Page 25 of Haunt Improvement
No longer in service, no longer a minion
Your master is banished, defeated, and beaten
If he finds you again, consider him eaten
By South, East, North, and West
Creations unmade we now lay to rest
* * *
Chapter 10
“AREN’T YOU JUST THEcutest munchkin there ever was?”Glinda made a silly face at bitty batslashwittle witch, earning a perplexed stare from my daughter and an eyeroll from her sister.We were crowded around the crib, waiting for the baby to drift off.
The nursery was quieter now that the storm had passed.The rainbows were back, and feathers rained softly outside the windows, drifting down from where Broomzilla swept them off the roof and out of the belfry.
Most of our guests had left, relieved and rattled from the most eventful baby shower any of them had ever attended.Hermosa and Papa Ernesto had gone downstairs to catch up over a plate of pawpaw doodles, and Nathan and Daisy had disappeared off somewhere, likely working on a batty sibling for Asher.Traumatic events had a way of bringing lovers together.
My own batty beau hadn’t left my side.Asher had stayed close too, still giddy about his new cousin.I knew better than most that cousins weren’t all they were cracked up to be, but spell-crafting with Glinda and Emmy had me in a nostalgic mood.
DeeDee offered to drop off the fancy Peruvian rug at the drycleaners on her way home, and Zelda called to let us know that Ingra had been good and exiled from Assjacket.Nobody hexed the Shifter Wanker without earning a magical spanking.I only wished I had been there to see her in action, but I’d been busy with a banishment spell of my own.
Isaac made three West witches in all who were no longer welcome in the Baba Yaga’s Shifter town.Home sweet home.And hey, our reputation as the wickedest family in Kansas was still intact.Not that I cared about the reputation of a family I wasn’t really a part of anymore...
Well.Maybe just a little.
“Only the most wicked wittle witches get snakenadoes for their birthdays.Ain’t that right?”Glinda cooed, growing more smitten by the second.She walked her fingers up the baby’s tummy and tapped her gently on the nose.
“Newborn vision isn’t strong enough to see more than a foot away,” Emmy told her.“The only thing she can see is the wart on the end of your nose.”
Glinda gasped and touched her face, grumbling when she realized she’d been had.Emmy stuck her tongue out, cracking the first real smile I’d seen since she’d dropped in.
“I don’t suppose you’ll be welcome back in Kansas after this,” I said, wondering if it would hit her later the way it had Glinda.
Emmy shrugged.“It’s just the excuse I need to head back to Europe early.I have a corrupt parliament to terrorize and a warlock waiting for me.Speaking of...”She turned to her sister.“Mother ruined dinner sooner than expected, and we never got to meetyourwarlock.”
