The barest curve of Asa’s lips made an appearance. “He brought you the cupcake?”
Asa didn’t hesitate over the distinction between himself and the daemon, and it made me curious.
Everything about him sparked my interest. That was how I ended up wearing a freaking hair bracelet.
“It was missing a bite.”
His expression turned pensive as he gripped his ankles.
“He tried to make me eat it,” I rambled. “That’s when the food fight broke out.”
Amused despite himself, Clay asked, “Who fired the first shot?”
“He started it.” I dropped my gaze to Asa. “He kept shoving it in my face.”
“And naturally,” Clay continued, the natural arbitrator, “the mature response was to smash it in his.”
“Yes.” I tucked a stubborn curl behind my ear. “Not that I admit any fault in the incident, but yes.”
“I won’t file a grievance,” Asa assured me. “I wouldn’t want you dragged to the director’s office.”
“That makes two of us,” I muttered, then raised my voice. “How long do we have before we leave?”
There was no question I would go. I had signed a contract to consult. I had to honor my end if I expected the Bureau to uphold theirs. The only question was what to do with Colby. As much as I wanted to order her to stay home, safe behind wards, I got the mother of all wake-up calls the last time I left her behind.
I was a white witch now. Not a black one. My power was finite, not infinite.
The things I once did without blinking required all my focus and hours of preparation to achieve.
As much as it dinged my pride in my spellwork, I had to admit she was safer with me than without me.
Given how she had saved me from David Taylor, the reverse was also true.
But the more we worked together on cases, the more exposure she would get, and the more attention it would draw to me. Just as Asa had flipped out when he understood what I had done to save Colby, there would be others just as horrified and equally unwilling to forgive me for binding her soul to mine.
She was a kid, mostly, and she didn’t understand the scope of what she was asking of me.
She was also a survivor, and I didn’t get to tell her how to live the rest of her very long life.
Assuming Black Hat and its zombigo case didn’t get us killed first.
“We need to be gone by breakfast at the latest.”
“Okay.” I rubbed my forehead. “Let me see what I can do.”
Depending on how long the case required, I was in danger of missing my appointment with the AC repair guy. And the electrician. The door guy too. Probably I was forgetting others after being put on the spot.
Usually, I would just call Miss Dotha, but after David Taylor cornered her in the shop and kidnapped the girls in front of her, I didn’t feel comfortable asking her for the favor. And I didn’t want to be told no.
Camber, Arden, and Miss Dotha were linchpins in the coven of strong, if unmagical, women I had chosen to surround myself with. They had witch blood way back in their lineage, enough to add their touches to our products, but nothing that required formal training or awareness of their latent talents to use them.
As much as I hated to interrupt the girls’ dinner, I didn’t see a way to avoid it in my current time crunch.
Hating to be a bother, I dialed Camber over Arden as a compromise. “Hello.”
“Why does that sound like a goodbye?”
“You’re an astute young woman with a good ear?”