Chapter 7
7
D espite his best efforts, JJ can’t figure out any plans that don’t require glamours.
It’s not his fault! Redwater is just too small of a town for its own good, and its citizens are just too nosy and friendly for their own good, and Sanctum hunters are just too recognizable for their own good. JJ can’t so much as walk along Lakeside without attracting at least a few stares and whispers; he doesn’t even want to imagine how people would react if they saw him with a small child in tow.
That means he and Desi need disguises. He’d cast the spell for the glamours himself if he could, but that’s regrettably impossible?—both glamours and invisibility spells are demon magic that can’t be accessed by humans. And while human magic does include cloaking spells that make people’s eyes slide over him like he’s not even there, he doesn’t think he could maintain them for both him and Desi for longer than half an hour.
Admittedly, that last part is a little bit JJ’s fault. While he didn’t sleep through spellcasting class like Bryant and Chester did, he certainly could’ve applied himself more. But he doubts that even Roma, one of the Redwater Sanctum’s best spellcasters, could maintain multiple cloaking spells for more than two or three hours.
All of the above factors, unfortunately, lead to JJ stiffly asking Cass if he can keep coming on their twice-weekly field trips, and Cass just as stiffly agreeing. It makes JJ feel uncomfortably like his visits with Desi are being supervised, like he’s done something wrong.
For Desi, though, the humiliation is worth it. “Crepes!” she cheers, holding her strawberries-and-cream crepe above her head like a trophy. “I love crepes!”
JJ’s heart melts a little bit. “I really like crepes, too,” he says, carefully guiding her towards an empty table across the Courtyard. “Have you had them from Crêperie before?”
“Yeah!” Desi says, giggling when Cass sweeps her into the air before placing her gently on the table’s bench seat. “Cass takes me here all the time!”
The words bring JJ up short. He knows that Cass cooks meals for Desi, but he brings her to the Courtyard, too? “Really?” JJ asks, his eyes darting to Cass.
Cass scowls back. “Why is that so surprising?”
“I?—?” Fighting back a wince, JJ settles himself on the bench next to Desi, putting his caprese crepe on the table. “Never mind. It’s not.”
Cass gives him a suspicious look before picking up his plastic knife and fork to cut into his blueberry crepe. Letting out his breath in a hiss, JJ grabs Desi’s plate and starts to do the same, dividing her crepe into neat pieces for her.
It’s been almost two weeks since they started going on these field trips together, and JJ would be hard-pressed to say how they’re actually going. Sometimes, he and Cass are surprisingly cordial with each other, chatting about the finer points of blanket forts for Desi’s dragon plushies; sometimes, they ignore each other completely, focusing on Desi and barely speaking to each other??—
And sometimes?—like today, apparently?—JJ just can’t say anything without drawing Cass’s ire. Forcing down his irritation, he finishes cutting Desi’s crepe and slides it back in front of her. “How’s that look, Desi?”
“It looks great!” she says brightly, picking up her fork. “Do you want a piece, JJ?”
“Sure,” he says, and he takes the tiniest corner piece for himself. “Do you want a piece of mine, too?”
Desi wrinkles her nose at his plate. “Yuck.”
“Yuck?” JJ repeats incredulously. “What do you mean, ‘yuck’?”
Desi jabs her fork accusingly at the crepe. “It has green stuff in it.”
“That’s spinach! It’s yummy and healthy!”
“Yuck!” Desi insists.
Deciding to try his luck, JJ turns to Cass. “Cass, back me up here. Spinach is good, right?”
“Generally, yes,” Cass says. “But not on crepes, lackey.”
“Traitor.”
“Yay!” Desi says, and she gifts Cass a piece of her crepe as a reward. “For you!”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Cass says, and he obligingly takes a bite. “Mm. Delicious. You’ve gotta try it, Desi.”
“Okay!” Desi shoves an enormous piece into her mouth. Almost immediately, she gasps. “JJ! Cass! I’ve never had strawberries before! They’re so good! Are all fruits so good?”
“A lot of them are,” JJ confirms, making a mental note to buy strawberries for Desi the next time they’re on sale. “Raspberries and blackberries are also really tasty, and so are oranges and grapes and??—?”
“?—?and blueberries,” Cass cuts in, slicing off a sizable portion of his blueberry crepe and placing it on her plate. “Here. You can try this one, too. I think you’ll like it.”
JJ fights down an irrational pang of loss as Desi eagerly digs into Cass’s crepe. He knows that it’s not a competition?—despite Cass’s many failings, he has made it fairly clear that he respects JJ as a co-parent?—but part of JJ still misses when he was always the one who got to show Desi new things.
Even though she’s objectively safer at Cass’s house than in JJ’s room at the Sanctum, part of him still misses seeing her every day, not just twice a week.
Luckily, he knows that Desi feels the same way. “But why didn’t you get a sweet one, JJ?” she asks now, peering up at him like she’s sincerely concerned for his taste buds. “They’re the best!”
Smiling, JJ ruffles her hair. “The sweet ones are great, but I was in the mood for a savory one today.”
Desi’s eyebrows furrow. “Save… ree?”
“Savory,” JJ corrects, and he carefully cuts her a piece of crepe with just cheese and tomato. “It tastes more like dinner than dessert, but it’s still really good. Here, try it.”
Dubiously, Desi takes a bite. Her mouth twists into a confused squiggle. “But crepes are supposed to be sweet.”
“Not all crepes!” JJ says. “There are plenty of savory ones, too. If you want, we can try every single one from Crêperie!”
Desi considers this solemnly before brightening. “How about I can try all the sweet ones, and you can try all the save-ree ones?”
JJ shakes his head, amused. “Sure. We can do that.”
“And Cass can help us!” Desi adds, turning back to Cass. “Do you like the sweet ones or the save-ree ones?”
To JJ’s surprise, Cass smiles back at her. “I like both. Uncle Obie and I actually mapped out all the best crepe spots in Paris back in the twentieth century.”
JJ’s jaw threatens to drop. “Really?”
Cass’s eyes narrow. “Yes, really. What? Demons aren’t allowed to like crepes?”
“I?—?” Why is that so surprising to JJ? Maybe because two powerful demons going abroad for something besides destruction is a surreal concept? Maybe because searching for every crepe place in Paris seems like such a human thing to do?
Or maybe it’s just hard to imagine scowly Cassius Chin harboring a secret love of crepes. “Well, you don’t need to eat,” JJ says awkwardly. “I just, um. Didn’t realize you did it so often.”
Cass’s smile is thin. “Food and music are humanity’s only good creations. The rest of the time, your lot just keeps inventing new ways to kill each other.”
JJ’s temper spikes. “Well, you seem to enjoy a lot of those different ways,” he says, smiling back with all his teeth. “After all, you started World War I, didn’t you? And the War of 1812?”
Cass’s eyes flash. He opens his mouth to respond.
“Why don’t you like each other?”
Cass snaps his mouth shut with a flinch. Stomach lurching, JJ turns to face Desi. “What?” he asks uneasily.
“You and Cass.” To JJ’s horror, Desi’s lower lip is trembling. “Why aren’t you nice to each other?”
Crap. “We’re nice to each other!” JJ blurts out, frantically trying to figure out how to defuse this situation. “And we?—we do like each other.”
Cass curses under his breath. “Jackson, don’t??—?”
Desi’s eyes narrow dangerously. “Don’t lie to me,” she says, her voice rising enough that the family at their neighboring table gives her a startled look. “You’re lying to me!”
Abort mission, abort mission?— JJ casts a desperate glance at Cass, but he looks just as apprehensive as JJ feels. “You’re right,” JJ says, swinging one leg over the bench seat to sit sideways and face Desi directly. “I’m sorry for lying. That was wrong. But Chi?—Cass and I just don’t know each other as well as you know us, Desi.”
Desi’s eyes widen. “But why? I want us all to be friends! I want you and me and Cass and Auntie Ez and Uncle Obie to all be friends!”
“Well, we’re all your friends,” Cass says quickly. “And that’s what counts, right? That we’re all your friends?”
“But JJ is great,” Desi sniffles. JJ barely has time to enjoy a flash of satisfaction before Desi turns her imploring eyes back on him. “And Cass is great, too! Cass is really cool and fun and funny, but you?—you’re never nice to him.”
The words cut through JJ more than he expected. “I… try to be nice to him,” he hedges, darting a glance at Cass. “I really do. I’m just?—I’m just not always good with, um. People.”
Cass arches an eyebrow. “With demons?”
JJ tries not to grit his teeth. Work with me here, Chin. “Maybe,” he says evasively, and he turns back to Desi. “I have friends at the Sanctum, but I don’t really talk to many other people. So I guess I might just be, uh. Out of practice. At being friends with other people.”
Desi purses her lips. “Okay,” she says resolutely, and she grabs one of his hands with both of her little ones. “But you gotta be nice to your friends, okay? That’s super important! You have to be nice and say nice things to each other!”
“Right,” JJ says faintly, and he clears his throat. “Well, I?—I can say some nice things about Cass. He’s, uh.” Wait. What nice things can he say about Cass? “Well, he takes really good care of you. And he always stands up for people who can’t stand up for themselves. And he’s friendly with all the shopkeepers, and he’s loyal to his friends, and he’s really good at fighting and spellcasting, and??—?”
Huh. Looks like JJ can say some nice things about the demon. “And yeah,” he finishes awkwardly. “That’s Cass for you.”
Desi beams. “Great!” she says, and she hugs his arm, turning her big eyes on Cass. “Cass?”
Reluctantly, JJ follows her gaze. Cass is staring back at JJ like his brain short-circuited the instant JJ said a nice word about him. “Um,” he says, and he takes a deep breath. “Well, JJ is…”
He trails off, still squinting unsurely at JJ. The seconds trickle by in paralyzed silence, JJ’s indignation rising more and more by the moment. Seriously? Seriously? Cass can’t think of one nice thing to say about JJ for Desi’s sake?
Eventually, Cass comes back to himself. He nods firmly, turning to Desi. “Well, JJ’s butt looks really good in those jeans.”
JJ chokes on nothing. Desi bursts into giggles. “Well, I guess that’s a nice thing to say!” she agrees happily, and she shovels the last bite of her crepe into her mouth. “This was super yummy, JJ! Thanks so much!”
“No problem,” JJ says weakly, still trying to shoo away his blush. Hastily, he fishes a penny out of his pocket and holds it out for her. “Do you want to go make a wish in the fountain?”
Desi’s eyes light up. “Yes!” she says, and she bounds away towards the tiered fountain in the center of the Courtyard, leaving JJ and Cass alone.
Letting out a slow breath, JJ finishes his crepe and stacks his plate on top of Desi’s. “You done?” he asks, gesturing towards Cass’s nearly empty plate without looking at him.
“I’ll throw it out. Thanks.”
“Okay.” JJ gathers the rest of their garbage and walks it over to the trash can, keeping an eye on Desi. She’s currently maintaining an enthusiastic conversation with a high school girl, very seriously explaining how to make fountain wishes while the high schooler nods very seriously in response.
Desi really is a good kid. Always trying to help people, always trying to be friendly??—
And trying to make JJ and Cass be friendly with each other, too. Grimacing, JJ drags his feet back to the table, where Cass is sitting backwards on the bench seat to watch Desi. “Is she close enough for the glamour?” JJ asks briskly, sitting on the opposite end of the bench.
“Mm-hm.”
“Good.” JJ decisively lets them lapse into prickly silence, watching as Desi excitedly shows the high schooler her penny. For a few minutes, he and Cass ignore each other, just focusing on their semi-adopted daughter.
On the little girl who brought them together in the first place.
“Jackson?”
JJ glances at Cass. “Yeah?”
Cass’s eyes meet his before flickering downward. “Your butt really does look nice in those jeans.”
Really? Mortified, JJ hunches his shoulders. “Thanks,” he mumbles, resolving to never wear this stupid pair of jeans again.
“And you’re a damn good father, too.”
JJ’s heart stutters. He turns to face Cass, but Cass is already looking at Desi again. “Oh,” JJ whispers, and he swallows hard. “Thank you.”
“And I like how you always prioritize her,” Cass continues, still avoiding JJ’s gaze. “I like how you make it a point to expose her to new foods and new experiences. And I?—I like how you treat her true form like something to be embraced. Not something to be feared.”
The gears in JJ’s head are grinding together. Is this the same Cassius Chin who’s been glaring at JJ for the past two weeks? Did Cass have a stroke or something? Can demons even have strokes? “Thank you,” he repeats uselessly. “I, um. I appreciate that.”
“And for the record,” Cass adds, “Maggie Khan and I didn’t mean to start World War I. It was an accident. But I’ll readily agree that 1914 wasn’t our finest hour. And as for the War of 1812?—?” He scowls. “That’s an old rumor. Ez, Obie, and I just happened to be in a bar in D.C. when Congress declared war. But you put three demons together when a conflict breaks out, and of course the humans will accuse them of starting it.”
JJ’s heart twists. “I believe you,” he says softly. “And I?—I’m sorry. That was a low blow.”
“I haven’t exactly been fair to you today, either,” Cass says, and at last, he turns to face JJ. “Do we want to see if we can, um. Tone it down a little? At least around Desi? Contrary to what you might think, I don’t actively hate you. It’s more of a passive dislike than anything else.”
JJ almost laughs. “Sounds like progress,” he says, and he glances towards Desi. She and her new friend are standing side by side to make their wishes, and JJ can’t resist a smile. “And yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. For Desi, I?—I can definitely try.”
“Me, too,” Cass says quietly, and the silence feels a lot less prickly after that.