Enchantment Emporium

“That’d suck,” Charlie allowed. “Let me give you something new to think about, then. Where’s Joe?”

“In the bathroom.” She frowned at a Thimble Collector’s International twentieth anniversary thimble. Definitely commemorative, but was it collectible to anyone outside the club? “Does this look like actual silver to you?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. What do you figure Joe’s doing?”

“Charlie!”

“Got you, it’s a trick question. I should have asked, who do you figure Joe’s doing?”

Allie turned slowly to face the back of the store. “Please tell me it’s Katie.”

“Nope. Now, where do you think Auntie Gwen is?”

“With the rest of the circle at the spa?”

Charlie’s brows went up.

“Oh, no…” Allie moved out from behind the counter but before she could get any further, Charlie grabbed her arm.

“He’s Fey. He’ll be fine. He only looks like a kid.”

That was true as far as it went. Joe’d told her the Call commanding his return to the UnderRealm had probably been a result of the Human half of the changeling bond dying of old age. That was also completely irrelevant as far as Allie was concerned. “He’s my responsibility.”

“Why? You’re not banging him.”

There was that.

“Not banging who?” Michael asked.

They turned together.

Charlie released Allie’s arm and stepped away. “I’ll just go over here,” she said, walking to one of the center tables, “and poke through this box of… Okay, don’t care about power cables. Have plenty.” Both hands in the air, she continued backing down the aisle. “Maybe I’ll look at the books.”

Allie looked up at Michael, who brushed his hair back off his face, blush rising under his tan. “I could have really hurt you.”

He shrugged. “You didn’t.”

“I could have.” And then she realized he couldn’t possibly hear her since he was also talking.

Apologies spilled out simultaneously, tangling in each other until he held up both hands and managed to slide “Me first” into a pause.

She owed him that much. “Okay.”

Taking a deep breath, he dried his palms on the thighs of his jeans. “Allie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

She waited but, bottom line, Michael was still a guy, and that was it. “Or maybe you should have said it years ago.”

He shrugged. “How could you think I didn’t know?”

“I was that obvious?”

“To the people who love you, yeah.”

When he opened his arms, she hesitated a moment before moving into them. “Things are changing.”

“Not us.”

Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they already had. Maybe it didn’t matter because she knew Michael would stand there, with his arms open, waiting for her to find him again. Barely aware of moving, she tucked herself up against the broad shelter of his chest, resting her head against his heart. “No matter what happens between me and Graham, I will always love you.”

She felt his lips against the top of her head. “I know.”

“How can you know?”

“Because no matter what happened with me and Brian…”

“And Peter and Joey and Steve and…”

“Shut up.” He tightened his grip. “Because no matter what happened with me and Brian, I always loved you.”

“Medic!” The plaid of Michael’s shirt might be all Allie could see, but Charlie, for all her ability to project over a crowd, was definitely a lot closer than the bookshelves at the far end of the store. “My pancreas just shut down from the sugar overload. On the bright side, I’ve got two verses and a chorus finished. A couple more verses, a dead dog, and a banjo, and this is going to make ’em cry.”

“I thought banjos did that all on their own,” Allie snorted backing out of Michael’s embrace. “I should really get back to…”

Burning!

Raging!

She didn’t remember hitting the floor, but both knees were telling her she’d dropped like a brick. The hardwood smoked slightly against her palms. It felt as though her blood was on fire.

Under Michael’s panicked reaction, she could hear boots on the stairs.

“Hey, Al! My mother’s…” The boots skidded to a stop just inside her somewhat limited field of vision. “Oh, you heard.”

“At least with the rain, there won’t be too many people in the park.” Allie came out of the bedroom buckling her belt. Clothes suitable for thimbles didn’t cut it for a potential apocalypse. Too flammable, for starters. “Auntie Gwen…” She slid right past the reason Auntie Gwen had a purpling bite mark just under the edge of her jaw. “… you’re driving the bus because Michael and Joe are staying here. I don’t want noncombatants anywhere near this. Pick up the others at the hotel, and we’ll meet you there.”

“Don’t forget to remind them about the police helicopters,” David growled from his place by the door. Allie was just barely coping with having him that far inside the room. With only Auntie Gwen about, and her distracted, David’s presence just added to the heat in her blood. “They’ve got to make sure the weather’s bad enough to ground them.”