JJ hesitates. “Desi, sweetie,” he says softly, “I don’t think that’s the best idea for today. My friends at the Sanctum don’t know about you, so if they see us together?—”
“That’s fine!” she says brightly, and to Cass’s utter horror, she points directly at him. “Cass can glamour us so we look totally different! Right, Cass?”
Damn this clever little demon toddler and her pointed questions about glamours during their mall trip. “Yes and no,” Cass says reluctantly. “Yes, I’m capable of creating glamours, but I can’t maintain them at a distance. My max is around fifty feet.”
If anything, Desi looks even more excited. “That’s okay! You can come with us! We’ll stay real close. Right, JJ?”
“I—” JJ looks faintly horrified by the idea. “I, um?—”
Cass cuts in before the hunter can say something insensitive that’ll make Desi cry. “Desi,” he says gently, reaching up to grab one of her little hands, “I’ve gotten to hang out with you all week, remember? And Jac—JJ hasn’t gotten to hang out with you at all. I think he might want to spend some time with just you, right?”
JJ looks honestly surprised that Cass is capable of basic courtesy. Cass’s dislike of the man ticks up a few notches. “Yeah,” JJ says eventually, nodding at Cass. “Thanks.”
Desi’s eyes widen. “You don’t want Cass to hang out with us?” she asks tremulously, nearly overbalancing in her attempt to turn her betrayed puppy dog eyes on JJ. “Butwhy?”
JJ’s expression instantly shifts. “I mean, it’d be okay if hewantsto hang out with us,” he hedges, shooting Cass a furtive look. “But he’s—he’s probably busy, right?”
“Nuh-uh!” she protests, jabbing a triumphant finger at Cass. “He said he was gonna do nothing all day! Right, Cass?”
Cass valiantly resists the urge to facepalm. “No. No, I’m not busy.”
JJ looks equally unenthusiastic. “So, uh. Do you want to come with us?”
Not even a little bit.“Sure,” Cass says flatly, and he raises a hand to cast the spell. “So how do you want to look? I’m sure you don’t want yourfriendsto see you cozying up to strangers, right?”
JJ hesitates. “Doesn’t matter. Whatever’s, um. Whatever’s easiest for you.”
The easiest thing for Cass would be to send them off undisguised and wash his hands of JJ altogether, but with Desi giving him that eager smile, there’s no way he can refuse. Sighing, he conjures up three basic glamours in his mind’s eye, makes sure they complement each other just enough to avoid suspicion, and settles them carefully into place.
Instantly, Desi’s and JJ’s appearances change, their facial features and hair textures subtly shifting into alignment. When Cass glances in the mirror next to the door, it’s to see that his own skin tone adjusted to match Desi’s dark brown and his physique is nearly identical to JJ’s.
There. Now, they can easily pass for siblings or cousins. That’ll give them a plausible excuse for carting a little girl around Redwater without being accused of kidnapping.
Even though, technically speaking, both heandJJ have kidnapped her at various points over the past few weeks.
JJ turns to check his appearance in the mirror, looking faintly impressed. “Whoa.”
“Yeah, it’s a big improvement,” Cass agrees, and he busily turns away from JJ’s scowl. “Tacos, right? That’s the plan? Let’s get moving.”
5
Tacos Near Me, JJ’s favorite food truck, is located in the Courtyard at the very center of Redwater. He’s been there dozens of times to grab lunch with Roma, Bryant, and Chester, all of them drawn in by the authentic food and doting owners and hilariously Internet-friendly name.
Going there with Desi wasn’t in his plans for today, though. And going there with Cassius Chindefinitelywasn’t in his plans—for today or any other day, really.
He still can’t believe he’s actually doing this. Granted, he probablyshouldhave made better arrangements for his time with Desi, but in his mind, he was just going to bring her to the far end of Lakeside to catch up, watch a few more episodes ofWyvern Academyon his cell phone, and maybe play some tag.
Unfortunately, Cass was right. The majority of Redwater knows JJ on sight as one of the hunters from the “cult on the hill,” and even though most civilians are warily cordial with him, he doesn’t know how they’d react to seeing him with a small child.
He wishes Cass could’ve just put the stupid glamours onto JJ and Desi and let them leave, but he knows that’s unrealistic. Glamours are a notoriously difficult subset of demon magic, and JJ doubts that even famed spellcaster Esmeralda Laguerre could maintain one at distances greater than three hundred feet. Cassius Chin is powerful, but his expertise lies more in fighting than spellcasting. JJ isn’t surprised that he has to stay close to keep their glamours in place.
Still, the ten-minute journey to Tacos Near Me seems longer than ever with Cass scowling away next to him. Desi makes it somewhat more manageable, though. “—and then me and Cass went to themall,”she continues cheerfully. “There are so many shops there, JJ! Can we go to the mall, too?”
“Sure,” JJ says readily, ignoring the annoyed look Cass shoots him. “Do you want to go today or next time?”
She tugs on his locs. “I wanna gettacostoday!”
“Tacos first,” JJ agrees. “And then we’ll decide what to do after that, okay?”
