“First of all,”—I pointed at Hades—“I love that name for them. Second, most of you were unable to get to us so we don't know how you'd do against the Apple Angels.”
“Without apples to fortify us, we'd probably do poorly,” Mr. T said.
Mrs. E added, “But now we know it's safe for us to take a single bite. And you're the ones with the orchard.” She looked at Az, then me. “So we have an unlimited supply.”
“It'srelativelysafe,” Odin said. “But there could be side effects that we don't know about and aren't prepared for.”
“Like me,” Austin said.
“What happened to you?” Hades asked. “I mean, beyond getting turned into a werelion?”
“Austin flew today,” Azrael said.
“Excuse me?” Brahma leaned forward. “You did what?”
“We think that because I had Wild Magic in me when I transformed him, it also transformed Austin,” I said.
“So, he's a faerie lion?” Pan asked, then grinned broadly. “Aflyingfaerie lion?”
Austin grimaced. “Lord have mercy.”
“Don't hold your breath,” Jesus said.
I answered for Austin since he was gaping at Jesus, “Yes, he is. Maybe more.”
“What does that mean?” Teharon asked. Both he and his girlfriend, Karni Mata, had passed on the cookies.
“It means that we don't know how many of the elements will manifest in Austin,” Azrael said. “He could end up with power over plants or an ability to breathe water.”
“Or fire,” I added. Then I grinned. “A fire-breathing, flying, faerie lion. Oh, I like the sound of that.”
“It's because of the alliteration,” Torrent said. “It makes it sound nice—a fire-breathing, flying, faerie lion. So many Fs.”
Pan snorted. “But you left off the best F-word.”
Torr frowned at Pan in confusion.
“I don't think I want to breathe fire,” Austin said. “It sounds like a really bad case of indigestion.”
“It's not. It's wonderful.” I leaned onto the table to look down the length of it at him. “And you can use fire to heal yourself.”
“If he's immune,” Azrael said. “We don't know how it will manifest. If it does at all.”
“And isn't that a Dragon-Sidhe thing?” Viper asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But I was the one who transformed him, so he'd get my Fire magic.”
“No, he'll get the Wild Fire Magic,” Az argued. “And we don't know how it will manifest, Carus.”
“How could he breathe fire and not be immune to it?” I rolled my eyes. “He'd burn himself up.”
“I'd what?!” Austin squeaked.
“You wouldn't,” I quickly said to Austin. “And that proves my point.”
“What point?” Austin looked at Az as if he could interpret my insanity.
“That if you breathed fire, you'd be immune to it,” Azrael said. “And I concede her point. The magic wouldn't destroy you like that.”
