“There’s something—several somethings—bobbing around in the water.” She points. “They’re—they have strange little faces.”
When I look into the trough, I shout, “Gabe!”
He flies out of the kitchen, rifle in hand. “Need me to shoot someone?”
“Put that gun down, idiot,” I say. “Where did you shoot Xol?—”
“Your boyfriend?” He’s grinning. “Right over there.” He points to where I’m standing.
“Did any of his blood, by chance, land in the water trough?”
“Maybe.” Gabe shrugs. “Not sure.”
“Mom, it’s fine,” I say. “This is just a thing that happens if Xolotl bleeds on water.”
Now everyone’s gathered around, and they all coo and cluck at the ten axolotls that have appeared in our water trough.
“Sorry about that.” But Xolotl’s already got his hand in the water. They’re bumping against it and nipping his fingers, and he’s beaming.
“There are two strands now,” Leonid says. “The light strands in your soul are growing.”
“I imagine that will only continue,” Xolotl says, “as long as this one doesn’t force me to leave.” He drops his axolotl-free arm around my shoulders.
I like the weight of his arm on me. “You better watch yourself, or I’ll kick you to the curb.”
“There aren’t any curbs out in the country,” Izzy points out.
“Whitney’s pretty hard to deal with,” Gabe says. “Some people would even call her hostile, but I can give you some tips on how to manage her.”
“Oh?” Xolotl’s smiling. “How so?”
“For one, you should always have a steady supply of Nerds clusters on hand. She really likes those.”
“Shut up.” I kick at Gabe, and he dances away.
“And if she’s really crabby, take her for a ride.” His eyes are sparkling. “She loves going for long trail rides when she’s stressed.”
Mom calls everyone inside for dinner then, and we all fall into our normal chores. I set the table. Gabe mixes up more lemonade. Izzy makes the salad.
“What should I do?” Xolotl’s standing around awkwardly. I never thought he could look awkward. Ominous, yes. Threatening, sure. Awkward? That’s a new one.
“Do you know how to do anything helpful?” Mom asks.
He grimaces.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure we’ll come up with some things you’re good enough to do eventually.” She smiles.
“I bet there are lots of things you’d be good at. Working at a nursing home, for instance.” Izzy’s got a very strange sense of humor.
“A morgue?” Leonid suggests. “Or perhaps an insurance actuary.”
“Your family’s remarkably relaxed about having Death sitting at their table,” Xolotl whispers as we all fill our plates and sit.
“You can thank Leonid for that. He’s the first villain a Brooks girl brought home.” I wink at Izzy. “They warmed everyone up for us.”
“Speaking of bringing someone home, we’re doing our wedding in Russia soon, if we can be reasonably sure the horseman isn’t going to crash.” Izzy’s staring pointedly at us.
“I can assure you that won’t happen.” Xolotl takes a bite of my mom’s lasagna, and then he turns to face me. “This is great.” I literally see the lasagna rolling around in his mouth as he says it.
