CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kayla
The next evening, I steer my Beetle down Main Street with Dewdrop standing on my lap, his front paws hanging over the open driver’s side window.
I worried about him not being belted in until he showed me his “sticky” magic.
Normally used to keep from falling out of trees when asleep, the dragonet can also use it to bind him temporarily in place in the car.
“What’s that?” He asks every second, constantly pointing to something new. “And that?”
A laugh escapes me as I try to keep up with his curiosity, but it’s going to take several more trips into town to make it through everything he wants to know about the colorful shops, the humans, and all the different types of fae.
He lets out a loud squeal of delight at seeing a troupe of gnomes cartwheel down the sidewalk.
After I tell him what they are, I ask, “Don’t you already know all the fae?”
“Just dragons. No one else visited the glen until you and Shadow.”
“Huh.” I guess the dragons really are protective of their realm and the dragonets. I can totally see why. Dewdrop’s incredibly sweet and trusting, more so than any Earth animal, so it’s kinda hard to tell if he has any survival instincts.
After parking as close to I Touch My Shelf as I can get, I hurry into the bookstore, wanting to get there early so Dewdrop can meet everyone as they arrive instead of all at once.
He probably wouldn’t mind, so maybe I’m actually doing it for me.
Last week’s Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club meeting felt a little intense—I’m not used to being the center of attention.
“Kayla!” Hannah bustles over to me, smiling widely, her fox familiar bounding along at her heels. “And you must be Dewdrop.”
“I am! I’m Dewdrop!” He launches from my shoulder to land on a stack of books, tilting his head to look down at the fox. “Who are you? Will you be my friend?”
“This is Finn, my familiar,” Hannah says, making introductions between them. Her witch power is being able to talk to animals, so she can understand all of the familiars, whether they’re bonded to her or not.
Finn yips and does a hopping spin in front of her, and Hannah laughs. “Yes, I’ll tell Dewdrop you’re Ferndale Fall’s first familiar.”
“That’s very impressive,” the dragonet says, and Hannah translates.
Skye enters, carrying cupcakes. Her calico cat, Princess Buttercup, makes a beeline for me, rubbing all over my calves and meowing.
“Umm.” I stare down at her big eyes. I never got to have any pets growing up because my father dislikes animals, and I’m not sure why the cat likes me so much.
Skye’s tinkling laugh fills the room. “Princess Buttercup wants to know if you love her yet.”
“Uh, sure?” Everybody always expects someone who’s awkward with people to be great with animals.
Not me. I offer equal-opportunity awkwardness, no matter the species.
If you’re not a character in a video game, it’s gonna take me a hot minute to figure out how to interact.
Games are easy—everyone has a role, and once you figure it out, you know exactly what to expect.
Real people and animals are a helluva lot harder.
My heart tugs as my familiar says a sweet hello to the cat. Dewdrop’s the one exception. Him, I loved immediately.
Autumn enters, carrying canvas bags of drink mixes over one shoulder and a squirming mini-goat cradled in her arms.
Babybelle gives a loud bleat and launches herself toward Dewdrop, hitting the bookshop’s wooden floors in a thunder of hoofbeats. She sidles up to him with a series of hilarious little sideways hops.
“Babybelle wants to play chase,” the redheaded witch says.
I translate for Dewdrop, who shrieks with so much excitement the sound goes past the upper range of human hearing.
Everyone laughs as Babybelle tears across the bookstore, weaving around the display tables and bookshelves, Dewdrop flying overhead.
Finn yips and immediately gives chase, while Princess Buttercup holds out for a full thirty seconds, all cat confidence and playing it cool. Then she gives in and joins the others.
“Don’t knock anything over!” Hannah yells. Then she says in a normal voice: “Naomi has a date tonight with her husband, so she returned to Faerie early. I told her I’d watch the store during our meeting.”
While Hannah referees the animals, Skye and Autumn get the snacks ready, leaving me to greet the new arrivals.
“Yo, Witch Bitches!” Jasmine bursts through the door with so much energy you could bottle it and sell it as a Power-Up Potion. She wraps me in a hug, only letting go when Violeta enters the shop.
“My turn,” the shorter witch says, catching both of us in her arms so we make a three-sided hug.
More of the witches filter in, the ones I don’t know well enough to hug, which is a relief, and no lie. I’m already feeling a bit overstimulated.
“Come and get it!” Autumn yells, and I line up with the others to grab one of her signature cereal milk cocktails. I should probably try a cinnamon crunch or a crunch berry cocktail sometime, but the cocoa puffs white Russian screams my name.
“Mmm,” I hum, taking a sip of chocolaty goodness before snagging one of the matching cupcakes.
We squish onto the comfy velvet couches with Violeta and Jasmine on either side of me.
“I call this meeting of the Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club to order,” Hannah says.
“We all know what we’re talking about tonight.” Violeta grins at me. “And it sure isn’t a book!”
“But hopefully it’ll be spicy!” Skye says, blushing bright red.
“That’s right, girl. Spill,” Jasmine bumps me with her shoulder. “You have to tell us everything.”
“Well, first came the Datepocolypse.” I tell them all about the date from hell and follow it up with a blow-by-blow of the Weddingpocalypse until everyone’s laughing.
“The dress”—I wheeze in between bursts of laughter—“the dress was the flipping worst! You should have seen it!” Then I pull out my phone and show them the selfie I took.
“Mierda, that’s bad.” Violeta shakes her head. “And I’m saying this as someone who’s seen some pretty questionable quinceanera dresses.”
“You look like a cupcake that got attacked by balloons.” Jasmine squints at the screen. “Or a cupcake that ate some balloons. Could go either way.”
“I know!” I cackle and knuckle tears from my eyes as the phone continues to make the rounds.
The animals stop galloping around and join us, Dewdrop coming in for a landing on my lap. “I have new friends!”
“You sure do.”
Babybelle bahs up at Autumn with big, pitiful eyes and gets a fruity piece of cereal. Then Finn gets one, too. Princess Buttercup demands to smell Skye’s cupcake, but turns her nose up and meows disdainfully.
“It’s completely unacceptable that it’s not chicken,” the blonde witch translates for the rest of us.
“I want not-chicken,” Dewdrop says. He sniffs the crunch berry cereal dotting Jasmine’s cupcake. “New fruit!”
“Hold on. That’s not real fruit.” Who the hell knows if dragonets can eat cereal safely? I dig around in my mini-backpack purse and pull out the grapes I brought for him, unsealing the ziplock top. “Here, you can have these.”
He reaches in and plucks out a grape, and everyone awws.
“Look at his little hands!” Violeta makes heart eyes at him and clutches her hands together like she’s trying to stop herself from squishing him.
“Where’d you get this cutie?” Jasmine leans over and snags one of the grapes to hold it out for him.
Dewdrop chirrups a thank you and munches it happily.
“In between the Datepocalypse and the Weddingpocalypse, something pretty great happened.” I tell them all about Shadow taking me to Faerie, finding the dragonets, and meeting my familiar.
Somewhere in the middle of my story, all of the familiars fall asleep. Finn drapes across Hannah’s feet, Princess Buttercup makes a cat loaf on a stack of books, Babybelle sprawls in the middle of the floor, and Dewdrop snuggles onto my lap with a contented purr.
“Visiting Faerie was something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl, and getting to see a place as magical as the dragonet glen has been life-changing.
” A soft smile tugs at my cheeks as I run my finger along one of Dewdrop’s wings.
“I’ve been so inspired. Every time I turn around, I have a new game idea. ”
“And Shadow did all of that for you as a surprise?” Violeta’s heart eyes get even bigger.
“So romantic,” Skye sighs.
“I must admit I wasn’t one-hundred percent on his motives before.” Jasmine points at me. “But that is some next-level boyfriending.”
“Not my boyfriend.” I make a face. “I’m not sure what we’d be to each other without the marriage contract binding us.”
“Severin didn’t know of any way to break the contract,” Hannah says.
“Same.” Skye makes a sad face. “Luke and I haven’t found anything in his library yet.”
“Yeah, Jace came over and kinda got a feel for Victoria’s magic, but he didn’t know of anything that would help.”
“So you wait it out. It’s only three weeks.” Autumn shrugs one shoulder. “No biggie.”
But she’s wrong, so wrong. Shadow struts through my mind, naked, just like he did every night before he finally put up the new door. Those flashes of long, muscular thigh, the bitable firmness of his ass, the way I kept trying to get a glimpse of the goods even while pretending I wasn’t looking…
“Oh, ho! I know that face!” Jasmine crows. “You want him.”
I turn painfully red, but I’m tired of lying. “I do.”
“Yesss!” Violeta elbows me.
“He keeps getting naked! And when he’s not naked, he’s wearing a tux!” I groan and rub my face. “It’s not fair. I’m only human.”
“So what’s the problem?” Skye leans forward.
“Hello? Magically binding marriage?” I throw up my hands. “I like him, sure, but a marriage that can never be broken is a lot to ask after one official date, even if it hadn’t been the date from hell. Plus…” I trail off with an awkward shrug.
“Plus what?” Violeta leans forward. “Did he do something?”
“He told me he sees his pursuit of me as a game.”
“That’s what I mean by not being sure of his motives.” Jasmine points at me. “He gives off player vibes.”
“I don’t think there are other women,” I say. “But I’m also not sure he’s serious. I don’t want to be some kind of conquest before he moves on to the next challenge.”
“So what are you going to do?” Hannah asks.
“I don’t know.” I take a big bite of cupcake to give myself time to think and because cupcake. “It’s my week to choose the type of date and wedding. I was thinking of picking things that will check how compatible we are. I have a few ideas, but I’m going to need some help to pull off the wedding.”
“Of course,” Violeta says without a second of hesitation.
Jasmine adds, “We got you,” while everyone nods.
Warmth fills me. I really don’t have to do everything on my own. These women are the first true girlfriends I’ve ever had. I’m so glad I asked them.
I take a swig of my cocoa puffs white Russian, then say, “Okay, here’s my idea…”