A car with a paddleboard tied to the roof slowed to a crawl when it saw Eclipse and me.
I waved and tried to look as nonchalant as possible—which I realized might not be convincing considering I was sitting on top of a murderous-looking fae horse.
I heard the totally-not-a-lightsaber-hum behind me, and turned Eclipse in a circle just in time to see Chase, Fax, and Solstice emerge from the gate, which sputtered shut behind them and disappeared with magic.
“What do you think?” I asked Chase.
He surveyed our surroundings. “I don’t believe there are any threats, but I will remain vigilant.”
“No—I meant of Magiford!”
“Oh. It’s sufficiently tourist-y to maintain a healthy local economy.”
I was about to slap my hand to my face, but the serious werewolf continued.
“Back at home we had to invest heavily in making our town a popular tourist destination to maintain a healthy and happy city. I am glad Magiford has done the same. Their efforts show—the city is quite adorable.”
“Yeah—I’ve always loved living near Magiford,” I agreed. “But I’ll be the first to admit there is some manipulation at play. Since it’s the supernatural center of the Midwest, the Curia Cloisters spends a lot of money helping maintain downtown—I think it’s so they can manipulate things a little and show how beautiful and picture-perfect things are when humans live with supernaturals. But it’s a fun place to live.”
Two cars almost collided in front of us because the drivers were gawking at Solstice, Eclipse, and Fax. Pedestrians had stopped and had their cellphones out—most likely taking pictures of us.
I better get going—I’m not really sure I’m cleared by the Curia Cloisters to parade the night mares downtown, anyway.
“Okay, I’ll go get my coffee. Are you sure you don’t want anything, Chase?”
Chase somehow managed to bow, even from on Fax’s back. “Yes, Queen Leila.”
“Okay, great. I’ll be right back—come on, Solstice!”
King’s Court Drive was thankfully empty, so Eclipse and Solstice were able to walk shoulder to shoulder, their silver shod hooves clattering on the pavement.
I stood up briefly in the stirrups to fish my wallet out of my jeans, then stopped the night mares at a speaker.
The speaker crackled, before a voice greeted me. “Welcome to King’s Court—what the!”
The voice cut out briefly, but continued, slightly muffled.
“Rhonda! Rhonda, we’ve got a rider of the apocalypse in the drive through!”
Oohhh, that’s right—I forgot they have a camera pointed at the drive through.
“Actually, they’re really rare fae horses called night mares!” I tried to sound extra friendly as I waved to the little camera that was pointed at us.
“Calling them night mares doesn’t sound much better than a rider of the apocalypse. It sounds like they could kill you in your sleep,” the café employee said suspiciously.
“Uhhh…”
“Are your buddies Pestilence, War, and Famine getting ice cream up the street?”
“My friend is riding the sun stallion at the front of the café.”
“What? Where—WHAT?” The speaker blared with the volume the employee shouted. “We’ve got an angel horse up front and demon horses in the drive through! That’s it, the world is going to end. I knew I should have applied to work at the kayak stand!”
“Their names are Eclipse and Solstice.” I draped myself over Eclipse’s neck, giving her a half hug.
“Pretty names don’t change the fact that they look like they stepped out of one of those messed up surrealist paintings.”
I sat up straight. “Hey, that’s mean—they’re adorable!”
