“What in the holy Kraken happened?!” She started scanning the space and then stopped as she saw Maeve, Arietta, and Isabeau laughing like absolute maniacs.
“I leave you alone forfive minutes,” Jessica said slowly. Dave leaned around her shoulder, taking in the scene.
“Huh,” he said. “Well. That’s new.”
Binky flapped his wings sharply. “They blew. Up. The wall.”
“I heard the explosion,” Jessica said.
“It wascontrolled,” Maeve offered helpfully.
Jessica raised an eyebrow.
Maeve paused. “Mostly controlled.”
Dave nodded thoughtfully. “I respect the commitment.”
“You would,” Jessica muttered as she stepped further into the cavern, hands on her hips now, her gaze sweeping over the damage before settling on Maeve. “No more experimental layering without supervision,” she said firmly.
Maeve opened her mouth then closed it, even as she tried to control the laughing.
“Define supervision.”
“Maeve.”
“Right. Yes. Supervision. Love that. Big fan.”
Jessica sighed, but there was a hint of a smile tugging at her mouth despite herself. She instead looking at the two remaining familiars.
“You guys okay?”
“No,” Binky said immediately. “Emotionally, I am devastated.”
“My tail is a tragedy,” Bas added
Jessica winced. “Okay, fair.”
Dave crouched slightly, peering at Bas’s tail. “Adds a bit of edge, though.”
Bas stared at him.
“I will bite you.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
Binky puffed himself up further, clearly not done. “And another thing,” he continued, voice rising, “Not only have I beenlightly roastedin what I assume was an act of magical negligence—”
“Allegedly,” Maeve muttered.
“But I have also suffered a devastating financial loss this evening.”
Jessica blinked. “What?”
“Denzel,” Binky said darkly.
And that, right there, explained everything about what was really important to the familiars.
“He cleaned us out,” Bas added, flicking his singed tail.
