Page 15 of Mistletoe Wishes and Dragon Kisses

With the threats still ringing in their ears, the screen went black, the lights all over the house went out, and only the battery–operated music box sitting on the mantel belting out–Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer–was left to fill the void.Somewhere on the edge of the fog of confusion, Glo felt Hilly land on her shoulder right before Em squeezed her hand, and Noss whispered, “Is she okay?”

"NO! I am NOT okay!" The Brown Witch of Peace, Protection, and Everlasting Love shouted. "I am mad! I am livid! I am … I am… I am… Arrrrgghhh, Oh my Great Goddess! Just like Auntie Sarah Jane used to say, I am so pissed I’mma ‘bit to havin’ a flyin’ duck fit!”

“Stand back!” Hillary K. Hippo whooped. “This Brown Witch is about to go off!”

"Damn straight! That pin k-painted exoskeleton filled with Black Magic, and bullshit is NOT gonna get away with this!” Snapping to the left, she gave Em’s hand a return squeeze. “Can you and Noss hold the fort down?”

“Oh, hell, yeah!” The Fey Dragon and her hunka-hunka-stoney-lovin’ Gargoyle cheered in unison.

Continuing her turn, she made it half–a–step toward the door before a thought stopped her in her tracks and had her looking back. “I am sorry, Em. I guess you need an…”

"No way," the Fey Dragon smiled, winked, and tapped her temple. "I heard it all, and what y'all didn't say, I caught when you were trippin’ down Memory Lane.” Blowing a kiss, she playfully shooed the Witch. “Now, go kick that Beetle’s ass. Nossy and I will keep answerin' the phone and tell everybody you're gettin' everything fixed."

“I love you, Em.”

“Love you more!”

Running towards the door, she'd just grabbed the knob when Hillary yelped, "Stop!" No sooner had the Hippo shouted the word than did the air fill with Magic, and Glo's PJs were instantly changed into red yoga pants, an oversized white sweater with a Mistletoe sprig on the front, red high–top ChuckTaylor Converse tennis shoes, her hair tied up in a messy bun with her matching red and white scrunchie.

Tapping Hilly’s feet where they were perched on her shoulder, Glo shoved all the love she felt for her cantankerous Familiar into her tone and declared, “Thank you, Hills. You drive me batshit crazy twenty–four–seven–three–sixty–five, but I would be lost without you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can show your appreciation with pink diamonds, endless roses, and my weight in chocolate after we squash that Beetle. She made me mad all those years ago, but now I am pissed off and ready to charge!"

“Yes!” Glo agreed with a cheer. “Let’s do this!”

Opening the door, she gave her best friends one last look before stepping over the threshold. One foot on the snow-covered porch and one still in the house, and three things happened at precisely the same moment:

Hilly yelled, “Watch out!”

A deep male voice yelped, “Holy shit!”

Glo ran headfirst into the only man she’d ever loved and greeted him with, “What the hell, Christopher? I haven’t seen you forever, and the first thing you do is try to kill me?”

4

“Glo!” Was as far as he got before a ball of energy, sass, and apparently pissed off Brown Witch of Peace, Protection, and Eternal Love, who just happened to be the woman made for him by the Universe, ran out the door and into him like a runaway train.

Taking a step back, he held on tight–and that’s when it happened.

The heel of his boot hit the tiniest patch of ice, and that was all she wrote. Feet moving as fast as Scooby's Doo when the famous cartoon hound and his gang were being chased by the ghoulie, ghosty, gruesomeness of a bad guy causing all the trouble, he did everything in his considerable power to stay upright–but it wasn't enough.

One foot went forward and the other went backward as he tried everything he knew–and a few things he didn’t–to wrap his much larger body around Glo’s to keep her from getting hurt. Airbourne, flying backward, it was as if someone great and powerful had flipped an almighty switch and the world was suddenly moving in slow motion.

Mouth open wide, he screamed aloud and mentally,“Rioghnán! Do something! HELP!”

But nothing happened. Not one damn thing. It was as if the Dragon King with whom he shared his soul was taking an afternoon nap, watching his soap operas, or for the sake of all that was holy, having a damned cup of tea. Whatever was going on, the one being in all the world with enough Magic and Strength to stop the catastrophe that was about to happen was proverbially Out. To. Lunch.

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