Chapter 8

I counted to ten in my head, visualizing pushing him into the jellies and watching them sting him to death. "If I was, would you declare this gala Nefesh territory and mess up my case?"

"If you didn't have the right to work it, then yeah. In a heartbeat."

There it was. Levi's absolute refusal to recognize that not everything was as black-and-white as House rules made it out to be, and the reason I hoped Charlotte Rose's Rogue status didn't end up penalizing me in addition to her.

"The husband was Nefesh," I said, "but his wife, my client, who he was cheating on, was Mundane. I had every right to get proof of his infidelity." It was pointless to fight Levi, but that job last month could have opened the door to better gigs for me had I not been sidelined.

He refused a honey goat cheese and raspberry phyllo cup from a polite server. "It's too dangerous for Mundanes to go after Nefesh."

Having never met a goat cheese appy I didn't like, I accepted one. "Mundanes are dangerous, too. We have these things called guns. They kill people. No magic required." Hot damn, these puppies were good. I licked goat cheese off my lip. "And here's another revelation. While we were both assholes when we were younger, the difference is that I grew out of it."

Levi's eyes darkened, the corners tightening, but when a couple called out a greeting, he had his charismatic smile in place. He dropped it as soon as they moved on. "No, the difference is, I became responsible for an entire community while you kept thinking you should be allowed to do whatever you want."

Whatever I want? I couldn't remember the last time I hadn't conducted myself according to someone else's rules, fighting to be taken seriously, fighting to make a name for myself when it felt some days like the entire deck was stacked against me.

Anger rose up hot and thick enough to taste, wiping away all leftover raspberry sweetness. The room swam, the perfume and cologne cloying in this packed space. My heart pounded in my ears but I choked down my retort. Were our respective statuses represented via totem pole carving, I would be the poor schmuck on the bottom just trying to hang on, while Levi, as House Head, would be the capricious god up top plotting how to complicate my life yet again.

I stomped off, zigzagging to try and get through the press of people, but he followed. "Go away, Levi. I'm not in the mood for your insults."

"You're flushed and clearly dizzy. Maybe rethink your plan to become a functioning alcoholic," he said wryly. He grasped my elbow, propelling me through the crowd to the exit.

They parted like the Red Sea for Moses. Just once I'd like to see this guy break a sweat.

The cold night air brought everything into a sharp clarity, but I remained lightheaded and goosebumps dotted my skin. Colored lanterns cast warm, inviting pools of light in the darkness but they did nothing for the actual freezing temperature.

The chatter back in the aquarium faded to a dull buzz, since all the sane people had opted to stay inside. Holding the skirt of my dress with one hand, I lurched over to the viewing platform high above the dolphin pool, keeping to the shadows.

Levi strolled behind me, heat rolling off him.

Head bowed, I stopped in the middle of the platform, gripped the cold metal railing, and flinched because I'd caught a jagged part of the railing's seams. I tried to speak, tried to move, but I was paralyzed. My insides twisted, radiating a stabbing pain that built and built and then burst like a supernova, hot and sharp.

Fire blazed through my body, a searing agony that lit up every nerve ending. Had I not been clutching the railing, I'd have fallen because my legs had turned to Jell-O. There was a mild tug and then a punch that felt like a multi-armed giant was bashing its way out from inside my skull.

Violent shudders wracked me from head to toe and I screamed, but no sound came out.

A tiny drop of blood beaded on my finger. I sucked down a harsh breath, mesmerized by that drop that was so red and earthy.

"Ash." Levi's irises were no longer merely blue but the electric wild skies after a storm. They practically glowed and, between them and the glare of the moon, I had to look away. The overpowering smell of the saltwater from the dolphin pool below made me gag, but was tempered by the mild musky sandalwood scent of Levi's cologne.

"You're not having a seizure, are you?" he said.

Why did he have to be such a dick?

From one blink to the next, the bloody smear on my finger morphed into a solid shaft about eight inches long with a bulbous end that I instinctively jabbed Levi back with.

"Did you just - that's - that's a dildo," Levi stuttered. "You hit me with a magic dildo?"

We both stared at the offending item in my hand.

"It's a sword," I said.

"It's a fucking cock that you conjured up," he growled. "You're Nefesh?" His expression darkened in fury.

Maybe I was actually unconscious and all this was some kind of fever dream?

"As if," I said. "I thought I'd liven up this snoozefest with a giant dick. The sword, I mean. Not you. I've been carrying it in my dress this whole time waiting for the right moment to spring it. Hilarious, huh?"

Okay, as lies went it was admittedly somewhere between "the check is in the mail" and "I won't come in your mouth" for believability, but logic and coherent reasoning had fled in the face of the weaponized penis.

"Right. You carried it in your floor-length 'come fuck me' dress with no visible panty line," Levi said darkly.

"I have a bra." Stop talking, Ash. I white-knuckled the dildo. If I really had magic, this was what I produced? Okay, bright side. I could become a vigilante, going around giving the bad guys of my city a good dicking.

I stepped backward, wanting to get the fuck out of Dodge so I could unscramble my brain and figure out how I suddenly had magic, but I was trapped between the railing and a hard place.

Levi grabbed me by the shoulders. "Answer me!"

Panic flooded me, my pulse spiking. One second, I was standing in front of him, the next, I moved with the lithe swiftness of a jungle predator and tossed him to the ground, my knee grinding into his chest and a glinting red dagger poised at his throat.

A dagger that the dildo had transformed into, its blade sharper than any steel.

Oh good, I wasn't a one-cock pony. A hysterical laugh burbled out of me.

Levi pushed up to dislodge me but I held him down, which really shouldn't have been possible, and twisted the knife against his skin. There was a faint rasp as the blade scraped against his light stubble.

What was I doing? I scrambled to my feet, clutching the blood dagger, and pressed the tip against his shirtfront. "Are you going to kill me?"

His face puckered in distaste. "In this suit? It's Armani. But I do want to know exactly what the fuck is going on."

Excellent question, but I didn't have an answer. In fact, there were so many I didn't have that I could barely keep track of them.

The pounding in my ears, the buzz of magic thrumming through me, it was all too much. I lost what little hold I had. The blade disintegrated into blood, splooshing out on Levi, and turning him into one of the promgoers from Carrie.

So much for the Armani.

In the fairy tale version of my life, my Cinderella mad dash would have gotten me home safe but sooty, with only the loss of a shoe. But reality was cold and harsh: I'd lost zero shoes (just most of my dignity), and Levi was no prince.

I crashed through the aquarium's front doors. In my first piece of luck today, a sole yellow taxi idled in the distance.

The parking lot was impossibly stretched out as if seen through a tunnel, the trees weird piney fingers stretching to the inky clouds, and the sounds of cars and guests grotesquely distorted into a harsh rumble. How much blood had I left behind on Levi's shirt and could I bill him for it? Woozy, I staggered toward the taxi, arm half-outstretched as if the driver could hear my whispered plea to wait.

A dark sleek limo pulled up to the curb.

"Get in," Levi said from behind me on the sidewalk.

I ignored him, stumbling forward.

He strode toward the cab.

"That's mine," I whimpered, the world swooping and lurching around me. Kicking off my heels, I snagged them by one finger and attempted to speed up. It was imperative that Levi not get my taxi, because I was scared that if I didn't get out of here I'd remain trapped in some weird Ash in Wonderland version of my life that was at odds with every single thing I knew about myself.

Magic didn't just show up. It might skip a generation or two but you were born with it or you didn't have it. Full stop.

My blood sang as my magic settled in my bones, but the rest of me was upended. What kind of mutant was I?

Get home, get Priya, and get answers. The stress of today's events squeezed my chest in a tight band, but I put one foot in front of the other, assuring myself that if I could return to familiar surroundings and my best friend, I could find a plausible explanation.

Please let me find an explanation.