Page 111 of Witch Queens: Tales from Oz

El growled at him.

Shaking my head, I smiled reassuringly at Gregory, “See, all is well, nothing to worry about.”

“I need to get dressed,” he blushed, and I remembered that we were both naked. Neither one of us was used to traipsing about in the nude.

“Oh!” I blushed, “Of course, how silly of me. El and I will talk out in the hallway.”

I stood taking the blanket with me and barreling into my sister on the way.

“Let’s go, El.”

She glared at Gregory and flicked her wrists threateningly, but she allowed me to push her out of the door.

We walked past a wide-eyed Steele.

“You have to leave too,” I informed him, and he followed us out into the hallway. I closed the door tightly behind us. It was dusty and narrow. “What is with the face, Steele?”

He blinked, “I have never seen anyone touch her when she was angry and live to see the light of day. Well, anyone besides me.”

“Don’t get too big for your britches, Tin Man,” she sneered. “I love my stupid sister.”

My stupid sister—only in my family does that mean affection.

“Oh, I am well aware that you don’t give jack shit about me, El. Don’t worry yourself about that!”

And in a flash, he disappeared.

“Bloody hell,” I breathed in disbelief.

El was more shocked than I was, but it took me a minute to figure out why. It wasn’t that Steele was a vampire or that, apparently, he was able to disappear into thin air.

“Who are you? And where is Glinda Goody-Two-Shoes?”

Oh.

“Erm, what do you mean?”

Okay, so I will never be a great actress.

“I don’t know,” she drawled, rolling a dark curl between her fingers. El could be scary at times, “Maybe the fact that you are stark ass naked. Or that our arch-enemy is right now searching for his clothes because he is in a similar state.”

I huffed, “Gregory is not our arch-enemy.”

She raised a brow, “Gregory is not our friend, either.”

But he was mine. And he always had been.

“We need to talk.”

Her green eyes searched mine. It was always eerie when the twins stared you down, but I held my own.

“I’m listening,” El said calmly.

“First you need to magic his clothes back into the room,” I motioned to the shut door.

“How did you know?” she pouted.

“You’re my sister, El. I may not be Indy, but I have a pretty good idea how you think. I can also hear him searching in there. It shouldn’t be this hard.”

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