Page 2 of Hextreme Measures

He had to bite back a laugh. Sometimes, Ofelia was blunt to the point of being stupid. “You should probably refrain from telling your mother that, too.”

“Okay.” Ofelia smiled.

Because he couldn’t help himself, Oscar snagged the magazine to look at it. “Who is this guy?” He pointed at the man on the cover. “You don’t want him to be your future husband, do you?” He was joking, of course. Suddenly, the idea of Ofelia getting married made his stomach constrict. She was still a child, but she wouldn’t always be. There would come a day when she wouldn’t curl up in a corner in the storage room to read her books. She would be doing other things.

She would be spending her time with other people.

“That’s Chad Michael Murray.”

“Do you like him?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“You don’t want to marry him?” he teased.

“No way.” Ofelia was surprisingly vehement when she shook her head. “I already know who I’m going to marry, and it’s not him.”

“Oh, yeah?” Oscar got comfortable on the bean bag. “Who are you going to marry? What’s his name? I’m going to beat him up.”

“No, you’re not.” She shook her head. “Besides, I don’t know exactly who I’m going to marry. I just know the type of person I’m going to marry.”

“Someone just like your dad?”

“Sort of,” Ofelia replied. She didn’t elaborate, and Oscar knew what she was leaving out. She wanted somebody who didn’t fly off the handle or have downward mental spirals that sometimes lasted for weeks. She wanted somebody she didn’t have to walk on eggshells around.

He didn’t take it personally. He wanted those things for her, too. “Tell me about him,” he instructed.

Ofelia smiled, seemingly happy with the request. “Well, he’ll be nice, but not so nice that he’s afraid to keep Felix in line.”

Felix was her brother, and as with all older brothers, he irritated his sister better than anybody.

“It’s important to keep Felix in line,” Oscar conceded. “Very important.”

“Yeah.” Ofelia smiled.

“What color will his hair be?”

“That doesn’t matter, but probably black.”

“What color will his eyes be?”

“I don’t know that either. I just know that he will be brave. He’ll be a hero. We’re going to solve mysteries together and keep the Quarter safe.”

“Oh, yeah?” Oscar was amused despite himself. He’d assumed that Ofelia had outgrown her superhero phase years before. “Will you wear capes?”

“No, silly.” She rolled her eyes, and Oscar recognized he was going to have his hands full with teenage Ofelia in a few years. “We’re going to fight monsters, like zombies and bad witches. We’re not fighting the Joker or some comic book guy.”

Oscar was caught off guard. He knew Ofelia was different on that front, too. She was … special. He had a sneaking suspicion she had magic that she didn’t want to tell her parents about. She’d been careful to keep it to herself — something that was very wise considering Marie’s opinion of magic — but it was obvious she’d started to experiment. Well, if the little swirls of light he occasionally saw darting through the house meant anything.

For a moment, Oscar considered asking her about the magic. He stopped himself, though. If he knew, he might use it against her when he got caught up in a rant. Then he would expose her to her mother and brother.

The thing Oscar wanted most was to be a good father. When he was present, he liked to think he was. He was present most of the time. There were stretches where his demons were getting the better of him, however, and those stretches were becoming more frequent.

He would not hurt his daughter on purpose. That meant he wouldn’t ask.

“Well, I can’t wait to meet him,” Oscar said instead.

“No way.” Ofelia snorted and shook her head. “You don’t want to meet him. You’re going to be mean to him.”