“It’s a good plan. Balin kicked our asses last time without breaking a sweat, so it should take him by surprise when he can’t do it again. And Roland and Natalie can fly. If Balin’s surprised and Eunice is distracted, they can go straight for her and take her out.”
“You might be able to fly, too,” Fen pointed out.
That hadn’t occurred to him until she mentioned it. Slowly, he said, “You’re right, I might. Actually, I’ve sometimes managed to get monst—animal forms that can fly. Though not very well.”
She stretched like a cat, rubbing against him in a way that made him want to replay the last hour or so, immediately. “Shall we go back, then?”
Reluctantly, he nodded. “Yeah. The sooner we do this, the better. God knows what sort of animal parts I could get next.”
“Maybe you’ll get the ability to change color all over,” she suggested with a wicked smirk. “I could have myself a dick of many colors.”
“For you, I’d do it. What color do you want? A nice bright blue?”
“Good for the times when we want to role-play abducted human and sexy alien,” she said, her grin widening. “Or silver, for human scientist and the sexy robot she built.”
“I can see you’ve devoted a lot of thought to this.”
Unabashed, she went on, “Green, for elf maiden and sexy orc. Bronze, for virgin sacrifice and sexy dragon. Red, for repressed woman and sexy demon. White, for naïve nun and sexy angel.”
“This could replace the Pantone color scale,” Carter remarked. “Sexy alien blue, sexy robot silver, sexy orc green, sexy dragon bronze, sexy demon red, sexy angel white… How about gold?”
“Priestess and sexy sun god,” Fen said immediately.
“Gray?”
“Human hiker and sexy werewolf.”
“Orange?”
There was a long silence.
Carter suggested, “Sexy traffic cone?”
“Okay, we’re leaving now,” said Fen, sitting up.
He followed suit, absently reaching out to turn off the lamp on a side table. He’d designed it to change colors and brightness with a touch. But the instant his fingers connected with it, the bulb flared up in a brilliant white flash, then began pulsing through its entire range of colors set at their maximum brightness, like a disco club run by Lisa Frank.
“I can’t believe you were thinking of summoning Balin here,” Fen remarked. “I know you weren’t planning on a fight, but can you think of a worse place for you if it came to that? The whole place would explode around your ears!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Not one of my brighter moments.”
She caught his hand and kissed it. As always, her touch sent sparks dancing up and down his spine. “You weren’t in the best frame of mind.”
“True.” He paused at the door, reaching for his phone. “I’ll call the office and tell them what’s going on. Roland can help us flesh out our plan. He’s the strategy guy.”
His coat pocket sagged, suddenly heavy. Carter knew what had happened even before his fingers touched a cell phone that was colder and rougher than it ought to be. He instinctively stepped in front of Fen, trying to shield her.
Useless,he thought bitterly.I don’t even know whether Balin and Eunice are at the front door or the back door or flapping around the roof.
“Carter?”
He held up the stone rectangle that his cell phone had become. “They’re here.”
“What?” Fen said indignantly. “They were supposed to wait till you summoned them.” She looked up at the ceiling and screamed at the top of her lungs. “LIAAAAAAAAAAARS!!!!”
Though his heart was racing, Carter couldn’t help smiling. “I love you so much.”
“Same.” She held out her hand. “Give me that.”
