A slight snarl came from Dave who considered anything vegetarian a slight on shifters. Aunt Liz lasered him with a look designed to cut diamonds. “Why is it blue?” he asked, ignoring my aunt.
“Oh, that’s the red cabbage,” Maggie said with a brilliant smile. “If you mix it with baking soda, it makes a natural food coloring.”
I suppose we should be grateful it’s natural. Here goes. I took a small sip from my spoon at the same time as Hudson. Huh, it wasn’t actually that bad. If you ignored the color and concentrated on the soup, it was edible. That was progress.
“You like it?” Maggie asked as the rest of the supernaturals took a tentative sip.
“I think it’s your best yet,” I said with complete and utter honesty. The gang resolved to eat their bowls of soup without complaint, including Aira, who resisted asking any further questions. My opinion of her rose with every sip she took.
“What are your plans for the holidays?” Rebecca asked Aira.
Sebastian’s face moved into the passive one I associated with his need to lock down his emotions. It was clear he wouldn’t be spending it with his parents this year.
“We hold a Christmas Eve ball for our faction.” She glanced at Sebastian. “Christmas day is reserved for family. What about yourself?” she asked Rebecca.
“I don’t miss the formal pomp and circumstance of spending the holidays with people who only care for my station,” Rebecca said. “But I’ve found that spending it with the family you choose, not the one you are born into, makes for a more genuine experience that cannot be compared. Here, you are among people who love you, who treasure your company, and will accept you just as you are.”
Sebastian’s head raised as he listened to Rebecca’s explanation of what awaited him this year.
“Perhaps it is time for new traditions and new memories,” Aira said as she swallowed the last of her soup and placed her spoon in the empty bowl. I glanced around, we’d all finished. Even Dave.
Maggie giggled. I frowned at her as her cheeks flushed. “I’m so happy you all enjoyed the soup. I know you hate my cooking.”
I opened my mouth to argue. She waved her hand at me around another giggle. “Save it, Cora, I love that you try to hide it from me, but I’m not stupid.”
“Then why do we continue to suffer through this?” Dave asked.
Maggie giggled again, and Dave joined her. Dave was giggling. What in the ever-loving fu—
Hudson snorted. My head snapped to him.
“The mushrooms looked like little pale turds,” he said between his laughter.
Aira’s lips twitched. “It’s not the taste, it’s the color, like a psychedelic party in my stomach.”
A what? Aunt Liz went to sip her water and then blew it out at Aira’s comment, covering Dave in the liquid.
He wiped a hand down his face, then leaned over and licked her cheek in retaliation. Oh, my god. I could never unsee that.
“Remember the slug lasagna?” Rebecca chuckled as she clutched her stomach.
A bubble of laughter began in my chest and erupted unbidden like it had a mind of its own.
Maggie waved her hand in front of her face and gazed at it like it was the second coming of Christ. Oh, for the love of all that is fungi.
“Maggie,” I said while I still had the mind to. “Where did you get the mushrooms?”
Maggie stood and spun in a circle, grabbed Rebecca, and began to dance with her. “From the gardens, little toadstools of fun, some short and stubby, others long and skinny, an array of mushrooms for my soup.”
Magic mushrooms. She’d cooked magic mushroom soup and we’d eaten it all.
I stood up, ready to declare our predicament, but my lips were a little numb. Not good. Harry drifted from the ceiling and landed in the middle of the table before spinning to take in the hysterical occupants. He floated toward me and I swung my arms out and around him. A warm burst of emotion drenched my worries.
“Harry, my bestest ghost friend in the whole wide world.”
My arms passed through him, and he floated away from me with a frown. “Are you quite well, Miss Roberts?”
I bobbed my head. “Of course.”
