Page 65 of Zachary

“And he definitely wouldn’t be traumatized or triggered by a party?” I ask, mostly to get a reaction out of her. Just like I hoped, her head snaps up, eyes wide.

“Dude, no. He’s totally on board with the whole birthday thing. Hagen said go at it full force. But we gotta invite the dragons, okay? And it’s gotta be a huge blowout.”

“Got it.” I can give Ronan a huge blowout party in two weeks. I’ll get the whole village involved. They love him now… except maybe Grandmother, but she definitely respects him, and that’s probably more important.

“So I was thinking—”

I cut him off. “Let me nail down a few details, and I’ll call you back in a day or so to get things rolling. It’s still pretty cold uphere, so I need to make sure I can get an indoor space that will hold us all.”

“Smart thinking. My pretty face doesnotlook good with blue lips. But my glitter guy needs as much notice as possible, so don’t delay.”

His… glitter guy? He has aglitter guy? Do I want Ronan’s birthday to be overtaken by glitter?

I remember his delight when Griff at the grocery store got him edible glitter to decorate cookies and cakes with, and resign myself to a glittery party.

“Tomorrow night,” I promise. “Talk to Hagen again and tell him I might need some more inside info.”

“On it. Laters.” The call ends, and I stare at the phone for a long second.Laters?Hellhounds are fucking weird, and that one’s the weirdest of them all.

“Zac?”

Ah. Zoe. I put my phone away and look at her. “I’m going to need your help planning a birthday party for Ronan on really short notice.”

“I didn’t know his birthday was coming up.” She’s frowning.

“Me neither. I had to sneak around behind his back to find out. But I’ve been assured that he’d be fine with a party, so I’m throwing him a party. A big one.”

She nods. “Okay. Sure. That’ll be fun.”

“I’ll get the planning started tomorrow, but… what was it you needed?”

Her eyes widen. “You need to go back to Ronan’s.”

“What?” My heart starts to pound. “Why? Is he okay? I just left there!”

“He’s fine. Sorry. He’s fine. Don’t freak out. Just… go back there.”

I rub my forehead. “Zoe, I just had to talk to Garrett’s insane cousin. Don’t you start being weird too. What’s going on?”

She grabs my phone out of my hands and holds it behind her back. “Oh no, you left your phone at Ronan’s. You’d better go get it. Don’t want to miss any important calls.”

She’s officially lost it. Did we do this to her? Is living in Hortplatz really that hard? I thought she liked it here.

Her eyes are locked on my face, and I can tell she’s trying to send me a message of some kind, but fucked if I know what it is. “Zoe—”

“Zac. Go. To. Ronan’s. Now.”

I’m not going to win this. “Fine. I’ll go back to Ronan’s. And when he asks why, I’ll tell him you’ve lost your marbles.” I hold out my hand. “Can I have my phone back now?”

She passes it over, and I teleport out the second it’s in my hand.

The teleport room at Ronan’s house is dark, because of course he isn’t expecting me. I give my eyes a second to adjust, then head out into the hallway. It’s dark too, and I assume Ronan’s gone to be—

A moan echoes through the house.

I go on high alert. Is Ronan hurt? Did he fall? Is someone here?

The next moan is… confusing. I could swear he said my name. Maybe he hit his head and has a concussion? Or someone’s hurt him and he’s calling for me?

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