by K. F. Breene
“But now an item is free. If anyone finds out, there will be a race to acquire it,” Kieran finished.
“A new, untested Demigod and an untrained Spirit Walker—I normally wouldn’t play those odds,” the spirit said.
“Yeah, you would,” Kieran replied. He didn’t need to smirk with all that confidence and ego he was whipping around—it was implied. “It would make you a rich man.”
I would still need to keep the watch away from the magical klepto. Even if he didn’t immediately take it to his boss, he could still prevent me from getting training. Given I didn’t trust the side he was on, I had every reason to suspect he would attempt to nab it.
I blew out a breath. I also needed to learn the politics and manipulation side of things if I ever wanted to sit at the adult table.
Baby steps. Magic first. Politics later.
“Now.” The spirit stepped back and looked up at the house. “We need to apply the same sort of magic to this house, just in reverse. Instead of tying a spirit in, we want to push them away. Luckily, the house is tiny. It’s good practice for a beginner. That’s the thing about Poseidon. He and all his heirs are cheap, cheap. Cheap and lazy.” He turned to me. “He didn’t build his own palace; he made the ocean gobble up someone else’s hard work. That’s what happened to Atlantis. Mr. Cheapy-Cheap thought he’d save a penny or two and just sink something rather than build it himself. It’s not like anyone would want it back once it had been dunked. Everything would have been ruined. Kelp in stuff, crustaceans—tragic. And here we are, only a quarter Demigod and still as cheap as they come.”
I opened my mouth to defend Kieran then closed it. I really didn’t need to get involved. Especially since someone razzing Kieran for being cheap, which obviously wasn’t true, was pretty funny.
“Okay,” the guy said, and spirit didn’t just crawl across the ground and rise around us—with his help, it floated through the sky, connected to all our souls, and swirled up like mist. He didn’t need air to plaster a spell to the house. With his training, I might not need it either.
If he was trustworthy.
16
Alexis
A couple of hours later, after a hot shower and a back massage from Kieran, I trudged downstairs and half fell into a seat at the kitchen table. Working my magic around the watch had required more technique than power, but casting a protective net over the whole house had drained me.
First of all, it was incredibly hard to call enough power to see the spirit floating all around the house. The other Spirit Walker had made it look easy. He hadn’t even strained. I’d looked like I was sitting on the toilet in need of Ex-Lax. Or so I imagined, given the way Daisy and Mordecai kept laughing at me. Thank God Kieran loved me.
When I asked the Spirit Walker why it was so hard for me, I got a disapproving look. Apparently I hadn’t been pushing myself. I could have come up with a list of explanations. That I’d only been at this for half a year. That I couldn’t have known I needed to push myself in the first place. But there wasn’t any point. As far as the spirit was concerned, it was my fault.
And then there was the challenge of feeling spirit, something that was even harder for me. Finally, I had to twist and nudge and bend and braid spirit around every inch of the house (which was easier, the Spirit Walker claimed, since it was so “modest”). Sweat was running down my face at this point. I might have piddled myself a little.
The protections wouldn’t be enough to stop a Demigod, but they would severely slow them, and by that time, Kieran and I could combat them. All other spirits or magical workers wouldn’t stand a chance.
Or so the smug spirit had claimed. I got the feeling he’d been testing me all along. If my undies weren’t that little bit damp (super embarrassing), I might’ve felt a little pride in my accomplishment. I was new, fine. A novice. But I was no dummy. I could be taught.
Just maybe not without a few minor accidents.
One thing I did pick up on: with spirit hovering around me, I could tell when another spirit worker was using their magic in the area, something the Spirit Walker helped me to see.
That realization earned me a nod of approval from the spirit. I nearly clapped in glee, and would’ve if I hadn’t been worried I’d look like doofus with wet drawers.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked as Boman put a glass of water in front of me.
He hesitated. “Or did you need a beer?”
I let my head thunk down on the table. “Water is fine.”
Jack and Donovan turned around from the grill and stove respectfully, delicious-smelling smoke rising behind them. “Steak,” they said in unison. “Potatoes.”
“What’s this, the Tweedledee and Tweedledum show?” Bria asked as she walked in, burns on her hands and a backpack slung over her shoulder.
A little mew preceded the cat sauntering in behind her, its tail curling at the end like it owned the place. Zorn followed them in. Both Zorn and Bria had showered and changed, but only one of them looked fresh and revitalized. Zorn got benefits from the blood bond. Bria was just a trooper.
“You can make a salad,” Jack said to Bria. “You can’t fuck up a salad.”
“Are you sure?” Bria shot back.
“I got it. The girls did all the heavy lifting today. They deserve a rest.” Boman smiled and winked at me before pulling a little glass tube filled with green gel from a pant pocket. He set it on the table next to my arms. “Aubri would like you to smear this under your eyes when you are feeling tired, fatigued, or puffy.” From another pocket on his Mary Poppins cargo pants, he pulled out a lemon zester. “Oops. That shouldn’t be in there.” He placed it on the island. Next, out came a little plastic tube of aspirin. “Here we go. This’ll help.”
“I’ll make her a martini,” Bria said. “That’ll help more.”
“No alcohol,” I said. “It’ll put me to sleep, and we’ve had watchers. I need to be alert.”
“No problem. A Jaeger bomb will keep you up,” she replied. “That failing, narcotics, though those’ll probably hurt more than help.”
“Where would you even get narcotics?” Jack asked, flipping a steak. Loud sizzling filled the kitchen.
“Boman’s pants, obviously. He’s got everything else,” she said.
“All out, I’m afraid,” Boman said, heading to the fridge.
“Just set up the salad stuff here.” Bria patted the counter, leaning back to catch Boman’s eye. “I’ll help cut. I need something to do.”
Zorn slipped into the chair next to me. Apparently he wasn’t planning on helping. What a coincidence; neither was I.
“What name did that spirit give you, by the way, Lexi?” Bria asked, centering her cutting board.
“Why, does he have more than one?” Donovan asked as Thane stiffly walked into the room. I could barely see the kids heading up the stairs behind him. They’d gotten in some training of their own while I was wrestling with spirit.
“What happened to you?” Boman asked, pausing in rinsing lettuce.
Thane braced against the island and winced. “The wolf lunged, distracting me from the gremlin, who used the opportunity to kick me in the nuts from behind.” Half the room busted up laughing. Jack danced over and punched him in the arm. “It’s not funny. I think a surprise kick to the nuts hurts more.”
“As opposed to asking for a kick in the nuts?” Jack asked with a grin.
“If you’re Donovan, yeah,” Thane said, adjusting his junk.
“Dude, I was checking to see if that cup worked,” Donovan said, moving something around on a pan. “I’d forgotten I’d taken it off because it had gotten itchy.”
Bria blinked at him incredulously. “Thank God you’re pretty, because wow, you sure are dumb.”
The guys laughed again, even Thane, who immediately followed it with a groan.
Kieran strolled in a moment later, his hair wild, his eyes bright, and the smell of the ocean rolling off him. My heart leapt at the sight of him, warming me from t
he inside.
“You good?” he asked me softly, stopping next to me to knead my shoulders. “As good as you can be in this itty-bitty house?”
I laughed. “Yeah, just exhausted,” I replied. “Not to worry—Boman has supplied me with green goo so that I won’t look too puffy or tired. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to offend the menfolk by not looking my best.”
“Aubri said so, sir. I wasn’t commenting on Lexi’s looks,” Boman said.
Silence trickled through the kitchen. The guys all sent incredulous glances at Boman.
“I said I wasn’t commenting,” Boman said, his voice rising. “That I wasn’t. I wouldn’t comment on a girl’s looks—you know that, Lexi. I mean, not to say I wouldn’t compliment you if you were all dolled up and looked really pretty because—”
“Oh, so she’s ugly right now, but you’re being a gentleman and not acknowledging it?” Jack asked with a lopsided smile.
The color drained from Boman’s face. “No! That’s not what I meant. She’s always pretty. She’s one of the prettiest girls I know. I’ve always thought that.” Kieran turned to him slowly. Boman put up his hands and took a step back. “Sir, let me explain. What I’m saying is, pretty girls don’t like to be told they’re pretty because it makes them feel objectified—”
“Which you just did…even though she currently looks ugly,” Thane said seriously, cupping his balls.
Donovan’s back was shaking with his failed attempt to hide his laughter. “Oh yeah, a real gentleman, sure. I noticed she barely sat down before you ran over there with serum to fix her up.”
“I did not—”
Zorn leaned closer, catching my attention as the guys picked on Boman. Even though he didn’t look it, Boman was the youngest of the Six, which meant the guys often chose him as the fall guy. When they really got going, they made fun of him ruthlessly. Actually, Zorn was technically the youngest, although everyone knew better than to mess with someone whose reciprocal humor was so violent.
All the guys aged really slowly because of their blood bond with Kieran. I wasn’t sure if they were immortal, though. I wasn’t sure if Kieran was, since he was only a quarter Demigod. Frankly, I was afraid to ask. I didn’t know what that would mean for us.
“I heard you found out about what your wards have been up to,” Zorn said softly. I could feel Kieran’s attention shift.
“Yeah, look, I didn’t know,” I said. “It’s not right, what she’s doing.”
“It’s exactly right,” Zorn replied. “Exactly. She’s had a hard life, and she’s in a situation where she has no control over her fate. A survivor doesn’t just accept her circumstances—a survivor finds a way to gain some control. We think she’s collected a nice little nest egg so far.”
“Over fifty thousand, I think,” Kieran said, taking the empty chair on my other side. My mouth dropped open. “That’s an estimate. I think she’s sold or returned roughly seventy-five percent of her purchases.”
“Kieran! How could you let her spend so much? Are you out of your mind?”
“Shh.” Zorn looked up at the corners of the kitchen. “I think I got all her listening devices, but I’m not positive. She’s gotten good.”
“Two reasons,” Kieran said, his gaze delving down into mine. “I want her to be comfortable here, and this nest egg she has created herself will help her do that. The second is because Zorn is studying her and tweaking his training accordingly. That we have no idea where she is putting the money means she is a better pupil than I think any of us anticipated, especially for a non-magical.”
“It’s because she’s non-magical, I’d wager,” I said. “She is spending her time learning, analyzing, and applying. The only thing she has to fall back on is herself. She has no magical crutch. No advantage. You’re forcing her to adapt, and she’s using her brainpower to do it.”
Zorn and Kieran both nodded.
“I would ask you,” Zorn said, “to just forget about this. Don’t mention it again. If you have to, tell her to do the right thing. I want to see how far this goes.”
I shrugged, happy to be left out of it. “Fine by me.”
The cat leapt onto the table and sauntered across it, as though it was perfectly normal for an outdoor animal to traipse across a surface where food was consumed.
“Get down,” I said, pointing at the ground. “Shoo. Go!”
It stretched, completely ignoring my fervent movements. It kicked out its back legs, one at a time, then took a seat next to my glass of water.
“Seriously, do they not listen?” I asked in bewilderment. “Its butthole is on the table.”
The cat batted my glass of water.
“No—”
Water splashed as the glass tipped. I reached out to grab it, but was too late. Liquid sloshed across the surface of the table and spilled into my lap.
“You little shit!” I jumped up, bending over to look at my soaked jeans. “What in the absolute hell?”
Zorn rose and scooped the cat off the table.
“Don’t tell me you like cats, too,” I asked incredulously as Zorn retreated to the other room where two cat bowls had mysteriously appeared, one for water and the other for food. “They don’t listen. They just do whatever they please.”
“They’re like women,” Jack said. “They stare at you flatly, reading you, judging you. If you are worthy, they will allow you to pet them, but only on their terms and only when they’re in the mood. Treat them well, though, and they’ll give you all the love you can handle, sometimes with a little painful nibble to keep things interesting.”
“Well, that one is a moody jerk who doesn’t listen.” Realizing what I’d said, and in what context, I held up a finger. “Don’t you dare say that’s like a woman.”
“Hear that, Boman?” Thane said. “Don’t say that a moody jerk who doesn’t listen is like Lexi. Keep it to yourself and only passive-aggressively give her Midol to combat the issue.”
“Keep it up and I’ll treat your nuts like a soccer ball for the second time,” Boman replied.
“I’d like to see you try.”
“Shifting back to things that are actually important, did that spirit ever tell you the name it wanted to go by?” Bria asked.
The mood in the kitchen changed on a dime. I shook my head. “I make it a habit not to ask for spirits’ names, so I didn’t even think of it, and he didn’t offer. But we know his name, don’t we? Or don’t you?”
“I know all three. His birth name, the name he gave himself in school when he grew confident in his magic, and finally the name he was given after he was broken and re-formed with a killer’s mind. I’m interested in which name he goes by now.”
“You can still feel him?” Kieran asked me.
I nodded, because yes, I could. His presence existed at the edges of my awareness—the pulsing sensation that I held someone’s soul on a rope. When I pulled that awareness front and center, I felt the string connecting us. I knew I could use that string to easily compel him, as he’d said. I could even force him, regardless of his power. I’d bound him to me. And he’d shown me how.
“Yet he can’t come inside?” Bria asked.
I shook my head. “He’s bound, but he’s still at arm’s length.” A payment in trust indeed. From now on, I would need to run all of my interactions with this spirit through Kieran, because if this spirit was manipulating me, I doubted I’d know. I simply didn’t have the experience to always think someone was lying. It was draining. Kieran could shoulder that burden.
“But Demigods can come inside,” I said. “The boosted protections won’t change that. They can still rip down my magic and come on in.”
Kieran leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. Thane and Boman both leaned against the island, their eyes intense.
“A Demigod in shadow form, right?” Kieran clarified, probably for his guys.
“Yes. In the form from the other night. Whoever it was didn’t have any problem with the old…spell, or whatever y
ou call it, and while it wasn’t well done, it was still powerful. A Demigod, even in spirit form, trumps me.”
“He didn’t show you how to set alarms to alert you if someone tampers with your magic in real time?” Bria asked.
“You can do that?” I reached for my glass, which Kieran had refilled, then hesitated, wondering if cat hair had gotten in it.
Bria shrugged. “Don’t know about yours, but I can set little warnings to let me know if inhabited cadavers cross into my defined space. It should also work for a strong soul. The only problems are: one, this is a house and I might set the whole place on fire, and two, I don’t know if a Demigod can circumvent it somehow. I would assume one of Hades’s line could, although I have no proof.”
“They’d see your warning system only if they knew to look for it,” Jack said, plating the steaks.
“If they didn’t, there’s still the issue of possibly burning the house down. I have some of the tools, but don’t have the sand pits to keep the fire contained.” Bria reached for her backpack. “I can try, though. I can poor-man-set-up anything. I’m not proud. Poseidon ain’t got nothin’ on me.”
“No, he does not,” Zorn said from beside the doorway. I hadn’t even heard him sneak back in.
“Oh yeah, you can talk,” Bria retorted. “Why have a nice meal when you can save a dime and eat some frozen hot dogs.”
The guys in the kitchen made “uh-oh” faces and turned away. Bria and Zorn had some strange friends-with-benefits situation that was turbulent at best. No one else wanted to get involved. We had enough problems.
“Okay. Well, worst-case scenario,” I said, “we eat a good, big meal, all tuck in for the night in the two itty-bitty houses that our benefactor seems to like—right, Kieran?”—everyone chuckled or smirked—“and we battle if we need to. We’ve been through worse.”
17
Alexis
“Protect yourself.”
The strange slide made of rainbows disappeared from my dreamscape. I floated toward consciousness, confused, but was waylaid by a playground made out of melting chocolate. I bent to lick the ground, not a rational thing to do, perhaps, but the chocolate was calling.
