“Call the fire department.” I ran out of the Jeep, knowing Ryder was already on it.
Running into a burning building was a terrible idea, but if anyone was in there, if my sisters were in there, there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to save them.
Three steps before I reached the door, it burst open as if it had been kicked.
My sisters appeared out of a billowing cloud of smoke, four teenagers behind them.
Jean got them all out into the fresh air, planted her hands on her hips and declared, “We came, we saw, we kicked its ass!”
“Ghostbusters,” one of the teens said.
“Old school. Nice,” the other said.
The funny thing about adrenalin is that it hits like a hammer, and the shock waves keep rolling long after that first hit. I couldn’t stop myself. I reached out and grabbed Jean into a hug, one hand reaching for Myra, too, catching her shoulder.
Jean squeaked from how hard I squeezed her. Myra pulled in close, her arm extended around Jean to hold my elbow.
“We’re fine,” Myra said. “Delaney, we aren’t hurt. None of us.”
I gave Jean one more squeeze, then stepped back, letting my hands drop to my side. “Is there a fire?”
Jean glanced over her shoulder. “Well, not right now.”
“Dude,” a teen said. Now that I actually looked at the little group, I recognized Keith and Fernando from Crow’s sale. The girl was a young dryad named Shadow, and the other teen was a non-binary human, Page, who knew all about the magical stuff in town.
They all had matching wide-eyed, utterly delighted expressions.
“So much fire,” Page said.
“No heat,” Shadow added. “Which was totally cool.”
“And time went all…” Fernando shimmied his hands, “wibbly-wobbly.”
“Right before the lightning,” Keith said. “Which was… Dude.”
He sounded impressed. They all did. Which was fair. Even though this was a town stuffed to the gills with magic, it wasn’t every day one had a chance to see it up close.
The smoke cleared, leaving us in the cold misty air, the restless wind nibbling with needled teeth.
Fernando shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.
“You kids all okay?” I asked.
“Well, we’re going to have to restart the game,” Keith said. “We pushed the table over for a shield.”
I glanced at Myra.
She held up the fancy red and gold box. “Hourglass. Thanks for the butterfly tip,” she said to Ryder, who was right behind me, close enough he dropped his hand on my hip. It was that, his settling touch that let the rest of the adrenaline pour out of me.
“Crow figured it out,” Ryder said.
“Yes,” Crow picked up. “I did. You are all very welcome. I’ll take money or gifts. I’m not picky.”
“We don’t get to keep that do we?” Page asked, tipping their head at the box.
“Nope,” I said. “Sorry, it’s cursed.”
That got me four matching grins.
