Chapter 33 Something Ever After
Something Ever After
Cha guided Big Betty down the Thirteen while Dy slept, her turn to be wedged between Katu and Warg.
Dy hadn’t been too injured by her collision with the climbing wall.
Just thoroughly banged up. Mostly she’d needed sleep and barely argued when Cha said she’d drive.
The leys were quiet and empty this time of night and Cha felt like she could be the only person awake. Well, and Katu.
It was different, riding the ley lines in the big rig, and Cha considered the experience a trial run for her future career.
So far? No, no, no. Big Betty was a lovely rig and provided a smooth glide, but this wasn’t why Cha rode the leys.
She scratched Katu under his chin and jaguar accepted the caress but also blinked accusingly.
Yeah, they both wanted back out on the ley lines.
She exited the Thirteen and followed the subsidiary ley lines to Dy’s neighborhood.
Going around back, she eased Big Betty onto the slow black that was her personal parking ley, leading to the barn.
To Cha’s surprise, far from being dark with slumber, the cottage was lit up, lights blazing from every window, the front door open, people coming and going.
“Uh oh,” Cha said to Katu. “Hopefully Six hasn’t arrived yet or there will be hell to pay.”
“Whu?” Dy asked sleepily.
“Wake up, Goldilocks,” Cha said, reaching over Katu to nudge her partner for good measure. “Baby Six is either here or on the way.”
“What?” Dy demanded more sharply, scrubbing sleep and tangled curls from her eyes. She took in the scene. “Fuck my life!”
“See, that’s what I always say.”
Dy glared at her as she opened the passenger side and shoved at Warg, between her and the door. “Not a good time to be funny, Arantxa Evermore.”
Cha held up her hands. “That was solidarity. At least we made it back in time for Six to enter the world.”
“Warg, move your slimy ass!” Dy snarled, shoving the beast fully out of Betty to plop on the ground.
Cha raised her brows and Dy tossed over her shoulder, “There is no at least! This is a disaster of epic proportions.” And she pelted for the cottage, long locks streaming behind her like a banner.
A pretty brunette came out on the porch, gave her a hug, and put an arm around her to take her inside.
Fortunately, Cha had the enchantment trigger for Betty—as Dy did for Katu, for just in case—so she unloaded the four crates of Citrine Pixie Dust in the barn.
One would go to Nerd Girl, of course, but the other three should score them some very nice coin, once Lucky Ducky parceled it out.
Cha kind of hated to store it in the barn, but good thing she’d driven Dy straight home instead of heading for Lucky Ducky’s warehouse.
As Nerd Girl had guaranteed, the lead-infused decoy shielding had worked like a charm.
The crates looked—and smelled—like they contained strawberry shampoo.
They could sit a day or two until Cha could handle the transfer. She knew from experience that Phinny’s parents would have taken the kids for a couple of weeks until the new infant was settled, so she didn’t have to worry about them getting into it.
Meanwhile, she converted Big Betty to elephant form and got her bedded down for the night with an extra serving of ambrosia. She deserved the extra and, as soon as they sold off the yellow dust, they could afford it.
Then she and Katu walked out into the starry summer night.
Everyone was inside, laughter and shouts of encouragement interweaving with Phinny’s laboring cries.
Dy had made it in time and soon Six would enter the world.
Cha wasn’t really built for the world of maternal women inside the cottage.
She preferred to be the doting auntie after the kid could walk and talk.
So she sat on the grass by the pond and watched Warg chase the ducks out of their nighttime roosts.
There’d be hell to pay for that tomorrow, but Cha wasn’t going to drag him out of the muddy muck.
With her arm around Katu, she gazed at the stars and listened to the sounds of community and labor. She might be forever on the outside of that—by choice and by nature—but she always had Katu to be her friend and partner.
“Well, Azulejah,” she whispered, “wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, I wish you well. And I’ll let you go. I’ll be no one to you. Nothing more than a ride.” And if a tear ran down her cheek, there wasn’t anyone there to know but Katu, and he didn’t judge.
The End
(Okay, not really)
The adventures of the Bandit, Goldilocks, and Prince Charming continue in
Princes, Potions, and Pixie Dust
Coming October 2026