Page 76 of The Spellreader and the Phoenix

Alex shot Max a look. “That’s a terrible business practice.”

Max shrugged. “Eh. You know I’m still working on how to do this without any people being involved.”

“We can keep our eye out for customers, or I could go serve them,” Rory suggested. “We can definitely talk to your mom as long as she needs. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Will the, uh, World Spell be trying to make her forget?” Alex wanted to know.

“It doesn’t tend to,” Rory told them with a shake of his head. “Not in any of the revelations I’ve ever seen, anyway. If it’s someone who’s being deliberately informed and they’re meant to know, the Spell seems to let that happen.”

“And this is why no one’s ever seriously considered trying to write a new Great World Spell,” Max put in. “It’s complex and probably does things we don’t even realize it’s doing.”

“This is all so wild,” Alex said. “I can’t believe it’s my life.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Max said, deadpan. “Surprise!”

Alex snorted. “Not your fault.” They looked a little embarrassed. “I’m so glad the two of you were here to help me through this. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“We’re happy to have helped,” Rory assured them, and Max nodded emphatically. “And we’ll be there for you and your mom tomorrow. We’re going to figure this out together.”

Alex yawned, then looked surprised that they’d done so.

Max said, “And that’s a sign that it’s time to get you off to bed, especially before your mom gets home and wants to know why we kept you so late.”

Alex rose to their feet. “Yeah, alright.”

“We’ll walk you,” Max told them.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“But we’re going to anyway,” Max said smoothly. “You’ve been through a lot today, and it’s getting late on a Saturday night.”

“If you’re a grandpa,” Alex teased.

“Hey,” Max protested. “I might be old enough to be your father, but I am definitely not old enough to be your grandfather.”

Rory wasn’t sure there was a number big enough to express what number grandparent he could be to them. He wondered if Max had read any age-gap romances and what he thought of them.

Probably it wouldn’t be subtle to ask.

They got Alex safely home with many reassurances that they were available for anything Alex needed.

“Just text if the plan changes,” Max told them. “If your mom’s had the worst shift ever or something, it can probably wait a day or two.”

Alex nodded, thanked them again, and then slipped inside. Rory and Max began the walk back to the shop.

“What the hell,” Max breathed out. “I did not think today was going to go like that.”

“And we get to deal with Alex’s mother tomorrow,” Rory reminded him cheerfully.

Max groaned, and Rory laughed.

Chapter Fifteen

Max

The revelation actually didn’t go nearly as badly as Max had feared that it would. Alex’s mother had a very logical mind, so while she was initially resistant to the idea of magic and shifters, she found their very concrete examples irrefutable.

Max had realized early on that they’d miscalculated a little, though. Well, he didn’t disagree that it was good to tell Alex’s mother right away, before she thought they were hiding something or thought Max and Rory were a bad influence or found out by accident. But it was only a little over twelve hours since Alex had shifted for the first time—they couldn’t shift again yet.