Page 49 of Mochas and Minotaurs

“No,” I answered. “Marcus and I aren’t married. He’s my neighbor.”

“You were together unchaperoned! And he cooked you dinner!”

I grinned at the thought that the idea of him making me food was as miraculous as us finding her.

“He cooked you dinner?” This time, it was Lily who posed the question.

She was already on her second glass of wine. Just because we were staying in didn’t mean she planned on being sober. Neitherdid I, though I decided to cap it at one glass since it felt like I had to keep my wits about me, what with everything that had happened in the past week.

“He said he was meal prepping and made enough for both of us.”

“Girl, what are you doing? Tie this one down now!” Lily said.

That had a body-less giggle sounding in my living room, followed by Triscuit’s impression of Bella’s laugh.

“A man who can cook is a keeper,” Penny said. “I can vouch for that.”

“Penny woke up the day after she met Prax to him making breakfast in her kitchen in nothing but a maid’s apron,” I explained to Bella. “That’s even better than topless vacuuming.”

Bella was back to giggling. “I think I’d actually like being a woman in this time.”

“Can you do that? Be alive again?” I asked, wondering if this was what she was keeping from me.

There was no answer for a bit. “Maybe. But it probably won’t happen, ever. I wouldn’t even know how to survive anyway. The world is so different. And I wasn’t exactly raised to be independent like you. I’ve read about it in books, but it’s different.”

“Maybe” wasn’t a no. But I wasn’t sure that was what she was hiding.

“Neither was I,” Penny said. “I was raised to be reliant on my family’s money. Sitting and rolling over at their command. But I learned how to make it on my own. It’s easier with friends.”

“It would be so nice to be able to go somewhere on my own and not have to ask someone to bring me. Or worry that some brat is going to bury me underground for decades.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” I said, “the brat’s dead. Marcus looked it up last night.”

“Is it bad that itdoesmake me feel better?”

“Nope. He buried you!” Lily said. “You’re allowed to curse his name until the end of time. Heck, I’d do it on your behalf. I hope his spirit gets punted to hell, and he lands on an extra-large pinecone, butt-first. Sideways.”

And that had Bella in a fit of giggles again. “I was never found by a young witch before. This is fun.”

“When you were alive, did you have magic?” I asked, still digging for the missing piece.

She didn’t reply, and Penny said, “If you did, you can join a coven. We’re a coven. A small one, but it counts. And now that magic and monsters have been exposed, we don’t even need to hide it.”

“I…I don’t really have magic…like that.”

But she did have magic of some sort. Something told me we were onto something; call it a gut feeling.

But before we could continue the conversation, there was a loud shouting from outside.

“Gigi! Gigi!”

That sounded like Declan. I went to the window, and Declan stood outside, his face red like he’d run here on foot. “You have to come now. It’s Marcus!”

Icy fingers of dread reached into my chest to grasp at my heart. Marcus! “What happened?”

“You have to help him!”

“Okay! I’m coming!” A million scenarios ran through my head. What if the dragon had found him? What if it was Arcane? They’d sent people to break the windows, but what if they sent someone for him this time?

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