Page 16 of The Umbra King

“Done,” Kordie announced, handing Rory a mirror to look at the back.

Rory gawked at her reflection. It looked amazing. The grey wove subtly into her hair, giving the ends dimension, and the rest was black.

She turned to look at Kordie, who had a smug smile on her face. “I told you.”

“You’re good,” Rory admitted. “I love it.”

“Let me clean up and we can head to Whiplash,” Kordie said as she bustled around the room to put stuff away. “I can’t wait for the guys to see.”

“What happened to your hair?”Dume asked as he sat at the bar and grabbed a cherry from the bar caddy.

She touched the ends. “You don’t like it?”

He shrugged. “It looks good. I didn’t think you’d go through with it.”

Rory smiled. “It does look good, doesn’t it?”

A loud whistle sounded from behind Dume, and Keith sauntered toward them. “You look hot.” He plopped onto the stool next to Dume, much to theAatxe’s dismay, and grabbed the drink Rory put in front of him. “You should have let Kordie get her hands on you months ago.”

“That’s what I said,” Kordie chimed in.

“Now that we have all established that my hair looked terrible before, can we stop talking about it?” Rory griped.

“You were hot before,” Keith amended. “But you’re hotter now.”

“You look fine either way,” Dume told her. “Stop being vain.”

Rory popped his arm with her bar towel. “Stop being a jerk.”

From there, their night proceeded as normal, and Rory was thankful for her friends who, over the years, became her family. Without them, she’d be lost.

6

“Are you insane?”Keith demanded as he stared at the forest in front of them. “There’s no way in the seven rings of hell you can beat me. I’m awolf, Rory.”

“And I am aFey, Keith,” she returned.

Dume stood between Keith and Kordie with his arms folded across his chest. “It’s a fair match. I’m interested to see who wins.”

Keith’s mouth fell open as he looked at their friend, and Rory tried not to laugh. “You’re all delusional.”

Kordie, whose hair looked white, said, “I’m just happy to be excluded from today’s activities. I hate running.”

Months ago, they arranged their work schedules to have Wednesday afternoons free.

They did random things like going to the movies, hang out at someone’s house, go out to eat, and sometimes, they’d go to the sports complex downtown and swim in the indoor pool, play paddle ball, or whatever else they felt like. It was the highlight of Rory’s week. Today, they stood at the edge of the park, staring into the woods.

“I can put you on my back, and we could race with them,” Dume said, smirking down at Kordie.

She glared at him, and Keith rolled his shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. Loser buys everyone a round of drinks.”

Rory bounced on the balls of her feet. “Deal.”

Keith shifted in a flash. Rory would never get over how fast they changed, or that whenShifterschanged back, they were fully clothed. She used to beg Cora to shift when they were little, then try to ride her. It drove her sister crazy.

Kordie moved forward and turned to face them. “To the treehouse and back. No cheating.”

There was an old treehouse deep in the woods that Rory, Cora, and Dume found when they were kids. No one knows who built it or where it came from, and most of Rory’s childhood memories with Dume revolved around it.

---