Page 55 of Bound to the Orc King

“So you’re saying I need to focus?” I frown. “Shit. That’ssonot my strong suit.”

“Give yourself a break. You’ve only had your magic for a couple of days, and most of those were spent messed up by the goddess frying your powers.”

“You know, Aldronn said the same thing.”

Naomi narrows her eyes at me and pokes my shoulder. “Maybe you should start listening.”

“I’ll try.” I grin. “But he’s an authority figure, so no promises.”

She laughs, then explains to the others, “My friend here is a bit of a rebel.”

Naomi launches in to the story of us being lab partners back in high school chemistry, setting the stage for one of my more flashy misadventures. “Mr. Drexler pulled out this lump of gray metal about the size of a grape and started cutting little pieces off it. Then he said, ‘Whatever you do, don’t drop the entire piece of sodium into the water,’” she says, mimicking the teacher’s constipated tone perfectly. “I knewexactlywhat this one was about to do.” She hooks a thumb toward me, her brown eyes sparkling with laughter.

“What can I say?” I shrug. “When he said it like that, Ihadto know what would happen. For science.”

“I reach for her, but I’m too slow,” Naomi says, miming her hand falling short. “May dashes to the front of the room, grabs theentirelump of metal, and tosses it into the tank of water.Boom!” Her hands explode outward, fingers flung wide and wiggling like jazz hands on a caffeine bender.

Everybody gapes at me

“Worth it. I learned so much about chemistry that day.” I pause for a beat. “Mostly that it isn’t the career for me if you’re supposed to spend all your timenotblowing things up.”

We fall against each other, laughing.

We continue talking until the sun dips enough that the mushrooms start to glow like carefully placed spotlights all around the waterfall.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful!” Ashley says.

“I haven’t seen mushrooms like those before,” Naomi says. “I guess there’s always more of Alarria to see.”

Starfall and the others return, having found the mug and spoon I dropped but no further clues about the Moon Goddess. Sheevora retreats to a quiet spot in the glen, her quill flying across the paper at a furious speed. Fae night sight must be loads better than human, because I sure wouldn’t be able to write in such low light.

The falling dark also brings out the pixies. The tiny dots of blue fireflies emerge from the forest, making zigzags to avoid the orcs standing guard.

“Almost Pizza,” their leader cries out as he gets close, “we have come for the pizza made of potatoes.”

“Sorry, guys,” I say, spreading my empty hands wide. “No potato pizza tonight.”

“Potato pizza?” Olivia leans close.

I whisper out the side of my mouth, “More like a mashed-potato pancake.”

“Ah.” She nods. “I do the same thing for my pixies with circular hash browns.”

At their little whistles of disappointment, I raise my voice. “Don’t worry. I’ve got something even better.” I wave my hands at Olivia in a ta-da gesture and pronounce the word with all the pomp and circumstance they always give it. “This is Pizza!”

“Pizza!” they shriek in unison, their combined voices ear-piercingly loud. The flock descends around her, circling her head in an excited frenzy, like someone tossed a string of blue Christmas lights into a mini-tornado.

Ashley, sitting beside her, scoots quickly out of the way, plucking a couple of tangled pixies from her red curls.

“Hello!” Olivia takes their excitement completely in stride, smiling at them. “Yes, I am Pizza.”

“Pizza!” they chorus.

Then the leader swoops down to hover in front of her face. “We have heard of the famous Pizza, who showers the southern flocks with gifts of the tastiest food. Please gift us pizza as well!”

Olivia stands and walks over to one of the empty logs. When she points at it, three personal-sized pizzas pop into being, each with different toppings.

The pixies dive, the food disappearing under a flurry of glowing blue wings.

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