Epilogue
Across town at Dex’s apartment, her roommate heard the scrape of a key in the lock.
The figure who came in was carrying something, and when the roommate saw the flick and flare of a lighter, she took a deep breath and grabbed all of the people and objects in the building.
The moment the accelerant was torched and the figure escaped, she used energy to pull the alarms, transferred everyone outside, with their possessions, and then she huddled with the others while waiting for the fire truck from down the street.
Dex’s mom hadn’t even cleared the parking lot. And her car was blocked in by couches and kitchen tables.
The building was on fire behind them, and after the fire department ushered them to a safe zone, they got to work.
The police asked if they knew how the fire started. She raised her hand and said, “Dex’s mom came into our apartment, poured accelerant, and lit the place on fire. She’s over there. I don’t know how the furniture got out here, but it’s blocking her car.”
The police officer started shouting, and they pointed to the car. Four officers corralled the weeping omega, who was screaming and hitting her steering wheel. The accelerant container was in her trunk, and two lighters were in her coat. She also had traces on her hands.
The officer touched her shoulder. “Miss? Who are you?”
She turned and smiled weakly. “I am Arwell Break. Dex’s roommate.” She shivered and looked around for her pile of clothes.
“Do you know how all the possessions got out here on the lawn?”
“No. Glad it happened. No one needs to lose everything.” She shivered.
“Who is Dex?”
“She was attacked by her father and attacked again in hospital. Tonight is her first night with her pack. Her dad didn’t think girl omegas deserved packs.”
As she spoke to him, Dex’s clothing and treasured items were being sent to the living room of her new pack house. Arwell smiled. She was safe now, and she deserved it. She also deserved sneakers and sweats, and that is what was being brought to the hallway outside her bedroom.
She chuckled, reset herself, and continued speaking to the officers while the fire was extinguished, and thankfully, the damage was restricted to the hallway and their second-floor apartment.
She shivered, and one of the firefighters wrapped her in a foil blanket. She smiled at him, and he blinked, dazzled. Arwell ratcheted the glamour back. “Tell Reebee I said hi.”
He paused. “You know her?”
“We have met. I am glad she has you all now. She never did things by half.”
He smiled. “Are you all right? Do you need somewhere to stay?”
“No. It was my apartment, but I knew I was going to be here. I knew the fire was going to come. I just had to wait for it, and here it is.”
“So, you are a seer?” He looked at her.
“Yes. Not a good one. Not like Hatcher, but I do okay.”
The fire was out, and everything was being reeled in. Dex’s mom was arrested and being hauled off; her car was towed. That was what Arwell had to ensure, and she had. Now it was back to being her normal nine-to-five self.
She let the peace officers usher her around to get her statement as to what she saw where, and why she didn’t react the moment that Dex’s mom walked through the door. “I was asleep.” Seemed to make them remember that she had a separate room and lived with someone else.
Hours of shivering while she told the same story over and over finally resulted in her insurance agent walking toward her, and she repeated the story and stated that all that she had lost was the rent on the unit.
She handed over the police report number about Dex’s mother’s arson and then asked the question that exhausted her. “Can I go?”
Finally, everyone said, “You can go.”
Her bed and other appliances were sent to a women’s shelter, and then she got into her car. As dawn painted the sky, she put on her office clothes. She checked her watch. It was time to pick up Dorn and get him to school. The sleepover was over, for now.
Arwell drove up toward the charming house that had enough magic wrapped around it to make her skin prickle.
She saw movement inside and knocked gently at the front door. Oren opened it and grinned. “We would have taken him in.”
“I just needed to assure him that I was fine and back on guardian duty.”
“He will be relieved. Did you want some coffee?”
“Hell yes; it’s been some odd few days.”
Oren nodded and led the way to the kitchen. “So, Arwell, is there a reason you smell like some sort of gasoline?”
“Yes. The room was set on fire. But no casualties, no material damages. Everyone is safe, and the arsonist captured.”
The vet nodded. “Good.”
“Did the kids have fun?”
“Yeah. The dogs as well. So tired they didn’t even react to you being here.”
“Dogs don’t see me.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Yeah. I am outside their realm of understanding.” She said it in a spooky voice. He handed her a coffee, and she smiled. “I have a frank question for you.”
“What?”
“Are you prepared for your great-grandchildren to be djinn?”
He froze. “What?”
“While some of the descendants of the dark elves and the light elves born here will be elves, there will be a percentage who are djinn. Right now, the estimate is three to five percent.”
Brexel wandered in with a smug look that cleared rapidly. “Arwell, we could take Dorn to school.”
She felt Oren prodding at her mind, and she squirted him with a psychic water bottle. His cup wobbled.
“I need to speak to Dorn a little. He’s been worried by my last few days of occupation.”
Iris and Ymer came in, and Oren immediately stared at her belly. Arwell sighed. “It is a three-generational thing, dumbass. Her child is second gen, but her mother isn’t an elf, so watch your grandkids and their kids.”
Iris put her hand on her belly. “So, what is the problem?”
Arwell sipped at her coffee and shifted into her other form, her jagged ears on display, gold skin and silver eyes and hair. She smiled at Iris. “This is the result. Very stylish, no?”
Ymer stared. “A le—”
A band of duct tape smacked across his lips.
“We are a new world and are considering our very specific kind to be earth-born djinn. We are not lesser anything.” She tapped on the table with a gold nail. “Remember that, wizard.”
Iris stared and then grinned. Ymer got the tape off. Brexel grinned, and Oren snorted.
Brexel grinned. “So, there are djinn here now, and my kids had a sleepover with one?”
“Yes. He won’t activate fully until he’s twenty, so I am glad he’s in the accelerated program.”
She finished her coffee. “Don’t worry. We all specialize, just like you do.”
Brexel said, “You know we are wizards?”
“Of course. It is pretty obvious.”
The clatter of feet let her know to rise to her feet, and her ward hugged her. “Arwell! Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”
She laughed and patted his shoulder. He leaned back. “Yes, Dorn, everyone is well. No property damage. The building has to be cleaned, and one apartment and a hallway have to be renovated. The community room was beneath the apartment, so no one there got wet.”
“And the bad guy?”
“Arrested with a ton of evidence. If they don’t keep her, I will go for a visit.”
Brexel frowned. “What happened?”
Dorn explained about Dex and her family and that her mother was trying to kill her.
Iris said, “Where is Dex?”
“At home with her mates. Her mother just happened to see her walking into the apartment after getting out of a cab.”
The boys and Tamara clattered down the stairs next, and as they rounded the corner, a full buffet of the most common items took position on the counter.
Iris laughed. “Thanks, Arwell.”
“No problem. That is easy. I just assembled the ingredients and cooked them on the way into the pans. Feeding kids, I will take any advantage I can.”
Her phone started pinging aggressively, and Arwell smiled. “Excuse me, I have to be yelled at.”
Tamara looked up from the plate she was loading. “Yelled at?”
“I had a choice between arresting an arsonist or meeting my mate last night. Guess which one I picked?” She grinned.
She answered Hatcher, and the call came through, so Arwell had to wait to explain what she had been doing instead of going to Ford’s place to meet with Hatcher’s mate and one of his buddies.
She held the phone away from her ear while Hatcher went apeshit.
“Honey, sweetie, I am going to take care of Dorn to make sure that he knows I am safe, and if you want me to meet you and the collective somewhere for breakfast, I can do that. I have had no sleep and one cup of coffee, but I can do it.”
Hatcher spoke softly, “You can?”
“Yes, punkin. I can. In my visions, this was the date that I met him. I can either meet for breakfast or hit him with my car. The choice is yours.”
There was a pause and a soft giggle. “Do you know where Hynura is?”
“Yup.”
“Lady Fen is opening it up for us, and her staff is there getting dim sum ready.”
“Oh, you know I love dim sum.”
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“So, now?”
“Please.”
“Ears up or down?” She turned and started walking back to the kitchen. She kissed Dorn on the head.
“Ears up. Lady Fen is funny about who is worthy of her family.”
“Oh, I am going to bat her around like a cat toy.”
The laughter made her smile. Hatcher was always on the edge of a heat, and it showed. She hung up and looked around. “Well, I am off to pimp myself out. I hope I get a good offer.”
Dorn paused. “Today is that day?”
“It is.”
“And you will make sure—”
“We are a package deal, bub. You aren’t getting rid of me until after you have graduated and gotten a good job and have set me up in a manner to which I want to be accustomed. With you there and not changing schools.”
Dorn grinned and hugged her. “Thanks, Arwell.”
“Okay. Go to school, kick scholastic butt, and I will be there to pick you up at three thirty.” She ruffled his hair and leaned so he could peck her on the cheek. She looked at Oren. “And that is why I came here this morning. See you all later. Next stop, uptight breakfast!”
She set her coffee cup down in the sink and said, “Ten minutes until the chafing dishes disappear.”
Dorn laughed, and when he explained, there was a lot of clattering cutlery as the food was demolished.
Arwell got into her car and drove toward downtown, looking for parking as the morning traffic began to surge and swell around her.
She saw Hynura and then found the parkade nearby.
She debated putting her human face on, but she thought about Hatcher’s warning about Lady Fen.
She had run into the imposing little omega a time or two.
This was not going to be a smooth meeting, so she might as well put on her more socially acceptable face.
The trouble was which society did she want to blend with?
She got out of her car, locked it, and walked down the ramp toward the sidewalk.
She wrapped herself in a glamour and kept walking as she saw her reflection in the glass of the nearby shops.
She really should have let her hair down, but it was too late.
She was there. Business suit and blouse and modest heels.
She was short at close to six feet, but ah, well.
Time to ease Hatcher into her pack. Ax couldn’t help her now.
She sighed and dropped the glamour as she reached for the door. A young woman opened the door and looked up at her. “Oh, Lady, they are waiting for you.”
Arwell nodded. “Thank you. Which way?”
The woman locked the door behind her and led the way to the private room where the gathering was going on. Arwell hesitated before going in and then stepped into the space. Hatcher smiled from her point next to her new alphas and said, “Gentlemen, my friend and other omega djinn, Arwell Break.”
Lady Fen shot to her feet, and the shouting started.
Arwell grinned. “Just like I saw.”
Hatcher stared and then covered her mouth. She started laughing, and the breakfast meeting went wild from that point onward.
It was exactly what Arwell was expecting. Being a seer sucked.