Page 42 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

Not a super strong set, but it was impressive as always how much magic he could harness when too preoccupied to overthink his casting limitations.

“You were saying how you wished this library had a Nexus Grimoire like the repository,” I said in some desperate hope to soothe Wally’s sour mood.

From what I recalled during my time spent in the repository at the Magus Estate, the Nexus Grimoire served as a catchall for every book chronicled within the magical and tech-based link. Sort of like a supernatural database, much like the Googly app on my telephone.

“Shut up, Bez. You’re not helping.” Wally seethed, possibly feeling the tug of our tether as I tightened our proximity in an effort to assuage his rage. It didn’t work.

“Goddess.” Kell beamed; her round cheeks rose high as she shot me a full-faced grin. “That’s exactly what I was thinking, Bez. A Nexus Grimoire but better. Are you in my head? I promise those salacious thoughts are completely hypothetical.”

She puckered her lips, preparing to blow a kiss until Wally closed in on her, forcing an impromptu somersault escape on Kell’s part.

I rolled my eyes. I could only read her thoughts when casting nightmares in her mind, to lift the floorboards of secrets kept, which I only ever did once. Had to ensure she wasn’t using my wicked demon friend for something sinister and selfish. Lesser beings often had nefarious tendencies.

“You think someone can just make a Nexus Grimoire all willy-nilly?” Wally paused, catching his breath.

The rage hadn’t settled. In fact, it grew with each inhale because while he stopped chasing Kell, she dismantled more wards.

“Whoopsie.” Kell jumped off the bookcase that she’d inadvertently removed the hovering sigils, too, which sent it crashing into another bookcase. “It’s a learning curve. One that’d be easier without interference.”

“You clearly have no idea the amount of labor and tireless effort that goes into properly cataloging an extensive collection and setting it up to maintain structural integrity with a Nexus Grimoire,” Wally said, biting his lip and hopefully the tangent he’d prepared to spout off.

He’d assisted with an update to the Nexus Grimoire in the Magus Estate once before, linking new books added to the repository. It involved tedious tasks of properly documenting the texts, altering the formatting from one book to another, and a hundred other things I hoped he didn’t plan on listing off. Kell certainly wouldn’t listen to it all.

“Mortals and Mythics.” Mora strutted away toward the entrance. “They’re so adorably dim.”

“Walter is the furthest thing from dim. He’s a genius,” I said, joining her because, at this point, Wally would simply have to exhaust himself before seeing reason. Whenever the levee that made up Wally’s compassion, consideration, and compliance to all things broke, his anger became impossible to settle.

It was entertaining to see he didn’t reserve these moody outbursts solely for me.

Wally lunged ahead, releasing his hands from the broomstick in an attempt to grab Kell, who hopped onto the tip of his broom, shifting the trajectory. Then she bounced back off, blasting a light breeze from nature’s blessing to send him whirling through the air until his face turned green.

“A genius of the learned sense,” I added, clamping my jaw as the sensation of bile rolling up my throat hit with what was surely a fraction of what poor, ridiculous Wally endured. “Research, decoding, preservation of things, history mostly.”

“Obviously,” Mora said with a lilt of irksome sarcasm. She’d always considered Kell the cleverest lower being the world had seen; it must have bothered her I found a smarter mortal. “As adorable as watching Kell and Wally hit it off on the wrongfoot or fist or magical spell, I was hoping once we’d settled in, we could actually explore and make progress on this Fae contraption trapping Diabolics.”

“I suppose. The sooner we find the demons, the sooner you and Kell can leave.”

Mora averted her gaze, her lips twisted into silent musings. I figured she had other plans, something that bolstered her swift action of coming to assist hands-on, which she rarely did, but I had no intention of surrendering the villa or treasure troves hidden inside it. Wally would appreciate them far more. And with a traveling, cloaked residence, I could finally show Wally the world as promised without constantly skirting around Collective territory.

“Kell…play nice, my love.” Mora sauntered out of the library.

I followed her out into the foyer, which diverged into several paths, each leading to different wings of this villa, from the main house to the catacombs of pocket worlds below where the former host kept troves of treasures.

“I’ve already explored the upper levels of the villa with Walter,” I said, ushering her in the opposite direction toward a spiral staircase that led to the labyrinth. “However, the maze below seems to stretch endlessly with pocket portals storing all kinds of baubles.”

“I highly doubt a Fae royal would keep cheap trinkets. Even what they hold sentimental usually comes at a high price tag.” Mora eyed every portrait on the walls—likely appraising them—as we reached the staircase. “Has Wally checked the value of these oddities?”

“No.” Mainly since I didn’t want him jumping through doorways that could lead anywhere or everywhere. “He’s mostly kept his attention fixated on understanding how the villa functions and where the Diabolics are kept. Not that we’ve made any headway.”

“I see.” Mora studied the lanterns that illuminated our path, lighting the dark stone corridor with each step and dimming the path behind. “Perhaps he can be a bit more inviting toward Kell. She’s only trying to help, even if her impulses are a tad inconvenient at times.”

“The last impulse led to carrying us to the middle of nowhere before the traveling mechanism—which Kell still doesn’t understand—broke down.” I scoffed. “Suppose the only benefit to being in this damned cold state is that it’s off the Collective’s radar.”

“The mages have their hooks in Anchorage and the pipelines, but true—they don’t have a vested interest in this area.” Mora lightly strummed her fingers against the damp wall as we walked further. “It could’ve been worse. Better middle of nowhere snowy mountains than floating through literal nothingness between dimensional walls on an automated course destination set by the former host.”

She had a mild point. Who knew where the dead Fae had charted next.

“Hmm.” Mora pressed a hand against the wall; heat radiated from her essence, attempting to search the faint energy as if I hadn’t already attempted such things. “I get what you mean now about the disturbance in their essence. It feels like it’s layered everywhere throughout the villa, but I can’t see it anywhere. No void webs, no trail, no spark of individuality. Just a faint, foul stench.”

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