"I'm learning to bake pies, too!" Shelley said, before stuffing the last piece of chicken on her plate into her mouth and pointing at the lemonade. "I mrmph grmlph prmmph."
"We don't talk with our mouths full," Uncle Mike murmured, bending his head to hers and speaking quietly so as not to embarrass her. I met his gaze and smiled, sharing a memory of him saying the same thing to me when I was little.
She nodded and blushed, and then she waved her hand in a beckoning gesture. I glanced across the table to see who she was waving at and then got my third? Fourth? Big surprise of the day, when the lemonade pitcher levitated and floated across the table toward my sister.
"What is happening?" I croaked.
Jack's eyes widened, and Logan sat back in his chair and whistled.
"Shelley," Aunt Ruby said reprovingly. "What did we learn this week?"
Shelley swallowed with an audible gulp and then grinned at my aunt and uncle. "We don't do magic at the table."
I put the ice pack down on the table with a thump and shot an accusing glance at Aunt Ruby. "And mybirthday partywas the big discussion you wanted to have with me? Not, oh, I don't know, 'your sister starteddoing magic this week'?"
"We don't need to bore our guest with this," Uncle Mike said mildly.
Logan thanked Aunt Ruby for the giant slice of pecan pie she put on his plate and then grinned at Uncle Mike. "Oh, by all means, please go on. I'm not bored even a little."
"We still need to talk about the missing statue," Aunt Ruby said, obviously desperate to change the subject.
Logan's grin vanished. "Oh. Aye. The statue. Well, I might know something about that."
Jack pushed back from the table a little and folded his arms across his chest. My cat gave a disgruntled meow and then hopped off his lap and stalked off to the family room. "Why am I not surprised?"
Logan took a bite of pie, closed his eyes, and moaned as a blissful expression crossed his face. "Tess, will you leave this buffoon and marry me?"
Jack growled.
I was still hurting and also tired of only being wanted for my baking. "What do you know about the statue, Mr. Mackenzie?"
The eagle guy opened his eyes. "Please, call me Logan. And this pie—"
"Mackenzie," Jack roared. "The statue. Now."
I flinched. "Indoor voices, please. Headache, remember?"
Logan put his fork down and sighed. "Right. Jack, remember that time you made an elf very, very angry?"
Shelley jumped up out of her chair. "THERE ARE ELVES?"
"They like to be called Fae," Jack, Logan, and I all said at the same time.
Jack pinned Logan with a glare. "Yes. And?"
"He turned out to be a high prince of the High Court."
Jack rolled his eyes. "They all claim to be princes."
"Yeah, well, this one is Rhys na Garanwyn's brother. Kal'andel na Garanwyn."
Jack sighed and slumped in his chair. "Suddenly I'm not hungry.
Uncle Mike stared at him. "You'renot hungry?
I put the ice pack on my forehead and then put my head down on the table. "Jack's not hungry. The world must be ending. We're doomed."
Nobody said anything for maybe an entire minute, and then Shelley's tiny voice pierced the fog of "holy crap, this is bad" circling my brain.
