Alex collapsed, flat, and utterly defeated.
I wiped tears from my eyes.
“Dad,” I said fondly. “You are an inspiration.”
He looked up at me, chest puffing out proudly. His tongue lolled. His eyes crinkled with unmistakable delight the moment my mother walked in.
She stopped just inside the doorway, taking in the scene in a single glance. The toad flattened against the floor, my dad sitting tall and triumphant in his canine form, and the rest of us hovering somewhere between amusement and disbelief.
She blinked once and again.
“…Is that Alex?” she asked calmly.
“Yes,” I said.
She nodded. “He looks better this way.”
My dad wagged harder, which just meant a pulse and a dip from his stubby tail.
She crossed the room and crouched beside my dad, scratching behind his ears.
“Good boy,” she murmured.
My dad practically vibrated with happiness.
Alex whimpered, and my mother looked up at me.
Her eyes were warm, steady, and entirely unbothered by the magic, the chaos, or the amphibian ex-husband.
“I see you’ve had an eventful evening.”
“You could say that,” I replied.
She rose, brushing her hands together. “The late dinner smells lovely.”
“It is,” Celeste said faintly. “Also, Grandpa just psychologically destroyed my dad.”
My mom smiled serenely. “Family healing takes many forms.”
My dad snorted in agreement and plopped down at my feet with a satisfied grunt, clearly done for now. Alex didn’t move.
The Academy hummed softly, approving.
And for the first time all night, I felt light and safe. I was surrounded by people, and creatures, who loved me enough to stand guard, even when standing guard involved slobber.
If the Priestess was watching, I hoped she took notes.
Stonewick, it turned out, defended its own just fine.
My mother took one look at Alex flattened on the floor and decided, with the calm certainty of a woman who’d put up with entirely too much nonsense in her lifetime, that it was her turn.
She didn’t rush him. That would’ve been unsporting.
Instead, she crouched slowly, skirt folding neatly around her knees, and smiled at him with the sort of pleasant, polite smile she used on people who talked too long in checkout lines and didn’t realize how close they were to being judged.
“Well,” she said mildly. “This is new.”
Alex’s droopy eyes twitched.
