I licked my lips. “Because we received a call about two wizards in the area who were…breaking the city’s quiet hours.”
“Oooh, juicy,” Jess said. “We haven’t seen anyone. Sorry.”
“Yeah, and we’ve been all over this neighborhood.” Sherry shook her head, and I realized her fuzzy white hat had an alpaca face sewn onto the front. “Although now that I think of it, how would we know if someone’s a wizard or not?”
Jess tucked her chin in a pout. “Ryan said they always wear matching coats—for their House.” She made a face and rubbed her stomach. “I don’t think I should have had that mac and cheese. It’s not agreeing with all the pumpkin pie.”
How do I delicately tell them other humans think they’re the wizards?
“I see. Except you were shouting—”
“We weren’t shouting,” Jess declared. “Right, Sherry?”
“Right.” Sherry fiddled with her zipper. “Bemoaning our situation was more like it. We were promised wizard houses and that we could spend the night at our cousin’s house. So far, we haven’t seen a wizard House, and we can’t seem to find our cousin’s house, even though it’s on this street!” Her voice hitched louder with emotion.
I stared at the pair, feeling veryout of my depths. How could I suggest to these weary but exuberant women that they were the problem?
I turned to Considine, hoping he might jump in.
He just raised his eyebrows at me.
I understood why. Ishouldbe able to handle this. I couldn’t even say I was tired, as we weren’t very far into our shift. I was just…I wanted help.
“Please?” I mouthed the word to him.
He immediately moved, brushing his hand over mine and briefly linking our fingers. When he let go, he took a step in front of me.
“Wizards do wear a lot of odd regalia,” Considine politely agreed with her. “However, we were given a description of the wizards, and they match your appearance.”
“Us?” Sherry adjusted her adorable alpaca hat. “But we’re not wizards.”
“Really? Even though you were shouting about being wizards as we approached you?” Considine mildly asked.
Jess slapped her hands to her cheeks, her eyes locked on Considine. “We did! Sorry—we didn’t think we were that loud. This is so embarrassing—and the cherry on the top of a long day!”
“We apologize, we’ll be quieter,” Sherry said.
“We’ll never live this down,” Jess groaned. “We were so annoying the magic police got called on us. That’s a new one.”
Orrin watched the exchange as he edged closer to me. “Is this a new experience?”
“Incorrectly identifying supernaturals, or encountering tired humans?” I asked, surprised he was curious.
“The former,” Orrin said.
“It happens.” I said. “Last month we caught a human pretending to be a vampire, and the month before that someone called in a werewolf running through the city that ended up being a mid-sized dog.”
“Humans must call them in,” Orrin mused. “How could you mistake adogfor a werewolf? That’s like mistaking a lizard for a dragon.”
I felt the need to defend the caller, so I twitched my shoulders straight. “It was a very cute dog.”
“That further proves my point.”
Sherry was still talking at Considine. “We’re not in trouble, are we? I mean, I’m sorry we were loud, but it isn’t illegal to look at wizard Houses, is it? We just wanted a quick glimpse—there’s supposedly one two blocks away from our cousin’s house…though we can’t find our cousin’s house…”
Considine twisted at the waist to look back at me, tilting his head in a way that I knew he was asking if I was satisfied.
I am, but there’s no way we can leave them lost and wandering around. Particularly since House Tellier is nearby.
