Nai Nai hums. “Then we get others to help us. You have friends.”
“Afriend,” I correct.
“And her wife,” Ace adds. “I’m sure Lacey already told Jamie about everything.”
“And I can call Deelia,” Nai Nai says with a bright smile.
I stand to pace. “This still isn’t going to work. Ace, you can’t go to school. Lei can get to you there, or on the bus.”
“Then call my principal and tell him I have strep, or chicken pox, or whatever contagious thing would keep me out of school for a while until we figure it out.”
I look between my little brother and our grandma. “Is this what you want? To stay here?”
Ace shrugs. “If we were really in a safehouse in Boston, we’d be on total lockdown. Not much different being trapped here, except we get customers, and make money.”
“And the added bonus of a brooding fire demon,” Nai Nai says, her eyes practically turning heart shaped.
I chuckle and rub my hand down my face. “All right. What the hell. Let’s trick this place out like Home Alone.”
twenty-six
Magical Treatos and Warm Embraces
Magic-infused cookies were not a thing I thought I’d be making when Grandma said she wanted to have treats for the rune-painting party, but I suppose it makes sense. No one else has magic—that we know of—other than me and Nai Nai since I can’t get Rhaz involved. If the others are going to help us, they have to have some magic flowing through them.
So, the dough was scored with protection and power runes before baking, and now I’m adding designs for increased energy—maybe, if my hand would stop shaking—in red icing. My fists were clearly made for destruction, not arts and crafts.
“It just takes practice!” Lacey says when I groan at my fifth failure cookie.
She scoops up the piping bag from me and traces the runic shape perfectly on the next peanut cookie. I dust my hands off and step back.
“Obviously you’re more suited for this,” I say.
“Jiahui! Stop trying to get out of your work,” Nai Nai says as she pulls another batch from the oven.
“But elder Feng, Lacey can do it much better than me.”
I want to get back out to the front of the café, cleaning up glass and repainting. I told them to leave the giant splashes of black and just cover them in star speckles. I think it adds to the aesthetic, and also, I’m not going to let that asshole think he ruined anything when he comes in here.
“Giggle Sprite is not a mage!” Nai Nai says sharply. “She cannot infuse the cookies with anything but good looks. It needs your hand, and your magic.”
I grimace, accepting the icing bag as Lacey hands it over. “You’ve got this. Steady pressure, slow movements, push down and release when you want a line to stop.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” I say. “Is Jamie still coming later?”
“I think so,” she says.
“And she’s been…prepped?”
Lacey giggles nervously. “Uhh, yeah sorta.”
“Cool. Let’s just hope ‘knowing’ helps dampen the reaction to ‘seeing for herself,’” I murmur as I turn back to the counter.
I scowl down at the five I’ve done next to the perfect execution by Lacey. I want to erase them…
I take one of the cookies with a dilapidated rune and shove it in my mouth. It practically melts on my tongue and I moan. The salty sweetness is perfectly balanced with the rich, fatty peanut flavor.
Nai Nai smacks my arm. “No eating the product. These are for your friends so they can use your magic to help us ward the shop!”
