“That’s all?”Dy frowned.“Seems like there was a much greater balance of pixie dust to agnicurna in the crates we brought back from Moonstone.”
“There was.”Nerd Girl tipped up her goggles and vented a bit more magic vapor.It made Cha’s nose itch.“They vastly overdid it.Whoever mixed it either didn’t know what they were doing or didn’t care how much black dust they ruined.”
“Probably both,” Cha mused.They’d picked up those crates from Otto’s contact at the trade depot in Obsidian.The fae didn’t care much about their own dust or lower.Probably it was like dirt to them.Dirt they could sell to humans for prices to bleed them dry.
Nerd Girl shrugged.“Their issue, not mine.But I was curious, so I ran tests.”She indicated a grid of glass-faced boxes along one wall.“Ten to one will do it.”Waggling her brows at Dy, she added.“I suspected smuggling agnicurna into the fae realms would come up again.It pays to plan ahead.Turns out today is payday!”She transferred a sharp look to Cha, her eyes uncomfortably magnified by the goggles, and held out a hand.“Do we have a deal?”
Reluctantly, Cha unclipped the sheath at her belt.On the one side, she carried the sword Azul had given her when the Moonstone fae confiscated her other.Red gold with Cinnabar magic, the sword was hugely more powerful than her old one.That one had been useful primarily to fight off fake monsters in steeplechase tournaments and spank drunk ley riders during bar fights.She was still figuring out what all the Cinnabar sword could do, but there was nothing fake or playful about it.She planned to keep it sheathed and out of sight.
In other words, she wasn’t letting Nerd Girl get a look at it.The wand was bad enough.So, she unthreaded the sheathed wand from her belt and—feeling as if she was giving away a little piece of her heart—she handed the wand over to Nerd Girl, sheath and all.
The scientist/sorceress examined it with raised brows.“As a bonus,” Nerd Girl said, hopping off the stool to lay the sheathed wand on a cleared-off workspace, “I’ll share any insights on how to make it work for you.Free of charge.”
“I’ve made it work.”Cha didn’t like parting with the thing, that was the only reason she felt so cranky.
“Uh huh.”
“Listen, Nerd Girl—” Cha began, bristling.
“—to us saying goodbye,” Dy interrupted, pulling Cha away.“Say goodbye, Bandit.”
She threw Dy a dirty look.“Goodbye, Bandit.”
“I love you, too,” Dy answered with a sunny smile.
~5~
Just Ducky
Big Betty puffedand rumbled on the slow black, already in big rig form.The elephant had been thrilled to be going on another road trip again so soon.The rest of Dy’s family was considerably less excited.
“Butwhycan’t I go with you, Auntie Bandit?”Phin Jr.demanded for the one-hundred and seventh time.
“I’ve already told you why, kid,” Cha answered, checking that supplies were properly stowed in Katu, also in carriage form, and keeping one eye on Dy.She was trying to soothe the youngest three kids while receiving some sort of lecture from Phinny.
“You haven’t given me agoodreason,” Phin Jr.countered, sounding exactly like Dy with her pedantic arguments.
Cha straightened, punched her fists to her hips, and stared down the seven-year-old currently perched on the fence surrounding the slow black.With his tumbling golden curls and big blue eyes, he did look like a little angel.One with the fulminating heart of a demon.“What do you call that thing you’re standing on?”Cha asked.
With an adorable, puzzled frown also just like his mother’s, he glanced down.“Duh—a fence.”
“Very good,” Cha said, oozing approval and giving him such a wide smile that he scowled at her.“And what is the purpose of this here fence?”
“To keep the kids off the slow black because it’s dangerous for them,” he answered, rolling his eyes.“But that’s those kids.Not me.”He puffed his chest out proudly and waved a dismissive hand at his younger siblings, the twins Edur and Xavvy hanging one each off of Dy’s legs as she held Inigo and spoke earnestly with Phinny a short distance away.Zazu, Cha’s namesake, struggled with trying to coax Dy’s loathsome lodestone, Warg to waddle/slither across the grass to Big Betty.
“Oh, I see!”Cha exclaimed with theatrical astonishment.“I forgot that you’re the oldest.”
“You didn’t forget, Auntie Bandit.You always remember our birthdays.”
Yes, she always had, even when she’d been exiled from visits, sending gifts by courier.Even though five birthdays had begun to strain her memory and she had to enter them into an enchanted calendar reminder.No one had ever remembered celebrated her birthday when she was a kid and she’d be cursed if her nieces and nephews felt that pain.Still, she had a rep to maintain.“Don’t go telling people about that, kid.Anyway, since I do remember birthdays, I happen to know you have one coming up.”
“I do.”He bounced on the fence making it rattle.“And for my present you can take me with you.”
“You know, that’s a great idea.”She nodded, tapping her chin.“For your thirteenth birthday present, when you’re legally allowed to ride the ley lines.That’s perfect timing.”
“Auntie Bandit…” he whined, face falling.
“What’s wrong?Oh, I know.Because you, my friend, are turningeight.”She reached out and patted his head, deepening his scowl.“Not thirteen at all.What’s thirteen minus eight?”