Obie’s warm, rich laugh rings through Chester’s mind.I suppose I’ll just have to never leave you unattended. Doesn’t seem like too much of a hardship.
Chester is just about to respond when Bryant’s faintly appalled voice makes his eyes snap open. “Okay, stop.Stop.You two are gross.”
Chester sputters indignantly at her. “What didwedo? We’re just sitting here!”
“I gotta agree with Bry on this one,” Roma says, and she and Bryant high-five over it. “You both get this look on your faces whenever you’re talking dirty to each other through your telepathic link. It’s disturbing.”
“We’re not talking dirty!” Chester protests.
“In Roma’s defense,” Obie says dutifully, “wewerediscussing theabilityto talk dirty. So you’re partly right.”
Chester groans, dropping his head back against the couch. “Traitor.”
“Please. You love it.”
“No, I loveyou.”
The words are both strangely spontaneous and carefully premeditated, and Chester chances a quick glance at Obie, gauging how they landed.
Obie’s eyes are soft. “I love you, too, puppy,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss against Chester’s hair.
“They’re nauseatingly cute,” Naomi says to Sawyer. “Why aren’t we that cute?”
Sawyer doesn’t miss a beat. “Because you refuse to talk dirty to me in public, much as I ask you to.”
Chester chokes on a laugh. Cass strides into the living room with Chester’s mug of hot cocoa, looking wholly disapproving. “Can wepleasetable the discussion about talking dirty until a later date?” he asks pointedly, gesturing at where Desi is cheerfully adding an obscene number of marshmallows to her own hot cocoa while a long-suffering but fond JJ supervises. “There are minors present.”
“If you insist,” Chester says, gratefully taking the mug from him. “Thanks, Cass.”
Cass’s smile is tighter than it was with “Kyle,” but his shoulders are relaxed. “Of course,” he says, and he collapses onto the armchair, looking like he hasn’t slept in a week. “Well,thatwas a harrowing few hours.”
Ez snorts. “Understatement of the century. Let’s try to avoid the existential threats to life and limb in the future, shall we?”
“Doubtful,” Maggie says, and awkwardly, she steps away from the group. “For now, though, I—I should get out of here. Need to make sure everything is in order at my safe house and refresh the anti-tracking spell work.”
Chester’s chest hurts. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you sooner,” he whispers. “That—that you got hurt.”
Maggie’s smile is faint, but at least it’s there. “You called in the cavalry. That’s really all I could ask for,” she says, and she lifts one hand, snaps her fingers?—
Nothing happens. Instantly, her expression goes blank. “What?—?”
“That’s normal,” Cass says quickly, leaning forward in his chair. “Demon magic isn’t a fan of half-human souls, and human magic isn’t a fan of half-demon souls. You and Nehemiah will both have to relearn a lot of the basics from scratch. I can help you flatten the learning curve, though—I went through a lot of trial and error to recover my spellcasting, so I can show you what worked and what didn’t.”
“In the meantime,” Ez says, raising one hand, “what’s your safe house’s address? I can open a rift for you, and?—”
Abruptly, Obie straightens next to Chester. “Stay,” he orders, and Chester hears three thousand years’ worth of affection bleeding into the word. “Come on, Maggie. You’re not overstaying your welcome.”
After a long moment, Maggie nods. “Okay. Sure,” she says, gingerly settling herself into the armchair on the far side of the room—as far away from Bryant as physically possible, Chester realizes with a pang. “Thanks, Obie.”
“On that note, though,” Naomi says, casting a sideways glance at Sawyer, “we should probably get out of here. I actually want to reanalyze some of our data points tonight.”
Gregorio sighs. “I was afraid you’d say that.”
“Data points?” JJ asks, frowning at them from the kitchen. “What data points?”
“The power signatures,” Sawyer says, and Chester starts with surprise, his heart thudding unsteadily. “I think we all have somenagging hypotheses about today’s revelations that we want to test. We’ll update you if they amount to anything.”
“As long as Smith is okay with us leaving?” Naomi asks, raising her eyebrows at Obie.
