“Fine. I'll see if there are any beers in the fridge.”
“And a sandwich?” Austin asked hopefully.
Re grimaced as he walked away. “You'll get whatever leftovers I find. I'm not making you a sandwich.”
“Thank you,” Austin called after him. Then he grinned at me. “I think I'm getting the hang of this.”
“Of manipulating Re?” Trevor asked. “That's easy. Just tell him he's pretty.”
“Ha-ha.” Austin rolled his eyes. “No, the elements. I think I can wrassle them now.”
I looked around warily.
“What?”
“No, nothing. It's just that a statement like that is usually followed by trouble.”
“No trouble here.” Austin grinned.
Wringing out his wet T-shirt and displaying one of the finest chests in existence, Viper said, “He's done Air, Fire, and now, Water. That leaves Earth.”
“But this earth belongs to Vervain,” Odin mused.
“Dirt is dirt,” I said. “He should be able to manipulate it and the things growing within it.”
“Plus, he has ties to Vervain,” Kirill said. “Her territory should allow it.”
“I don't know.” Odin looked off toward the grasslands. “A god shouldn't be able to manipulate another god's territory.”
“He's a demigod, and she's his goddess,” Trevor said. “I think that makes a difference.”
A snore interrupted us. We looked over to find Austin asleep, sprawled across the pool lounger.
I chuckled. “Should we take him inside?”
“Probably,” Az said. “He could get into mischief out here.”
“I'll watch over him,” Salem offered.
I jumped. “Oh, wow. I forgot you were there, Salem. You were so quiet.”
“I'm a ninja dragon.” He grinned, showing off his many sharp teeth.
“All right, let us know if he goes elemental again.”
“You got it, V!”
“Thanks, Salem. Bring him to the veranda if you get bored out here.”
“Will do.”
So we left the ninja dragon to guard the fire-breathing, flying, water-wielding, faerie lion and went inside Pride Palace to stop the Sun God's beer quest.
Chapter Sixteen
The next few days went by without incident. The construction crew made good headway on the church/bomb since nothing had to be structurally sound and Azrael helped them with Wild Magic. All I had was Fire, so there wasn't much I could do, but I did check in with them every day in case that changed. The walls and roof were up already, and Torrent was working on the explosives. The property had a lot of trees around the building site, which we were going to use as vantage points and cover for the catapults. We were going to launch magic-suppressing nets at the Angels. Hopefully, they'd work on Wild Magic. Those of us who could fly would simultaneously attack from the air.
With our plans unfolding, I was feeling less anxious, and Trevor had convinced me to take a break from the kids and have a little “us time” in the butterfly garden.
