Page 5 of Langiappe & Lost Legends

"Are you kidding? Everyone knows about the Twisted Sisters. Your parties are legendary. I was at the Djinn welcome event. What you did was brilliant. I am hoping you would be willing to host a joint premating celebration with me and my mate to be."

I caught Lia's eye roll in the rearview mirror. "A premating party? Look, Mr. Moore-"

"Jasper, please!"

"Jasper. We're kind of in the middle of something?—"

"But Penelope wants you guys to do it for us. Our parents have already planned the actual ceremony, or we would be asking you to do that. We know a lot of Light Fae nobility. Think of the networking opportunities. And the exposure. Please, you have to do it for us."

"Think of the chaos," Dre muttered. "Remember that mundie bachelorette tea party last month? The one where the bride-to-be's friends tried to get Kai and the others to strip for them?"

"That was not our fault," I hissed, covering the phone.

"I'll triple your usual rate," Jasper said, effectively derailing my defense. "And throw in a favor from the Silvermist family. You must know how connected they are."

I felt my resistance wavering. We were relatively new to the magical world and were getting to know the major players, but that was not a name we’d come across. They sounded important, so a favor from the Silvermists could come in handy. Plus, triple our rate would buy a lot of emergency supplies. And tall-boys. I was going to need a case of Pepsi for this one.

"When's the party?" I asked, ignoring Lia's second dramatic eye roll of the conversation.

"Next week. Which is another reason for paying more. Peni was thinking moonflowers with starlight fountains. I was hoping we could have some floating lanterns. And, of course, the custom glasses that you're famous for."

"Send me the details," I told him. "But I'm not promising anything until I review them. And Jasper? It will help if you can include all of the details you have to have incorporated. There won’t be time for much back and forth to finalize things."

"That won't be a problem,” he agreed.

“You will also want to select a caterer for the event,” Lia called out. “We recently started using NOLA Creole Catering. It’s run by three witches. Harriet, Mabel, and Elise are some of the best kitchen witches around. You will need to have whoever you select verified by the time you send the list. We can get Brezok to tend the bar.”

“We will have it dialed in. Thank you for considering it,” Jasper said as he hung up.

I narrowed my eyes at Lia while Dre burst out laughing. "Oh my gods, Lia, you totally jinxed us! And you made him think we’re going to do it for them."

"What?" Lia asked as she turned onto St. Charles Avenue.

"Last night! You literally said, and I quote, 'At least we don't have to plan any events while dealing with these elusive Lost Legends.' And now look what happened!"

"That's not how jinxes work," Lia protested, but she looked a little guilty.

"In this family? That's exactly how jinxes work," Dre pointed out. "Remember when Phi said at least nothing could make exam week worse, and then we got that infestation of rats?"

"That was nothing. The bug guy got rid of them before they chewed through every pair of shoes she brought to the plantation. This is triple our rate." That was the most appealing thing for me. We had bills and supplies we needed to purchase. "Plus a favor from the Silvermists. It could come in handy. I just don’t know how we can keep things from going sideways."

"Speaking of sideways," Lia said as she pulled up to our first stop of the day, "we're here."

Kaitlyn's Victorian mansion loomed before us. We got out and headed to the front door. The wrought iron gates creaked open before we even reached them. The metal was twisted like living vines. It formed patterns that moved, but only magical beings could see that part.

"Someone's feeling dramatic today," Lia noted as we walked up the path. The garden's plants seemed to lean away from us as we passed. That was new. And slightly disturbing.

"Ten bucks says at least one book tries to bite us," Dre said as she eyed the windows warily. The first time we’d done research with Kaitlyn, we discovered her books were anything but normal.

"Twenty says it's not a tome but one of the artifacts she keeps 'for research purposes’," Lia countered.

"You're both wrong," I said, pulling out my phone to start a new notes file. "It'll be the card catalog. That thing has had it out for me since I set a teacup on it."

Kaitlyn met us at the door. Her black hair was pulled back in an elegant twist that made her look more like a college professor than a high priestess. Today, she wore jeans and a sweater that looked as soft as a chinchilla.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. Hollie told me she called you about what happened. What have you discovered?”

"Not much," Dre said as she gave her a quick hug. "We need your help to find some information."

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