Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Great, my panic is making me sweaty. My heart thuds and I fidget. The first to come through the portal is Dad, followed swiftly by the rest of my coven. Cool as a cucumber, Dad strolls into the middle of the room, his hands behind his back as he takes everything in with a raised eyebrow.
I also glance about and try to see the hotel from his perspective. It is exquisitely beautiful. I am so proud of the changes I’ve made.
In the exact spot my dad is now standing, an elf was bleeding all over the floor.
Now, the entire lobby is immaculate. You could not guess a massive group of elves and shifters had stomped their way through here only a few short hours ago.
For someone who doesn’t like to clean and who has, in the past, given her dust bunnies names, a self-cleaning hotel is epic. Like a mega jackpot lottery win.
I take a deep breath, move my neck from side to side, and shake out my hands.
My poor fingers are cramping as they have been balled so tightly into fists.
A light breeze ruffles my hair and cools my sweaty cheeks.
In my next breath, vanilla and cinnamon invade my lungs.
The hotel somehow smells of comfort, like I have burned a dozen cinnamon and vanilla candles for their visit.
It smells of Owen.
I huff out a surprised sound. Whoa, it does. I sniff again. It smells just like the hellhound. How strange. It is like the hotel is trying to calm me down.
Thank you. I hope the realm’s magic knows I’m grateful. It is also a reminder that if this all goes tits up, I can always stuff them back in a portal and send them home. For the first time in my life, I have the power here.
Daisy flaps a wing and I wince as her long claws dig into my shoulder and arm. My dragonette nuzzles me, the scales of her muzzle brushing against my cheek. I cluck her underneath her chin and kiss the extra soft skin between her nostrils.
“Hi, sweetheart,” my dad says to me, then nods politely at Owen, who is standing directly behind us like a sentry.
“Hi, Dad. Thanks for coming,” I mumble awkwardly.
My mum doesn’t say hello. She doesn’t say a word.
At first, I think she is giving me the cold shoulder as I watch her sashay across the room to the seating area.
Her heels click ominously on the wooden floor.
Each clicking step she takes tries to drag me back to my childhood, and the helplessness I felt makes me cringe.
When Mum gets to the window, she pokes at the curtains, flipping the fabric between her fingers as if to check the thread count.
She then looks out at the lake with a satisfied sigh.
Oh no, she’s not mad at me. She is proud. It took me a moment ’cause I didn’t recognise the contented expression on her face.
“Hi, Auntie Tuesday. Hi, Daisy. Hellooo, hot bodyguard,” my fifteen-year-old niece Heather says as she barely glances up from her phone. She manages a half-hearted wave as she bounces towards my favourite chair.
“Heather!” Ava squawks.
Heather’s curly blonde hair flutters around her shoulders as she collapses into the chair. “Great. You have fast Wi-Fi,” she mutters, ignoring her mum as her thumbs rapidly move across the screen.
“I am so sorry, Owen. She’s at that age. Thank you for looking after Tuesday. It is nice to see you again,” Ava says.
My mum is fluffing up all the loose cushions. She is practically buzzing, overflowing with joy.
My other two sisters break out of their shocked trances and, as a unit, turn and rush towards me.
Jodie gets to me first, and I’m engulfed in her strong perfume as she hugs me.
Daisy sneezes and then lets out a hiss when Jodie doesn’t immediately let go.
Daisy’s tail whips about like a cat. She dislikes the intrusion into her body space.
“Hush, mini monster. I am allowed to hug my sister,” Jodie chides.
“Little sister, I’ve been so worried.” Within the hug, she shakes me.
Daisy wraps her tail around my arm and grumble-growls her disapproval in my ear.
“When you didn’t get to the safe house, I thought something awful had happened to you. ”
It had.
“I am sorry. As you can see, I’m okay.” I hold my arms out for a visual inspection, but Jodie hugs me tighter. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
Jodie, out of the four of us, is the spitting image of Dad, just a tiny female version.
I have to look away from those brown eyes when she finally lets up her hug-fest and meets my gaze.
They radiate with equal parts hurt and concern.
“You have a lot of making up to do.” Jodie lowers her voice.
“I understand why you didn’t message me.
It just makes me sad you avoid us because of her. ”
My dragonette is done with another angry grunt as if she is highlighting just how much Jodie has ruined her day. She pushes off my shoulder and jumps. She is airborne for a few seconds until she smacks into the centre of Owen’s chest.
The hellhound lets out a surprised grunt and then allows the golden dragonette to snuggle into the crook of his arm.
“Oh. Well, now that is interesting,” Jodie says as she eyes the pair.
I can feel the redness heat my cheeks as I see her brain working overtime. Daisy hates everybody—everybody but me, and now Owen. “Afternoon, Owen,” Jodie says with a huge grin.
“Hey, Owen,” Diane says as she unceremoniously shoves Jodie out of the way. Then it is our older sister’s turn to pull me into an embrace.
“Ladies.”
Diane is five years older than Ava, six years older than Jodie, and that makes her fourteen years older than me.
She’s the spitting image of our mum, with her dark blonde hair and violet eyes.
When I see her, my heart always does this silly little jump, and I can’t help but be cautious around her, which is entirely unfair, as she is nothing like our mum.
Diane is incredibly sweet, unlike her creepy boyfriend. I can’t believe he is here.
Andy, the boyfriend, loiters behind her like an unpleasant smell. He pulls his hands from his pockets and scratches the back of his neck. His dark hair is all over the place. It’s only been a few minutes, and he already appears to be bored with our coven reunion.
“What have you been up to?” Diane whispers as she hugs me fiercely. Squished against my sister, out of the corner of my eye, I frown as I watch Andy trundle over to the nearest wall and tap it with his knuckle.
What a weirdo. I don’t know if he thinks that’s a manly thing to do or thinks the walls are made of paper.
Everything is real, dickhead. You’d think as a shifter, he’d know a little about magic.
I do my best to ignore him as his dirty trainers squeak-stomp across the floor.
But then the cheeky sod attempts to go behind reception!
Before I can say anything, Owen is suddenly there, in his way.
My hellhound narrows his eyes in discouragement.
Daisy adorably snaps her razor-sharp teeth, providing backup.
Andy puffs up his chest, scowls, and stomps back to my sister’s side. He mutters under his breath about elitist shifters and something about fire extinguishers.
“You’ve had some big changes,” Jodie says as Diane finally lets go of me with a sniff.
“I can’t believe you didn’t ring and ask for help. How on earth have you dealt with all this on your own?” Diane says almost at the same time. She crosses her arms and shakes her head.
It is not as if I can say, “Oh, you know, it’s me against the world,” so I shrug and mumble, “I didn’t want to bother anybody.”
“She’s not been on her own,” Jodie says with an eyebrow wiggle and salacious grin. She drops her voice into a sexy cadence. “The hot hellhound has been guarding her body.”
Diane snorts.
Crap, I hope he hasn’t heard her. Uhm. Owen’s silent amusement dances in his eyes and he coughs suspiciously.
I clear my throat, my damn face going red. The blood rushing to my cheeks is practically vibrating. “As you can see, I am okay.”
“Okay,” Diane tuts. “You are more than okay. The magic is off the charts strong. I can’t believe you sent us a portal!
A portal! Out of nowhere. Do you know what level of magic that is?
No, of course you don’t. Witches would kill for that level of skill, and you do it without a spell or a potion in sight.
I can’t believe how much you’ve blossomed, Tuesday. I am so proud of you.”
“Oh, urm… thanks.”
“What the heck is the magic on your face?” Jodie asks in a way that only a sister can.
I shrug. “It’s a host thing.”
“It’s pretty,” Diane says, her eyes tracing the swirls across my skin.
“Thank you, though you should have heard me scream when I first noticed them and the light show started. They freaked me out.”
“I bet. Beautiful, but scary, huh?”
“You’ve had a hell of a long weekend.” They continue talking over each other and I can feel the start of a headache.
“I wonder if you’ll be able to make small pocket dimensions. Those things are crazy expensive. It would be great practice for your new magic and fantastic revenue for the shop,” Jodie says.
“I guess I can give it go.”
“Wow. You have your own pocket dimension.” Diane lets out a squeal and spins in a circle. “This is so cool.”
“It’s a pocket realm,” Ava says.
I smile at her and nod. “Yes, it is.”
Ava has our mum’s violet eyes and our dad’s dark hair, which is a striking combination.
She is a tech witch—the proper term is technomancy.
Her magic is so unique. She can combine magic with technology with breath-taking results.
She is more at home with computers than people, so she doesn’t hug me, which I appreciate.
But I get her thousand-yard stare in reprimand.
I groan. “Again, I am sorry. I have only been here a few days, and you cannot believe what a nightmare it has been. It’s been a lot to deal with.”
“Yeah, we heard about everything,” Jodie replies. “We just didn’t know it was you until a few hours ago.”