Page 81 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Midlife

An alarm bell rang out and the sound of hooves striking stone filled the halls as I clawed at the exterior wall until it, too, crumbled. I breathed in a gulp of cool night air, stoking the flames in my chest, and hit the invisible ward with my flame until the air bubbled and boiled, flaking apart like burned parchment. Did they think their weak magic could hold me? With a roar, I jumped into the sky, flying southeast toward Mount Othrys in Greece, which would only take me a few hours to get there. I had a secret warded castle there with a fully stocked kitchen where the striga would never find me. I would eat and rest, and once I made sure Luci and her son were safe, I’d plan the demise of my enemies.

Luci

AFTER SPENDING ONEof the most restless nights of my life tossing and turning on the floor beside my aunt’s bed, once again, I was braless, and this time I was smart enough to wearborrowed clothes. No way did I want to expose my favorite jeans and only bra to troll feces. I paced the floor while waiting for my aunt to prepare the spell that would shrink me down to pixie sized. I still wasn’t convinced she could do it. And what if she shrunk me and then couldn’t unshrink me? Too many variables for my liking, the worst being we had no idea when the troll would use his toilet on Taco Tuesday. I thought that was an American tradition. Why couldn’t the Romans have Tortellini Tuesday? Yeah, it was dairy, but at least it was low fiber.

Ethyl slipped into the room, her eyes red-rimmed from crying all night over Frederica, and set down a breakfast tray with all kinds of pastries, eggs, and bacon.

I shook my head when she tried to offer me food. As if I could eat before going into sewage. She wordlessly served Des while he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Ordinarily, I would’ve scolded Puffy, who perched on his shoulder, greedily taking bites of my son’s food, but I had bigger issues than a gluttonous dragon.

I accepted Ethyl’s offer of fresh juice, slowly sipping while pacing the floor. “I can’t believe my aunt is sending me through a troll’s toilet.”

“That’s nothing.” Shu stretched to the ceiling with an exaggerated yawn before sitting opposite Des and piling food on his plate. “Blanche once told her sister Charmaigne that she was left on their doorstep by gypsies.”

I stared at our fairy godfather in his teal parachute pants, curly mullet, and purple cotton headband. “Shu, I mean this in the nicest possible way. You need to watch a new show.”

He waved a white napkin around like it was a flag of surrender while his eyes lit up like fireworks. “Des introduced me to streaming! I’m going to watch these new shows calledFriendsandSeinfeld!”

I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least he’d moved up a decade.

Ethyl snapped open her wings, fluttering to my side. “I can’t believe you’re not letting me come with you.”

Ugh. We’d been through this a dozen times already. I set the juice on the table and gave her a pleading look. “I need you to stay with Des.” She was the only one I trusted to watch him. Besides, I feared she’d lose her cool while trying to free Frederica. Ethyl wasn’t known to handle pressure well.

“I want to go, Mama.”

I sucked in a sharp breath, facing my son. What did he just say? “Des, where I’m going is very dangerous.”

He stood, turning up his chin and puffing up his chest. “That’s why I want to go. To protect you.”

Oh, my heart! “Oh, sweetie.” I quickly crossed over to him and took him in my arms, my heart soaring and shattering at once. To my delight, he hugged me back instead of pulling away. He was my height now and getting taller each month. Soon and he’d be towering over me. I loved him so much, but I couldn’t bring him into danger. I couldn’t.

“I think he should go.”

I released Des and spun around, glaring at my aunt. I hadn’t even heard her come into the room. She’d been consulting with her advisors all morning in another cavern. She was wearing her black warrior gear again, with wands and blades strapped to her clothes.

“Are you insane?” I asked.

She didn’t even flinch. “Hear me out. He can teleport us out of there if things go south.”

Ifthings go south? This whole plan had already gone south, and we hadn’t even broken into the Tribunal yet.

“She’s right.”

I scowled at Ethyl. “What?”

She twirled her rainbow striped belt around a finger while batting her lashes. “And he can teleport us in, so we don’t have to go through a troll’s toilet on Taco Tuesday.”

I faced my son. “Can you teleport us into the Tribunal?”

He shrugged, acting as if our monumental request was no big deal. “Yeah.”

“Can you take us to Ric’s cell?” Serena asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know what it looks like.”

I rubbed my chin while contemplating his words. “I think he can only go to places he’s been before.”

Serena gave him an appreciative look. “Makes sense.”

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