CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Kayla
The house feels really quiet after the other werepanthers leave.
Even Shadow’s gone a lot, catching up on delivering messages all over Faerie.
I should be glad, because it gives me the chance to focus on work for the next couple of days.
Also, I usually find it hard to be around so many people constantly without any alone time to recharge.
Instead, I’m a little wistful, missing the excited chatter of the kittens as they complete another level of a video game or their happy shrieks as they play with Dewdrop in the yard.
My familiar misses them, too. The dragonet cuddles on my lap while I work, his purr a quiet rumble that possibly soothes him even more than it does me.
And Victoria? The house is downright moping and keeps listlessly opening and closing the outer doors as if pretending the werekittens might run inside.
“When’s the next party?” she writes across the office’s magical parchment. “You promised.”
“It’s only been three days since the handfasting party.”
The back door slams.
“How about this?” I stroke Dewdrop’s little forehead. “I’ll order pizza for dinner tonight. When the delivery pixies get here, we can invite them in to meet Victoria, and they can play with Dewdrop after.”
My familiar perks up. “Yes, please!”
“I look forward to being admired,” Victoria adds, the mood of the house lifting.
Crisis averted, I get back to work, putting the finishing touches on the big-boss battle of the final quest of my new game.
By the time Shadow gets home that evening, I’m almost done with my detailed outline and shut down my computer with a satisfied feeling of accomplishment.
Dewdrop launches from my lap and flies to meet Shadow in the entryway, throwing his little body into the werepanther’s arms. “Kayla says we’re getting pizza so I can play with the pixies!”
Shadow cradles the dragonet and grins down at him. “That sounds perfect.”
“And the pixies get to meet me,” Victoria writes.
“I’m sure they’ll love that.” His green eyes meet mine, glittering with amusement.
When I call to place the order, I ask Blue about the visit to see if she can arrange for the delivery pixies to spend the extra time. “Of course! We have the biggest flock in all of Faerie.”
After hanging up, I glance at Shadow. “Exactly how many pixies are there at Slice of Life, anyway?”
“Before they left Moon Blade Village to come to Earth, there must have been over a hundred in Blue’s flock. As soon as they heard about pizza, they gathered from all over Alarria.” He grins. “They call Earth ‘Pizza World.’”
A startled laugh bursts from me. “I knew they were obsessed with pizza but not that they called Earth Pizza World.”
“That was all Naomi’s doing. She’s probably the reason Ferndale Falls has Slice of Life.”
“Thank god for Naomi.”
He nods.
While we wait, Shadow asks about trying an RPG game again, and I pick The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim as a good intro for a newb.
I’ve got a leveled-up character I usually play, but I create a new one to be on the same starter level as him, choosing to play a magic-wielding High Elf.
Shadow chooses to be a Khajiit warrior, because of course he does.
The feline character looks like a sand-colored version of his werepanther form, upright, fur-covered, and armed with wicked claws.
Before we can get much further, the sound of the front door opening makes me hit pause.
Dewdrop beats us into the entryway, chirping happy hellos to the group of a dozen pixies.
They drop the pizza boxes onto Shadow’s outstretched hands with a loud cry of, “Pizza!”
Blue breaks away from the others to hover in front of my face. “We’ve come to meet the magical house.”
“Her name’s Victoria, and she communicates using magical parchments.” I point to the one hanging in the entryway. “Victoria, these are some of the pixies that own the pizzeria in town. Blue is their leader.”
“Hello,” Victoria writes. “I’m happy to meet you.”
“We’ve never been in a house before.” The pixie leader flies closer to the parchment. “Only our apartment above Slice of Life.”
“Then you’re going to love Victoria,” Shadow says. “She’s an amazing house.”
Pleasure saturates the air, and the lights brighten.
“Come and see my cat tree!” Dewdrop chirps and leads them into the living room.
“This is perfect! It’s like the blue birches we nested in when we lived in Faerie,” Blue cries out from within the leafy bower where Dewdrop sleeps.
“Shadow made it for me.”
“Will you make indoor trees for us?” She flies up to Shadow. “Name your price.”
“I’ll get back to you once I find out how much Jace wants for the crystals that make them sprout magical leaves.”
We settle on the couch while Dewdrop takes the pixies on a tour of the house, with Victoria using each room’s magical parchment to answer their questions.
“Looks like I’m going to have another big woodworking project to do in the backyard.”
“Should I assume you’ll be shirtless the whole time?” I pick up a slice of pizza.
He shoots me a cocky grin. “Why would I be anything else?”
I spend the next morning finishing the final boss battle and the afternoon going over my entire outline, tweaking and tightening and adding more details.
This new game is good—really good—I can feel it in my gut. No, I think, channeling a bit of Shadow’s confidence, it’s flipping fantastic. This one could blow up big, be one of those games to set the RPG Discord chats alight and have people making memes and fanart.
“Suck it, Topher.” I punch the send button on my email with the full game outline attached. I’m several days early, so there’s no way in hell that asshat can complain.
I log onto the Buffy Guild to celebrate.
AmethystAssassin: Guess who just sent Topher a full outline early.
Ipwnedurass: yesssss, girl! killing it!
Xena4Eva: I hope you made him eat his words about you being late.
AmethystAssassin: I hope I made him choke on them.
Ipwnedurass: you’ve entered your villain era. I like it
AmethystAssassin: I think it’s my best game yet. I can’t wait to hear what you think, Ipwnedurass.
Ipwnedurass: yesss!!! I’m pushing to be on the team
AmethystAssassin: Sorry the NDA means I can’t tell you much about it, Xena4Eva.
Xena4Eva: Respect. You’re professional. It’s one of the reasons we’re such good friends.
Ipwnedurass: and then there’s me…
She adds a series of laughing emojis that have me chuckling, and we chat about their projects. Before signing off, we arrange a gaming session for next week to continue our Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer campaign.
To further celebrate, I take Dewdrop into the backyard and play his favorite new game: fruit fetch.
I toss grapes, blackberries, and pineapple chunks up into the air, and he chases them down and eats them.
His perky chirps and delight at the variety of fruit make me ride a constant high of happiness.
I see why everyone loves having pets now. I can’t imagine my life without him.
I ride that high all the way into the kitchen, where I decide to throw together some spaghetti.
While the meatballs brown in the skillet, I dance around the kitchen island.
Dewdrop flies happy circles overhead, chirping along to the music, and Victoria opens and closes the cabinet doors in time to the beat.
Then Beyoncé sings about morning dew, and all I can picture is Shadow with his head buried between my legs.
As if my thoughts pulled him to me, he steps out of thin air in the middle of the kitchen, swooping me into his arms for a dance. “What’s got you in such a good mood, my witchy beauty?”
“I finished the outline for my new game!”
“Perfect. That means we can have date night.”
“An extra date? I approve,” Victoria writes, and the cabinets applaud the idea.
I say, “I didn’t think we had to do any more dates for the contract.”
“This one might not be part of Victoria’s fine print, but it’s something I’ve been thinking of.” He spins me out, then pulls me back. “We could go on a date that’s just for us.”
A date freely chosen by both of us instead of mandated by the house. Don’t get me wrong—I’ve loved our other dates. I only wish we hadn’t been forced into them.
“Just for us.” I smile up at him and curl my arms around his neck. “I like the sound of that.”