Blair glances over her shoulder at me, worry in her eyes. I nod encouragingly as a group of werewolf teens, fangs and claws out with patches of fur on their faces, dash across the grass, aiming for one of the rides.
A group of witch moms are following their kids, sipping drinks from Stanley cups. Probably not water in those, I’m figuring. More like alcohol to deal with the gaggle of children they’re following. When one of the kids strays off, his mom uses magic to pull him back into the group.
Blair turns back to Storm. “I know Devlin from high school. We go back a long way. So that’s all you were seeing in that dance—just two people who’ve known each other a long time.”
“Did you ever date?” he asks, spraying water at the target. The water pushes the racing car disks up and up, but a kid sitting beside him has the lead.
“Don’t make it sound like a big deal,” I coax.
“Briefly.”
She looks back at me. Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that I glamoured myself with some subtle but importantchanges. Gave myself darker and longer hair. I’m taller (why would I go shorter?), and I have a handlebar mustache.
Always wanted one of those but never wanted to keep it long term.
I nod, silently telling Blair that she’s doing great.
When the kid beside them wins the water gun race, Storm looks agitated.
Blair places a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. You don’t have to win me the big bear.”
“No, no,” he says, pulling out his wallet. “I’m going to win it, even if I have to buy this whole carnival.”
Have I mentioned that Storm’s also one smug bastard?
The boy wins a small bear, but he wants to keep going. So does Storm.
When no one’s looking, he uses a bit of magic on the boy’s gun. It’s so subtle that no one notices, and apparently the game doesn’t have an anti-magic spell on it because the power is absorbed.
I smirk. If he can’t win it the proper way, Storm will win the underhanded way.
When the bell sounds, the water starts spurting, but the boy’s gun doesn’t deliver quite as much punch as it did before. Surprise, surprise, Storm wins.
And no one is any wiser about what happened.
No one but me, that is.
Two rounds later and Storm’s won Blair the big teddy bear of her dreams, and I want to punch a wall.
The kid walks off with his parents, his head hanging in disappointment. Before they pass me, I pull a teddy bear from the air with magic. “Hey, I won this but don’t need it. Would you like it?”
The way the boy’s face lights up makes my heart swell. “Thank you, sir.”
His parents thank me, and they walk off happier. I do, too.
After that, Storm buys Blair some sort of deep-fried ice cream thing, and they sit on a bench while she eats.
“So you like your town?” he asks.
“Castleview? I love it, but it must be so boring compared to where you’re from.”
“Well, I own three houses, so I come from many places.”
“Three? Wow. I still live with my parents.”
“Why is that, exactly?”
A trio of familiar voices grabs my attention. Glancing over, I spot Cathy, Sadie and Cherie heading this way.
