The kids were afraid of us. Not surprising. I mean, we’d found them in a room with a kyton and his victims. There was no chance they’d be calm after that. So we’d need to find a way to earn some trust.
But how? I wasn’t sure. Should I talk to them? I mean, pretty girls are usually less threatening, especially when we considered the other three I’d been traveling with. They were covered in blood and were either frightening looking or so inept at social interaction as to be likely to inadvertently appear to be a truly terrifying monster just by accident.
But that was discounting our newest party member. There was one person who could be less threatening than me. “Terry,” I said. “Wake up Emily. There’s someone I want her to meet.”
He looked at me quizzically, but apparently decided that I knew what I was doing. He went over to where Emily was resting. He gently nudged her. “Hey, time to wake up,” he said. She stirred, but remained asleep. Considering it further, he pulled out a piece of cake from his guitar case, unwrapped the muslin cloth around it and held it before her nose. She sniffed and awoke, immediately taking a bite and getting frosting all over her chin.
“What happened?” Emily asked, her mouth full.
I was carefully keeping an eye on the scared kids, and realized their interest in the cake was overwhelming their fear, if only slightly. Excellent. Good job, Terry. “Do you have any more cake?” I asked.
Terry realized what I was getting at and rooted through his stuff, eventually pulling a couple pieces of cake and holding them out to Burin. The dwarf grabbed them and brought them over. He approached, his posture completely non-threatening as he did so, and held the cake out for the kids. The boy snatched it from his hand and shared it with his older sister, eyeing us warily as he did so.
I gave them a moment, then called Emily over. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
She took the cloth Terry held out and wiped her face, then came to me. “Who are they?” she asked.
“Princess Emily of Melos,” I said, having done a little research on my phone as I waited, “it is my pleasure to introduce you to Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Anastasia, the prince and princess of this land.” To save having to repeat myself in multiple languages, I had Nebula say it so everyone would understand it at the same time. “Alexei and Anastasia, this is Emily, princess and probable heir to the kingdom of Melos.” If they asked, I would tell them that Melos was an island nation that was near Greece. Thankfully, they never asked. And they took the talking cat in stride.
“I’m sorry,” Alexei said. “My sister is still upset by what happened to us. Is it possible you have more of that cake? We haven’t eaten in so long.”
Burin carried over an entire cake that Terry had produced. He then spoke to them in Aquan, startling the kids. “He says hello,” Nebula explained.
“Is there something wrong with him?” Alexei asked.
Terry just laughed at the question. “We definitely don’t have long enough to sit around and give you an enumerated list,” he said.
Anastasia was still pretty scared eyeing the corpse of the kyton warily, as if it would get up and come after them again. Emily finally noticed the corpse – she’s seen a lot in her short life, apparently – and looked at it confused. “What is that?” she asked. “Did Dad kill it?” She turned to the kids and asked Nebbie to translate. “I’m sorry. My dad and his friends are good at murderizing things. So you’re safe, unless you’re an evil demon. If you are, they’ll probably kill you too. But you don’t seem like demons, so you’re probably okay.”
Terry looked proud at the way Emily had both reassured and threatened the kids simultaneously. “Are you guys okay? Were there more of these things? If there are, we can kill them too.”
Oh yeah. Killing things. “Hey, um, so we still need to go find that goat.”
Terry flinched. “Hey, Emily, can you call out your mom again?” He turned to me. “I need to talk to my Lion-Wife.” It was pretty obvious he was trying to put off going after the goat.
“I’m not sure,” Emily answered. “But I’ll try.”
“I can help,” I said. “Let’s do it outside so we don’t have to make another hole in the building to get her outside.” I then had a thought. “But before that, I’m gonna set up the box. Burin and Gregor, see about some new clothes for the kids? It’s fairly cold out and they won’t be comfortable in what they’re wearing.”
“I will make sure they are warm,” Gregor agreed. “We have all those new skins.”
“Keep an eye on him and make sure they don’t come out looking like yeti-skin eskimos,” I whispered to Nebbie. “And make sure they’re careful. The boy’s a hemophiliac.” The cat nodded.
I stepped just outside with Emily and Terry, keeping in the doorway so I wouldn’t go out of reach of Nebula. “What do I do?” Emily asked.
“Calm your thoughts, and focus your mind,” I told her. “The magic is part of your very being. Just reach within and pull at it, willing it to flow out. Call for your mother as you do so.”
It took a few minutes, but eventually the sleeping form of the manticore appeared before us. Terry walked over and began to wake her, the same way he had with Emily, though he did not need to resort to cake this time.
Persephone yawned and stretched. “Why am I a monster?” she asked, looking at her paws. “What’s going on? Where am I?”
Terry grabbed her face. “Percy, we’re in a bind. It’s mostly, but not entirely my fault. Here’s the short version.” He had her complete attention. “There’s a bad guy we’ve gotta kill. Our daughter is some kind of wizard now. And I have cake if you’re hungry.”
She took it in stride. Being married to Terry must have had its share of strange situations. “On a scale of one to ten, how fucked are we?”
“Thirty two.”
“Well, shit.” She sighed. “Is Typhon here? Is he gonna help us?”
Well, that was an interesting thing to ask. Terry averted his eyes, not answering my gaze. “Um, no,” he answered softly. He looked desperate to change the subject.
“We’re going to turn you into a person again,” I interjected. I had been walking Emily through the process again as they were talking. “Go ahead, kiddo.”
Emily nodded and walked over to the manticore. “I don’t think this is gonna hurt, Momma, but it might. I’m sorry if it does.”
“It’s okay, baby,” she said. Emily carefully unleashed the spell and her form shimmered, becoming human once more. A very naked human. A very attractive naked human. Damn, Terry. You DO NOT deserve that. She finally noticed me. “Hi,” she said, approaching. “I’m Persephone, Terry’s wife. For some reason, I get the feeling I tried to eat you?”
My mind was still rather in the gutter. “You can eat me anytime,” I murmured.
“What?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing,” I said, recovering. “I said it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re probably used to it, I guess. Weird things happen around Terry,” she admitted.
I laughed. “One of these days, I need to tell you about the cake and the tree.”
Terry choked. “Um, shouldn’t we get her some clothes? Not that I mind, but you’re probably cold, aren’t you, Percy?”
Persephone considered the situation for a moment. “Mom’s vision said that the castle of sand would lose a lion. I thought it was a metaphor.”
“I believe the creature is called a manticore, not a metaphor,” Gregor said from the doorway. He was holding some clothing for Persephone. “I figured you would need this.”
“That’s a good call,” I said. “But it’s just gonna tear when she transforms back. Unless…” I rooted around in my bag and pulled out a pair of bracers that would allow the clothing to be transformed. That would allow the clothes to be changed into something manticore appropriate when she changed.
“How are the kids?” Terry asked.
“They’re fine,” Gregor answered. He sighed. “I need a new Barnaby.”
“We should probably prepare them for Percy’s other appearance,” Terry said. “I’ll go.”
I walked Emily through turning Persephone back so the clothes change could be done consciously rather than rip when she wasn’t ready for it. Then I went inside. “Okay, they’re ready,” I said, putting the box away.
“Okay,” Terry agreed. “Now remember, she looks scary, but she’s very nice.”
“Just don’t make any sudden movements,” Gregor joked. Terry scowled at him.
When we went outside, Emily was giggling as she swung from Persephone’s scorpion tail. Burin was watching, telling her to be careful so she didn’t fall and hurt herself. He looked strangely comfortable at the role. His family was supposed to be pretty large, so I’d bet he had siblings or something.
Emily and Alexei ended up riding on Persephone’s back, with Alexei in the front. They were chatting as if they were old friends, using Nebbie to translate while they rode. Anastasia walked with Gregor between her and the manticore.
“So, you’re going to be the king, even though you’re younger?” Emily was asking.
“It’s how things work,” Alexei answered. “How do you not know that? Aren’t you also a princess?”
“I didn’t find out until a little while ago. Speaking of which… Momma, why didn’t you tell me you were a princess?”
Persephone turned to Terry. “How much did you tell her?”
“It wasn’t me,” Terry said. “She found out from the magic mirror. Blame Lyriana.”
Persephone didn’t ask what he meant. I had a feeling she was going to have a lot of questions later. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to be a princess. I wanted to be a hero.”
“Oh, okay,” Emily said. “Is Dad a hero too?”
Terry laughed. “Nope. I like killing people too much to be a hero.”
At that moment, there was a sound of gunfire and Burin took a bullet to the face. He sprouted his wings and flew into the fray, slaying the offending soldier. Gregor spun, flinging his hat and killing two more soldiers. Terry fired from the hip, killing another soldier, and I struck yet one more with several spiky balls of force.
All in all, we barely reacted. Alexei thought that was pretty cool, but Anastasia and Persephone were weirded out, though I could tell that Anastasia was impressed by Gregor’s throwing and catching his hat-shield. “Is it always like this?” Anastasia asked nervously.
“No,” Gregor said. “Sometimes it actually gets exciting.”
“Oh, are you from here?”
“Not exactly,” Gregor admitted with a chuckle.
“Are you a soldier?”
“No, a monk,” he said.
“You don’t dress like a monk,” Anastasia said.
“Wrong kind of monk,” I clarified. “Think more like a Chinese monk.” It would make things easier if she understood better.
“Oh!” she said, understanding. She then began asking him about what it was like growing up in the monastery.
I motioned for Terry to come over. “Hey, so how long are you planning on waiting before you tell her about the whole body thing?”
Terry blanched. “I was thinking a few years. Or maybe never? I like never.”
I noticed that Persephone was watching us out of the corner of her eye. Crap. I hoped she hadn’t noticed. “If people are going to be shooting,” she said, “Maybe it would be best if we got the kids down instead of up where they’re easy targets?”
“Right,” Terry said. “Oh, and you should probably know standard combat procedure. Gregor will punch things. I’ll shoot things. Lyriana will light things on fire. And somehow Burin will end up in something’s mouth.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how. But you can count on it.”
She looked to Burin, who shrugged as the wound on his cheek healed thanks to a poke from a magic wand. “It does keep happening for some reason,” the dwarf admitted.
The camp where we’d been told we’d find the goat began looming close, and Terry stopped to pull out his rocket launcher. “What is that?” Persephone asked.
“It’s a bigger gun. You can’t be too careful when it comes to goats.”
“Goats?”
“They’re dangerous,” Terry answered, completely serious.
“You’ve changed,” Persephone said. “What happened to you?”
“He did have that encounter with the warden,” Burin said, thinking aloud.
“Hush, you,” Terry chided.
The camp was surprisingly empty, but we spotted the goat standing in a small corral, chewing on something or other. A lantern was hanging from its neck. Definitely a Lantern Goat. All we’d need to do is kill the goat, take its lantern and go find the body. Then the guy could be brought back to life and we’d be able to use his help to get into that ghostly looking monastery.
Or, at least, that had been the plan. No sooner did she spot the goat than Persephone’s eyes glazed over and she immediately charged. Before any of us – even Terry – could react, the goat was gone, disappeared down her throat. After she was done, she just looked at us, her expression telling us she was completely confused as to why she’d just done that.
“If you were hungry, you could have just said something,” Terry said with a laugh. “Though I approve of you taking out the goat before it could take us out.”
“I wasn’t hungry,” Persephone answered. “I… don’t know what came over me. It was like my will wasn’t my own.” That was odd. Why would she feel like that? Maybe because the goat was carrying a soul and she was probably part demon?
I don’t know. But that left us a problem. “We need that lantern,” I said.
“Perhaps there are berries nearby that will make things move along?” Gregor suggested.
“Maybe we could just reach in there and fish it out?” Terry suggested. “As long as it’s definitely already dead, I mean.”
“It feels like it’s further than you could reach already,” Persephone said. It was obvious she didn’t like that idea.
“Then we’ll send someone in, tied off with a rope.”
“Terry? What happened to you?” she asked again.
“He hasn’t been the same since he took that teleporter ride with Hatch,” Gregor answered.
“Quiet. It can work,” Terry said. “If only we could make her bigger…”
“I think I can do that,” Emily said. “If we really need the goat.”
“Good,” Terry said. “Now we just need a volunteer. Someone who has experience being eaten.” He was obviously talking about Burin, as he was looking directly at the dwarf.
Burin sighed. “Okay. I’ll go.”
As I was helping Emily prepare to enlarge her mother, I heard Gregor whisper to Terry. “Are you sure you want your wife to develop a taste for Burin?
“Everything else does.” He then walked over to Persephone. “Okay, Emily’s gonna make you bigger and Burin’s going down your throat to pull out the goat.”
“Do I not have a choice in this?” she asked.
“Not really. If you didn’t want to swallow the dwarf, you shouldn’t have eaten the goat.” He said it as if it were obvious to everyone that that would be the consequence.
“Terry, what happened to you?” Persephone repeated.
“There was that one time with the skeletons,” Burin said. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Maybe something from before I’d met them.
“Hush. Let’s do this.”
I’ll spare most of the details, as it was fairly disturbing to watch. That said, there was a strange look of ecstasy on Persephone’s face when Burin touched her tongue, and she looked sad when we pulled him out. Wordlessly, I used magic to clean all the drool and other fluids off of Burin. And then turned to deal with the real problem.
A bloody, crushed corpse of a goat lay on the ground in front of the upset looking Persephone. It had a new hole in its head – Terry wanted to make sure it was dead – and Gregor was complaining that the skin was ruined. Anastasia and Alexei seemed strangely unfazed by what they’d seen.
And, most importantly, the lantern was shattered, the glow from the soul gone.
“That can’t be good,” Burin noted.
“Can we bring the guy back without that?” Gregor asked.
“Sorry,” Persephone said, clearly embarrassed.
I didn’t know. I was just done. Exhaustion hit me finally and I just sat down. Too exhausted, I couldn’t even cry. Was that the end? Were we done? Was there no way to get to Baba Yaga and save the world?
“I wish Daddy was here,” I pouted. Then it hit me. I didn’t have him here, but I had an entire library of information he thought would be useful to me in my pocket. I pulled out my phone. “Cortana, is there any information on how to get into that monastery?” I asked, showing her with the phone’s camera.
The phone ran a loading cursor for a moment and then a paperclip with googly eyes appeared on the screen. “It looks like you’re trying to stabilize an interdimensional rift. Would you like assistance?” the clip asked.
“Um, yes, please,” I answered.
“The following document details all steps necessary, as well as the tools you will need. Would you like to save the document for further reference?”
“Yes,” I said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Even over a hundred years and half a world away, I could always count on Daddy. “Okay, we have a new plan. Let’s drop off Alexei and Anastasia at the hut with Greta and we’ll try dealing with this ourselves.”
“The magic mirror had an answer?” Terry asked.
“Yeah.”
“I love that mirror,” Terry said. “See, babe? It’s all good. You don’t have to feel bad anymore.” Persephone looked relieved. She’d apparently been really worried that she’d really messed things up.
We made our way to the hut – killing more soldiers, who had probably been the people living in the camp, as we traveled. It only took twenty minutes, so that wasn’t too bad.
There were a number of destroyed tanks sitting around the hut. Apparently it had been busy while we were gone, picking at least three different fights. Strange that Rasputin would believe that mere tanks could take on his mother’s enchanted house. I mean, maybe Daddy could build some tanks that could do it, but these were ancient models from World War One. There was no way they could handle it.
The hut eyed us as we approached, but recognized us pretty quickly. One by one, it checked us out. It greeted us more or less indifferently for the most part. Then it was time to introduce it to the new arrivals. First was Persephone. The hut regarded her with the normal indifference. Then came Anastasia. It leaned in and sniffed at her – at least, I think that’s what it was doing – and then nuzzled her warmly. Strange.
But we didn’t have time to think about it. Because the hut’s reaction to Alexei was the exact opposite. It immediately stood up and well, growled, maybe? I tried to get it to calm down, and the others insisted that we go inside, but then the hut reared up and kicked the boy as hard as he could.
Alexei went flying through the woods. I could hear the sharp crack as a tree shattered from his impact. There was no way he survived that. Not as frail as the boy was said to be. Still, Burin rushed over to help him and Emily teleported – she was getting good at accessing her magic when she needed it in a rush – over to help him. Persephone flew off after her.
Terry hit the hut in the foot with his rocket launcher. No, not firing it. He just smacked it in the foot with the device itself. “Bad!” he said.
The hut ignored him, and was obviously agitated, so Gregor ran up the side and began trying to restrain it. I will never understand the logic of these two. “Should I just punch it til it calms down?” the fighter asked.
“Maybe we can have the box make a giant bag for you to put it in so you can forget to feed it for a few days?” Terry suggested.
“Don’t put a dimensionally compressed object into another!” Burin chided from out in the woods. He wasn’t wrong. That could get explosive.
I heard a roar from the woods near where Burin and the others were. No, not one roar. It was three distinct roars. “Momma! No! Don’t hurt him!” I heard Emily scream. What the hell was going on? “The monster did this to him!”
Terry turned and fired into the woods in that direction. His rocket hit a tree between him and whatever he was aiming at, exploding harmlessly. Well, maybe not harmlessly. Burin made a sound like he was hit. But it was Burin. He was fine.
I had to know. What was there? I flew up into the sky like a bolt.
There was a giant, three headed dragon over there, and I could see Persephone carrying a struggling Emily away. The girl was protesting that she loved Alexei and no one understood him but her. I’d had a friend go through that phase in high school. I almost laughed.
Gregor could see the dragon from his vantage point. He looked down at Anastasia. “Hey, is your brother supposed to be a dragon?” he asked.
That was the straw that broke the poor girl’s sanity. She began gibbering. “It’s a gorynych!” I called to the fighter, weaving a spell to hit it with an explosion of acid. “You need to keep hitting it with acid!”
Gregor flexed his fists. “Easy enough!” He charged down the side of the hut, teleporting just before hitting the ground and arriving where “Alexei” was fighting Burin. The dragon went down to a powerful flurry of Gregor’s blows.
It took only moments before Gregor was already skinning it. Terry went to help Persephone with Emily while I dealt with Anastasia. I was forced to put her to sleep and left her with Burin while I went to check on the Guisers.
Emily was screeching at her parents for killing Alexei. “That wasn’t really Alexei,” I told her. “That was a special kind of dragon. They use magic to warp the minds of those they want to control.” I looked at Persephone. “I think that’s why you attacked the goat. He must have clouded your mind.”
“That makes me feel better, and worse at the same time.” She tried to comfort Emily, who pushed her away.
I nodded. “And Emily, he used magic to make you fall in love with him.” Gorynych were known to voraciously chase down and bed young maidens. She was too young for that kind of thing, so I’m glad the hut caught him. Which brought up another thing. “Terry, don’t forget to apologize to the hut for hitting it.”
“It’s not like I actually hurt it.”
“Terry…” Persephone said, pained.
“Fine,” he pouted. “Oh, and we need a longer lasting solution if we’re gonna take Percy inside. I don’t think we want her growing huge inside the hut.”
I nodded. “The box will have an option if you have the funds.” I began setting it up while Persephone took Terry to make sure he apologized. I sat down next to the crying Emily. “You okay?”
“I know it was a lie,” she said. “But it still hurts.”
“Welcome to being a teenager,” I told her. “Come on. Let’s dry those eyes. Your parents look worried about you.”
“Do you think they hate me? I said some really mean things to Momma.”
“Hate you? Never. Look, this isn’t the last time you’ll act like a little monster to your parents. And boys will usually be involved. They’ll never hate you. It’s important that you remember that. They will always love you, no matter what you do. They might not LIKE you sometimes. But they will always love you, no matter how much you fight.”
She hugged me. “Did you fight with your parents?” she asked.
“All the time. Daddy was a master at letting me make myself look like an idiot. Now go tell them you’re sorry.”
She did as she was told and then we made Persephone a magic hat similar in function to the amulet Greta wears. When she transformed, it became a tiara. It was rather cute.
After that, we had Gregor wrap up his skinning and we went inside. I had Burin put Anastasia on my bed. Then we went back out to the main room, where I saw Emily and Greta talking. “So you are fine, after all, child,” Greta was saying.
“Fine. And a princess,” Emily responded, her tone confrontational, or perhaps gloating.
Greta shrugged. “Whether you were a princess or not, I was not concerned.”
The Coffin Man laughed. “Is that why you were halfway out the door when your cute wife called you?”
Greta shot him a withering look. “I was simply going outside to see if the naughty child was hiding.”
“Right.”
Greta changed the subject. “Who is this woman?” she asked, regarding Persephone.
“This is my wife,” Terry said. “Emily’s mom.”
“Strange that you would find her on a world so far from your own and back in time.”
“Emily summoned her.”
“I’m a princess AND a wizard,” Emily said, sticking her tongue out at Greta when she thought no one was looking.
“Hello,” Persephone said, holding out her hand to shake Greta’s before realizing her mistake after noticing the missing limb. “Sorry,” she said, holding out the other hand.
“It is fine,” Greta said. “I have become used to it. Though I will one day find Typhon Lee and return the favor, tearing HIS arm off before beating him to death with it.”
“Why would Typhon do this to…” Persephone turned to Terry. “Terry, where’s Toby?”
“He’s somewhere warm,” Terry said evasively. “Even I’m not stupid enough to bring a baby somewhere as dangerous as this.” He laughed nervously.
“Terry…”
“Okay, can we talk in private?”
They went into Terry’s room, having to kick out Zorka who was complaining about the untidiness of the room, emphasizing something about cake stains. As they did so, I went into my room to pull out my phone and eavesdrop.
Greta followed me in. “You fancy Terry’s wife,” she said lovingly.
I set down my phone. “I do find her attractive,” I admitted. “But I’m not going to pursue her.”
Greta cocked her head. “Why not?”
Wait, what? “I’m confused. You want me to cheat?”
She hugged me. “Despite the fact that you’re clearly in heat, I have been unable to impregnate you. Thus, I have resolved myself to the realization that one or both of us will be required to lay with some other man so we can have children. So thus, I have come to terms with the thought that you will lie with someone other than me. As long as you return to me every time, I can live with it.”
“I’m in heat?”
“Your scent is screaming it,” Greta said. “Your body is shouting as loudly as it can that it is ready for someone to reproduce with you.”
“Oh.” I forget how good her sense of smell is.
“By the way, what’s up with the girl in our bed?”
“I need you to keep an eye on her,” I said.
“She will not disappear on me?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “But no promises at this point.”
“Who is she?”
“Another princess,” I said.
“Fun.”
“Also, there might be more.” It was only a suspicion. But I couldn’t help but voice it. “In the future, there are rumors that the queen had an affair with a spiritual advisor of hers. There are even songs about it. It’s not impossible that she’s his daughter.”
“Who is this spiritual advisor? You sound as if it’s important.”
“It might be. His name is Rasputin. And he’s Baba Yaga’s son.”
“Then she’s…?”
“Baba Yaga’s granddaughter? Yeah, maybe.”
“I will keep her safe.”
“Thanks, babe. Now, I hope I haven’t missed anything important.” I picked up the phone and activated my backdoor program, listening in on the next room through Terry’s phone.
“Terry,” Persephone said. “Just tell me what’s going on. And why was that woman so mad at Typhon? He’d never do something like that.”
“Typhon’s… not our friend anymore.”
“Why not? He’s always been so good to us. He’s kept us safe. He kept my family away from us.”
“Percy, you’ve been dead for three years. It was Typhon’s men that killed you.”
“That can’t be right,” Persephone argued. “You’re wrong. It had to have been my father.”
“No, but he does have a bounty on Emily, apparently. Or so Pops says.”
“So I died. I still don’t think it was Typhon, but okay. Then you’ve been taking care of the kids while I was gone?” She sighed. “I’ve missed so much. Where’s Toby?”
Terry took a deep breath. “Percy. You… and Toby… and well, Emily too… you didn’t exactly survive when Typhon’s men came.”
“Explain faster.” Her tone was dangerous.
“Okay, long story short. I took a job to kill Typhon. But I didn’t check the body. He was still alive. He was mad, so his men killed you, kicked Toby into the fire, killed Emily and then he personally shoved my soul into Emily’s corpse.”
I could hear pacing. “Why would you betray him like that?!” Persephone ranted. “What could have possibly possessed you to do that?! He was like a father to us!”
“Your sister found me,” Terry said softly. “She gave me an ultimatum. Kill Typhon or she’d bring your father’s entire army to kill you and take the kids. So I had to choose between killing the dragon or facing down an entire army. I did what I thought was best to protect you.” He sounded ashamed.
“HECATE!” Persephone said softly, her voice filled with rage. There was a sound of struggling, as if she was trying to hit Terry in a rage, but he had restrained her.
“It’s okay, Percy. You’re not alone,” Terry assured her.
I could hear her crying. “I’m okay,” she said. “I’m not human anymore. But I have you, and Emily.”
“Yes.”
“And she’s magic, like Mom. If she died, how did she come back? And what about Toby?”
“Lyriana helped. It took a lot of money. But now she’s back. And Lyriana thinks we can bring back Toby, but it’s gonna take a lot of work, and probably some very expensive magic.”
“I’ll be sure to thank her later.”
“She’s a good kid. Both her and Gregor.”
“What about Burin?”
“Well, I guess he’s better than Pops,” Terry admitted grudgingly.
Persephone laughed. “He did manage to get inside me, so he’s certainly got that on Pops.”
“That tiara looks cute on you,” Terry said after a moment. “You want to have sex?”
“Okay.” Ooh, now it was getting good. “You look bigger than I remember.”
“Lyriana sculpted me a new body. She probably had to guess since it’s not like I showed her what I looked like naked.”
“I’ll definitely have to thank her later.” Oh, I could think of a way for her to thank me.
Greta took the phone from my hand and turned it off. “Hey! It was just getting good!” I complained.
“If you have time to listen…” she said suggestively, kissing me. Oh.
But there was a problem. “Anastasia’s right there,” I protested.
“Then you’ll have to be quiet so you don’t wake her.”
I guess we could spare half an hour.
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