Part 11

Sleeping that night was heaven. That’s all I got. No dreams, no jolting awake terrified, just twelve hours of solid rest. I woke up at noon more light and giggly than I had been in ages and there was only one thing to do: make waffles. I even gave Orango his favorite treat, a fresh can of tuna, and sang along to the radio
I was just finishing up when Trish knocked out a snappy tune on my front door. I swear I could be deaf but I’d still know Trish when she knocked on my door. She didn’t even wait for me to answer, just walked right in, her Jimmy Dee Makeover tote bag slung over her shoulder. She’d started calling the huge orange and white poka dotted bag that after the seventh time she had loaded it up with clothes, make up, and hair care products to take with her to force me to dress up for a date.
I really wasn’t into dating. Not for any real reason, to be honest, just that I’d never met a guy worth putting so much effort into. Looking sexy cost a lot of money, time, and effort, so much more than rocking jeans and T-shirts, and I was only motivated to put that much effort into my disguises.
“I made waffles.” I grinned and held up the plate I had made for her. “You’re not using that bag on me though. I am not going to let you s**t me up for a possible serial killer’s friend.”
“He’s my cousin, too. Think of it that way.” She dropped the bag on my couch and grinned, quickly snatching up her plate and reaching for the syrup. “I f*****g LOVE your waffles it’s been ages!”
She helped herself to a plate and we sat on my couch, digging into the fresh and fluffy waffles. Orango stretched out on the runner on the coffee table, flecking his tail and watching us. For a moment it was like being back in college, lazy Saturday mornings watching cartoons and eating homemade waffles before going back to the academic grind.
“Work’s made me an antisocial b***h hasn’t it?” I asked as I set my plate by Orango’s head. “I’ve missed this so much. I’ve missed you.”
“You look so much better today than you have in months, Dee. I’ve only ever seen you this bad once-“
“Can we not talk about that?”
“Dee, we have to eventually. You don’t remember most of that night. I do. I had to hide you for like two days. You weren’t a part of our world then, but you are now, and you are already getting a lot of attention. I know you don’t wanna hear any of it, but we have to figure out what you are sometime.”
“Trish, I’m just like you.”
“No honey, you’re not. Hoodlums didn’t Molotov my old car like I told you. You set it on fire. Well, you caught on fire and then my car caught on fire. No matches, lighters, torches, accelerants, burns on you, any of it, just you, on fire, in my car. Someone’s been hiding you for God knows how long, Dee, and I’d like to keep you that way. There are some fucked up, vicious people in Magic Land, and they’ll do some horrible things if it means they can get a smidge of power. We can’t ignore it ‘cause they sure as hell won’t.”
I shook my head and stood, using the dirty, empty plates as an excuse to break that worried look Trish had. I’d never wanted to know what happened the night I went with her to visit her family and Krys had slipped me the mushroom tea. I didn’t remember, I didn’t want to, but Trish wouldn’t have brought it up if it hadn’t been important. “I was on fire?”
“It was hella weird and terrifying. I have met like ninety percent of the creatures that inhabit the magical community, I’ve seen and done some fucked up s**t, but never have I seen such a human looking girl seriously sweat fire. I was freaked and I couldn’t do anything but wait it out and pray you didn’t burn everything down. I was afraid to call my own father and ask him for help, Dee. Whatever you are is rare and probably really powerful and someone put a lot of effort and power into disguising you as just another bud but no bud I ever met could do that. Hell, Alex can’t do that.”
“Okay, okay, slow down a tad. I can sweat fire. That’s freaky but okay. What’s a bud? I assume you don’t mean friend.”
“It’s what we call humans with the spark of magic in them. Most don’t get real training and have normal lives but they could choose to embrace their talents and whatnot. Its more common than you would think, having a magic something-something in your family tree, and magic never leaves the blood. It just kinda naps, and adapts, and whatnot. Alex is much better than I am at this.”
“And I don’t suppose that’s one of your motives for hooking me up with your cousin? If I fall in love with him of course I’ll let you two figure out what I am.”
“Okay, Jimmy Dee, not gonna lie to you, it totally crossed my mind. But, it was like the seventh reason to cross my mind. The first six are all about you being happy. Well, number six was us legally being family but I totally count that as you being happy.”
I laughed and sat back down, handing her a cup of chocolate milk while sipping my own. “What’d you do? Make a list?”
“Yeah. Besides, you don’t need to love him to ask his help. You’re gonna need allies at least, Dee, when you compete the Queen’s assignment. There are already whispers about you all over the place. The more friends you have, the better a position you’ll be in when we take Puremount down.”
“Why not just ask Gordan?”
“No way. He is fantastic and all, but his mom is one of the most insane and powerful creatures in the worldwide were community. Don’t look at me like that, Dee. She is the kindest and cutest leopard lady but she’s completely unbalanced from all that inbreeding in her family tree and if for a second she thinks you are a threat to her precious cub or could be used to protect her cubs she will not hesitate or show mercy.”
“And Gordan can’t lie to his mom. I get it now. Sooo Alex.”
“I think he’d be our best bet, both for your mystery and for the Puremount case. He’s good, Dee. A good wizard, a good friend, a good guy, and pretty much everything else. I’ve been sitting on this alone for years, been thinking about how to handle this, and I really think Alex would be the one to trust who could help us the most without drawing too much attention to it. We do random research all the time and this would be no different.” Trish set her glass down and put her hands on my shoulders. “I know you don’t like it, Dee, and we don’t have to ask anything about it today, or tomorrow, or next week.”
“But soon.”
“Yeah. Soon. It’ll be okay. I’ll be right there with you the whole time. They’ll have to kill me to stop me.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, Trish.”