Chapter 33 A Surprising Declaration
thirty-three
A Surprising Declaration
Lacey is first to arrive with Jamie in tow around seven-thirty.
They have all the materials I asked for, including the Halloween paint palettes—ten in total—that, when asked, I refused to tell her why I needed them.
Better to get her and the stuff here so I can convince her my plan is way better than calling the police.
Because it is.
Lei isn’t going to know what hit him.
They sit down on the booth bench beside the Jupiter table where I’ve prepared our magical feast and drop the bags of goods on the Saturn next to it.
Deelia arrives ten minutes after them, and so I call the impromptu meeting to order.
I stand in front of my new friends and my family, nervously clearing my throat until the chatter dies down.
“Thanks for coming, and bringing all the weird stuff I asked for, Lacey,” I start.
She beams. “No problem! Are we decorating for something special?”
I raise my brows and chuckle as I look down at the Party Central shopping bag bursting at the seams with content. “Yeah, you could say that.”
I want to shuffle my feet and rub my neck, but I don’t let those ticks take over. I think of my calming song and remember that I’m confident the plan will work. I straighten my spine and look at each of them.
“Zhao Lei has been threatening my family. Not just us, here, but my mother and father in China. It’s a long story, but they were conned into going overseas and giving up their passports.
They’re trapped there at the Zhaos’ compound, and if I don’t comply with Lei’s demands, their lives are going to get worse. ”
Lacey’s face pinches into a sad frown. “I’m so sorry, Jade.”
Jamie rubs her partner’s shoulder to console her, squeezing Lacey tight against her side.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t completely truthful with you guys when I asked you to help us protect the café,” I say, shrugging. “Trust has been hard to come by for a long time, and I never know when someone’s going to use something they know about my family against me.”
“This explains many things.” Deelia hums sagely. “Your aura has been glowing for days. It was stifled when we first met. You’ve not just been hiding secrets from us, but yourself, too.”
I nod. “I think maybe I have.”
“I’m your grandmother your whole life, and you take the advice of a woman you met a month ago?” Nai Nai crosses her arms as she prattles off a quick admonishment in Chinese. “I’ve been telling you for years to let your qi flow!”
“And it’s sinking in,” I say with a flustered laugh.
She smirks. “Finally.”
I sigh and get back on track. “Okay, so what’s all the party stuff for, I’m sure you’re wondering…”
I look around at the café. “We turned this place into an impenetrable fortress, and it’s amazing. I love it. But Lei knows. He won’t meet me here, and he’s threatened serious harm against my parents if I don’t meet him tomorrow at noon.
“So, I need to bring an arsenal with me.”
This is just crazy enough to work, but too crazy to tell Rhazan. He’ll only worry, and there’s nothing he can do—his magic can’t leave the café.
Worse, he might try to stop me.
No, this is something I have to take care of myself.
Rhazan has been a lighthouse in a storm, but even though I’ve found my way, it’s still me who must navigate the choppy waters.
Lei is my monster to face, and I won’t let him beat me.
His father, either. The whole Zhao dynasty is coming down, brick by brick if that’s the only way.
“How do you plan on doing that?” Jamie asks, her voice smoother than silk.
I grin and remove the lids covering the feast beside us.
The air is filled with savory and sweet scents immediately.
There’s rice, steamed buns, slices of marinated meat, cookies, soup, and more.
I found it was much harder to put my magical energy into soup than cookies, so it’s really just a palate cleanser more than anything.
“Everything is enchanted with my magic, so every stroke of your brush tonight will be magical. We can craft the protections—and the weapons—I’ll need to detain Lei long enough for us to get him back here.”
“Us?” Ace asks with excitement.
“Yeah, buddy, you get to put that driver’s permit to use,” I say with a smile.
Jamie stands. The curiosity in her face has gone cold and her voice moves to a deeper tone that sounds familiar as she says, “Let me make sure I understand correctly. You want to kidnap the man threatening your parents, bring him back here, detain him, and do what, exactly?”
“Flip the situation on Zhao Shang. Let my parents go free, or I’ll keep his son in my meat freezer.”
Jamie’s eyebrows hike up to her hairline, and Lacey’s mouth pops open in shock. That did sound a little more menacing than I wanted it to.
“The meat freezer is broken; it’s just a storage closet right now,” I quickly say. “But it has a door that locks from the outside.”
“Uh-huh,” Jamie says, schooling her face back to cold stoicism. “And you think that some”—she flicks her fingers at the bao buns—“magically enhanced food is going to let us help you do that?”
I nod. “Yeah, that’s the plan.”
“You’re asking us to help you commit serious crimes,” she says flatly.
“My love,” Lacey murmurs.
Jamie looks at her and they share a silent conversation with their eyes. Jamie seems to win, because she looks back at me with a, “Well?”
“They’re not good guys and they don’t play by the rules. I’m not, either. I’m a cheat, and a liar, and a thief. So I will cheat, lie, and steal my parents’ way back home if I have to.”
Jamie tuts. “What happens when the police come looking for Lei and find him tied up in the freezer?”
“I’ll move him,” I say.
Jamie stands up straight and pinches the bridge of her nose as she closes her eyes. Her lips move like she’s muttering something to herself. She huffs after a moment and opens her eyes.
“I can’t help,” she says and then looks at Lacey. “Don’t do this.”
Lacey clenches her teeth together tightly and I feel the anticipatory sting of abandonment.
She shakes her head. “Friends don’t desert each other.”
It’s like the floor’s been swept out from under my feet. Is this woman I hardly know actually going to stand beside me in this batshit, morally gray plan of action when her own wife asked her not to?
Jamie leans down, caging her against the booth as she murmurs, “Please, baby. I can’t help.”
Lacey cups her cheeks and pulls her face down for a kiss. “We’ll be careful.”
Jamie’s nails dig into the upholstery for a fraction and then she sighs, kisses her wife one more time, and whirls on me. An aura of preternatural fury surrounds her.
“If anything happens to her, I will come for your blood.”
The last six words send a rattle of terror down my spine.
“Jamie!” Lacey protests, but Jamie doesn’t back down.
Her eyes are transfixed on mine, unyielding in their demand.
“That’s fair,” I agree, deciding that Lacey will not be doing anything dangerous at all.
“I mean it,” Jamie says, her voice taking a menacing tone.
“So do I,” I say, offering my hand so we can shake on it. “If she gets hurt from this, you can hurt me in the same way.”
“This is ridiculous!” Lacey protests.
Jamie grabs my hand and I feel the burn of magic on the inside of my wrist. I hiss a curse, but endure.
The pain ends and Jamie turns to Lacey one more time.
I look at the spot just above Rhazan’s mark to find a dagger spearing through a bleeding eye.
She’s freaking magical? Is she human? What the heck…
Jamie kisses Lacey one last time and then walks toward the door, not stopping to look back. My gaze pins on Lacey, my mouth hanging open.
“Did you know?”
She looks at my wrist, then back up to meet my eyes, and nods.
“Know what?” Ace asks. “What are you guys looking at?”
I show him my arm, and he leans in to look.
“Do you have a growth or something?”
He can’t see it?
Nai Nai pats him on the shoulder. “You were blessed in other ways, grandson, but not with sight for magic.”
His shoulders slump. “I knew it.”
“Don’t feel bad, Ace. Most people can’t see magic,” Lacey says, and I’m suddenly very suspicious of her.
“How is it that you can?” I ask.
“Because of Jamie,” Lacey says as she smiles gently and pulls the neck of her shirt aside to reveal a magical brand below her left collarbone. It’s a dark silhouette of two clawed hands cradling a golden sunflower.
Apt, I think. Lacey is definitely a sunflower. I don’t think I want to know what Jamie is, but I know she will certainly be able to keep her promise to hurt me.
“I’m going to need that full story sometime, but now, we need to get to work,” I say. “There’s a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it.”
“No!” Nai Nai snipes. “First, we feast!”
“Yes, please, it smells delicious,” Lacey says.
“I’m so hungry,” Ace says as he grabs a bowl for rice.
I smile as everyone loads up on the magical food I prepared for them. This will certainly be a night to remember. And with their help—and a little luck—by the same time tomorrow my parents will be safe.