Page 84 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“First, let me say ‘thank you,’ Shafira, for helping me,” I told her. She nodded as she filled a kettle with water. “Second, Shafira is a beautiful name.”

“I was named by my great-grandmother, who transitioned the day I was born. My name was the last gift she’d given to our family.”

“That’s quite a legacy,” I responded, knowing the time had come to spill my guts. She needed to know who she was helping. But I got distracted for a moment while watching her measure herbs into a mortar and then crush them with the pestle. I shook my head to clear it. The fragranced air could lull the most energized person to sleep, so I fought the smell tooth and nail to stay awake. “This is going to sound odd at best and fabricated at worst, but I promise you it’s the truth.”

“‘Fabricated’?” she asked, and I nodded, though her back was to me.

I cleared my throat. “Yes. There’s a reason you don’t sense me as a witch. Because I’m notexactlya witch.”

She turned to face me. “‘Not exactly a witch’?”

If she kept repeating me, this would take all night. As we didn’t have all night, I rushed on, hoping I could get it all out before another interruption. “I’m more than a witch. Have you ever heard of Lilium?”

She startled, dropping the spoon in her hand. The aluminum clanked against the stone floor. “Lilium?”

“I’m not justaLilium… I’m sort ofthe firstLilium, or second if you count my mother.” When she squinted her eyes at me, I shook my head. I needed to carry a laminated explanation card in my pocket for moments like these. If I survived saving the world, I’d get on that.

She laughed as if she thought I was teasing until she caught my eyes and saw anything but. “Are you serious?” she asked and I nodded. “How is that possible?”

“Okay, here’s the CliffsNotes version. Adam was an abusive bastard. Lilith took her two children, a son and daughter, and fled the Garden of Eden. The magic of the garden was with Lilithand Adam wanted it back. Lilith got remarried and raised my mom, my uncle, and the children she had with her new husband. They were happy. Adam hunted them down wanting to get the magic back by getting my mother to marry his son Cain. Are you following?”

She nodded.

“Great. Okay, where was I?”

“Adam hunted them down.”

“Right. My mother was already married to my father. She was pregnant with me and my twin brother, Simeon. Adam and his disciples attacked on the day we were born. My parents died that day. To keep us out of Adam’s hands, my grandmother, Lilith, escaped through time, depositing my brother and me in different locations. We never knew each other existed until a week ago or so.”

She blinked several times before saying, “This is a lot to take in.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. But here’s the thing. My mate is Connor Baghest. He’s a?—”

“Hellhound,” she replied. “The Baghests are a very old protector family. He’s your mate, too?”

“Yup.” I popped the ‘p.’ “Anyway, long story longer, we found my brother and his mate, who is Connor’s sister, Madigan?—”

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “So your brother’s mate is a Baghest protector, too? This is incredible.”

“Well, we found them, and Connor and I hunted down one of my cousins, a Lilium named Lily Joy. We were at her place in the English countryside when we were attacked by a horde of demons. I’d already been recuperating from the last time we’d been attacked and I had to get us out, so I manifested and Connor and I ended up in a desert in South America. I hardly had any energy left, but Connor made me use what I had tocloak myself. I couldn’t cloak him. He was captured by a demon named Kimaris?—”

She gasped. “As in one of the marquises of Hell?”

“Yeah. ” I sighed. “That would be the one. It seems he has a team of commando demons working for him. I have to rescue Connor, but I don’t have the energy. That’s why I need the tea. I need to heal so I can rescue my mate.”

“You can’t rescue him alone.”

I sighed again. This one longer and weightier. What choice did I have? Given our team consisted of me, Connor, Simeon, Madigan, and Lily Joy, and that I currently didn’t know the whereabouts or health status of any of them, save for Connor, kind of… “I have to. Did you know there are catacombs under Hades, the corporation?”

“Hades, thecorporation?”

“Hell is the place you want to avoid. The part of Hades I’ve visited was nice. And under Hades, there’s a sixteenth-century prison? They trapped him in black salt. He’s so sick and worn down. I’m worried he won’t survive there much longer. I don’t know where my brother and Madigan or Lily Joy are. I have no choice.” My stupid eyes teared up again. Yes, I turned into a softy where Connor was concerned.

Shafira spooned two spoonfuls of the mashed herbs into a mug, then she drizzled it with honey. She lifted the whistling teapot from the fire and poured the steaming liquid into the herbs. Then she handed it off to me. I closed my eyes, breathing in the healing smell before taking my first tentative sip. What? It was hot. As I sipped my tea, she walked off into a different room. She came back with a plate of… well, it looked like baklava. She handed it to me. It smelled like baklava.

“Eat,” she said. “This will help you to heal faster.” Didn’t have to tell me twice. Eating was better than crying over this crappy situation. “We have to make a plan.”

“We?” I asked around a mouthful of food. “Me, notwe.”

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