“Because it’s delish—” She untwisted and glanced up at me. “Disgusting. She should be ashamed of it.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“What if I have a craving for subpar confections?”
“Earn some money and buy them.”
“But I’m a pony! Ponies have no earning potential.”
We were at the Jeep. I opened the back door. She hopped inside and I slammed it shut. The very short walk around the front of the vehicle to the driver’s side was blissfully silent. I savored it.
I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “You can earn money, and you should.” I backed out of the parking lot and flicked on the right-turn indicator.
“But,pony,” she said stubbornly.
“Yes. Ponies can give rides to children. Ponies can be a part of a petting zoo.”
She perked up, and I clarified, “You’re not getting paid for the one on Saturday, but if someone wants a pony for events, holidays, business openings, sales events, you can work it as a pony. If not that, there’s always pulling work on farms, carriage rides, that sort of thing.”
“What if I don’t want to do any of that?”
“Then you can shift into a human form and work a human job somewhere.”
“Boring.”
“Nope,” I said easing into traffic. “It’s just Ordinary.”
She did not laugh at my joke.
Chapter Seven
Jean was not surprised,and that worried me.
“What do you mean, you knew Xtelle would end up back here again?”
My sister was currently covered in a thin patina of flour, which was weird because there was no way she’d done any actual work, despite the Puffin Muffin apron she was wearing.
“She got a taste of Ordinary and didn’t want her son to have all the fun. Of course she’d come back. I’m just surprised you let her back in.”
“She signed the contract.”
“Still. You were pretty furious at her.”
“She lied to me. To us. She cheated her way into Ordinary so she could spy on my sister and try to force her own son to kill himself.”
“Those tiny magic scissors wouldn’t have killed him.”
“He didn’t know that.”
She nodded, her green hair flashing neon in the sunlight that was breaking through the clouds. The Puffin Muffin parking lot was relatively empty for this time of day, but Jean said she’d been helping Hogan bake all morning.
Jean was lying.
Xtelle sat in the Jeep, pouting.
“You tend to hold a grudge, Delaney,” she said.
“I do not.”
