Page 10 of The Banning of Bath Bombs
“Declan.” Kyou gave the man a firm look and pointed to a nearby chair, obviously a dining room chair repositioned for the sole purpose of babysitting. “Sit.”
Declan huffed a laugh and obediently sat. “I promise not to touch the spell again.”
“Chance would be a fine thing. Also—” Kyou cut himself off as one of the burner phones on his desk started vibrating while playing a cheerful little ditty.
Wait, was that the theme song forOvercooked? Ha, funny use of it.
Kyou snatched up the phone and blew out a relieved breath as he put it on speaker. “Thank god. Hello? Yes, is this Kittichat Konkaeo?”
“Yes, this is he.”
The light tenor was smooth on the ear, but the man sounded wary.
Declan leaned in. “Hi, Kit.”
“MASTER?!”
“I, uh, accidentally did a portal spell.” Declan grimaced. “I got my new grimoire wet. Twice.”
“Master, for the love of— Wait, what do you mean portal spell?I would like to remind you that you cannot create code words for book shopping. Books might be a portal into the imagination, but you can’t claim they’re a spell.”
“No, I mean an actual spell. I’m still trying to figure out what happened, but I somehow portaled myself to—” Declan paused, brows drawing together. “Wait, where am I this time? I was in Salem before, yes?”
“Boston,” Kyou inserted dryly. “Look, Kit, as wild as this situation is, he’s not hurt. Just lost, wearing borrowed pajama pants, and with no easy way to get home.”
“Boston?!” Kit exclaimed, the word sounding strangled. “How’d you even— No, we can figure that out later. For now, I’m buying plane tickets. I’ll come fetch you ASAP. Shit, hold on. GUNNAR!”
“Gunnar is my other child and Kit’s husband.” Declan explained with a happy smile. “They don’t normally go anywhere without the other.”
“It’s because I fucking need backup with you!” Kit grumbled. “Uh, if you’ll give me an address, I will be there as soon as I can. I’m getting on the first flight there.”
“How about this?” Ivan offered. “You buy the flights, we’ll get you a hotel nearby. When you’ve landed in the city, I come get you, da? Take you all to hotel. You won’t be able to fly home tonight anyway.”
“That’s a really generous offer. Thank you…?”
“Name’s Ivan. I meet you soon, da?”
“Sure, just text me your number so we can contact each other. I do not want to pass you in that big city. And, uh, someone give Master something to read. A new book will keep him out of trouble.The thicker the better. He’s a speed reader.”
“Will do. Send your flight itinerary to this number as soon as you have it.” Kyou hung up, then typed out a text. “I sent him your contact info, Ivan. No worries.” He sucked in a fortifying breath. Then stood and walked to a bookshelf nearby. “All right, Declan. I have very few books in this house, but how about a book on hacking and chaos theory?”
Declan blinked at the book being offered to him and balanced his grimoire on one knee in order to accept this new offering. His steel grey eyes lit up, lips curling up into a grin. “I’ve never seen a title like this before. Oh, are you a technomage?”
“Am I a what, now?” Kyou’s head canted in confusion. “No? Just your normal hacker.”
Ivan took a seat and watched as the whole concept of technomages was explained, which sounded fascinating, and honestly like something Kyou could do in his sleep. If he’d had any magic in him, of course. Then the two of them got to talking about chaos theory, whatever that was. Their words mostly went over Ivan’s head, but he loved how animated these two got as the discussion spiraled.
All he was missing was the popcorn.
Chapter 4
Declan
This book wasfascinating! How had Declan not known this topic existed? Had he been such a fictional story and magical tome hoarder he hadn’t given current textbooks enough of a glance to add them to his collection? Surely Kassandra would be more than happy to let him shelve textbooks. Right?
Who was he kidding? Kassandra wouldloveto hold more books.
Stop laughing.
