“Sure, boss. I’ll watch out for you, too.”
“Thanks, kid.”
“Was it good, at least?” Tandor called as I retreated.
I paused and glanced over my shoulder. “What?”
“The cinnamon roll. You didn’t bring it with you, so I’m going to assume you ate it. How was it?”
I cracked an embarrassed smile. Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten it, but it smelled so yummy, and I was so hungry, and I was sure Brambleby would get to it if I didn’t. “It wasn’t bad at all. No poison, in case you were wondering.”
He barked out a laugh. “Thank the fates for that.”
Glitter spread over my eyelids in a shimmering veil. I blinked to clear the stray bits from my eyeballs.
Velline’s voice was gentle. “There. Perfect.”
I turned to face the mirror. It was elegantly framed, one of the antiques Fiella had found and tucked away to be sold in her trinket shop. My own dolled up face stared back at me.
My eyes were bright and round, rimmed with brown shadows and expertly placed glitter. My cheeks and lips were flushed a pretty red shade. My auburn hair rested beside my antlers in a twisted updo. And my dragon leaned on my shoulder, trying to peek in the mirror, too.
Fiella had invited the ladies over to get ready for the first day of Miss and Mister Moonvale at Fiella’s Finds, her charmingly cluttered trinket shop full of strange odds and ends.
I had shown up. As had Kizzi, Lunette, Velline, and a few of the witches, Hyacinth and Rayna. The trinket shop was full to the point of bursting.
Glitter drifted on the air like dust motes, settling onto our shoulders, our hair. The floor.
Fiella would have to handle that later. Or convince Kizzi to create an enchantment for the purpose.
That was a future problem. For now, I wanted every inch of my skin to glitter, shimmer, gleam, or glow to some degree. I wanted to absolutely glisten.
I splashed my throat with some of Fiella’s sweet berry perfume. I coughed once. Twice. Before I composed myself and stepped back to admire the final product.
I was ready.
I tried not to let any lingering stress from my morning cinnamon bun surprise seep in and ruin my mood.
“What do you think the three trials will be this year? I hope there’s one for knitting, even if I’m not competing. I’m great at that now,” Fiella said.
Kizzi rolled her eyes. “That’s because yourdragonhelps you. I still don’t know how you trained him to do that, by the way.”
The vampire ran her hands over her blue hair, adjusting the smooth curls. “I don’t know either. It just happened.”
“You accidentally trained your dragon to knit for you?” Hyacinth asked, voice drenched with skepticism.
Fiella simply nodded.
“Unbelievable,” the black-haired witch murmured. “Absolutely unbelievable. You bitches are crazy.”
“Thanks!” Kizzi said brightly, a wide grin stretched acrossher face. “You aren’t so normal yourself, misscollects animal bones.”
Hyacinth flicked her fingers dismissively. “That’s different.”
“Mhm,” Kizzi said. “Sure, it is.”
“I think animal bones are great,” Lunette squeaked. I glanced at her to find her cheeks flushed, eyes a little too bright. How odd.
“See!” Hyacinth declared. “I knew I wasn’t the weird one. Even Lunette agrees.”
