that far, the world in general is pretty much screwed.”

“I would never run,” Leon answered, offense clear in his voice.

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