She forced her drink down with measured sips, considering her response. “They were rude. How do they get to be so rude?”
“Not that it matters, but this family is as ‘pack’ as any I ever met. Mariposa is Tantie’s daughter and Avó is Tantie’s mother. Ranalf, Pek’s father, and Tantie share a bed.”
“It sounds complicated,” Sophie said. She would never remember all of that.
“That was just the kitchen.” He grinned at her.
“Ranalf is your enemy?”
“We aren’t friends. No. There’s history. Agehya is Avó’s long time apprentice? Student? Don’t know the word. Liz, her best friend, is around all the time, too.” He pronounced the deer lady’s name in a way that Sophie’s mouth didn’t want to follow.
“What is Agehya?”
“What do you mean?” he asked, like he didn’t know. Sophie frowned as he offered her grapes, but took them, nonetheless.
She ate them, flavor bursting on her tongue.
Since she couldn’t answer, Micah said, “Agehya lived with Avó before Apocalypse Day. Liz dropped into this world with me, from mine. We had a thing. Most of the shifters either came through the opening with me or with Ranalf in another one that appeared an hour later.”
“Agehya lived with Avó?” Sophie asked incredulously. “She’s using a glamor. She’s a blue-blood. How does that work, if she was here before?”
Micah kept putting food up for her to eat. Sophie felt a little silly, but without him to make her, she wouldn’t have eaten anything, and she’d regret it later. This was a chance to eat things she’d only seen in photos, dishes she didn’t know existed, and with the food in his hand, it was easier to swallow.
Micah said. “Agehya, a blue-blood? There are photos of her, Avó, and the rest of the family from before. They consider her an adopted daughter. Are you saying you can see under that glamor? Sophie, what kind of blue-blood is she?”
“I don’t know. Never seen one like her. She has antlers and hooves—but only two legs, not four.”
“Fuck. I thought maybe you just figured what I was because you were in South Bloc, in my territory, but you saw right away didn’t you? Are you telling me you can see through the shield-shit some of the blue-bloods use?”
“Yes. I can see them,” Sophie admitted.
“There’s more, isn’t there? You have some kind of magic sensitivity?”
Sophie didn’t know how to explain, really, but she’d try. “There is magic everywhere. There’s too much to pick out, to feel, or notice, because it is constant. Created, born, made. Most of the blue-bloods are some kind of magic. And Hyde has a lot of witches and sorcerers. I don’t pay enough attention, to be honest. You get so used to it after a while you know?”
“You don’t pay the magic any attention? Do the vampir know?”
Sophie nodded. “Yes. When I was young, I thought everyone saw the world the same way. I didn’t know about the glamor and shields. And they witch test me every six months.”
“When was the last time that they tested you?”
“Two months ago. Right before Alexi disappeared.”
He gave her a bite of meat and red rice next, and it tasted better than it smelled. “Chicken?” she asked.
“Baby, that’s Avó’s famous sausage. You don’t even know it when you have it?”
“Always question the meat on my side of the eyeninety,” she mimicked, repeating the mantra she’d heard from people her whole life.
He laughed. “Here, eat more. It’s grade A. There are some farms. But all meat is hard to get, hard to transport, and has to be guarded with magic and firepower. Avó did a favor, saved a child or some shit like she does, and gets shit for free on her birthday.”
They stood together, her dress skirt close enough to brush his legs, sharing the rest of the plate he made. Although not skin to skin, she felt his aura, his presence, the circle of power and will around him—the same he had used on Pek.
She knew almost nothing about him, though. He had power, some wealth, but if he was a leader of a pack, she’d only met two of them. “Who are you, Micah? Where did you come from? Are you a pack leader?”
“I have guys. Half of them are here,” he said.
“And who is Ranalf?”
