“It’s fine. Yes, there will be food. Let’s go to my house, and I’ll cook you an amazing lunch. I’ve already had an unexpected guest for breakfast, but she was a criminal. This will be a nice change.”
“Tess?” Jack, looking worried, put a hand on my arm.
“Oh. Yeah. I have alotto tell you. Oh!” I looked at Alaric. “You don’t know how to whammy a zucchini plant, do you? Or a crystal ball?”
Turned out, after a bit of explanation, that he did.
I texted Eleanor that I was leaving the shop closed until she got there after lunch, and we headed out. Me, two former rebel leaders, and the former high priest of Atlantis, who was more than five hundred years old.
Just another ordinary day in Dead End.
Sometimes it was hard to believe that my last boyfriend had been a dentist.
23
Tess
Alaric finished his second hamburger and shook his head. “Why would I spend eternity with a dangerous wizard?”
The Eeyore ball got in a few jabs before Alaric neutralized it—a temporary fix, he’d warned me. It was wrapped in an old feed sack in the trunk of my car for now.
Quinn leaned her head against his shoulder. “I think that one was meant for me.”
“Wizard? I am no wizard!” He said with so much haughty indignation I was afraid I’d start laughing again.
“I’m not sure a lump of quartz can make value judgments like that,” I said. “Sorry. But thanks again for what you did. Between the zucchini and the crystal ball, things have been hectic in there. I was afraid that plant would go allLittle Shop of Horrorson me any minute.”
The two men looked puzzled, but Quinn grinned.
“Feed me, Seymour,” she sang, and I joined in.
“So, I can grow up big and strong.”
Alaric leaned back and studied the two of us. “This has been a strange day.”
“Hey! My friend is dealing with an entire trove of dangerous magical objects someone dumped in her house. Probably a lot of them were used for evil things. Can you whammy the lot the way you did the crystal ball?”
“What?” Jack gave me alook.
“Later.”
Alaric thought about it. “Perhaps. However, human magical artifacts often respond to Atlantean magic in unexpected ways. I might be able to neutralize at least part of the trove, or the reaction could cause an explosion that would destroy her house and anything or anyone within a half-mile radius. There is no way to tell. However, I’d be willing to try. We can buy her a new house if this one blows up. When do we go?”
I smiled sweetly at him and held up the serving dish. “Maybe we’ll table that idea. More ham and cheese casserole?”
“Definitely.”
When he and Jack started on their third or fourth portions of everything—Jack had grilled burgers, and I’d pulled out the casserole, made a salad, and sliced bread—I pushed back from the table.
“Quinn, I’m going to go out and get some air. Want to join me? I’ll serve pie in a little while.”
She gently lifted my cat off her lap and down to the floor. Lou had made a beeline right for Quinn and jumped into her lap as soon as we sat down, surprising me. Maybe Quinn was just a cat magnet? First Jack and now Lou …
“I’d love to. We’ll be back in a few, guys. Try not to eat Tess out of house and home.”
Jack raised a hand and waved, because his mouth was full, and I headed for the back door.
“It’s beautiful here,” Quinn said, pausing on the porch to look around.
