“Oh, Severin’s family believes in magic.” Not a lie. “We were talking about it. I wanted us to have that in common.” Total lie, but one that should—
“I’ll look into it immediately!”
Yep, that worked. I just gave Mom the best reason possible to dig into both sides of my family tree. If there’s anything to be found, she’ll find it. “Text me if you find something! I’ve got to go. I’m meeting Naomi.”
An excited yip comes from the green, and Finn runs out of a large patch of ferns he must have been crouching in, because I sure didn’t see his bright-orange coat until now. He trots up to me, then lets out a jaw-cracking yawn, his pink tongue curling with the force of it.
It’s cute as hell, but when I say as much, he shoots me some fox side-eye and says, “Have you ever considered being nocturnal? It’s a much more reasonable way to live.”
“Sorry, bud,” I say. “My job’s pretty nine-to-five, or more like seven-to-seven some days, but still, it’s daylight hours.”
“Foolish humans,” he mutters, then says, “Where are we going?”
“To talk to my friend, Naomi. She’s a witch.”
His ears prick up. “Does she have a familiar?”
“Not that I know of, but sheisfriends with a talking unicorn.”
“Unicorns aren’t real,” he says, his tone dismissive.
“They are. They’re a type of fae shifter.” I take another swig of coffee. “I’ve met one.”
“Humph.”
The sign hanging in the large glass window of I Touch My Shelf has been flipped to “Open,” so I’ve timed things perfectly. The wooden door swings inward on an empty shop. Naomi’s probably in the back, packing internet orders. It’s how she’s kept the shop afloat now that fewer tourists visit town.
I open my mouth to call a hello, then snap it shut. Oh, god. How am I supposed to tell her about fake marrying Severin? I’ve been saving her as my third person to tell, but she’s so deliriously in love with her orc husband that I’m not sure she’ll understand a marriage of convenience.
Finn circles the store, nose to the ground, then his body tenses, his paw darting under one of the couches to pull out a brightly colored crunch berry. He snaps it up, munching the crisp cereal with relish. He shoves his head back under the couch, his tail a jaunty flag. “That’s good. Are there more of those?”
“Boy, I sure hope not.” I cleaned up after the Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club meeting but must have missed a few. Next time, I’ll just bring Finn, and he can clean up all the dropped bits of cereal. Then I remember something. “Hey, don’t eat the dark-brown ones! Chocolate is toxic for animals!” Or at least it is for cats and dogs, so I’m going to assume it’s bad for foxes as well.
“Hello?” Naomi calls out, and the door to the backroom opens. “Hannah!”
My bestie’s beautiful brown face breaks into a huge smile, and she rushes forward to wrap me in one of her signature hugs, all enthusiasm and soft curves. In junior high,we both had a hot moment where we each envied the other—she wanted my height, and I wanted her generous butt and boobs—but we got over it. We’re both awesome exactly as we are.
She pulls back to beam up at me. “I got your text. You had a meeting in the shop last night?”
“Yeah, I hope it’s okay.” I give her a sheepish smile.
“Of course it is.” Naomi heads for the sofas, her thick brown curls bouncing with every step. She’s dressed in orc clothes, a pink tunic top embroidered with flowers and brown leather pants and boots, everything custom made to fit perfectly. Nobody in town seems to have noticed. Then again, there are lots of people like Autumn who do the whole boho-chic look, so Naomi fits right in. “Now, what’s all of this about magic and fae? Has something happened?”
A memory flashes through my mind—Severin winging through the sky like a fallen angel come to tempt humans to sin.
“You can say that again!” I take a seat beside her and turn to face her, pulling my bent leg up onto the cushion. “Fae are coming to Ferndale Falls. There’s something like a big butterfly that glows bright blue.”
“Those are pixies!” She chuckles and shakes her head. “Little rottens. We should have known they’d find a way to come through on their own. One of the human witches introduced them to pizza, and they’re so obsessed they call Earth ‘Pizza World.’”
“Pizza World?” I laugh, then sober as my ongoing worry about Ferndale Falls’s future rears its ugly head. “It’s too bad the town’s pizzeria closed down, or we could have gottenthem some pizza.”
Naomi gives a sad grimace.
“But I might finally have a solution! It turns out pixies aren’t the only kind of fae that have visited. King Severin of the shadow fae dropped in on yesterday’s town meeting.Literally.” I flap my hands like wings.
“Severin! Damn! He’s the last fae I want here on Earth, or almost the last.”
“What? Why?”
