I shook my head. “My spell found absolutely no link in this entire space.”
Ben opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. After I pushed him to spit it out, he said, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but are you sure your magic is working right?”
I couldn’t deny my friend’s point since he had supported me when I lost my powers after Rita Ryder. However, much like Mason’s memories, my magic had returned to full strength and yet things were also different. Stronger than before. For many reasons, I kept that change to myself, only sharing it with Nana and the detective for the time being.
“I’m positive.” Sighing, I resigned myself to where we had to go next. “We should head over to my house. Hopefully, I didn’t throw something so valuable away.”
Ben followed me out, locking the door to his office behind him. He pointed in the direction of where he’d parked his car, and we strode with purpose. Passing by other businesses, we commented on the people populating Sweet Tooths and the cafe, no doubt congregated together to speculate about the meeting and what went down.
When we crossed in front of Lucky’s Bar, I ran smack dab into a tall, solid figure exiting The End. “Oops, sorry.”
Dash’s fingers grabbed onto my arm, keeping me upright. “No problem, Trouble. Where are you two scurrying off to?” He greeted Ben with a quick hello.
“Were you at the town hall meeting?” I asked, trying to remember if I’d seen him there.
The shifter scratched his chin. “Figured since I don’t live here all the time that I didn’t need to go. Although there’s been a buzz in the bar ever since Lucky got back. He’s been banging around in there, complaining about people minding their own business.”
I shuddered at the sound of shattered glass. “Is he in there throwing things?”
“No, it’s probably one of them pixies he’s making work off their debt. Except those three are probably racking up a bigger tab with all the things they drop,” Dash explained. “But I don’t think that’s the only thing that’s got Lucky upset, is it?”
“He stood up to my aunt tonight,” I bragged, giving the shifter the highlights of the meeting.
Dash snorted. “Guess it makes sense now why only the ‘permanent’ residents were requested. That aunt of yours, she’s…special.”
“I’ve got other words to describe her that aren’t as generous,” I grumbled. Another crash from inside the bar raised my suspicions. “Those pixies…you wouldn’t happen to have caught their names by chance?”
The shifter thought about it. “I’m not sure of all of them, but Lucky yelled at one of them just before I walked out. Name of…Mud?”
“Mug?” I clarified, smacking my forehead. “Give me one second,” I said to Ben.
I dragged myself inside to find my three pixie roommates currently zipping around the edges of the ceiling over the bar. One of them tossed a bottle of beer to another, giggling as the three of them played Keep Away from the owner.
“Hey, you three!” I shouted, not caring that I’d interrupted everyone’s conversations. “Mug, put down that beer. You, Bug, and Nug! Come over here, please.”
Lucky wobbled underneath the misbehaving pixie, barely catching the dropped bottle before it would have exploded into shards of glass and sticky liquid. The three diminutive beings beat their wings and zinged over to hover in front of me.
My heart beat fast, but I maintained a stern face with them. “Listen, now more than ever, it’s important that you stop playing around and start taking things more seriously.”
Bug placed her hands on her hips and wiggled her head back and forth, countering my statement in her rapid high-pitched voice. I didn’t have to understand her every word to recognize her attitude with me.
“Now, now, there’ll be none of that sassin’ to the kind lady who’s providing a roof over your heads,” Lucky chastised. “You show her some respect.”
Nug pushed Bug and got in her face, yelling at an even faster speed. When he finished, he dipped in the air in some form of bow to me.
“Uh, so, as I was saying. It’s really, really important that you try your best not to cause trouble,” I implored.
Dash snorted, having come in to watch. “Hello, Pot. Meet Kettle.”
I pointed a finger at him. “You shut it.”
Mug put his thumb in his ears, wiggled his hands and fingers, and stuck his tongue out at the shifter.
The wolf’s eyes glowed bright yellow, and he bellowed, “Boo!”
All three pixies screeched and darted to hide behind me. I groaned and glared at Dash. “Not helpful.”
Adjusting my body so I faced the three shaking pixies, I spoke in a gentler tone. “Listen, don’t pay attention to the scary wolf. I promise he won’t do anything to you.”
“They’re hardly more than an appetizer for me,” Dash threatened, grinning wide and showing off a little fang.
Frustrated with him, I left the pixies and confronted the shifter. “You are being completely unreasonable,” I said, poking my finger into his chest.
“That’s good,” Dash whispered. “Threaten me loud enough for them to hear you.”
“What?” I asked in confusion.
He nodded at the pixies. “This is how you get them to listen to you. Earn their loyalty by keeping them safe from me,” he finished in his whisper. Standing taller so he towered over my shorter frame, the shifter took a step forward as if to intimidate me and bellowed, “Like I said, there’s nothing a little witch like you could do to stop me from eating them all like a snack.”
The licking of his lips was overkill, and I rolled my eyes with extra drama just for him before I spoke loud and clear, “If you try to harm any of these three who are my guests, then I will bless your heart and hex your hiney so bad that you’ll get worn slap out from not being able to sit down for a year.”
Dash smirked as he judged my
