Coming April 2022

“Diana? Wasn’t it?” Brittany asked, her hair still standing on end as she followed Ev into the house with a bright smile on her face.

“Yes,” Diana replied, stepping back and away from the potent magic still vibrating at a ridiculously high frequency off of Brittany and the hawk perched on her shoulder.

“You hungry? I’m always starving,” she said waving at Diana to follow her. Diana glanced at me with a question arching her dark brow.

Ev chuckled as he followed two steps behind Brittany, “You eat more than me,” he laughed.

“Yeah, well, I used a lot of magic and I could go for a burger, or a pizza, definitely some fries and a milkshake. Is there a place that sells all of those things AND delivers?” Her words came out fast as she moved from the living room to the den, headed to the kitchen.

“I will get you whatever you want,” Ev said smiling, “but I know where there’s a secret stash of donuts until it all gets here.”

“Ooohh, donuts,” Brittany cooed as she grinned over her shoulder at Ev.

“Come on,” I said, stepping out of the ring of Patrick’s embrace and motioned to Diana.

We followed them into the kitchen, Diana a steady pace behind me, and Patrick behind her. I strode into the kitchen and circled the island, taking a seat at the breakfast bar. Ev was in the pantry moving items around as Brittany hopped and jumped to see over his shoulder.

“Why are you hiding donuts back there?” Brittany squealed as he brought the box down and handed it to her.

“So you won’t eat them. These are for emergencies only,” he snorted. She ripped open the box and tore into the Entenmann’s chocolate-covered donuts. He pulled out his phone and hit a button in his contacts. “Hey, Beth,” he said, “yeah, I need to place an order. You ready?” he asked with a grin. We ordered from Alberta’s a lot. “Okay, we need five firefighters, five the works pies, five meats, three veggie, four baskets of fries—”

“Meatball sub,” Brittany loud-whispered.

“And a meatball sub,” Ev said, shaking his head. “Can I add two Sauer’s Kraut Pizzas?”

Diana stopped in the doorway, staring out the wall of windows where Booker sat in a deck chair, chatting with the dragon lying circled around the pool. Booker threw his head back laughed at something the dragon said. He didn’t seem eager to leave, and Booker didn’t seem threatened. After the momentary pause, Diana entered the kitchen and sat down beside me as the kitchen and house began to fill up as everyone returned from the clusterfuck of Easton, and sequestering in the house for safety.